which "grieve, the Spirit of God;" and of giving the glory of all the good wrought in us, or by us, to him as its original Source and Author.-Thus, depending on the Mercy of the Father, the Atonement of the Son, and the Grace of the Spirit; we shall be prepared to give glory to the Triune God our Saviour, both now and for evermore. ESSAY XV. On the uses of the Moral Law, in Subserviency to the Gospel of Christ. WHEN we have duly considered our situation as fallen creatures, and those things which relate to our recovery by the mercy of the Father, the redemption and mediation of the Son, and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit; we must be convinced that "we are saved by grace, through faith; "(and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God;) "not of works, lest any man should boast:"" and under this conviction it is natural for us to enquire, "Wherefore then serveth the law?" What end does it answer? The apostle indeed introduces this question, as the objection of Judaizing teachers to the doctrines of grace: but in the present endeavour to state the uses of the law as subservient to the gospel, it is necessary to premise, that neither the ritual law, nor the legal dispensation, is meant: the former typified, and the latter introduced, the clear revelation of the gospel; and they were both superseded and rendered obsolete by the coming of Christ. The moral law alone is intended, 'Eph. ii. 8-10. 2 ? Gal, iii. 19. which was originally written in the heart of man, as created in the image of God; was afterwards delivered with awful solemnity from mount Sinai, in ten commandments; is elsewhere summed up, in the two great commandments of loving God with all our hearts, and our neighbour as ourselves; and is explained and enlarged upon in a great variety of particular precepts, throughout the whole Scripture. This law, besides what it more directly enjoins, implicitly requires us to love, admire, and adore every discovery, which God shall ever please to make to us of his glorious perfections; cordially to believe every truth which he shall reveal and authenticate; and willingly to obey every positive institution which he shall at any time be pleased to appoint. This law is immutable in its own nature: for it could not be abrogated, or altered, without an apparent intimation that God was not so glorious, lovely, and excellent; or so worthy of all possible honour, admiration, gratitude, credit, adoration, submission, and obedience, as the law had represented him to be; or without seeming to allow, that man had at length ceased to be under those obligations to God, or to stand in those relations to him and to his neighbour, from which the requirements of the law at first resulted. The moral law, I say, could not be changed, in any essential point, unless we could cease to be under infinite obligations to our great Creator; unless he could allow us in some degree to be alienated from him, and despisers of him; or to love worldly objects and our own present advantage or pleasure more than his infinite excellency; and to prefer them to his glory, and the enjoyment of his favour: unless he could allow us to be ungrateful for his benefits, to discredit his veracity, to dispute his authority, to reject the appointments of his wisdom; and to injure, neglect, corrupt, or hate one another, to the confusion, and ruin of his fair creation. Such absurd and dreadful consequences may unanswerably be deduced, from the supposition of the moral law of God being repealed or altered: and they are the bane of all Antinomianism; and of every system formed on the absurd notion of á new and milder law promulgated by Jesus Christ, however ingeniously such schemes may be arranged or diversified. The Lord may, consistently with the immutable perfections of his nature, and the righteousness of his government, reveal truths before unknown: he may abrogate positive institutions, or appoint others: he may order various circumstances relative to the law in a new manner, according to the different situations in which rational agents are placed: but the love of God with all the powers of the soul, and the love of our neighbour as ourselves, must continue the indispensable duty of all reasonable creatures, however circumstanced, through all the ages of eternity. This law is the foundation of the covenant of works; and it is the wisdom of every holy creature in a state of probation to seek justification by obeying it but for fallen men who are continually transgressing, to waste their labour, in vainly attempting to justify themselves before God by their own obedience, is absurd and arrogant in the greatest conceivable degree. This attempt is generally called self-righteousness; and all the preachers of christianity are bound most decidedly to warn men against it, as a fatal rock on which multitudes are continually perishing. But what purposes then does the moral ław answer, under a dispensation of mercy, and in subserviency to the doctrines and the covenant of grace? and what use should the ministers of the New Testament make of it? The following statement may perhaps contain a sufficient reply to these questions; and likewise make way for some observations on the bad effects which follow from ignorance, inattention, or the want of accurate and clear apprehensions, respecting the moral law, in the ministers and professors of the gospel. 1. The moral law, when well understood, is very useful in shewing sinners their need of mercy and free salvation. The apostle says, “I through the law, am dead to the law, that I 66 66 might live unto God:"" He doubtless meant, 'Gal. ii. 19. |