Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 34 - The Original, Nature, Property, and Use of the Law - Sermons on Several Occasions

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34 - The Original, Nature, Property, and Use of the Law - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Sermon thirty four, the original nature, property, and use of
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  Speaker 1: the law. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment
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  Speaker 1: wholly and just and good Romans seven twelve. Perhaps there
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  Speaker 1: are few subjects within the whole compass of religion so
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  Speaker 1: little understood as this. The reader of this epistle is
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  Speaker 1: usually told by the law Saint Paul means the Jewish law,
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  Speaker 1: and so, apprehending himself to have no concern therewith, passes
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  Speaker 1: on without farther thought about it. Indeed, some are not
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  Speaker 1: satisfied with this account, But observing the epistle is directed
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  Speaker 1: to the Romans, thence infer that the apostle in the
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  Speaker 1: beginning of this chapter alludes to the old Roman law.
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  Speaker 1: But as they have no more concern with this than
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  Speaker 1: with the ceremonial law of Moses, so they spend not
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  Speaker 1: much thought on what they suppose is occasionally mentioned barely
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  Speaker 1: to illustrate another thing. But a careful observer of the
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  Speaker 1: Apostle's discourse will not be content with thesis light explications
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  Speaker 1: of it, and the more he weighs the words, the
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  Speaker 1: more convinced he will be that Saint Paul, by the
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  Speaker 1: law mentioned in this chapter, does not mean either the
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  Speaker 1: ancient law of Rome, or the ceremonial law of Moses.
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  Speaker 1: This will clearly appear to all who attentively consider the
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  Speaker 1: tenor of his discourse. He begins the chapter, Know ye not, brethren,
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  Speaker 1: For I speak to them that know the law, to
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  Speaker 1: them who have been instructed therein from their youth, that
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  Speaker 1: the law hath dominion over a man as long as
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  Speaker 1: he liveth. What the law of Rome only, or the
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  Speaker 1: ceremonial law, No, surely, but the moral law. Four. To
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  Speaker 1: give a plain instance, the woman which hath an husband,
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  Speaker 1: is bound by the moral law to her husband so
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  Speaker 1: long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead,
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  Speaker 1: she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then,
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  Speaker 1: if while her husband liveth she be married to another man,
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  Speaker 1: she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband
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  Speaker 1: be dead, she is free from that law, so that
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  Speaker 1: she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
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  Speaker 1: From this particular instance, the apostle proceeds to draw that
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  Speaker 1: general conclusion. Wherefore, my brethren, by a plain parity of reason,
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  Speaker 1: ye also are become dead to the law. The whole
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  Speaker 1: mosaic institution, by the body of Christ offered for you,
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  Speaker 1: and bringing you under a new dispensation, that ye should,
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  Speaker 1: without any blame be married to another, even to him
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  Speaker 1: who is raised from the dead, and hath thereby given
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  Speaker 1: proof of his authority to make the change, that we
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  Speaker 1: should bring forth fruit unto God. And this we can
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  Speaker 1: do now, whereas before we could not, when we were
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  Speaker 1: in the flesh, under the power of the flesh, that is,
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  Speaker 1: of corrupt nature, which was necessarily the case till we
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  Speaker 1: knew the power of Christ's resurrection. The motions of sins
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  Speaker 1: which were by the law, which were shown and inflamed
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  Speaker 1: by the Mosaic law not conquered, did work in our
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  Speaker 1: members broke out of the various ways to bring forth
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  Speaker 1: fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law,
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  Speaker 1: from that whole moral as well as ceremonial economy, that
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  Speaker 1: being dead, whereby we were held that entire institution, being
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  Speaker 1: now as it were, dead and having no more authority
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  Speaker 1: over us than the husband when dead, hath over his wife.
