YI 133 Of ,'aj7ifcation by Faith. SE R M. fin: For, as the Jews by circumcifion were VI bound to the obfervance of the whole law, `' which required a perfeá unfinning confor- mity to it, as the condition of acceptance, according to the tenor of that covenant, do this and live ; but that law, giving the know- ledge of fan, could neither deliver men from the power, nor the punifhment of it: So, by being initiated into chriftianity, we be- come bound to obedience, in the merciful fenfe, which the gofpel indifpenfably re- quires, and accepts : That is, to fincerity, not finlefs perfe Lion. But if we fin wilfully, and obftinately, under grace, or under the chriftian profeflion ; fo far from being thoroughly juftified, we are rendered ob- noxious to inevitable condemnation : For fays the apoftle at the 23d ver. the wages of fin is death. Secondly, let us confider the meaning of juftification by faith without the law. That it is the doctrine of St. Paul cannot be doubted. It is the refult of a long difcourfe on the general depravity of men, rendering them liable to the wrath of God ; and the divine mercy in fetting forth Chrift to be a propitiation for fin, Rom. iii. 28. Therefore we
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=