the Gentiles. They kept faith and a good conscience, and were to be justified before God in the day when he shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. So that conscience in this place being exercised about the law as a rule, and the actions of the Gentiles as conforming to, or erring from it, natural conscience therefore cannot be here meant: because the apostle is speaking only of what was revealed.-The conscience was exercised about what the law was to work, and that made no part of the religion of nature-It was exercised only about revelation, therefore it cannot be inferred from hence, that it is any law of our nature to follow the dictates of our conscience without attending to what is revealed: * And what authority then is there from this text to prove the natural supremacy, or prerogative of conscience ?-A revelation is made. The Gentiles (so far as they know it) consider it as a rule of action-By looking upon it in this light, they see that it is their duty to conform to it-And when they do, their conscience reflecting on the rule and the action approves what is done, and of course disapproves what doth not conform. Here is nothing said in this case about the natural supremacy of conscience, or about our judgments of right and wrong, without the knowledge of some revealed rule; and therefore it is certain, that the conscience here treated of, was exercised only about the things contained in the law of Moses as a revealed rule of action.

The apostle's argument then in the words of the text as they have been now explained, stands thusA dangerous error had prevailed among the Jewish Christians-They held it to be necessary, that the Gentile converts should be circumcised, and submit to the whole law before they could enjoy the benefits of the gospel-The apostle strenuously opposes this error, and among other arguments uses this in the text to overthrow it. For, says he, when the Gentiles who

*See Bishop Butler's First and Second Sermons, entitled "Upon the natural Supremacy of Conscience."

have not the written law of Moses, do the same actions as the Jews, do the things contained in the law, and with the same view, only upon a different motive, the one by custom or habit, the other by the institution of Moses; these Gentiles, though they have not the law in writing among them, yet by doing the things contained in it, they are the law to themselves; supplying so far as they do those things the place of the written law, or the want of the Mosaic institution: being doers therefore of the law, they are as properly qualified to be admitted into the privileges of the gospel, as the Jews themselves who were its hearers; for as they shewed by their actions, that what the Mosaic law was to work and effect was written in their hearts, and that they had that same right disposition of mind, which it was to work and effect in the Jews, * and for which the Jews were to be justified; from hence the consequence is direct and logical, that such Gentiles were as forward in Christianity as the Jews themselves, and there could be no necessity for their submitting to the Mosaic law, when they had already attained the prin cipal end, which that law was given to attain; and therefore they need not now submit to the law, as the means. They had attained the end, so the means were needless, and of course they might, being equally qualified with the Jews, be admitted to the privileges of the gospel without being circumcised, and submitting. to the whole ceremonial law.

This argument then of St. Paul's not only doth not relate to, but entirely destroys that free-thinking notion, of man's being justified by the law of nature; and the force of it is not to be evaded if the chief thing supposed in it can be proved, viz. That there were Gentiles who did observe the things contained in the

*Rom. ii. 26. "The uncircumcised (Gentiles) could keep those 66 points of the law which were to justify.' And ver. 27. "They could "fulfil (answer the end of) the law;" these two passages demonstrate that I have fairly stated the apostle's argument.

law of Moses; and this I am to consider under my second general head, which was to prove,

Secondly, That the meaning put upon the words of the text is founded on scripture and matter of fact. And this will appear,

1st, From scripture, by proving what it was the law pointed out. And

2dly, From matter of fact, by shewing that the Gentiles did observe that which it pointed out.

Now what the law pointed out was the necessity of our redemption by Christ, and purification by blood. At first view it presents to us a system of religious services, made up of types and emblems; and that these typical services had a meaning well understood, * Moses himself assures us. And had he not, the reason of the thing would speak aloud for itself; for if the bodily action had been all that was required, then the action of the mind, which is the essence of every religious service, would have been wanting; there would be no opportunity to give God, what he chiefly requires, the heart and the affections; and the Jews could not have acted as persons who had souls to be saved. But it is certain, that each part of man is to do its duty in this state of trial, and where God requires the performance of certain outward actions, as the types before, and the sacraments since Christ came, he thereby treats man according to his constitution and his state, by instituting certain sensible objects to give him the nearest ideas of those objects which are spiritual: for if such be the constitution and state of man, that, as a creature, he cannot have, and as a free agent, he ought not to have any ideas inherent or innate, then the reason is

