title to the eternal life which they have forfeited. The Gospel, accordingly, tells us that we are justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and that eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But though the law is not, and cannot be, the means of justification to men, it must be proclaimed to them,-both to those who are still in a state of guilt and condemnation, and to those who, through interest in Christ's obedience to the death, have been reconciled unto God. To the one class it is useful as a means of shutting them up to the faith of Christ; and it must, therefore, be proclaimed to them as a law to which they are subject--which prescribes duties, from the obligation of which they cannot be released, and declares the penalty to which every transgression exposes them; for, unless they are aware of the perpetuity of its precepts and sanctions, they will not see their guilt and danger, or the necessity and suitableness of the Divine plan of salvation, so as to be constrained to flee for refuge to the hope set before them in the Gospel. And to the other class it is useful as a means of discovering to them the nature and the obligation of the holiness which they should strive to attain; and it must, therefore, be proclaimed to them as a law which has not been abrogated, but confirmed and enforced, by Christ's substitutionary sacrifice, and conformity to which is indispensable to their enjoyment of God's complacency now, and to their admission to His immediate presence hereafter.

These ends, contemplated in the proclamation of the law, will not be gained, if the principle stated by the Apostle James is overlooked,—that "whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James ii. 10). It is only by a perception of its justice that the sinner will be driven from the subterfuges by which he evades the conclusion, that there can be no safety for him except in the atonement and righteousness of Christ, and that the believer will be stimulated to strive after universal conformity to the Divine will. Now, as this principle may at first view be regarded as unjust in its nature, and injurious in its tendency, a principle which abolishes all distinction among transgressions and transgressors, and which will discourage effort to resist temptations and perform duties, a brief explanation and illustration of it may not be unprofitable.

--

The precepts of the Divine law are numerous and diversified, referring to all the duties incumbent on us in the various relations which we sustain both to God and to our fellow-men. Now, the principle laid down by James does not imply, either that he who has violated one of these precepts is regarded by God as having actually violated all the rest, or that he who has been chargeable with one transgression has contracted as great an amount of criminality as he who has transgressed every precept which the law contains. The first supposition is inconsistent with the very phraseology employed by him, which intimates, that he who is declared to be guilty of all may have kept the whole law with the exception of a single point. And the second is at variance with the whole teaching of Scripture respecting the future condition of the wicked; for it represents the measure of guilt contracted by different individuals, and the amount of retribution inflicted on them by the just judgment of God, as very different, and as proportioned to the number and the character of the sins which they have committed. Let no person, then, take encouragement in sin from the thought, that he may add one kind of iniquity to another, and multiply all, without contracting additional criminality, or exposing himself to additional retribution.

There is criminality incurred, and retribution merited, by the violation of each individual precept of the law, as well as by each violation of any one precept; and the amount of the one, and the degree of the other, are dependent on the extent and the frequency of transgression. By every new sin, and by every repetition of the same sin, men treasure up to themselves greater "wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."

The law of God is not to be viewed as a collection of individual precepts, each enforced by peculiar motives, which have no mutual relation, and no common bond of connection. It is in condescension to our ignorance and weakness, which incapacitate us for apprehending distinctly and fully the bearing which, if presented in its singleness, it would have on the varied relations which we sustain, and the diversified circumstances in which we are placed, that it has been branched out into a variety of particulars, or presented in the form of different precepts, each of which may be enforced by special motives. But its precepts are inseparably linked together; for they are, in truth, only one commandment variously applied. Such is the aspect in which it presents itself to God, to whose mind all the diversified relations and circumstances of His creatures are simultaneously present. Now, from this unity of the law it necessarily follows, not merely that he who has violated any one of its precepts is as really a transgressor, and as liable to the penalty with which it is sanctioned, though not worthy of the same amount of retribution, as if he had broken the whole; but also, that every deliberate or wilful violation of any one of its precepts attests the existence in the transgressor of principles which, were it not for things altogether extraneous, would lead to the violation of all its other precepts. There is great diversity in the natural inclinations and dispositions of men, and in the external influences which operate upon them; and it is to these, and not to the law, that the diversity in the conduct of the transgressors of it must be attributed. We may be free from sins in which others indulge; but if we deliberately commit any sin, it is not the law, but something altogether extraneous to it, that is the cause of our abstinence from the others. Or we may perform many duties which are generally omitted; but if we wilfully neglect any duty, it is not the law, but something wholly unconnected with it, that prompts to the performance of the others. And if this is the case, is it not plain that, though actually we have offended only in one point, yet virtually we are guilty of all; since this one offence shows that we cherish in our hearts a principle which is subversive of the whole law, and which, were our mental constitution or our outward circumstances different from what they are, would lead to the violation of any, or of all, of its precepts ?

The truth stated in these remarks may be confirmed and illustrated by an appeal to two things, in which the unity of the Divine law most obviously appears.

