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The like was done by Moses with the ashes of the fiery furnace, but with a different intention. They were scattered abroad, that wherever any the smallest portion alighted, it might prove a plague and a curse to this ungrateful, cruel, and infatuated people. Thus there was a designed contrast in these workings of Providence, an apparent opposition to the superstition of the times. The powers of darkness were foiled, and the priests and magicians confounded; all which was salutary to the people of God. But the heart of Pharaoh was still hardened.

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[To be continued.]

On the Law of God.

their exercise to what is wise, just and good. Under this law, every one of us was brought into existence, and shall remain, through this life and ever afterwards; and, all our thoughts, words and actions have been in obedience or disobedience. We cannot, for a single moment, place ourselves in a state exempt from moral obligation.

The law of God is taught, partially, by reason and experience. When our reason or experience teaches us, that both the means and the end are good, and conduce to the glory of God, to the final advantage of men, or to our own perfection and happiness, this knowledge becomes to us a law. Or if, in this manner, we learn its hurtful tendency, this knowledge forbids the performance.

All men have some degree of reason and experience, and thus know something of the law of God, which the apostle meant when he said, those who have not the law, are a law unto themselves. But, as reason is weak and greatly darkened by a sinful heart, it is insufficient to determine many things, which relate to the glory of God and duty of man. For this cause, the Lord hath given us his holy word, containing a sufficient and perfect law of moral duty. To

Y the law of God is meant that rule of moral virtue, which he hath given to his creatures, for the government of their hearts and their actual conduct in living. It is a comprehensive system of rules, which points out the whole of our duty, whether to God or to his creatures. The law of God comprises precepts and penalties. The preceptive part teaches us in what dispositions and actions our duty consists; the penal appoints what punishment trans-this, in all cases, we are to regression deserves and shall receive. Every intelligent creature, whether angel or man, is necessarily under the law of God, from the first moment of his being, through his whole existence; for, so soon as he exists with the powers for moral action, it is fit these powers should be under a rule directing

pair for instruction in our duty to him and to men. It was the moral law contained in the holy scriptures, of which Christ spake when he said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil: For, verily, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot er one

tittle shall in no wise pass from with fervent heat before the comthe law, till all be fulfilled. ing of the Son of man; but, the law of God shall remain unchanged.

These words of our Saviour are the highest authority, on a subject, which we all ought to understand. They teach us the universal and eternal obligation of the divine law. Many persons, who know they are under a moral law, do not consider its eternal bond on creatures, arising from the unchangeable nature of God, and their relation to him and to cach other. Some conceive it a body of rules adapted to a particular condition of things, which is to continue for a short season; others, that it is appointed arbitrarily by the will and word of the Almighty, as a test of our obedience, with out any reasons of infinite wisdom for his determination. It will be of no use to search out all the false apprehensions of misguided men on this subject, as they arise from the weakness of reason and a criminal ignorance of the heart. They are designed to extenuate the guilt of sin, and remove disquieting fears of conscience.

The word of God gives us the following account of his law: It is holy, just and good; appointed from eternity by infinite wisdom; a rule, arising from the holy nature of God himself and the relations which his creatures bear to him, and to each other; a rule, obligatory on all creatures in all conditions | of existence, on angels and on men, both in their innocent and fallen state: Also that its holy nature and leading precepts will never be changed. The earth may pass from its present form, and we are assured it shall, when the elements melt

There will for ever be the same reasons for a moral law, as there is at the present time. The Lord, our God, will for ever be worthy of obedience and love; he will, always, have a right to the honour of Creator and Father; creatures will for ever need the support of his wisdom, power and goodness to uphold their being and make them happy; truth, justice, righteousness, faithfulness and brotherly love will be as necessary for glory, in the eternal state, as they are for the happiness of society on earth. The reasonsand uses of the divine law, therefore, will for ever remain the same.

