but filthy rags, but to the righteousness of Chrift, which he is the author of, and is in him, and who was made fin for his people, that they might be made the righteousness of God in bim'. IV. The last thing to be confidered is, the continuance of the tables in the ark; which remained there until the time that Mofes was about to die, even many years after they had been put there; and they remained there many ages after that; and which may fignify the abiding of the law in the hands of Chrift, the anti-type of the ark, even under the gofpel-difpenfation; the typical ark, and the tables in it, being no more, having their full accomplishment in Christ. ift, Let it be observed that there is a fense in which the law is abolished, and continues not; the law and gospel are set in a contraft by the apostle; the one is faid to be done away, and the other that which remaineth; which is the everlafting gospel, the word of God that abides for ever. When the law is in a fenfe faid to become dead, and believers in Chrift dead to that, and delivered from it, this must be understood of it as a covenant of works; as fuch it was made with Adam, the federal head of all his pofterity, in which he was a figure and type of the Melfiah that was to come, the covenant-head of his fpiritual offspring. This covenant Adam broke, and all his posterity in him; and so he conveyed fin and death to them, from which there is no deliverance but by Christ the fecond Adam: and he has redeemed his people that were under the law, and subject to the curfe and condemnation of it, from it, as a covenant of works, entailing death and damnation on them; fo that they are not under the law as a covenant of works, but under grace", the covenant of grace; even as they are not under the law of fin as a reigning principle in them, but under grace as a governing one. Likewife the law remains not as a yoke of bondage: it gendered indeed unto bondage, and brought a fpirit of bondage on them that were under it; but Chrift has made his people free from it, and called them to liberty; and they are bid to stand fast in the liberty with which he has made them free, and not be intangled again with the yoke of bondage. And indeed the law itfelf, as in the hands of Chrift, is a law of liberty, and which his people ferve chearfully and voluntarily, being made willing in the day of Chrift's power upon them; not only to embrace his gofpel, and fubmit to his ordinances, but to ferve the law of God. with their whole mind and fpirit. The commandments of it are not grievous. and heavy, being affifted by the Spirit and grace of God to obey them from sight principles, and from right views; not to obtain life, but from a principle of life and grace implanted in them; fo that this burden, if it may be called one, is light and eafy, and borne with delight and pleasure. The • 2 Cor. #. 21. 42 Cor. iii. 11. Rom. vii. 4, 6. Rom. vi. 14. The law remains not as a terrifying law; it was attended with terror when delivered on mount Sinai; it was a fiery law to the Ifraelites, when they heard it spoken out of the midst of fire, and faw the lightnings, and heard the thunder that accompanied it, it made them tremble, and even Mofes himself exceedingly feared and quaked; and when it comes into a finner's conscience, it works wrath, and leaves a fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation. It is dreadful to them that are under it; hence, fays the apostle, Tell me, ye that defire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? its dreadful menaces and curses? But the believer in Chrift has nothing to fear from the terrors of the law and its threatenings, for he is delivered from the curfe and condemnation of it by Chrift; and though it thunders out terrible vollies of curfes on fuch who are of the works of it, and are under it, and continue not in all things written in it to do them, yet none of these can reach to or fall on the believer in Christ; for Chrift bas redeemed him from the curfe of the law, being made a curfe for bim: nor is there any condemnation, not one condemnation, were there as many sentences of condemnation pronounced as fins committed, not one of them that can be executed on them that are in Chrift, who are secured in his person, and redeemed by his blood; fince he has been condemned for them, and fin has been condemned in his flesh, when he fuffered and died for them; and therefore who is be that condemneth? it is Chrift that died"; whose death is a fecurity from all condemnation by fin, Satan, the world, or by their own hearts and confciences. They that believe in Chrift are paffed from death to life, and shall never enter into condemnation; and therefore, however the law may be a curfing and damning law to others, it remains not fo to them. Moreover it remains not, and is not to be fought unto for juftification; for by the deeds of it there fhall no flesh, or any man, be justified in the fight of God; but a