Thus it appears certain, that it is impoffible that the holinefs of a creature who has once finned, fhould be accepted as a reason of his having any favour, and being in any respect delivered from the curfe of the law, as the evil of his fin infinitely outweighs all the moral good of which he is capable, and finks it into nothing, fo as to render it wholly unacceptable, confiftent with the divine law, were it true that fuch obedience or moral good might take off the curfe of the law, and render the finner acceptable, did it overbalance, or were it equal to, the evil of his fin. But even this is not true. The curfe of the law denounces infinite natural evil as the punishment which fin deferves, and therefore cannot be taken off or removed by any thing but fuffering. No degree of obedience or moral good, be it ever fo much or fo great, can make any atonement for one the leaft fin, fo as to deliver the finner from the curfe. Therefore Chrift himself was made a curfe, that by fuffering the evil of the curfe, the just suffering for the unjuft, he might deliver the finner who believes in him from the curfe, and open the way for him to come to God with acceptance.

From all this it appears that the opinion under confideration, that, if the finner is recovered to any degree of holiness antecedent to his juftification by the merit and righteoufnefs of Chrift, and in order to it, he has whereof to glory, and has a righteoufnefs of his own which is acceptable to God, fo that he ftands in no need of the righteoufnefs of Chrift in order to be juftified; that this opinion is a great and dangerous error, moft contrary to the reafon and nature of things, and the holy law of God, and really perverts and makes void both law and gofpel. Therefore they who hold and perfift in this error are in truth and in a high degree Antinomians, as their doctrine makes the law wholly void in the most important and effential branch of it. And their doctrine on this point is totally Antichriftian. For the law is in fuch a fenfe the foundation of the gospel, that if the former be perverted and made void, the latter becomes

becomes unintelligible and ufelefs. If finners may be delivered from the curfe of the law, and obtain favour and juftification, by becoming in any degree holy and obedient, then they may be faved without Chrift and the gofpel." If there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law; and if righteoufnefs come by the law, then Chrift is dead in vain:" [Gal. ii. 21, iii. 21.]

We hope that men, fome of them at leaft, who hold and propagate these antinomian and antichriftian doctrines in theory, have better hearts than heads, and love and embrace the truth in the former, while they believe that which is grofs and dangerous error with the latter.

2. Were the preceding obfervations not true, which is indeed an impoffible fuppofition, and could the finner, on becoming perfectly holy and obedient, be delivered from the curfe of the law, and admitted to the accep tance and favour of God, and his past fin not be remembered against him, out of refpect to his prefent holiness, confiftent with the law of God, yet this does not touch the cafe of a finner, who only exercises fo much of a right difpofition as is neceffarily implied in approving of the character and law of God, and of Christ, and in coming to him for pardon, juftification and life. He may exercife fuch a degree of holiness consistent with his having much more fin than holiness at the fame time, which is undoubtedly true of every finner who embraces the gospel, and of every Christian as long as he lives in this world. A finner who becomes friendly to God, and embraces the gofpel, has fuch low and finfully deficient exercises of love, and fo much of that which is contrary, and pofitive wickednefs, that, afide from his guilt for former fins, his present character, confidered in itfelf, has much more evil than good, and, on the whole, is worse than nothing, and cannot be an object of the complacency and favour of God, but rather of his difpleasure and curfe, and he ftands in as much need of favour and juftification by free grace through

the

the righteoufnefs of Chrift, as if he had no holiness, and were altogether an enemy to God: for he has no money or price to purchase this favour, and is continually running more in debt. And to plead his good character as proper to recommend him to the leaft favour, would be highly difpleafing to God, and must be so to every good man, whether done by the finner himself, or any other perfon,

They who make the objection under confideration, who think themselves Chriftians, and that they do exercife holiness, may be asked, whether they think this has raised them above the need of free grace and justification by the righteousness of Chrift, or at least do not ftand in fo much need of it as they should if they had no degree of holiness. If they anfwer in the affirmative, they are not fuch Christians as was the apoftle Paul. If they answer in the negative, and fay that they are as dependent on the righteoufnefs of Chrift for juftification and all favour as if they were wholly unholy, and they expect to be faved by free grace as much as they could be if they could be faved in their fins without any holinefs, that they are far from having any thing to boast of, and the more conformed they are to God in holinefs, or the more they fee God and love him, the more they are difpofed to abafe and humble themselves before him, and feel their need of fuch a Saviour as Jefus Chrift; then by this confeffion they entirely give up their objection, and grant that whatever holiness the finner may exercife previous to his juftification, and in his coming to Christ for it, this does not make him the more deferving of favour, nor does he ftand in less need of juftification by free grace through the worthiness of Chrift; and it will be fo far from difpofing him to be proud, and boaft, that it will bring him to humble himfelf at the foot of fovereign, free grace, which humility will increase as he fhall grow in grace, and in the knowledge of his Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ.

