And upon this account the law of ten commands, which was engraven in stones, is called the ministration of condemnation and death; 2 Cor. iii. 7—9. and not the ministration of life and righteousness; that is the peculiar glory of the gospel. The law indeed is holy and just and good, and it was originally ordained for life to innocent man: But when the apostle Paul came to have his conscience awakened to a sense of sin by the law, he found it to be unto death; Rom. vii. 10. partly by shewing him his imperfection of obedience, as well as by irritating his indwelling sinful inclinations. So far is the law from giving life to sinners.

God honours his laws so much that the scripture assures us, If there had been a law which could have given life, eternal life, verily righteousness, justification and happiness should have come by the law; Gal. iii. 21, 22. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, and condemned them by the law, and has shewn the insufficiency of the law to save, that the promise of eternal life by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. It is not to be supposed therefore, that Jesus Christ the Son of God, who was sent into this world to give, or further reveal this promise of eternal life by faith, and to provide another way to salvation and eternal life for fallen man, because the law was unable to give it; I say, it is not to be supposed that this very Son of God should preach obedience to the commands of this law, as the proper and direct way for a sinner to obtain eternal life. This would be like building up again the hopes of sinners to obtain salvation by the law, which hopes he came to destroy, and to provide a much surer foundation for hope.

IV. It is much more probable that Christ in these words designed to lead this young man to a sense of sin and guilt, and self-condemnation, by preaching to him the law of God, rather than to give him immediately the direct and plain advice how a sinner might obtain eternal happiness; for this is a work which the law can do, even in our fallen state: For by the law is the knowledge of sin, Rom. iii. 20. and vii. 7. The law can convince and condemn, though it cannot justify and save. Our Saviour knew the hearts of men; he knew this young man was conceited of his own righteousness, and he had a mind to lead his conscience to a sight and sense of the imperfection of his obedience, and therefore he preaches the law to him in many of the express commands of it, for that very end which the law might attain, that is, conviction of sin and selfcondemnation. This is the first thing necessary in order to the salvation of men, and therefore our Saviour begins with it.

And it is well worthy our notice, that the public promulgation of the ten commandments, with such solemn terrors at Mount Sinai, was designed, in the spiritual intention of it, to lay the consciences of men under guilt, rather than to make them partakers of righteousness and life. Rom. v. 20. The law entered that the offence might abound, that is, that the sins of men might appear to be great and numerous, beyond what their carnal imaginations would have supposed, without the express letter of the law, which forbids coveting, &c. The apostle Paul tells us; Rom. vii. 7. He had not known this concupiscence to be sin, but by the law; and that useful expositor of scripture, Mr. Samuel Clark, who is not wont to be too evangelical in his expositions, remarks on Exod. xix. 24. That the charge of forbidding the people to come near Mount Sinai, is often repeated, lest God break forth upon them, to shew that the end of the law is rather to exclude men from God, by reason of their sins, than to justify or to give life; for which he cites, 2 Cor. iii. 7. Gal. iii, 10-24.

2

And indeed this was one considerable part of the design and business of our Saviour's personal ministry here on earth, viz. to preach the law of God in its perfection, and convince men of sin, to let them see that they were condemned and exposed to the wrath of God, that they might learn the necessity of a Saviour to atone for sin, and of the mercy of God to pardon it. He described the purity and exactness of the law, not only to teach his disciples and all succeeding christians, that their obedience to the law of God ought to be more exact and pure, more inward and spiritual, than what the pharisees required or practised, but also to shew men the imperfection of their best righteousness, and that they were all guilty before God, that he might prepare them to receive the gospel, partly by his own preaching it, and especially when it should be published in greater brightness and clearness, and in its full glory, after his resurrection. Was not this one great design of his sermon upon the mount, where he explains the law of God in its lengths and breadths, and shews that it reaches to the thoughts of men as well as their actions? Did he not begin this sermon with, Blessed are the poor in spirit; Matt. v. 3. that he might shew the way to blessedness was not a self-sufficience of soul, and a trust in our own righteousness, but a spiritual poverty, that is, a humble sense of our own weakness and sinfulness? What mean many of his parables, particularly that of the prodigal son returning in rags and sorrow to his father's house? Luke xv. 13-32. Doth it not teach us that the way to be accepted of our heavenly Father is to return to him with a deep sense of our disobedience, sin and misery, with a humble repentance, and asking forgiveness? What is the intent of the parable of the pharisee and publican going up to pray? Luke xviii. 10. Is it not to shew us that a humble, confessing, repenting sinner seeking for mercy, is much nearer to justification and the favour of God, than a man who spreads abroad his own righteousness and justifies himself? What means four blessed Lord in his perpetual reproofs of the pharisees who trusted in themselves that they were righteous? verse 9. Did he not frequently talk thus to convince men of sin, and shew them how imperfect their obedience was, and how insufficient to procure acceptance with God, and to let them see that repentance and confession of sin, and trust in divine mercy, were the only way to salvation.