Perfect conformity to the moral law will be one means of blessedness and glory in the heavenly state. Intelligent creatures cannot be happy in any society, either here or hereafter, without moral rules for their treatment of each other; and, their felicity will be in proportion to their obedience. As a violation of the moral law bro't misery on mankind; so, those who are redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ, for their deliverance from punishment and reinstatement in a blessed life, must be sanctified unto obedience.Each of these reflections assures us, that the moral law hath an universal and eternal obligation on creatures. Without a law, they cannot be happy in their dependence on a supreme God, nor in the exercise of the powers he hath given them. Let us reflect on the dignity and au

thority of the law, which all of us have transgressed. Considered as the will of Almighty God, who is infinitely wise, powerful, good and glorious, it is clothed with awful authority: It is the same, viewed as the rule of duty to him, who upholds us in being; or as it is guarded by eternal penalties, before which the most hardened sinner must tremble. What dignity must there be in a commandment, which is the rule of our duty to the immense family of God in earth and heaven, and both the rule and measure of our happiness, through all the ages to come! How glorious is God in determining that he will magnify his law and make it honourable! What little rea- | son there is to think, he will suffer his commandments to be broken with impunity !!

they view it as an enemy, at all events, to be removed. On hearing of God's gracious intention to save the miserable and deliver them from punishment, they are in danger of imagining, that he views his commandment as they do, too strict in its precepts, and too severe in its penalties: Also, that the Saviour hath come to relax the requirements of the law and bring its precepts down to human wishes, so that small sins, as they would call them, are not very displeasing to God; and, that perfect obedience is not now so much a duty, as it was before a dispensation of grace was revealed. Apprehensions,

of this kind, are directly con trary to the word of God, and as inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel, as they are with the strict letter of the law. Tho' it be true, that sinful men are saved by the grace of God, the gospel enjoins a perfect obedience; and, the whole moral law

tice. As Christ obeyed the whole moral law, he enjoined on his people to do the same. Our divine Redeemer loved the whole law, and requireth of his people to do the same. We have the express testimony of Christ, which ought to obtain all credit, that the gospel hath not lowered the standard of duty. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." In a verse or two succeed

Sinful men seduce themselves into greater iniquity by thinking, "perhaps the Lord will not be attentive to see: or, if he sees, will not chastise our small neg-is made a rule of Christian prac lects, our little transgressions of his commandments; or, if he should chastise, it will be in a small degree, and for a short time."-After we have seen the importance of the command ment for the honour of the lawgiver and the stability of his kingdom, must we not conclude such apprehensions to be falsely grounded, and that they arise, principally, from the fears of a guilty conscience, and a wish to remain quiet in transgression? Ungodly men have an aver-ing he saith, "Whosoever, sion to the law, on two accounts. therefore, shall break one of the They dislike the duties which least of these commandments it commands, and they dread and shall teach men so; shall the punishment which it threa-be called least in the kingdom of tens. For each of these reasons, heaven: But, whosoever, shall

shall be honoured the commandment as the word of the Father by whom it was given. He reproved every sin in others, especially, the pharisaic error of that day, that external duty constituted true obedience, in whatever moral state the heart might be. Instead of abridging the commandment, and admitting partial obedience as altogether pleasing to God, never did any other teacher give to the law so broad an extension over the whole man, over all his actions, words and thoughts; even those, which were secreted in the recesses of the heart fromthe knowledge of every creature. The obedience, which Christ requir ed, was with all the heart, and the whole strength of the mind.