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  Speaker 1: That we should serve him who died for us and
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  Speaker 1: rose again a newness of spirit, in a new spiritual dispensation,
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  Speaker 1: and not in the oldness of the letter, with a
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  Speaker 1: bare outward service. According to the Letter of the Mosaic Institution,
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  Speaker 1: Romans seven one through six. The Apostle having gone thus
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  Speaker 1: far in proving that the Christian had set aside the
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  Speaker 1: Jewish dispensation, and that the moral law itself, though it
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  Speaker 1: could never pass away, yet stood on a different foundation
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  Speaker 1: from what it did before, now stops to propose and
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  Speaker 1: answer an objection. What shall we say, then, is the
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  Speaker 1: law sin? So some might infer from a misapprehension of
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  Speaker 1: these words the motion of sins which were by the
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  Speaker 1: law law God forbid saith. The Apostle that we should
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  Speaker 1: say so, nay, the law is an irreconcilable enemy to
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  Speaker 1: sin by the law. For I had not known lust, evil,
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  Speaker 1: desire to be sin, except the Law had said, thou
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  Speaker 1: shalt not covet Romans seven seven. After opening this farther
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  Speaker 1: in the four following verses, he subjoins this general conclusion
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  Speaker 1: with regard more especially to the moral law from which
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  Speaker 1: the preceding instance was taken. Wherefore, the law is holy
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  Speaker 1: and the commandment hollly and just and good. In order
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  Speaker 1: to explain and enforce these deep words, so little regarded,
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  Speaker 1: because so little understood, I shall endeavor to show first
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  Speaker 1: the original of this law, secondly the nature thereof, thirdly
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  Speaker 1: the properties that is holy and just and good, and
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  Speaker 1: fourthly the uses of it. I shall first endeavor to
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  Speaker 1: show the original of the moral law, often called the
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  Speaker 1: law by way of eminence. Now this is not as
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  Speaker 1: some may have possibly imagined, of so late an institution
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  Speaker 1: as the time of Moses. Noah declared it to men
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  Speaker 1: long before that time, and Enoch before him. But we
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  Speaker 1: may trace its original hire still even beyond the foundation
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  Speaker 1: of the world, to that period, unknown indeed to men,
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  Speaker 1: but doubtless enrolled in the annals of eternity. When the
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  Speaker 1: morning stars first sang together, being newly called into existence,
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  Speaker 1: it pleased the Great Creator to make these his first
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  Speaker 1: born sons intelligent beings, that they might know him that
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  Speaker 1: created them. For this end, he endued them with understanding
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  Speaker 1: to discern truth from falsehood, good from evil, and as
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  Speaker 1: a necessary result of this, with liberty, a capacity of
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  Speaker 1: choosing the one and refusing the other. By this, they
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  Speaker 1: were likewise enabled to offer him a free and willing service,
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  Speaker 1: a service rewardable in itself, as well as most acceptable
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  Speaker 1: to their gracious master, to employ all the faculties which
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  Speaker 1: he had given them particularly their understanding and liberty. He
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  Speaker 1: gave the law a complete model of all truth, so
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  Speaker 1: far as is intelligible to a finite being, and of
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  Speaker 1: all good so far as angelic minds capable of embracing it.
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  Speaker 1: It was also the design of their beneficent governor herein
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  Speaker 1: to make way for a continual increase of their happiness,
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  Speaker 1: seeing every instance of obedience to that law would both
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  Speaker 1: add to the perfection of their nature and entitle them
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  Speaker 1: to a higher reward, which the righteous judge would give
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  Speaker 1: in its season. In like manner, when God in his
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  Speaker 1: appointed time had created a new order of intelligent beings,
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  Speaker 1: when he raised a man from the dust of the earth,
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  Speaker 1: breathed into him the breath of life, and caused him
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  Speaker 1: to become a living soul, endued with power to choose
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  Speaker 1: good or evil, he gave to this free, intelligent creature
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  Speaker 1: the same law as to his first born children. Not
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  Speaker 1: wrote indeed upon tables of stone or any corruptible substance,
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  Speaker 1: but engraven on his heart by the finger of God,
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  Speaker 1: wrote in the inmost spirit, both of men and of angels,
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  Speaker 1: to the intent might never be far off, never hard
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  Speaker 1: to be understood, but always at hand and always shining
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  Speaker 1: with clear light, even as the sun in the midst
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  Speaker 1: of heaven. Such was the original of the law of God.
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  Speaker 1: With regard to man, it was coevil with his nature.
