A fincere obedience, how can any one doubt to be, or fcruple to call, a condition of the new covenant, as well as faith, who ever read our Saviour's fermon on the mount, to omit all the reft? Can any thing be more exprefs than these words of our Lord? Matt. vi. 14.

If you forgive men their trefpaffes, your heavenly father wilk "alfo forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trefpaffes, nei"ther will your father forgive your trefpaffes." And John xiii. 17. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." This is fo indifpenfable a condition of the new covenant, that believing without it will not do, nor be accepted, if our Saviour knew the terms on which he would admit men into life. "Why call ye me "Lord, Lord," fays he, Luke vi. 46. "and do not the things "which I fay?" It is not enough to believe him to be the Meffiah, the "Lord," without obeying him: for that thefe he speaks to here were believers, is evident from the parallel place, Matt. vii. 21-23. where it is thus recorded; "Not every one who fays Lord, Lord, "fhall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the "will of my father, which is in heaven." No rebels, or refractory difobedient, fhall be admitted there, though they have fo far believed in Jefus as to be able to do miracles in his name; as is plain out of the following words, "Many will fay to me in that "day, Have we not prophefied in thy name, and in thy name have "caft out devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful "works? and then will I profefs unto them, I never knew you; "depart from me, ye workers of iniquity."

This part of the new covenant, the apoftles alfo, in their preaching the gospel of the Meffiah, ordinarily joined with the doctrine of faith.

St. Peter in his firft fermon, Acts ii. when they were pricked in heart, and afked, "What fhall we do?" fays, ver. 38. "REPENT, "and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jefus Chrift, "for the remiffion of fins." The fame he fays to them again in his next fpeech, Acts iv. 26. "Unto you firft, God having raifed up his fon Jefus, fent him to blefs you." How was this done? "IN TURNING AWAY EVERY ONE FROM YOUR INIQUITIES."

The fame doctrine they preach to the high-prieft and rulers, Acts v. 30. "The God of our fathers raifed up Jefus, whom ye "flew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his "right-hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give REPENTANCE "to Ifrael, and forgivenefs of fins; and we are witnefles of thefe "things, and fo is alfo the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to "them that obey him."

Acts xvii. 30. St. Paul tells the Athenians, that now under the gofpel "God commandeth all men every where to REPENT."

Acts xx. 21. St. Paul, in his laft conference with the elders of Ephefus, profeffes to have taught them the whole doctrine neceffary to falvation. "I have," fays he, "kept back nothing that was "profitable unto you; but have thewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to houfe, teftifying both to the Jews

and

and to the Greeks ;" and then gives an account what his preaching had been, viz. "REPENTANCE towards God, and faith to"wards our Lord Jefus the Meffiah." This was the fum and fubftance of the gospel which St. Paul preached, and was all that he knew necessary to falvation, viz. "Repentance, and believing Jefus "to be the Meffiah;" and fo takes his last farewel of them, whom he fhould never fee again, ver. 32. in these words: "And now, "brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, "which is able to build up, and to give you an inheritance among "all them that are fanctified." There is an inheritance conveyed by the word and covenant of grace, but it is only to those who are "fanctified."

Acts xxiv. 24. "When Felix fent, for Paul," that he and his wife Drufilla might hear him "concerning the faith in Chrift," Paul reafoned of " righteoufnefs," or juftiee, and "temperance;" the duties we owe to others, and to ourfelves, and of the judgement to come: till he made Felix to tremble. Whereby it appears, that "temperance and juftice" were fundamental parts of the religion that Paul profeffed, and were contained in the faith which he preached. And if we find the duties of the moral law not preffed by him every where, we must remember, that moft of his fermons left upon record were preached in their fynagogues to the Jews, who acknowledged their obedience due to all the precepts of the law, and would have taken it amifs to have been fufpected not to have been more zealous for the law than he: and therefore it was with reason that his discourses were directed chiefly to what they yet wanted, and were averfe to, the knowledge and embracing of Jefus their promifed Meffiah. But what his preaching generally was, if we will believe him himself, we may fee Acts xxvi. where giving an account to king Agrippa of his life and doctrine, he tells him, ver. 20. "I fhewed unto them at Damafcus, and at Jerufalem, and "throughout all the coafts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that "they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for re"pentance."

