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'BERM.
XVIII.]
FAITH THE
WAY
TO
SALVATION.
Sri
never
be
justified;
Rom.
iii.
20.
By
the
deeds
of
the
law
shall
no,flesh
be
justified
in
his
sight,
for
by
the law
is
the
knowledge
-of sin
;
therefore
this
must
be
a
law
that
extended
to all
mankind,
since
it
stops every mouth,
and proclaims the whole
world guilty before
God.
2.
Answer.
The
law
given
to the Jews,
or
the
covenant
of
Sinai, so
far
as
it
is
purely
political,
was
indeed
a
co-
venant
of
works
;
and their continuance
in,
or
rejection
out of
the
land
of
Canaan, depended upon their
own
works,
their obedience or disobedience
to this
law, as
is
often
expressed
in
the writings
of Moses:
And
upon
this
account,
it
is
used
sometimes
by
the apostle
as
a
very
proper
emblem
or representative
of
the
covenant
cif
works made with our first
father
Adam,
who was to
have
enjoyed or forfeited some
earthly or
heavenly paradise,
according to
his
obedience or disobedience.
It
is
plain
then,
that
though
St.
Paul
may cite
the
law
of
Moses to
shew the
nature of
a
law
of
works in
general, yet
it
does
not
follow
that
he
means
only
the
law
or covenant
of
Sinai;
and
it
is
plain,
by his
including
the gentiles
un-
der
it,
that
he does
not
mean the
law
of
Sinai,
but
the
original
law
or covenant
of
works
made
with all
mankind
in Adam
their father and
their
head,
and
of
which the
law
of
Sinai
was
a
proper
emblem or
figure.
All
laws
of
works
therefore are
insufficient
for the sal-
vation
of
sinful man,
and
his
restoration
to
God's
fa-
vour and
image,
and
eternal
life.
The
law
of
Sinai
was
a
law
of
works,
promising an earthly
Canaan
to
the obe-
dient Jews. The
law
of
innocency
in
Eden
was a
law
of
works,
promising
life
and immortality to
obedient
mankind. But they
have
been
both
wretchedly broken
;
man
was
turned
out
of
paradise, and the
Jews
out of
Canaan,
because
of
disobedience.
But
now the gospel,
whereby
theJews
or
gentiles
are
to be saved,
or
to
obtain
eternal
life,
requires
faith in the mercy
and
promises
of
God
in
and through
Jesus Christ; and
by
this means
it
saves
us,
though
our
obedience
be
far
short of
perfec-
tion
:
This
was
the
way
whereby the
Jews
themselves
were saved
under
the
Old
Testament;
for the
gospel
was
preached
to them as well
as
unto
us,
Heb.
iv.
2.
though
it
was in
darker
hints, and types, and
figures.
And
in
this
way
were
Abraham and David justified
as the
apostle
teaches,
Rom,
iv.
3,
;4,
.5,
6.
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