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34 - The Original, Nature, Property, and Use of the Law - Sermons on Several Occasions · Sacred Texts Archive

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Sermon thirty four, the original nature, property, and use of the law.
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Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment wholly and just and good
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Romans seven twelve. Perhaps there are few subjects within the whole compass of religion
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so little understood as this. The reader of this epistle is usually told by
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the law Saint Paul means the Jewish law, and so, apprehending himself to
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have no concern therewith, passes on without farther thought about it. Indeed,
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some are not satisfied with this account, But observing the epistle is directed to
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the Romans, thence infer that the apostle in the beginning of this chapter alludes
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to the old Roman law. But as they have no more concern with this
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than with the ceremonial law of Moses, so they spend not much thought on
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what they suppose is occasionally mentioned barely to illustrate another thing. But a careful
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observer of the Apostle's discourse will not be content with thesis light explications of it,
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and the more he weighs the words, the more convinced he will be
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that Saint Paul, by the law mentioned in this chapter, does not mean
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either the ancient law of Rome, or the ceremonial law of Moses. This
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will clearly appear to all who attentively consider the tenor of his discourse. He
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begins the chapter, Know ye not, brethren, For I speak to them
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that know the law, to them who have been instructed therein from their youth,
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that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth.
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What the law of Rome only, or the ceremonial law, No, surely,
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but the moral law. Four. To give a plain instance, the
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woman which hath an husband, is bound by the moral law to her husband
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so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is
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loosed from the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband
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liveth she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress.
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But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so
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that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. From
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this particular instance, the apostle proceeds to draw that general conclusion. Wherefore,
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my brethren, by a plain parity of reason, ye also are become dead
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to the law. The whole mosaic institution, by the body of Christ offered
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for you, and bringing you under a new dispensation, that ye should,
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without any blame be married to another, even to him who is raised from
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the dead, and hath thereby given proof of his authority to make the change,
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that we should bring forth fruit unto God. And this we can do
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now, whereas before we could not, when we were in the flesh,
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under the power of the flesh, that is, of corrupt nature, which
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was necessarily the case till we knew the power of Christ's resurrection. The motions
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of sins which were by the law, which were shown and inflamed by the
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Mosaic law not conquered, did work in our members broke out of the various
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ways to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the
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law, from that whole moral as well as ceremonial economy, that being dead,
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whereby we were held that entire institution, being now as it were,
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dead and having no more authority over us than the husband when dead, hath
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over his wife. That we should serve him who died for us and rose
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again a newness of spirit, in a new spiritual dispensation, and not in
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the oldness of the letter, with a bare outward service. According to the
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Letter of the Mosaic Institution, Romans seven one through six. The Apostle having
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gone thus far in proving that the Christian had set aside the Jewish dispensation,
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and that the moral law itself, though it could never pass away, yet
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stood on a different foundation from what it did before, now stops to propose
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and answer an objection. What shall we say, then, is the law
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sin? So some might infer from a misapprehension of these words the motion of
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sins which were by the law law God forbid saith. The Apostle that we
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should say so, nay, the law is an irreconcilable enemy to sin by
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the law. For I had not known lust, evil, desire to be
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sin, except the Law had said, thou shalt not covet Romans seven seven.