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  Speaker 1: Both regard to the elder sons of God, it shone
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  Speaker 1: in its full splendor where over the mountains were brought forth,
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  Speaker 1: or the earth and the round world were made. But
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  Speaker 1: it was not long before man rebelled against God, and
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  Speaker 1: by breaking this glorious law while nigh effaced it out
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  Speaker 1: of his heart, the eyes of his understanding being darkened
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  Speaker 1: in the same measure as his soul was alienated from
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  Speaker 1: the life of God. And yet God did not despise
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  Speaker 1: the work of his own hands. But being reconciled to
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  Speaker 1: man through the sun of his love, he in some
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  Speaker 1: measure reinscribed the law on the heart of his dark,
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  Speaker 1: sinful creature. He again showed thee o man what is good,
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  Speaker 1: although not as in the beginning, even to do justly,
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  Speaker 1: and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Thy God.
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  Speaker 1: And this he showed not only to our first parents,
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  Speaker 1: but likewise to all their posterity. By that true light
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  Speaker 1: which enlightens every man that cometh into the world. But
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  Speaker 1: notwithstanding this light, all flesh had, in process of time
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  Speaker 1: corrupted their way before him, till he chose out of
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  Speaker 1: mankind a peculiar people, to whom he gave him more
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  Speaker 1: perfect knowledge of his law, and the heads of this
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  Speaker 1: because they were slow of understanding, he wrote unto tables
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  Speaker 1: of stone, which he commanded the fathers to teach their
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  Speaker 1: children through all succeeding generations. And thus it is that
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  Speaker 1: the law of God is now made known to them
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  Speaker 1: that know not God. They hear with the hearing of
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  Speaker 1: the ear, the things that were written aforetime for our instruction.
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  Speaker 1: But this does not suffice. They cannot, by this means
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  Speaker 1: comprehend the height and depth, and length and breadth. Thereof
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  Speaker 1: God alone can reveal this by his spirit. And so
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  Speaker 1: he does to all that truly believe. In consequence of
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  Speaker 1: that gracious promise made to all the Israel of God.
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  Speaker 1: Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
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  Speaker 1: make a new covenant with the House of Israel. And
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  Speaker 1: this shall be the covenant that I will make. I
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  Speaker 1: will put my law in their inward parts and write
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  Speaker 1: it in their hearts, and I will be their God,
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  Speaker 1: and they shall be my people. Jeremiah thirty one thirty one,
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  Speaker 1: and continued the nature of that law which was originally
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  Speaker 1: given to angels in heaven and man in paradise, in
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  Speaker 1: which God has so mercifully promised to write afresh in
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  Speaker 1: the hearts of all true believers. Was the second thing
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  Speaker 1: I proposed to show, in order to which I would
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  Speaker 1: first observe that, although the law and the commandment are
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  Speaker 1: sometimes differently taken, the commandment meaning but a part of
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  Speaker 1: the law, yet in the text they are used as
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  Speaker 1: equivalent terms, implying one and the same thing. But we
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  Speaker 1: cannot understand here either by one or the other. The
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  Speaker 1: ceremonial law. It is not the ceremonial law, whereof the
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  Speaker 1: apostle says, in the words above recited, I had not
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  Speaker 1: known sin. But by the law this is too plain
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  Speaker 1: to need a proof. Neither is it the ceremonial law
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  Speaker 1: which Saith in the words immediately subjoined, thou shalt not covet.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore the ceremonial law has no place in the present question.
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  Speaker 1: Neither can we understand by the law mentioned in the
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  Speaker 1: text the mosaic dispensation. It is true the word is
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  Speaker 1: sometimes so understood as when the Apostle says, speaking to
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  Speaker 1: the Galatians Galatians three seventeen. The covenant that was confirmed before,
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  Speaker 1: namely with Abraham, the Father of the faithful. The law,
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  Speaker 1: that is, the Mosaic dispensation, which was four hundred and
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  Speaker 1: thirty years after, cannot dissenn all. But it cannot be
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  Speaker 1: understood in a text. For the Apostle never bestows so
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  Speaker 1: high commendations as these upon that imperfect and shadowy dispensation.
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  Speaker 1: He nowhere affirms the Mosaic to be a spiritual law,
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  Speaker 1: or that it is wholly unjust and good. Neither is
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  Speaker 1: it true true that God will write that law in
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  Speaker 1: the hearts of those whose iniquities he remembers. No more,
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  Speaker 1: it remains that the law, eminently so termed, is no
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  Speaker 1: other than the moral law. Now, this law is an
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  Speaker 1: incorruptible picture of the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity.
