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only is appointed of God. And as the darknefs of the night ferves to fhew forth the brightnefs of the day; fo the ftrength of fin, that arifes from the broken law, ferves to illuftrate and manifeft the ftrength of grace, that is brought in by the glorious golpel.

3. That the law is the ftrength of fin, proceeds from the very nature of Sin, and its direct oppofition and contrariety to the law. You know, when two are of a contrary difpofition, they never agree together, but will ever be brawling and quarrelling one with another; fo, whatever agreement there be betwixt the law, as a covenant of works, and proud felf-righteous nature, yet fuch a difagrecable couple is God's holy law and our corrupt nature, that there is a direct contrariety betwixt them. The law of God bears the image of God; it is perfectly juft, perfectly holy, and like unto God the giver of it but the corruption of cur nature bears the image of the devil, being wholly unjuft, and altogether unholy fo fays the apofile, "The law is holy, but I am carnal; in me, that is, in my flefh, dwells no good thing,” Rom. vii. 14. 13. Now, as natural philofophy teaches, that in winter-time, the coldnefs of the air and froft, that may be about the fire, makes the heat of the fire more intenfe, fo that it burns a great deal the fafier and fiercer; fo God's law, coming to, and meeting with our corrupt nature, certainly it makes corruption more intenfe and more violent. Hence, when the commandment comes, fin revives, and rifes up in the fury of its ftrength; as, when a deadly foe comes upon one, the perfon gathers all his ftrength together to oppofe him. The ftrength of fin is not the lefs before the commandmentcome, or the law appear; but when the law appears, the strength of fin appears, and exerts itfelf: As fire and water are oppofites, though at a diftance; yet their oppofition to one-another is not fo evident till they meet and come together, and then there is a mighty fputtering and ftriving between them: fo the holy law and the unholy heart are oppofite, though they do not meet; but when once they meet together, the heart rifes, and rages, and oppofes it like the devil. This appears when

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ever a man is convinced by the law, and the conviction is merely legal, fo as the man fees nothing but the fpirituality of the law-command, and the feverity of the law-curfe: I fay, when the conviction is merely legal, the feverity of the curfe raifes a trembling devil of fear in the awakened confcience, and the fpirituality of the command raifes a devil of enmity in the carnal heart.-And thus, from the very nature of fin, the law is the ftrength of fin.

4. That the law is the ftrength of fin, especially to thefe that are under the gofpel-difpenfation, arifes from the nature of UNBELIEF, and the malignant influence thereof; as is evident from that word of our Lord Jefus, John iii. 18. "He that believes is not condemned; but he that believes not, is condemned already, because he believes not in the name of the only begotten Son of God." He that believes not the gospel, is condemned already by the law. Now, here confider, what the lawcondemnation is. I told you formerly, that the leading and fevereft part of the law-fentence of condemnation is juft the ftrength of fin; fo as, to be under the curfe and condemnation of the law, is to be under the power of fin, in its commanding and condemning ftrength. But what influence hath the not-believing the gospel upon a man's being thus condemned? Was he not in a ftate of condemnation, though he had never heard the gospel? Why then does Chrift fay, " He that believes not is condemned already?" Why, it demonftrates, that though all the world be under the power of fin, by the fentence of the law; yet they that are under the gofpel, and believe not in the Lord Jefus, their condemnation is condemnation indeed; they ftand under the condemning fentence of the law, and fo under the power of fin more than ever, becaufe the gofpel-news of freedom from that condemnation is rejected. It is not my office as a Saviour, might Chrift fay, to condemn them; "For God fent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be faved:" but it is the office of the law, as it is the miniftration of death and condemnation, to condemn them; fo that they are condemned already by another hand; yea, condemned

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already by the law, becaufe they believe not in me, who am not come to condemn them, but to fave them. No fooner is this gofpel-falvation rejected, but the lawcondemnation is flrengthened and fortified; for then the law, which before was dumb and filent, as it were, after the gofpel hath fpoken a word of freedom and falvation from the ftrength of fin, and the man refufes and rejects it, the law opens its mouth, in a manner, faying in effect, I take inftruments upon this refufal of yours, that under my dominion and power you ftand by your own confent, and that the ftrength of fin fhall not be abated, but increased; and let this fland registrated and recorded in the book of confcience, to bear witness to the equity and juftice of my final fentence, when the bocks fhall be opened at the great day. In a word, unbelief holds and detains the man under the law, by refufing Chrift and the grace of the gofpel: and as the law is the ftrength of fin, fo unbelief ftrengthens the hands of the law, to kill, and condemn, and enflave the finner under the commanding and condemning power of fin; and if the law be the ftrength of fin, and unbelief the ftrength of the law, then unbelief is the ftrength of the ftrength of fin, as it contributes to keep the finner more under the law than ever.--Thus you fee how the law's being the ftrength of fin arises from unbelief, which rejects the ftrength offered in the gofpel for deftroying fin. And fo much for the grounds of the doctrine.

