Chapter III: Part 3

4. *Allowing then that every believer has done with the law, as it means the _Jewish_ ceremonial law, or the entire _Mosaic_ dispensation (for these _Christ hath taken out of the way_) yea, allowing we have done with the moral law, as a means of procuring our justification (for we are _justified freely by his grace, thro’ the redemption that is in Jesus_). Yet in another sense, we have not done with this law. For it is still of unspeakable use, first, in convincing us of the sin that yet remains both in our hearts and lives, and thereby keeping us close to Christ, that his blood may cleanse us every moment; secondly, in deriving strength from our head into his living members, whereby he impowers them to do what his law commands; and thirdly, in confirming our hope of whatsoever it commands, and we have not yet attained, of receiving grace upon grace, till we are in actual possession of the fulness of his promises.

5. How clearly does this agree with the experience of every true believer! While he cries out, _O what love have I unto thy law! All the day long is my study in it_; he sees daily in that divine mirror, more and more of his own sinfulness. He sees more and more clearly, that he is still a sinner in all things; that neither his heart nor his ways are right before God. And that every moment sends him to Christ. This shews him the meaning of what is written, _Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, Holiness to the Lord. And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead_ (the type of our great highpriest) _that Aaron may bear the iniquities of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hollow, in all their holy gifts_: (so far are our prayers or holy things from atoning for the rest of our sin!) _And it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord._ Exod. xxviii. 36, 38.

6. To explain this by a single instance. The law says, _Thou shalt not kill_, and hereby (as our Lord teaches) forbids not only outward acts, but every unkind word or thought. Now the more I look into this perfect law, the more I feel how far I come short of it: and the more I feel this, the more I feel my need of his blood to atone for all my sin: and of his Spirit to purify my heart, and make me _perfect and entire, lacking nothing_.

7. *Therefore I cannot spare the law one moment, no more than I can spare Christ: Seeing I now want it as much, to keep me to Christ, as I ever wanted it to bring me to him. Otherwise, this _evil heart of unbelief_ would immediately _depart from the living_ God. Indeed each is continually sending me to the other, the law to Christ, and Christ to the law. On the one hand, the height and depth of the law constrain me to fly to the love of God in Christ. On the other, the love of God in Christ, endears the law to me _above gold or precious stones_: seeing I know every part of it, is a gracious promise, which my Lord will fulfil in its season.

8. *Who art thou then, O man, that _judgest the law, and speakest evil of the law_? That rankest it with sin, Satan and death, and sendest them all to hell together! The apostle _James_ esteemed _judging_ or _speaking evil of the law_, so enormous a piece of wickedness, that he knew not how to aggravate the guilt of judging our brethren, more than by shewing it included this. _So now_, says he, _thou art not a doer of the law but a judge!_ A judge of that which God hath ordained to judge thee. So thou hast set up thyself in the judgment-seat of Christ, and cast down the rule whereby he will judge the world! O take knowledge what advantage Satan hath gained over thee; and for the time to come never think or speak lightly of, much less dress up as a scare-crow this blessed instrument of the grace of God. Yea, love and value it for the sake of him from whom it came, and of him to whom it leads. Let it be thy glory and joy, next to the cross of Christ. Declare its praise, and make it honourable before all men.

♦9. And if thou art throughly convinced, That it is the offspring of God, that it is the copy of all his imitable perfections, and that it is _holy and just and good_, but especially to them that believe: then instead of casting it away as a polluted thing, see that thou cleave to it more and more. Never let the law of mercy and truth, of love to God and man, of lowliness, meekness and purity forsake thee. _Bind it about thy neck: write it on the table of thy heart._ Keep close to the law, if thou wilt keep close to Christ: hold it fast: let it not go. Let this continually lead thee to the atoning blood, continually confirm thy hope, till all _the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in_ thee, and thou art _filled with all the fulness of_ God.

