to fee hell, to fee the juftice of God, to fee the fpirituality of the law, the imperfection of his duties, the emptinefs of his performances, and the fandy foundation he hath been building his faith upon, then his confcience roars, his heart defpairs; he hath no peace, no comfort; but finds himself miferably disappointed. If his eyes be not open, why then? He dies in a delufion, as he lived, finks into the lake of fire; and in hell he opens his eyes, and finds himself eternally disappointed: O fee then, what ground there is to lament over this legal temper, which is indeed a damnable temper, where it hath a full reign.

Exhortation, both to them that are alive to the law, and to them that are dead to the law, of whom the text especially fpeaks. 1ft, To unbelievers, and all thefe that are alive to the law. O, for the Lord's fake, take no reft till you get out of that damnable ftate: O confider what you are doing, fo long as you are not dead to the law; the best thing that you are doing, in that cafe, is, that you're building your neft about the old rotten walls of the covenant of works. May be, you think you're a good proteftant, you're a good chriftian, you have a good heart, you perform good duties, you partake of good ordinances, and what ill fhould you fear? 1. I tell you, that you're under the curfe of the law of works; Curfed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. And while you're under the law, and feeking to establish a law-righteousness of your own, all the people of God are obliged to fay, that God is in the right to curfe you; they are obliged to say Amen, to all the curfes of the bible against you, Deut. xxvii. laft. Curfed

Curfed is he that confirmeth not all the words of this law; and all the people fall fay, Amen. If you will take the old covenant of doing for life, and juftification, then you must take it with a vengeance, unless you do perfectly, and do to purpofe, which is impoflible for you; Curfed is every one that continueth not in all things, &c. and all believers can fay Amen to it, in the words of Paul, Let bim that loves not our Lord Jefus Christ, be Anathema Maranatha. While you are under the law, no bleffing belongs to you, but all divine curfes; if you will not get out of your legal righteoufnefs, and get under the gofpel-covert of the blood of Jefus, nothing but terror belongs to you, and nothing but terror and curfes can I preach to you: For, As many as are of the works of the law, are under the curje. 2. I must tell you, as you are under the curfe of the law, fo you are under the command of the law, Do, and live: Though by the gofpel-call you are not obliged indeed to feck righteoufnefs in yourself, in order to life, but to feek it in Chrift; yet by your unbelief, you keep yourself under the command of the law, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandment; keep it perfectly, or elfe vengeance shall overtake you. It is not your little efforts that will fatisfy the law, tho' you fhould read, fast, mourn, and shed tears of blood all your days; if you will pay any duty to the law as a covenant, You are a debtor to fulfil the whole law, Gal. v. 3. The law is a chain that is linked together, and if you take one link of it, the weight of the whole chain will be upon you; and fo if you will do any thing in obedience to the law,that you may be thereby faved and juftified, you're under bondage to the whole law, and bound

to

to do every thing perfectly, that you may be justified. O the miferable bondage that you are under ! You will never be able to fatisfy the law, and fo you are condemned already. Yea, let me tell you more, you are a wicked ungodly creature: Whatever you seem to be to others, or think you are yourfelf; yet being alive to the law, you are a stranger to the life of God; for, till you be dead to the law, you fhall never live unto God; though you look like an angel of light for holiness, yet, being alive to the law, you have no true holiness nor godliness. Ye that are still trufting to your works, you'll meet with a fad disappointment; for by the deeds of the law no flesh living can be juftified. But there are others, who seem to be upon another extreme; they fay, the law is now abrogated, and we are not to feek juftification or falvation that way; and therefore we are carelefs about the law, or about any duty of obedience. Yea, but let me tell you your doom out of the law alfo; you are a desperate finner: Because you cannot fatisfy the curfe of the law, therefore you run away from the commands of the law, and run away to the devil, inftead of running to Chrift. But I'll tell But I'll tell you, tho' the law cannot justify, or fave you, yet it can condemn you: It hath power to condemn you, tho' it hath none to fave you; and it will condemn, and does condemn you, and all that are out of Chrift; and therefore, for every fin that you are guilty of, you must answer; and every fin is enough to damn you, by virtue of the law. O then, may this be a mean to move you all that are under the law, to seek to Chrift, who is the end of the law, for righteoufnefs, to every one that believeth! Come, poor, curfed, Q4

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way.

condemned, ungodly finner, if you would live unto God here, and live with him hereafter, come out from under the heavy yoke of the law; Chrift hath a good and perfect law-biding righteousness to give you, though you have nothing to bring to him but fin and guilt, and mifery, and hell about you, yet come to him; and if you cannot come, O go to him, and tell him that you cannot come, and plead that by his omnipotent power he may draw you; and if you do fo in truth, it is one to a thousand, if he does not meet you half 0 firs, you cannot be faved, to the credit of God's holinefs, unless you join in with Chrift's righteoufness, which answers alfo the threatning of the law, and satisfies the juftice of God. In this way, mercy can take vent, to the credit and honour of all God's perfections. O my brethren, are you for this way of it? of it? O then fay, farewel to the law of works for ever; here is a more noble and glorious way. O bleffed be God for ever, if that be the bargain betwixt Chrift's righteoufnefs and your foul! O may the Lord draw you to it! But now,

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2dly, To you that are believers, and have closed with Chrift, and fo are dead to the law; remember you're not to live a lawless life for all that: My exhortation to you is, that being dead to the law, you live unto God. Let me offer fome motives and directions, and the rather that I have taken fome pains to gather together, and lay before you many things relative to a legal temper, for guarding you against the Neanomian extreme on the one hand, let men beware left their carnal hearts abufe this doctrine of grace to Antinomian licentiousness on the other hand. Sure I am, the gofpel-doctrine

of

of itself hath no fuch tendency: Though an ignorant world may fufpect the doctrine of the gospel, the doctrine of Chrift's righteoufnefs, as if it were against a personal righteoufnefs or holiness. I declare to you, in the name of Jobovab, that the contrary is true, and that you'll never live according to the law as a rule of holiness, till you be dead to the law as a covenant and condition of life. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. If the light of the glorious gofpel, even the light of the glory of God in the face of Jefus Chrift, did once fhine into your heart, then beholding this glory of the Lord, you would be changed into the fame image from glory to glory by the spirit of the Lord; yea, to believe the gospel favingly, is the way to fulfil perfectly. The true believer may be faid to fulfil the law, both as it is a covenant, and as it is a rule: As it is a covenant, he fulfils it perfectly and legally in his head and furety, in whom he hath perfect, everlasting righteousness; and as it is a rule, he fulfils it fectly also, with a perfection of parts here, and a perfection of degrees hereafter: And in both these refpects may that word be explained, Rom. i. 3, 4. where the righteoufnefs of the law is faid to be fulfilled in believers, whofe character is, that they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now, I would prefs you to this fpiritual walk, this holy life, which is a living unto God; for though your holiness be not neceffary for your justification, which is the damnable doctrine of popery; tho', I fay, it be not neceffary for your juftification, because you're dead to the law in point of juftification, yet it is neceffary, because you're dead to the law, for this very end, that you may live unto God, in point of

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