which they have recorded, have been received by the devotees of that communion, is truly astonishing. But I am sorry to observe, that the pretence of working miracles is, at this very time, set up by some individuals in the protestant churches, both of England and Scotland-May such pretences never be made in our country. They are unquestionably delusive, and in the event, highly injurious to true religion: And were they even capable of being sustained, you have just heard of what the apostle, in the context of the chapter referred to, declares to be "a more excellent way." Let the love of God fill your hearts and shine forth in your lives, and you have something far more excellent and desirable than the working of miracles-which, having answered their design in the establishment of the infant Christian church, have long since entirely ceased.

I have gone at some length, in this lecture, into a consideration of what may be called the negative part of our subject-showing what kinds of faith are not saving; because this is the only place in our system, in which the statement you have heard could properly be made, if made at all; and because I think it is calculated, if rightly considered, to be practically and highly useful. In the next lecture, if God permit, your attention will be called to a direct illustration of the answer before us.

will appear very evidently, if we consider what it is that brings any person to a belief or relish of this doctrine. It must be a sense of sin, and fear of deserved wrath. Let us search out the cause by tracing the effects. Whence arises the fear of wrath, or apprehension of God's displeasure? Only from a conviction of guilt. And what can produce a conviction of guilt, but a sense of obligation? This is manifestly the doctrine of Scripture, which teaches us, that "by the law is the knowledge of sin”— and that "the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." Those who have none at all, or a very imperfect sense of the obligation of the divine law, will never have the least esteem of the righteousness of Christ, which atones for their transgression of it; it must appear to them to be foolishness: whereas those who have a strong conviction of the justice of the demand of the law, both esteem and use the plea of their Saviour's merit. Such also have a strong sense of the extent and purity of the law of God, as well as its obligation in general. Whilst others consider nothing as sin, but the grossest and most notorious crimes, they are deeply sensible of the alienation of their hearts from God, whom they are bound supremely to love, and to whose glory they are obliged to be habitually and universally subservient.

This conviction of the obligation of the divine law, so essentially connected with, or rather so necessarily previous to, an acceptance of the imputed righteousness of Christ,

CATION.

(Continued from p. 521.)

In the first place, he who expects justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, hath the clearest and strongest conviction of the obligation of the holy law of God upon every reasonable creature, and of its extent and purity. This

lation of man to God, as a creature to his Creator. This relation then continues, and must continue, unchangeable; therefore the obligation founded upon it must be unalienable; and all those who have once been sensible of it, must continue to be so, unless we suppose them blinded to the knowledge of God as Creator, by the discovery

of his mercy in Christ the Redeemer. But this is absurd; for the subsequent relation of a sinner to God, as forgiven and reconciled through Christ, never can take away, nay, never can alter, his natural relation as a creature, nor the obligation founded upon it. Neither can it be conceived as consistent with the perfections of God, to abate the demands of his law; that is to say, a perfect conformity to his holy will. Every the least deviation from it, by transgression,

Since mention has been made of perfect conformity to the will of God, or perfect obedience to his law, as the duty of man, which is indeed the foundation of this whole doctrine, I think it necessary to observe, that some deny this to be properly required of man, as his duty in the present fallen state, because he is not able to perform it. But such do not seem to attend either to the meaning of perfect obedience, or to the nature or cause of

this inability. Perfect obedience is obedience by any creature, to the utmost extent of his natural powers. Even in a state of innocence, the holy dispositions of Adam would not have been equal in strength and activity to those of creatures

of a higher rank: but surely to love God, who is infinitely amiable, with all the heart, and above all, to consecrate all his powers and faculties, without exception, and without intermission, to God's

service, must be undeniably the duty of every intelligent creature. And what sort of inability are we under to pay this? Our natural faculties are surely as fit for the service of God as for any baser purpose: the inability is only moral, and lies wholly in the aversion of our hearts from such employment. Does this then take away the guilt? Must God relax his law because we are not willing to obey it? Consult even modern philosophers; and such of them as allow there is any such thing as vice, will tell you, that it lies in evil or misplaced affections. Will then that which is ill in itself excuse its fruits in any degree from guilt or blame? The truth is, notwithstanding the loud charge of licentiousness upon the truths of the gospel, there is no other system that ever I perused, which preserves the obligations of the law of God in its strength: the most part of them, when thoroughly examined, just amount to this, that men are bound, and that it is RIGHT and MEET and FIT that they should be as good and as holy as they themselves incline.

or neglect of duty, must still be evil in itself, and must still be seen, and esteemed to be so by the God of truth, who cannot lie. Now, is there any thing in the gospel that hath the least tendency to lessen the sense of this obligation, after it hath been once discovered? Very far from it: on the contrary, all that Christ hath done for the salvation of sinners, as its immediate consequence, magnifies the law, and makes it honourable.