man, and every man that is juftified in a gospel fenfe, is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law; and it is a vain and fruitlefs thing to feek for righteoufnefs by it. The Jews, who followed after the law of righteousness, and purfued it with great vigour and earneftnefs, did not attain unto it, because they fought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law; and this is the cafe of every man that takes the fame courfe: nay, it is not only vain and fruitless to attempt to obtain righteousness that way, but it is finful and wicked; for fuch who go about to establish their own righteousness, not only betray their ignorance of God's righteoufnefs, and the pride and vanity of their hearts, and trust in themselves, and defpife others, but even submit not to, yea treat with neglect and contempt, the righteoufness of the God-man and mediator, Jefus Chrift. But then, 2dly, In other refpects the law continues invariable, unalterable, and unchangeable; nor is it made null and void under the gofpel-difpenfation, or by it; Do we make void the law through faith? Do we difannul it, fet it afide, and make no use of it, or render it of no effect, either through the grace of faith, or believing in Chrift, or through the doctrine of faith in general, the gospel, or through the particular doctrine of justification by faith in the righteousness of Chrift, of which doctrine the apostle is treating? God forbid: it is detefted by us, yea we establish the law; we fet it on its proper bafis, on a fure foundation; and bring that righteousness to it wrought out by Chrift, which is commenfurate to all its demands, and gives it honour: for we know that the law is good, the author of it is good, who is God; the matter of it is good, being holy, just, and good; and the use of it is good, if a man ufe it lawfully; for there is a lawful and an unlawful ufe of the law. It is used unlawfully when men make the works of it the terms of their acceptance with God, the matter of their justification before him, and the causes or conditions of their falvation. Otherwise it may be lawfully used; and it is of use to believers themselves, as, 1. To point out to them what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God; what that is which is holy, juft, and good; what ought to be done, or not to be done; what should be carefully performed, and what fhunned and avoided; what is a man's duty to God and to his neighbour. For the law of God, as we have feen, includes both, and is a tranfcript of the holy and unchangeable will of God; what is his pleasure men should do or abstain from. 2. Another use of it, and for which it remains, is, that it is a glafs in which believers may behold the deformity of their nature, the impurity of their hearts, and the imperfection of their obedience; and it is only of this ufe to enlightened minds: for of what service is a glass to a blind man? hold it before him, and he can fee nothing in it, or by it: fo fet the law before an unenlightened finner, and he will fee nothing in it, nor through it; but an enlightened man, a believer in Chrift, can fee his face in it, and perceive what manner of man he is, in his nature, life, and actions: and when he compares himself with the law that is holy, juft, good, and fpiritual, he fees that he is in himself unholy, unrighteous, evil, and carnal, and fold under fin, as the apostle did": when he is led to obferve the extent of the law, and the fpirituality of it, reaching to the thoughts of the heart, as well as to the outward actions of life, he cries out with David, I have feen an end of all perfection, thy commandment is exceeding broad: he defpairs of attaining to perfection by it, and even of attaining to a righteoufoefs through it, adequate to its requirements; he grows out of conceit VOL. I. with • See Sermon XIII called, The Law established by the Gospel, on Rom. iii. 31. d Rom. iii. 31. f ■ Tim. i. 8. Rom. xii. z. Rom. vii. 12, 14. Pfalm cxix. 95. with himself and his own righteousness, which he now renounces and rejects in the business of his juftification before God, and acceptance with him. Wherefore, 3. The law is occafionally of further ufe to believers, to endear the righteoufness of Christ unto them, and to make them value it the more; when they see their own righteoufnefs in the account of the law, being neither as to matter nor manner done as that requires; that it is a covering too narrow to wrap themfelves in, and a bed too fhort to ftretch themselves on; that it will not cover their naked fouls, nor fhelter them from the wrath and justice of God, or render them acceptable in his fight. How precious then is the righteousness of Christ, when set before them as revealed in the gofpel, from faith to faith; that being the righteousness of God and not of a creature; a righteousness pure and perfect, well-pleafing in the fight of God, answerable to all the demands of law and justice, which justifies them