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  Speaker 1: It is he whom in his essence no man hath
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  Speaker 1: seen or can see, made visible to men and angels.
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  Speaker 1: It is the face of God, unveiled, God, manifested to
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  Speaker 1: his creatures as they are able to bear it, manifested
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  Speaker 1: to give and not to destroy life, that they may
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  Speaker 1: see God and live. It is the heart of God
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  Speaker 1: disclosed to man. YEA, in some sense we may apply
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  Speaker 1: to this law what the apostle says of his son.
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  Speaker 1: It is apalgosma des outoxis chai character tes hippostsos ato,
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  Speaker 1: the streaming forth or outbeaming of his glory, the express
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  Speaker 1: image of his person. If Virtue, said the ancient Heathen,
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  Speaker 1: could dosume such a shape as this, we could behold
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  Speaker 1: her with our eyes. What wonderful love would she excite
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  Speaker 1: in us? If Virtue could do this, it is done already.
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  Speaker 1: The law of God is all virtues in one, in
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  Speaker 1: such a shape as to be beheld with open face
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  Speaker 1: by all those whose eyes God hath enlightened. What is
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  Speaker 1: the law but divine virtue and wisdom assuming a visible form.
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  Speaker 1: What is it but the original ideas of truth and good,
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  Speaker 1: which were lodged in the uncreated mind from eternity, now
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  Speaker 1: drawn forth and cloathed with such a vehicle as to
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  Speaker 1: appear even to human understanding. If we survey the law
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  Speaker 1: of God in another point of view, it is supreme,
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  Speaker 1: unchangeable reason. It is unalterable. Rectitude is the everlasting fitness
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  Speaker 1: of all things that are, or ever were created. I
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  Speaker 1: am sensible. What a shortness and even impropriety there is
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  Speaker 1: in these and all other human expressions. When we endeavor,
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  Speaker 1: by these faint pictures to shadow out the deep things
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  Speaker 1: of God, nevertheles less, we have no better, indeed no
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  Speaker 1: other way, during this our infinite state of existence, as
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  Speaker 1: we now know. But in part so we are constrained
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  Speaker 1: to prophecy, that is, speak of the things of God.
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  Speaker 1: In part also we cannot order our speech by reason
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  Speaker 1: of darkness while we are in this house of clay.
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  Speaker 1: While I am a child, I must speak as a child.
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  Speaker 1: But I shall soon put away childish things, for when
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  Speaker 1: that which is perfect is come, that which is in
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  Speaker 1: part shall be done away, but to return the law
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  Speaker 1: of God. Speaking after the manner of men is a
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  Speaker 1: copy of the eternal mind, a transcript of the divine nature. Yea.
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  Speaker 1: It is the fairest offspring of the everlasting Father, the
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  Speaker 1: brightest efflux of his essential wisdom, the visible beauty of
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  Speaker 1: the most High. It is the delight and wonder of
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  Speaker 1: Cherabim and Seraphim and all the company of Heaven, and
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  Speaker 1: the glory and joy of every wise believer, every well
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  Speaker 1: instructed child, of God upon earth. Such is the nature
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  Speaker 1: sure of the ever blessed Law of God. I am
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  Speaker 1: in the third place to show the properties of it,
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  Speaker 1: and not all, for that would exceed the wisdom of
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  Speaker 1: an angel, but those only which are mentioned in the text.
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  Speaker 1: These are three. It is holy, just and good. And
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  Speaker 1: first the Law is holy. In this expression, the apostle
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  Speaker 1: does not appear to speak of its effects, but rather
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  Speaker 1: of its nature, as Saint James, speaking of the same
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  Speaker 1: thing under another name, says, the wisdom from above, which
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  Speaker 1: is no other than this law written in our heart
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  Speaker 1: is first pure James three seventeen Agne, chaste, spotless, eternally
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  Speaker 1: and essentially holy. And consequently, when it is transcribed into
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  Speaker 1: the life as well as the soul, it is, as
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  Speaker 1: the same apostle terms it James one twenty seven, Thrisichia
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  Speaker 1: cathara chai amiantus pure religion and undefiled, or the pure, clean,
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  Speaker 1: unpolluted worship of God. It is indeed, in the highest degree, pure, chaste, clean, holy,
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  Speaker 1: Otherwise it could not be the immediate offspring, and much
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  Speaker 1: less the express resemblance of God, who is essential holiness.
