¶1354. JUSTIFICATION Objection against the Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, from the Conditions of God's Favour chiefly insisted on in the Old Testament. [all in large letters]

¶THE OBJECTION STATED.

¶Whereas it is insisted, that we are justified by faith alone in that [xoc] <this [c]> sense, viz. that we are not justified, i.e. accepted of God as free from guilt, wrath & the punishment of sin, and as now righteous & so the objects of favour, & as the [xoJE or c?] proper<ly [JE?] heirs [xoE?] entitled to the rewards of righteousness, not by any righteousness of ours, nor [xoE?] any virtue in us as recommending us to such a priviledge by its moral beauty or value in the sight of God, consider<ing [c]> us as we are in our selves; but only by faith in X, or our cordial reception of X & active unition with him as our attoning & righteous Mediatour; and that tho' faith be indeed an excellent vertue, yet in this affair it is not the vertuousness or value of its moral excellency, that is the thing considerd, but only its relation to X as making one with him & so interesting the believer in his satisfaction & righteousness; & that it was alwaies thus with regard to the justification of fallen man, the main qualification & condition of justification being the same in substance, under the Old T. as under the new:

¶Now tis enquired, how this consists with what is so much insisted on, as the grand condition of God's favour in the old Testament; viz. obedience to God, loving God, doing that which is good in his sight &c--as Exod. 19. 5.6 "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, & keep my covenant; then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people; for all the earth is mine". see also Exod. 15. 26. Exod. 23. 22. "But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies". Deut. 4. 40. "Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments, that I commanded thee this day, that it may go well with thee and thy children after thee; and that thou mayst prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee forever". so chap. 5. 29. & chap. 6. 1---5. & v. 17, 18. "You shall diligently keep the commandmts of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee; and thou shalt do that which is RIGHT & GOOD in the sight of the Lord; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayst go in & possess the good land, which the Lord sware unto thy fathers". v. 24, 25 "And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good alwaies, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day; & it shall be OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, /p. 905/ if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us." chap. VII. 12, 13. "Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments and keep & do them, that the Lord thy God shall KEEP unto thee the COVENANT & the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers; and he will LOVE THEE & BLESS THEE, & multiply thee" &c-- chap. 8. 1. "All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live & multiply & go in & possess the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers". chap. XI. 26, 27, 28. "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: A BLESSING, IF YE OBEY the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; and a CURSE, IF YE WILL NOT OBEY the commandments of the Lord your God; but turn aside out of the way, which I command you this day". chap. XIII. 17,18 "That the Lord thy God may TURN FROM THE FIERCENESS OF HIS ANGER, & SHEW THEE MERCY, AND HAVE COMPASSION UPON THEE, and multiply thee as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; when thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments, which I command thee this day, to do that which [is (om.E)] RIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE LORD THY GOD". chap. 28. 1,2. "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe, & to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth; AND ALL THESE BLESSINGS SHALL COME UPON THEE and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God". chap. 30. 1,2 &c. -- "When all these things are come upon thee --- and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whether the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt OBEY HIS VOICE, according to all that I command thee this day, thou & thy children, with all thy heart & all thy soul; that then the Lord thy God will TURN thy captivity, & have COMPASSION upon thee, & WILL RETURN & gather thee".-- v. 6. "And the Lord they God will CIRCUMCISE THINE HEART, &c-- that thou mayst live". v. 15, 16. "See I have SET BEFORE THEE this day LIFE & GOOD, & DEATH AND EVIL. In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways & to keep his commandments & his statutes & his judgments; that thou mayst live & multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whether thou goest to possess it." v. 19, 20 "I call heaven & earth to record this day against you, that I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING & CURSING. therefore chuse life, that thou & thy seed may live. That thou mayst love the Lord thy God; and that thou mayst obey his voice; & that thou mayst cleave unto him; for he is thy life & the length of thy days; that thou mayst dwell in the land, which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac & to Jacob, to give them . Levit. 18. 5. "Ye shall /p. 906/ keep my statutes & my judgmts; which if a man do, he shall live in them". So Ezek. 20. 11,13,21. Exod. 20. 6. "SHEWING MERCY to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." so Deut. 7. 9. Deut. X. 12, 13. "And now, O Israel, what doth the Lord thy God REQUIRE OF THEE, BUT to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways & to love him, & TO SERVE the Lord thy God with all thine heart and all thy soul; to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good". Jer. VII. 22. 23. "For I spake not unto your fathers --- concerning burnt offerings & sacrifices: BUT THIS THING commanded I them, saying, obey my voice, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD, AND YE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE; and walk ye in all the ways, that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. Jer. XI. 3, 4. "Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of THIS COVENANT, which I commanded you fathers, in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice and do them, according to all which I commanded you; SO SHALL YE BE MY PEOPLE & I WILL BE YOUR GOD". Mic. VI. 7, 8. "Will the Lord be pleased <with [c]> thous. of rams, with ten thous. of riv?----- shall I give my first born for my transgression? ----- He hath shewed thee, O man, WHAT IS GOOD: and WHAT DOTH THE LORD REQUIRE OF THEE, but to do justly, & to love mercy, & to walk humbly with thy God". Ezek. 33. 14,15,16. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, & do that which is lawful & right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had robbed, WALK IN THE STATUTES OF LIFE, without committing iniquity, HE SHALL SURELY LIVE, HE SHALL NOT DIE: NONE OF THE SINS THAT HE HATH COMMITTED, SHALL BE MENTIONED UNTO HIM. HE HATH DONE THAT WHICH IS LAWFUL & RIGHT. HE SHALL SURELY LIVE". See also Ezek. 3. 21. Ezek. XVIII. <9. "He is just, he shall surely live. v. 20 the righteousness of the righ. shall be upon him" &c.> 21, 22 [sic]. But if the wicked will turn from his sins that <he [c]> hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful & right, he shall surely live he shall not die. all his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mention'd unto him. IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT HE HATH DONE, HE SHALL LIVE". [ see p. 908. col. 2. a

< p. 908 col. 2. e.> Added to the<o>se things, it is manifest, that the ten commandmts containd the terms of the covenant God established with Israel, or settled the terms on which they should be his people and he their God, as has been proved already see p.900 col. 2 &c. The condition of this covenant was obedience. for in the account we have of the solemn federal transaction between God & the people, at the time when the ten commandmts were first delivered with a great voice, God proposes the cov. thus; Exod. 19. 5. [6?] "Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar /p. 907/ treasure unto me above all the people of the earth" &c-- & when the people reply on their part, this is what they agree to, v. 8. "All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do". So when Moses came to write the cov. in a book, and solemnly to renew and confirm it with the people, sealing it with the blood of the sacrifice; Exod. 24. 7,8 Moses took the book of the Cov. and read in the audience of the people, and they said, "All that the Lord hath said will we do & be OBEDIENT. And Moses took the blood & sprinkled it on the people, and said, behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words".

¶And is [? xoc] <it [c]> seems as tho' God shewed favour to righteous men, because he loved [xoE] <he [c]> LOVED THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS, by Ps. 11. 7. "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright."

¶Now the OBJECTION from these and such like passages in the Old Test. is this;

¶It appears from hence, that obedience is not only insisted on as a thing consequentially necessary, and so a kind of secondary condition of of [sic] the covenant; but as the main thing required, the grand condition of the covenant, that was established between him & the people, the grand condition of Gods mercy & favour & blessing, of escaping death & obtaining life, of being accepted as God's people and having him as our God; and the condition of the forgiveness of sin or Gods turning from the fierceness of his anger & having compassion on em; as in Deut. 13. 17,18. and that this is the term of not having any past sins any more remembered or mention'd; & that because in obedience persons practic<s [c]>e vertue, do justly, love mercy & do what is lawful & right, as Ezek. 33. 14,15,16. & Mic. 6. 7,8. & do what is valuable in Gods eyes, or right in his light & what he loves, Deut. 13. 17,18. Deut 6. 17,18 Ps. 11. 7 as tho' the moral value of their obedience was the price of God's favour. &ea it is said that if this obedience was performed by God's people, it should be their righteousness, Deut. 6. 24,25. and that the repenting sinner in turning to obedience to god's statutes &c-- should live int he righteousness he had done; Ezek. 18. 21, 22. At least these things as expressed from time to time, must have a natural tendency to lead the people to such an apprehension, that their obedience was the thing which recommended them by its moral value.

¶Now in ANSWER to this objection, I would say the following things:

¶I. Nothing is more apparent by the SS. than that the terms o the covenant of works, or terms of that kind, were often proposed in the O. T. to men, as tho' God expected that they should fulfil 'em, and in that way obtain life, because the fulfilment of those terms was indeed their duty, and because God would put 'em on trial for their conviction & humiliation, to fit them for the proper exercises of faith in <on [? Sm.B]> a Mediatour

¶It is out of all dispute, that the ten commandmts were deliverd at Mt Sinai, as a Cov. of works, in this manner & for these ends, by what the Apostle says, Gal. 3. 17---25. Rom. 7. 1---13. Rom. 3. 19,20,21 with chap. 5. 13. 14. 2. Cor. 3. 7,8,9.

¶The same is no less manifest concerning other passages in the law of Moses, as particularly that in Levit. 18. 5. "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes & my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them": And other passages of the same tenour. This is /p. 908/ manifest by Rom. 10. 5. & Gal. 3. 12. And the same is evident not only concerning some passages in the pentateuch, but in other parts of the Old Testament, which were as it were [xoc?] appendages to the Pentateuch and additional revelation given under the same dispensation, and as it were [xoc] <on [c]> the same foundation . Tis all [?] called the law by the Apostle, and that when speaking of the affair of justification Rom. 3. 19. If those words in Levit 18. 5 were legal, according to the tenour of the cov. of works, as it is manifest they were; then undoubtedly the same words proposed in the same manner, in other parts of the Old T. may justly be taken in the same manner. As particularly in Ezek. 20. 11. "And I gave them my statutes and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do he shall even lie in them . & the same words again. v. 13. & 21 . Nor need it seem strange, if we often meet with things of this nature, in other parts of the Old T. besides the law of Moses (tho' it be confessed, that many other parts are more evangelical, than the Pentateuch) seeing we have something even [xoc?] of the same nature even in the New Testament. X after he appeared in the flesh, still went on to treat men after the same manner. He proposed legal terms to the rich yong [ck:ms] man for his conviction.