10. And if thy Lord hath already fulfilled his word, if he hath already _written his law in thy heart_, then _stand fast in the liberty, wherewith Christ hath made thee free_. Thou art not only made free from _Jewish_ ceremonies, from the guilt of sin and the fear of hell: (these are so far from being the whole, that they are the least and lowest part, of Christian liberty:) but what is infinitely more, from the power of sin, from serving the devil, from offending God. O stand fast in this liberty, in comparison of which, all the rest is not even worthy to be named. Stand fast in loving God with all thy heart, and serving him with all thy strength. This is perfect freedom; thus to keep his law, and to walk in all his commandments blameless. _Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage._ I do not mean of _Jewish_ bondage: nor yet of bondage to the fear of hell: these, I trust, are far from thee. But beware of being intangled again with the yoke of sin, of any inward or outward transgression of the law. Abhor sin far more than death or hell; abhor sin itself, far more than the punishment of it. Beware of the bondage of pride, of desire, of anger; of every evil temper or word or work. _Look unto Jesus_, and in order thereto, _look_ more and more _into the perfect law, the law of liberty_. And _continue therein_: so shalt thou daily _grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ_.

SERMON XXXV.

THE LAW ESTABLISHED THRO’ FAITH.

DISCOURSE I.
ROM. iii. 31.

_Do we then make void the law thro’ Faith? God forbid. Yea, we
establish the law._

1. SAINT _Paul_ having in the beginning of this epistle, laid down his general proposition, namely, That _the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth_: the powerful means, whereby God makes every believer a partaker of present and eternal salvation, goes on to shew, that there is no other way under heaven, whereby men can be saved. He speaks particularly of salvation from the guilt of sin, which he commonly terms justification. And that all men stood in need of this, that none could plead their own innocence, he proves at large by various arguments, addrest to the Jews as well as the Heathens. Hence he infers (in the 19th verse of this chapter) _That every mouth_, whether of Jew or Heathen, must _be stopt_ from excusing or justifying himself, _and all the world become guilty before God. Therefore_, saith he, by his own obedience, _by the works of the law, shall no flesh be justified in his sight_, ver. 20. _But now the righteousness of God without the law_, without our previous obedience thereto, _is manifested_, ver. 21. _Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all that believe_, ver. 22. _For there is no difference_, as to their need of justification, or the manner wherein they attain it. _For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God_, (ver. 23.) the glorious image of God wherein they were created: and all (who attain) _are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ_: ver. 24. _Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, thro’ faith in his blood_――ver. 25. _That he might be just, and yet the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus_; ver. 36. that without any impeachment to his justice, he might shew him mercy, for the sake of that propitiation. _Therefore we conclude_, (which was the grand position he had undertaken to establish) _That a man is justified by faith, without the works of the law_, ver. 28.

2. It was easy to foresee an objection which might be made, and which has in fact been made in all ages: namely, That to say _we are justified without the works of the law_, is to abolish the law. The apostle, without entering into a formal dispute, simply denies the charge. _Do we then_, says he, _make void the law through faith? God forbid! Yea, we establish the law._

3. The strange imagination of some, that St. _Paul_, when he says, _A man is justified without the works of the law_, means only the _ceremonial_ law, is abundantly confuted by these very words. For did St. _Paul establish_ the _ceremonial_ law? It is evident, he did not. He did _make void_ that law through faith, and openly avowed his doing so. It was the _moral_ law only of which he might truly say, We do not make void but _establish_ this _through faith_.

4. But all men are not herein of his mind. Many there are who will not agree to this. Many in all ages of the church, even among those who bore the name of Christians, have contended, That _the faith once delivered to the saints_, was designed to make void the whole law. They would no more spare the moral than the ceremonial law, but were for _hewing_, as it were, _both in pieces before the Lord_: vehemently maintaining, “If you establish any law, _Christ shall profit you nothing: Christ is become of no effect to you: ye are fallen from grace_.”

5. But is the zeal of these men according to knowledge? Have they observed the connection between the law and faith? And that considering the close connection between them, to destroy one is indeed to destroy both? That to abolish the moral law is in truth, to abolish faith and the law together? As leaving no proper means, either of bringing us to faith, or of _stirring up that gift of God_ in our soul.

6. It therefore behoves all who desire either to come to Christ, or to _walk in Him whom they have received_, to take heed how they _make void the law through faith_; to secure us effectually against which, let us enquire, first, which are the most usual ways of _making void the law through faith_, and secondly, How we may follow the apostle, and by faith _establish the law_.

