DISCOURSE IV: 221 deserved. This is the express language of the gospel taught us bySt. Paul; Rom. iii. 23, 24. All have sinned and corne short ej the glory of God; i. e. of that glory whichwe should have obtained by a perfect obedience : But when we are justified, it is donefreely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jessis Christ. The law condemns us as sinners, and we must be sensi- ble of this condemnation. The gospel shews us, that we must trust or depend merely on forgiving grace, and not pretend to any righteousness of our own, and to claim life by obeying the law ourselves. It is by our faith or dependance ; not by our works, and any claim of merit. The whole strain of the apos- tle's writing to the Romans, bath this view in the five or six first chapters. Quest. 2. Is it not therefore matter ofblame for us, to call the gospel a law ? or thenew law ? Answ. The word law, when taken in a strict sense, for the will of a sovereign prince, reveal- ed and requiring perfect obedience of his subjects, and pro-. nouncing a subject righteous only upon this obedience, is the true notion and idea of a law : In this sense the gospel is not a law, for it cloth not pronounce any persons righteous, and accepted to the favour of God, on account of a perfect obedience, performed by them to any command, which was given them. But if a law be taken in a large sense, for any consti- tution of a governor, whereby he graciously accepts at our hands less than his law requires, and pardons those offenders who are sincerely willing and desirous to obey his law, and who trust in his mercy ; then the gospel may be called a law. Torah, in the Hebrew, is used in this large sense for the gos- 'p el ; Is. ii. 3. Out of'Zion shall gb forth the law, 8)'c. and other places. And xot; in the Greek, may be enlarged to such an ex- tensive sense also : But originally it signifies, that which distri- butes to every onetheir due reward, according to their merit, or their services ; and in this sense the gospel cannot be a law. St. Paul doesnot usually cali it so ; nor can I think it the best way for ministers to represent it thus. Yet, after all, it is but a sort of differencein words, ifwe dobut explain the things in theright manner, and guardagainst those errors which we are liable to fall into on either side, Nor would I be angry with any man, who considerately and sincerely thinks this the best way of representing and explaining the gospel, any further than to say, that St. Paul did not think it the best way ; and I am muchof his mind. 4. How much should our souls bless God, for the intro- duction of the gospel into the world, at the first promise ; and even for all the promises of this new covenant, especially in this l`
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