to look upon him; but they could not look to the end of that which is abolished, that is, to Christ, who is the end of the law, which is abrogated by him: to him they could not look, nor could they see him to be the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness; which, being fulfilled, is done away by him.' And, in his comment on the 17th verse, speaking of liberty, he says, 'A liberty from the bondage and servitude of it; a liberty from the law's rigorous exactions, curse, and condemnation.' Which Peter calls an unbearable yoke; and which yoke differs much from that of a dear Redeemer, whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light. In these quotations the Doctor has said as much as I ever did, only we differ in words. I say, we are not under the law, nor under the commanding power of it. And the Doctor says, we are delivered from the service of it; and from its rigorous exactions, curse and condemnation. Thus far the Doctor speaks plainly. But how the moral law can be abrogated, done away, and abolished, in one sense, and the saints be under it as their rule of life in another, I know not; Christ never came to alter the law, nor divide it. And how the whole Mosaical dispensation can be removed, as the Doctor in another place confesses, and yet remain to the believer; and how it can be abrogated by Christ, and we under it in the hand of Christ, are mysterious things to me, and want scripture proof; for it is no part of the Saviour's rod by which he rules his saints, as I have already proved.

However, I believe the difference between the Doctor and myself, on this point, consists more in learning and in words than in heart and judgment. I proceed again.

Paul, writing to the Colossians, says, "And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." Now to whom was the apostle writing? To the Colossians, who are here called the uncircumcision; for the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed to Paul. Then what was the hand writing, or debt book, that stood against these uncircumcised ones? If you say it was the ceremonial law; I reply, that was never given to them; but, if you add, that the judaizing teachers were bringing them under their ceremonies and sacrifices; I answer, that the Jews held it unlawful to offer sacrifices any where but in their own land; in their Babylonish captivity, and in their present dispersion, they were, and still are, without an ephod, without a sacrifice, and without a teraphim. If it be urged that the Gentiles used sacrifices as well as the Jews, and therefore were under the ceremonial law; it may be answered, God never gave that law to them, and, as he did not, they cannot be said to be under it; nay, they are said to sacrifice to devils, and not to God. It remains, therefore, that this book debt,

or hand writing, is the works of the moral law written upon their hearts, their thoughts and their conscience accusing or excusing one another. And whoever has felt a wounded spirit, or a guilty conscience, knows by sad experience what a restless creditor, wretched hand writing, and dreadful debt book, that is; and that it may well be said to be against us, and contrary to us: but, blessed be God, Christ took it out of the way, and nailed it to his cross. This same law upon tables of stone was the debt book, or hand writing, against the Jews, and not the ceremonial law; "For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God," Jer. vii. 22, 23. The debt that God exacted of them was perfect obedience to the moral law, which is here called his voice; and which law Paul calls a voice of words. The debt book of the Jews, therefore, is the moral law on tables of stone; and that of the Gentiles is the same, which shews the work of the law written in their hearts; and by this law both Jews and Gentiles, yea, the whole world, are become guilty before God: and this hand writing is against us, because it works death and wrath in us, and curses us; because it is always finding fault with us, but affords no help to us; and therefore the Surety discharged the debt, and blotted out the hand writing, took it out of the way, and

nailed it to his cross. And I am sure that no pardoned sinner, or real believer, will ever wish to pull one nail out of it; but rejoice, as I do, to see it where it is. If it be objected, that the ceremonial law was the Jews' debt book; I answer, the ceremonial law was a refuge for the transgressor of the moral law to fly to, where the sinner's transgressions of the moral law were confessed over the head of the victim, and the brute died in the sinner's stead; which was their gospel, and pointed out the Surety, and how the debt book was to be cancelled by him. Furthermore, Paul couples himself with these Gentile debtors, and as one who had been under the same hand writing; blotting out, says he, the hand writing against us, and which was contrary to us. It remains, therefore, that this hand writing against both Jews and Gentiles was the moral law, for the other the Gentiles pever had. Again,

"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of parti tion between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." To the Jews were given the glory, the covenants, the service of God, and the promises; which distinguished them from all other people. "You only," saith God, "have I known of all the families of the

earth." This Paul calls the middle wall of partition between us, which was broken down by Christ when he ordered his gospel to be preached to every creature. He abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments. Should any object, that the law here abolished is the ceremonial law; then I ask, what comfort could that afford to the Ephesians, who were never under it? And I would further ask such an objector, if he knows by experience any thing of the terrors of the Lord, what enmity the ceremonial law worked in him when he was first awakened; or whether it was that law which condemned him; or whether he fell to work upon all the Jewish ceremonies as soon as his conscience troubled him, in order to work out a righteousness? I trow not; I take it for granted that he found matters as I did, that it was the moral law which brought him in guilty before God; yea, every precept of it; and to that he went to work, in order to appease an angry God and pacify his own conscience; he went to keeping the sabbath, to making concession to his offended neighbour, to giving alms, to fasting, to trying to love God and to keep the whole law, in order to counterbalance, or rub off, the long score which by the law was brought in against him; and all in vain. The commandment comes, and sin revives the law works wrath, and sin takes occasion by it; it threatens with death and damnation, and all manner of concupiscence is stirred up. This is called the enmity. The precepts of