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  Speaker 1: It is pure from all sin, clean and unspotted, from
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  Speaker 1: any touch of evil. It is a chaste of virgin,
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  Speaker 1: incapable of any defilement of any mixture which is unclean
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  Speaker 1: or unholy. It has no fellowship with sin of any kind,
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  Speaker 1: For what communion hath light with darkness? As sin is
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  Speaker 1: in its very nature enmity to God, so his law
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  Speaker 1: is enmity to sin. And therefore it is that the
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  Speaker 1: Apostle rejects with such abhorrence that blasphemous supposition that the
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  Speaker 1: law of God is either sin itself or the cause
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  Speaker 1: of sin. God forbid that we should suppose it is
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  Speaker 1: the cause of sin, because it is the discoverer of it,
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  Speaker 1: because it detects the hidden things of darkness and drags
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  Speaker 1: them out into open day. It is true by this means,
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  Speaker 1: as the Apostle observes Romans seven thirteen, sin appears to
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  Speaker 1: be sin. All its disguises are torn away, and it
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  Speaker 1: appears in its native deformity. It is true likewise that sin,
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  Speaker 1: by the commandment becomes exceeding sinful, a being now committed
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  Speaker 1: against light and knowledge. Being stripped even of the poor
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  Speaker 1: plea of ignorance, it loses its excuse as well as disguise,
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  Speaker 1: and becomes far more odious, both to God and man. Yea.
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  Speaker 1: And it is true that sin worketh death by that
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  Speaker 1: which is good, which in itself is pure and holy.
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  Speaker 1: When it is dragged out to light, it rages the more.
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  Speaker 1: When it is restrained, it bursts out with greater violence.
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  Speaker 1: Thus the apostle speaking in the person of one who
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  Speaker 1: is convinced of sin, but not yet delivered from it.
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  Speaker 1: Sin taking occasion by the commandment, detecting and endeavoring to
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  Speaker 1: restrain it, disdain the restraint, and so much the more
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  Speaker 1: wrought in me all manner of concupiscience Romans seven eight,
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  Speaker 1: all manner of foolish and hurtful desire, which that commandment
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  Speaker 1: sought to restrain. Thus, when the commandment came sin revived
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  Speaker 1: Romans seventy nine, it fretted and raged the more. But
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  Speaker 1: this is no stain on the Commandment. Though it is abused,
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  Speaker 1: it cannot be defiled. This only proves that the heart
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  Speaker 1: of man is desperately wicked. But the law of God
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  Speaker 1: is wholly still, and it is secondly just. It renders
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  Speaker 1: to all their due. It prescribes exactly what is right,
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  Speaker 1: precisely what ought to be done, said or thought, Both
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  Speaker 1: with regard to the author of our being, with regard
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  Speaker 1: to ourselves, and with regard to every creature which He
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  Speaker 1: has made. It is adapted in all respects to the
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  Speaker 1: nature of things, of the whole universe and every individual.
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  Speaker 1: It is suited to all the circumstances of each and
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  Speaker 1: to all their mutual relations, whether such as have existed
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  Speaker 1: from the beginning, or such a just commenced in any
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  Speaker 1: following period. It is exactly agreeable to the fitnesses of things,
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  Speaker 1: whether essential or accidental. It clashes with none of these
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  Speaker 1: in any degree, nor is ever unconnected with them. If
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  Speaker 1: the word be taken in that sense, there is nothing
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  Speaker 1: arbitrary in the law of God, although still the whole
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  Speaker 1: in every part thereof, is totally dependent upon His will,
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  Speaker 1: so that Thy will be done. Is the supreme universal law,
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  Speaker 1: both in Earth and heaven. But is the will of God.
