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SERM. and yet at the fame time delight in tortur VI. ing their innocent Brethren! Where is

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the Reason, the Equity, the Juftice of all. this Enthufiaftic Rage and Fury? If this be Christianity give us fome better Scheme, or turn us back to the lefs injurious State of Heathenifm! :

Tho' we

In a Word, and to conclude. all differ from one another in some respect or other, yet let us not imitate thofe whofe Principles and Practices we condemn, by dealing about the unchriftian Firebrands of Malice and Hatred, but fhew that we are Chriftians, by extending our Love to all the World according to our Saviour's Command and Example. Then if our Faith, which is a dead Principle of itfelf, be thus enliven'd with Charity; then, I fay, however we may be reproach'd, cenfur'd, condemn'd as Hereticks, by those who know no other Golpel, but an idle Jargon of School-Terms, yet we shall be found to be true Members of the Chriftian Church here, and of the Church triumphant in Heaven..

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SER

SERMON VII.

ROMANS iii. 31.

Do we then make void the Law thro' Faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the Law.

T

HE Design of this Epiftle SERM. to the Romans being to con- VII. firm them in their Pro

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feffion of Christianity, and to preserve them from being feduced by the Judaizers, who ftifly adher'd to the Law of Mofes, the Apostle, in the foregoing Chapters, gives them to understand, that God is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews; that, as to the Method of obtaining Salvation, the Cafe is the fame with the one, as it is with the other; for that the Righteoufness accepted. of God unto Salvation must be by Faith R

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SERM. in Jefus Chrift, both of the Jew and

VII.

Gentile: And tho indeed he is far from acquitting the Gentiles, for he blames them very much for their wicked Lives, and fays, that they stand in need of Juftification by Faith for tranfgreffing the Law of Nature; yet to take down the Pride of the Jew, he fhews as plainly, that the Jews could not be juftify'd neither, any otherwise than by Faith, because they were Tranfgreffors of the Law of Moses: So that in this respect they were upon the fame Footing; and as to their Acceptance with God, there was no Difference between the few and the Gentile; neither of them being able to attain Juftification by their own Performances. The Apostle goes on, to the great Mortification of the Jew, who placed his Merit in outward Performances, to fhew the Infufficiency of fuch Things; telling them that it was the Purity of the Heart, which was only acceptable with God. For he is not a Jew, or at least such a one to whom the Promises belong, who is one outwardly, nor is that Circumcifion, which is out

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ward in the Flesh, but he is a Jew, who SERM. is one inwardly, and Circumcifion is that VII. of the Heart, in the Spirit, and not in

the Letter, whofe Praise is not of Men,

but of God. And if the few should

reply, as St. Paul puts the Question, What Advantage then hath the Jew, or what Profit is there of Circumcifion? Why, as the Apostle obferves, much every Way; chiefly, because they were entrusted with the Oracles of God; but as to their Acceptance with God, they had no Advantage at all; for both Jew and Gentile are concluded under Sin. And then he proceeds to fhew, that the Jews had no reafon to boast upon Account of the Law, fince after all they were not to be justify'd by it; for that God will juftify Jew and Gentile the fame Way, viz. by Faith. And in the Words of the Text he obviates an Objection, which he knew was natural enough for the Jews to urge from the foregoing Doctrine; as if Juftification by Faith would make void the Law, which he denies with the greatest Abhorrence; fhewing that it is fo far from making void

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SERM. the Law, that it is on the contrary an VII. Establishment of it. Do we then made void the Law thro' Faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the Law.

From the Words of the Text I fhall beg Leave to prove two Things.

First, That the Gospel does not make void the Law..

Secondly, That it confirms and establishes it.

First, then, I am to prove that the Gofpel does not make void the Law. By the Law I understand not the Mofaic Law in General, but that particular Part of it, that is made up of a Body of Precepts for the Regulation of the Life and Manners, which is call'd the Moral Law. The ceremonial Part being adapted to the particular Circumftances of the Jews, it could not be fuppofed to be obligatory upon Chriftians, or to extend further than the Reason for which it was firft inftituted, but to cease when the Gofpel-Difpenfation took Place, and become entirely null and void; because there was no longer any Reafon

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