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3. Are ye fo foolish, having begun in the fpirit, are ye now made perfect in the fieb?

4. Have ye faffered

"Unquestionably by obeying the gospel doctrine. And can you, who have thus received the fpirit of adoption, upon your first converfion, as the confequence of your faith in Chrift, be fo ftupid as to imagine, that your juftification is not compleat, unless you conform to the fleshly ceremonies of the law of Mofes ?

"If this were true, all your paft sufferings for

tongues and prophefied," Acts xix. 6. and when the apostles at the feaft of Pentecoft, were filled with the Holy Ghoft, and fpoke with tongues, Peter exprefly declares," This is that which was fpoken by Joel; I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh," Acts ii. 17.

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Now thefe gifts of the Spirit were communicated as the full evidence and proof, that thofe who received them were conftituted the people and children of God; thus the Holy Ghoft fell on Cornelius, a Gentile; upon which the Jewish Chriftians made this reflection: "Then hath God alio to the Gen"tiles-granted repentance unto life," Acts xi. 18. Thus Peter at the council at Jerufalem declares; "God bare the Gentiles witnefs, giving "them the Holy Ghoft even as he did unto us; and put no difference be "tween us and them," Acts xv. 8. i. e. declaring the Gentiles equally members of the Chriftian church, and heirs to falvation by Chrift with the Jews. Hence the Spirit in his extraordinary gifts, is called the spirit of adoption, Rom. viii. 15. because the granting it was an inftance of God's peculiar favour, and of his owning himself the father and friend of those to whom he vouchfafed the Spirit.

Now in this view, the apoftle's queftion appears with great propriety and ftrength. Did ye receive that fpirit, which was the fulleft evidence of your being juftified, accepted, and received as the children and people of God, by conformity to the law of Mofes, or by embracing the doctrine of the gofpel? If by embracing the doctrine of the gospel, then you became juftified by embracing that doctrine, and confequently need not conform to the law of Mofes, in order to obtain juftification. The argument in form is this.

Thofe who are juftified by faith in Chrift, need not conform to the law of Mofes for juftification; but Chriftians are justified by faith. Therefore, &c. That Chriftians are juftified by faith is thus proved.

Those who have received by faith that fpirit from God, which is the great evidence of their juftification, are juftified by faith; but Christians have received. Therefore, &c.

This argument is ftrictly conclufive, and I would only obferve with refpect to the expreffion, by the bearing of jaith, that axon may be rendered obedience; in which fenfe axew is frequently ufed; thus, This is my bes loved Son, bear se bim, i. e. obey him, Matt. xvii. 5. So Ælian. V. H. 1. iii. c. 16. and thus the expreflion will mean, by obedience to the gospel." As the apostle knew that they received the spirit by obeying the gospel doctrine, he proceeds to other questions.

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Ver. 3. To begin in the Spirit.] means their receiving the extraordinary gifts of it, immediately upon their believing in Chrift, as the evidence of their juftification and acceptance with God; and the being made perfect in the fieb, denotes their having recourfe to thofe ceremonies of the law of Mofes, which reached only to the flesh, to perfect or compleat their justification; but this the apostle juftly reprefents as a foolish imagination, and proceeds to tell them it was a reproach upon their former behaviour.

Ver. 4. The words, wyszu, if it be yet in vain, are a kind of genteel and tender recalling what he had faid immediately before, and an ex

fo many things in vain, if it be yet in vain ?

5. He therefore that miniftreth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles amongst you, doth be it by the works of the law, or by the bearing of faith?

6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.

for the fake of Christianity must have been to no purpose fince you might have avoided them by fubmitting to circumcifion and the law. And will you thus lofe the benefit of all the perfecutions you have endured, and render them wholly vain and ineffectual?

"When I was with you, and conferred the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit upon you, and wrought feveral miracles in the midit of you, did I confer and do them as a preacher of the neceffity of the law of Mofes to you, and to confirm your obligations to obferve it; or as a preacher of the doctrine of juftification by faith, and to confirm and establifh you in the belief of it?

"As a preacher of the doctrine of juftification by faith. And thus Abraham himself, the father of our nation was juftified; for when God promifed him a numerous feed in his extreme old age, he believed in the Lord; and the fcripture exprefly fays, it was counted to him for righteouf nefs, Gen. xv. 6.