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  Speaker 1: The cause of his law is his will. The original
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  Speaker 1: of right and wrong. Is a thing therefore right because
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  Speaker 1: God wills it, or does he will it because it
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  Speaker 1: is right? I fear the celebrated question is more curious
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  Speaker 1: than useful, and perhaps in the manner it is usually
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  Speaker 1: treated of it does not so well consist with the
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  Speaker 1: regard that is due from a creature to the creator
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  Speaker 1: and governor of all things, it is hardly decent for
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  Speaker 1: man to call the Supreme God to give an account
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  Speaker 1: to him. Nevertheless, with awe innes reverence, we may speak
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  Speaker 1: a little. The Lord pardon us if we speak amiss.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: It seems then that the whole difficulty arises from considering
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: God's will as distinct from God. Otherwise it vanishes away.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: For none can doubt but God is the cause of
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: the law of God. But the will of God is
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: God himself. It is God considered as willing. Thus or
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: thus consequently, to say that the will of God, or
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: that God himself is the cause of the law, is
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: one and the same thing. Again, if the law, the
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: immutable rule of right and wrong, depends upon the nature
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: and fitnesses of things, and on their essential relations to
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: each other, I do not say that eternal relations, because
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: the eternal relation of things existing in time is little
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: less than a contradiction. If I say this depends on
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the nature and relations of things, then it must depend
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: on God or the will of God, because those thing themselves,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: with all their relations, are the works of His hands
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: by his will. For his pleasure alone. They all are
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: and were created. And yet it may be granted, which
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: is probably all that a considerate person would contend for,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: that in every particular case God wills this or this.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Suppose that men should honor their parents, because it is right,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: agreeable to the fitness of things to the relation wherein
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: they stand. The law then is right and just concerning
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: all things, and it is good as well as just
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: this we may easily infer from the fountain whence it
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: flowed from? What was this but the goodness of God?
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: What but goodness alone inclined him to impart that divine
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: copy of himself to the holy angels? To what else
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: can we impute his bestowing upon man the same transcript
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: of his own nature? And what but tender love constrained
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: him afresh to manifest his will to fallen man, either
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: to Adam or any of his seed, who, like him,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: were come short of the glory of God? Was it
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: not mere love that moved him to publish his law
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: after that the understandings of men were darkened, and to
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: send his prophets to declare that law to the blind,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: foulest children of men. Doubtless his goodness it was which
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: raised up Enoch and Noah to be creatures of righteousness,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: which caused Abraham his friend, and Isaac and Jacob to
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: bear witness to his truth. It was his goodness alone which,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: when darkness had covered the earth in thick darkness, the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: people gave a written law to Moses, and through him
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: to the nation whom he had chosen. Was Love, which
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: explained these living oracles by David and all the prophets
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: that followed, Until when the fullness of time was come,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: he sent his only begotten son, not to destroy the law,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: but to fulfill confirm every jot and tittel thereof till
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: having wrote it in the hearts of all his children,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: and put all his enemies under his feet, he shall
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: deliver up his mediatorial kingdom to the Father, that God
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: may be all in all First Corinthians, fifteen twenty eight.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: And this law, which the Goodness of God gave it
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: first and has preserved through all ages, is like the fountain,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: from whence it springs, full of goodness and benignity. It
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: is mild and kind. It is, as the Psalmist expresses it,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: sweeter than honey in the honeycomb. It is winning and amiable.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: It includes whatsoever things are lovely or of good report,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: if there be any virtue, if there be any praise
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: before God and his holy angels, they are all comprised
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: in this wherein are hid all the treasures of the
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Divine wisdom and knowledge and love. And it is good
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: in its effects as well as in its nature. As
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: a tree is, so are its fruits. The fruits of
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the Law of God written in the heart are righteousness
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and peace and assurance forever. Or rather, the law itself
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: is righteousness, filling the soul with the peace which passeth
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: all understanding, and causing us to rejoice evermore in the
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: testimony of a good conscience toward God. It is to
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: so properly a pledge as in earnest of our inheritance,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: in being a part of the purchased possession. It is
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: God made manifest in our flesh and bringing with him
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: eternal life, assuring us by that pure and perfect love
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: that we are sealed unto the day of redemption, that
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: He will spare us as a man spareth his own son,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that serveth him in that day when he maketh up
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: his jewels, and that there remaineth for us a crown
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: of glory, which fadeth not away. It remains only to
