sider this, ye philosophers, ye men of virtue, who reject the gospel, and rest your hopes on your moral worth. That worth does not exceed the worth of unbelieving Paul. Consider this, ye millions who are resting on the orthodoxy of your creed, the strictness of your sect, the value of your religious attainments, the quality of your works, the sincerity of your obedience. Are ye equal to Paul in any of these? Consider this, ye tens of millions who are trusting to your church and your obedience to its laws. Taking for granted that your church is the very church that God hath appointed, was not Paul a member of the church of Israel, so highly favoured of God? And was not Paul a Pharisee, and therefore not only observant of all the laws enjoined by Moses, but also of all the traditions of the elders. Consider this, ye religious people, who set yourselves to oppose the gospel of Christ, to speak against his laws and institutions, and to revile, belie, and persecute his people. When Saul spake against Jesus, he did not think he was speaking against God; yet now he confesses himself a blasphemer on that account. With a pious mouth he might utter his reproaches of the doctrines, and ordinances, and lives of this new sect. But now he is full of shame for his former conduct towards the people of Christ. What, then, is your situation, ye who invent or circulate lies against the servants of Christ, who ridicule his ordinances and persecute his people? You laugh at their singularity, and at their queer practice; you keep your consciences at rest by representing to yourselves that God is not the object of your ridicule : nor did Paul think he was blaspheming when he spake against Christ and his people; but know, assuredly, that if you speak against, reproach, or ridicule Christ's people, for doing what Christ has commanded them, your laugh is not properly against them, but against him. Listen to his own words, “He that persecutes you persecutes me," &c. You make yourselves merry with the silly anecdotes of scandal against Christians, ye enliven your table by telling of their singularities; but your doom is coming-it is certain. Wo unto you who laugh now, for you shall weep and mourn. The treatment you give to those who serve Jesus, is the

treatment you would have given to himself had you been on earth. Many of you who are distinguished for impartiality of principle and religious practice, are exceedingly zealous against the true gospel. Your gospel is not Paul's gospel; this you scruple not to vilify and calumniate as baneful and pernicious error. With all your pretensions you shall be found greater sinners than the inhabitants of Sodom. To have a righteousness that will find acceptance with God, and free us from condemnation, it is necessary to keep perfectly the whole law of God. If we fail in this, it is evident we are transgressors, and can no longer look for life by law. If there be any way of salvation, it is self-evident that it cannot be by the law which we have broken. Our Lord plainly teaches this to the rich young man who wished for life by his works-"thou knowest the commandments"-Mark x. 19. If thou wilt have life by thy works, the keeping of the commandments is the work required.

Now, let us examine the extent of these commandments, according to the interpretation of Jesus himself, that we may judge of the pretensions of those who hope for life by the keeping of the law of God. The substance of all the commandments is contained in these words: "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind-thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"-Matt. xxii. 37, 39. Now, where is the man that can hold up his face to God, and challenge life on these terms? Where is the man that can boast of perfect love to God, and perfect love to man? Our Lord observes, " on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets;" that is, all the duties enjoined in all the Scriptures are summed up in these. Obedience to anything required by any part of the word of God, is nothing but obedience to these. It is evident, then, that whoever will enter into life by working, must perfectly, and fully, yield obedience to everything required in the word of God. The smallest failure in the least important matter, is a breach of the whole law; and whoever is guilty of it, cannot look for life; cannot avoid the condemnation of the law. "For whosoever," says the apostle James, "shall keep the whole law, and yet, offend in one point, he is guilty of

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all." Not that he is by the breach of one particular law, guilty of a breach of all the laws distinctively; not that by one sin he is as guilty as by many; but by one transgression he is as really a breaker of the whole law, as if he had broken all its commandments. The law is one, though it contains many commandments; the breach of any one of these commandments is a breach of the whole law, and, consequently, subjects the transgressor to the penalty of the law ; "for he that said, do not commit adultery, said, also, do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet, if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law"-James ii. 10, 11. How, then, can any man look for life by the keeping of a law that he hath broken. Instead of saving him, it will condemn him as a transgressor. The law, instead of contributing to save sinners, stands in the way of their salvation. If they are saved, it must be either at the expense of law, which would be unjust, or by providing some other way of satisfying the claims of law, for which the law does not itself provide. On the appearing of our Lord, lest expectations should be formed that he would abolish or relax the law to accommodate it to the weakness of man, he, in the strongest terms, denies such an intention; "think not," says he, "that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil; for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." And, then, to show the extent of the law, he shows that it reaches to the thoughts and desires of the heart. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart"-Matt. v. 21, 22, 27, 28.

