^ ImLr^. /^-^y- f THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,^ ^ ' Princeton, N. J. | r DISCOURSES DELIVERED IN MURRAY STREET CHURCH ON SABBATH EVENINGS, DURING THE MONTHS OF MARCH, APRIL, AND MAY, 1830. DR. SPRING DR. COX DR. SKINNER DR. DE WITT DR. MILLER DR. SPRAGUE DR. CARNAHAN DR. WOODBRlDGi; DR. RICE DR. WOODS DR. WAYLAND DR. SNODGRASK DR. GRIFFIN. NEW YORK: HENRY C. SLEIGHT, CLINTON-HALL PRINTED BY SLEIGHT AND ROBINSON. 1830. Southern District of New York, ss. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the eighth day of November, Anno Domini 3830, in the fifty-lifth yesir of the Independence of tlic United States of America, William D. Snodgrass, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a bool<, tlie right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit : " Discourses delivered in Murray street Church, on Sabbath evenings, during the months of March, April, and May, 1830. By Dr. Spring, Dr. Cox, Dr.'Skinner, Dr. De Witt, Dr. Miller, Dr. Spraguc, Dr. Carnalian, Dr. Woodbridge, Dr. Rice, Dr. Woods, Dr. Wayland, Dr. Snodgrass, Dr. Griffin." In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled " An act for the encouragement of learning, by secuiii;.' ili. ( opii s nf maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of sur 1 1 icpl.^, ilmiiii; the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act, entitled ".\ii n i Miiuiliinentary to an act, entitled An act for the encouragement of IciiriiiiiL:, In m c nring the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and propiietcirs of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits tliereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." FREDERICK I. BETTS, Clerk of the Soulhcrii District ofJVew York. The Discourses, contained in this volume, were prepared, at the request of the pastor of the church, in which they were delivered, together with other clergymen, residing in the City of New York. It was thought, by them, that a course of Sabbath-evening exercises, on such subjects as are here dis- cussed, and by ministers residing in different parts of the country, could not fail to be interesting and edifying. The result has, in a good degree, justified their expectations. And, in compliance with a wish, expressed by many, who were pre- sent during the delivery, the whole series is now presented to the public, through the medium of the press. f PEIIIGETOII X trb'iSf^^ENTs, DISCOURSE I. THE IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, BY GARDINER SPRING, D. D. Pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church, JVew York. Philippians i. 9. " And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more, in know ledge and in all judgment." ■ Page U DISCOURSE 11. THE LAW OF GOD. BY SAMUEL H. COX, D. D. Pastor of Laiffht street Presbyterian Church, JVew York, Romans vii. 12. "Wherefore llic law is lioly, and the commandment holy, and jusl, and good." - 41 DISCOURSE III. HUMAN DEPRAVITY, OR MAN A FALLEN BEIN(; BY THOMAS H. SKINl^ER, D. D. Pastor of the Fifth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. Romans v. 20. Where sin abounded, gr.acc did much more abound." ruNTKN'l'S. DISCOURSE IV. THE NECESSITY 01' ATONEMENT. ^ 1*^ "^' Professor of Bihlical Literature in the Theological Seminary of the Kcformed Dutch Church, at JVeio Brunswick, Kew Jersey. Hebrews Lv. 22. " Withoiii shfidding of blood is no remission." ----- 121 DISCOURSE V. THE ENMITY OF THE HUMAN HEART AGAINST THE CHARAC- TER AND GOVERNMENT OF GOD. RY JOHN WOODBRIDGE, D. n. Pastor of the Bowery Presbyterian Church, JVew York- Romans viii.7. " Tim carnal mind is enmity against God." ----- 161 DISCOURSE VI. THE REJECTION OP REVEALED TRUTH REFERABLE TO BIOR.IL DEPRAVITY. \^'" BY SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government, in the Theological Seminary, at Princeton, JVew Jersey. Hebrews iii. 12. " Take lieed, brethren, lest tlierc be in any of you an evil lieart of unbelief, in departing from tlie living God." ... - - - ■ . 195 DISCOURSE VII. REVEALED RELIGION, THE ONLY SOURCE OF TRUE r ft HAPPINESS. ^t 1 \p BY WILLfAM B. .^PRAGUE, D. D. Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Jllbany. John vi. 68. • J.ord, lo wliom Kliall we go 7 Tliou iiast the words of eternal life." 241 CONTENTS. VU DISCOURSE VIII. THE DIVINE TESTIMONY TO THE RESURRECTION OV CHRIST. BY JAMES CAllNAHAN, D. D. President of M'assau-Hall, Princeton, JVcw Jersey. Acts v. 32. "And we are his witnesses of these tilings; and so also is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." - - - .. 289 DISCOURSE IX. THE GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. •' L- ■ ■ BY JOHN H. RICE, D. U. ' Professor of Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, Virginia. 2. Corinthians iii. 11. "For if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which re- inaineth is glorious." ---------- •>— > DISCOURSE X. THE PROVINCE OF REASON IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. BY LEONARD WOODS, D. D. Professor of Christian Theology in the Tlicological Seminary, at Aiidover, Massachusetts. Psalm cxix. 105. 169- 33, 34. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path— Let my cry come before thee, O Lord : give me understanding according to thy word.— Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes ;— give me understanding, and I shall keep thy word." - - - 361 DISCOURSE XL THE CERTAIN TRItJMPH OF THE REDEEMER. BY FRANCIS WAYLAND, D. D. ^ President of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. 1. CoraNTUiANS xv. 25. " For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feel." - 393 vm CONTENTS. DISCOURSE XII. THE TRIUMPHS OF THE REDEMPTION OVER THE APOSTACY. BY WILLIAM D. SNODGRASS, D. D. / 7'"f . Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, in Murray street, J^cm York - /c! Romans v. 15. " But not as Uic oflencc, so also is the free gift." DISCOURSE XIII. THE EFFECT OF THE GOSPEL, IN EXALTING THE CREATOR, AND HUMBLING THE CREATURE. "* I ' BY EDWARD D. GRIFFIN, D. D. President of Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 3. Corinthians i. 31. "That, according as it is written, he that glorictii, let him glory in Uie Lord." - „ . 