¶There are many things in the Old Testament, that agree with the apostles interpretation of such like passages. It was signified to the people at the same time that these legal terms were proposed to 'em, that they could not fulfil them, when the people appeared forward to promise fulfilmt, God says. Deut. 5. 29 "O that there were such an heart in them"; intimating, that they did not know their own hearts. and when see next col. but one.

p. 906. col. 2. c] Ps. 15 throughout. "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? &c-- He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness, & speaketh the truth in his heart. He that back-biteth not with his tongue" &c-- Ps. 24. 3,4,5. "Who shall ascend &c-- He that hath clean hand & a pure heart, who hath not lift up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully; He shall receive the blessings from the Lord, and RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM the God of his salvation". Isai 33. 15, 16 "He that walketh righteously & speaketh uprightly. He that despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, & shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks. Bread shall be given him & his waters shall be sure."

¶Isai 1. 16,17,18,19,20. "Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to be evil, learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow, come now & let us reason together, saith the Lord. Tho' your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. t<T[c]>ho' they be red like crimson; they shall be as wool. if ye be willing & obedient ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

last col. but one e] And when Joshua solemnly renewed the cov. with Israel, a little before his death, & the people appeared very forward to promise obedience; he says to em, Josh. 34. 19. "Ye cannot serve God [xoc?] the Lord; for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins". He intimates plainly to em, that the holiness, strictness & perfection of God's law is such, that they can never answer the demands of it, and that the forwardness of their profession & promises arose from ignorance of themselves. Nevertheless he leaves this law & covenant with them for their conviction. v. 22. "And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against your selves, that ye have chosen you the Lord to serve him". v. 26,27. "And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and took a great stone & set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord; and Joshua said unto all the people, Behold this stone shall be witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us. It shall therefore be a witness unto you, lest you deny your God". ¶? And when God gave the law at Mt Sinai, he expressly declared, that it was for their trial, to see whether they would obey or no. Exod. 19. 20. "And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God is come to prove you". The end of this word of God to the people was the same with the end of his providential dealings with them, which we have an account of in Exod. 16. 4. "Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you -----that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not. See also chap. 15. 24. Deut. 8. 2. "The Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness, to humble thee & to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no." v. 15,16. "Who led thee thro that great terrible wilderness --- who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna. --- that he might humble thee, & that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter End." ¶? And which is very express to the purpose, when God laid up the law in the tabernacle, his declared end was, that might be a witness against the people, to testify & shew the wickedness of their hearts; Deut 31. 24 to the end. Thus manifestly does the Apostle Paul declare God's end, in exhibiting & proposing the people's duty in a legal manner, according to what is clearly to be gathered from the Old T. it self.

¶There is nothing in the Old T. that I know of, that affords so plausible an objection against the doctrine of justification by faith, as I have stated, as those places mentioned in Ezekiel, chap. 33. 14,15,16 & 18. 21,22.

¶In the sequel of this discourse, I shall take notice of several things relating to those passages, which jointly considered may serve to remove all difficulty arising from them.

¶That which I would observe now, as proper to be taken notice of under this head, which we are now upon, is that there is a great deal of reason to suppose, that these are some of those passages of the O. T., /p. 910/ wherein the aim of the Holy Ghost is the same, as in that passage of the law of Moses cited by the Apostle, Levit. 19. 5. viz. to propose terms of life in a legal manner for the peoples conviction. and [xoc] t<T[c]>he reasonable [sic] of supposing this may appear by the following considerations;

¶1 Tis certain that this prophet, in some parts of this [xoc?] his prophecy, does take the same method, does propose legal terms of life in the very same manner as the law of Moses in that place in Leviticus. For we have in some parts of this prophecy the very same words; viz. these words, "My statutes & judgmts, which if a man do, he shall live in them". as Ezek. 20. 11,13,21.

¶2. That there is so much in these words in Ezekiel, in the places objected, that is parallel to that in Levit., that it confirms, that they are delivered with the same aim, & end [and? c read "and" & put comma after "aim"][& (? om.E?)] are to be taken in the same manner & sense. These words in chap. 33. "He hath done [e's line, larger letters] that which is lawful & right in the original, justice & judgment; HE SHALL SURELY LIVE". [E's line] & those in chap. 18. "And DO that which is lawf. & right; HE SHALL SURELY LIVE". & those i<i[c]>n the righteousness that HE HATH DONE, HE SHALL LIVE". [E's lines] These expressions are most undeniably exactly parallel with those Levit. 18. 5. "Ye shall keep my STATUTES & my JUDGEMENTS, which if a man do, he shall live in them"; & so [xoc] exactly parallel with the<o>se other places in this same prophecy. chap. 20. 11,13,21. And the name that the prophet Ezekiel gives to the statutes he speaks of, calls them the STATUTES OF LIFE [E's] further shews the places to be parallel, and argues that the Prophet in calling them so, & in all he says in that place, had that place in the law of Moses in his eye, which tis plain <he [c]> had much in his eye, by his citing it three times in chap. 20.

¶3. Our taking these passages in Ezekiel in this manner, agrees with his <the [c]> plan & express design & drift of the prophet in these places; which is to convince em [xoc] <that people [c]> of their wickedness and God's justice in their punishmt. This is his express design in Ezek. 33. see v. 17. in [xoc?] the very next words to the passage objected, <are [c]> "Yet the children of thy people say, the way of the Lord is not equal. But as for them, their way is not equal". so again v. 20, still speaking of the same thing; "Yet ye say the way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways". These are the very things that the law is proposed to fallen men for, to convince em of sin & of God's justice in their punishmt.

¶And so we have the very same declared design annexed to the passage objected in the 18<th [c]> chap. see v. 25. "Yet ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal . Hear now, O house of Israel, Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?" & v 29.30. "Yet saith the house of Israel, the way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, /p. 911/ every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God.

¶The whole agrees with Gods providential dealings with that people in Ezekiel's time which was to convince & humble the people for their sin & fit [them (om.E)] for the great mercy of God in their redemption from the Babilonish captivity. As God convinces men of sin & humbles em by the law to fit em for mercy & salvation. Thus Gods word by his prophets & his providence agree & sweetly harmonize as to the aim & design of both.

And it may be further observed, that the words in Ezekiel are <more [c]> plainly in the strain of the covenant of works, than [xoJE] even [xoc] than <even [c]> those in Leviticus: For in Ezekiel the terms of life are expressed by, walking in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; [E's line] which does as naturally [? Sm.B.] & fully express the terms of the cov. of works, as consisting in perfect obedience, as the<o>se, Deut. 27. 26, "Confirming all the words of the law to do them" : yet more fully.

¶The main OBJECTION against understanding the words of the prophet, as proposing legal terms for the conviction of the people is, that the prophet in the words objected supposes the persons <to whom [c]> he speaks, /mg/ [to (om.E)] to have been in time past sinners; and that he speaks of three things, that the covenant of works is wholly ignorant of, and that are aliono [xoc] <foreign [c]> from the nature of it. 1. He proposes future obedience as the term of life, supposing it had [xoc?]<s [c?]> been wanting & wickedness <has been [c]> eem liv [been? xoc?] committed & lived in in times past . whereas this is not the term of the covenant of grace: they are [xoc] <that is [c]> perfect obedience at all times; innocence & holiness of heart & life without any guilt at all. 2. What the prophet Ezekiel speaks of, as belonging to the terms of life which he proposes, is repentance or turning from sin. whereas the cov. of works knows of no such thing as turning from sin [c?] r<R[c?]>epentance is entirely aliono [xoc] <foreign [c]> from the covenant of works. 3. One benefit which the Prophet promises in the passages cited, is pardon of sin, or forgetting, passing by & not mentioning past sin. But pardon of sin is a benefit, which dont belong to the cov. of works; but is indeed inconsistent with it, & is plainly peculiar to the covenant of grace.

¶To this I ANSWER: The objection is grounded on a mistake of the manner of God's proposing a covenant of works, to fallen men, for their trial & conviction . It must be considered, that God never proposed the covenant of works in the whole of it, & in it's true & compleat nature, including both past & future fulfilment . nor was this necessary to God's end, which was not the bringing men to eternal life and happiness in that way, but only a conviction of their sinfulness & impotence. When God is pleased to take this method with men for their conviction, viz. to put 'em on endeavours of <saving [c]> their soul <s[c]> [?] , that they may be convinced <their inability [c]> by experiment; it would [xoc] <is [c]> not have been [xoc] proper for him to /p. 912/ put them on endeavours to alter what was past, <& [c?] to endeavour that [xoc] <render [c]> their past lives might be [xoc] perfectly innocent & holy: that would have /mg/ be [xoc; "be" by E?] <be [c]> absurd . Therefore God is pleased to put em on future trial, & to promise life to em, if they will perfectly obey for the future: which implies a forgetting all that is past: Tho' meerly their future obedience would make no attonement for past disobedience and so could not have at all answered the eternal rule or covenant of works. nor would there have /mg/ [been (om.E)] any ground in the reason & nature of things for a connection between their future obedience & their being forgiven all that's past & having eternal life without an attonemt for what was [xoc] <their [c]> past sins. But seeing the bringing them to life in this way, being [xoc] <is [c]> not at all God's end, it being known to be utterly impossible; but only men's conviction; the proposal of such impossible terms had a proper tendency to answer that which was truly God's end.

