that of Moses "is done away," 2 Cor. iii, 11: Christ's dispensation is -the ministration of the Spirit;" but that of Moses is "the ministration of the letter,-of condemnation,-of death," not only because it eventually killed the carnal Jews, who absurdly opposed the letter of their dispensation to the spirit of it; but also because Moses condemned to instant death blasphemers, adulterers, and rebels; destroying them with volleys of stones, earthquakes, fire from heaven, waters of jealousy, &c. All these strange executions were acts of severity, which our mild Redeemer not only never did himself, but never permitted his apostles to do while he was upon earth; kindly delaying the execution of his woes, and chiefly delighting to proclaim peace to penitent rebels. Hence it is that St. Paul says, "If the" Mosaic "ministration," [which, in the preceding respect, was comparatively a "ministration of righteous condemnation,] be glory, much more does the ministration of" Christ [which, in the sense above mentioned, is comparatively a ministration of righteous mercy] "exceed in glory!" 2 Cor. iii, 9.

2. With regard to the better promises, on which the apostle founds his doctrine of the superior excellence of the Christian over the Jewish dispensation, they are chiefly these: (1.) "The Lord whom ye seek, even the Messenger of the better covenant, shall suddenly come to his temple." (2.) "To you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." (3.) "I will be merciful to your unrighteousness, and your sins I will remember no more: giving you the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins;" a privilege this which is enjoyed by all Christian believers. (4.) "All shall know me from the least to the greatest: they shall all be taught of God; for I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and my servants and my handmaids shall prophesy, i. e. speak the wonderful works of God." This blessing, which under the Jewish dispensation was the prerogative of prophets and prophetesses only, is common to all true Christians. The four evangelists and St. Peter, our Lord and his forerunner, agree to name it "the baptism of the Holy Ghost." St. Peter calls it "the Spirit of promise." Christ terms it also "power from on high, and the promise of the Father." The fulfilment of this great promise is the peculiar glory of Christianity in its state of perfection, as appears from John vii, 39, and 1 Peter i, 12; and it is chiefly on account of it that the Christian dispensation is said to be founded on better promises; but to infer from it that the Jewish dispensation was founded on a curse, is a palpable mistake.

3. Therefore, all that you can make of Heb. viii, 2 Cor. iii, and Gal. wv, 1, is, (1.) That the Jewish dispensation puts a heavy yoke of ceremonies upon those who are under it, and by that means "gendereth to bondage," whereas the Gospel of Christ begets glorious liberty; not only by breaking the yoke of Mosaic rites, but also by revealing more clearly, and sealing more powerfully, the glorious promise of the Spirit. And, (2.) That the "Gospel of Moses," if I may use that expression after St. Paul, Heb. iv, 2, was good in its time and place, and was founded upon good promises; but that the Gospel of Christ is better, and is established upon better promises, the latter dispensations illustrating, improving, and ripening the former; and altogether forming the various steps by which the mystery of God hastens to its glorious accomplishment. VOL. II.

4

"II. If the Mosaic dispensation is so nearly allied to the Gospel of Christ, why does the apostle, Heb. xii, 18-21, give us so dreadful a description of Mount Sinai? And why does he add, 'So terrible was the sight [of that mount burning with fire] that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake?'"

ANSWER. The apostle in that chapter exalts, with great reason, Mount Sion above Mount Sinai; or the Christian above the Jewish dispensation and herein we endeavour to tread in his steps. But the argument taker from the dreadful burning of Mount Sinai, &c, does by no means prove that the Sinai covenant was essentially different from the covenant of grace. Weigh with impartiality the following observations, and they will, I hope, remove your prejudices, as they have done mine:

1. If the dispensation of Moses is famous for the past terrors of Moun Sinai; so is that of Christ for the future terrors of the day of judgment "His voice," says the apostle, then shook the earth; but now he hat promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but als heaven. We too look for the shout of the archangel, and the blast o the trump of God;" and are persuaded, that the flames which ascende from Mount Sinai to the midst of heaven were only typical of thos flames that shall crown the Christian dispensation, when our "Lord sha be revealed in flaming fire, to take a more dreadful vengeance on the that obey not the Gospel," than ever Moses did on those who disobey his dispensation. "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolve what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation; looki for and hasting unto the day of God, wherein the heavens being on ti shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat!" He inconsiderable do the Mosaic terrors of a burning bush and a flamı hill appear, when they are compared with the Christian terrors of melti elements, and of a world, whose inveterate curse is pursued from circumference to the centre, by a pervading fire; and devoured by rapi spreading flames!

