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LAW AND
THE
G09,,PEL.
1.61
the
gospel, i.
e.
the
precept and
the promise,
cannot
con
tradict
one
another
;
for they
both run
through
all tho
different dispensations
that
ever
God
gave to the
children
of
men since
the
fall.
Secondly,
The
law
and
gospel do
not contradict
one
another, for
they
are
two
different discoveries
of
the
mind
and
will
of
God, made to men for
very
different
purposes.
The
law,
since
the
fall
of
Adam,
was
given for
the
discovery or conviction
of
sin,
and
to shew men
not
only
their
duty,
but
also
how
exceedingly
sinful
their natures
are, and
how
unable
they are
to fulfil
their duties
per
fectly;
and therefore to
lay
them
under
a
sense
of guilt
and condemnation.
The
promise, or gospel, was given
for
the
relief of
guilty man, whom the
law
had
con-
demned, and
to
provide
a
righteousness,
or justification;
and
life,
for them,who,
according
to
the
law,
had
asentence
of
death passed upon them.
Therefore
the
law
is
called
"
the ministration
of
condemnation and
death,"
and the
gospel
"
the ministration
of
the
spirit
and righteousness,
or
of
justification and eternal
life
;" 2
Cor.
iii. 7,
8,
9.
I
confess,
if
the
law
had
been given
for the same end
as the gospel,
if
the
law
had been
given
for man
ruined
and
sinful,
to
obtain
life
and
salvation
by
it
as well
as
the
gospel,
then-they might have
been
supposed
to
contra-
diet
one another, and the
'Objection in
my
text
had
stood
firm,
and
we
could
not
have easily
and
fairly answered
it;
but
since they
are
given for
different purposes, they
are
but
different revelations
of
God,
which
are made
happily
subordinate
one to
another, and their different
ends and
designs
are both obtained.
The
law
convinces
and
condemns sinners,
and
the gospel relieves
and
par;
dons them,
justifies and
saves
them:
See
Rom.
iii.
20--
22,
&c.
Gal.
iii. 10
-14.
Object.
1.
But doth
not
St.
Paul himself
say,
that
the
law was
ordained
for
life
?
Rom.
vii.
10.
Answ.
1.
Perhaps
St.
Paul
might mean only to
shew
his former
opinion,
that
he
thought
"
it
was
ordained
to
give life
;
Rom.
vii.
10,
11, 18.
But supposing
this to
be
the real
design
of
the
words,
it
signifies no
more
than
that
the
law was
designed or
ordained
to give life
and
happi-
ness to
every one
that
perfectly
fulfilled
it;
Rom.
ii.
7.
and
x.
5.
But
in
Gal.
iii.
10.
cursed
is
every
one
that
con
-
tinueth
not in
all
thins
which
are written
in
the
boots