there is a God in heaven, that there is no one law in the book of God but what he himself hath put into my mind, and written upon my heart; and that he would enable me to give a simple and honest account of it to any sober inquirer, who might call upon me for that purpose. And yet the best names that I obtain among these lettermen are that vile, that filthy, that stinking Antinomian.' However, in this respect I am even with them, for I cannot stink more in their nostrils than they do in mine.

Having proved that no letter-men, no lawmen, nor any other but the elect of God, have the promise of being taught of God, or of having any of God's laws put into their minds, or written on the fleshly tables of their hearts; but that all these have as soon as they are called by grace, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit of promise; I shall now inquire who they are to whom God bears his testimony that his laws are in their hearts. For, "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater," 1 John v. 9.

First, he tells us that his dear Son has got his law in his heart. "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart," Psal. xl. 6-8. This testimony is given by Christ himself, that the law of God was in his

heart; and I am fully persuaded that the same law is in the hearts of all his spiritual followers, and in no other sort or sect of men under heaven.

"The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide," Psal. xxxvii. 30, 31. God having made many promises to the objects of his choice, that he would put his laws into their minds and write them upon their hearts, he here bears a glorious testimony to the honour of every one of those in whom this work is done.

1. He calls him righteous, God having by his Spirit drawn him to Christ, united him with Christ, and accepted him in him; in the Lord he has righteousness and strength. And, as it is God's work to root a poor sinner out of the flesh and out of self, and to transplant him into Christ, so he is called a tree of righteousness, the right hand planting of God, that he may be glorified.

2. Being pardoned and justified, he is made wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ. There is no wisdom in those who are dead in trespasses and sins. All sinners are fools; and empty professors of religion, who are carnally secure while in possession of their guilt and filth, are the greatest fools of all, as may be seen in the parable of the foolish virgins.

3. His mouth talketh of judgment: he has been arraigned and judged at the bar of God, and at the bar of his own conscience, and has been

taken from the throne of judgment to the mercyseat, and obtained both righteousness and the sentence of justification freely by grace. Through faith in him, judgment is brought forth unto victory; and so all find it, sooner or later, who wait for Christ's law.

His

4. God styles himself the God and lawgiver of this man. "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." What this law in the heart is I shall shew hereafter. feet are the confidences he has in God; by faith he stands. His steps are the goings out, and the different actings or exercises of his faith upon God through Christ; called the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, and the footsteps of the flock. Now these feet may stagger at the promise, and at providence too, in times of trial; but the steps shall never slide from the foundation, because he is built up on his most holy faith; nor shall his steps slide from the path of life, for the Holy Spirit quickens his faith and gives it all its actings, directs his steps, and keepeth the feet of all the saints; besides, faith has got eternal life in it. This is the testimony that God gives of these men in whose heart he writes his law: and sure I am that it is a good report through faith which these men obtain. Let all our ministers. of the letter search the scriptures, and see if they can obtain as good a report as these; and let them tell us what laws have been written upon their hearts, what was their state before this writing

took place, what were their feelings under the impression, what was the change that followed upon it, and what were the fruits and effects produced by it, and how their hearts stood affected towards God. But this we shall never obtain; for there is no one law of God in them, either moral or evangelical. They are lawless and disobedient; lawless with respect to the morality of the law, and disobedient with respect to faith. Once more,

"My salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation," Isai. li. 6—8.

1. The account that God gives of these men is, that they know righteousness; they have had a fearful experience of the righteousness or justice of God; have had the law set home upon their consciences in all its spiritual meaning, and they know what that rule of righteousness requires; they know the blessings and benefits of an imputed righteousness, and they have had an experience of that divine love which is the fulfilling of the law of righteousness; nor are they ignorant of righteousness at the bar of equity, nor of the witness and inward peace that attend it,

2. God owns that his people have his law in their hearts, attended with his righteousness and his salvation, both of which shall be for ever; and therefore he tells them not to fear the reproach of men, nor to be afraid of their revilings; that the secret curse of God, like a moth, shall prey upon them as upon an old garment, they being covered with nothing but the spider's web of their own righteousness. Read Zech. v. 4. And, being but mere wolves in sheep's clothing, their own guilty conscience, like a worm, shall recoil upon them for their deception, requite them for their hypocrisy, and prey upon them as a moth doth upon a fleece of wool. Having proved that God never promises to write his laws on the hearts of any but those of his own elect, and that none but spiritual men, or men born again, have any of God's laws in their hearts, according to the account God gives in the scriptures of truth; I shall now proceed to shew what the law is.

It consists of two parts: the preceptive and the penal; the commandments and the awful threatenings; the morality it requires, and the wrath it reveals against the immoral. The morality of it consists in its being holy, just, and good. "Wherefore the law is holy; and the commandment holy, and just, and good," Rom. vii. 12. Love is the real morality of all these three branches.

First, Love is real holiness. According as he hath chosen us in Christ, that we should be