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LECTURE VIII.

CHRIST, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW.

Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, to every one that believeth.-ROMANS, X. 4.

THIS text asserts a fact of unspeakable importance to guilty man. It teaches the full scheme of divine redemption for him, as a rebel against God, and under the condemnation of his law. It comes to him in this lost condition, with the intelligence, that there is a Saviour provided for him by the love of God, in whose power and work, all his necessities may find an adequate and everlasting supply. It proclaims that all fulness dwells in him; and that the demands of the law upon man are answered and removed, by the perfect and everlasting righteousness which he has finished, and which he offers to the acceptance of all who believe in him. The Holy Spirit employs the law as his instrument, to convince the sinner of his certain condemnation in sin, and then to guide him to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only refuge and security for his soul. He there displays to him the sufficiency and fulness of this Saviour, who has perfected an obedience which meets all the requisitions of the law, and which is freely offered, and fully applied by his power, to every believing soul. Christ is himself the righteousness of the law for man. And the man who has received him, is in possession of a righteousness, which releases him forever from condemnation, and entitles him to a glorious and everlasting reward. His actual work, finished in the days of his humiliation, and now offered to the Father

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in the glories of his exaltation, is the whole foundation of hope for man, and the entire ground upon which he may appear in peace before the throne of God. This is the treasure which is offered in the Gospel,-and the simple object for trust and confidence to the Christian heart. This entire perfection of the work of Christ, in meeting the demands of the law, is the subject which is presented for our consideration in the text before us. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." May the same blessed Spirit who applies this finished provision of grace to the sinner's soul, enable us to understand and embrace it.

I. "Christ is the end of the law." The accomplishment or perfection of the law: the end to which its promulgation was directed, and the result which its operation by the power of the Spirit attains. To him, in its communication to man, it was designed to lead, and in him, all its demands and purposes have been fulfilled. Through centuries of its publication to guilty man, the law was travelling forward to reach his manifestation in the fulness of the time. And in him, it finds the actual fulfilment of all its purposes, so that it is satisfied and well pleased in him, and gives place to his gracious and holy dominion forever. Having in its dispensation to a fallen world, brought the redeemed of Christ to him, it had no further work to do; its warfare was accomplished, and its journey at an end. Having as the instrument of the Holy Spirit, brought the sinner's soul in faith to Christ, and witnessed the acceptance of him there, through the grace of God, it has attained its perfect end with him; and rejoices in the glory which it has received from this Almighty conqueror, while it delivers up to him, the subjects of his grace.

1. Christ, is the end, to which, the law as a dispensation was designed to lead. The full redemption which divine wisdom and love had already provided, and laid up in him, ready to be revealed in the appointed time, was the point in

view, in all its promulgations to mankind. The publication of the precepts of holiness in the moral law was to lead the hope of the guilty to him. It was not designed to open a way of safety and life to transgressors in their own obedience. Its purpose was directly the reverse. It invited none. It faithfully and solemnly warned all, to fly from its sentence, and from the attempt to gain acceptance by fulfilling it. By exhibiting the perfect spotlessness which was required in acceptable obedience, and displaying the impossibility, that man should ever accomplish it by any works of his own, it urged forward the desires of men for salvation, to some other source. The law was thus added, or proclaimed anew to man from time to time, because of transgressions,-to convince him of his guilt; and to witness and minister from generation to generation, to the coming of that promised seed, in whom the righteousness of God should be manifested, and the hope of man should be found. It thus constrained every believer in the divine promise, to look forward to him; making him the desire of all nations;-and causing him to be looked for and welcomed, by all who were waiting for consolation, and redemption from the burden of guilt. He was the treasure which it was pressing forward to attain. He was the haven of rest, in which it desired to land its subjects in safety at the last; and its purpose and operation would be incomplete, till he should come, in whom it had pleased the Father, that all fulness should dwell.

The rites and ceremonies which were appended to this law were also designed to lead to Christ. Every sacrifice offered with fire, from the time of Abel, pointed to him, and was but an unmeaning rite, except as the conscience of the offerer acknowledged guilt, and his faith rested upon the one great sacrifice divinely provided, and divinely promised. The purifications and washings appointed for Israel, the construction of the tabernacle and the temple, the habitual worship which

was celebrated in them, and the multiplied ordinances which were appended to this whole system, were designed to lead the mind to him, in whom all righteousness should be fulfilled, and complete redemption should be found. These were all shadows, of good things to come, which were already laid up in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and would be revealed in his manifestation to men. They made nothing perfect in themselves. They were like guide posts upon a journey, fulfilling their office, by directing faith to him, in whom the traveller should find actual redemption, and eternal peace. As they are viewed in this connexion, they are beautifully intelligible, and highly instructive. If they are separated from this key of explanation, they are but inexplicable and arbitrary appointments, and a yoke which none were able to bear. Christ is the end, in which they were all to meet, and to be perfected.

2. Christ is the end, in whom all the demands of the law, are actually accomplished; so that the law sees in him its real and entire perfection. He has fulfilled all the shadows and ceremonies which were appointed to lead to him. He has finished the purposes which they designated, and has set them aside forever. That which is perfect has come, and that which was in part has been done away. The predictions and illustrations which the types and figures of the Old Testament gave, of the circumstances, character, and work of the Redeemer of men, have been fully realized. He is the Great High Priest, the only sacrifice, the true paschal lamb, who has by the offering of himself once for all, perfected forever them that are sanctified. He has opened in himself, the real fountain for sin, and for uncleanness. And while there was nothing in sacrifices or burnt offerings which God could accept, or have pleasure therein, HE has done the will of God in a body which was prepared for him; and having offered himself without spot to God, to obtain eternal redemption for us,

he has fulfilled the law of ordinances, and shines forth in the fulness of grace, as the perfection of all its instructions and promises.

He is the actual completion of all the demands of the moral law. Both its precepts, and its penalty, have been fulfilled and answered by him, to the utmost of their claims. The law required a spotless righteousness, an obedience which should be in the minutest point, unblameable;—and Jesus was made under the law, for the attainment of this object, and has rendered an actual obedience to every part of the law's demands. Because he was so exalted and holy, and was in himself under no subjection to the law, his obedience was perfectly voluntary and disinterested, and has thus magnified the law, and made it honourable. In his actual submission to every precept of holiness, and his entire fulfilment of them all, as the representative for man, Jesus has become the entire perfection of the law, and has glorified it in the shining excellence of his life.

And while he thus perfectly fulfilled the law, so that it had no claim upon him in the shape of any penalty for sin, he yet gave himself to be dealt with, and punished as a criminal. He received the full punishment for transgression, and died an accursed death under the condemnation of the violated law. He did no violence, neither was deceit found in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and to put him to grief, and to cut him off, out of the land of the living. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He furnished the only possible instance, in which the same being should conform perfectly to the precepts of the law, and still endure the curse and penalty of their violation. The obedience which he offered, was the one perfect obedience which the law required. The sufferings and death, which he endured, were the one condemnation and curse, which the law