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After opening this farther in the four following verses, he subjoins this general
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conclusion with regard more especially to the moral law from which the preceding instance was
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taken. Wherefore, the law is holy and the commandment hollly and just and
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good. In order to explain and enforce these deep words, so little regarded,
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because so little understood, I shall endeavor to show first the original of
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this law, secondly the nature thereof, thirdly the properties that is holy and
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just and good, and fourthly the uses of it. I shall first endeavor
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to show the original of the moral law, often called the law by way
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of eminence. Now this is not as some may have possibly imagined, of
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so late an institution as the time of Moses. Noah declared it to men
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long before that time, and Enoch before him. But we may trace its
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original hire still even beyond the foundation of the world, to that period,
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unknown indeed to men, but doubtless enrolled in the annals of eternity. When
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the morning stars first sang together, being newly called into existence, it pleased
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the Great Creator to make these his first born sons intelligent beings, that they
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might know him that created them. For this end, he endued them with
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understanding to discern truth from falsehood, good from evil, and as a necessary
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result of this, with liberty, a capacity of choosing the one and refusing
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the other. By this, they were likewise enabled to offer him a free
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and willing service, a service rewardable in itself, as well as most acceptable
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to their gracious master, to employ all the faculties which he had given them
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particularly their understanding and liberty. He gave the law a complete model of all
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truth, so far as is intelligible to a finite being, and of all
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good so far as angelic minds capable of embracing it. It was also the
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design of their beneficent governor herein to make way for a continual increase of their
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happiness, seeing every instance of obedience to that law would both add to the
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perfection of their nature and entitle them to a higher reward, which the righteous
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judge would give in its season. In like manner, when God in his
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appointed time had created a new order of intelligent beings, when he raised a
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man from the dust of the earth, breathed into him the breath of life,
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and caused him to become a living soul, endued with power to choose
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good or evil, he gave to this free, intelligent creature the same law
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as to his first born children. Not wrote indeed upon tables of stone or
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any corruptible substance, but engraven on his heart by the finger of God,
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wrote in the inmost spirit, both of men and of angels, to the
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intent might never be far off, never hard to be understood, but always
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at hand and always shining with clear light, even as the sun in the
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midst of heaven. Such was the original of the law of God. With
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regard to man, it was coevil with his nature. Both regard to the
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elder sons of God, it shone in its full splendor where over the mountains
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were brought forth, or the earth and the round world were made. But
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it was not long before man rebelled against God, and by breaking this glorious
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law while nigh effaced it out of his heart, the eyes of his understanding
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being darkened in the same measure as his soul was alienated from the life of
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God. And yet God did not despise the work of his own hands.
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But being reconciled to man through the sun of his love, he in some
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measure reinscribed the law on the heart of his dark, sinful creature. He
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again showed thee o man what is good, although not as in the beginning,
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even to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
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with Thy God. And this he showed not only to our first parents,
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but likewise to all their posterity. By that true light which enlightens every man
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that cometh into the world. But notwithstanding this light, all flesh had,
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in process of time corrupted their way before him, till he chose out of
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mankind a peculiar people, to whom he gave him more perfect knowledge of his
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law, and the heads of this because they were slow of understanding, he
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wrote unto tables of stone, which he commanded the fathers to teach their children
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through all succeeding generations. And thus it is that the law of God is
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now made known to them that know not God. They hear with the hearing
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of the ear, the things that were written aforetime for our instruction. But
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this does not suffice. They cannot, by this means comprehend the height and
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depth, and length and breadth. Thereof God alone can reveal this by his
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spirit. And so he does to all that truly believe. In consequence of
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that gracious promise made to all the Israel of God. Behold the days come,
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saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the House
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of Israel. And this shall be the covenant that I will make. I
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will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts,
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and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah
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thirty one thirty one, and continued the nature of that law which was originally
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given to angels in heaven and man in paradise, in which God has so
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mercifully promised to write afresh in the hearts of all true believers. Was the
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second thing I proposed to show, in order to which I would first observe
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that, although the law and the commandment are sometimes differently taken, the commandment
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meaning but a part of the law, yet in the text they are used
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as equivalent terms, implying one and the same thing. But we cannot understand
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here either by one or the other. The ceremonial law. It is not
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the ceremonial law, whereof the apostle says, in the words above recited,
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I had not known sin. But by the law this is too plain to
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need a proof. Neither is it the ceremonial law which Saith in the words
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immediately subjoined, thou shalt not covet. Therefore the ceremonial law has no place
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in the present question. Neither can we understand by the law mentioned in the
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text the mosaic dispensation. It is true the word is sometimes so understood as
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when the Apostle says, speaking to the Galatians Galatians three seventeen. The covenant
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that was confirmed before, namely with Abraham, the Father of the faithful.
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The law, that is, the Mosaic dispensation, which was four hundred and
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thirty years after, cannot dissenn all. But it cannot be understood in a
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text. For the Apostle never bestows so high commendations as these upon that imperfect
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and shadowy dispensation. He nowhere affirms the Mosaic to be a spiritual law,
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or that it is wholly unjust and good. Neither is it true true that
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God will write that law in the hearts of those whose iniquities he remembers.
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No more, it remains that the law, eminently so termed, is no
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other than the moral law. Now, this law is an incorruptible picture of
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the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity. It is he whom in his
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essence no man hath seen or can see, made visible to men and angels.