It is no wonder then if our Saviour had the same design in his eye when he saw a rich young man of a pharisaical spirit, come to enquire the way to heaven by doing some good work; it is no wonder that he begun to talk to him of obedience to the law, in order to convince him of sin, and shew him that he was not sufficiently righteous to obtain eternal life by his righteousness.

It is most likely that our blessed Lord had a special intention in this place to try the young man, whether he knew his own state and case as a sinner who wanted pardon, and whether he was prepared for the gospel or no: Whether he stood convinced of sin, and desirous of true salvation, such as Christ came to procure for those who were sensible of their guilt and danger. I have before shewed that the first sentence that Christ spoke to him was with design to try his opinion about himself, the Messiah, when he called him good, whether he was one with God or no: And now he tries his opinion about the inward and spiritual perfection of the law, and about his own power to keep it, and about his own hope of justification thereby: And therefore he at first gives him such an answer as should make him bethink himself, whether he had obeyed the law of God perfectly or no.

If he had found him sensible of his guilt and his imperfections, then most probably the compassionate Jesus would have preached to him the pardoning grace of the gospel, which he came to offer to those who repent of sin, and believe in the Saviour. But when he heard the vain enquirer justify himself as a righteous man, and say, All these commands have I kept from my youth; Matt. xix. 16. then our Saviour put him to a fresh and more painful trial of his sincerity and obedience to God, and that partly for his conviction, instead of saying, repent and believe; he did not proceed so far as to preach repentance to him, because he saw him so much unconvinced of sin; and he tells us that he came not to call these righteous men but sinners to repentance; Matt. ix. 13. that is, those who own themselves to be sinners.

This leads me to the fifth or last reason, to prove that this answer was not designed by Christ as a direction to the querist how to obtain salvation, viz. It is a quite different answer to the like questions that is given by Christ, and by the apostles, when they designed to preach the gospel in plain, direct and express language, Mark i. 15. Christ saith, Repent and believe the gospel. John vi. 40. This is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him, may have everlasting life. And again, This is the work of God, that is, thegreat work which God now requires, that ye believe on him whom he sent; John vi. 28, 29. So preaches St. Peter, Acts ii. 38. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ: So Paul, Acts xvi. 31. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved: And so John speaks, This is his commandment that ye believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ; 1 John iii. 23. These are the plain and direct advices of Christ and his apostles to sinful men, in order to obtain the favour of God and eternal life. To suppose therefore that Christ did in this place, and in these words, direct the enquirer into the proper way of salvation by the gospel, is to suppose that Christ differed greatly from himself, in the directions he gave, how men might be saved; and that he and his apostles, and particularly St. Paul, taught very different doctrines; that Christ taught the way to salvation by the works of the law, and the gospel taught it by faith and repentance, without the works of the law. But this would set Christ and his apostles so much at variance with themselves, that it is not to be admitted.

SECTION III.

AN ANSWER TO SOME OBJECTIONS.

I come now to answer some objections against my sense of this text, and the chief of them are taken from Doctor Whitby, a most ingenious writer on that side.

Objection I. Doth not Christ say, that " to love the Lord our God is the way to life;" Luke x. 27, 28. Is not this the same thing in effect, as when he directs the young man to eternal life, by keeping the commandments, and that in the same language? For when the lawyer enquires, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life;" Jesus gives him this advice, Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself: This do and thou shalt live. Thus eternal life is promised by Christ himself, to our loving God and man, which is the epitome or abstract of all the moral commands in one, for love is the fulfilling of the law; Rom. xiii. 8, 10.

Answer I. It is very plain that in that place our Saviour is preaching the covenant of works, as well as in my text, and that for the same purpose too, viz. for the conviction

of sin. This lawyer was not a humble and sincere enquirer, but one who came to tempt and ensnare him; and then it is no wonder if Jesus did not give him a plain and direct answer according to the method of salvation by the gospel. And though he directed others to believe and repent, yet he did not treat a vain young pharisee, who thought himself righteous, and a cunning lawyer, who designed to ensnare him, in the same manner that he would treat persons who were sensible of their sins, and sought the way to obtain pardon and happiness, nor did he give them the same directions.

Answer II. Let it be further considered, that the life-time of Christ was not the appointed season to speak the glories of the gospel in the fullest and plainest language, as I hinted before. His frequent business and practice was to preach the law, to reprove sin, and prepare men for the fuller and more complete ministry of the gospel, which after his death he sent his apostles to preach by the power of his own Spirit: And they published the gospel of salvation by repentance and faith in the blood of Christ, and forgiveness through his atonement, much plainer and clearer, and fuller than Christ himself did in his life-time among the multitudes. That gospel which he taught them secretly, they proclaimed as it were upon the house tops, according to his order; Matt. x. 27.