* In these passages § 1. Of sacrifices, Exod. xxx. 15, 16. Lev. ix. 15. xvii. 11. Num. xxviii. 22. Deut. xxxiii. 19. § 2. Of circumcision, Lev. xxvi. 41. Deut. x. 12, 16. xxx. 6. § 3. Of ablution, Lev. xiv. 6, 7, &c. xvii. 15, 16. Num. viii. 6, 7, &c. xix. 19, 20. §. Of meditating on the law, Deut. vi. 6, &c. viii. 5, 15, 16. xii. 28. &c. he mentions the spiritual sense, and that expressly, literally, and without a figure.

+ Rom. vii. 14. viii. 6. "To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." 2 Cor. iii. 6. "The letter (of the law) killeth, but the spirit giveth life."

evident why God should take such a method; and when he teaches men spiritual objects by the types and ⚫ the sacraments, that being the only method we can now be taught them, is therefore agreeable to the nature of things, and the state of man.. And not only Moses, and the reason of the thing, but later parts of scripture explain the principal types; they shew that Christ was the person whom they pointed at, and that in him they were all fulfilled.

He is said to be "the end of the law," (Rom. x. 4.). "Of him Moses wrote-of him the scriptures testified," (John v. 39, 46.) "The fathers were saved, even as "we by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," (Acts xv. 11.) The Gospel of God concerning his Son Je"sus was preached by the prophets in the holy scrip"tures, (Rom. i. 1, 2.) "And to him gave all the "prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever "believeth in him shall receive remission of sins,” (Acts x. 43.) The scriptures then plainly declare, that Christ was pointed out by the typical rites and services of the law. But

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That which was the highest act of religion among the Jews, and among the Gentiles also, whereby he was prefigured and pointed out, was sacrifice: "for "he was the lamb virtually slain from the foundation "of the world," (Rev. xiii. 8.). By faith in him Abel "offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," (Heb.. xi. 4.) "And by the same faith Moses kept the pass"over and the sprinkling of blood," (Heb. xi. 28.) "Christ being our passover who was sacrificed for us,' (1 Cor. v. 7.) And who hath now put away sin by "the sacrifice of himself," (Heb. ix. 26.). Christ therefore was pointed out by sacrifices; they were types instituted to keep up and preserve the knowledge of what he was to do and suffer; and means to lay hold of, by the hand of faith, the merits of his future death and sufferings: for they not only pointed him out in a general view, but they also shewed the principal end of his coming into the world, to effect our re

demption by the offering of the body of Jesus once ⚫ for all.

:

It is one of the first in order of revealed truths— That without shedding the blood of Christ there is no remission for if God required sacrifices as absolutely necessary for the remission of sin, this proved, that the sacrifice of Christ was absolutely necessary to attain that remission. The necessity of the types proved the necessity of the antitype: for if it be the essence of a type, That it be an outward and visible sign instituted by God to represent some spiritual person or object; and if sacrifice was instituted to be the outward and visible sign of Christ, then God's requiring sacrifice as absolutely necessary to atone for sin was requiring, and that in the strongest manner, the necessity of Christ's making the atonement. The type was only an outward sign to keep in mind what was signified thereby, so that if God required the outward sign, he must of necessity require the thing signified: because he instituted the one in order to attain the other: and by such institution, he made the relation between them as certain as between the means and the end. Sacrifice therefore being a type, could not be instituted for its own sake-The merit of the action lay in considering what it signified; for it was not the bare offering, but the intention, the faith of the offerer, which made the sacrifice a sweet-smelling savour unto God. It was the duty of every offerer to look upon it as, what it was-It was a type-He was not then merely to offerTo rest in the offering would be denying things to be what they are but it was his duty also to consider what was typified, and was intended to be kept up by the outward act of offering; Christ, and what he was to do and suffer for us, were the things intended to be kept up by the outward act; and therefore these were the things, which it was the duty of every person to look at when he offered.

This it was then to sacrifice worthily; not to rest in the outward act, but to look by the eye of faith be