of the divine nature to have held mankind bound by this law if Christ had never died; and therefore, thirdly, there was evi dently no need of his death in the case; unless we will say (Heaven forbid the blasphemy,) that God the Father was such a tyrant, that he could not do us justice, unless moved thereto by the blood of his own Son. To say which, is worse than downright infidelity.

If the Son of God left his Father's bosom, became incarnate, and died on the cross, because the law was good, to do it honor, etc., then also it will follow, 1st. That the law was in fact good, and worthy of all this honor; and God the Father knew it, and God the Son knew it; yea, and every child of Adam knows it, whose eyes are opened to see it as it is. 2d. And therefore all our ill thoughts of the divine law are groundless, yea, infinitely criminal. They are of the nature of blasphemy against God the Father and God the Son. And he who does not look upon this law as glorious, so infinitely honored by the Father and the Son, may justly be reputed an enemy to the Father and the Son, and in a peculiar manner an enemy to the cross of Christ. 3d. The divine glory of the atonement, priimarily consists in its doing infinite honor to this glorious law, thereby asserting the rights of the Godhead, and condemning the sin of an apostate world. 4th. He, therefore, who is blind to the beauty of the divine nature, the excellency of the divine law, and the great evil of sin, must of necessity be blind to the glory of the atonement. 5th. He who does not view the divine law as glorious, worthy to be magnified and made honorable, can see no reason why it was honored on the cross of Christ; and so can see no wisdom, nor any other divine perfection, in the death of an incarnate God. 6th. Until the divine perfections exhibited to view on the cross, are seen, and seen in their glory, the gospel will not be believed with all the heart, nor will those holy affections which constitute the Christian character be produced by it. And if our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost. 7th. It must be entirely owing to a supernatural, divine influence, that a mind alienated from, and at enmity against God's character and law, becomes struck with the beauty, and charmed with the glory, of each, as honored with the highest honors on the cross of Christ; and therefore, "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

These, together with that whole system of sentiments, in close connection with these, contained in the preceding Essay, will follow, if Christ died because the law was good, to do it honor. To grant that Christ died for this end, and to deny the

consequences, is to be inconsistent. To deny that Christ died for this end, inevitably leads to infidelity. To say that Christ did not die because the law was good, to do it honor, is to say, there was no good reason for his death. To say he died because the law was bad, to get it repealed, is to offer a reason worse than none. And to say either, is to say that Christianity is not from God.

It remains, therefore, that there is no consistent medium between the ancient apostolic Christianity and downright infidelity. And accordingly, in strict truth, in the sight of God, who searcheth the heart, there are but two sorts of men in Christendom; and at the day of judgment it will appear so to all the world. Now, we are divided into a great variety of sects and parties; but then of all these sects and parties, there will appear to be but two sorts of men, believers and unbelievers. And then that most remarkable saying of Jesus Christ will take effect, and be fulfilled: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

No man on earth, or angel in heaven, has a right to vary or alter the true gospel of Jesus Christ, to accommodate it to the notions of the learned, or to the experiences of the unlearned. The Spirit of inspiration, which is in effect the same as if God himself had spoken with an audible voice from heaven, St. Paul, with the utmost solemnity, once and again, declared, as it were to the whole Christian world in a body, that if any man or angel shall preach any other gospel, "let him be accursed." And all who, with St. Paul, sincerely love the gospel of Christ, as it is, must therefore stand ready from the heart to say, Amen. For, as the gospel is one harmonious, connected whole, so he who alters it in any single point, to be consistent, must alter the whole; that is, must give up that whole system of truths, and substitute in its room a whole system of lies, a system subversive of, and directly contrary to, the whole gospel of Christ. For instance, he who denies the character of the Father, must deny the character and office of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For if the Father is not in himself infinitely worthy of our supreme love, previous to the consideration of our being pardoned, the divine law, which requires this, previous to that consideration, was not good; the death of Christ then, to do it honor, was needless; and the regenerating influences of the Holy Spirit to bring us to view God in this light, there was no occasion for; if there is no amiableness in the divine nature previous to the consideration of his being my reconciled friend. And if my want of love,

and all my disaffection to the divine character, arises simply from considering him as my enemy, let him but declare himself my friend, and I shall love him with that kind of love which alone is his due; for it is natural to those who are born of the flesh, to love a friend and benefactor; for sinners love those that love them. And if my disaffection to the Deity results only from his being my enemy, then, as the breach began on his side, so it belongs to him to retract first; and if he loves me, I shall love him. No mediator or sanctifier is needed in the case; so the whole gospel is overthrown. The sinner is justified; God and his law condemned. The same may be said of every false scheme of religion. He who denies one single truth, let him be consistent, and he must deny the whole; and he who believes one error, let him be consistent, and he must believe a whole system of lies. And it was in this view that St. Paul pronounced the man or angel accursed, who should preach another gospel; because, if his other gospel was true, "Christ is dead in vain," and the whole of Christianity is overthrown. (Gal. ii. 21.) And as this was the case with the false scheme which St. Paul then opposed, so it is equally true as to every false scheme which has been advanced since; for, as it is enmity to the true gospel, which is contrary to every vicious bias in the human heart, that is the source of every false gospel, which is adapted to justify our corruptions, (John iii. 19-21,) so, of course, every false gospel is in its own nature contrary to and subversive of the true. But he who hates the true gospel of Christ so entirely, that he would overthrow the whole of it, were he able, as he is a thorough enemy to God and to his Son; so St. Paul's sentence against him, "Let him be accursed," is not more severe than that of his Master," He that believeth not shall be damned " a sentence, which, when it comes to be put in execution at the day of judgment, will meet with universal approbation and applause from all holy beings in the universe. As this is the most important subject in the world, and as we are all infinitely interested in it, so it demands the most serious consideration, and impartial and strict examination of all the professors of Christianity. He, therefore, that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

THAT THERE IS BUT

ONE COVENANT,

WHEREOF

BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER ARE SEALS;

NAMELY,

THE COVENANT OF GRACE,

PROVED FROM THE WORD OF GOD;

AND THE DOCTRINE OF AN

EXTERNAL GRACELESS COVENANT,

LATELY ADVANCED BY THE REV. MR. MOSES MATHER,

IN A PAMPHLET, ENTITLED

"THE VISIBLE CHURCH IN COVENANT WITH GOD," &c.

SHOWN TO BE AN UNSCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE.

BUT UNTO THE WICKED GOD SAITH, WHAT HAST THOU TO DO TO DECLARE MY STATUTES, OR THAT THOU SHOULDST TAKE MY COVENANT IN THY MOUTH?

Psalm i. 16.