¶Thus if vain [xoc?] any vain man had supposed, that he was strong enough to conflict with & conquer the most high & God [xoc] <he [c]> to convince him [xoc] <the man [c]> should propose it to him, to try his utmost, promising that if he prevaild, he would bestow heaven upon him: this would not have implied, that there would have been any connection, in the reason of things, between his sins being forgiven & his being possessed of heavenly happiness, & such a conquest, if that were possible.

¶When God delivered the ten commandments from Mt. Sinai, and proposed this law as a covenant of works to that congregation, it was after many of them had committed great sin; after [xoE by mistake] many of them had long lived in idolatry in Egypt, the most direct breach of the two first of those commands; and also after they had been publickly reproved for their murmurings against the Lord, and <had been [c]> told, that God took notice of their sin therein; Exod. 16. 7,8,9,10,11. & then [xoc] after that had been reproved as a very disobedient & rebellious people, in v. 28. "And the Lord said unto Moses, how long refuse ye to keep my commandmts & my laws"? § ? And when God proposed legal terms of life to that congregation, in the<o[c?]>se words which the Apostle takes notice of, Levit. 18. 5. "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes & my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them"; It was after they had committed that great sin of making the golden calf, for which God had so greatly testestified [sic] his displeasure against them . But God still for the further conviction of the people, is pleased to put the affair of their obtaining life on the issue of the trial of their future strength & righteousness, proposing legal terms to them.

¶So when when [sic] the self confident /p. 913/ rich young man came to X, to know what he should do that he might have eternal life, X proposes to em [xoc] <him [c]> a future keeping the commandmts; yea he promises him life only on the condition of a fulfilmt of the commands of the second table of the law; tho' his only keeping them, would not have been a fulfilling the covenant of works, which requires perfect obedience to the commands of both tables. and therefore there would have been no connection, in the reason & nature of things, between a fulfilmt of that part of the law only, & his eternal happiness . And after that, for his conviction, he promises him treasure in heaven, if he would go & sell all that he had, and give to the poor & come & take up his cross & follow him: tho' if he had done these external things, it would have [been (om.E)] no fulfilment of the conditions of either of the covenant of works or cov. of grace. for if men do all this, if they give all their goods to feed the poor, & give their bodies to be burned, and have not love, it will profit them nothing. Yet X who knew all things, knew that under the circumstance, which he saw attended the young man's case, he would not, and could not be willing, to do that [or did E have this too?] <is [c]> without love, & so that this direction under these circumstances would be a sufficient trial, whether he had a hearty [sic?] to comply with the true terms of life.

¶II. It is nothing against the doctrine of justification by faith alone, as I have elsewhere explain'd that doctrine, to represent obedience as the most proper condition of the cov. of grace, or that qualification in us, by which especially we come to be accepted and justified . For, as I have observed in my Discourse on the difference between the two covenants, Contr. p. 207 &c. obedience, as the word signifies in both testaments, implies a hearing & yielding to the voice of God. and this there is equally in complying with the precepts of pure law, and in complying with the calls & offers of the gospel.

¶So with regard to that expression of "Keeping the commandments of the Lord," this may signify indifferently either the yielding to the authority of a meer [?Sm.B.] Lawgiver, demanding what is due to him from us for his pleasure & honour; or an adhering to and attending the directions of a Redeemer & spiritual Head & Husband, following a Captain of salvation, obey<ing [c]> his word of command, in order to our deliverance from our enemies, as a manifestation of trust [c's line] in him . t<T[c]>he word trust [E's line] is often in the Old Testamt put to signify that adherence & active subjection to a prince, that was appointed as the people's protectour & head of influence for their good. That in the /p. 914/ first chap. of Isai<ah [c]> that is translated willing & obedient, [E's line] properly signifies willing & hearkening; which truly does most naturally lead us to suppose, that obedience is here spoken of with regard to that in its nature, which was last [? Sm.B.] <least?> taken notice of. --- The exceeding fairness & reasonableness & mercy of God's methods of dealing with sinners, which is suggested by that expression, "Come let us reason together", remarkably appears in this, that justification is offered on such terms, that they shall be perfectly & freely forgiven, if they will but hearken, are but willing to yield to their Redeemer and <the [c]> Author of their good, & wont rebelliously refuse their own happiness. as X sets forth the fairness & kindness of his terms by that, "How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, & ye would not".

¶There is [xoc?] <T[c]>the obedience of a wife, and the obedience of a meer servant, are quite a different nature. the obedience of the latter is a yielding & giving up himself to him that commands, as an expression of subjection to meer authority, demanding that he should devote hims. to him most directly, for his sake, to be for his profit or pleasure. The obedience of the former is the proper expression of trust in & [xoE?] <of[c]> acceptance of love benevolence & trust in the superiour wisdom & strength, & the goodness & faithfulness of a protectour and head of beneficent communication. ¶? The character under which Jehovah, that divine person, that redeemd em out of Egypt, spake with em at Mt. Sinai, went before em, brought em into Canaan & dwelt with them in the temple, was that of a Redeemer & spiritual Husband & tutelar Deity . When God made <them [c]> his people & became their God, it was the day of their redemption & of their espousals. He redeemed em out of Egypt: he went before them as the capt. of their salvation: he espoused em to hims. at Mt Sinai: he led em & protected em by a pillar of cloud & fire, & upheld em by a series of miracles, and went before em as their captain & mighty saviour, to bring 'em into Canaan; & give [xoE?] <to [c]> fight their battles for them & give them the victory over their enemies. [no space left on line by E]

See my Discourse in ans. to that ques. In what sense the saints under the O. T. trusted in X to justification Cont. p. 213 &c therefore that hearkening and obeying & keeping the commandmts of the Lord, that was reveald by Moses, as the term [Sm.B.; terms?] of the covenant between God & the people, i.e. of that covenant that was not only proposed, but established, was a complying with his voice, yielding & adhering to him as a sp. Husband, Redeemer, Protectour & Capt of salvation . What he every where insists upon is, that they should /p. 915/ with all their hearts receive, submit to him as their spiritual Husband and as such faithfully & constantly cleave to him. And [xoc] therefore the argumt so often used to enforce the obedience required was, that God was a jealous God. And [xoc] this is insisted on as the condition of his favour, & reconciliation, & enjoying the great blessings of being his people, and having him for our [xoc] <their [c]> God.

¶That obeying or hearing God's voice, which is so often mentioned as the condition of the covenant, in the law of Moses & other parts of the old Testament, was thus proposed as the term of the covenant, as it was the exercise and expression of faith, is evident by the Apostle's own interpretation Heb. III> 6. to the end. Holding fast our confidence in v. 6. is express'd in the next verses in the words of <the [c]> old T. (and as citing the O.T.) by hearing God's voice; v. 7,8. "Wherefore, as the H. Gh. saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness". And in the 12. v. the Jews disobedience in erring [?] & departing in their hearts, as not knowing God's ways, is spoken <of, [c]> as that [Sm.B. the?] sin of unbelief. so again holding fast our confidence &c-- is again expressed by that old Testament phrase, of hearing (or obeying) God's voice & not hardening our hearts, as in the provocation: which hardening of their hearts is represented to be that unbelief, that destroyed them. v. 18, 19. That disobedience of the people, which in Num 14. 22. the place refer'd to by the Apostle, is called their not hearkening to (or not obeying) God's voice was what ruin'd them & caused them to come short of God's rest, as it was their unbelief. Therefore their hearkening to or obeying God's voice, that was the condition of life & of entring into God's rest, was so, as it was the exercise and expression of faith. Therefore we are doubtless thus to understand that Jer. VII. 23. <&> But [mg; xoc] "But this thing commanded I them, saying, obey my voice, and I will be your God and ye shall be my people, & walk ye in all the commands which I have commanded you, that it may be well with you. but they hearken'd not nor inclined their ear". See also v. 26. "Yet they hearken'd not unto me, nor inclined their ear; but harden'd their neck". Let this be compared with the 7,8, 9 & 10. verses of the <at [c or E?]> III of Heb. all that is expressed here, as the condition of the cov. which God made in the wilderness, is called obeying God's voice. so there walking in in [sic] all God's ways.[E's lines?] so there [xoc] in Heb. v. 10. They have not known my ways. [E's lines?] As in Hebrews the thing mention'd wherein they failed, was not hearing God's voice, so here in Jeremiah. v. 24. it is their not hearkening . There they are said to harden their hearts. so here they are said to harden their necks. v. 26. See also Jer. XI. 4,5,7.

¶That the [xoc] hearkening unto the voice of the Lord <, so as [c]> to keep his commandments and his statutes which /p. 916/ were written in the book of the law with all the heart & all the soul, which was the condition of the Cov. which God made with his people in the wilderness, was the exercise and expression of that faith which is the condition of the gospel covenant, as [xoc] evident by Deut. XXX. 10---14. compared with Rom. 10. 6. Who shall go over the sea for us, to bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it, [E's line?] and so have the benefit of it, that deliverance and salvation which is to be obtain'd by it; as is evident by the context . For this is the supposed interrogation of the people in captivity, seeking deliverance from that calamity. 'Tis deliverance or salvation they are enquiring after, as contain'd in the word, as in the gospel. Therefore the Apostle says, 'tis the word of faith that we preach; implying a supposition, that if they could obtain the word, or the commandmt, (as it is called v. 11.) & receive it, they therein received deliverance; they therein received God, whose law it was, as their Saviour. In enquiring after the commandmt, they enquire after a saviour; and God tells 'em, that the word is near 'em, so that if they would receive it in their heart, mouth & practice, they should therein have the benefit of salvation; the Lawgiver would become their Saviour; in receiving it they would receive life, as is expressed in what follows; I have set life & death before thee . the word & its salvation is nigh thee. God sends it to thine heart & thy mouth, if thou wilt but receive it, there [xoc] thou shalt have it for accepting. so that obedience is here spoken of, under the notion of an acceptance or reception of a saviour; a receiving the author of the word, as the author of the gospel of life. Being in the mouth & heart means a being received . The word is very nigh thee, in thy mouth & in thy heart, that thou mayst do it: i.e. so might thee, that there is need of nothing but the consent of your heart, or our cordial reception, & you have it in your heart & practice and have the benefit of it.

