"nies, was totally fubverfive of the fpirit of the gofpel." If in thefe expreffions the author means no more, than that mere external obfervances of human invention, or even thofe of the law, are nowife capable of bringing any grace to our fouls; and that to confide in any fuch is fubverfive of the spirit of the gospel, nobody would difpute the point with him; but then, fuch a meaning would be nothing to his purpose at all. But if by thefe expreffions he means, either that Almighty God cannot, or has not ordained, under the gofpel, certain outward forms, to the pious performance of which he has annexed the infufion of his grace into our fouls, or that Almighty God having done so, it is fubverfive of the spirit of the gospel for us to use them for that end; and either of thefe muft be his meaning, if he means any thing at all; then all these clear and evident texts, which we have seen above, for the efficacy both of the worthily receiving the Lord's fupper, and of baptifin, stand up against him and condemn him; and I defy him to fhow one fingle text in the whole fcripture which fays, that St Paul condemn→ ed the Jewish ceremonies under the gofpel, from the above principle which he alledges. The true reafon of St Paul's conduct is this: We have seen above, that the external ordinances of the old law were incapable of bringing the grace of juftification to the foul; that they were only fhadows of the good things then to come, and figures of thofe ordinances of Jefus Chrift to which that grace was annexed. So long, however, as theMofaic difpenfation was in force, its members were obliged to perform all its ordinances, as being a part of that religion ordained by God himself. Almighty God, when he firft inftituted circumcifion, or

dained it as a mere fign of the covenant he made with Abraham and his pofterity? Ye fall circumcife the flesh of your forefkin, fays he to Abraham, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you, Gen. xvii. II; but he absolutely required that all his pofterity fhould obferve it, under pain of death, The uncircumcifed man-child, whofe flesh of his foreskin is not circumcifed, that foul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant, ibid. v. 14; and the fame command is renewed again under Mofes, Exod. xii. and Lev. xii. Now, whofoever was circumcised, and by that means initiated in the Mofaic inftitution, became immediately obliged to the obfervance of the whole law. Thus St Paul declares to the Galatians, For I teftify to every man that is circumcifed, that he is a debtor to do the whole law, Gal. v. 3. This was the ftate of affairs then while the Mofaic difpenfation remained in force. But when our Saviour came into the world, he put an end to all thefe legal obfervances, by inftituting a more perfect religion, by fulfilling all these figures, and fubftituting in their place the good things which they represented; and then these figures were all done away, and all obligation of obferving them ceafed. Thus the fame great apoftle tells us, There is verily a difannulling of the commandment going before, for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, Heb. vii. 18. 19. Again, he fays, That the first tabernacle was a figure for the time then prefent, in which were offered both gifts and facrifices, that could not make him that did the Service perfect as pertaining to the confcience; but Chrift being come a high-priest of good things to come, ob

tained for us an eternal redemption, Heb. ix. 9. &c. In which words the apostle, making the contrast between the ordinances of the old law, and the good things we enjoy under the gofpel, declares, that the difference confifted in this, that the former were only figures of the latter, and that they could not make men perfect as to confcience; whereas Chrift, under the new law, has obtained for us an eternal redemption, and, as he adds, ver, 14. his blood purifies our confcience from dead works to ferve the living God. See the whole paffage, as alfo the following chapter. Those then who lived under the law, were in bondage under the elements of the world, Gal, iv. 3. being subjected to the rigorous observance of all thofe empty ceremonies, which could not fanctify their fouls, as being only figures and fhadows, and which St Paul therefore calls weak and beggarly elements, Gal. iv. 9,; but when the fulness of time was come, Chrift appeared amongst us, on purpose to redeem thofe that were under the law from that bondage, Gal. iv. 4, 5, and to restore us to the liberty of the fons of God. Hence, after the coming of Chrift, and the promulgation of his gofpel, to affert and maintain the neceffity of circumcifion, or other legal ceremonies, to falvation, was annulling the very end of his coming; was making void all he had done for us; was afferting an abfolute falfehood, contrary to the truths revealed by God; was reducing us again to the bondage of the ceremonial law, and making Chrift of no profit, of no ufe, to our fouls. These are the true reafons for which St Paul inveighs fo ftrongly against those who maintained, that circumcifion was neceffary under the gofpel: but as for the fictitious reafon invented by our

author, that great apostle never once gives the fmallest hint of any fuch thing; nay, when we confider the proofs we have brought above from the holy fcripture, and especially from what happened to St Paul himself at his converfion, which fo incontestably fhow, that God Almighty has actually appointed the outward forms of his facraments as the means of bringing his grace to our fouls, and has even made his favour depend upon the pious use of these external obfervances, telling us, that except we receive the holy communion, we have no life in us, John vi. 53.; and that except we be born of water and of the spirit, we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, John iii. 5.; when we confider this, I fay, we evidently fee, that it is impoffible it could ever once enter into St Paul's mind to think, that the making the favour of heaven depend upon the pious ufe of external obfervances, was fubverfive of the spirit of the gospel; he knew too well what his bleffed Master had appointed for this very purpose, ever to harbour fuch a thought. What the apoftle then condemns, is not the general principle of believing that the favour of heaven and the pardon of fins may, by the Divine appointment, be made to depend on the use of external observances; but it is the attaching thofe favours to fuch external obfervances as God had not appointed for that end; it was the attempt to keep in force the observance of those legal ceremonies which were abolished by the coming of Christ, and by this means to fubject Chriftians, who were the free-born children, to all the bondage of the flaves. And this is exprefsly what St Paul himfelf declares to us, in his epiftle to the Galatians; for this people, in his abfence, having

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been deluded by fome falle brethren to circum cife themselves, as a thing neceflary for falvation, the apostle hearing this, writes his epiftle to them, on purpose to undeceive them; and, after many other ftrong things faid on the occasion, at last he concludes in the following manner: Stand faft therefore in the liberty wherewith Chrift hath made us free, and be not entangled again into the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul fay unto you, that if ye be circumcifed, Chrift fhall profit you nothing. For I teftify again to every man that is circumcifed, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Chrift is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are juftified by the law; ye are fallen from grace, Gal. v. 1. &c. See here the true and real reafons, in his own words, why St Paul condemned circumcifion; far different indeed from what our author would have us believe; who therefore is guilty of a moft grofs mifreprefentation of the apoftle, a falfification of the holy fcripture, and a perverting its true sense to that which the Holy Ghost never intended! Good God! what are not people capable of doing, when obftinately embarked in a bad cause!

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I have now confidered at large this most im'portant fubject of the nature and efficacy of the Christian facraments; I have fhown the folid grounds from the plain, obvious and repeated teftimonies of the facred scriptures, for what the Chriftian world believes, and has from the beginning believed, concerning them; and I have evidently detected the fophiftry and futility of those arguments which our author difplays with fo much pomp and confidence in fupport of his antichriftian fyftem. I must now, then, afk every ferious Chriftian, who has any zeal for the honour of Jefus Chrift, and of his facred inftitu