Thus we fee, by the preaching of our Saviour and his apoftles, that he required of those who believed him to be the Meffiah, and received him for their Lord and deliverer, that they fhould live by his laws; and that (though in confideration of their becoming his fubjects, by faith in him, whereby they believed and took him to be the Meffiah, their former fins should be forgiven, yet) he would own none to be his, nor receive them as true denizons of the New Jerufalem, into the inheritance of eternal life, but leave them to the condemnation of the unrighteous, who renounced not their former mifcarriages, and lived in a fincere obedience to his commands. What he expects from his followers, he has fufficiently declared as a legislator. And that they may not be deceived, by mistaking the doctrine of faith, grace, free-grace, and the pardon and forgiveness of fins and falvation by him (which was the great end of his coming), he more than once declares to them for what omiffions

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and miscarriages he fhall judge and condemn to death even those who have owned him, and done miracles in his name, when he comes at laft to render to every one according to what he had DONE in the fleth, fitting upon his great and glorious tribunal, at the end of the world.

The first place where we find our Saviour to have mentioned the day of Judgment, is John v. 28, 29, in these words: "The hour "is coming, in which all that are in their graves fhall hear his "[i. e. the fon of God's] voice, and fhall come forth; they that

have DONE GOOD, unto the refurrection of life; and they that "have DONE EVIL, unto the refurrection of damnation." That which puts the diftinction, if we will believe our Saviour, is the having "done good or evil." And he gives a reafon of the neceffity of his judging or condemning thofe "who have done evil" in the following words, ver. 30. "I can of my own felf do no"thing, As I hear I judge, and my judgement is just; because I "feek not my own will, but the will of my father who hath fent "me." He could not judge of himfelf; he had but a delegated power of judging from the father, whofe will he obeyed in it, and who was of purer eyes than to admit any unjuft perfon into the kingdom of heaven,

Matt. vii, 22, 23. Speaking again of that day, he tells what his fentence will be, Depart from me, ye WORKERS of iniquity." Faith, in the penitent and fincerely obedient, fupplies the defect of their performances, and fo by grace they are made juft. But we may obferve, none are fentenced or punifhed for unbelief, but only for their misdeeds, "They are workers of iniquity" on whom the fentence is pronounced.

Matt. xiii. 14, "At the end of the world, the fon of man shall "fend forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all "fcandals, and them which DO INIQUITY, and caft them into a "furnace of fire; there fhall be wailing and gnafhing of teeth." And again, ver. 49. "The angels fhall fever the wICKED from and fhall caft them into the furnace of fire." Matt. xvi. 24. "For the son of man fhall come in the glory of his father, with his angels, and then he fhall reward every man ac❝cording to his WORKS,'

66 among the JUST,

Luke xiii. 26. "Then shall ye begin to fay, We have eaten and "drunk in thy prefence, and thou haft taught in our streets. But "he fhall fay, I tell you, I know you not: depart from me, ye WORKERS of iniquity."

Matt. xxv. 24-26." When the fon of man shall come in his glory, and before him fhall be gathered all nations, he fhall fet "the theep on his right-hand, and the goats on his left; then fhall "the king fay to them on his right-hand, Come, ye bleffed of my "father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation "of the world; for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was "thirfty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye cloathed me; I was fick, and ye vifited me;

"I was in prifon, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous "anfwer him, faying, Lord, when faw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? &c. And the king fhall anfwer, and fay unto them, "Verily, I fay unto you, inafmuch as ye have done it unto one of "the leaft of thefe my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then "fhall he fay unto them on the left-hand, Depart from me, ye "curfed, into everlafting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: "for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, "and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not "in; naked, and ye cloathed me not; fick and in prifon, and ye "vifited me not. Infomuch that ye did it not to one of thefe, ye "did it not to me. And thefe fhall go into everlafting punishment; "but the righteous into life eternal."