471 DISCOURSE I. XHK IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGJi. Philippians i. 9. — " And tliis I pray, that your love may ubouiul yet more ami more, in knowledge and in all judgment." It is natural, at the threshold of the enterprise to which these lectures are devoted, to endeavour to inter- est you in the worthiness ol' their object. To interest men in the truths of the Bible, is the great reason why a revelation was given. We know it is impossible for the mass of mankind to become adepts in theological science ; and yet there are few but may, and ought to be familiar with the great doctrines of revelation. One would think it a reproach to good men, not to be fami- har with the truths of the Bible. You would not ex- pect a professed Stoic to be ignorant of the doctrines of Zeno ; ner a Mohammedan to be unacquainted with 12 THE IMPORTANCE OF DISC, i- the Koran ; nor a Brahmin to l)c uninstructed in the Shaster. And why should a Christian be a stranger to the truths of Christianity ? Our design in this intro- duction to the following series of discourses is, there- fore, to lay before you a few considerations, illustrative of the importance of Christian knowledge. To give some form and order to our remarks, we observe, I. The subjects irhich Christianity presents, are themselves the most important and sublime in the universe. Reaching from the eternity which the Inmiortal Creator mhabited before the foundation of the world, to the eternity we shall inhabit after this world shall have passed away, they are literally of infinite extent and compass. The light of revelation first leads our minds' up to Him, who, though he dwells in light unapproacha- ble, .and fills the universe with his presence, is about our path and about our bed ; to Him, on whom all beings depend, from the arch-angel to the worm, to whom all are indebted for their powers and faculties, and from whom they derive their comforts, and who, while he is slow to anger and of great kindness, is ter- rible in majesty. Then it makes us acquainted with his vast and perfect purposes, comprehending all his works, and all the events of his providence in this world and other worlds, in time and through interminable ages. It then directs our thoughts to the great law which he has published, by which he establishes the moral order and biSC. 1. CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 13 liaimony of intellig-ent beings, both in respect to one another and to him, and by which he throws such everlasting responsibleness on all worlds, and on every creature. Next to these elevating themes, it leads us to take a view of that world of wonders, the creature man — his intellectual and moral nature — his origin, his primeval rectitude, and his fatal apostacy — a mys- tery to himself, a mystery to angels, and yet, more than all the works of God, the means of drawing forth the manifold glory of his Maker. Afterwards, we listen to the glad tidings of great joy, amiounced in the wonderful method of redemption, by the incarna- tion and death, resurrection and intercession, media- torial reign and triumph of God's co-equal son. Then, we dwell on the character and office of the Divine Spi- rit. We see the benighted soul of man, under hi.s powerful influence, brought out of darkness into mar- vellous light ; we see how this guilty, impoverished creature is furnished with every gift and grace ; how he is enriched and adorned, and made meet to be a partaker of the inheritance with saints in light. And then, when we have become familiar with pro- vidences and ordinances, with hopes and fears, witli death and the grave, and with the resurrection both of the just and the unjust, we are introduced to eter- nity. Through the light that here descends upon us. we see the life and immortality that are brought to light in the gospel: we descry that v;ist continent lb;it lies be- 14 I HE IMPORTANCE OF DISC. I. vend the grave ; Ave see tlie Ijoiindless universe that stretches itself immeasurably beyond. There, scenes and prospects rise, that alternately appal and enchant us — the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven — the thlonc of judgement — the assembled universe — the final sentence — the everlasting retribution — the eternal heaven — the eternal hell ! And, in such a research, is there nothing worthy ? As mere topics of thought and intellectual cultiva- tion, all other themes, in comparison with these. may be left out of sight and remembrance. Every other department of human science vanishes and fades away before the majesty and splendour of divine truth. These are the things " into which the angels desire to look." Of all others, topics hke these are objects of inquiry for which the mind of man, formed in the image of its Maker, seems appropriately designated. The per- ceptions, the judgment, the memory, the imagination, the conscience, the very emotions of the soul, fall far below their high destination, when they can no longer be absorbed in themes like these. Nor are they dry and heartless speculations, which the Scriptures reveal, and which a conscientious mind may throw aside as of no practical moment. Nor are thej'^ mere ideal schemes, which may amuse the spirit of speculation and then be rejected with impunity. They are inwoven witli all that is real in our enjoyments and sufferings ; with all that is cheeiing in our hopes and terrible in our fears; DISC. 1. CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 15 with all that is solemn and affecting in our accounta- bleness and immoitahty. Whatever is fearful and weighty in the rights of the Creator and the obUgations of creatures, in the designs of the Sovereign and the destiny of his subjects, is here disclosed. There is no truth in the Scriptures which, in its proximate or remote relations, has not a legitimate bearing upon the character, the duty, the condition of all rational agents. The titith of God is as interesting to the poor as to the rich ; as interesting to the low as to the high ; as in- teresting to people as to ministers ; as interesting to this world, as to that glorious world whence it emanated. When all that is embodied in the magnificent systems of human learning shall have Ijeen forgotten ; when the sun shall have been turned into darkness ; when these orbs, the nature, phenomena, and laws of which philosophers have occupied centuries to explain, shall have mouldered to ashes ; when this earth, whose bowels and treasures have been explored with such penetrating diligence, shall have been burnt up ; the system of truth, which God has revealed, will exist immutably the same, and be exhibited in augmented splendour, and beheld with increasing interest and admiration. II. Just conceptions of the truth op Goi> ARE indispensable TO THE POSSESSION OF TRUE HOLINESS. No principle is more exphcitly recognised in the Scriptures, or commends itself more to the approbation 16 'I'HE IMPORTANCE OF DISC. 1. of common sense and sound experience, than that the change of character from sin to hohness, from man's native and practical wickedness to the rectitude of the gospel, which is every where so much insisted on as the indispensable pre-requisite to the enjoyment of the divine favour and kingdom, is