Perhaps it may be thought, that the releasing a sinner from the sanction of the law, or the punishment incurred by pardon purchased and bestowed, has this effect: and here it is, to be sure, that men by their partial views, are apt to suppose the objection lies.

But let us only reflect, that the obligation to duty and obedience to the Creator, hath been seen by a believer in the strongest light, and must continue to be sensible. Will he then be induced to act in the face of a perceived obligation, by an instance of unspeakable mercy? Is this reasonable to suppose ? or rather, is it not self-contradictory and absurd? It is so far from being true, that this mercy disposes to obedience, as a peculiar and additional motive, as I shall afterwards show more fully in its proper place. In the mean time, it is selfevident, that it can be no hinderance. What leads us into error in this matter, is what happens sometimes in human affairs. In a human government, mercy or a promise of impunity for past crimes, may enable, though even in that case, not incline a rebellious traitor to renew his wickedness. But this is a most unjust and partial view of the case, in which the very circumstance is wanting upon which the chief stress ought to be laid. Human laws reach only outward actions, because human knowledge is so imperfect that it cannot discover the disposition of the heart: and as all professions are not sincere, so kind

ness is often bestowed on improper objects. This kindness, however, though it may discover the impropriety, cannot cause it.

But make the similitude complete, and see how it will lead us to determine. Suppose one who hath been in rebellion, deeply and inwardly convinced of the evil of rebellion, and his obligation to submission; suppose this conviction so strong, that he confesseth the just ness of the sentence condemning him to die, which is very consistent with a desire of life: will a pardon offered or intimated to such a person make him disloyal? Is this its natural, nay, is it its possible effect? If it could be supposed to have any such consequence at all, it could only be in this distant way, that pardon seems to lessen the sense of a judge's displeasure at the crime. But even this can have no place here, because sufficient care is taken to prevent any such abuse of it, by the substitution and vicarious sufferings of a Mediator.

I cannot help observing here, that the similitude above used will lead us to the discovery of one great cause of the objection against which I am reasoning. It arises from that corruption of heart, and inward opposition to the law of God in its extent and purity, which is in all men by nature, and continues in all who are not renewed in the spirit of their minds. As they have a strong tendency and inclination to transgress the law where they dare, they are ready to think, that the hopes of impunity must encourage every one to a bold violation of it. And no doubt this would be true, if there could be any real esteem or cordial acceptance of the gospel, without a previous conviction of the obligation of the law, and the guilt and demerit of every transgressor.* But

But this is impossible; for though there may be some sort of fear of punishment, occasioned by displays of divine power, where there is no true humilia

supposing, what is in truth the case with every believer, that there is a real and strong conviction of the obligation of the law of God upon every rational creature, which cannot be taken away; to imagine that the mercy of God in pardoning sinners for Christ's sake will lessen or weaken the sense of this obligation, is a most manifest contradiction. On the contrary, sin must needs have received a mortal blow, the love of it must necessarily have been destroyed, before pardon in this way could be sought or obtained: so that the apostle might well say, "How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ?"

In the second place; he who believes in Christ, and expects justification through his imputed righteousness, must have the deepest and strongest sense of the evil of sin in itself. This is in a good measure included in, or an immediate consequence of, what has been already mentioned. For the obligation of the law, as hinted above, is but very imperfect, if we consider it only as founded on the power of God, and the dependance of the creature, and not also on the holiness, justice, and goodness of the law itself. In the first sense, perhaps, it may be felt by the wicked in this world, at least, we are sure, it is felt by devils and damned spirits in a separate state. They know that they must suffer, because they will not obey. But where there is a complete sense of obligation, it implies a belief of the righteousness of the law, as well as

tion of mind, or genuine conviction of sin; this is but like the impatient struggles of a chained slave, instead of the willing subjection of a penitent child. There is still in all such, an inward murmuring against the sentence, as that of an unjust and rigorous tyrant, and not of a righteous judge. Therefore, though such should pretend to rely on the merits of Christ for pardon and deliverance, it is plainly not from their hearts, and therefore neither to the saving of their souls, nor to the reformation of their lives.

the power of the lawgiver; of the equity, nay, the excellence of the command, as well as the severity of the sanction. All such not only believe that God will punish for sin, but that it is most just that he should do so, and that sin has richly deserved it.

