ened and convinced of their misery, and set foot forward to go on in the way of life, they, with the prodigal, would be hired servants; yet when by the eye of faith they see the mercy and indulgence of

Which may be thus Englished:

Hatred of vice, in gen'rous souls,

From love of virtue flows,

While nothing vicious minds controls,

But servile fear of blows.

This is quite another thing than to say, that, a believer in doing good, or eschewing evil, ought not to regard threatenings, nor be influenced by the threatening of death. For though believers ought never to fear that they shall be condemned and cast into hell, yet they both may and ought awfully to regard the threatenings of the holy law : and how they ought to regard them, one may learn from the Westmin. Confess. chap. xix. art. 6. in these words, "The threatenings of it (viz. the law) serve to show what even their sins deserve; and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law." Thus they are to regard them, not as denunciations of their doom, in case of sinning, but as a looking-glass wherein to behold the fearful demerit of their sin; the unspeakable love of God in freeing them from bearing it, his fatherly displeasure against his own for their sin, and the tokens of his anger to be expected by them in that case. So will they be influenced to eschew evil and do good, being thereby filled with hatred and horror of sin, thankfulness to God, and fear of the displeasure and frowns of their Father, though not with a fear that he will condemn them, and destroy them in hell; this glass represents no such thing.

Such a fear in a believer is groundless. For, (1.) He is not under the threatening of hell, or liable to the curse.-S -See p. 250, 251, notes s. u. If he were, he behoved that moment he sinneth to fall under the curse. For since the curse is the sentence of the law, passing on the sinner, according to the threatening, adjudging, and binding him over to the punishment threatened; if the law say to a man, before he sinneth "In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," it says unto him, in the moment he sinneth, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Jaw, to do them." And forasmuch as believers sin in every thing they do, their very believing and repenting being always attended with sinful imperfections, it is not possible, a this rate, that they can be one moment from under the curse; but it must be continually wreathed about their necks. To distinguish in this case, betwixt gross sins and lessor sins, is vain; for as every sin, even the least, deserves God's wrath and curse, (Short. Cut.) so, against whomsoever the curse takes place, (and by virtue of God's truth, it takes place against all those who are threatened with hell or eternal death) they are cursed for all sins, smaller or greater: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things:" though still there is a difference made betwixt greater and lesser sins, in respect of the degree of punishment, yet there is none in respect of the kind. But now believers are set free from the curse. Gal. iii. 13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." (2.) By the redemption of Christ already applied to the believer, and by the oath of God, he is perfectly secured from the return of the curse upon him, Gal. iii. 13. (see before) compared with Isa. liii. and liv. 9, “For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for, as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." Therefore he is perfectly

their heavenly Father in Christ, running to meet them, and embrace them; I would have them, with him, to talk no more of being hired servants, Luke xvi. I would have them so to wrestle against doubt

secured from being made liable any more to hell or eternal death. For a man, being “under the curse, is so made liable to the pains of hell for ever."-Short. Cat. (3.) He is justified by faith, and so adjudged to live eternally in heaven. This is unalterable, "for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance," Rom. xi. 29. And a man can never stand adjudged to eternal life, and to eternal death, at one and the same time. (4.) One great difference betwixt believers and unbelievers lies here that the latter are bound over to hell and wrath, the former are not: John iii. 18, "He that believeth is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already;" not that he is in hell already, but bound over to it. Now, a believer is still a believer, from the first moment of his believing; and therefore it remains true concerning him, from that moment for ever, that he is not condemned or bound over to hell and wrath, he is expressly secured against it for all time to come, from that moment. John v. 24, "He shall not come into condemnation." And the apostle cuts off all evasions by distinctions of condemnation here, while he tells us in express terms "There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1. (5.) The believer's union with Christ is never dissolved. Hos. ii. 19, "I will betroth thee unto me for ever:" and being in Christ, he is set beyond the reach of condemnation, Rom. viii. 1. Yea, and being in Christ, he is perfectly righteous for ever; for he is never again stript of the white raiment of Christ's imputed righteousness; while the union remains it cannot be lost: but to be perfectly righteous, and yet liable to condemuation before a just Judge, is inconsistent.