Philosophers have taught that power and duty are com

mensurate; that a man cannot be bound to do more than he has ability to do, and, consequently, that he is not worthy of condemnation for failure, in any thing, which is beyond the reach of the present state of man; that though an insolvent debtor is bound to pay his creditor, so soon as his ability returns, yet, so long as he remains insolvent, he cannot be bound in duty to pay what he has not. In the first place, taking the validity of this reasoning for granted, what follows from it, consistently with the Scriptures before us, is not, that men are not worthy of condemnation for every transgression of law, and for every deficiency, but that man in his present state, is still able, perfectly, to keep the law of God. For whatever be the moral power of man, it is evident that these Scriptures enjoin on him the keeping of the whole law, in order to life, and sentence him to condemnation for any breach. When the young man demanded how much good works was necessary in order to have a title to eternal life, we see our Lord did not take any thing from the extent of it, or relax its demands. He gave him the whole law for his standard; and that standard he explains as implying perfect love to God and perfect love to man, as including all the particular commands scattered throughout all the Scriptures. He declares again, that a jot or tittle should not pass from the law, but that it must be fulfilled in its utmost extent, and, in that extent, it reaches to the thoughts and desires of the heart. Without then entering into the philosophical question of the extent of moral power, we may prove to these philosophers, if they acknowledge the Scriptures, that whatever is the extent of their power, they are fully, and perfectly, to keep the law of God, if they would enter into life by their works. Any, the smallest transgression or omission, will defeat their claims. If there is any thing in their heart, or conduct, morally amiss, there is no provision for it in the law, they are subject to condemnation; and, surely, the more so, if they personally possess full moral power to do everything that God can require, and avoid everything that he forbids. What will any of these philosophers do with any shortcoming, with any omission, with any, the most trifling miscarriage? If they are saved, not

withstanding such things, it is not by law they are saved, but against law. It must be by such things being overlooked or forgiven. But this is contrary to these Scriptures, that show that the whole law must be perfectly kept that any may enter into life by it. The philosopher says, God can require nothing of us but what we are able to perform: God requires of us to keep his law fully and perfectly, and shows us that any breach is condemnation. If, then, the plilosopher does not do all that God requires, he has nothing but condemnation to look for; and, as he says, he has moral power sufficient to do it, he has not even the excuse of inability. Yet, I believe, the most sober philosophers do not pretend to be perfect, they seem to allow that man is a being of imperfect wisdom and virtue. There is, then, an inconsistency in these philosophers entering life by the law, and acknowledging imperfection in virtue. They, doubtless, expect to live by what they do well, and to have mercy for what they do amiss, but this is contrary to the Scriptures; and some of these philosophers acknowledge the Scriptures. Perfect conformity to the law is required, to enjoy life by the law. The Scriptures speak of mercy, but it is not mercy coming in to make up the deficiencies, and forgive the slips, or failures of the virtuous, but mercy extending through Christ to the chief of sinners. Besides, their philosophy cannot inform them that there is forgiveness for any breach of duty. If it teaches them that they shall have acceptance with God by doing their duty, it cannot inform them that there is pardon for the omission or breach of practicable duty. When it speaks so it borrows from Scripture, but misunderstands and perverts what it borrows. So much upon the supposition that man has at present the power to do all that is his duty. But it is a fact, and evident from Scripture, that man, since the fall, has not that power. Whatever may be the way of vindicating the conduct of God for requiring more from fallen man than he is able to perform, the judge of all the earth will do righteously, though we, short-sighted mortals, may not be able to see through his secret plans. It is not our province either to accuse him or to vindicate him, but implicitly