VI. The Sixth thing propofed, was, To make Application of this doctrine. And this we fhall effay in the following uses, viz. 1. In an ufe of Caution, 2. Of Information. 3. Of Examination. 4. Of Exhortation. Ift, The subject may be improved, we fay, for Caution and Dehortation. Is the law the firength of fin, in the manner I bave defcribed?

1. The first caution I offer is, O man, woman, think not the worfe or the lefs of the law, that it is the ftrength of fin nay, you have reafon to think the better of it, and to have the higher thoughts of it, as it is the eternal rule of righteoufnefs; for, if it were not a holy law,

it would not irritate and exafperate our unholy nature at that rate, so as to augment the commanding power and firength of fin: if it were not a juft law, it would not condemn fin at that rate, fo as to give it a condemning flrength over the finner. That the law is the ftrength of fin, in the refpect I have named, is fo far from being a reflection upon, or a detracting from the holinefs and juflice of the law, that it ferves rather to illuftrate the purity of the command of the law, as a rule of holincfs; and the equity of the penal fanction thereof, as it is a covenant of works.

2. The fecond caution is, As you are not to think the worfe of the law, fo you are not to think the better of fin, that the ftrength of it is the law. As you are to think the better of the law, that it makes the troublefome fea of corruption to rage, and binds over the finner with ftrong bonds of heavy curfes for his fin, fuch is the holiness and firiêtnefs of it; fo you may think worfe of fin, that turns fuch a good thing as the law to fuch an ill ufe, as to draw ftrength to itfelf out of it; like a venomous beaft, a viper, that fucks poifen out of the fweeteft flower.

3. The third caution I offer is, Think not to conquer fin by the law, or by your perfonal obedience to it. That law, which is the flrength of fin, can never be the deftruction of it; it gives ftrength to it, but cannot take ftrength from it. They labour in vain, who think, by the ftrength of their own beft endeavours, to fubdue fin; for, do what they will, fin hath ftill dominion over them, because they are under the law, Rom. vi. 14.: and all their endeavours are influenced by the law as a covenant of works; which makes their effays not only ineffectual for breaking the frength of fin, but rather effectual for augmenting the force and increasing the ftrength thereof.

4. The fourth caution we fuggeft is this, Think not that obedience to the law, as a rule of life, is needlefs or hurtful, because the law, as a covenant of works, is the flrength of fin: beware of thinking that God's writing the law in the heart, and that gofpel-holinefs and conformity to the law, as in the hand of a Mediator, is

either dangerous or unneceffary; this were an Antinomian principle indeed: but know, of a truth, that, "Without holinefs no man fhall fee God;" without holinefs, and conformity to the law, as a rule, no man hath evidence of juftification, or of freedom from the law as a covenant; without holiness there is no glorifying of God, nor edifying of man; without holinefs no adorning of the gofpel; without holinefs no evidence of love to God or Chrift, who hath faid, "If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Ufe 2. The fecond ufe fhall be by way of Information. There is a number of neceffary leffons may be deduced from this doctrine, "That the firength of fin is the law;" fuch as,

1. Hence we may learn, that there can be no juftification before God, by the deeds of the law; for, if the law be the ftrength of fin, then it can never take away the guilt of fin; Rom. iii. 20. "By the deeds of the law there fhall no flefh living be juftified in his fight; for, by the law is the knowledge of fin." The force of this reafon is very great; for, if it be the office of the law, under the influence of the Spirit of conviction, to give the knowledge of conviction of fin, and fo to condemn the finner, then furely it cannot juftify him. And that it is the moral law the apoftle here fpeaks of, is plain; for, as it is that law by which men have the knowledge of sin, and of which the fame apoftle faith, Rom. vii. 7. "I had not known fin but by the law; for, I had not known luft, except the law had faid, Thou fhalt not covet:" which is the moral law: fo it is plain, chap. iii. from ver. 9th to 20th, fpeaks of that law by which every mouth may be ftopt, and all the world, Gentiles as well as Jews, may become guilty before God; or, as it is in the margin, fubject to the judgment of God: fo that it is a vain thing for any to alledge, that in these fcriptures the apofile intends only the ceremonial law, and the deeds thereof.

2. Hence we may learn, that as there is no life or juftification by the law of works, it being the firength of fin; fo there is no new or milder law in the room

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