them upon reasoning continually against being saved freely by grace through faith.

He is of a legal spirit, who is under the law, and apprehends himself bound to keep it, as the condition of life, requiring of him-do this, and thou shalt live. In his understanding he sees this, and no other way to life, in his will he is continually inclined to it, and in his heart he loves it; because he fancies it in his own power to attain life in this way, and he can merit it by his own works, which mightily gratifies his self-love, and indulges his pride. This legal spirit reigns over all men in their natural state, but does not discover its tyranny, until it be opposed; and then so soon as the soul is quickened from a death in trespasses and sins, it begins to fight, trying to keep the soul in bondage by its legal workings and strivings, and putting it upon seeking for some good disposition or qualification, on account of which God should love it. Thus the awakened sinner under the spirit of bondage, always seeks deliverance by the works of that law, which can do nothing more than bring him to the knowledge of sin, discover to him the

exceeding sinfulness of it, and the exceeding great punishment which it deserves; by which means it is always nourishing the doubts and fears of unbelief. And after the Lord has in a measure removed them by a clear discovery of the salvation that is in Jesus, and by the gift of faith, yet still this legal spirit will be trying to bring the soul into bondage again to fear, and it too often prevails. Young believers find it the worst enemy they have to deal with. It is a sly subtile foe, that seems to intend them a kindness, while it is always on the side of the devil and unbelief. It would appear to them to be actuated by a zeal for God, but it is to eclipse the glory of the Lord Christ, to take away the all-sufficiency of his salvation, and to rob them of their great joy and peace in

believing.

If any one should ask, how this legal spirit comes to have such power over mankind? The scripture informs us,

First, that all men, being God's creatures, are under the law to him, bound to keep it, or bound if they transgress, to suffer the threatened pains and penalties. In this state man was created, and in it

all men are by nature, and therefore there is in us all a continual leaning to the law, and a desire to attain righteousness by the works of it. We are all wedded to this way of gaining God's favour. The apostle says, there is a marriage union between us and the law; and it, like an husband, has dominion over us as long as it liveth; so that we cannot be married to Christ, until that be dead wherein we were held. You may see this in the Jews. How does Moses labour to bring them off from an opinion of their own righteousness? And a greater than Moses has done the same in his discourses against the Scribes and Pharisees; yea, the apostles of our Lord were forced to write and preach against this leaning to the law, it gave such disturbance to the true disciples of Christ. And notwithstanding the scripture arguments against it, yet we have great numbers among us, who seek for a justifying righteousness by the works of the law. And they are put upon seeking this,

Secondly, From their ignorance of the law. They are not acquainted with its nature; for it demands what they cannot pay. It insists upon an obedience, spiritual,

perfect and uninterrupted: for the least offence, if but in thought, it comes with its fearful sentence, Cursed is every one, who continueth not in all things, that are vvritten in the book of the law to do them. On him who does not continue in all things, (and not one man ever did,) this sentence takes place, and if he was to live a thousand years he could not do any ching to repeal it. The law will always be to him the ministration of condemnation, and the ministration of death, and that is all it can do for him. It provides no remedy, and gives him no hope, but leaves him condemned to the first and to the second death; and yet such is the blindness of the sinner, that he will be still leaning to the law, and afraid to trust wholly to the righteousness of Christ; and this ari

s es,

Thirdly, From his ignorance of Christ's ri ighteousness, which is infinitely perfect, and wants no works of the law to be joinel with it in the justifying of a sinner: because it is the righteousness of God, w rought out by the God-man for his people, and it is the righteousness of faith; they receive it by faith without works; E

so that it is directly opposite to the righteousness of a legal spirit. Hence we have many among us, great professors too, who are ignorant of God's righteousness; they have not been entirely brought off from a legal bottom, and therefore they talk of being justified without a justifying righteousness, which if God could do, he would be unrighteous, and which as he cannot do, their fancied justification leaves them still in their sins.

They dare not put their whole trust and confidence in the righteousness of Christ, imputed unto them and made theirs by faith. They have many fears about imputed righteousness, although the apostle has not scrupled to mention it eleven times in one chapter, Rom. iv.; and these fears make them read the scripture with such prejudice, that they say, they cannot find the expression, faith in the righteousness of Christ, in all the Bible. They may find the sense of the expression in Moses and in all the prophets, and the very words in 2 Pet. i. 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them who have obtained like precious faith with us, (in the Greek is us,) in the righteousness