2. How erroneous must the preaching of Zelotes appear to the who believe all the Scriptures! "I do not preach to you duties a sincere obedience, like Mr. Legality on Mount Sinai; but privileges & faith, like St. Paul on Mount Sion." How unscriptural, I had alm said how deceitful is this modish effeminate divinity! Does not the v apostle, who is supposed to patronize it most, speak directly against where he says, "We labour that we may be accepted of Him, ( Lord;) for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord [in that great day of retri tion,] we persuade men?" Nay, does not he conclude his drea description of Mount Sinai, and its terrors, by threatening Chris believers, who "are come to Mount Sion," with more dreadful disp of Divine justice than Arabia ever beheld, if they do not obey "I that speaks from heaven?" Heb. xii, 25. And does he not sum up doctrine, with respect to Mount Sinai and Mount Sion, in these a words? "Wherefore, we receiving [by faith] a kingdom which ca be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God accepta with reverence and GODLY FEAR: for OUR God" is not the God of Antinomians, but "A CONSUMING FIRE:" i, e. the God who deliv the moral law upon Mount Sinai in the midst of devouring flames,

gave a fuller edition of it in his sermon upon the mount, solemnly adopting that law into his own peculiar dispensation, as "the law of liberty," or his own evangelical law-this very "God is a consuming fire." He will come in the great day, "revealed in flaming fire, to consume the man of sin by the breath of his mouth, and to take vengeance on all that obey not the Gospel," whether they despise its gracious offers, or trample under foot its righteous precepts. If Zelotes would attentively read Heb. xii, 14-29, and compare that awful passage with Heb. ii, 2, 3, he would see that this is the apostle's anti-Solifidian doctrine: but, alas, while the great Pharisaic whore forbids some Papists to read the Bible, will the great Antinomian Diana permit some Protestants to mind it?

Should not the preceding observations have the desired effect upon the reader, I appeal to witnesses. Moses is the first. He comes down from Mount Sinai with an angelic appearance. Beams of glory dart from his seraphic face. His looks bespeak the man that had conversed forty days with the God of glory, and was saturated with Divine mercy and love. But I forget that Christianized Jews will see no glory in Moses, and have a veil of prejudice ready to cast over his radiant face: I therefore point at a more illustrious witness: it is the Lord Jesus. "Behold! he cometh with ten thousand of his saints," says St. Jude, "to execute judgment upon all ;" and particularly upon those that "sin wilfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth. There remaineth no more sacrifice for their sins," says my third witness, "but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy; of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy, who hath" despised the Christian dispensation, and "done despite to the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me-the Lord shall judge HIS people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," Heb. x, 26–31.

Thus speaks the champion of free grace. Such is the account which he gives of Christ's severity toward those who despise his dispensation, -a severity this, which will display itself by the infliction of a punishment much sorer than that inflicted on the rebels destroyed by Moses. And are we not come to the height of inattention, if we can read such terrible declarations as these, and maintain that nothing but vinegar and gall flows from Mount Sinai, and nothing but milk and honey from Mount Sion? How long shall we have "eyes that do not see, and hearts that do not understand?" Lord, rend the veil of our prejudices. Let us see "the truth as it is in" Moses, that we may more clearly see "the truth as it is in Jesus.”

The balance of the preceding arguments shows that the Mosaic and the Christian covenants equally set before us blessing and cursing; and that, according to both those dispensations, the obedience of faith shall be crowned with gracious rewards; while disobedience, the sure fruit of unbelief, shall be punished with the threatened curse. I throw this conclusion into my Scales, and weigh it before my readers, thus:—

I.

ses, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, &c. And Moses made haste, &c, and said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, &c, pardon our iniquity, and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. And he (the Lord) said, I make a (or the) cove. nant, Exodus xxxiv, 6-10.

&c.
shall

24.

II.

offence cometh; wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off. It is better to enter into life maimed, rather than be cast into everlasting fire, Matt. xviii, 7, 8. Wo unto you that are rich, &c. Wo unto you that are full, &c. Wo unto you that laugh now, Wo unto you, when all men speak well of you, Luke vi, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil-for I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat, &c, Matt. xxv, 42. I flatter myself, that if Zelotes and Honestus candidly weigh the preceding arguments and scriptures, they will reap from thence a double advantage: (1.) They will no more tread the honour of Christ's moral law in the dust-no more rob it of its chief glory, that of being a strict rule of judgment. (2.) Honestus will be again benefited by a considerable part of the New Testament; and Zelotes by a considerable part of the law and the prophets, which (as our Lord himself informs us) "hang on" those very "commandments" that the Antinomians divest of their sanction, and the Pharisees of their spirituality.

SECTION VII.

The doctrine of the preceding section is weighed in the Scripture Scales-According to Christ's Gospel, keeping the moral law in faith is a SUBORDINATE way to eternal life, and some Protestants are grossly mistaken when they make believers afraid sincerely to observe the commandments, in order to obtain through Christ a more abundant life of grace here, and an eternal life of glory hereafter.

Is I have spent so much time in attempting to remove the difficulties with which the doctrine of the law is clogged, it has not been without reason; for the success of my Checks in a great degree depends upon clearing up this part of my subject. If I fail here, Pharisaism will not be checked, and gross Antinomianism will still pass for the pure Gospel; fundamental errors about the law being the muddy springs whence the broken cisterns, both of the Pharisees and of the Antinomians, have their constant supplies. Honestus will have an anti-evangelical, Christless law, or at least a law without spirituality and strictness; the law he frames to himself being an insignificant twig, and not the Spirit's twoedged piercing sword. And Zelotes contrives a Gospel without law; or, if he admits of a law for Christ's subjects, it is such a one as has only the shadow of a law-“ a rule of life," as he calls it, and NOT a rule of judgment. That at first sight Honestus may perceive the spiritu. abty of the law, and the need of Christ's Gospel; and that Zelotes may discover the need of Christ's law, and see its awful impartiality, I beg