** professed to know God, but in works denied him/* And it must be expected, that, corrupt as human na- ture is, such characters will be found in every age. But is such conduct the necessary result of these principles ? Was it so in the Apostle's days ? or is it so at this day ? If justification by faith alone be necessa- rily productive of laxness in morals, whence comes it that a higher tone of morality is universally expected from those who maintain that doctrine, than from others ? Whence is it that the smallest evils in such persons are more severely marked, than the most licentious courses of the ungodly world ? We appeal to all who hear us. Whether, if a professor, and espe- cially a preacher, of this doctrine were to demean him- self in all things for one single day in the way that the generality of his own age and station live all the year round, the mouths of all who beheld him would not be opened against him as a hypocrite*? Whence should this be, if those who maintain the doctrine of justification by faith alone, represented it as liberating men from their obligation to good works ? And how comes it, that the very persons who are complained of for the licentious tendency of their principles, should at the same time be universally condemned for the over- righteous sanctity of their lives ?
To all, then, who misrepresent the Gospel, we would give this reply: *' Look at David, and see what the effect of the Gospel had on him : look at
Paul,
* It having been observed to the author, that the words ''age and station" might be mistaken for age and order, and thus be supposed to aim at the Clergy, he judges it right to guard against any such misconception of his meaning. The scopeof his observation is this: A Professor, and especially a Preacher, of the doctrines here referred to, is expected to be more strict in his conduct than others who deny those doctrines. And, whether he be young or old, or of the higher or lower orders of society, if he were to manifest the same worldly spirit, to avow the same worldly sentiments, to shew the same indif- ference to religion, and to indulge in the sanae latitude of conversation altogether, as the generality of others who are of the same age and rank "of life do, he would be accounted most glaringly and grossly in- consistent Some, notwithstanding their aversion to these doctrines, are more guarded in their spirit and conversation ; but the generality are not : and therefore the author purposely limited his observatioos to " ihe generality."
432 PSALMS, cxix. 128. [42dir
Paul, and contemplate its effects on him: look at the uniform declarations of Scripture, and see what the life was of all the primitive Believers: nay, look only at the expectations which you yourselves have formed: for, if you see a professor of the Gospel act unworthy of his profession, you deem him inconsis- tent; which is a proof, that both the obligation to holiness is acknowledged on his part, and the per- formance of it is expected on yours ; and consequently, that the Gospel is, by your mutual consent^ " a doc- trine according to godliness."
From the passage before us, we may, in the next place, offer a reproof to those ivho ivould abuse the Gospel. "We have already acknowledged, and with deep grief we confess it, that there are some persons professedly of Antinomian pruiciples, who are so occupied with contemplating what Christ has wrought out /or them, that they cannot bestow a thought on what he has engaged to work in them. To speak of holiness, or any point of duty, they account low, and legal: yea, they think that Christ has by his own obedience to the law superseded the necessity of holiness in us ; and that the whole work of salvation is so finished by him, that there remains nothing to be done by us, nothing of repentance for sin, nothing of obedience to Goji's commands, but solely to maintain confidence in the provisions of God's everlasting Covenant, and to rejoice in God as our God and portion. ■ Shocking as these sentiments are, they have been professed of late to a great extent ; and many have been deceived by them : but, to shew how unscrip- tural they are, we need only refer to the character of David, as drawn in the words of our text: Does he discard the law as a rule of life ? Does he pour con- tempt upon the precepts of God as unworthy of his notice ? No : throughout all his Psalms he speaks of them as objects of his supreme delight : "■ O how I love thy law ! all the day long is my study in it." ** I love thy precepts above gold ; they are sweeter to me than honey and the honey-comb." To the same effect St. Paul also speaks : " I consent unto