ousness, are willing and desirous to be justified through the righteousness of Christ, and to "be found in him, not having their own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." These have renounced their own righteousness as being insufficient to justify them before God. They have renounced the world and all its fascinating pomps and vanities; the flesh with its affections and lusts; their former allegiance to Satan and delight in his works. They delight in the law of the Lord, which they now find to be "holy, just, and good.”

We shall now conclude this discourse with a short application of the subject. You have heard how awful and miserable is the condition of sinners -of all men while unrenewed in heart and life. You have also heard the blessed state of those whose sins are forgiven, and who have God for their portion. We do not ask to which of these two parties you would belong in that hour when the world will take its leave of you, when the cold hand of death is upon you, and when your departing soul is about to appear in the world of spirits. But we would earnestly press you upon this question, To which of them do you Now belong? If to the former, who are still concluded under sin, its dominion, and its

1 Phil. iii. 9.

curse, we can speak to you no comfortable words; we can hold out to you no ground of hope as long as you remain in your present state. But we would faithfully and affectionately exhort you to continue in it no longer. Your life is very uncertain: death is cutting down its victims on every side: you and I may be the next that will be numbered with the dead.

If to the latter party you belong, then, indeed, happy are ye. Only allow me to remind you that you are still in an enemy's land. Your race is not run; but hold on your course, and soon you will arrive at the desired goal,-" So an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

22 Pet. i. 11.

41

SERMON IV.

ON THE LAW.

ROм. iii. 20.

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh

be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

A RIGHT understanding of the nature and design of the law is necessary to all who would be saved by God's appointed method. For, without a correct knowledge of the law, a man cannot know his true condition as that of a sinner before God: and if he knows not his condition, he sees not the adaptation to that condition, or the value, of the salvation provided by the Lord Christ. "The whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick."

The words of the text is a conclusion to which

the apostle came from several premises. That

conclusion is,

THE INADEQUACY OF MAN'S OBEDIENCE TO THE This con

LAW, TO CONSTITUTE HIM RIGHTEOUS. clusion he further confirms by stating

THE USE OR Design of the law.

I. WE SHALL SHOW THE INADEQUACY OF MAN'S OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW, TO CONSTITUTE HIM RIGHT

EOUS. "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight."

The "law" here means the moral law ;-the law revealed on mount Sinai, and comprised in the Ten Commandments. That law is of universal and perpetual obligation, under which God placed mankind. It is true that the moral law was not, as far as we know, revealed to Adam in his state of innocency, as it was afterward revealed to Moses, and has been transmitted to us. But Adam being created in the image of God, had no need of such a revelation of the law: for the law was inwrought in his mind. There was an entire and a natural conformity of his whole man with this moral law; and this entire and natural conformity with the law constituted Adam's perfect and natural righteousness. Previous to his fall there was not the least defilement. There was no darkness in his understanding; he knew his Master's will, and his Crea

tor's perfection. There was no obliquity or perverseness in Adam's will; his will lay straight along or parallel with the will of God. There was no corruption in his affections; he loved and delighted in his God. In a word, all the faculties of his soul were moulded after the holy image of his Creator; and all the powers of his body were subservient to those of the inner man and both soul and body were consecrated to the service and glory of God. The character and state of Adam were perfectly holy and happy, as he came out of the Creator's hånd.

:

1

But from that blessed state Adam fell; and in him as their covenant head, all his posterity fell also and all partake of his sinful nature; "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." In consequence of our sinful nature, derived from Adam, we now cannot obey the moral law; we cannot do what the law requires of us, so as to be righteous or justified when we are tried and judged by the law. "Of ourselves, and by ourselves, we have no goodness, help, or salvation; but contrariwise, sin, damnation, and death everlasting." "In ourselves, as of ourselves, we find nothing whereby we may be delivered from this miserable

1 Rom. iii. 23.

2 Homily II. " Of the Misery of Man." Part 2nd.