effected through the instrumentality of divine truth. " Of his own Avill begat he us with the word of truth." " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the v/ord of God." The divine conduct toward men every where recognises their rationality ; and no where more sensibly, than in the method of his grace. In exciting proper affections toward the various objects to which they sustain a moral relation, he brings those objects to the view of the mind. Of the great multitude already sanctified by his grace, it may be said, they had slumbered in sin, unless they had been instructed, alarmed, convinced, and humbled through the instrumentality of truth. They had gone down to the grave and to the bar of God with a lie in their right hand, had not he, who convinces the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment to come, shewed them the things that are Christ's. And of the multitudes who are now ignorant of God and far from righteousness, must it be said, that they perish in their sins, until they become acquainted with God; and until he, by his convincing, quickening, and renovating power, make those views of truth lovely, which were once odious : and reconcile them to the DISC. 1. CHRISTIAN KNOWLKDCiK. J< declarations, character, and demands of a God of trntli and holiness. What is holiness, but obedience to truth ? — Truth desired, loved, obeyed, — this is the rectitude of moral beings. But how is the truth of God to be obeyed, unless it be knoivn 7 Is it enough, that it be inscribed on the pages of revelation ? Is it enough, that it be sealed up in a foreign and dead language? Is i(, enough, that it be announced from the pulpit? To every community might it be said, " Ye worship ye know not what ;" on all their altars might it be in- scribed, " To THE UNKNOWN GoD," SO loug as they remain ignorant of his truth. How can the mind be titted for right volitions, except by a just apprehension of divine objects ? Suppose a man in a Christian con- gregation, as ignorant of the truth of God as the Pa- gans ; is there any charm in the privileges of the gos pel that will break the bonds of his iniquity ? What if he denies that God is the creator, and preserver, and governor of the universe ; will he be sensible of his dependence or accountableness ? What if he rejects the divinity and messiahship of Jesus Christ ? will not the practical consequence be, that he seeks no interest in his redemption ? What if he believes in the innate rectitude and practical integrity of the human heart : will he ever be voluntarily self-abased for his sinful- ness ? What if he strikes from his creed the atone- ment of the Son of God, the agency and oliice-worlc lb IllK IMPORTANCE Ul' DISC. J. of the Holy Spirit, the threaten ings of everlasting pu- nishment, and never detects nor eradicates these errors : will he not find that his notions have a most sensible effect upon his practice— that he makes no effort to flee from the wrath to come — and that his intellectual igno- rance and his intellectual deviations are ruinous? Nothing is more obvious, than that doctrinal knowledge is essential to the existence of true religion in the soul. There can be no spiritual affections, where there are no intellectual perceptions of the truth. It is the unchang- ing law of our intellectual and moral existence, that the heart is affected through the medium of the under- standing. There is no possible way by which the means of grace can be effectual to the conversion of men, except by an acquaintance with the truths they inculcate. The immediate effect of them is the com- munication of truth to the mind ; and without this impression, men might as well remain in the darkness of heathenism, as enjoy the privileges of the gospel But, III. If there is any justice in these remarks, they suggest another thought of equal importance. With- out THE SPIRIT OF THEOLOGICAL RESEARCH, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE RAPID ADVANCES IN THE DIVINE LIFE. As holy affections must in the first instance be exercised toward some definite object, so must they routinue to be exercised toward some object, well DISC. I. (HillSTIAN KNOWLP^DtiE. 19 defined, aud clearly niideistood. Divine truth is so e:5tactly accordant with the affections which the Holy Spirit produces in the soul, that they are kept alive only by means of this happy influence. It is the still, small voice of truth that vibrates on the hearts of good men. Truth — sometmies elicited by the dispensations of Providence, sometimes read and heard, but in what- ever way communicated, truth still — is the great means which the Spirit of God employs to promote the sancti- tication of the church. But how can the truth become the means of augmented holiness, othenvise than l)y being understood ? Our Lord prayed for his disciples, • Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." Believers are exhorted to " grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ."' They are said to be " fed with knowledge and under- standing." Nor is it possible for them to have invigo- rated impressions of the beauty and loveliness of spiritual objects, without an invigorated view of those objects themselves. The people of God, though initiated into the privi- leges of his kingdom, have much to acquire, before they grow in grace with observable rapidity. They have much to learn of God, that they may desire greater manifestations of his glory ; much to learn of themselves and their imperfections, that they may be stimulated to greater attainments ; much to learn of their obligations, that they may press after perfect 3 20 THE IMPORTANCE OF DISC. U holinesri ; much to learn of those mighty considerations to spiritual attainment, which direct, encourage, and stimulate them in their heavenly career — which rouse them from their slumljers, reproach them for their backslidings, and give increasing constancy and uni- formity to their purposes and conduct. We are apt to lose sight of the ignorance of good men, and of the powerful tendency of their minds to ignorance of God above all other subjects. There is even in their bosoms the same remaining aveision to the doctrines of the gospel, that is found to the duties of the gospel : arid there is the same reason for watchfulness and cau- tion in maintaining the truth of God, that is indispen- sable to the vigorous exercise of holy affection. They are equally self-denying. Hence we find, that when Christian men decline in the spirit and duties of piety, they are very apt to dechne in the purity of their doc- trinal views. And here lies the necessity of doctrinal instruction, and doctrinal research. Let the instruction^ of the gospel illuminate their understandings, and its