8l 120 !RURAL Í,ÁW UNDER THE AOSPEL. the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thy self: This do and thou shalt live. Thus eternal life is pro- mised by Christ himself, to our loving God and man, which is the epitome or abstract of all the moral commands in one, for love is the fulfilling of the law; Rom. xiii. 8, 10. Answer I. It is very plain that in that place our Saviour is preaching the covenant of works, as well as in my text, and that for the same purpose too, viz. for the conviction of sin. This lawyer was not a humble and sincere enquirer, but one who came to tempt and ensnare him ; and then it is no wonder if Jesus did not give him a plain and direct answer accord- ing to the method of salvation ,by the gospel. And though he directed others to believe and repent, yet he did not treat a vain young Pharisee, who thought himselfrighteous, and a con- ping lawyer who designed to ensnare him, in the same manner that he would treat persons who were sensible of their sins, and sought the way to obtain pardon and happiness, nor did he give them the same directions. , Answer II. Let it be further considered, that the life-time of Christ was not the appointed season to speak the glories of the gospel in the fullest and plainest language, as I hintedbe. fore. His frequent business and practice .was to preach the law, to reprove sin, and prepare men for the fuller and more complete ministry of the gospel; which after his death he sent his apostles to preach by the power of his own Spirit : And they published the gospel of salvation by repentance and faith in the blood of Christ, and forgiveness through his atonement, much plainer and clearer, and fuller than Christ himself did in his life-time among the multitudes. That gospel which he taught them secretly, they proclaimed as it were upon the house tops, according to his .order ; Mat. x. 27. Though Christ himself gave such hints of this gospel in his preaching, as were sufficient for salvation to those that would receive them, yet he might be said to he sent rather with this dreadful commission to the generality of the Jews ; Mat. xiii. 13. Isa. vi. 10. Make the heart ofthis people fat and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, &c. They were such a stubborn and self-conceited and disobedient people, that God justly gave them up to their own blindness and hardness: And for this reason our Saviour spake often the great things 'of the gospel to them in parables,. lie was ordained to be a .ste nhling-stone and rock of offence to the house of Israel and Judah ; Is. viii. 14. 1 Pet. h. 8. and this by the just judgment of God, for their stoning the prophets, and murdering the former messengers of heaven, fbr their forsaking the law of God, and making it void by their traditions, and for their violent opposition to Christ his Son. Y S e Srstion V. Rrfeation L
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