None could his great tribunal face,
Were faith itself their fairest dress:
Faith takes the robe, but never brags
Itself has ought but filthy rags.

Faith claims no share, and works far less,
In juftice-pleafing righteoufnefs;
The fervant were to be abhorr'd,
Would claim the glory of his lord.
Blafphemous unbelief may claim
The praises of the worthy Lamb:
But faith disclaiming all its beft,
Not on itself, but Christ, will rest.
I'm fav'd and juftify'd by faith,
Which yet no faving value hath;
Nor e'er pretends to fave from thrall
But in its object has its all.

'Tis Chrift alone faves guilty me,
And makes my right to life fo free,
That in himself it ftands alone:
Faith takes the right, but gives me none.

I dare not act with this intent,

For ass of mine to draw the rent;
Nor do good works with this defign,
To win the crown by works. of mine.
I'd thus the promis'd grace forfake,
Nor Jefus for my Saviour take;
Yea, this would dreadfully prefume,.
And work mine own eternal doom.

Prefumption cannot rife more high,
I'd make the truth of God a lie,
The God of truth a liar too!
What more mifchief could Satan do?

Why, I'd difcredit God's record
Concerning Jefus Chrift the Lord,
His glorious and eternal Son,
Whofe blood has life eternal won,

In him, fays God, this life I give,
In him fhall therefore men believe,
My gift embracing in their arms:
None fhall be fav'd on other terms.

Vain man must stoop and freely take,
Or elfe embrace a burning lake:
Proud nature muft fubmit to grace,
And to the divine righteoufnefs.

In vain on works our hope is built,
Our actions nothing are but guilt:
The best obedience of our own,
Dare not appear before his throne.

What finite worm can bear the load,
The fury of an angry God?
What mortal vigour can withstand
The vengeance of his lifted hand?

The law can never fave us now,
To damn is all that it can do.

Heaven cafts all righteousness of ours;
The law of works is out of doors.

No merit, money, more or less,
Can buy the gifts of righteousness.
may I take what Heaven does give :
Jehovah help me to believe;

And in that righteoufnefs to truft,
Which only makes a finner juft.
And then, the truth of faith to prove,
Lord, make my faith to work by love.

CHAP. II.

The Believer's Principles, concerning the
Law and Gofpel..

1. The Mystery
2. The Difference
3. The Harmony

PARTICULARLY

4. The Place and Station

}

Of Law and Gospel.

SECT. I. The Mystery of Law and Gospel.

THOUGH law-commands and gofpel-grace.

Agree in mutual joint embrace, a
Yet law and gospel in a fhock
Can never draw an equal yoke. b .
The law of works, the law of grace,
Can't ftand together in one place;
The brighter fcene deftroys the dark,
As Dagon fell before the ark. c

a Rom. iii. 31, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law. Gal. iii. 21, Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness. fhould have been by the law.

b Pfalm cxxx. 3, 4, If thou Lord should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. v. 7, 8, Let Ifrael hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he fhall redeem Ifrael from all his iniquities. And cxliii. 2, O Lord, enter not into judgment with thy fervant: for in thy fight, fhall no man living be juftified. v. 8, Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning, for in thee do I truft: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my foul unto thee.

c Rom. xvi. 14, 15, Sin fhall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we fin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God for bid. Chap. vii. 4, 5, 6, Wherefore, my brethren, ye alfo are become dead to the law by the body of Chrift; that ye fhould be

They harmonize like marry'd pairs, d
Yet are at odds, and keep not fquares : e
As mercy ftands from merit far,
The letter and the spirit jar. f

The law does gofpel comforts harm,
The gofpel breaks the legal arm; g
Yet both exalt each other's horn,
And garlands bring their head t' adorn, h
I through the law am dead to it.
To legal works and felf conceit; i

married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of fins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the olduefs of the letter. 2 Cor. iii. 7-10, But if the miniftration of death, written and engraven in ftones, was glorious, fo that the children of Ifrael could not behold the face of Mofes, for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away; how shall not the miniftration of the Spirit, be rather glorious? For if the miniftration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteoufnefs exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious, hath no glory in this refpect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

d Gal. iii. 24, Wherefore the law was our fchool master to bring us unto Chrift, that we might be justified by faith.

e Rom. xi. 6, And if (election be) by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwife grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

f 2 Cor. iii. 6, The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

g Heb. ii. 15, And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage. Phil. iii. 7, 8, 9, But what things were gain to me, thofe I counted lofs for Chrift. Yea, doubtlefs, and I count all things but lofs, for the excellency of the knowledge of Chrift Jefus my Lord: for whom I have fuffered the lofs of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteoufnefs, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Chrift, the righteoufnefs which is of God by faith.

b Gal. ii. 19, For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

i Rom. vii. 6, But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness

Yet, lo! through gofpel grace I live,
And to the law due honour give. k

The law great room for boasting makes,
But grace my pride and boasting breaks; /
Yet all my boasts the law do kill, m
And grace maks room to boast my fill. n

The gospel makes me keep the law o
Yet from its painful service draw ;p
It does all law demands fulfil, q

Yet makes them wholly void and null. r

of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. v. 9, For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, fin revived, and I died.

Rom. vii. 4, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Chrift; that ye fhould be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. And x. 4, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

/ Rom. iii. 27, Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith.

m Rom. iii. 19, Now we know that what things foever the law faith, it faith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

n 1 Cor. i. 29, 30, 31, That no flesh should glory in his prefence. But of him are ye in Christ Jefus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and fanctification, and redemption: that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

o Titus ii. 11, 12, For the grace of God that bringeth falvation hath appeared to all men; teaching us, that denying ungodlinefs and worldly lufts, we should live foberly, righteously, and godly, in this prefent world.

Gal. v. 1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

4 Rom. viii. 3, 4, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, fending his own Son, in the likenefs of finful flesh, and for fin condemned fin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

r Rom. vi. 14, Sin fhall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Gal. iv. 4, 5, But when the fulness of the time was come, God fent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.