heavy truths sink into their hearts, and the more secure will they be from dangerous apostacies, and the bettei- enabled to maintain their heavenward course. It is indeed lamentably true, that there are instances in which growth in knowledge does not secure growth in grace. And the reason is, truth does not make its appropriate imjjression upon their minds. There is ^ionie countervailing sin, which is superior in its in- DISC. 1. CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDCK. 21. fluence to all the oblis^ations of known truth. Good men always grow in grace in proportion to two things : the extent of their knowledge, and the iinpressmi which their knowledge produces. A man who is ac- quainted with a few truths may have more piety than the man who is acquainted with many ; because the few which he knows, make a deeper impression than the many which are known by those that are more ex- tensively informed. The obligations to increased holi- ness, and the actual hohness of every gracious affection, are augmented by every accession of divine knowledge : and other things being equal, those who make the most rapid advances in the one, must necessarily make the most rapid advances in the other. There are not wanting those who question the expe- diency of devoting much of their time to the study of doctrines, lest it should impair the vigour, exhaust the tenderness, and freeze the fervour of their piety. ' We do not need,' say they, ' so much dry discussion. We desire more of the milk of the gospel ; more to rouse and quicken us ; more to break up the fallow ground, and urge us on to practical godliness. We need usefiil information ; but we would not exercise ourselves in matters too high for us, to the neglect of our practical duty towards God and man.' Is it so then, that " igno- rance is the mother of devotion ?" Are there doctrines of the Bible which do not afiect the practice of piety — increasing the love of it, confirming the habit of 'i2 rm: i.mpdr'L'axce of disc. j. it. and ai every i^'tep elevatins^ the mind toward God, and invigorating the desire to be hke liini ? Is the tlieoiy of Christianity at war with the practice of Chris- tianity ? Do the doctrines of the Bible weaken the force of moral obhgation ! Of all studies, religion is the most practical. Doctrines that cannot be appUed to practical purposes are no part of the Bible. Let the objector beware how he assumes, that there is any prin- ciple revealed in the divine oracles that has no practical tendency. Time will show how empty and superficial is that piety, that depreciates the great doctrines of the gospel, and that is not habitually inwoven with cleai-. intellectual perceptions of truth. It is not indeed ne- (^essary, that men should be familiar with all the truths tures. It is there called " death ;" and this — though not alone — is perhaps its most frequent appellation. Natural death, as we commonly speak, though one of the consec[uences of sin in this mixed probationary system, is — we are prepared to prove — no part of the proper penalty of the law. It is none : unless every other misery, such for example as the curse of toil ; the pains and subjected condition of " the suflering sex ;" the thorns, thistles, and noxious herbage with which the earth is overgrown ; and the hostile revolt of all the irrational tribes against the lordship and the felicity of man — unless all these, with every pang we feel and every tear we shed, are proper original constituents of penalty. That all misery is a monster in the dominions of God, and that sin has in some way introduced it all, are true and safe positions. But it is quite another matter to aver that all the " variety of wretchedness" we suffer is but the formal developement of penalty strictly legal. We are not now speaking of the gospel ; of the system of grace ; of mediatorial constitution and government ; and of evils that exist generally in those abodes of mortality to which we appertain : but of the law of God, which, however connected with our present condition, has a nature and a character of its own, and must be viewed as it is in order to understand its influ- ence upon other things that are. 46 THE LAW OP GOD. DISC. II. Death is tlie image of accomplished ruin, of desola- tion and despair. One sin entails this penalty on every offender. It is the curse of God. It is seen in what is certainly revealed of primitive transgressors, the origi- nal seniors of disobedience, " God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell." It is called "everlasting punishment" — and "everlasting fire" which was " prepared for the devil and his angels." It is legal or judicial death ; and unless, in human instances, its sentence is repealed through the media- torial economy, it is finally executed on all the impeni- tent, who " depart" from Christ, accursed, into the eter- nal misery which angel apostates first incurred. Much darkness hath been induced from literalizing the word " death." In the original threatening to the progenitors of mankind, it is not literal but judicial death that is respected. The same is demonstraljly true in the Epistle to the Romans throughout. Thus, when it is said, " death reigned from Adam to Moses — many be dead — sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin- ned— the wages of sin is death — if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die — to be carnally minded is death," and so onward, Uteral death is not meant ; neither spi- ritual death, which is but a figurative phrase for total sinfulness ; but judicial death, or death in the eye of law, condemnation, ill-desert, exposure to wrath. Judi- cial death becomes by protraction eternal death ; and this in every instance known to us, except where the DISC. II. THE LAW OF GOD. 47 grace of the gospel is secured to christians. " For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse — that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident — being justified freely, by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus — therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace ; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed — he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses — how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation — every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward." But if the law is thus armed with a fearful penalty, adequate to the interests it guards, the wrong it avenges, and the good it intends, so has it primarily a most excel- lent precept. Without this also it could not be law ; though it might be cruelty, caprice, and the purest folly imaginable. It requires love ; supreme to God, equal and impartial to our fellows, perfect