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It is the face of God, unveiled, God, manifested to his
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creatures as they are able to bear it, manifested to give and not to
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destroy life, that they may see God and live. It is the heart
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of God disclosed to man. YEA, in some sense we may apply to
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this law what the apostle says of his son. It is apalgosma des outoxis
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chai character tes hippostsos ato, the streaming forth or outbeaming of his glory,
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the express image of his person. If Virtue, said the ancient Heathen,
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could dosume such a shape as this, we could behold her with our eyes.
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What wonderful love would she excite in us? If Virtue could do this,
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it is done already. The law of God is all virtues in one,
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in such a shape as to be beheld with open face by all those
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whose eyes God hath enlightened. What is the law but divine virtue and wisdom
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assuming a visible form. What is it but the original ideas of truth and
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good, which were lodged in the uncreated mind from eternity, now drawn forth
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and cloathed with such a vehicle as to appear even to human understanding. If
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we survey the law of God in another point of view, it is supreme,
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unchangeable reason. It is unalterable. Rectitude is the everlasting fitness of all
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things that are, or ever were created. I am sensible. What a
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shortness and even impropriety there is in these and all other human expressions. When
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we endeavor, by these faint pictures to shadow out the deep things of God,
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nevertheles less, we have no better, indeed no other way, during
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this our infinite state of existence, as we now know. But in part
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so we are constrained to prophecy, that is, speak of the things of
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God. In part also we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness while
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we are in this house of clay. While I am a child, I
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must speak as a child. But I shall soon put away childish things,
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for when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall
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be done away, but to return the law of God. Speaking after the
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manner of men is a copy of the eternal mind, a transcript of the
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divine nature. Yea. It is the fairest offspring of the everlasting Father,
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the brightest efflux of his essential wisdom, the visible beauty of the most High.
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It is the delight and wonder of Cherabim and Seraphim and all the company
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of Heaven, and the glory and joy of every wise believer, every well
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instructed child, of God upon earth. Such is the nature sure of the
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ever blessed Law of God. I am in the third place to show the
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properties of it, and not all, for that would exceed the wisdom of
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an angel, but those only which are mentioned in the text. These are
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three. It is holy, just and good. And first the Law is
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holy. In this expression, the apostle does not appear to speak of its
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effects, but rather of its nature, as Saint James, speaking of the
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same thing under another name, says, the wisdom from above, which is
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no other than this law written in our heart is first pure James three seventeen
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Agne, chaste, spotless, eternally and essentially holy. And consequently, when
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it is transcribed into the life as well as the soul, it is,
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as the same apostle terms it James one twenty seven, Thrisichia cathara chai amiantus
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pure religion and undefiled, or the pure, clean, unpolluted worship of God.
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It is indeed, in the highest degree, pure, chaste, clean,
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holy, Otherwise it could not be the immediate offspring, and much less
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the express resemblance of God, who is essential holiness. It is pure from
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all sin, clean and unspotted, from any touch of evil. It is
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a chaste of virgin, incapable of any defilement of any mixture which is unclean
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or unholy. It has no fellowship with sin of any kind, For what
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communion hath light with darkness? As sin is in its very nature enmity to
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God, so his law is enmity to sin. And therefore it is that
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the Apostle rejects with such abhorrence that blasphemous supposition that the law of God is
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either sin itself or the cause of sin. God forbid that we should suppose
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it is the cause of sin, because it is the discoverer of it,
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because it detects the hidden things of darkness and drags them out into open day.
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It is true by this means, as the Apostle observes Romans seven thirteen,
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sin appears to be sin. All its disguises are torn away, and
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it appears in its native deformity. It is true likewise that sin, by
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the commandment becomes exceeding sinful, a being now committed against light and knowledge.
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Being stripped even of the poor plea of ignorance, it loses its excuse as
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well as disguise, and becomes far more odious, both to God and man.
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Yea. And it is true that sin worketh death by that which is
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good, which in itself is pure and holy. When it is dragged out
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to light, it rages the more. When it is restrained, it bursts
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out with greater violence. Thus the apostle speaking in the person of one who
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is convinced of sin, but not yet delivered from it. Sin taking occasion
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by the commandment, detecting and endeavoring to restrain it, disdain the restraint,
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and so much the more wrought in me all manner of concupiscience Romans seven eight,
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all manner of foolish and hurtful desire, which that commandment sought to restrain.
