480 A SERIOUS ADDRESS TO never dismissed the incestuous woman he lived with and at last sacrificed to her revenge the honest preacher he once admired. Do not confound the covenant of works made with innocent Adam before the fall, and the covenant of grace made with sinful Adam after the fall, Geneses ii. 17. and iii. 15. and Romans v. 11, 21. They are excellent in their place; but when they are mixed together, they destroy each others efficacy. The dreadful thunders heard in Paradise Lost, and the melodious songs uttered in Paradise Regained, do not strike at once the same spiritual ear. The galling yoke of the law of works, and the heavy load of its condemnation, are dropt, when we take upon us Christ's easy yoke, and submit to his light burden. In a word, the first Adam gives place to the second, when we find rest unto our souls. Let then the curse of the law of innocence, be swallowed by the blessing of the gospel ; or rather, let it make way for the grace of Christ in thy soul, as an emetic makes way for a cordial in a disordered stomach. If thou takest them together, their respective use -is prevented. The first covenant loses its humbling efficacy, and the second its restorative power. Therefore, if thou hast really received the sentence of death in thyself; leave the curse of the first covenant in the grave of Christ, crucified for thy sins; and welcome the pardoning, renovating grace of Christ, risen again for thy justifi- cation On the other hand, rest not contented with specu- lative knowledge, and unaf ecting, though clear, ideas of the gospel way of salvation. Light in an unre- newed understanding, mistaken for the mystery of faith in a pure heart, like an ignis fatuus, or false light, leads thousands through the bogs of sin, into the pit of destruction, Acts viii. 13. Pacify not thy conscience by activity in outward services, and a warmth in God's cause ; party spirit, or natural steadiness in carrying on a favourite scheme, yea, or seeking thy own glory, may be tll ,springs -_.mom
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