¶So that tis plain, that hearkening to the voice of the Lord, and obeying his commandmts &c. is here spoken of as the condition of life and salvation, as an expression of hearty receiving the Saviour, whose word it is. Heartily receiving God as the Author of life . The word is not here spoken of as being in the heart & mouth any other wise, than as heartily received by faith; as appears by the Apostle's interpretation, and also by the words themselves as compared with other scriptures. For men are here spoken of as being in such circumstances, wherein the law had departed out of their heart & mouth; /p. 917/ viz. when their hearts had turned away from the true God to idols, & their mouths professed their worship & a dependence on them.

¶The obeying God & keeping his commands so much insisted [on (om.E)] in the book of Proverbs, as the way to favour & [xo?] life and happiness, is thus recommended there, as an expression of trusting in God, as is manifest by Prov. 22. 17---20. "Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge: for it is a pleasant thing. <I[c]>if thou keep them within thee, they shall be withal fitted in thy lips, THAT THY TRUST MAY BE IN THE LORD. I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. have I not written to thee excellent things in counsels & knowledge?

¶From this place by the way I would observe, that the phrase, KEEPING GOD'S COMMANDS, when spoken of as the condition of the covenant, don't necessarily imply any thing aliono[xoc] <foreign [c]> from the covenant of grace, <as appears [c]> from what is said. v. 18. "if thou keep them within thee"; in the original it is keep in they [sic] belly, or in thy heart, [E's line] which expression naturally implies no no [sic] more, than a perseverance in cordially receiving, embracing & adhering to.

¶ [space left--for Gk. or Heb.?] To know or acknowledge God; <to [c]> worship & serve him; <to [c]> be subject to him & keep his words or rules in their hearts & practice, was the proper expression of receiving Jehovah as their God & Saviour, or uniting themselves to him as his people, and receiving him as their sp. Husband, Captain & Redeemer. This was a real & effectual doing of it, & is plainly & abundantly reveal'd to be the condition of God's covenant in this manner; [? xoc?] it being no other than voluntarily & by their own act becoming his people, & putting themselves under his care as their prince & saviour.

¶The commands of God were given to his people, as the precepts & directions of a kind physician, a tender Father & loving Husband, & <as [c]> so many directions to [xoc?] & rules for healing, deliverance, safety, & happiness; Deut 6. 24. "And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good alwaies" & Deut 10. 12, 13. "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, & to love & to serve him [xoc?] the Lord thy God with all thy heart & with all thy soul, to keep the commandmts of the Lord & his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good". So Deut. 30. 19,20. Obedience to the<o>se commands therefore was the condition of life, not as the price of life and happiness, but as an accepting it, a closing with it & embracing it, as the gift of the love of a sp. Father, Saviour & Husband, which is what seems to be implied in Deut. 30. 19 "I call heaven & earth to witness -------<(quote) [c]> that I have set ---- before thee, therefore choose life, that thou /p. 918/ mayst love the Lord thy God, & that thou mayst obey his voice, & that thou mayst cleave unto him; for HE IS THY LIFE & THE LENGTH OF THY DAYS". --- In this chapter we have the terms of the cov. of grace, the Apostle testifies Rom. 10. 6 &c. compared [with (om.E)] v. 11,12,13,14,15 of this chap.

¶That the ten commandmts were given as prescribed methods of cleaving to God as a Redeemer, is comfirmd from the preface to the decalogue.

¶The condition of the cov. of God with his people of old is often expressed by fearing of [xoc?] [ next col.

< next col. b.> Worshipping him, as worshipping other gods, is called fearing those gods, & worshipping the true God or other gods is also often called trusting in them; because worshipping tutelar deities was especially an act of trust. <therefore idols were called vanity & [c?] a lie, because they faild the trust of their votaries, <& they [c]> could not profit or deliver them 1 Sam 12 [sic; Sm.B.: 11] 20,21,22,23,24,25.> ¶? So the worship & service of G., which was the condition of the covenant, is often called knowing god: which phrase especially denotes a cleaving to him as our own, in a near relation & special propriety . But the observing all prescribed moral duties is included in the notion of fearing, worshipping, knowing & trusting in God, in the Old Testament; as all are included in the requisite & proper exercises & expressions of faith in the new Testament. <see Ps. 34. 11---14. Deut. 31. 13.> Jer. 22. 16. "He judged the cause of the poor & needy --- was not this to know me saith the Lord"? which is agreeable to the language of the N. T. concerning faith, which does in effect say from time to time, concerning such moral duties, was not this to believe in Christ? . we are there taught, that God will own no other faith as true, but that which works by love and shews it self in deeds of charity. Jam. 1. 27. & 2. 14 to the end.

last col. c. Ps. 15. 12,13,14 Ps. 31. 19 & 85. 9. & 103. 11,12,13,17. & 115. 13. Eccl. 8. 12. Mal. 4. 2. Fearing God is put for last col. c.

¶ <that> When serving & obeying God & keeping his commands is [xoc] <are [c]> spoken of as the special terms of his terms of his [sic] covenant & favour, it is so spoken of as an expression of trust & hope in G. & waiting on God, which signifies much the same, may be argued from the following places; Ps. 2. 11,12. "Serve the L. with fear ---- <(quote) [c]> Kiss the son -----blessed are all they that put their trust in him". Ruth 1. 16. "Thy people shall be my people, & thy God my G." with chap. 2. 12. ---"under whose wings thou are come to trust". Job. 13. 15,16. "Tho' he slay me yet will I trust in him. But I will maintain mine own ways before him: he also shall be my salvation. for an hypocrite shall not come before him. Ps 27. 3----8. 9. 27, 34,37,39,40. & Ps. 4. 5 Jer. 39. 16,17,18 compared with chap. 38. 7,12. 2. K. 18. 5,6. Ps. 4. 3,4,5 Ps. 5. 10,11,12, & 16. 1 with the rest of the Psalm & 17. 3---7. & 25. 1---5, 10,12,21,21. Ps. /p. 919/ 26. 1---6. Ps. 31. 6. with foregoing verses & v. 23,24. & 32. 10,11 & 33. 18. & 34. 7 to the end Ps. 36. 7---10. & 37 & 52. 7,8 with the rest of the Psalm. & 55. 22,23 & 62. mind especially the last v. & Ps. 64. 10 & 73. 27,28 & 84. 11,12. Ps. 112, 7 & 119. 41---49 & v. 113---120, 145---148 & v 166. Ps. 147. 11. Isai 26. 2,3,4. Isai. 36. 2,3,4. Isai. 40. 4. & 57. 13. & 64. 4. compared with 1 Cor. 2. 9. Jer. 17. 5---10 Jer. 38. 7---12 & 39. 18. Hos 12. 6. Zeph. 3. 2,11,12,13. <The whole of the peoples duty to God is often called trusting in God this being the proper respect to be exercised towards God in [the (om.E)] character God stood in to them.

¶Seeking [c's line] God is a phrase used to express faith [c's line] in the Old T., as I have observed elsewhere. but obeying God & living a vertuous, holy life is [xoc] <are [c]> spoken of as the terms of favour & happiness, as it is [xoc] <they imply [c]> the exercise of seeking God . So Ps. 24. 5,6. with the foregoing part of the Psalm. Ps. 22. 25,26. Ps. 34. 9,10 &c-- <See Miscell. B. 3. N. 861. see next p. col. 2. b >

¶ <next p. col. 2. c.> In that noted prophecy of the Christ, Deut. 18. 15. in which all are commanded to believe in him, the same word is used as is elsewhere in the Old T. translated obey. [E's line?] The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren unto him shall ye hearken [E's line?] (or obey) which is agreeable to the voice from heaven in the time of Xs transfiguration, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him".

¶The reason why loving & obeying X, or hearkening to him, is the special condition of life & happiness, viz [xoc] <is [c]> that this is but accepting of and cleaving to the great Author, Fountion [ck:ms] & means of life and happiness; Deut. 30. 19,20. "I have set before you life & death, blessing & cursing. That both thou & thy seed may live . That thou mayst love the Lord thy God; and that thou mayst obey his voice, & that thou mayst cleave unto him. For he is thy life & the length of thy days."

