~ ~ ~ 1 l:e C~~:r!fp:/o;z'of the Will. ~tate H•. . · ... ~·.'\.·,.. ev.il, ti11d hit brothr..~~M'fghteouJ. ( l John iii. '12.) that is,. . . . done in faith' and accepted, when his were' do~1e without · faith, and therefore rej ected, as the apC?file teacheth, Heb. . . ,xi. 4." And fo ~e. wrote his indignation againll jufl:ification ;' '> .. a~d accepta~ce with God thro' faith in oppofitioo to works., 'in t.he h!ood of his brother; ,to convey it down to pofl:e-. ,.·. ,rity. And,fznce that time the unbloody facrifice has often·{ ' f.v.immed in the blood of thofe that rej.ected it. The pro– mife n1ade.to Abraham of the feed in .which a \I nations fhould be bleifed, was fo overclouded .among his poHerity in EgJpt, that the generality of them faw no need of that way of obtaining the bleffing, till God himfeJf ,con(uted their error by a fiery law from mount Sinai, which <"()JaJ add~ cd becauft of tranjgre.f!iom, till the feed !hou!d come, Gal. iii. 19. I need not nJt'; to tell you,. h,o.wMojes and the pro- . phets had fiiJI much adp to lead the p~ople off the conctit . . of their own righteoufnefs. . The ix. chap~er of Deutero.-' nomy is entirely fpent on that purpofe. They were very grofs in that point in our Saviour 's time: in the time of the apofHes, when the doctrine of free gra.ce was moll cleat! y preached,, that error lifted up its head in fa'ce of clearell light; wi tnefs the epifHes to the Romam and Calatiam. And fince that time it has not been wanting ; Popery being the common fink of former berefies, aod this the: heart and life o{ that delufion. And fi_nally, it may he obferved, that always as the church decli ned from her purity otherways, the dotl:ripe of free grace was obfcured proportionably . · 3. Such is the natural propeniity of man's heart to the way .of the law, in oppofition to ,ChriH; that~ as the tainted velfd turns the talle of the purellliquot put into it, io the natural man turns the very go!pel int.o law; and transforms the covenant of grace into a covenant of works . The cere .. moniallaw was to the Jews a real gofpel ; which I)eld blood~ death, and tranflation of guilt before their eyes c~ntinually, as the onlywayoffilvation: yet their very' t~Lle, (i.e. th~ir ·altar, with the feve-ra.l ordinances pertaining thereto, Mal. L I :z.) was a fnare unto them, Rom. ii. 9 · while they ufe it to ttlake up the defects in their obedience to the moral law; and cleave to it fo as to rejeCi:: him whom the~ltar and fa– crifices pointed them to as the fubfiance of all : even as Ifa· gar~ wh?fe it V?as only to ferve, Wat by their fathet bro~ght lilt()
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