I. 1. Let us, first, inquire, Which are the most usual ways of _making void the law through faith_. Now the way for a preacher to make it all void at a stroke, is, Not to preach it at all. This is just the same thing, as to blot it out of the oracles of God. More especially when it is done with design; when it is made a rule, “Not to preach the law:” and the very phrase, “A preacher of the law,” is used as a term of reproach, as tho’ it meant little less than, “an enemy to the gospel.”

2. All this proceeds from the deepest ignorance of the nature, properties and use of the law: and proves that those who act thus, either know not Christ, are utter strangers to living faith: or at least, that they are but babes in Christ, and as such _unskilled in the word of righteousness_.

3. Their grand plea is this: “That preaching the gospel (that is, according to their judgment, the speaking of nothing but the sufferings and merits of Christ) answers all the ends of the law.” But this we utterly deny. It does not answer the very first end of the law, namely, The convincing men of sin, the awakening those who are still asleep on the brink of hell. There may have been here and there an exempt case. One in a thousand may have been awakened by the gospel. But this is no general rule. The ordinary method of God, is to convict sinners by the law, and that only. The gospel is not the means which God hath ordained, or which our Lord himself used, for this end. We have no authority in scripture for applying it thus, nor any ground, to think it will prove effectual. Nor have we any more ground to expect this, from the nature of the thing. _They that be whole_, as our Lord himself observes, _need not a physician, but they that be sick_. It is absurd therefore to offer a physician to them that are whole, or that at least imagine themselves so to be. You are first, to convince them, that they are sick. Otherwise they will not thank you for your labour. It is equally absurd to offer Christ to them, whose heart is whole, having never yet been broken. It is in the proper sense, _casting pearls before swine_. Doubtless, _they will trample them under foot_. And it is no more than you have reason to expect, if they also _turn again and rent you_.

4. “But altho’ there is no command in scripture, to offer Christ to the careless sinner, yet are there not scriptural precedents for it?” I think not: I know not any. I believe you can’t produce one, either from the four Evangelists, or the _Acts of the Apostles_. Neither can you prove this to have been the practice of any of the apostles, from any passage in all their writings.

5. “Nay, does not the apostle _Paul_ say, in his former Epistle to the _Corinthians, We preach Christ crucified_? ch. i. ver. 23. And in his latter, _We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord_? ch. v. ver. 4.”

We consent to rest the cause on this issue: to tread in his steps, to follow his example. Only preach you, just as _Paul_ preached, and the dispute is at an end.

For altho’ we are certain he _preached Christ_, in as perfect a manner as the very chief of the apostles, yet who _preached the law_ more than St. _Paul_? Therefore he did not think the gospel answered the same end.

6. The very first sermon of St. _Paul_’s, which is recorded, concludes in these words. _By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the Prophets, Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish. For I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no wise believe, tho’ a man declare it unto you_, Acts xiii. 39, &c. Now it is manifest, all this is _preaching the law_, in the sense wherein you understand the term: even altho’ great part of, if not all his hearers, were either _Jews or religious proselytes_, ver. 43. and therefore probably many of them, in some degree at least, convinced of sin already. He first reminds them, That they could not be justified by the law of _Moses_, but only by faith in Christ: and then severely threatens them with the judgments of God, which is in the strongest sense _preaching the law_.

7. In his next discourse, that to the Heathens at _Lystra_, (ch. xiv. ver. 15, &c.) we do not find so much as the name of Christ. The whole purport of it is, That they should _turn from those vain idols, unto the living God_. Now confess the truth. Do not you think, If you had been there, you could have preached much better than he? I should not wonder, if you thought too, That his _preaching so ill_, occasioned his being _so ill treated_: and that his being _stoned_, was a just judgment upon him, for not _preaching Christ_!

8. To the jailor indeed, when _he sprang in and came trembling, and fell down before_ Paul _and_ Silas, _and said, Sirs, What must I do to be saved_, he immediately said, _Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ_. (ch. xvi. ver. 29, &c.) And in the case of one so deeply convinced of sin, who would not have said the same? But to the men of _Athens_ you find him speaking in a quite different manner, reproving their superstition, ignorance and idolatry; and strongly moving them to repent, from the consideration of a future judgment, and of the resurrection from the dead, (ch. xvii. ver. 24‒31.) Likewise _when_ Felix _sent for_ Paul, on purpose that he might _hear him concerning the faith in Christ_; instead of preaching Christ in _your_ sense (which would probably have caused the governor either to mock, or to contradict and blaspheme) _he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come_, till _Felix_ (hardened as he was) _trembled_. (ch. xxiv. ver. 24, 25.) Go thou and tread in his steps. _Preach_ Christ to the careless sinner, by _reasoning of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come_!