in degree, holy in nature, and perpetual in exercise. The law is substantially and unchangeably what it has now been described. Toward us however its forms vary. The whole written word of God is often deno- minated his law. " The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. O how love I thy law ! it is my meditation all the day. They that forsake the law praise the wicked ; but such as keep the law contend with them." The law is often iden- tified with the decalogue or ten commandments. Its 48 THE LAW OF GOD. DISC. IT. whole substance has been condensed still more by the Saviour, wlio comprizes the whole in two great precepts, on which, he declares, " hang all the law and the pro- phets." The apostle tells us that it " is spiritual ;" in which he seems to condense it to its utmost, as it were a flame of ethereal purity, radiating from the throne of God, and exacting a corresponding purity and perfec- tion of all the moral offspring of the Lord God Al- mighty. What a jurisdiction is this ! the only perfect one in existence. Other laws regulate appearances, manners, and the exterior alone ; this affects the soul, inspires sincerity, proscribes " the thought of foolishness," and enjoins a spotless and durable obedience. It subjects absolutely every mind, holy or unholy, in the moral do- minions of God, to its authority, if not to its obedience. Hence it occurs to consider the question, II. What right has God to impose his law UPON us ? This question is often asked, and very often enter- tained in thought. It admits the fact that God hath done it ; and seems further to admit also that he had a right to do it. But wherein does that right consist, on what is it founded, and can it be vindicated ? The spi- rits of piety, who know God, have a way of resolving all such questions. They argue with ease, and often with infallil)ility, from the perfections of Jehovah. " Just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? DISC. II. THE LAW OP GOD. 49 for thou only art holy." This position is not more comprehensive than safe. It may be trusted forever and applied universally. It is as certain as the infinite excellency of God ; from which it is a plain and philo- sophical deduction. Still, in the present instance, it is not sufficiently specific. It does not 'assign the particu- lar star, in the glorious constellation, upon which de- pends the identical right of the Lawgiver, to throw his perfect jurisdiction over all minds, holy or unholy, will- ing or unwilling, and put them all under a positive re- sponsibility which they can neither modify nor avoid. Besides, the perfections of God, though they consti- tute a perfect demonstration that whatever he does is right, are, we affirm, no foundation of his right of legislation. We rejoice to know of one king, to whose administration it is no vainglorious comphment, but a maxim of simple verity, to say that the King can do no wrong. But does this truth constitute his title to reign % How is it in political society ? May a citizen dictate laws to the commonwealth, merely because he may be a competent jurist, a deserving and benevolent character? Not at all. He must be legitimately installed. A relation, involving his right to legislate, must first be constituted ; and from that relation flows the prerogative. Many an incompetent man sustains the relation ; many a worthless incumbent occupies a seat of high constitutional authority ; and many a worthy and quaUfied individual, as all the world knows, is condemned to a private and powerless station, because 7 50 THE LAW OF GOD. DISC. IT, the wortliless, the ambitious, the disqiiahfied, can better clamber into place than he and aie preferred by the doat- ing multitude. It is not then the wisdom, the good- ness, or in any way the infinite perfection of God, that foimds his right as moral governor : not any or all of liis essential attributes, not his glorious and perfect na- ture; but the relations he sustains to his own moral creatures. He is their Maker, Owner, Ruler, Judge, and King ; and by necessaiy and indestructible right, founded in these relations to his own, he may come, as he does, to each of them, Avith language as imperative as this : " Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy powers ; Thou shalt love thy fellow as thyself; and this, all this, perfectly and perpetually, on pain of my judicial and visited displeasure." This is what he does, and has a right to do. Thus, in the preface to the de- calogue, he first installs himself in the legislative rela- tion ; saying, " I am the Lord thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage :" then his mandates are uttered, and Israel acknowledges the Sovereign of worlds ; saying, " Thou shalt have no other Gods before me ;" and so of the others. But for this relation, he could have no right to impose even the ten commandments, or any one of them, notwithstanding their intrinsic excellency. Other- wise, a mere mortal, as Moses, might impose such laws, if he could make them ; and then they would possess a kind of authority too refined, impalpable, and base- less, to compel the assent or convince the understand- DISC. II. THE LAW OP GOD. .51 ing of man or angel. In this case, they would lose theii appropriate character. They would cease to be law ; though they might pass for excellent suggestions, friendly hints, fine maxims, and rules of pure or possi- ble expediency. Such a debilitated code, such sanction- less and contemptible statutes, mandatory in form but merely suasory in fact, would operate only as a solvent to virtue, a premium to vice, and a facility to hcentious- ness. But who is God? and who are his creatures'? Are not we dependent on him, absolutely, perpetually, universally ? Dependent for existence, for all our pro- per attributes, for prosperity and happiness ? This ac- cords with the moral sense of angels and the common sense of men. Let us illustrate it. Suppose the rela- tions not to exist ; and then God comes to us with his law : we reply, " the very challenge of obedience is ini- quitous ; the very attempt to impose any law on us, without our consent by voluntary compact plighted, is oppressive ; we are not thy creatures or thy property, O God ; and though it is lawful for any one to do what he will with his own, yet we are our own, not thine ; as a Being thou art older, mightier, wiser than we are ; but this is no warrant of usurpation on thy part or plea for servility on ours. Might and right are different things, and though we should succumb to superior force we never will consent to tyrannous aggression." But the relations do exist ; and hence how deeply and immoveably are founded the right of the Lawgiver and the duty of the subject ! Every mortal feels the 52 THE LAW OF GOD. DISC. II. practical influence, in proportion as he apprehends the premises. Let us consider our dependence, and God's relations ; let us fully admit that we are created, appro- priated, and subordinate ; and then question, if honestly we can, the right of " the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords," to be our Le- gislator forever. The enemies of God always avoid the premises, just because they can in no other way avoid the conclusion. It may be safely asserted that a rational and moral being, such as man, in proportion as he fuUy discerns in their proper evidence the existence and relations of his Maker, is mentally and morally ne- cessitated to apprehend also the right of Jehovah to legislate and by consequence liis own absolute obliga- tion to obey. But, it will be asked, may not this right be abused, exercised improperly, and vitiated by iniquity ? Cer- tainly it may. Whether it will or not depends on the character of the Lawgiver. lUiat one possessed of power may administer it amiss, may make unequal, inapposite, or injmious laws, is just as evident as that one, without the power, might make good laws, but could not impose them or constitute them laws at all. Whether God ever does abuse his power as a Lawgiver, has indeed been made a question : and the answers have not only been various, but they have divided the moral universe. One immense party, the incomparable and eternal majority of creatures, have held the negative ; luive sincerely maintained the competency of God ; and THE LAW OF GOD. 53 even asserted his glory and perfections. The other party — for there are but two — liave liroached the proud affirmative ; have oppugned the rectitude of the laws and his who made them ; have pretended virtue in re- belhon ; have vaunted their own skill, goodness, and desert, as superior to his ; have revolted, murmured, hated, and blasphemed ; and many have become impla- cably hostile, mahgnant, and even eternal, in tjieir deep incurable aversion. But what is the truth ? " Is the law sin ?" We may discover in the sequel. It now occurs to consider, III. Why did God impose such a law? This question is capable of great perversion ; since it is often asked in a manner vain and vague, as if to solve doubts that have no existence or to remove difficul- ties that are only verbal or imaginary. In this style it might be asked always, no matter what the name or nature of the law ; and then it belongs to the class ol " foohsh or unlearned questions," which an Apostle has ordered us to " avoid," and which unhappily, consti- tute in some chcles the current wisdom, the circulating medium, of misguided and truthless speculation. Alas ! that such mortals should be immortal, such rea- soners accountable, such philosophers obnoxious to damnation ; and yet voluntarily blinded to the infinite glories of truth and righteousness ! But with us the question is serious. Its. answer is in order to piety. The more we understand of the ways of God, the better can we worship and the more enjoy. 54 THE LAW OF GOP. DISC. II, He also challenges our inspection. " O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? The King's strength also loveth judgment. The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious ; and his righteousness endureth forever. The fear of the Lord is the begin- ning of wisdom ; a good understanding have all they that do his commandments : his praise endureth for- ever. I call you not servants ; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth : but I have called you friends ; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." Our object is to show the principles of divine legislation ; to prove their excel- lence ; and thence to infer the excellency of his law. Are the relations of right and wrong founded in the nature of things? Is there any thing properly arbi- trary in the enactments of God ? Is any thing right because he commands it ? or does he command it be- cause it is right ? What relation has his law to happi- ness, to order, to reason, to nature, to evidence ? Does he care for utility ? • Does he pursue certain ends, and good ones, in all his legislation ? Has he given us such a law, in its spirit and modifications, because his wis- dom and goodness approved it as perfect? To all these questions, we reply, There is nothing capricious, passionate, tyrannical, or erring, in our Lawgiver. He is the profoundest Student, I should say Master, of uti- lity, in the universe. To him it appertains to judge, as the infinite Guardian of his own dominions, what is DISC. IT, THE LAW OF GOD. Ot) best. He is the glorious Conservator of happiness in the moral system. To him it seemed necessary to make such a law and to maintain its inviolability. And why may not he do what seems good in his sight, since he alone of beings sees things all just as they are, since to him appearances and realities are the same and no- thing appears good but what is good ? The nature of things he has indeed constituted ; but the criterion of that nature existed eternally in himself and is the con- genial offspring of his own glorious perfections : so that right and wrong, as relations, are ultimately resolvable into his own eternal attributes, as like or unlike them. Whatever tends to happiness is right ; whatever tends to misery is wrong. Here is the foundation of his law. We may speak of his statutes as moral and positive ; and in form or circumstance they may vary so as to warrant the classification. But their nature, whether resulting from the nature of things, or the relations of things, whether general or particular, whether tempo- rary or permanent, whether mysterious or manifest, their nature is one and the same, is excellent alone, is worthy of the incomparable excellence of God. .He has made us capable of discerning, as he discerns, the immutable moral difference of right and wrong, of happiness and misery; only that his discernment is perfect, universal, and never impeded or confused. His discernment is eternal intuition, the discernment of Omniscience. But we discern elementarily and in principle the very same opposition of qualities. To 56 THE LAW OF GOD. DIS. If. murder, torture, and calumniate another, is wrong be- cause it is contrary to law : but the law has forbidden it because it tends to misery, and because no man would think it right for him to receive such treatment just as it suited the mood of his fellow to dispense it. But laws must be impartial. They must act reciprocally between equals, and warrant or proscribe to each that course of conduct which himself would warrant or proscribe to an- other. Hence, there is a sense in which every man prac- tically