¶and those passages objected in Ezekiel may be interpreted in an evangelical sense. <A[c]>as the ten commandments are to be taken both in a legal and evangelical sense; so when it is said in Ezek. 33. 14 &c-- that "if the wicked turn from his wickedness and do justice and judgment" (as the words are in the original) "& walk in the statutes of life, he shall live"; There is no necessity of understanding it, that tis on account of the moral excellency & value of the righteousness or virtue there is in such a conversion & change of practice . Tho' in its being said, He hath done justice & judgmt; he shall surely [live (om.E)]; it may seem as if such a manner of speaking implied, that his doing that which <is [c]> so good, so right & vertuous, was the proper reason why he should live, & that it was the value of his right doing that would recommend him to it; yet there is no necessity of taking it thus . Doing justice & judgmt may be only a common expression among that people to signify, [sic] that a man was a godly man & lived piously, & it /p. 920/ may be as much as to say, "However wicked the man has been, & however wickedly he he [sic] has lived heretofore; yet if it appears, that now he be [xoE] <he [c]> is a true penitent, be [xoc] <is [c]> truly changed, & is [it?] is [?] new sincerely otherwise [xoc?] & really has left his old wicked course, & has turned his feet into God's ways; his former wickedness shall not be mentiond . And his doing justice & judgmt may here be mentiond, not as the procuring cause of favour by it [is? xoc] <ts [c]> moral value, but only as the evidence of the reality of the man's repentance; and [xoc?] an evidence that he has accepted the way of life & embraced the methods of grace which bestows eternal life; because he walks in the statutes of life universally, without committing iniquity [E's lines], without living in any sin. And tho' in the XVIII. chap of Ezek. 21. 22. there is [xoc] <are is [c]> added to the [xoc] <to the [c]> expressions like those in chap 33. this other expression. --- In the righteousness that he hath done he shall live; [E's lines] yet this is well capable of an evangelical sense. There is no necessity of understanding it, that he shall <have [c]> life as the purchase of the moral value of his righteousness. But it may well be understood thus, seeing he has repented, has forsaken the ways of wickedness (which were ways that both by their natural tendency, & by their merit, lead to unavoidable death) and have [xoc] <has [c]> turned in <to [c]> the way of true piety, which is the way that leads to life, in that way he shall be saved.

< last p. col. 1. c.> What manner of obedience was the condition of God's favour, & with regard to what in the nature of this obedience it was, that it was the condition of justification, may be seen by the book of Psalms in general & especially by the 119 Psalm.

¶Fearing God keeping God's commandments & trusting in God are often used synonymously in the Old T. Compare Prov. 13. 13. with Prov. 16. 30. See notes on the latter place. see last p. col. 1. c.

¶ III. Many of the texts which have been mention'd, & others of a like sort, may well be understood, not as declaring the grand qualification that has primary influence in persons justification and acceptance in the sight of God, as being the thing in the person which makes it fit & suitable that he should be looked upon, in distinction from others, as a proper subject of civine acceptance & favour; But only as descriptions of the persons exhibiting their distinguishing character & sure [? Sm.B.] marks, & so the qualification which will be required /p. 921/ of them in his judicial proceedings with them,& what shall turn the scale in pronouncing sentence upon them [xoE?] so that in the 24 15 [xoE] <th [c]> Ps. "Who shall shall [sic] ascend [xoc?] <dwell> into [xoE] thy holy hill?----He that walketh uprightly & worketh righteousness" &c.-- So to the like purpose in the 24<th[c]> Ps. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart".

¶This may well be understood as only giving the character of such as should be admitted to those priviledges, as was proper & natural in answer to such a question as is there proposed; which is as much as to say, how shall we know, who thes<o>se are that shall be thus highly favoured? how are they /mg/ are distinguished? In answer to such a question, tis proper to give their distinguishing characteristics & marks, by which they are most certainly known; and the mentioning these don't at all imply, that this is that righteousness, that vertue, whose value it is that primarily recommends 'em to be received to a title to these priviledges . And indeed the words of the 24. Psalm do [xoc] most naturally lead us to understand them, as mentiond only as signs [xoc] /mg/ as signs of that faith, which is the more primary condition of acceptance; which faith in the Old Testament & sometimes [xoc] <even [c]> in the New, is sometimes called seeking of God: (as I have observed in my papers on Faith.) v. 6. "This is the generation of them that seek thee; that seek thy face, O Jacob, very much like those places in the 15 & 24. Psalms is that in Isai. 33. 15,16. "He that walketh righteously &c-- ----He shall dwell on high": ---- which may be understood as an answer to the hypocrite's exclamation, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire"? The answer shews not who can bear to dwell with or in everlasting burnings, but who shall be safe from it & set on high out of the reach of it, in the day of wrath, when Gods fury shall come forth like fire, & shall burn unquenchably.

¶Tis as proper & natural to answer such enquiries, by mentioning the distinguishing character of persons, as their names. If the answer had been given by mentioning the names of the persons, no body would have taken it, that the name was the thing that first recommended the person to a title to the benefit; but only that the persons who were accepted to a title, might be known by it; & no more can be argued, when the answer is made, by mentioning the distinguishing character instead of the name.

¶So when it is said in Ezek. XVIII v. 9. "He is just; he shall surely live", speaking of him that has walked in God's statutes & kept his judgments; 'Tis not needful for us to understand, that it is God's design to tell us, on what account it is thought proper & fit, that such an one should be acepted [sic] as the heir of life, or what that righteousness is, the value of which primarily recommends him to such great favour. But that tis only his drift to tell us, that tis <his [c]> own state /p. 922/ & not the state of his father, which shall be regarded by the Judge of the world; & that tis his own personal character only, that shall be considered in the judgment, & shall determine his state in the sentence of the Judge. If it appears in the judgment, that his state is the state of a good man, and that his personal character is that of a truly righteous person; the sentence shall be accordingly; HE PERSONALLY IS JUST, whatever is the character of his father; & therefore he shall surely live: IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH HE HATH DONE (as tis said v. 22.) he shall live. In his own [xoc; mg] own personally [xoc] good estate & character he shall be sentenced to life. Every mans own personally [xoc] state & character shall be reckon'd to him, & esteemd his, & not his fathers; as tis said v. 20. "The soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RIGHTeOUS SHALL BE UPON HIM AND THE WICKEDNESS OF THE WICKED SHALL BE UPON HIM".

¶The design and argument of the chapter no way leads to declare, ON WHAT ACCOUNT God has promised to save a man that is in such a [xoc] [state (om.E)] & [xoc] has such a character; but only that his personal [xoc?] state & character is that, which is distinguishing of such as have a title to the promise, & that his personal state & character, & not that of any of his relation, shall be reckoned to him, or SHALL BE UPON HIM or TO HIM, as it might have been translated.

¶So [xoc?] when it is said, v. 20. IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH HE HATH DONE HE SHALL LIVE; that is as much as to say, he shall be judged according to his own personal works, or what he has done, & not according to what his parents or children have done.

¶And as to the place before mentiond in the XXXIII chap. v. 14,15,16. which is in many respects parallel with that in the 18 chapter, God speaking of the wicked man who turns from his wickedness & does justice & judgment, and walks in the statutes of life, he says, none of his sins which he hath committed shall be mention'd unto him; he hath done justice & judgmt: he shall surely live. The drift & argument of the place don't at all lead to enter into the consideration of any such question, as why God's statutes are statutes of life, or how it becomes fit, that such as heartily comply with the revelation which God has given, have life promised to them: but only to declare, what state of the man shall be regarded by God, when he judges it [? xoc] <him. [c]> /p. 923/ The man has been in two states and of two opposite characters, the state & character of a wicked man, & that of a good man. The design of the discourse is only to shew, which of the two states shall be looked upon as his by the Judge; & to declare, that it is the last & the last only. Tho' it may be he has done more wickedness than justice and judgment; yet all that is past shall not be mention'd to him, shall not be looked upon as his or that which he has now any relation to, as at all denominating or characterizing the man in Gods sight.

¶God both in the XVIII & also the XXXIII. chapters [xoc] is [Sm.B.: so] declaring, how God will treat men when he comes to act towards 'em as a Judge; and what ways or works men should live or die in, in the judgment, when God proceeds in his judicial character to convict men, or to award to them their retribution; as chap. 33. v. 20. "O ye house of Israel, I WILL JUDGE YOU EVERY ONE ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS"; which is exactly agreeable to what is everywhere declared to be God's method of judgment, through <the [c]> old Testament & new . So the design of the 18 chap. is to shew the reason & method of the punishments, which God brought, or had threatend to bring, on the people, <for [c]> which they found fault with him, as if they were punished for their father's sons. see the beginning of the chapter. & then <it [c]> concludes v. 30 "Therefore I will judge you, O House of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord; Repent & turn your selves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

¶IV. It is true, that every vertue & grace of God's Spirit, & all true obedience and holy practice, if we consider it not as faith it self, or that very qualification, on account of which Gods [xoc] looks upon it proper & fit, that a person should be looked upon <considered [c]> as in X, and so interested in his benefits; but only as that [? Sm.B.: the ] sure attenda<e>nt or [?xoc <xoE ?] <of [c]> fruits [xoc, who read it as "faith"] & distinguishings marks [xoc] of it: I say, considered only thus it may, by vertue of God's promise & covenant, give a title to life and all the blessed fruits of God<s [c]> favour & be a proper ground of a claim of these blessings; as I have shewn particularly in my Discourse of the agreemt & difference of the two covenants. Controv. p. 236.

¶ <¶?> And therefore if the objected places in the Old T. shew, that God has promised justification & the blessings dependent on it, & that other graces besides faith, & holiness of heart & life in general, give a title to these things by God's covenant, & so are good ground of a claim of them; this is nothing against the doctrine of justification by faith, as I have laid it down. ¶? This consideration may fitly be applied to most of the places objected, as greatly tending to remove the difficulty arising from them. /p. 924/ Particularly there is no necessity from such a manner of expression in the places objected in Ezekiel, "HE HATH DONE JUSTICE AND JUDGMENT; HE SHALL SURELY LIFE", to understand any more than this . He appears to have those qualification[s] to which I have promised life; and that give a claim to life by vertue of my covenant. therefore he shall surely have life, as I have promised; without meddling with the cause or ground of the connection of these things & life in the promise. God's promise or declared & publick constitution is sufficient, & proper grond [sic] for the Judge [to (om.E)] proceed upon, in his judicial dealings with men: of [xoc] which is the thing spoken of in these places, as has been already shewn.