do and teach them
called great in the kingdom of
heaven." In sundry passages
of the scriptures, the kingdom
of heaven, evidently, means the
visible Christian kingdom in
this world; and, it is generally
supposed to be what is meant in
this place. Our Lord knew the
hearts of sinful men, and their
wish that the rule of duty might
be relaxed. Having come to de-
clare the grace of God,he foresaw
that sinners would wish for salva-
tion, by an abatement of its du-
ties, or an extenuation of its pe-
nalties; therefore, he bore an
early testimony against the pos-
sibility of salvation by either of
these means. A relaxation in the
rule of duty, is so far from the
design and spirit of the gospel,
that, whoever shall maintain such
an opinion and live accordingly,
and teach it to others, thereby
seducing them into disobedience,
shall be least in the kingdom of
heaven. Such an opinion will
show that they understand not
the gospel, have not its temper,
and are not qualified to lead
others in the way to eternal life.
If this be not a true explanation
of our Saviour's words, it is still
his express testimony that the
gospel hath not abrogated the
rule of moral duty, nor made it
any more safe for men to trans-
gress wilfully against their own
knowledge. That this exposi-
tion is agreeable to truth,we learn
from the obedience which Christ
yielded to the whole law, in his
own person. He was so far
from rejecting, that he obeyed
every precept of the law in the
most perfect manner, perform-
ed every duty, abstained from
every sin, was holy in his whole
conversation, and, in all things,
VOL. I. NO. 3.

To give strength to his testimony, our Lord died a voluntary and ignominious death on the cross, that he might magnify the law and make it honourable. Such were the counsels of the Father and the Son, that no sinner could be saved, or the guilt of any transgression femitted, until the dishonour done to the commandment was removed, through the shedding of blood. Costly sacrifice! an infinite price indeed! But, it was of such importance, the law should be maintained in all its obligation on the hearts and lives of men, in all its spirituality, all its dignity; yea, in all its penalties, that no sinner could be released from the pains of eternal death, until the beloved of the Lord had suffered and died, thereby restoring the honour of the commandment.

It finally determines the point, when we find the whole law of moral virtue appointed as the

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rule for a Christian life. To be the disciples of Christ, we must "love the Lord our God with all the heart, with all the strength and with all the mind; also, we must love our neighbour as ourselves." Christ himself tells us these two command-pel saves men by furnishing a ments contain all the law and righteousness through which the prophets. They are a sum- they may be forgiven, and justimary of the divine commands fied from the guilt of sin, whereand of the creature's duty; a con- by they will be freed from its cise description of the temper punishment; and, by recovering and practice in heaven, where them to that holy temper, which all the holy are perfect as he the law requires. is perfect. There is a glorious harmony between the holy law, which condemns sinners, and the gospel, which saves all who have repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. No inconsistency, no clashing of interests appears between these two dispensations, in the divine government of men. Both give the same description of God's character, and the principles of his govern-creatures; or, that sin is a less ment: They require the same evil by reason of divine grace, holiness in creatures; the same must be called by the judgment of duties of worship, praise, sub. Christ himself," the least in the mission, purity, truth, justice kingdom of heaven." They and love. They agree in as- have fallen into the dangerous suring us, that without holiness sentiment, which the apostle no man can see God, or be pre-condemned: "Shall we conpared for his blessed presence.

ligation of the commandment, or by accommodating Christian holiness to the works of a depraved heart. Each of these would be inconsistent with the infinite moral purity of the law-giver and Redeemer. The gos.

Whenever any one hath truly become a subject of the forgiving grace of God, he adores the lawgiver, loves the law, chooses it as the rule of his duty, and is most happy when his obedifence is most perfect. All, who imagine a faith in Christ, which is not in its nature holy, is unto salvation; or, that the gospel, doth in any way lower the moral requirements of God from his

tinue in sin that grace may It may be inquired, why then abound?" To which question he ought the gospel to be so pre- answered, "God forbid! how cious to us? For the most shall we, who are dead to sin, weighty reasons! It opens the live any longer therein ?"How only door of hope for guilty solemn is the obligation on sinners; the only way for the Christians to live in all holy conremission of sin, and deliverance versation and godliness!-Of from the punishment of eternal all persons, Christians ought to death. But the gospel doth not be most afraid of sinning. Sin this by changing the nature ei- dishonours him, who createdther of sin or holiness; nor by them; crucifies Jesus Christ rendering sin less evil, either in afresh, and puts him to openitself, or in the view of a holy shame in the house of his God, nor by relaxing the ob-friends: It is directly contrary,

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