that believe, from all things they could not be juftified from by the law of Mofes; an everlasting righteousness, and which will answer for them in a time to come! hence they love it, prize it, praise it, lay hold upon it, and defire to be found in it, living and dying, and not in their own. 4. The law is in the hands of Chrift as a rule of walk and converfation, directing believers how to conduct and behave themselves under his influence. The whole fcripture, given by infpiration of God, is the ftandard of faith and practice, and the rule of both the gospel-part of it is profitable for doctrine, and is the teft of that; and the law-part of it refpects duty, and points to that; wherefore to the law and to the testimony; if men speak not, and act not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Christ is king and lawgiver in his house and kingdom, the church; and befides fome pofitive commands which he has delivered out, there is a repetition of the law in the New Teftament; a new edition of it, published under the authority and fanction of Christ; fo that we are now under the law to him, and under new obligations to obey it, as held forth by him. And it is to be obeyed from love, in faith, and to the glory of God, without any finifter, selfish, mercenary ends and views. It is to be obeyed from love to God and Chrift; the end of the commandment is charity, or love; out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and faith unfeignedTM: not the terrors of the law, but the love of Chrift conftrains believers in him to yield a chearful obedience to it; which they do through faith in him, depending on him for grace and ftrength to ferve him in it. Of all men in the world none are under greater obligations to be careful to maintain good works than believers, and none fo capable of performing them as they, and none fo ready to do them; and in doing which they seek not themselves, but the glory of God; and which, as *Ifai. viii. 20. I Cor. ix. 21. 1 Tim. i. 5. as it should be, they make their chief end, as in civil things, fo much more in religious duties; and when they have done all they can, and are affifted to do, they own they are but unprofitable fervants; do not and cannot merit any thing at the hands of God, but expect eternal life and falvation as the free gift of God through Chrift. And now, true believers, who behold the law in the hand of Christ, and as fulfilled by him, delight in it, after the inward man; and though with the flesh they ferve the law of fin, to the grief and diftrefs of their fouls, yet with the mind the law of God". Upon the whole, let it be an instruction and direction to you to look to the law only as in Chrift; viewed otherwise it is a terrible law, a fiery one, working wrath and threatening with it; throwing out its menaces, curfes, damnation, and death; but view it in Chrift, and there it is fulfilled, its curfe removed, its demands answered, and that itself magnified and made honourable; and appears lovely and amiable, to be delighted in and served with pleasure. Look upon both tables of the law as in the ark, look to the ark, and them in that; and forget not to caft an eye to the mercy-feat fo near it, which was a cover or lid unto it, and of equal length and breadth with it; the mystery of which you will easily understand, that Christ in his obedience, sufferings, and death, and as the propitiation, is equal to all the demands of law and juftice. The ark, with the tables in it, the mercy-feat upon that, the cherubim of glory overfhadowing the mercy-feat, between which the Shekinah or divine Majefty dwelt, are such a glorious fpiritual hieroglyphic as was never feen in the world befides; fuch a group of wonders, fuch an affemblage of the myfteries of grace, fuch a cluster of glorious truths are in it, which when you behold, fay, if ever you faw a fight like this! The ark, and the tables in it, fignify, as we have seen, Christ, and the law fulfilled by him, and continued in him; the mercy-feat, Chrift the propitiation, and the grace and mercy of God ftreaming through him as fuch; the cherubim, the minifters of the word in general; and being two, may respect the prophets of the Old Teftament, and the apostles and minifters of the New, looking at one another, and agreeing together, and both pointing at Chrift the mercy-feat; among whom Jehovah dwells, and with whom he is and will be unto the end of the world. Here may be feen at once the law fulfilled and juftice fatisfied, mercy in its triumphs over juftice, and yet both in perfect harmony and concord. Here mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kifs each other. Most of thefe truths may be feen together in one paffage of the apoftle; whom, speaking of Chrift, God hath fet forth, in his eternal purposes and decrees, to be a propitiation, (aspor, the word the Greek verfion uses for the mercy-feat) through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remiffion |