But further to confute, if that be poffible, and fhow how falfe and abfurd the tenet is which we are oppofing, it must be obferved,

3. The

3. The holiness which the finner exercises in believing on Chrift and coming to him for all he wants, is fo far from being the ground of pride and boafting, or promoting and encouraging this, that it directly counteracts and deftroys fuch a difpofition. The finner's heart is naturally full of pride, and a difpofition which is gratified in felf exaltation and boafting; and nothing can cure him of this reigning difpofition, and in any degree deftroy his pride, but a change of heart by the Spirit of God, by which pride receives a deadly wound, and he is difpofed to humble himself in the fight of God. And the grace he hereby receives and exercises confifts in difcerning and confefling his finful, loft ftate, that the law he has tranfgreffed is juft and good, that he is infinitely vile and ill deferving, that God may juftly fend him to endless deftruction at any time, that he has nothing that can deserve or recommend him to the least favour, but every thing in every respect infinitely to the contrary: and in this view and fense of his own character he comes to Chrift as a poor, infinitely guilty and wretched finner, and begs for mercy, not for his own fake, or for any thing he has done or ever shall do, but for the fake of what Chrift has fuffered and done, pleased and hoping to be pardoned and received to favour by free, undeferved grace through Jefus Chrift, defiring forever to be abased and humbled, and that the most undeferved, fovereign grace may be exalted and honoured in his falvation.

Where is pride and boafting then? It is effectually excluded and deftroyed, by the exercise of that grace and holiness by which the finner approves of the character and law of God, condemns himself as juftly deferving eternal misery and nothing better, and looks to Christ for undeserved, free pardon and favour to an infinitely guilty, odious, undeferving, wretched beggar. He who can believe that fuch exercises, which are according to the law of faith, are agreeable to the pride of man, and will lead to boafting, may with as good reafon believe that humility is pride, and felf abafement is felf exaltation,

And

And befides all this which has been now faid to confute this error, it must be observed, that they who exclude all holiness from faving faith, by which the finner is juftified, left if it were a holy exercise he would have reafon to boast as having fomething of his own to recommend himself, do fuppofe that a proud, impenitent enemy to God and his law, may fee the truth, wisdom and goodness of the gofpel, and approve of the character of Chrift, and the way of salvation by him, which fuppofition is as unreasonable and abfurd, and as contrary to the holy fcripture, as can be made or conceiv. ed. And it is indeed most dishonourable to Chrift and the gofpel, as if his character was such that a wicked. man, an impenitent enemy of God, might difcern the truth and excellency of it, and heartily approve and be pleafed with it! How contrary is this to the declaration of Chrift and his Apoftle! The former fays, "He that doth evil hatheth the light, neither cometh to the light." And the latter, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned," *

* The importance that this grofs error, which is fo unfcriptural and abfurd, and leads to fo many hurtful conceptions of the law of faith, should be wholly discarded, has been the motive to attempt thus to expofe and confute it. Though it has been embraced by many in the proteftant world, and there are thofe who at this day contend for it, yet it is hoped that an effectual flop will be put to the continuance and fpread of it. If they who have imbibed it, and are difpofed zealously to defend it, fhould not be convinced of their mistake, yet they who have not exploded, but have been rather favourable towards it and the doctrines which imply it, through want of conviction of those truths by which it may be made to appear contrary to fcripture, and a dangerous error, may, by attending to what has here been faid, be led to fee their mistake, and renounce it, with proper concern and zeal to fupprefs it, and vindicate the oppofite truth. And they who are coming on the stage, and have not yet formed any opinion on this point, may be prevented imbib ing this error, fo that it may die with those who now embrace it, and cannot be convinced of their error, and not be handed down to pofterity.

II. From