¶And here I would observe, that it is a great confirmation, that the design of the prophet (or of God speaking by him) is not in these places to represent, as tho it was originally on the account of the value of a man's own righteousness or vertue, as the price or primary recommendation, that favour is shewed and mercy bestowed on penitents. Because this prophet in this book, is in a special manner very full & express in the contrary doctrine, & in carefully guarding the people against any such apprehension, & thorough in his care to impress their [xoE?] it on their minds, that it is not on account of any righteous beauty, or moral value, which God sees or will ever see in them, that he would hereafter pardon them & restore them to favour, when they should repent and return to him. Ezek. 36. 22, 23 [xoE?] "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen whether ye went". v. 31,32,33. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities & your abomination. Nor for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God; Be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways O house of Israel . Thus saith the Lord God, in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, & the wastes shall be builded." compared with Isai. 43. 25 "I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, for mine own sake; and will not remember thy sins."

¶V. There was a temporal national covenant between God and the nation of Israel, that is abundantly insisted on by Moses & the prophets, which they have reference to in very many things that we find written by them, that was in some respects a legal covenant, as I have observed in my Discourse of the difference of the two dispensations. /p. 925/ see back. p. 895. &c-. In this covenant me<a>n's external religion virtue and obedience was the qualification chiefly insisted on. not that it indeed was the righteousness, that primarily recommended any sinners whatsoever to God's favour, but because it was what was especially to be regarded in the promises, rewards, punishments & the judicial proceedings, which were founded upon it, which related to things external, visible & temporal; nations being temporal, external & visible societies. all that is properly national, is external & temporal, and therefore in dealing with such societies, it was proper that external & visible things should be chiefly insisted on. next col. b

¶And tho in many of the promises in Moses & the prophets, wherein G. speaks to Israel as a nation, there is truly respect to something further than God's dealings with them as a nation & in things temporal; yet the<o>se things, which related to em as a nation, were so much regarded, that it naturally occasioned the language and manner of speaking to appear more legal, & more accommodated to the nature of that national covenant. So in most, if not all the places alledged out of the Pentateuch & the book of the prophet Ezekiel, & the first chapter of Isaiah. Tis evident, that God in <most of [c]> these places speaks to & of the nation as a nation.

last col. c] There is this further reason why an external covenant <which [c]> extablishing [sic; misread, c] visible conditions & visible benefits, should be more legal than the covenant of grace ; that there is an external beauty, loveliness & value in men's righteousness, to such as see only what is external, or if the heart bent seen or had respect to. To the eye of men, who see [Sm.B.; or: man, who sees] not the hearts of men and their secret abominations, that appears to have loveliness & great value, which it would not seem to have, if we viewed all things visible & invisible alike, as God views them. "that which is highly esteemed among them, is abomination in the sight of God". Thus X, as man, loved the external righteousness of the rich yong [sic] man . as it is said, Jesus beholding him loved him . And God in an external, temporal, national covenant treats men according to what is visible to men. There are just such rewards as there is a righteousness, value & loveliness . The vertue, value & beauty is only external to a human view. tis no real price or amiableness. so the happiness, that is the reward, is no real true happiness.

¶VI. That part of the objection, which is made from those texts, which seem to speak of obedience & holy practice, as the condition of /p. 926/ God's favour, because it was good & right in his sight, & because the righteous Lord loveth righteousness, &c as tho it was the amiableness & moral value of such obedience and vertuous conduct in his sight, that recommended them to his acceptance and favour; particularly these three places Deut. 6. 17,18 & chap. 13. 17,18. & Ps. 11. 7. I say, this part of the objection may require a particular consideration, and therefore I would here observe the following things with relation to this part of the objection.

¶1. As to those places in the Pentateuch, they may well be understood as belonging to the national covenant between God and the people, respecting national, temporal blessings; such as multiplying their nation, giving the possession of the good land promised to their fathers &c-- which will be confirmed by a particular view of the places with their contexts Deut. 6. 18, "And thou shalt do that which is right & good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayst go in and possess the good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the Lord hath spoken". And that in the 13 of Deut 17, 18<v> is spoken & [?? xoc] especially with respect to a publick national proceeding, concerning their meeting to destroy an idolatrous city, & so to put away the cursed thing from among them. and tis a national blessing is promised, viz. multiplying their nation . "And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, & have compassion on thee, and multiply <thee, [c]> as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, when thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes [-s xo?] of the Lord thy God". And therefore here is to be considered what was observed in Ans. V concerning that national covenant.

¶2. If we suppose these [?xoc] <ose [c]> places truly to have respect to something beyond temporal national benefit, even eternal life and the blessings of the heavenly Canaan; if we take them thus, as proposing the terms of eternal life; we may as well suppose, that <God [c]> here proposes legal terms for their conviction, as in the Decalogue, and almost all places in the law of Moses, where terms of life and of God's favour are proposed.

¶3. If it should be insisted, that the true design of the words is something further still than either or both the things already mentiond, viz. to lead the people into the true way to Gods favour, the way in which they may hope to obtain real aceptance [sic] with him, the pardon of their sins & the blessings of his children; still there is no unsurmountable difficulty, if thxx [?xoc] <ey [c]> well [will? xoc] be well considered, and that upon three accounts . First The words, doing what is good & right in the sight of God, may imply no more than that they must yield /p. 927/ to God, or as the phrase in the Old T. commonly is, hearken to his voice; must comply with their Protectour, Saviour & divine Head; must be subject to him; their hearts must close with his methods & prescriptions: which signifies no more, then <that [c]> there must indeed be an active unition of their hearts to him, in the way his infinite wisdom & goodness takes to accomplish their happiness. They must accept cordially, & with all their hearts receive him, who is their life & the length of their days, and receive his salvation & his measures & means in order to their blessedness . Receiving & acepting [sic] implies compliance, as well as giving, as was observed in my Discourse on the difference of the two covenants.

¶Secondly. That there is no need to suppose, that the using such expressions to signify the terms of Gods favour, as doing what is right & good in the sight of the Lord, is to point for [xoc] <out [c]> the [= "forth the" grounds of the acceptance of such terms, as the thing wherein lies the propriety of fitness of their being appointed as the special terms of favour; but only to shew particularly what the terms are, to declare the nature of the thing required & the qualification which must be sound Sm.B.; found??] as [Sm.B.; or?] distinguished from the false appearances of it, which men are ready to trust in . It must be doing that which is good & right in the sight of the Lord; i.e that which is really good, sincere and universal piety & holiness, & not a meer appearance of vertue; not that partial & hypocritical vertue & religion, which is good in the sight of ma<e>n only. For that which is highly esteemed in the sight of ma<e>n, is abomination in the sight of God.

¶Thirdly. If the people should go on to do what was not good and right in the sight of the Lord, it<'s [c]> being /mg/ being [xoc] otherwise than good in his sight, or its being odious in his sight, would be the proper primary ground of his displeasure and wrath against em, & the very reason why, instead of shewing them favour, he would destroy them. <T[c]>their wickedness & the moral evil of their wickedness would be a fatal obstacle in the way of his shewing mercy to them, as is [t? xoc] <t would [c]> excite [-s?] his hatred & vengeance, And therefore it was proper to mention a doing what was right in the sight of God, as one thing belonging to the conditions of God's favour absolutely necessary in order to it, and [xoc?] as having a negative influence in obtaining his favour, i.e as implying the absence of that, which <would [c]> have a contrary influence and effect. This is very applicable to the places mentiond in the Pentateuch: as to that in /p. 928/ Deut. 6. 18. "Thou shalt do that which [is (om.E)] good & right in the s. of the L. --- thou mayst go in & possess the good land----as the Lord sware" &c-- <(Quote the rest) [c]> which may be as much as to say, "That thou mayst lay no fatal block in the way of the promise, which God hath made, being fulfilled to thee; which God is ready to fulfill, if thou layst no obstacle in the way". So that the design may not be to mention a condition or qualification requird in order to move God to bestow the benefit, but the avoiding an hinderance. for God is represented as already moved & engaged by oath to bestow it, if no fatal obstacle be laid in the way by their wickedness, which by its demerit & heinousness would bring divine wrath . To the like purpose are the words in Deut 13. 17,18. and this salvation is in like manner applicable to them.

¶Fourthly . The agreeableness of the thing, which is the qualification & special condition of life in the covenant of grace, to the holy nature and will of God, is in some respects a positive grond [sic] of its being the appointed term of justification. For tho the holiness of faith & evangelical compliance with the Saviour, is not <that [c]> which recommends the persons [xoE?] to a justified state, and in it self considered is not sufficient to do any thing towards it; yet that G. is an an [sic] infinitely holy & wise God, is a reason why he would contrive no way of [??xoc] <but [c]> such an one as secured and promoted holiness; & therefore would appoint no terms of salvation but such as implied holiness, or an agreement with the infinitely holy heart of God. & we have reason from God's holy nature to determine, that he would not appoint or accept any terms but what implied this; & more than this cant be argued from the manner of expression in the texts alledged. Here see my Disc. on the agreemt & difference of the two covenants. Contr. p. 208.

¶Fifthly. If more than what was last mentiond can be argued from these text [sic] ; yet it may be observed, that this further is true, that the moral value there is in the obedience of believers, arising from their relation to X is a secondary recommendation of them to all the blessings that the saints are entitled to, that are consequent on their justification. as I have observed elsewhere . See Controv. p.209.

¶N.B. These three things last observed may be applied for the solution of the seeming difficulty in that place. Ps. 11.7. and also from the<o>se words in Ezek. 18. 20. "The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon /p. 929/ him; & the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him". But

¶4. As to that place in particular, Ps. 11. 7. "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness & his countenance doth behold the upright" ; the meaning of it seems to be mistaken. The main design is to declare the righteousness of God as a Judge; that he will thoroughly & impartial<ly [c]> try the cause of the righteous, wherein the wicked contends with him & persecutes him without cause; & that he will condemn him whose cause is bad, or who is <in [c]> the wrong; and that he will favour & approve of him who is right (as the word translated upright [c's line] signifies) or who has the right of the cause; & that because he is a righteous Judge; one that delights in righteousness or in judging righteously, and abhors partiality and injustice. the rest of the Psalm shews this to be the main thing intended. <as also other parallel places such as Ps. 37. 28. & 99. 4> So that the thing spoken of, which God loves is not men's righteousness ; but his own righteousness, as the Judge of men.