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Thus, when the commandment came sin revived Romans seventy nine, it fretted
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and raged the more. But this is no stain on the Commandment. Though
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it is abused, it cannot be defiled. This only proves that the heart
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of man is desperately wicked. But the law of God is wholly still,
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and it is secondly just. It renders to all their due. It prescribes
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exactly what is right, precisely what ought to be done, said or thought,
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Both with regard to the author of our being, with regard to ourselves,
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and with regard to every creature which He has made. It is adapted
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in all respects to the nature of things, of the whole universe and every
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individual. It is suited to all the circumstances of each and to all their
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mutual relations, whether such as have existed from the beginning, or such a
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just commenced in any following period. It is exactly agreeable to the fitnesses of
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things, whether essential or accidental. It clashes with none of these in any
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degree, nor is ever unconnected with them. If the word be taken in
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that sense, there is nothing arbitrary in the law of God, although still
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the whole in every part thereof, is totally dependent upon His will, so
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that Thy will be done. Is the supreme universal law, both in Earth
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and heaven. But is the will of God. The cause of his law
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is his will. The original of right and wrong. Is a thing therefore
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right because God wills it, or does he will it because it is right?
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I fear the celebrated question is more curious than useful, and perhaps in
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the manner it is usually treated of it does not so well consist with the
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regard that is due from a creature to the creator and governor of all things,
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it is hardly decent for man to call the Supreme God to give an
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account to him. Nevertheless, with awe innes reverence, we may speak a
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little. The Lord pardon us if we speak amiss. It seems then that
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the whole difficulty arises from considering God's will as distinct from God. Otherwise it
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vanishes away. For none can doubt but God is the cause of the law
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of God. But the will of God is God himself. It is God
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considered as willing. Thus or thus consequently, to say that the will of
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God, or that God himself is the cause of the law, is one
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and the same thing. Again, if the law, the immutable rule of
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right and wrong, depends upon the nature and fitnesses of things, and on
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their essential relations to each other, I do not say that eternal relations,
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because the eternal relation of things existing in time is little less than a contradiction.
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If I say this depends on the nature and relations of things, then
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it must depend on God or the will of God, because those thing themselves,
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with all their relations, are the works of His hands by his will.
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For his pleasure alone. They all are and were created. And yet
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it may be granted, which is probably all that a considerate person would contend
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for, that in every particular case God wills this or this. Suppose that
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men should honor their parents, because it is right, agreeable to the fitness
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of things to the relation wherein they stand. The law then is right and
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just concerning all things, and it is good as well as just this we
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may easily infer from the fountain whence it flowed from? What was this but
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the goodness of God? What but goodness alone inclined him to impart that divine
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copy of himself to the holy angels? To what else can we impute his
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bestowing upon man the same transcript of his own nature? And what but tender
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love constrained him afresh to manifest his will to fallen man, either to Adam
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or any of his seed, who, like him, were come short of
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the glory of God? Was it not mere love that moved him to publish
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his law after that the understandings of men were darkened, and to send his
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prophets to declare that law to the blind, foulest children of men. Doubtless
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his goodness it was which raised up Enoch and Noah to be creatures of righteousness,
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which caused Abraham his friend, and Isaac and Jacob to bear witness to
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his truth. It was his goodness alone which, when darkness had covered the
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earth in thick darkness, the people gave a written law to Moses, and
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through him to the nation whom he had chosen. Was Love, which explained
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these living oracles by David and all the prophets that followed, Until when the
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fullness of time was come, he sent his only begotten son, not to
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destroy the law, but to fulfill confirm every jot and tittel thereof till having
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wrote it in the hearts of all his children, and put all his enemies
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under his feet, he shall deliver up his mediatorial kingdom to the Father,
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that God may be all in all First Corinthians, fifteen twenty eight. And
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this law, which the Goodness of God gave it first and has preserved through
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all ages, is like the fountain, from whence it springs, full of
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goodness and benignity. It is mild and kind. It is, as the
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Psalmist expresses it, sweeter than honey in the honeycomb. It is winning and
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amiable. It includes whatsoever things are lovely or of good report, if there
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be any virtue, if there be any praise before God and his holy angels,
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they are all comprised in this wherein are hid all the treasures of the
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Divine wisdom and knowledge and love. And it is good in its effects as
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well as in its nature. As a tree is, so are its fruits.