"OBSERVATIONS on the DOCTRINE of JUSTIFICATION. "To reconcile thefe Judaifing converts to this doctrine of juftification by faith, the apoftle with great addrefs and strength fhews them, that it was by this very principle of faith, that Abraham, the father of the Jew fh nation, was himself justified. Abraham and Sarah were, according to the courfe of nature, abfolutely incapable of having any children. Aud upon his complaint to God that he was childlefs, God faid to him; "he that shall come forth out of thine 66 own

preffion of fome hope that it might be otherwife. Have ye fuffered fo many things for Chrift in vain, if you will finally render them vain, and not prevent it by a steady adherence to the purity of the gofpei doctrine? I greatly fear for you, but am loth to give you up as wholly lost.' Ver. 5. Though St. Paul fpeaketh here in the third perfon," he that mi"nittreth to you the fpirit," yet I think it is evident he means himself, who was the inftrument of their converfion, and of conferring thefe extraordinary gifts upon them; and he appeals to them, that he conferred them only to eftablish the doctrine of juftification by faith alone, and not to bring them under bondage to the law of Mofes; and this doctrine of justification by faith, he proceeds to thew was abundantly confirmed by the Old Teftaments and that Abraham himielf was thus juftified.

Ver. 6. The word soy9n, rendered here counted, is tranflated in Rom. iv. 6. imputed. And from hence comes the expreffion of imputed righteoutnefs; the word fignifies to place fomewhat to account, and that either as a matter of justice or favour, Rom. iv. 4. "To him that worketh is the re"ward not imputed of grace but of debt," in which the imputation of bok kinds is exprefly mentioned.

Etiftle of St. Paul to the Galatians. 23. " own bowels fhall be thine heir." Abraham might have objected the natural impoffibility of the thing, but he believed in the Lord, believed that God was able to give him a fon, and would do it in accomplishment of his promife. What was the confequence of this? Why God counted to him this his belief of his promife, and truft in his power and goodness, for righteoufnefs. God was fo well pleafed with this eminent inftance of his faith and piety, that he accepted and bleffed him as a truly righteous perfon; his very faith in the promife and power of God was his righteoufnefs, that which justified him, and upon account of which God accepted and blessed him as a juft perfon. This is the exprefs doctrine of fcripture, which cannot be evaded by the fyftems, fchemes, and comments of fallible men, though it hath been often reprefented as erroneous and false; whilft the fcriptures remain it will ever be true, that Abraham believed God, and that it, this very belief in God, was accounted to bim for righteousness.

"The expreffion of imputing righteoufnefs, is but twice mentioned in fcripture, and in neither place can it poffibly fignify the imputation of one perfon's righteoufnefs to another, fo tha he who is unrighteous in himself, fhould be efteemed and accepted as a juft and righteous man for the fake of another perfon's righteoufnefs; the imputation of righteoufnefs never once means this in the New TefLament, In the first place it evidently denotes the pardon of fin, Rom. iv. 6, 7, 8. "David alfo defcribeth the blefedrefs of the "man, unto whom God imputeth righteoufnefs without works,

faying, Bleffed are they whofe iniquities are forgiven,--and to "whom the Lord will not impute fin:" In which paffage nothing can be more evident, than that the imputi g righteoufnefs, the not Imputing fin, and the forgiving iniquies, are equivalent expreffions, and mean intirely the fame thing, and they all of them denote juftifica ion; because not to impute fin is to pardon it, and to pardon fin is to impute righteoufnefs, i. e. to esteem, and accept and treat the perfon pardoned as a righteous and just man that hath never offended.

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The fame expreffion of imputing righteoufnefs is also used in the eleventh verse of the fourth to the Romans. "Abraham received the fign of circumcifion, a feal of the righteoufness of the faith "which he had being yet uncircumcifed, that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcifed, that "righteoufoefs might be imputed unto them alfo," i, e. that their faith, might be imputed unto them for righteoufnefs,' or, that they might be accepted and treated of God as righteous upon account, or for the fake, of their faith: That this is the meaning is plain from the apoftle's reafoning, which is to fhew that the uncir cumcifed Gentiles were to be juftified the fame way as Abraham was while he was uncircumcised. Now, fays the apostle," we fay "that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteoufnefs," ver. 9. his faith was his righteoufnefs, for which God accepted him as a juft perfon even whilft he was uncircumcised," that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcifed, that righteoufnefs might be imputed to them alfo," i. e, that

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they might be justified by faith as Abraham was.' Now this is good fenfe to fay, that God, by imputing faith to Abraham whilt he was uncircumcifed, fhewed his purpofe of imputing faith alfo to the believing uncircumcifed Gentiles for their juftification. But if the imputing righteoufnefs means the imputing Chrift's righteoufnefs in this place, the apoftle's difcourfe is incoherent, and proves nothing; for then the cafe will stand thus: Faith was imputed to Abraham for righteoufnefs, in uncircumcifion, that he might be the father of believing uncircumcifed Gentiles, that Chrift's righteousnefs might be imputed to them. Now if Abraham was juftified by faith, and the believing Gentiles are juftified by Christ's righteoufnefs, then they are justified two different ways; of confequence Abraham could not be their father, nor they his children,