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: show in the fourth and last place the uses of
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the law, And the first use of it, without question,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: is to convince the world of sin. This is indeed
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the peculiar work of the Holy Ghost, who can work
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: it without any means at all, or by whatever means
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: it pleaseth him, however insufficient in themselves or even improper
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: to produce such an effect. And accordingly, some there are
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: whose hearts have been broken in pieces in a moment,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: either in sickness or in health, without any visible cause
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: or any outward means whatever. And others one in an age,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: have been awakened to a sense of the wrath of
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: God abiding on them, by hearing that God was in
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Christ reconciling the world unto himself. But it is the
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: ordinary method of the Spirit of God to convict sinners
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: by the law. It is this which, being set home
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: on the conscience and generally breaketh the rocks and pieces.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Is more especially this part of the Word of God,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: which is zonkite energies, quick and powerful, full of life
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: and energy, and sharper than any two edged sword. And
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: this in the hand of God and of those whom
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: he hath sent, pierces through all the folds of a
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: deceitful heart, and divides asunder even the soul and the
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: spirit yea as it were the very joints and marrow.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: By this is the sinner discovered to himself. All his
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: fig leaves are torn away, and he sees that he
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: is wretched and poor, and miserable, and blind and naked.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: The Law flashes conviction on every side. He feels himself
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: a mere sinner. He has nothing to pay, his mouth
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: is stopped, and he stands guilty before God. To slay
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the sinner is then the first use of the law
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: to destroy the life and strength wherein he trusts, and
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: convince him that he is dead while he liveth not
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: only under the sentence of death, but actually dead unto God,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: void of all spiritual life, dead in trespasses and sins.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: The second use of it is to bring him unto life,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: unto Christ, that he may live. It is true in
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: performing both these offices it acts the part of a
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: severe schoolmaster, drives us by force rather than draws us
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: by love. And yet love is the spring of all.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: It is the spirit of love, which by this painful means,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: tears away our confidence in the flesh, which leaves us
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: no broken reed whereon to trust, and so constrains the sinner,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: stripped of all, to cry out in the bitterness of
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: his soul, or groan in the depth of his heart.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: I give up every plea beside. Lord, I am damned,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: but thou hast died. The third use of the law
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: is to keep us alive, and is the grand means
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: whereby the blessed Spirit prepares the believer for larger communications
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of the life of God. I am afraid this great
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: and important truth is little understood, not only by the world,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: but even by many whom God hath taken out of
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the world, who are real children of God by faith.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: And many of these lay it down as an unquestioned truth,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: that when we come to Christ, we have done with
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the Law, and that in this sense Christ is the
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: end of the law. To every one that believeth the
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: end of the law, so He is for righteousness, for
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: justification to every one that believeth. Herein the law is
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: at an end. It justifies none, but only brings them
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: to Christ, who is also in another respect the end
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: or scope of the law point at which it continually aims.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: When it has brought us to him, it is yet
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: a farther office, namely to keep us with him, for
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: it is continually exciting all believers the more they see
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: of its height and depth, and length and breadth, to
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: exhort one another so much. The more close, ever, and
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: closer let us cleave to His beloved embrace, expect his
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: fullness to receive, and grace to answer. Grace. Allowing then
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: that every believer has done with the law as it means,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the Jewish ceremonial law, or the entire mosaic dispensation, for
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: these Christ hath taken out of the way, Yea, allowing
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: we have done with the moral law as a means
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: of procuring our justification, for we are justified freely by
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus. Yet
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: in another sense, we have not done with this law,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: for it is still of unspeakable use, first in convincing
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: us of the sin that yet remains both in our
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: hearts and lives, and thereby keeping us close to Christ,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: that His blood may cleanse us every moment. Secondly, in
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: deriving strength from our head into his living members, whereby
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: he empowers them to do what his law commands. And thirdly,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: in confirming our hope of whatsoever it commands. And we
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: have not yet attained of receiving grace upon grace to
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: w we are in actual possession of the fullness of
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: His promises. How clearly does this agree with the experience
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: of every true believer? While he cries out, Oh, what
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: love have I unto Thy law? All the day long
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: is my study in it? He sees daily in that
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: divine mirror more and more of his own sinfulness. He
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: sees more and more clearly that he is still a
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: sinner in all things, than neither his heart nor his