9. If you say, “But he _preached Christ_ in a different manner in his epistles;” I answer, He did not there preach at all: not in that sense wherein we speak: for _preaching_ in our present question, means, speaking before a congregation. But waving this, I answer, 2. His epistles are directed, not to unbelievers, such as those we are now speaking of, but _to the saints of God in Rome, Corinth, Philippi_ and other places. Now unquestionably he would speak more of Christ to these, than to those who were without God in the world. And yet, 3. Every one of these is full of the law, even the epistles to the _Romans_ and the _Galatians_: in both of which he does what you term preaching the law, and that to believers as well as unbelievers.

10. From hence ’tis plain, you know not what it is, to _preach Christ_, in the sense of the apostle. For doubtless St. _Paul_ judged himself to be _preaching Christ_, both to _Felix_, and at _Antioch_, _Lystra_, and _Athens_. From whose example every thinking man must infer, That not only the declaring the love of Christ to sinners, but also the declaring that he will come from heaven in flaming fire, is, in the apostle’s sense, _preaching Christ_. Yea, in the full scriptural meaning of the word. To _preach Christ_, is, to preach what he hath revealed, either in the old or new Testament: so that you are then as really preaching Christ, when you are saying, _The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God_, as when you are saying, _Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world_!

♦10. Consider this well: that to _preach Christ_, is to preach all things that Christ hath spoken; all his promises, all his threatnings and commands; all that is written in his book. And then you will know how to preach Christ, without making void the law.

11. “But does not the greatest blessing attend those discourses, wherein we peculiarly preach the merits and sufferings of Christ?”

Probably, when we preach to a congregation of mourners or of believers, these will be attended with the greatest blessing: because such discourses are peculiarly suited to their state. At least, these will usually convey the most comfort. But this is not always the greatest blessing. I may sometimes receive a far greater, by a discourse that cuts me to the heart and humbles me to the dust. Neither should I receive that comfort, if I were to preach or to hear no discourses but on the sufferings of Christ. These by constant repetition would lose their force and grow more and more flat and dead: ’till at length they would become a dull round of words, without any spirit or life or virtue. So that thus _to preach Christ_, must in process of time, make void the gospel as well as the law.

II. 1. A second way of _making void the law thro’ faith_, is, the teaching that faith supersedes the necessity of holiness. This divides itself into a thousand smaller paths: and many there are that walk therein. Indeed there are few that wholly escape it: few who are convinced, we _are saved by faith_, but are sooner or later, more or less, drawn aside into this by-way.

2. *All those are drawn into this by-way, who if it be not their settled judgment, that faith in Christ intirely sets aside the necessity of keeping his law, yet suppose either, 1. That holiness is less necessary now than it was before Christ came: or, 2. That a less degree of it is necessary; or, 3. That it is less necessary to believers than to others. Yea, and so are all those, who altho’ their judgment be right in the general, yet think they may take more liberty in particular cases, than they could have done before they believed. Indeed the using the term _liberty_, in such a manner, for “Liberty from obedience or holiness,” shews at once, that their judgment is perverted, and that they are guilty of what they imagined to be far from them, namely of _making void the law thro’ faith_, by supposing faith to supersede holiness.

3. The first plea of those who teach this expresly, is, that “we are now under the covenant of grace, not works: and therefore we are no longer under the necessity of performing the works of the law.”

And whoever was under the covenant of works? None but _Adam_ before the fall. He was fully and properly under that covenant, which required perfect, universal obedience, as the one condition of acceptance; and left no place for pardon, upon the very least transgression. But no man else was ever under this, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither before Christ nor since. All his sons were and are under the covenant of grace; the manner of their acceptance is this: the free grace of God thro’ the merits of Christ, gives pardon to them that believe, that believe with such a faith as working by love, produces all obedience and holiness.

