cursed; and he that hears the gospel, and believes not, shall be damned.

Quot. This was written to believers; and it is a strong attestation, that the law is not abrogated, but still remaining in full force, as the rule of righteousness.

Answ. If the law has ceased to exist, and is done away, as a covenant of works, as you assert, you have abrogated it; for to command to do for life, and to condemn for not doing, is all the power it ever had: and if it hath ceased to exist as a covenant of works, it hath no power to command to work, nor to condemn for not working, according to your doctrine. This is vile and damnable antinomianism; and is making void the law in every sense, and establishes it in no sense whatever. The word of God declares that the law is not made for a righteous man. It is not made to rule, govern, or condemn, a man justified by faith; for he is ruled and governed by the grace of Christ. of Christ. He is not under the law, but under grace. The law is made for the lawless and disobedient; and we know that whatsoever the law saith it saith to them that are under the law. Here are the persons described for whom this law is made; and they are not the righteous, but the lawless and disobedient: and the whole contents of the law are directed to them that are under it; but the righteous are not under the law, but under grace. But, if the moral law be the only rule of the saint's work, he must serve in the

oldness of the letter. The works of the law, and not the works of faith, are what the believer must perform: and by the law must he stand or fall, and by it must his weaknesses be tried and punished; and then wo to him, for Zion's own righteousnesses are but as filthy rags, which can never stand the test of the law. Nor can the law put up with one imperfect action, nor shew mercy to any that are in the least imperfect. Faith and repentance pass for nothing here. Perfection it will have, as itself is perfect. It can shew no mercy; it knows of none. It held Christ himself as a bond servant all his days: I say, as a bond servant. Read and compare Exod. xxi. 32. Psal. xxii. 20, 21. Zech. ix. 12. The precept held him fast till he came to his trial, and the sentence held him fast till he gave up the ghost. When he rose from the dead he cried, All hail! And he that by faith finds rest in his infinite satisfaction, ceases from his works, as God did from his: he ceases from the works of the law, as God did from the works of creation.

Quot. Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin.

Answ. This is a contradiction of what you asserted before. You say the believer is delivered from sin, but the new man is taken captive by sin. If the saint is free from sin, and the new man is a captive to sin, this seed can be of no use to the believer, but rather the believer should help this

captive. I would to God that such ignorant, unenlightened persons, would never meddle with such sublime matters, and handle them in so vile a way. Talk about the seed of God; and then about the new creature, created in righteousness and true holiness, falling a captive to the devil! O, what judical blindness, confusion, and hardness of heart, is this! What enmity against the gospel, and the preachers of it, must rage in the breasts of such persons, to drive them, over all bounds, into such a desperate frenzy as to plunder, pervert, misconstrue, and prostitute the divine oracles of God to such base purposes, as to deceive the simple, and injure, in the Lord's work, the faithful labourers of the vineyard! However, as you have got a bridle in your jaws, causing you to err, go on, and, by God's help, I will follow you as long as I can hold a pen, You are got into worse than Egyptian darkness now, and the veil will gather faster and faster on your heels. But I find the path of the just shines more and more unto perfect day. Let me contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, and do you contend for the law; and our readers will soon see which is the burning and the shining light; for, by your darkness passing before, the true light will shine after it.

Quot. In Zacharias and Elizabeth, the father and mother of John the Baptist, we have a beautiful example of what the Christian is, or, at least, ought to be. It is said of them, "They were

both righteous before God; walking in all the commandments of the Lord, blameless,” Luke i. 6.

Answ. The authors of this book can charge William Huntington with no more ungodliness, or sinful walking, since his conversion, than they can charge the above-mentioned persons; and yet their whole drift is to represent me a Magus in doctrine, and a devil in life: however, they can never overthrow the doctrines that I hold. This last quotation justifies my doctrine; for, if they were both righteous, they were justified by an imputed righteousness. And it is clear that the grace of God did not lead them into licentiousness: for, as they walked in the Spirit, they did not fulfil the lusts of the flesh; for they walked in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord blameless; so that the righteousness of the law was fulfilled in them, and grace taught them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. And this is what I assert. But, after all, this passage of scripture serves my purpose much better than the purpose of

my opponents. For, though the law of works had no charge against Zacharias, because he was under grace, yet the law of faith had; which shews that faith is a rule of obedience and his transgressing that rule brought a sore and a public judgment upon him: "Behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed; because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season."

Is it not strange that a good man,

a saint of God, should be rebuked by an angel from heaven; struck dumb for nine months for his unbelief, or for transgressing the law of faith; and yet the law of faith, as this book suggests, is no rule of obedience; is no law to discover and forbid sin; no law to arraign the transgressor of it; nor yet a law furnished with a sentence to punish the disobedient thereto! However, though the law of works brought nothing against Zacharias's walk, the law of faith brought a heavy charge against his unbelieving heart. If this word, spoken by an angel, was steadfast, and Zacharias's transgression and disobedience thereto received a just recompense of reward; how will those escape who obscure and traduce the law of faith, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, as no rule of right and wrong; and so make the kingdom of God, which stands not in word, nor in letter, but in power, in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, a mere fancy! Let these enemies to antinomianism look to it; lest, after all their contention for the letter, they are found doing despite to the Spirit of grace. For, although they think the law of faith, in the hand of the Spirit, is no rule, yet sinning against it is the great transgression; yea, it is the unpardonable sin. Which shews, that the Spirit's law, or law of the Spirit, is the grandest rule, and the greatest of all laws: for all other sins are pardonable but this; this is the sin unto death.

If my reader thinks that I bear too hard upon