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The fruits of the Law of God written in the heart are righteousness and
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peace and assurance forever. Or rather, the law itself is righteousness, filling
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the soul with the peace which passeth all understanding, and causing us to rejoice
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evermore in the testimony of a good conscience toward God. It is to so
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properly a pledge as in earnest of our inheritance, in being a part of
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the purchased possession. It is God made manifest in our flesh and bringing with
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him eternal life, assuring us by that pure and perfect love that we are
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sealed unto the day of redemption, that He will spare us as a man
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spareth his own son, that serveth him in that day when he maketh up
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his jewels, and that there remaineth for us a crown of glory, which
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fadeth not away. It remains only to show in the fourth and last place
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the uses of the law, And the first use of it, without question,
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is to convince the world of sin. This is indeed the peculiar work
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of the Holy Ghost, who can work it without any means at all,
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or by whatever means it pleaseth him, however insufficient in themselves or even improper
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to produce such an effect. And accordingly, some there are whose hearts have
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been broken in pieces in a moment, either in sickness or in health,
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without any visible cause or any outward means whatever. And others one in an
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age, have been awakened to a sense of the wrath of God abiding on
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them, by hearing that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.
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But it is the ordinary method of the Spirit of God to convict sinners by
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the law. It is this which, being set home on the conscience and
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generally breaketh the rocks and pieces. Is more especially this part of the Word
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of God, which is zonkite energies, quick and powerful, full of life
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and energy, and sharper than any two edged sword. And this in the
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hand of God and of those whom he hath sent, pierces through all the
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folds of a deceitful heart, and divides asunder even the soul and the spirit
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yea as it were the very joints and marrow. By this is the sinner
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discovered to himself. All his fig leaves are torn away, and he sees
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that he is wretched and poor, and miserable, and blind and naked.
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The Law flashes conviction on every side. He feels himself a mere sinner.
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He has nothing to pay, his mouth is stopped, and he stands guilty
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before God. To slay the sinner is then the first use of the law
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to destroy the life and strength wherein he trusts, and convince him that he
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is dead while he liveth not only under the sentence of death, but actually
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dead unto God, void of all spiritual life, dead in trespasses and sins.
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The second use of it is to bring him unto life, unto Christ,
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that he may live. It is true in performing both these offices it
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acts the part of a severe schoolmaster, drives us by force rather than draws
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us by love. And yet love is the spring of all. It is
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the spirit of love, which by this painful means, tears away our confidence
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in the flesh, which leaves us no broken reed whereon to trust, and
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so constrains the sinner, stripped of all, to cry out in the bitterness
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of his soul, or groan in the depth of his heart. I give
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up every plea beside. Lord, I am damned, but thou hast died.
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The third use of the law is to keep us alive, and is
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the grand means whereby the blessed Spirit prepares the believer for larger communications of the
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life of God. I am afraid this great and important truth is little understood,
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not only by the world, but even by many whom God hath taken
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out of the world, who are real children of God by faith. And
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many of these lay it down as an unquestioned truth, that when we come
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to Christ, we have done with the Law, and that in this sense
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Christ is the end of the law. To every one that believeth the end
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of the law, so He is for righteousness, for justification to every one
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that believeth. Herein the law is at an end. It justifies none,
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but only brings them to Christ, who is also in another respect the end
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or scope of the law point at which it continually aims. When it has
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brought us to him, it is yet a farther office, namely to keep
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us with him, for it is continually exciting all believers the more they see
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of its height and depth, and length and breadth, to exhort one another
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so much. The more close, ever, and closer let us cleave to
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His beloved embrace, expect his fullness to receive, and grace to answer.
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Grace. Allowing then that every believer has done with the law as it means,
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the Jewish ceremonial law, or the entire mosaic dispensation, for these Christ
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hath taken out of the way, Yea, allowing we have done with the
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moral law as a means of procuring our justification, for we are justified freely
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by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus. Yet in another sense,
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we have not done with this law, for it is still of unspeakable
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use, first in convincing us of the sin that yet remains both in our
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hearts and lives, and thereby keeping us close to Christ, that His blood
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may cleanse us every moment. Secondly, in deriving strength from our head into
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his living members, whereby he empowers them to do what his law commands.
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And thirdly, in confirming our hope of whatsoever it commands. And we have
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not yet attained of receiving grace upon grace to w we are in actual possession
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of the fullness of His promises. How clearly does this agree with the experience
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of every true believer? While he cries out, Oh, what love have
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I unto Thy law? All the day long is my study in it?
