124 MORAL LAW UNDER THE GOSPEL. and let him return unto the Lord, and he will' have mercy upon him, and to our God, and he, will abundantly pardon ; Ps. cxxx. 4--8. There is forgiveness with thee that thou 's.na est be feared. Let Israel hope in the Lord ; with the Lord is plenteous redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. One might transcribe many pages to this purpose out of Isaiah, Jeremiah and David. This is more evangelical language, shewing the way for sinners to obtainsalvation : This is the gospel that was preached to them as well as to us : Heb. iv. 2. And even to them was preached also the gospel of the Messiah, and the salvation of men by the Messiah, the seed of Abraham ; Gal. iii. 8. Is. lii. 5, 8, 11. He was wounded for our iniquities: The Lord Isiah laid on him the iniquities of us all. And it is said ; Acts x. 43. To him give all the prophets witness, that whosoever believeth in him shall receiveforgiveness of sins through his name. Thus it plainly appears, that the mere keeping of the commands, as written in the moral law, was not the proper term or rule of their acceptance withGod unto eternal life, under the Old Testament : For there is nothing of this doctrine of repentance and forgiveness,nor of the Messiah, con- tained in the ten commands. Let it be observed also, that even in those legal promises, which ensure life to those who kept the commands of God, there is a more spiritual and evangelical sense sometimes implied : For under this word life, and -these temporal blessings which were promised, eternal life and eternal blessings were typified and held forth to those that looked through the veil, and that fulfilled the will of God in spiritual and sincere obedience, with a humble sense of their sins, and trust in divine forgiveness. But the ground of their acceptance with God unto eternal life, or their right to heaven and salvation, was not this their perform- ance of the works of the law, for their best works were all im- perfect, and they were saved by faith even as we; Gal. iii. 8 -9. that is, by trusting to pardoning mercy, so fir as it was revealed under that dispensation. And as the salvation itself was typifiedby temporalblessings so the way to this salvation, which was " repentance and trust in the mercy of God through the Messiah, was typified by offering sacrifices of blood, and by many washings and porifyings, both by blood and water, which implied a confession of their defile- ment : and the saints or righteous men of that day, hoped for the mercy of God, as discovered more plainly in the promises, and perhaps also, some might understand it as hinted in these types and figures. They knew that blessedness was to come upon men to whom God imputed not their sins, or to whom the Lord imputed righteousness ;" Ps. xxxii. 1, 2. or accounted them as righteous in his sight by his mercy, though they were
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