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"under the stricteft obligations of duty, love, and "gratitude, to yield the most filial, evangelical obe"dience to his commands," how can she be juftly charged with Antinomianifm, or licentioufnefs, for this her obedience to the faith; this fervice in the newness of the Spirit; or for thefe works of faith, labours of love, and patience of hope?

QUOT. If ye keep my commandments, ye fhall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

ANSW. This proves that there is a manifeft diftinction between the commandments of a killing letter and that commandment which is eternal life. The one is the Father's commandment, which was given by Mofes: the other is the life-giving command, which is of grace, and which came by Jefus Chrift. The one is a command given to us to work for life; the other is a command given to Chrift, to give us that life which man could never earn, and which the law could never give. Upon mount Zion bath God commanded the bleffing, even life for evermore. Pfal. cxxxiii. 3. Here is a blessing commanded to be given to Zion, the elect of God; and this bleffing is life for evermore. But then to whom was this command given? I anfwer, To Jefus, the great king, whom God fet upon his holy hill. This bleffing, and this life for evermore, were given to him. God fent his Son Jefus Chrift to bless us, by turning us from our evil way. "Yea," faith Chrift, He gave

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me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak; and I know that his commandment is life everlasting; or, as the Pfalmift fays, life for evermore. But then why is it called a commandment? Because the Saviour, in obedience to his Father's will, by his own powerful voice, fpeaks life to the dead finner's foul; at which voice the sting and sentence of death both depart, and life and immortality are brought to life through the gofpel. Such fouls hear the voice of the Son of God, and live; yea, they pass from death to life, and shall never come into condemnation. Lazarus, come forth! fays the Saviour. Here is a life-giving command, and a refurrection immediately ensues. And when I paffed by thee, and faw thee polluted in thine own blood, I faid unto thee, Live! Yea, I faid unto thee, when thou waft in thy blood, Live! Ezek. xvi. 6. It is one thing for Chrift to fay to a dead foul, Live! and it is another thing for the Father to fay, This do, and thou shalt live! Befides, the law never held forth eternal life: for, had there been a law given that could have given life, verily righteousness fhould have come by the law. Life in Eden was all that was intimated to Adam before the fall; with the lofs of which he was threatened, in cafe of disobedience. Length of days, in the land of Canaan, was all that the moral law held forth to Ifrael. Life eternal was to come by that Prophet which Mofes foretold; and nothing less than deftruction was threatened to them who fhould refuse to obey the voice of that prophet.

Before

Before people fit down to unmask what they call Antinomianism, it is neceffary that they should have fome infight into the fcriptures of truth; and not deftroy the law as a covenant of works; and then build the law of love, and the life-giving commandment of the gofpel, upon its destruction. The commandment of Zion, and the commandment of Sinai, are two diftinct things. The fcriptures reveal two diftinct mothers, and their children compofe two diftinct families. God is a father to the one, and a master to the other. He has commanded the bleffing of life for evermore upon mount Zion. And to the children of Zion Wisdom speaks thus : My fon, keep thy father's commandment, and forfake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goeft it fhall lead thee; when thou sleepest it shall keep thee; and when thou awakeft it shall talk with thee. Prov. vi. 20, 21, 22. This proverb fpeaks to us as to children; it speaks to the children of God, not to the bond children; for Chiift palmed them upon another father. And we are exhorted to keep our Father's commandment-commandment in the fingular number; which commandment is not the moral law, for then it would have been in the plural, for they are ten. This commandment of the Father is called the law of our mother; but neither Hagar, Sinai, nor Jerufalem in bondage, are our mother. We must not look to either of them. We muft look unto Abraham our father, and to Sarah that

bare

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bare us; for God called him alone, and bleffed him,
and increafed him. And it is clear that the bleffing
of eternal life was given by God our Father to Abra-
ham and Sarah, who are the father and mother of
us all. This law of our mother Sarah was not gra-
ven on tables of ftone, but on the fefhy tables of
her heart. This law (Wisdom fays) is to be bound
upon the heart. It is a girdle of truth, that keeps
the mind and heart from departing from God. It
is to be tied about the neck. It keeps the foul in
union with the Covenant Head: If ye abide in me,
and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it fhall be done unto you. John xv. 17. When
thou goeft it fhall lead thee. The moral law, in the
hand of Juftice, is a driver; but the law of the Spi-
rit of life, or the law of faith in the hand of the Spi-
rit of promife, is a leader. The Spirit leads us into
all truth; and Truth leads us into liberty, and to
free access to God. When thou sleepest it shall keep
thee. The law of faith, in the hand of the Spirit, is
a keeper. Truth is the faint's fhield and buckler.
Protection is promifed in this law; and we are kept,
by the power of God, through it: through faith are
we kept to falvation. And when thou awakest it shall
talk with thee. This life-giving commandment has
a voice of power, and differs much from a voice of
words. The Spirit fpeaks in this law to the heart.
The word dwells richly in the believer; infomuch
that his heart teacheth his mouth, and addeth learn-
ing to his lips. In fhort, it is the word of reconcili-
ation, by which we are brought to have fellowship

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with the Father, and with the fon Chrift Jefus: while those who are under the law find a barrier upon their heart, which keeps them at their proper diftance; and a boundary placed round the mount, that they may not attempt to gaze, left the Lord break through upon them.

QUOT. Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that faith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whofo keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.

ANSW. If this quotation be true, my doctrine must be right. The Saviour's commandments, or Jayings, are here called his word; and he that keepeth it the love of God is verily perfected in him; or, as Christ says, He that hath my word, and keepeth it, be it is that loveth me, and he shall be loved of my Father. Then, according to this quotation, the penitent finner, who receives the word in the light of it, in the faith of it, and in the love of it; and ftands faft in it, abides by it, and holds it faft; is the man in whom the love of God is perfected. This is the life and foul of my doctrine, and it is true. But then these commandments, which are here called the word, are not the motal law, not a voice of words, nor the killing letter, but the word of life. For the law is fo far from perfecting the love of

God

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