These, I think, are all the places where our Saviour mentions the laft judgement, or defcribes his way of proceeding in that great day; wherein, as we have obferved, it is remarkable, that every where the fentence follows doing or not doing, without any mention of believing, or not believing. Not that any to whom the gofpel hath been preached fhall be faved, without believing Jefus to be the Meffiah; for all being finners, and tranfgreflors of the law, and fo unjuft, are all liable to condemnation, unless they believe, and so through grace are juftified by God for this faith, which fhall be accounted to them for righteoufnefs: but the reft, wanting this cover, this allowance for their tranfgreffions, muft anfwer for all their actions; and, being found tranfgreffors of the law, fhall, by the letter and fanction of that law, be condemned, for not having paid a full obedience to that law, and not for want of faith; that is not the guilt on which the punishment is laid, though it be the want of faith which lays open their guilt uncovered, and exposes them to the fentence of the law againft all that are unrighteous.

The common objection here, is, If all finners fhall be condemned, but fuch as have a gracious allowance made them, and fo are juftified by God for believing Jefus to be the Meffiah, and so taking him for their king, whom they are refolved to obey to the utmoft of their power, what fhall become of all mankind who lived before our Saviour's time, who never heard of his name, and confequently could not believe in him? To this the answer is fo obvious and natural, that one would wonder how any reasonable man should think it worth the urging. Nobody was, or can be, required to believe what was never propofed to him to believe. Before the fulnefs of time, which God from the council of his own wisdom had appointed to fend his fon in, he had at feveral times, and in different manners, promifed to the people of Ifrael an extraordinary perfon to come, who, raifed from anongft themfelves, fhould be their ruler and deliverer. The time, and other circumftances of his birth, life, and perfon, he had in fundry prophecies fo particularly defcribed, and fo plainly foretold, that he was well known and expected by the Jews under the name of the Meffiah, or Anointed, given him in fome of these prophecies. All then that was required

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before his appearing in the world, was, To believe what God had revealed, and to rely with a full affurance on God for the performance of his promife; and to believe, that in due time he would fend them the Meffiah, this anointed king, this promifed Saviour and deliverer, according to his word. This faith in the promises of God, this relying and acquiefcing in his word and faithfulness, the Almighty takes well at our hands, as a great mark of homage, paid by us frail creatures, to his "goodness" and "truth," as well as to power" and "wifdom;" and accepts it as an acknowledgement of his peculiar providence and benignity to us. And therefore our Saviour tells us, John xii. 44. "He that believes on me, ❝ believes not on me, but on him that fent me." The works of nature fhew his wisdom and power; but it is his peculiar care of mankind, moft eminently discovered in his promifes to them, that fhews his bounty and goodness; and confequently engages their hearts in love and affection to him. This oblation of an heart fixed with dependance on, and affection to him, is the most acceptable tribute we can pay him; the foundation of true devotion, and life of all religion, What a value he puts on this depending on his word, and refting fatisfied in his promises, we have an example in Abraham, whofe faith "was counted to him for righteoufnefs, we have before remarked out of Rom. iv. And his relying firmly on the promise of God, without any doubt of its performance, gave him the name of the Father of the Faithful, and gained him fo much favour with the Almighty, that he was called "the Friend of God;" the highest and most glorious title can be bestowed on a creature. The thing promised was no more but a fon by his wife Sarah, and a numerous pofterity by him, which fhould poffefs the land of Canaan, These were but temporal bleffings, and (except the birth of a fon) very remote, fuch as he fhould never live to fee, nor, in his own perfon, have the benefit of; but because he queftioned not the performance of it, but refted fully fatisfied in the goodness, truth, and faithfulness of God who had promifed, it was counted to him for righteoufnefs. Let us fee how St. Paul expreffes it, Rom, iv. 18-22 Who, against hope, believed in hope, that he might "become the father of many nations; according to that which was "fpoken, fo fhall thy feed be: and being not weak in his faith, "he confidered not his own body now dead, when he was above an "hundred years old; neither yet the deadnefs of Sarah's womb: he "ftaggered not at the promife of God through unbelief, but was "ftrong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully perfuaded, "that what he had promifed he was able to perform; and THERE"FORE it was imputed to him for righteousness," St. Paul, having here emphatically defcribed the ftrength and firmness of Abraham's faith, informs us, that he thereby "gave glory to God;" and therefore it was "accounted to him for righteoufnefs." This is the way that God deals with poor frail mortals. He is graciously pleased to take it well of them, and give it the place of righteoufnefs, and a kind of merit in his fight, if they believe his promifes, and have a ftedfaft

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