whole attainments in obedience, have been as nothing, literally nothing, in comparison with our failures and our defects. The poorest bankrupt that ever lived, has discharged a larger portion of his debt to men, than we have of our debt to God. His state in his relation, is far better than yours; for you have been still increasing your debt, every hour, and every moment of your lives. The very best works of the best of men, if tried thus by the touchstone of God's perfect law, would be in themselves, but an accumulation of guilt against the day of wrath. There is in them no good thing. And the more clearly they see the excellence of the law, the more deeply will they feel humbled, under the conviction of this fact.

This self-abasing view of our own character is indispensable. We must cast aside every delusive plea of comparative innocence and harmlessness,--and judge ourselves as we are judged by the Lord. By this judgment we must abide forever; and if we come unpardoned under its power, the doom which it assigns, is absolute and unchangeable. When the book of his remembrance is laid open, the secrets of your hearts will be brought to light-your own consciences will attest the truth of the divine accusations, and the equity of the sentence which God shall pronounce. In the action of this spiritual and holy law, there can be no respect of persons. Its judgments will be severe in proportion to advantages which have been neglected and unimproved. O, that God may enable you to understand, and to consider, well, these solemn truths! May he enable you in entire self-abasement, and humility of mind, to cast yourselves in the very dust before him, under the burden of your conscious guilt!

This view of the spiritual character of the law, shows the fallacy of all attempts in man to establish a righteousness before God by works of his own. There is not a single divine precept which does not testify against our guilt before the throne of God. There is not a single precept which will

relax its purity or its obligation on our account. It is a vain idea, that the Lord Jesus Christ has lowered the demands of the law, that they might be brought within the compass of man's infirmity, and he be thus enabled to comply with them. Surely there is nothing in his instructions to sanction such an idea;-He has summed up the decalogue in the blessed precepts of love,-but in neither of them, has he set aside the obligations of a single command. Has he made any abatement in their demands? Did the law require too much of man, before his coming? How was it then, holy, just, and good? Did it only require exactly what was due from man to God? How then could the Saviour reduce these demands, without robbing God of the obedience which was really due from his creatures? Nay,-how can God ever lower the holy demands of his righteous law? How can he divest himself of his glory, or give his creatures a liberty to violate his will? His law is necessarily unchangeable, like himself. It is the simple expression of his own mind and character. And the obligation to love him with supreme and undivided affection, is an immutable obligation upon every rational creature. It is a demand necessarily unalterable forever. And if any man would obtain a righteousness, by works of his own, he must obey it perfectly, in act and spirit, and that forever. Because this is utterly impossible for man, who is a transgressor from his birth, the very thought of obtaining acceptance with God, by any works of the law, must be given up by every soul of man. From this you are driven forever. If you would be saved at all, it must be in some other method than this. You must have some other righteousness, more commensurate with the holy demands of the law, and more consistent with the unchanging honour of the law-giver;—a righteousness which can magnify the law, and make it honourable. Such an obedience is fully provided for you, and freely offered to you, in the perfect and meritorious subjection of

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the Lord Jesus to the law in your behalf. In him you may be justified and glory. But in every act of obedience of your own, you will be found wanting, and will be condemned.

The distinct understanding of this subject, is of the utmost consequence. The simple assertion of the text ought to be the language of your own experience, "We know that the law is spiritual." And yet, of what are men more generally ignorant, than of this vital subject? Unwilling to acknowledge themselves justly condemned, and yet unable to deny their violations of divine commandments, they would reduce the holiness of the law to their own standard, rather than seek, out of themselves, a righteousness which shall meet it. They are anxious to lessen their undeniable criminality before God, and to do this, they would charge his commandments with unreasonable strictness, and thus make him a partaker of their guilt. All this effort however, though it may delude themselves, cannot deceive him. You must settle it in your minds, as an indisputable and fundamental fact, that this spiritual, searching nature of the divine law, must remain unchanged forever. By understanding and feeling the truth of this, you will be able to comprehend the purposes which the law designs; and the uses and operations, to which it is directed by the Divine Law-giver. Such a knowledge and understanding will wean you from all vain confidence in yourselves; will persuade you to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils; will compel you to lay aside every notion that you have anything to offer unto God: and urge you to look for, and to receive that blessed provided righteousness in Christ the Lord, which enables you to answer the utmost demands of the lawgiver upon your souls. This actual obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, is freely offered to every penitent and believing soul. Destitute of it, you remain under an unsatisfied curse; and exposed to the just anger of God, in every moment of your lives. You are without hope

or peace. The law which condemns you is spiritual, and you are carnal, sold under sin. It sentences you to death, and delivers you over unto wrath, in every single precept which it contains. It is the extreme of infatuation, to look for its possible approval, for justification and life. It will be certain and everlasting death, to venture into judgment before God, upon the foundation of any obedience of your own to its requirements.

These may appear to you, hard sayings. The Spirit of God alone, can enable you to receive them. He only can subdue your pride and vain confidence, and show to you, that by the very law to which you foolishly cling, you are inevitably condemned and ruined. O, that this convincing agency of the law by the power of the Spirit, might be received and exercised in the conscience of all who listen to me! That you might be compelled to cry out, under its weight and influence, "God be merciful to us sinners!" That you could be constrained, in this view of the unbending and impossible demands of the law of God, not only to ask in anxiety, "What shall I do to be saved?" but to renounce all hope of salvation by doings of every kind, and freely and thankfully to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself, righteousness and salvation to every soul that seeks him. In him, being justified by faith, you have peace with God; and resting not upon your own obedience to the law for righteousness, but upon his; having fulfilled it in him, you are renewed after its image, and enabled to honour and adorn it, walking not according to the flesh, but after the Spirit. This is the divine provision in your behalf, which fully meets, and everlastingly honours, the spiritual and holy law of the most High God.

LECTURE IV.

THE PRESENT USE OF THE LAW.

Wherefore then serveth the law?-GALATIANS, III. 19.

THE law of which the apostle here speaks is the moral law; that perfect rule of obedience to the divine Creator, which is imposed upon every intelligent and responsible creature. He is treating of the free and perfect justification of sinful man, according to the provisions of grace which are announced in the Gospel. He teaches the great fact, that God announced these provisions of grace, as the only foundation of human hope, and the only means of security to the guilty, long before the Saviour's incarnation, and ages previous to the introduction of the Jewish dispensation. This was the Gospel which God preached unto Abraham, who believed its promises, and was justified by his faith. By the same instrumentality of faith in the truth and power of God, all who in subsequent ages believed, were justified with faithful Abraham. But no man was ever justified by his own obedience, or made just in the sight of God by his relation to the law; for the law brings upon man who is always a sinner under it, nothing but a curse. This is the argument of the apostle, in the comparison which he institutes between the promise of grace, giving life to faith in the divine covenant, and the law of commandments, uttering death upon every transgression. His conclusion is, that the publication of the law, which was long subsequent to the establishment of this covenant of grace, can have no influence to change the