approves the law of God : he judges others in light of its equal principles, and accuses or acquits them just as they are or are not seen to do to others what they would that others should do to them. Here is a moral dilem- ma out of which for the sinner to extricate himself, if he can. God has so organized his mind that, unless blinded by ignorance of facts or selfishness of princi- ples, he always applies the same criterion of right which God himself applies. " Out of his own mouth" will God condemn him. Were it not for the spirit of per- versity, the moral homage of every human being would be directly and ingenuously rendered to the law of Go4- " They are a law unto themselves ;" and must get rid of their moral nature, before they can escape their moral responsibility. The wicked themselves are sometimes acute and accurate casuists. They know very well what a christian ought to be and how he ought to act. They believe in the existence of moral evil, in its odious nature and desert of punishment, when they are the objects of it ; and it is only when DISC. II. THE LAW OP OOD. 57 they are the subjects of it, that their doubts, and diffi- culties, and palliatives begin. They acknowledge goodness, when they are made the objects of it, in cer- tain affecting cases, where selfishness has no bribe or place to operate ; and it is only when their own obliga- tions to goodness are pressed, that their cavils and ex- cuses occur to them. Now, of all these facts and de- velopements, millions of them probably in the case of every sinner, will the cause of righteousness be availed in the day of judgment. God will rescue the truth from perversion ; arm every conscience with its " ght- termg sword ;" vindicate himself to the conviction of the universe ; and confound all hell with the evidence of his rectitude. Meanwhile, the inconceivably vaster multitudes above will be ravished with the spectacle. ■' And it shall be said in that day, Lo this is our God ; we have waited for him, and he will save us : this is the Lord ; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. O Lord, tliou art our God ; we will exalt thee, we will praise thy name ; for thou hast done wonderful things ; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Alleluia. Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, imto the Lord our God ; for true and righteous are his judgments. And again they said. Alleluia. And a voice came out from the throne, saying. Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thun- 8 58 THE LAW OF (tOD. DISC. II. deringSj saying Alleluia ; for the Lord Cuul Omnipo- tent reigneth." I proposed to answer the question. IV. What concern have we with the law, SINCE TO BE SAVED BY IT IS IMPOSSIBLE .^ It is not of the nature of law to show mercy. This pertains, in possible or provided cases, to the sovereignty of the Lawgiver. A law that provides for pardon, pro- vides for its OAvn prostration. It is an ill instrument of order, a worthless guardian of right ; in short, its na- ture is destroyed, and it is law no longer. Hence, law can absolve the innocent alon(3. Towards the guilty, as the organ of pure justice, " the law worketh wrath" and anticipates nothing but executed penalty. It does not even propose, require, or recognise atonement. This belongs to the supreme arbitration of the Lawgiver. Thus God, when we were all guilty, forecasting our salvation by means that should leave the ermine of his righteousness not oidy imstained and unsullied, but even brightened in its purity to the vision of his sub- jects ; God, knowing how he could answer and even transcend the ends of punishment in a way of atone- ment, accepted the costly sacrifice frum his own self- immolated Son, that he might magnify his inviolable justice in " a new and living way" — that he " might be just and the juslilicr of him that lu-licvcth in Jesus." But was it any part of (he design of ihe Savioiu's propitiatory death to abolish the law of his Father? or 1.0 impair its jurisdiction ' or to put the attainder of DISC. ir. THE LAW OF GOD. 59 criie'l on its terrific sanctions ? Precisely the opposite of this, was the purpose and the achievement of his ex- piation. He " magnified the law and made it honour- able f but he also introduced a way of salvation, that was not legal, but evangehcal, gracious, and worthy of eternal praise. When, on his account, we are released from the penalty, we are not absolved from the precept, of the law. He has not purchased indulgences for his people, or consecrated transgression, or commanded hcentiousness. Consequently, we are eternally obli- gated to holiness. The gospel is so constituted that its benefits cannot be made ours, without that cordial appro- bation of the law, which involves essential conformity to its spirit, and which is included in the very nature of ol)edience to the gospel. Hence our moral concern with the law is inalienable. It instructs us into the nature of duty, sin, ill-desert, spiritual destitution, our need of a Saviour, our awful liabilities, and the absolute necessity of accepting Christ as "the end of the law for righteous- ness to every one that believeth." It appears probable to me that eternal life never could be the entailment or result merely of law. " For Mo- ses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man who doeth these things shall live by them ;"' that is, as long as he docs tiiem he si i all live, he shall be justified : his obedience and his justification shall parallel each other as far as the former extends. It was so with " the angels that kept not their first estate.'^ For a season they i>erfectly obeyed, and they 60 THE LAW OF GOD. DISC. II lived as long. But was this conlirmation ? was it eter- nal life? where are they now? God has probably given a probation of perfect obedience to all his moral offspring; and if, according to the conditions consti- tuted, their obedience endured through the allotted pe- riod, they were then confirmed in holiness and happi- ness forever — and this is life eternal. But here it results from covenant, not law. It was not indeed the covenant of grace, nor the probation of grace ; it was still a cove- nant, by sovereign goodness vouchsafed, and appended to law, but of a nature all its own. Law is one thing ; covenant is another. God is imder no obligations to institute a covenant with one of liis moral creatures. To withhold it originally would be no injury. Tlius, should he create a moral agent, place him under law, tell him that his justification should always coincide with his obedience, and tell him no more ; and should such a subject ol)ey through any given period, and should God then in a moment abstract his being with- out any pain inflicted