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: ways are right before God, and that every moment sends
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: him to Christ. This shows him the meaning of what
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: is written. Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: and grave upon it holiness to the Lord, and it
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: shall be upon Erin's forehead, the type of our great
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: high Priest, that Erin may bear the iniquity of the
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: all their holy gifts. So far are our prayers or
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: holy things from atoning for the rest of our sin,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: And it shall be always upon his forehead, that they
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: may be accepted before the Lord. Exodus twenty eight thirty
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: six thirty eight. To explain this by a single instances,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the Law says thou shalt not kill. And hereby as
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: our Lord teaches, forbids not only outward acts, but every
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: unkind word or thought. Now, the more I look into
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: this perfect law, the more I feel how far I
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: come short of it. And the more I feel this,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: the more I feel my need of His blood to
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: atone for all my sin, and of His spirit to
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: purify my heart and make me perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Therefore,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: I cannot spare the Law one moment, no more than
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: I can spare Christ. Seeing I now want it as
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: much to keep me to Christ as I ever wanted
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: it to bring me to Him. Otherwise this evil heart
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: of unbelief would immediately depart from the Living God. Indeed,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: each is continually sending me to the other, the Law
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: to Christ and Christ to the Law. On the one hand,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: the height and depth of the Law constrain me to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: fly to the love of God in Christ. On the other,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: the love of God in Christ endears the Law to
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: me above gold or precious stones, seeing I know every
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: part of it is a gracious promise which my Lord
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: will fulfill in its seas. Who art thou then, o
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: man that judgest the law, and speakest evil of the law,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: that rankest it with sin, satan and death, and sendest
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: them all to hell together? The apostle James esteemed judging
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: or speaking evil of the law so enormous a piece
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: of wickedness that he knew not how to aggravate the
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: guilt of judging our brethren more than by showing it included. This.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: So now says he, thou art not a doer of
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: the law, but a judge, a judge of that which
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: God hath ordained to judge thee. So thou hast set
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: up thyself in the judgment seat of Christ and cast
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: down the rule, whereby he will judge the world. Oh,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: take knowledge what advantage Satan hath gained over thee, And
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: for the time to come, never think or speak lightly
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: of much less. Dress up as a scarecrow, this blessed
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: instrument of the grace of God. Yea love and value
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: it for the sake of Him from whom it came,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: and of Him to whom it leads. Let it be
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: thy glory and joy next to the cross of Christ.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Declare its praise, and make it honorable before all men.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: And if thou art thoroughly convinced that it is the
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: offspring of God, that is the copy of all His
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: inimitable perfections, and that it is the Holy in just
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: and good. But especially to them that believe that, instead
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: of casting it away is a polluted thing, see that
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: thou cleave to it more and more. Never let the
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: law of mercy and truth, of love to God and
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: man of lowliness, meekness and purity forsake thee. Bind it
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: about thy neck, rid it on the table of thy heart.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Keep close to the Law. If thou wilt keep close
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: to Christ, hold it fast, Let it not go. Let
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: dis continually lead thee to the atoning blood. Continually confirm
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: thy hope till all the righteousness of the Law is
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: fulfilled in THEE. When thou art filled with all the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: fullness of God. And if thy Lord hath already fulfilled
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: his word, if he hath already written his law in
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: thy heart, then stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: hath made free. Thou art not only made free from
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: the Jewish ceremonies, from the guilt of sin, and the
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: fear of hell. These are so far from being the
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: whole that they are the least and lowest part of
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Christian liberty. But what is infinitely more from the power
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: of sin, from serving the devil, from offending God. O
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: stand fast in his liberty, in comparison of which all
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: the rest is not even worthy to be named. Stand
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: fast and loving God with all thy heart, and serving
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: Him with all thy strength. This is perfect freedom. Thus
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: to keep His law and to walk in all his
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: commandments blameless. Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: I do not mean of Jewish bondage, nor yet of
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: bondage to the fear of hell. These I trust are
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: far from thee But beware of being entangled again with
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: the yoke of sin, of any inward outward transgression of
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the law. Poor sin far more than death or hell,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: a poor sin itself, far more than the punishment of it.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Beware of the bondage of pride, of desire, of anger,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: of every evil temper or word or work. Look unto Jesus,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: and in order there too, look more and more into
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: the perfect law. The law of liberty, and continue therein.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: So shalt thou daily grow in grace and in the
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. End of Section thirty
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: four