THREE PAIR OF GOSPEL-AXIOMS,

Which may be confidered as the GOLDEN CHAINS, by which the Scripture-Scales hang on their beam.

1. 1.
SALVATION is originally
of God's FREE GRACE.
II. 1. God's free-grace is
always the FIRST CAUSE
of what is good.

VERY obedi- 2.
ent believer's

III. 1.When God's FREE GRACE has begun to work moral GOOD, man may faithfully follow Him by believing, ceafing to do evil, and working righ-revealing his deferved teoufnefs, according to his light and talent.

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Thus is God the WISE Thus is God the RIGHRewarder of them, that TEOUS Punisher of them, diligently feek him, ac- that obftinately neglect cording to thefe words of him, according to fuch the apostle: God, at the fcriptures as thefe: Shall revelation of his RIGHTE- not the Fudge of all the OUS judgment will render | earth do right?-Ye say, to every man according to The way of the Lord is not his deeds: eternal life to equal: Hear now, O ye them, who by paticat conti-house of Ifrael, Is not my nuance in well-doing feck way equal?-I will judge for glory. Seeing it is a you every one after his way. RIGHTEOUS thing with-Is God unrighteous, who God to RECOMPENCE reft taketh vengeance? God for to them who are troubled bid! How then all God for his fake-to give them JUDGE the world ?—Thou a crown of righteousness as art RIGHTEOUS, O Lord, a RIGHTEOUS judge-and &c. BECAUSE thou baft to make them walk with JUDGED thus.-Thou haft Chrift in white, BECAUSE given them blood to drink, they are WORTHY [in a for they are wORTHY [in gracious and evangelicala ftriét and legal fenfe.] fenfe.]

Hence it appears, that God's defign in the three grand œconomies of man's Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification, is to difplay the riches of his FREE GRACE and DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE; by fhowing himfelf the bounteous Author of every good gift, and by GRACIOUSLY rewarding the worthy; while he JUSTLY punishes the unworthy according to their works; agreeably to thefe awful words of Chrift and his prophets : For JUDGMENT I am come into this world.-The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea even the [men, who to the last will remain] wicked, for the day of evilBecause he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in rightcoufnefs :—and to all the wicked that day will be evil, and terrible: For behold, the day comsth, fays the Lord, that fall burn as an oven; and all that do wickedly shall be fubble; and the day that cometh ball burn them up, fays the Lord of hofts. But the righ

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teous

teous fhall rejoice when he feeth the vengeance: So that a man hall fay, Verily there is a REWARD for the righte ous! Doubtless there is a God that JUDGETH THE EARTH!

Upon this rational and fcriptural plan, may we not folve a difficulty, that has perplexed all the philofophers in the world? "How can you, fay they, rea"fonably account for the ORIGIN OF EVIL, without "bearing hard upon God's infinite goodness, power, 6: or knowledge? How can you make appear, not "only that a good God could create a world, where "evil now exifts in ten thoufand forms; but also,. "that it was highly expedient, he should create fuch a world, rather than any other!"

ANS. When it pleased God to create a world, his WISDOM obliged him to create it upon the plan, that was most worthy of a God. Such a plan was undoubtedly that, which squared best with all the divine perfections taken together. WISDOM and POWER abfolutely required, that it fhould be a world of rational, as well as of irrational creatures; of free, as well as of neceffary-agents; fuch a word displaying far better what St. Paul calls πολυποικιλος σοφία, the multifarious, variegated WISDOM of God, as well as his infinite PowER in making, ruling, and over-ruling various orders of Beings.

It could not be expected, that myriads of free-agents, who neceffarily fell short of abfolute perfection, would all behave alike. Here God's GOODNESS demanded, that those who behaved well, should be rewarded; his SOVEREIGNTY infifted, that thofe who behaved ill, fhould be punished; and his DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE and EQUITY required, that those who made the best ufe of their talents, fhould be entitled to the highest rewards; while those who abused divine favours moft, fhould have the fevereft punishments; MERCY referving to itself the right of raifing rewards, and of alleviating punishments, in a way fuited to the honour of all the other divine attributes.

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This being granted [and I do not fee how any man of reafon and piety can deny it] it evidently follows: (1) That a world, in which various orders of free, as well as of neceffary-agents are admitted, is moft perfect: (2) That this world, having been formed upon fuch a wife plan, was the most perfect that could poffibly be created: (3) That, in the very nature of things, evil may, altho' there is no neceffity, it should enter into fuch a world; elfe it could not be a world of free-agents, who are candidates for rewards offered by diftributive juftice: (4) That the blemishes and diforders of the natural world, are only penal confequences of the difobedience of free-agents: And (5) That from fuch penal diforders we may indeed conclude, that man has abused free-will, but not that God deals in freewrath. Only admit therefore the free-will of rationals, and you cannot but fall in love with our Creator's plan; dark and horrid as it appears, when it is viewed thro' the fmoked glass of the fatalift, the manichee, or the rigid predeftinarian.

Containing: (1) An Observation upon the terms of the covenants; and (2) A balanced specimen of the antipharifaic gospel, difplaying CHRIST's glory in the firft fcale; and of the anti-folifidian gospel, fetting forth the glory of evangelical OBEDIENCE in the fecond fcale.

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The

O reconcile the oppofite parts of the fcriptures, let us remember, that God has made two covenants with man; The covenant of WORKS, and The. covenant of GRACE. The FIRST requires uninterrupted obedience to the law of paradifiacal innocence. SECOND enjoins repentance, faith, and humble obedi-, ence to all thofe gofpel-precepts, which form what David calls the law of the Lord; St. Paul, the law of Chrift; St. James, the law of liberty; and what our Lord calls My Sayings,-Mỵ commandments, &c.

Being conceived in fin fince the fall, and having all our powers enfeebled, we cannot perfonally keep the firft covenant: Therefore, as the fift Adam broke it for us; Chrift, the fecond Adam, the Lord from heaven, gracioufly came to make the law of innocence honourable by keeping it for us, and to give us power to keep his own law of liberty, that is, to repent, believe, and obey for ourfelves. Therefore, with refpect to the law of the first covenant, Chrift alone is, and muft be, our Foundation, our Righteoufefs, our Way, our Door, our Glory, and all our falvation.

But, with refpect to the SECOND covenant, the cafe is very different: For this covenant, and it's law of liberty, requiring of us perfonal repentance and its fruits perfonal faith and its works, all which together make up evangelical obedience, or the obedience of faith; it is evident, that, according to the requirements of the covenant of grace, our obedience of faith is fin due fubordination to Chrift] our righteousness, our narrow Way, our ftrait Gate, our Glory, and our Salvation: just as a farmer's care, labour, and induftry, are, in due fubordination to the bleflings of divine providence, the caufes of his plentiful crops.

If you do not lofe fight of this dictinction :-If you confider, that our falvation or damnation have each two caufes, the fecond of which never operates but in fubordination to the firft:-If you obferve, that the FIRST caufe of our ETERNAL falvation is God's FREE GRACE in making, and faithfulness in keeping thro' Chrift his gofpel-promifes to all finners, WHO FREELY SUBMIT to the terms of the gofpel; and that confequently the SECOND caufe of THAT falvation is our own prevented FREE-WILL, fubmitting to the obedience of faith, thro' the helps that Christ affords us :--If, on the other hand, you take notice, that the FIRST cause of our ETERNAL damnation is always our own FREE-WILL, doing defpite to the fpirit of grace; and that the SECOND caufe of it is God's juftice in denouncing, and his faithfulness in executing by Chrift, his awful threatnings against all that perfift in unbelief