and thus annihilate him forever — where would be the injury ? Would not perfect equity balance the accounts of Ijoth parties ? I think it would. True, such a case prolialaly never occurred and may never occur. It is however not the less proper by way of illustration. ^'- An angel from heaven" probably never preached the gospel, and certainly not " an other gospel;" yet the supposition is made by an apostle to illustrate our duty in other cases. Apart from what might be conjectiucd as to the consequences if our first DISC. TI. THE LAW OP GOD. 61 parents had retained tlieir integrity in Eden ; and apart from the nature of the national covenant made with the Israehtes at Sinai, concerning which opinions vary, 1 have yet to learn if eternal life is any where represented in scripture as the earnings possibly of human obe- dience. " For the wages of sin is death : but eternal life is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all vmder sin, that the promise by faitli of Jesus Christ might Ije given to them that believe." The law however has its important uses. One of these, it has been already shown, is that it subserves the experience of genuine religion in the soul. It is used by the Spirit in his gracious work of regeneration, sanc- tification, and even glorification. It teaches us the spi- rituality of duty, sin, obedience, and requirement. It thus revolutionizes th» ancient antinomianism of the soul ; corrects its mistakes ; enhghtens, purifies, hum- bles, and convinces it ; and thus inspires right views of the nature of religion, prej^aring it for a cordial and an intelligent acceptance of (Jhrist. This was precisely its ministry in the case of the apostle, as recorded in the context. Previous to this process of law- work in his soul, he was a self-glorying Pharisee. His outward character was indeed extraordinary. It was " blame- less." His morals were unblemished. His religion was cultivated with great proficiency, and exemplified 62 THE I-AW OF GOD. DISC. 11. with singular consistency, coin-age, and zeal. (Jould one mortal of our species have been saved on his own account, and without the grace that is in Christ Jesus, that mortal were Saul of Tarsus. His own correct manner of life was an object of envy or applause to his countrymen, and a subject, of congratulation and self-complacency to himself It constituted his justi- fication created his hope, and sustained liis perse- verance. It was " life" to him ; for, as he says, " I was ulive without the law once ;" that is, without any just conc(;plioii of the law, as if it were a body without a soul. Ho he kept it, and gloried in his own sufficiency. Like a bankrupt merchant, who precludes an exami- nation of his accounts, trades upon his own fancied capital, and feels as solvent as if he owed nothing, and as if his income were affluence. Now, by what means came he^o the knowledge of his own deploralile bank- ruptcy and the ruin of his sjiiritual aflUirs ? How was he brought to stop payment, to meet his creditors, to surrender all, and to compound with their mercy with- out the fraction of a farthing in the pound. Answer — through the knowledge of the law, of its spirituafity, perfection, eternal excellency, and uncompromising ex- actitude. Now his righteousness evanished, his hope was extinguished, his sins — like the ghosts of murdered men — rose from the dead to haunt and convulse his lx)som, and liis anguish of soid Avas acute and ingenu- ous as nothing but a corresponding experience can ade- quately evince. Hear his own account. " For I was DISC. II. THE LAW OF GOD. 63 alive without the law once ; but when the command- ment came, sin revived, and I died." By what means came this spiritual knowledge of the law to illumine his perceptions ? I answer, by means of a fixed and honest attention, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, to the nature and terms of the law. " What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law : for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the command- ment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead." By " the law" he means comprehensively the whole code ; by " the com- mandment" a single precept, and that the tenth, of the decalogue. But why fix on this ? The answer is — that the tenth is the only one of the ten that is ex- expressly spiritual in its terms : " Thou shalt not covet ;" that is, thou shalt not desire any forbidden or unlawful object. The word " lust," as it here occurs, is much more generic and extensive in the original than in oiu- English translation. It is often used in the New Testament in a perfectly general sense, for de- sire ; sometimes in a good sense for holy desire. Here it means any wayward inclination of tlie soul towards a forbidden object. His previous views of the law left that fountain of concupiscence imexplored. He was almast or quite unconscious of its existence. He had never brought it into judgment or compared it with that etherial standard that demands -M rut h in the inward 64 . THE LAW OF GOD. DISC. 11. parts.'' Hence he mistook every thing. Like other Jews, his piety expatiated only in the exterior ; and here was the cardinal mistake of I he nation. On this account they refused a spiritual, and ex[jected a secular, Messiah. But it is a mistake by no means confined to the Jews. It is the sin and misery of human na- ture. Spirituality marks the boundaries of the king- dom of heaven, including all the spiritual and excluding all the carnal of the species. It is the index and the criterion of true religion, as contradistinguished from fabulous and vain, from imaginings of folly, and doings of self-righteousness. What a transformation is presented in the example of Paul ! What a glori- ous convert ! How differently does he speak and act, think and feel, suffer and enjoy, after he came to know and to approve the moral law, that mirror of the divine perfections ! " Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, worJcing death in me by that which is good ; that sin by the commandment might Ijecome exceeding sinful" — or, according to the bold personification of the original, " that sin might be- come an exceeding sinner !" He adds, " For we know that the law is spiritual ;" not the tenth commandment only, but the whole law. The jurisdiction of God affects the spirits of men ; aims at the soul ; demands the heart ; and comparatively annihilates all considera- tion of our moral exterior. And is it wrong in this? DISC. II. THE LAW OF GOD. 65 No ! ft is holy, just, and good." And, says every tme worshipper, " I consent unto the law that it is good. I delight in the law of God, after the inward man. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliv