it appear with open face;-should the preacher proclaim himself an antinomian, he would excite disgust, and his auditory would be dispersed with feelings of conscious and deserved shame. Antinomianism welcomes Christ with the lips, and betrays him in the life. It salutes him with the kiss of ardent friendship,--with fond expressions of extraordinary attachment; and then delivers him up to be mocked and insulted by the multitude. It is the struggle of the carnal mind for liberty to indulge itself under the sanction of the gospel. The pharisee, or formalist is deceived and ruined by self-righteousness; the antinomian by selfwisdom, or confidence in his own understanding, into which he is betrayed by the love of sin, Hence, in the pride of his heart, and the prevalence of corrupt desires, he forms, and embraces the strange misconception, that, after he is a believer, he is under no obligation to obey the moral law, nor has any personal concern with it whatever; that it has no right to dictate to him what he is to do in the service of God;-that obedience to the commandments is neither required, nor possible, and consequently that all our endeavours after it are useless; that sin, though allowed by him, cannot endanger his state, and that there is no real necessity to strive against it. as the father of lies would have it. sentiments are held, and acted upon, he is secure of his prey. It is "strong delusion" to which men are given up, when "they believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness."* The wretched victim of antinomianism as well as the stupid idolater, "feedeth on ashes: a deceived * 2 Thes. ii. 11. This is just While such heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand ?"* But let us turn from these delusions to the light which is given to dissipate them, and first hear our divine Master discussing the subject in his prophetical office: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law.-Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."+ The great preacher of the gospel therefore is he, who keeps the divine commands in his own conversation, and exhorts his hearers to the same holy practice. The same faithful witness has also said, "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." I turn now to the testimony of that distinguished Apostle, who, when a virulent enemy to Jesus, learned from him, that salvation is of grace, in that glorious light, which suddenly shone around him from heaven. It must be granted, that his views of salvation were as clear, and as free from any selfish intermixtures as those of any man. On that subject he often speaks: "By grace ye are saved. By the grace of God I am what I am. I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."§ Yet he expressly declares, that he was "not without law to God, * Isa. xliv. 20. Mat. v. 19 John, xiv. 21. § Eph.ii. but under the law to. Christ."* He exhorts believers to "owe no man any thing but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." And what is this but reminding such, that the law is to them a rule of conduct? In another place, after delivering the sweet and endearing promises of God to his own people, he takes occasion from them immediately to press the following highly practical exhortation: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."‡ It appears then, that the obligations to obedience arising from grace are more powerful, as they certainly are more affecting, than those which have their source in nature only. I add the testimony of another Apostle, to whom the Lord gave "a mouth and wisdom" to make known the truth of the gospel: "If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors."§ Doubtless this inspired writer must have viewed the law as a rule, by which Christians were to regulate their behaviour. I conclude these appeals with the faithful record of one, who was favored with peculiar tokens of his Lord's condescending goodness: "Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."|| And how does the antinomian evade the force. * 1 Cor. ix. 21. Rom. xiii. 8. 2 Cor. vii. 1. § James, ii. 8. of these unexceptionable authorities, and many hundreds of passages more, which are equally plain? These are indeed more than sufficient to convince him of error, had he an ear to hear : but, alas! "as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so his mind is corrupted from the simplicity, that is in Christ."* And therefore, instead of yielding to the force of truth, he makes a bold and daring effort to keep his ground by extraordinary pretensions to spiritual wisdom. As" satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness."* The antinomian lays claim to clearer views of divine truth than other men, and very commonly to the exclusive knowledge of the gospel, He will tell you that his is the only doctrine which glorifies God, exalts the Saviour, magnifies his grace, and brings peace and comfort to the soul. Yet it is indeed the very reverse of all these, as might be easily shewn, if it were convenient now to pursue him through all his windings. Antinomianism is against the gospel as well as the law; It derogates from all the offices of Christ, withholds from him the glory of subduing sin in the hearts and lives of his people, by refusing to admit the sufficiency, or design of his grace to. make them holy here, and deludes numbers with the cry of peace, peace, while destruction is at hand. Though the antinomian teacher dwellsalmost perpetually on faith, yet he cannot himself trust the Lord for strength to enable him to obey his commands, or to overcome temptation. Judge. then, whether he honours the Saviour equally *2 Cor. xi. with the man, who says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me?" The antinomian may say much in commendation of the Bible; yet he takes liberties with it, which fill the upright man with horror. For he contrives to omit, or keep back from the attention of his hearers, nearly all the exhortatory and practical parts ; and which, to say the least, comprise a large portion of the sacred volume. Or if, as it may occasionally happen, he cannot avoid saying something" upon them, he exercises his inventive talent in assigning another sense to the words, and explaining away the proper meaning; or by reminding his hearers, that these exhortations have a reference to what we find only in Christ, not to what is to be done by ourselves. Christ requires all his people to "let their light so shine before men, that they may see their good works, and glorify their Father who is in heaven." But the light, of which the antinomian so highly boasts, does not enable him to see the necessity of good works at all in himself, or that God can be glorified by them; and is therefore no better than darkness: and "if the light which is in him be darkness, how great is that darkness!"+ There is reason to fear, that few, who have gone into these depths of satan, are ever recovered. Take warning therefore in time; be thankful for that word, by which you may escape the error of the wicked, and receive the truth in the love of it, that you may be saved. Beware of pride, and of the love of what God has forbidden, and of setting up your own judgment against his, which I suppose to be the root of the antinomian delusion. Should you ever * Phil, iv. 13. Mat. v. 16. vi. 23. |