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He sees daily in that divine mirror more and more of his own sinfulness.
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He sees more and more clearly that he is still a sinner in all things,
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than neither his heart nor his ways are right before God, and that
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every moment sends him to Christ. This shows him the meaning of what is
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written. Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold and grave upon it holiness
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to the Lord, and it shall be upon Erin's forehead, the type of
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our great high Priest, that Erin may bear the iniquity of the holy things
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which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts. So far
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are our prayers or holy things from atoning for the rest of our sin,
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And it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before
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the Lord. Exodus twenty eight thirty six thirty eight. To explain this by
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a single instances, the Law says thou shalt not kill. And hereby as
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our Lord teaches, forbids not only outward acts, but every unkind word or
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thought. Now, the more I look into this perfect law, the more
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I feel how far I come short of it. And the more I feel
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this, the more I feel my need of His blood to atone for all
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my sin, and of His spirit to purify my heart and make me perfect
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and entire, lacking nothing. Therefore, I cannot spare the Law one moment,
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no more than I can spare Christ. Seeing I now want it as
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much to keep me to Christ as I ever wanted it to bring me to
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Him. Otherwise this evil heart of unbelief would immediately depart from the Living God.
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Indeed, each is continually sending me to the other, the Law to
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Christ and Christ to the Law. On the one hand, the height and
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depth of the Law constrain me to fly to the love of God in Christ.
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On the other, the love of God in Christ endears the Law to
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me above gold or precious stones, seeing I know every part of it is
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a gracious promise which my Lord will fulfill in its seas. Who art thou
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then, o man that judgest the law, and speakest evil of the law,
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that rankest it with sin, satan and death, and sendest them all
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to hell together? The apostle James esteemed judging or speaking evil of the law
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so enormous a piece of wickedness that he knew not how to aggravate the guilt
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of judging our brethren more than by showing it included. This. So now
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says he, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge,
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a judge of that which God hath ordained to judge thee. So thou
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hast set up thyself in the judgment seat of Christ and cast down the rule,
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whereby he will judge the world. Oh, take knowledge what advantage Satan
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hath gained over thee, And for the time to come, never think or
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speak lightly of much less. Dress up as a scarecrow, this blessed instrument
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of the grace of God. Yea love and value it for the sake of
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Him from whom it came, and of Him to whom it leads. Let
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it be thy glory and joy next to the cross of Christ. Declare its
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praise, and make it honorable before all men. And if thou art thoroughly
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convinced that it is the offspring of God, that is the copy of all
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His inimitable perfections, and that it is the Holy in just and good.
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But especially to them that believe that, instead of casting it away is a
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polluted thing, see that thou cleave to it more and more. Never let
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the law of mercy and truth, of love to God and man of lowliness,
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meekness and purity forsake thee. Bind it about thy neck, rid it
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on the table of thy heart. Keep close to the Law. If thou
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wilt keep close to Christ, hold it fast, Let it not go.
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Let dis continually lead thee to the atoning blood. Continually confirm thy hope till
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all the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in THEE. When thou art filled
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with all the fullness of God. And if thy Lord hath already fulfilled his
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word, if he hath already written his law in thy heart, then stand
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fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made free. Thou art not only made
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free from the Jewish ceremonies, from the guilt of sin, and the fear
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of hell. These are so far from being the whole that they are the
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least and lowest part of Christian liberty. But what is infinitely more from the
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power of sin, from serving the devil, from offending God. O stand
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fast in his liberty, in comparison of which all the rest is not even
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worthy to be named. Stand fast and loving God with all thy heart,
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and serving Him with all thy strength. This is perfect freedom. Thus to
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keep His law and to walk in all his commandments blameless. Be not entangled
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again with the yoke of bondage. I do not mean of Jewish bondage,
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nor yet of bondage to the fear of hell. These I trust are far
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from thee But beware of being entangled again with the yoke of sin, of
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any inward outward transgression of the law. Poor sin far more than death or
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hell, a poor sin itself, far more than the punishment of it.
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Beware of the bondage of pride, of desire, of anger, of every
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evil temper or word or work. Look unto Jesus, and in order there
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too, look more and more into the perfect law. The law of liberty,
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and continue therein. So shalt thou daily grow in grace and in the
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knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. End of Section thirty four