Though Christ himself gave such hints of this gospel in his preaching, as were sufficient for salvation to those that would receive them, yet he might be said to be sent rather with this dreadful commission to the generality of the Jews; Mat. xiii. 13. Isa. vi. 10. Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, &c. They were such a stubborn and self-conceited and disobedient people, that God justly gave them up to their own blindness and hardness: And for this reason our Saviour spake often the great things of the gospel to them in parables *. He was ordained to be a stumbling-stone and rock of offence to the house of Israel and Judah; Isa. viii. 14. 1 Pet. ii. 8. and this by the just judgment of God, for their stoning the prophets, and murdering the former messengers of heaven, for their forsaking the law of God, and making it void by their traditions, and for their violent opposition to Christ his Son. Christ was not always bound to speak the gospel to this people in as plain words as he could, for reasons that the wisdom of God was well acquainted with, reasons that the justice of God righteously determined, and the goodness of God did not think fit to oppose. And it is no wonder at all that he doth speak in this way to those men who came with curious questions and with evil purposes to ensnare him, as the lawyer did in this account of St. Luke.

Objection II. But can we suppose that Christ would deceive a young man, who came seriously to enquire the way to eternal life? Can we imagine that Christ, in whom dwells all wisdom, truth and love, should give such directions as could never bring a man to heaven, and especially considering that he came into the world on purpose to bring life and immortality to light among men, and to shew them the true way to heaven?

Answer I. That we may secure the goodness of God, and the mercy of Christ from any reproach in this case, I say further, that Christ did take a very wise and regular method with this young man to bring him to salvation, if he would have stayed to attend to it, and had not been full of evil prejudices, of self-righteousness, and the love of this

*See Section V. Reflection I.

world. For the first thing to be done in order to bring sinners to heaven, as I hinted before, is to convince them of sin, and this is done by the law. This the apostle Paul sheweth at large in his epistle to the Romans, that men by beholding the perfection of the law, and their inability to perform it, might become dead to all hope from the law, as he was when he says, Gal. ii. 19. I by the law am dead to the law; and that they might not expect life by the law, but that they might seek for salvation by the way of repentance and faith, or trust in Christ, and obtain forgiveness of sins through the free grace of God in the gospel.

Answer II. Though this young man had a vain conceit of his own righteousness, yet there was something in him naturally pleasing, agreeable and engaging, so that Christ as man "looked upon him and loved him;" Mark x. 21. He had some liking to such a towardly and hopeful youth, and preached the law to him, to convince him of sin, in order to his salvation: But when he professed himself to be so righteous in his own eyes, as to have kept all the commands of the law, his divine wisdom then saw it proper to put a harder trial upon him, viz. to sell all that he had and give to the poor, and to become a follower of Christ. Now if this young man had loved God so well as he pretended, and believed Christ to be a prophet come from God, he ought to have obeyed him, even in this difficult and self-denying command; which command was put upon him, partly to convince him that he did not love God so well as he imagined, and which hard trial probably would never have been put upon him, if he had not been so conceited of his own righteousness.

It must be observed also, to vindicate the honour, faithfulness and goodness of Christ, that if the young man had followed these directions of Christ at the end of the conference, he had been saved: Our blessed Lord gave him sufficient advice for eternal life, if he would have taken it. Come, sell what thou hast, and give it to the poor, and follow me, and be my disciple; and then it would follow, "Thou shalt learn of me the way to heaven more perfectly, and I will teach thee the way of repentance and faith, and holiness unto complete salvation." But the young man loved his money, and went away sorrowful that he could not keep all his riches and obtain eternal life too.

Objection III. Doth not God all along in the writings of the Old Testament, in successive ages, promise life in this same sort of language to those that observe and do his commandments, and that both by Moses and by the prophets? And did not the saints, under the Old Testament, obtain life this way? Lev. xviii. 5. He that doth them, that is, the commands of God, shall live in them; Ezek. xx. 11. this promise is repeated: And in Ezek. xxx. 15. If the wicked walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die: Now this dying cannot mean a natural death, for they knew they must die naturally; therefore it must mean a deliverance from eternal death, and assurance of eternal life. "It is therefore certain, that all pious persons, under the Old Testament, obtained a right to life eternal, by this observance of the moral precepts of the law." These are Doctor Whitby's own words. Answer I. This life which is here promised in these texts to the Jews, in a literal sense, chiefly means long life in their own land, and peace and freedom from sorrows and miseries in this world: And though the freedom or preservation from death, which is promised by Moses to those who keep the statutes, laws and ordinances enjoined to Israel, does not mean an entire preservation from temporal death: so neither in the obvious and literal sense does it mean a security from eternal death, but rather a