Neither is such a fear in a believer acceptable to God; for, (1.) It is not from the Spirit of God, but from one's own spirit, or a worse; Rom. viii. 15, "Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;" namely, to fear death or hell. Heb. ii. 15, “ Who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (2.) It was the design of the sending of Christ, that believers in him might serve God without that fear, Luke i. 74. That, "we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear." Compare 1 Cor. xv. 26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." And for this very cause Jesus Christ came, 44 That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime," namely, before their deliverance by Christ, "subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 14, 15.

26, "

(3.) Though it is indeed consistent with, yet it is contrary to faith; Matt. viii. Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith!" And to love too; 1 John iv. 18, "Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment." 2 Tim. i. 17, "God hath not given us the Spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind."

(4.) As it is not agreeable to the character of a father, who is not a revenging judge to his own family, to threaten to kill his children, though he threaten to chastise them; so such a fear is no more agreeable to the spirit of adoption, nor becoming the state of sonship to God, than for a child to fear that his father, being such a one as will kill him. And therefore, the spirit of bondage to fear" is opposed to "the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,” Rom, viii. 15.

"Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, whereby all those that are justified are received into the number of his children, have his name put upon them, the Spirit of his Son given to them, (receive the Spirit of adoption, Westm. Confess. chap. 12.) are under his fatherly care and dispensation, admitted to all the liberties and privileges

ing, and so to exercise their faith as to believe, that they are by Christ "delivered from the hands of their enemies," both the law, sin, wrath, death, the devil, and hell, "that they may serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness all the days of their lives," Luke i. 74, 75. I would have them so to believe God's love to them in Christ, as that thereby they may be constrained to obedience. m

Nom. But, sir, you know that our Saviour says, "Fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," Matth. x. 28. And the apostle says, "We shall receive of the Lord the reward of the inheritance," Col. iii. 24. And is it not said, that "Moses had respect unto the recompence of reward ?" Heb. xi. 26.

Evan. Surely, the intent of our blessed Saviour, in that first Scripture, is to teach all believers, that when God commands one thing, and man another, they should obey God, and not man, rather than to exhort them to eschew evil for fear of hell. n And as for

of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow heirs with Christ in glory."-Larg. Cat. q. 74.

"The LIBERTY which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel, consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law-as also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a child-like love and willing mind. All which were common also to believers under the law."-Westm. Confess. chap. 20, art. 1. By the guilt of sin, here, must needs be understood obligation to eternal wrath. 250, note t.

See p.

The end of Christian liberty is, that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear."-Ibid. art. 3.

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The one (viz. justification) doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation." Larg. Cat. q. 77.

་་

Though a soul be justified and freed from the guilt of eternal punishment, and so the spirit is no more to be afraid and disquieted for eternal wrath and hell."--Rutherford's Trial and Triumph, &c. Ser. 19, p. 261.

"The believer bath no conscience of sins; that is, he in conscience is not to fear everlasting condemnation, that is most true."—Ibid. p. 266.

See more to this purpose, p. 246, note p; 250, note s; 328, note h.

m And no marvel one would have them do so, since that is what all the children of God with one mouth do daily pray for, saying, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

n There is a great difference betwixt a believer's eschewing evil for fear of hell, and his eschewing it from the fear of God, "as able to destroy both soul and body in hell." The former respects the event as to his eternal state, the latter doth not. Το this purpose the variation of the phrase in the text is observable,-"fear not them that KILL the body:" this notes the event, as to temporal death by the hands of men which our Lord would have his people to lay their account with; but with respect to eternal death, he says not, fear him which destroys, but, which is able to destroy

those other Scriptures by you alleged, if you mean reward, and the means to obtain that reward, in the Scripture sense, then it is another matter but I had thought you had meant in our common sense, and not in Scripture sense.

Nom. Why, sir, I pray you, what difference is there betwixt reward, and the means to obtain the reward, in our common sense, and in the Scripture sense?

