in every word and work. Swerve not, in one motion of body or soul, from him, thy mark, and the prize of thy high calling. And let all that is in thee praise his holy name, every power and faculty of thy soul, in every kind, in every degree, and at every moment of thy existence. 'This do, and thou shalt live;' thy light shall shine, thy love shall flame more and more, till thou art received up into the house of God in the heaven, to reign with him for ever and ever."—Sermons, vol. i, p. 54.

THE first use of the

SECTION IV.

Its Uses.

law, without question, is, to convince the world of sin. This is indeed the peculiar work of the Holy Ghost; who can work it without any means at all, or by whatever means it pleaseth him, however insufficient in themselves, or even improper to produce such an effect. And accordingly some there are whose hearts have been broken in pieces in a moment, either in sickness or in health, without any visible cause, or any outward means whatever; and others (one in an age) have been awakened to a sense of the "wrath of God abiding on them" by hearing that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." But it is the ordinary method of the Spirit of God to convict sinners by the law. It is this which, being set home on the conscience, generally breaketh the rock in 'pieces. It is more especially this part of the word of God which is (wv kaι evepyns, quick and powerful, full of life and energy, "and sharper than any twoe-dged sword." This, in the hand of God and of those whom he hath sent, pierces through all the folds of a deceitful heart, and “divides asunder even the soul and the spirit;" yea, as it were, the very "joints and marrow." By this is the sinner discovered to himself. All his fig

wretched,

leaves are torn away, and he sees that he is " and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked." The law flashes conviction on every side. He feels himself a mere sinner. He has nothing to pay. His "mouth is stopped," and he stands "guilty before God."

To slay the sinner is then the first use of the law; to destroy the life and strength wherein he trusts, and convince him that he is dead while he liveth: not only under the sentence of death, but actually dead unto God, void of all spiritual life, "dead in trespasses and sins." The second use of it is, to bring him unto life,-unto Christ, that he may live. It is true, in performing both these offices it acts the part of a severe school-master. It drives us by force, rather than draws us by love. And yet love is the spring of all. It is the spirit of love which, by this painful means, tears away our confidence in the flesh, which leaves us no broken reed whereon to trust, and so constrains the sinner, stripped of all, to cry out in the bitterness of his soul, or groan in the depth of his heart,

"I give up every plea beside,

Lord, I am damn'd; but thou hast died."

The third use of the law is to keep us alive. It is the grand means whereby the blessed Spirit prepares the believer for larger communications of the life of God.

I am afraid this great and important truth is little understood not only by the world, but even by many whom God hath taken out of the world, who are real children of God by faith. Many of these lay it down as an unquestioned truth, that when we come to Christ we have done with the law; and that in this sense "Christ is the end of the law to every one that believeth." "The end of the law:"so he is "for righteousness," for justification, "to every one that believeth." Herein the law is at an end. It justifies none, but only brings them to Christ; who is also,

in another respect, the end, or scope of the law, the point at which it continually aims. But when it has brought us to him, it has yet a farther office, namely, to keep us with him. For it is continually exciting all believers, the more they see of its height, and depth, and length, and breadth, to exhort one another so much the more,

"Closer and closer let us cleave

To his beloved embrace;
Expect his fulness to receive,

And grace to answer grace."

Allowing then that every believer has done with the law, as it means the Jewish ceremonial law, or the entire Mosaic dispensation; (for these Christ hath taken out of the way;) yea, allowing we have done with the moral law as a means of procuring our justification; for we are “justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus;" yet, in another sense, we have not done with this law for it is still of unspeakable use, first, in convincing us of the sin that yet remains both in our hearts and lives, and thereby keeping us close to Christ, that his blood may cleanse us every moment; secondly, in deriving strength from our Head into his living members, whereby he empowers them to do what his law commands; and thirdly, in confirming our hope of whatsoever it commands and we have not yet attained, of receiving grace upon grace, till we are in actual possession of the fulness of his promises.

How clearly does this agree with the experience of every true believer! While he cries out, "O what love have I unto thy law! all the day long is my study in it ;" he sees daily, in that divine mirror, more and more of his own sinfulness. He sees more and more clearly, that he is still a sinner in all things, that neither his heart nor his ways are right before God; and that every moment sends him to Christ. This shows him the meaning of what is written, "Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold,

and grave upon it, Holiness to the Lord. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead," [the type of our great High Priest,] "that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow, in all their holy gifts:" [so far are our prayers or holy things from atoning for the rest of our sin!] "And it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord," Exod. xxviii, 36, 38.

To explain this by a single instance: the law says, "Thou shalt not kill;" and hereby, (as our Lord teaches,) forbids not only outward acts, but every unkind word or thought. Now the more I look into this perfect law, the more I feel how far I come short of it; and the more I feel this, the more I feel the need of his blood to atone for all my sin, and of his Spirit to purify my heart, and make me "perfect and entire, lacking nothing."

Therefore I cannot spare the law one moment, no more than I can spare Christ: seeing now I want it as much, to keep me to Christ, as I ever wanted it to bring me to him. Otherwise this "evil heart of unbelief" would immediately "depart from the living God." Indeed each is continually sending me to the other, the law to Christ, and Christ to the law. On the one hand, the height and depth of the law constrain me to fly to the love of God in Christ; on the other, the love of God in Christ endears the law to me "above gold or precious stones;" seeing I know every part of it is a gracious promise which my Lord will fulfil in its season.

Who art thou, then, O man, that “ judgest the law, and speakest evil of the law?" That rankest it with sin, Satan, and death, and sendest them all to hell together? The Apostle James esteemed judging or "speaking evil of the law," so enormous a piece of wickedness that he knew not how to aggravate the guilt of judging our brethren more than by showing it included this. "So now," says

he, "thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge!" A judge of that which God hath ordained to judge thee! So thou hast set up thyself in the judgment seat of Christ, "and cast down the rule whereby he will judge the world! O take knowledge what advantage Satan hath gained over thee; and, for the time to come, never think or speak lightly of, much less dress up as a scarecrow, this blessed instrument of the grace of God! Yea, love and value it for the sake of Him from whom it came, and of Him to whom it leads. Let it be thy glory and joy, next to the "cross of Christ. Declare its praise, and make it honourable before all men.-Sermons, vol. i, pp. 312–314.

SECTION V.

Its Connection with the Gospel.

FROM all this we may learn that there is no contrariety at all between the law and the gospel; that there is no need for the law to pass away in order to the establishing the gospel. Indeed neither of them supersedes the other, but they agree perfectly well together. Yea, the very same words, considered in different respects, are parts both of the law and of the gospel: if they are considered as commandments, they are parts of the law; if as promises, of the gospel. Thus, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," when considered as a commandment, is a branch of the law; when regarded as a promise, is an essential part of the gospel; the gospel being no other than the commands of the law proposed by way of promise. Accordingly, poverty of spirit, purity "of heart, and whatever else is enjoined in the holy law of God, are no other, when viewed in a gospel light, than so many great and precious promises.

There is, therefore, the closest connection that can be conceived between the law and the gospel. On the one