¶VII. That part of the objection, of the objection [xoc?] which is taken from Deut. 6. 25. "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments, before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us": The seeming force of the objection depends on a mistake of the meaning of the words. See my note on the text.

¶VIII. Whereas it is said in the objection, that at least those things in the Old Testament, as expressed form time to time, must have a natural tendency to lead the people to such [xoE?] an apprehension, that their obedience was the grand condition of their pardon and acceptance with God, as being that righteousness which recommended 'em thereto by it[s] moral value.

¶In answer to this I would say the following things.

¶1. There is no proper & positive tendency in these things, to lead the people to any such apprehension, and none but what is as it were negative, accidental & by occasion of the people's inattentiveness, in consideration & corruption. The things declared or in any respect signified in these places, are nothing but the truth, and the truth signified in an intelligible manner to persons that were considerate, of a good and honest heart. The truth delivered in language that was more plain and intelligible to the Jews, than to us: who better understood the language and phraseology in use among them, than we do; and the truths that were declared were truths taught in the the N. T. (as well as the old) with the doctrine of justification by faith alone; & truths in themselves not at all inconsistent with the evangelical doc. of justification, as I have explained it.

¶<¶?>'Tis true that under the Old Testament, the doctrines that are purely evangelical & above the light <of nature [c]> were less clearly revealed; and the truths relating to what is necessary in order to the favour <of God [c]> which are /p. 930/ manifest by the light of nature, were insisted on [and (om.E; Sm.B.: or)] spoken with much greater plainness, agreeably to the nature of that more dark dispensation, that went before the coming of the great Prophet of God and Light of the T, who was to bring the glorious doctrines of the gospel to light with great clearness.

¶But God was not to blame for insisting on these things in the revelation which he gave, which are the truth, & truths that the light of nature teaches. He was no more to blame for making them known by the light of revelation, than by the light <of nature. [c]> for they are both his teaching. These truths of the light of nature, which God taught then [? Sm.B.: them], were necessary for them to know; viz. that he was a holy God & hated sin; that he would never save men in a way of wickedness; that all that are admitted to his favour, must be of a holy character; that he would judge of men's character<s [c]> according to their works, &c-- And therefore God was not to blame for declaring & inculcating the<o>se things . Nor was he to blame, that as yet he did not so clearly & fully reveal those evangelical, supernatural truths, which the Messiah was afterwards to bring clearly to light.

¶Tis very true, that the less there is of gospel light, the greater will be the danger of men's falling into errour. but this dont arise from Gods teaching, as it dont arise from the light that God gives 'em; but is occasion'd by the remaining darkness that God don't remove; and the depravity & blindness of mens own minds is the proper source of this errour.

¶There are and alwaies have been from Moses's time many nations to whom God made no revelation at all of gospel truth; and he is not obliged to reveal it to em. And yet the ignorance they are left in, has a negative tendency to their errour & delusion: that is, means to prevent errour are wanting. Nevertheless it cant be said, that God's dispensations towards these nations tend to lead 'em into errour & delusion, because their corruption will take occasion, by the absence of clearer light, to mislead em.

¶There was not so much in that old dispensation to lead the people to the knowledge of the true way of salvation, as there is <in [c]> that more excellent & glorious dispensation that X introduced, as there was not so much that tended to mens salvation in other respects. If there had <been [c]> wherein would the new dispensation have been so much more glorious, implying advantages so vastly superiour?

¶2. There were many things in the revelation, which God made of himself under the O. T., to prevent any such improvement of those things, which are supposed to have a tendency to lead the people to trust in their own moral righteousness for justification, <& to convince em that their justification must be an act of /mg/ of sovereign grace, & not any moral value in them. God took> care as to that <matter,> care sufficient to guard & direct serious, considerate and honest minds. /p. 931/

¶(1.) Those things which are supposed to have such a tendency, viz. God's proposing legal terms of his favour, considered in the manner & circumstances in which they were delivered, had a contrary tendency to convince 'em of their sinfulness, guilt & the utter impossibility of <their> being brought to favour & live by their own righteous[ness] . The delivering of the law tended to make 'em dead to the law, & utterly to despair of life through the law . So the delivering of the ten commandments at Mt. Sinai in so awful a manner, with such manifestations of terrible wrath, ready to consume those that should violate that law . God's treating the people with such distance & terrours under that dark dispensation, tended to convince em of their guilt, & to bring 'em to despair of commending themselves to his favour by their own righteousness. ---The curses of the law, so terribly denounced against those who continued not in all things written in the book of the law to do them, tended to this.

¶(2.) The institution of sacrifices, and there being such a vast number of sacrifices required to be offered continually, from year to year, from month to month, from week to week, & from day to day, naturally tended to lead 'em to suppose, that their own moral value was not sufficient to commend 'em to God. Those sacrifices were offered as attonement for sin; which taught em, that their own righteousness made no satisfaction; but [xoc] <& they [c]> were put in mind, that notwithstanding all their righteousness, they deserved the most terrible punishments. They saw the image of what their guilt exposed 'em to: They [ck:ms] saw the creatures blood shed, and its dying struggles, & its very vitals, its inward vital parts, or the fat about them, & the blood, burn't, scorched and consumed in the fire . --- And [xoc] by this also [xoc] they were <also [c]> put in mind of the necessity of a satisfaction to be made, that death should be suffered and God's threatning of wrath some way fulfilled, & justice in some respect satisfied, that they might not think, that for the sake of <the [c]> any moral value of their [xoE] value in them God abated of [xoc] his threatnings, relinquish'd the honour of his majesty & authority. for they must conceive of the terrible suffering of the creature [xoc] <victim, [c]> as the effect of the wrath of God against their sin.

¶The<o>se sacrifices also were offered as a sweet savour to recommend 'em to God, which intimated to em, that their own righteousness was not sufficient to recommend <them. [c]> --- Tis very evident form Gods own word, that he made use of personal types of X, to that end, that they might not trust in their own righteousness, turning the peoples eyes off from their own righteousness, to those personal types. Deut. 9. 4 ["5" wr. over by And cop. (?); Sm.B.: 4,5] . "Not for thy righteousness <(quote the whole) [c]> ---- but to perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers". ---- so there is all reason to think, that the real types were made use [of (om.E)] for the same end.

¶(3.) God so manifested himself to the people, as tended to lead 'em to think, that he pardon'd and accepted them to favour, not as being induced to it by any worthiness or valuableness in them, but as disposed /p. 932/ to do it already otherwise, as of his own sovereign good pleasure, and for the sake of their father, &c-- and as only waiting for an opportunity to shew them mercy in a manner that should be fit & decent & consistent with his own honour, by their forsaking sin & yielding to him, hearkening to him & obeying him, & so receiving him as their saviour from sin & misery, and as the God of their mercy . He represents himself as not waiting for a compensation or satisfaction for sin form them; but as having no pleasure in the death of sinners, waiting to be gracious, proclaiming his name to be the Lord God gracious & merciful, forgiving iniquity, transgression & sin. <being a God of great mercy, delighting in mercy, ready to forgive & that will abundantly pardon; wishing> that there were an heart in them to yield to him, that they might be happy. God says, in the first of Isai<ah, v. 19, [c]> If ye be willing & obedient <(quote) [c]> --- & elsewhere God represents himself as willing and waiting, & <that [c]> the only reason why the people fail'd of mercy, to be [xoc] <was [c]> that they refused to yield to God & accept his mercy. they pulled away the shoulder[s?] & loved death; agreeable<y [c]> [sic; xoc] to those words of X. <Mat. XXIII. 37. [c]> How often would I have gathered <(quote) [c]> ----- but ye would not. The same thing is manifest by Gods promising to pardon sin only on confessing & forsaking sin, tho [? Sm.B.] sins be never so numerous & heinous.

¶(4.) When God offers to pardon em on their repentance brokenness of heart &c-- he does it in such a manner, as not at all to lead sinners to suppose, that it was on account of the valuableness of their repentance, or because it made any compensation, so as in its own nature as it were [xoc?] to abolish & destroy the transgression . For God represents the removing or abolishing their guilt as his own, & free act of his meer motion & great grace . Isai 43. 22---27. "But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob. ---Thou hast not honoured me with thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins. thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities . I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake & will not remember thy sins put me [xoE (by mistake?)] in remembrance <(quote) [c]> ---- Thy first father sinned. &c----

¶Their sins remaind as much after repentance as before, notwithstanding any supposed attonement their repentance made. but God of his own great grace as it were [xoc] covers them, doth not behold iniquity in them, dont impute it to em, turning away his eyes from seeing it in them, casts em behind his back, buries them in the depth of the sea, that they mayn't be in sight ---- many such expressions are used . ---- The Apostle argues the doctrine of justification by faith alone from such expressions; as particularly that of God's not imputing sin in the 32. Ps. --- If repentance & obedience were a moral loveliness & value & <were> viewed as such in the affair of justification of a sinner, then they must be taken as something to put in the balance against the unworthiness & guilt of sin, & so would in themselves do away the transgression in some degree as least. & so it would <not be [c]> /mg/ so absolutely God's own act to do away sin as is represented.

