SER M. elsewhere the new Creature, to fignify an VIII. entire change and reformation of life:

and most frequently it is ftiled Regeneration, the new birth, newness of life, and the like; All which phrafes are made use of to imply this one thing, that those who have been dead in trefpaffes and Sins, those who by any means have been engaged in a wicked course of life, must as it were by a new birth, by a thorough and entire reformation of life and manners, enter into a new course of life, and begin a life of righteousness and holiness, So careful has the Spirit of God been, that no one should be ignorant of that which is fo much his neceffary and indifpenfable Duty. Nothing is now required of us but that λογική λατρεία, that reafonable fervice, of forfaking our Sins, and obeying in our lives and actions thofe commands of God, which are fo reasonable in themselves, and fo evidently perfective of our nature, fo neceffarily, approved by the minds of men, and the reafon of their obligation fo immediately acknowledged by the confcience, that they may truly be

faid to be written in our hearts, Heb. viii. SER M, 10; Yet to incourage our practice, they VIII. are moreover moft fully explained, most earnestly inculcated, and most strongly inforced by the most powerful motives in the New Teftament. We are not now obliged to those numberlefs ritual performances, which in the Scripture are called weak and beggarly elements, and a burden which neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear: Our religion confifts not now in fuch outward Ceremonies, whose observance was difficult, and their fignification oftimes obfcure: But the righteousness which is of faith Speaketh on this wife, fay not in thine heart, who shall afcend into Heaven to bring Chrift down from above? Or who shall defcend into the deep to bring up Chrift again from the dead? But what faith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, Rom. x. 6, 7 and 8. that is; the Gospel-Covenant confifts not of fuch ftrict, difficult terms, as are above the reach of our knowledge or our strength; but fuch as may easily be understood by us, and performed alfo by VOL V. N 2

the

SER M. the affiftance of Chrift that strengtheneth VIII. us. A fincere endeavour to perform our whole duty, is the condition of the Gofpel; and he that fo defires to do the will of God, can neither want knowledge to understand his duty, nor power to perform it: He shall know of Chrift's doctrine, whether it be of God; and when he comes to practise it, shall find his yoke eafy and his burden light. In a word, the Terms that Chrift by his death has purchafed for us, are plainly thefe; that whereas by the tranfgreffion of the Original law of God, which required perfect and unfinning Obedience, all men were become guilty before God; and whereas by the addition of the Ceremonial rites and facrifices of the Jewish law, which in their own nature could not avail to expiate Sin, men could not be juftified from the tranfgreffions they had committed; it is now declared by the Gospel-Covenant that whofoever believing in the name of Chrift shall repent him heartily of his former Sins, and for the future endeavour with all his might to

obey

obey fincerely, tho' not without infirmi- SER M. VIII. ties, all the Commandments of God; fhall through the redemption purchased by the blood of Chrift have his fincerity accepted instead of perfect obedience, and thereby be justified from all things from which he could not be juftified by the law; And this is that juftification by faith only, which St Paul in his Epistle to the Romans fo often oppofes to being juftified by the works of the law. Having thus cndeavoured briefly to explain what is meant by the Law being the Strength of Sin; and by what means our Saviour has delivered us from it, or given us the victory over it; I should proceed now in the 2d place to confider how he gives us the Victory over Sin which is the Sting of Death: And this he does, by delivering us 1ft from the dominion, and 2dly from the guilt and punishment of Sin. First, he frees men from that bondage and thraldom, into which Sin has reduced them; and then those who are fo freed he delivers from that punishment, which must have been the neceffary confequence of their being inthralled to Sin.

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But

SER M. But the time not permitting me to enter VIII. upon this, I fhall only draw an inference or two from what has been already faid, and fo conclude. And it from what has been faid, we may understand why St Paul in his writings concerning the Jewish Law, always defcribes it as of such feverity by which no flesh could poffibly be juftified when yet 'tis plain God never dealt with men according to that severity: and why he fo exceedingly magnifies the grace and mercy of the Gofpel, notwithstanding it be evident that God always dealt with men according to that indulgence. Now the plain solution of this difficulty is this. The Apostle speaking of the Law, is not to be understood complex

of God's whole dispensation and dealing with the Jews, but of the Law properly and strictly, as it is diftinguished from and opposed to the Gofpel; viz. fuch as it was in itself, and fuch as it really would have been, if the Gospel-Covenant had never been established. For though there was indeed indulgence under the Law, yet that indulgence was not

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