"But though I am not arguing against the doctrine of Chrift's imputed righteoufaefs for juftification, and do not affert that fuch an expreffion is incapable of a good meaning, yet unquestionably this is not the fenfe of the paffiges I have been explaining; nor indeed is it ever once faid in any fingle paffage of the New Teftament, that the righteoufae fs of Christ is imputed to any perfon: No; the expreffions used by St. Paul are," to impute righteousness," i. e. to pardon fin; and, more generally," to impute faith for righteouf"nefs." Thus, "Abraham believed God, and it," his faith,

was imputed to him for righteoufnefs;" and the reafon of this the apoftle gives in the next verfe, or draws this inference from it”

An Account of Propofals made for the Benefit of his Majefty's Naval Service: Shewing their general Object and Tendency, the future Supply of Timber for the Purposes of the Royal Navy; Means of contributing to its Prefervation, the Well-being of the DockYards, Ships, Magazines, and Stores; with the reciprocal Advantages and Conveniences of its Individuals. Interfperfed with Admiralty and Navy Board Regulations, and occafional Remarks ef fome of its Honourable Members. Together with certain other Tranfactions. In a Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord-Commiffioner of the Admiralty. By Yeonan Lott, late Agent to the Royal-Hofpital at Plymouth. is. 6d. Owen.

Ecce iterum Crifpinus! Poor Mr. Lott, whofe lot [forgive us, reader, the pun] is hard indeed, hath here again fubmitmitted his cafe to the First Lord of the Admiralty and the public; to the latter of which we recommend him as a man, who appears, from his own account, to have made the intereft of his King and country his ftudy, in refpect to the particular department in which he was for many years employed. We cannot help expreffing our concern, alfo, that any peculiarities of perfonal behaviour, in the proper difcharge of his duty, should be thought by his fuperiors fufficient to cancel the merits of fuch long and allowed fervice.

* See our Review for April laft, page 285.

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Lettre, de Monfieur Des Enfans, a Madame Montagu. 8vo. 1 s. Davis.

A Letter from Monfieur Des Enfans to Mrs. Montagu, tranflated by Mrs. Griffith. 8vo. Is 6 d. Cadell.

The late Lord Chefterfield, in thofe celebrated Letters, which have juftly reflected to much odium on his memory, has, it feems, caft a very injurious reflection on the character of the admired author of Telemachus, M. de Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambray; whom he has reprefented as a convenient proveditor for the pleafures of Louis XIV.This reflection Mr. Des Enfans conceives to be fo highly derogatory from the amiable character of that illuftrious ecclefiaftic, that he has here vented his indignation against the letter-writer, in terms not the moft guarded and polite, however merited on the part of his Lordship. To affift him, in expofing Lord Chesterfield's breach of Chriftian charity in this particular, Mrs. Griffith takes inftant fire at the Frenchman's fury, and declares her fovereign contempt and abhorrence for many of the precepts and paffages contained in his Lordship's Letters; † one of which appears to be this reflection on Monfieur de Fenelon: on which M. Des Enfans has fo freely commented, and whose Comment this Lady has taken the liberty of extending and illuftrating-In the Memoirs of Madam de Maintenon is inferted the following Letter from Fenelon to that Lady.

"Your zeal for the King's falvation ought not to make you pass those bounds which Providence feems to have prefcribed to you; we must wait the Almighty's time. The true method of infpiring his Majefty with heavenly grace, is not to fatigue him with exhortations, but to edify him, to gain an entrance into his heart by degrees, and by the patience and gentleness of your conduct.

"Your endeavours to touch his heart, to open his eyes, and to warn him against certain fnares, to give him the counfels of peace and moderation, of compaffion for his people, and love for the Church, as well as your zeal to find out proper directors for his confcience, require great attention and much prudence.

"You are the Centinel of God, in the midst of Ifael. Love the King, and be obedient to him, as Sarah was to Abraham. Refpect him from the bottom of your heart, and look upon him as your Lord, by the immediate order of Providence.

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"He elevates," fays he, his brazen front, and in the effufion of a boundless effurance, of which I have feen but few inftances, &e."-Again; "There is as much ignorance as malice in the turn Lord C. gives M. de Fenelon's letter."

† No wonder! His Lordfhip has declared, that in all his life-time he never me. with a fenfibie woman.

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