¶(5.) That dispensation was so contrived, that when it encouraged the people to hope in Gods mercy, yet not in such a manner as tended to excite presumption on mercy, that should be at all inconsistent with the full manifestation of Gods perfect & infinite holiness & justice & perfect vindication of the honour of his authority & sacred majesty . Sacrifices were instituted partly for this end. And for this end when God proclaimed his name, the Lord God gracious & merciful, forgiving iniquity &c-- yet [xoc?] it was added, that God would by no /mg/ no means clear the guilty . And when God pardon'd the nation of Israel after their murmuring at the report of the spies, he says to Moses, "I have pardoned according to thy word; but as I live, saith the Lord, all the earth shall be fill'd with the glory of the Lord"; meaning, as appears by the context, in what the <t [c]> [?] shall see of the testimonies of his holy displeasure, and vindications of his authority; agre<a>ebl<y [c]> to what is said, [space left] "Thou forgavest their iniquity; but tookest vengeance of their inventions" . The awful manner of delivering the law at Mt. Sinai, & the many terrours of that dispensation & the awful distance God kept them <at, [c]> tended to keep up in the peoples mind a sense of the necessity of satisfaction to the justice & holiness of G. & vindication of his kingly majesty. Hence in part it was, that the fear of God was so much insisted on as essential to true religion, and was reveald to be necessary to attend hoping in his mercy & rejoycing in his favour, Ps. 33. 18 & 147. 11 & 2. 11 These things naturally tended to keep 'em from trusting in their own righteousness.

¶(6.) Besides [xoE?] more than all those things, it was often signified to the people very expressly & abundantly inculcated upon them, that it was not for the sake of their righteousness or any moral value in them, that God shewed them favour; , & they were carefully led to conceive, that it was on other accounts Deut 9. 4,5,6 &c. "Speak not thou in thine heart---saying, for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess the land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out before thee. Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart ---- but for the wickedness &c-- And that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land &c- for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people. Remember & forget not how thou provokedst" &c--- chap. 7. 7,8. "The Lord did not set his love upon you --- nor choose you, because ye were more in number ---. but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath, which he had sworn unto your fathers" &c-- So in that forementiond Isai. 43. 23. "Thou hast brought me no small cattle of thy burnt offerings &c--neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices. But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance let us plead together; declare thou, that thou mayst be justified" (i.e. declare thy righteousness /p. 934/ tell me of any thing you have that is valuable and worthy to recommend you.) "Thy first fathers hath sinned" &c-- chap. 48. "For my names sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain [?] for thee, that I cut thee not off." Gen. 26. 24. "I am the God of Abraham thy F.--- I am with thee & I will bless thee &c-- for my servant Abrahams sake" <To Jacob God represents as tho' he shewed mercy for Abrahams & Isaacs sake. Gen. 28. 13.> 2 Ki 13. 23. "And the Lord was gracious unto them, & had compassion on them, & had respect to them because of his covenant with Abrah., Isaac. & Jacob". So [ck:ms? cut off at end of page?]

Exod. 2. 24,25. & 3. 14,15 & 6. 3.4 Ezek. 36. 25 &c- "Then will I sprinkle clean [clear?] water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, & from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give unto you" &c-- & then v. 32. "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel". So v. 22. "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, but for mine holy names sake, which he have profaned among the heathen, whether ye went." See Ezek. 20. 9.10 & [xo?] 13. 14,21,22,43,33. & 1 Sam. 12. 20,21,22. Ps. 106. 7,8 Ezek 20. 43,44. And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled, & ye shall lothe [sic] your selves in your own sight, for all your evils that ye have committed, and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake. Not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God". ¶? So from time to time where God is represented as granting pardon on repentance, it is yet plainly implied, that pardon & favour are not bestowed, for any moral value in them, consisting in their repentance or any thing else.

¶Isai. 48. 11 "For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted". 2 k. 19. 34. For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake". So chap. 20. 6. & Isai 37. 35.

¶So [?xo?] God often is spoken of as shewing mercy to those that were in thems. very unworthy, for his servant David's sake. 1 K. 11,12,34 & 25. 4. 2. K. 8. 19.

¶3. The way of justification by faith was truly revealed. <s>Sufficient instructions were given concerning it, to lead convinced, penitent sinners to hope for justification in no other way.

¶Thus trusting in God, and hoping in his mercy, seeking God, waiting for or upon the Lord: calling on the name of the Lord; looking to G, & [? om.Sm.B.] looking towards Gods holy temple, laying hold on Gods strength; I say, these things are abundantly insisted on, as the terms of acceptance & salvation. But these things as I have elsewhere shewn, are expressions that signify the exercise of faith.

¶As to trusting in God, waiting on him & hoping in him, tis needless to enumerate places, they are so many. with respect to seeking God see I Chron. 28. 9 Ps. 34. 10,15. Amos 5. 4. /p. 935/ Calling on God see Ps. 50. 15. & 65. 2. & 86. 5,6,7. & 145. 18,19. Jer. 10. 25.

¶God proposed to the children of Israel their duty much more in a legal manner, in the books of Moses, for their trial, than afterwards: & the way of faith was not so fully revealed, 'till after the nation had had some ages experience of their utter inability to obtain justification in the way of the law.

¶I have elsewhere shewn particularly, that Gods people under the Old Testament, were not [wwxo] not only instructed in the way of faith in general, but that they were particularly led by the revelation they were under faith in the second Person in the Godhead as their Mediatour & Advocate & in the Meddiah as their great high priest & sacrifice. See this mater [sic] largely handle [sic] in my Discourse on the Faith of the Old Testament Saints Cont. p. 213

¶In order to determine what way of justification is pointed out in the Old Testament revelation, we should observe more especially, what things are chiefly proposed to men, when they are treated with as sinners; what conditions of acceptance, pardon & life are proposed to them. & we shall find those things mainly insisted on that imply faith, such as repenting, confessing & turning to the Lord, trusting in God, hoping his mercy, calling on his name, seeking him, laying hold on his mercy, calling on his name, seeking him, laying hold on his strength, looking to his holy temple & the like.

¶4. Not only was care taken & provision made, to prevent the peoples trusting in their own righteousness, & to lead em off from all dependence on any moral value of their own; but the provision that was made, proved sufficient in that it was actually effectual, so that the saints under the O. T. were not wont to trust in their own righteousness for justification before God.

¶The book of Psalms where [xoE] we have many of the O. T. saints of different ages, expressing the sentiments of their hearts, & breathing forth their souls in the language of Old Testament devotion & piety. By which [xoc] <this [c]> therefore above all other parts of the Old T., we may learn the nature of the O. T. devotion. But by things continually expressd in this book, <to which many other parts of the O. T. agree,> we see that the saints did not trust in their own worthiness for justification & acceptance with God, nor was that what they pleaded; but they sought God's favours ['s?] for God's mercies <y' [c]> sake; Ps. 6. 4. & 31. 16 & 44. 26. & 115. 1 For his truth's sake; Ps. 115. 1. his goodness sake; Ps. 25. 7 And his name's sake, in places very many. See this matter particularly & largely handled in my Discourse on the Faith of O. T. Saints. Cont. p. 213 &c especially p. 219. &c

¶5. It may be further considered, that altho' the way of justification by the satisfaction & righteousness of another, without any righteousness of ours was not so fully revealed under that dark, imperfect & legal dispensation; so that truly /p. 936/ honest & pious minds were not so much guarded from self-righteousness as now; so misapprehensions as to that matter were not so total then, as under the clear light we now enjoy, as they were not so great evidences & so necessarily the fruits, of a proud self-exalting self-sufficient [Sm.B.; sic: sulfufficient] temper. A more full & explicit renunciation of our own righteousness & dependence on the righteousness of X is necessary now, than was then; inasmuch as the want of it under such clear light, will be a far greater evidence of <the want of [c]> true humiliation of heart & an evangelical temper of mind.

¶A greater sense of our own unworthiness, & the worthlessness of all our own righteousness, may well be expected now, in the days of the gospel; for we have unspeakably more to shew us the infinite evil of sin.

¶Such a manner and degree of renunciation of their own righteousness, & such a kind & degree of exercise of faith was necessary, as was a true expression of real humiliation of soul, & a truly evangelical, believing heart; a heart of acknowledgment of the glory & sufficiency & faithfulness of the Mediatour, according to the nature & manner of the revelation of the<o>se things, that was given them.

¶A child may have the<o>se mistakes about its own strength & the like, without bewraying [? Sm.B.: betraying] that pride of disposition, that the same degree of errour would discover in a grown person. So the chh might be tolerated in a greater degree of ignorance and mistake about the vanity of our own righteousness, & our absolute, universal & infinite dependence on a mediatour, under the O. T. than now under the New when the chh is adult.

¶6. If after all that has been said, any shall suppose, that these things are attended with obscurity & intricacy; it need not be wondered at, that God's ways during that time, when there shewn [xoc] <one [c]> no other than a dim starlight, or moon light, are not so plainly to be seen, so easily traced & to [be (om.E)] laid open to view with that clearness, that they are, when the sun shines on his paths. If we are not able perfectly to explain all things, & trace all the steps of divine wisdom, in conducting the souls of his people to their eternal happiness, and reconcile all the dark passages of that obscure revelation, nor all the mysterious steps of his wisdom in that dark administration, wherein law & gospel are mix'd together; nevertheless, this is no reason why we should reject the most plain, positive doctrine of the glorious gospel, as introduced in its clearness by the great Messiah, the Light of the World; a doctrine in which the N. Testament is so explicit, full & particular, and which the whole scheme of this new revelation does so evidently imply. we [xoc] /p. 937/ are [xoc] <To refuse [c]?> to be determined by the evident doctrines of [xoc?] <& [c? xoc?] the voice of him who speaks to us from heaven, in this gospel day, when the darkness is past & the true light shines would not [xoc?] he act like a mad man, that had his choice, whether he would be directed in his way thro' a great wilderness, by the clear light of the day or dim light of the night. if he <& [c]> should chuse the latter; & should refuse to be determined by what is plainly manifest in the sun-shine, because it differs from the imagination he had, by viewing the way only by star-light. [finis: has "out" throughout in mgs.]