First, The substance or essence of all the precepts of the law is one.In the verses which immediately precede the statement under consideration, the Apostle declares that the essence of the whole law consists in love to our neighbour, and that everything inconsistent with this principle is a transgression of it. "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.' The same view is very plainly stated by Paul, in Rom. xiii. 8-10. Now, as love to our neighbour is the whole substance of the law in its reference to

of

men, so love to God is its whole substance in its reference to Him. There are many outward acts which it enjoins, and many which it forbids; but its numerous precepts merely point out the different forms in which, in consequence of our varied relations and circumstances, the principle of love should operate or be manifested, these precepts being necessary in consequence of our inability to see, or our proneness to overlook, some one or more of the acts to which it prompts. Could we thoroughly comprehend all its operations, the law might have been summed up in a single precept, which simply prescribed the exercise of love. Love dwelling in the heart will ensure obedience to all the commandments; and the deliberate violation of even the least of them proves that it is a stranger to the bosom. "Love," to use the words of Paul, "worketh no ill to his neighbour." It will prevent us from injuring him in any form. Suppose that we have not defrauded him of his property, or offered violence to his person: yet if we have hurt his good name, or rejoiced in his adversity, this is an evidence that we do not love him; and, consequently, that our abstinence from fraud and violence must be attributed, not to our respect to the law, but merely to a selfish regard to our worldly interests, or to the absence of temptation, or to natural temperament, or to some other extraneous cause, and that, were these restraining influences removed, the law would be ineffectual to prevent the commission of any crime. Thus, though actually we may have offended only in one point, we are guilty of all; for we have done what is subversive of the law in its whole extent.

Secondly, The authority by which all the precepts of the law is sanctioned, is one. To this truth also the Apostle appeals in support of his statement, immediately subjoining to it these words: "For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." The whole law is based on the supreme authority which belongs to God, as the Creator and Moral Governor of the universe. Its commandments are all holy, and just, and good. But though their purity and equity, and the tendency of obedience to them to promote our happiness, may be employed as motives to prevail with us to comply with them; yet their obligation does not arise from these things, which we, in some instances, may be unable to perceive. It is the authority which God has over us that makes it our incumbent duty to obey the precepts of the law, and renders us guilty, or justly liable to punishment, if we disobey. Now, as the authority of God is equally stamped on all the commandments of His law, on the least as truly as on the greatest, the wilful violation of even a single precept is a denial of His authority, and is, therefore, subversive of the whole law. By disregarding any injunction which He has given us, whether we discern its righteousness and its importance or not, we show that His authority has no weight with us; and, consequently, that we would disregard every other precept, did our inclinations prompt us, or were we strongly tempted. Though we may have offended only in one point, that single offence proceeds from a principle which overthrows the whole law; and we are, therefore, guilty of all.

The statement of the Apostle incontestably demonstrates the falsehood of the doctrine of compensation, or of the opinion that obedience to some of God's commandments compensates for the neglect, or the violation, of others. This doctrine is maintained, if not avowedly, yet practically, by some who call themselves Christians. The formalist thinks that his attention to the outward duties of piety will induce God to overlook his indifference to the

ms of meekness and charity, of sobriety and benevolence; the mere alist excuses his neglect of the exercises of religion by an appeal to the ity with which he performs every social and relative duty; and not a though they may not, like them, set aside at once one half of the Divine yet regard their obedience to the greater number of its precepts as an [uate satisfaction for their transgression of one or more, which are, in view, of minor importance. This is a principle which affords an exfor sins of every description, and which accommodates itself to sinners very character. There are few who are disposed to indulge in all kinds in; but let it once be admitted that the performance of one class of ies compensates for the neglect of others, or even that abstinence from ay sins compensates for indulgence in one, and there are scarcely any will be unable to go on in their trespass, undeterred by the penalty h which the law is sanctioned. But how completely is this notion overown by the principle, that he who offends in one point-who habitually leliberately violates even the least commandment of the law-is guilty of His transgression may, to the view of men, be lost in the blaze of his d deeds; but the principle of compensation is not recognised by the reme Judge. His one offence shows that the love which the law ens has no place in his heart, and that the authority of the Lawgiver has weight with him; and it is, therefore, subversive of the whole law. hen," says the Psalmist, "shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect o all Thy commandments." D. H.

A VISIT TO LUTHER'S HOME.

E scenes amid which great men passed ir days, and the tombs in which ir ashes repose, and the places where at deeds were accomplished which re left their traces in the world's hisy, have for most men a powerful atetion. Who, for instance, does not h to visit, if he could, that land ich was chosen from among all others the dwelling-place of God's peculiar ople, and is hallowed by the teachings d the miracles of the prophets of old, despecially by the labours and suffergs and sacrifice of the Redeemer of Ankind? Amid scenes like these, which e so closely associated with our dearest pes and consolations, we should all light to wander and to muse. We ould there behold in imagination the reat transactions which have conseated them for ever, and feel all the motions of wonder and gratitude and by which these were fitted to excite. Somewhat akin to the interest that ttaches to that land, where Christianity was first given to the world, is that which we feel in regard to the place tants, and presents little that is specially where, after many centuries of darkness, noticeable in its appearance. Certainly,

it was again disclosed in something like its original purity and brightness. In visiting the little town of Wittenberg, the scene of the first open and successful promulgation of the principles of the Reformation, we feel as if we were visiting a second Bethlehem, where, after men had wandered for ages in the mazes of error, Jesus and His salvation were again manifested to the world. Here Luther lived and laboured during the greater part of his life; and after the lapse of more than three centuries, notwithstanding all the change and turmoil and destruction which they have wrought, there may still be seen abundant memorials of his work. By these relics and monuments we are reminded of nearly all the leading events of his career; and to them and their story we purpose to direct attention.

The town of Wittenberg is situated in Prussian Saxony, on the Elbe, about seventy miles below Dresden, and considerably less above Magdeburg. It contains upwards of ten thousand inhabi