Evan. Why, reward, in our common sense, is that which is conceived to come from God, or to be given by God; which is a fancying of heaven under carnal notions, beholding it as a place where there is freedom from all misery, and fulness of all pleasure and happiness, and to be obtained by our own works and doings, o But re

both soul and body in hell." Moreover the former is a slavish fear of God as a revenging judge; the believer eschewing sin for fear he be damned; the latter is a revential fear of God as of a father with whom is awful dominion and power. The former carries in it a doubtfulness and uncertainty as to the event, plainly contrary to the remedy prescribed in this same case: Prov. xxix. 25, "The fear of man bringeth a snare; but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." The latter is consistent with the most full assurance of one's being put beyond all hazard of hell. Heb. Heb. xii. 28, 29, "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire." A believer by fixing his eyes on God, as able to destroy both soul and body in hell, may be so filled with the reverential fear of God, his dreadful power and wrath against sin, as to be fenced against the slavish fear of the most cruel tyrants, tempting him to sin; though in the meantime he most firmly believes that he is past that gulf, can never fall into it, nor be bound over unto it. For, so he hath a lively representation of the just deserving of sin, even of that sin in particular into which he is tempted; and so must tremble at the thought of it, as an evil greater than death. And as a child, when he seeth his father lashing his slaves cannot but tremble, and fear to offend him, so a believer's turning his eyes on the miseries of the damned, must raise in him an awful apprehension of the severity of his Father against sin, even in his own; and cause him to say in his heart, "My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments," Psalm cxix. 120. Thus also he hath a view the frightful danger he has escaped; the looking back to which must make one's heart shiver, and conceive a horror of sin; as in the case of a pardoned criminal, looking back to a dreadful precipice from which he was to have been thrown headlong, had not a pardon seasonably prevented his ruin; Eph. "We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

ii. 3,

o Thus, to eschew evil and do good for hope of heaven, is to do so in hope of 9btaining heaven by our own works. And certainly "that hope shall be cut off, and be a spider's web," (Job viii. 14,) for a sinner shall never obtain heaven but in the way of free grace: "But if it be of works, then it is no more grace," Rom. xi. 6. But that a believer may be animated to obedience by eyeing the reward already obtained for him by the works of Christ, our author no where denies. So indeed the apostle exhorts believers to run their Christian race, "looking unto Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him, (to be obtained by his own works, in the way of most proper merits) endured the cross," Heb. xii. 1, 2.

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ward in the Scripture sense, is not so much that which comes from God, or is given by God, as that which lies in God, even the full fruition of God himself in Christ. "I am," says God to Abraham, thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward," Gen. xv. 1; and "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" says David; "and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee," Psal. lxxiii. 25; and “I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness,"p Psal. xvii. 15. And the means to obtain this reward is, not by doing, but by believing; even by "drawing near with a true heart, in the full assurance of faith," Heb. x. 22; and so indeed it is freely given. q And therefore you are not to conceive of that reward which the Scripture speaks of, as if it were the wages of a servant, but as it is the inheritance of sons. r And when the Scripture seemeth to induce believers to obedience, by promising this reward, you are to conceive that the Lord speaks to believers as a father does to his young son, Do this or that, and then I will love thee; whereas we know, that the father loveth the son first, and so does God; and therefore this is the voice of believers, "We love him, because he first loved us," 1 John iv. 19. The Lord doth pay them, or at least gives them a sure earnest of their wages, before he bid them work; s

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'Papists," says Dr. Preston, "tell of escaping damnation, and of getting into heaven. But Scripture gives other motives, (viz. to good works): Thou art in Christ, and Christ is thine; consider what he has done for thee, what thou hast by him, what thou hast been without him, and thus stir up thyself to do for him what he requireth." -Abridg. of his Works, p. 394.

p" Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever."-Short. Cat. "Believers-shall be-made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all nity."-Ibid.

q Rom. iv. 16, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise (viz. of the inheritance, vers. 13, 14,) might be sure to all the seed." Otherwise it is not given freely; for "to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt," ver. 4.

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r The apostle's decision in this case seems to be pretty clear: Rom. vi. 23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life:" he will not have us to look upon it as the wages of a servant too. The joining together of both these notions of the reward was, it seems, the doctrine of the Pharisees; Mark x. 17, Good Master, what shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?" And how unacceptable it was to our blessed Saviour, may be learned from his answer to that question. "The Papists confess that life is merited by Christ, and is made ours by the right of inheritance so fa we go with them. Yea, touching words, they hold many things with us; (1. That no works of themselves can merit life everlasting. (2.) That works done before conversion can merit nothing at God's hand. (3.) That there is no merit at God's hand, without his mercy, no exact merit as often there is amongst men. The point whereabout we dissent is, that with the merit of Christ and free promise, they will have the merit of works joined, as done by them who are adopted children."Bayne on Eph. ii. 8.

s Namely, in the way of the covenant of grace.