It may therefore seem unnecessary to add any thing on this subject more than has been already said: but I have mentioned it by itself, because, besides that sense of the obligation and purity of the law of God which must pave the way to a sinner's acceptance of the righteousness of Christ, there is a discovery of the evil of sin, and its abominable nature, in every part of this "mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh," and the truths founded upon it; so that the more these are believed, and the more they are attended to and recollected, the more must the believer be determined to hate and abhor every wicked and false way; every new view which he takes of the gospel of his salvation, every act of trust and confidence exerted upon it, must increase his horror of sin, and excite him to fly from it.

Let us consider a little what views are presented us of the evil of sin in the doctrine of Christ, and of him crucified. Here we see that a holy and just God would not forgive sin without an atonement. What a demonstration is this of its malignity, if carefully attended to, and kept constantly in our eye, as a part of our very idea of the Divine Nature! The difficulty in this case, is our partiality in our own cause; we are unwilling to think sin so very blame-worthy, because this is condemning ourselves; but let us consider what views an all-wise and impartial God hath of it, and form ours upon his. And that we may not so much as once blasphemously imagine, that he also is partial on his own side, let us remember that he is the God of love, who, by this very salvation hath magni

fied his love in a manner that passeth knowledge. He shows his sense of the evil of the crime, even whilst he is contriving, nay, in the very contrivance of a proper way for the criminal's escape. He is not, so to speak, setting forth the malignity of the offence, in order to justify the severity of his own vengeance, but he is exerting his amiable attribute of mercy, and yet here must the evil of sin appear.

"For

Consider, in a particular manner, upon this subject, the dignity and glory of the person who made this atonement. The value of the purchase may be seen in the greatness of the price; the evil of sin is the worth of the propitiation. we are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot."* It was no less a person than the eternal and only begotten Son of God, who was before all worlds, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, who suffered in our stead. Whoever considers the frequent mention in the sacred oracles of the glory and dignity of the person of Christ, must be satisfied that it is not without design; and none can truly relish or improve these truths, but such as thence learn the evil of sin, the immenseness of that debt which required one of so great, nay, of infinite and inexhaustible riches, to be able to pay it. A creature indeed behooved to suffer; and therefore he became the son of man, but intimately united to the Creator, God blessed for ever. It was one of the first and earliest confessions of faith, That Jesus Christ was the Son of God; and this belief must have the strongest influence in showing us the evil of sin, which none else was able to expiate.

In many passages of Scripture, God's sending his own Son into the

* 1 Peter i. 18.

ed as the strongest proof possible of his compassion and love. The nearness of the relation teaches us, as it were, to suppose some reluctance in bestowing him; in allusion to which there is a beautiful expression of the Apostle Paul, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things "* The very same thing shows, with equal clearness, his abhorrence of sin. However strongly disposed to save sinners, he would have sin to be expiated, though his own Son should be the victim: if any thing could have made him dispense with it, this should surely have had the effect: and therefore the condemning of sin seems to have been as much in view as the salvation of the sinner. Every light in which we can view this subject, contributes to set before us the evil of sin. I shall only mention further, the greatness and severity of the sufferings of our Redeemer, as they are represented both prophetically, to show how much was exacted, and historically to show what was paid. As the whole of his life was to be a state of humiliation and sorrow, it is said, "As many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form than the sons of men." Again, "He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Once more, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." In the history of his life in the New Testament, we see all this verified, in the meanness of his birth, and the continued insults and reproaches thrown upon him

* Rom. viii. 32. † Isa. lii. 14. liii. 3, 5.

In the close of the gospel, we have an account of the last scene of his sufferings in the garden and on the cross. "He was sore amazed, and very heavy. His soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.

His sweat was as it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground." He was at last stretched on an accursed tree, where the pain of a tortured body was but small to the anguish of an overwhelmed spirit, which constrained him to utter this heavy complaint, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Let the Christian stand at the foot of the cross, and there see the evil of sin, which required so costly an expiation. Let him there see the holiness and justice of God in its punishment. Let him hear the most High, saying, "Awake, O sword, against the man who is my fellow." And let him thence learn, how much sin is the object of divine detestation.

Hath a believer then a firm persuasion of all these truths? Are they the frequent theme of his meditations? And must they not necessarily fill him with an abhorrence of sin, inflame him with a hatred of it, and excite in him a self-loathing on its account? Thus it is said in the prophetic writings, "They shall look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born."* And must not a repetition of the same views still

• Zech. xii. 10.