290 .AFaith of the Law, preparatory ' wife, he not only does no good, but can do no good,i . In all thefe refpeB:s, he believes himfelf to be an ob.. i~ct Ioathfom in the fight of God ; loathfom in his nature, heart and life. . , . Secon,dly, By .it a man believes, That he is a loft and undone finner, under the curfe of the law, liable. to vengeance, according to the Divine tefiimony, GaL iii. 1 o. ' Curfed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law,to do them.' He ~an no more look upon the curfe, asfome firange thing, belonging only to· fome monfiers of wkkednefs, and not to him : for the Spirit of t~e Lord, as a Spirit of bondage, applies it dofly to him; as if he faid, Thou art the man. And, like one un– der fentence o£ death pronounced .agairnfi _him, he groans out his belief ofit, under the prelfure thereof" Luke xv. 17. 1perijh. , ' Lafi!y, By it a man believes. his utter i.nability to recover himfelf. He believes, that he cannot by any: doing or fufferings or his., remove the curfe of the law from off him ; according to the Divine tefiimo– ny of our beingwithoutjlrength in,that point, Rom .. v. 6. Nor change his own nature, heart, and life, fo as to render them acceptable to God .; . according t(} the infallible tefiimony, Jer. xiii. 23. ' Can the E· thiopian chang€ his ikin, or the Leopa-rd his fpots t Then may we alfo do good, that are accufiomed to do evil.' He is, in his own eyes, as in the fight ofGod; .. a ·fpiritually dead man ;·legallydead,~nd morally dead, as the Apofile tefiifies ofhimfelf in that cafe, Rome. vii.· 9· This is the faith of the law. And the effect ofit is a legal repe~tf)nce, whereby a finner is broken and bruifed with fear and terror of the wra.th of God ; . grieves and forroweth for fin, as a ruining and de- , 11rucHve evil ; and therefore really defires to be freed.. {rom it ; defpairs of falvation by himfelf; and feri-, eufl~ loo,ks out (or relief another vny, ACls ii., t:z,•. r I , and. · .,. ... ... . / . ' I
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=