4. The case is not therefore as you suppose, that men were _once_ more obliged to obey God, or to work the works of his law than they are _now_. This is a supposition you cannot make good. But, we should have been obliged, if we had been under the covenant of works, to have done those works antecedent to our acceptance. Whereas now all good works, tho’ as necessary as ever, are not antecedent to our acceptance but consequent upon it. Therefore the nature of the covenant of grace, gives you no ground, no encouragement at all, to set aside any instance or degree of obedience, any part or measure of holiness.

5. “But are we not _justified by faith, without the works of the law_?” Undoubtedly we are, without the works either of the ceremonial or the moral law. And would to God all men were convinced of this. It would prevent innumerable evils. Antinomianism, in particular; for generally speaking, they are the Pharisees who make the Antinomians. Running into an extreme so palpably contrary to scripture, they occasion others to run into the opposite one. These seeking to be justified by works, affright those from allowing any place for them.

6. *But the truth lies between both. We are doubtless _justified by faith_. This is the corner-stone of the whole Christian building. We are _justified without the works of the law_, as any previous condition of justification. But they are an immediate fruit of that faith, whereby we are justified. So that if good works do not follow our faith, even all inward and outward holiness, it is plain our faith is nothing worth: we are yet in our sins. Therefore, that _we are justified by faith_, even _by faith without works_, is no ground for _making void the law thro’ faith_: or for imagining that faith is a dispensation, from any kind or degree of holiness.

7. “Nay, but does not St. _Paul_ expresly say, _Unto him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness_? And does it not follow from hence, That faith is to a believer in the room, in the place of righteousness? But if faith is in the room of righteousness or holiness, what need is there of this too?”

This, it must be acknowledged, comes home to the point, and is indeed the main pillar of Antinomianism. And yet it needs not a long or laboured answer. We allow, 1. That God _justifies the ungodly_, him that till that hour is totally ungodly, full of all evil, void of all good. 2. That he justifies _the ungodly that worketh not_, that till that moment worketh no good work: neither can he: for an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. 3. That he justifies him _by faith alone_, without any goodness or righteousness preceding: and, 4. *That _faith is_ then _counted to him for righteousness_, namely, for _preceding righteousness: i. e._ God, thro’ the merits of Christ, accepts him that believes, as if he had already fulfilled all righteousness. But what is all this to your point? The apostle does not say, either here or elsewhere, that this faith is counted to him for _subsequent righteousness_. He does teach, that there is no righteousness _before_ faith. But where does he teach, that there is none _after_ it? He does assert, holiness cannot _precede_ justification: but not, that it need not _follow_ it. St. _Paul_ therefore gives you no colour for _making void the law_, by teaching that faith supersedes the necessity of holiness.

III. 1. There is yet another way of _making void the law thro’ faith_, which is more common than either of the former. And that is, the doing it practically: the making it void in _fact_, tho’ not in _principle_: the _living_, as if faith was designed to excuse us from holiness.

How earnestly does the Apostle guard us against this, in those well known words: _What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?_ God _forbid_! Rom. vi. 15. A caution which it is needful throughly to consider, because it is of the last importance.

2. The being _under the law_ may here mean, 1. The being obliged to observe the ceremonial law. 2. The being obliged to conform to the whole _Mosaic_ institution. 3. The being obliged to keep the whole moral law, as the condition of our acceptance with God: and, 4. The being under the wrath and curse of God, under sentence of eternal death; under a sense of guilt and condemnation, full of horror and slavish fear.

3. Now altho’ a believer is _not without law to_ God, _but under the law to Christ_, yet from the moment he believes, he is not _under the law_, in any of the preceding senses. On the contrary, he is _under grace_, under a more benign, gracious dispensation. As he is no longer under the ceremonial law, nor under the _Mosaic_ institution; as he is not obliged to keep even the moral law, as the condition of his acceptance: so he is delivered from the wrath and the curse of God, from all sense of guilt and condemnation, and from all that horror and fear of death and hell, whereby he was _all his life_ before _subject to bondage_. And he now performs (which while _under the law_ he could not do) a willing and universal obedience. He obeys not from the motive of slavish fear, but on a nobler principle, namely, The grace of God ruling in his heart, and causing all his works to be wrought in love.

4. What then? Shall this evangelical principle of action, be less powerful than the legal? Shall we be less obedient to God from filial love, than we were from servile fear?

’Tis well, if this is not a common case: if this practical Antinomianism, this unobserved way of _making void the law thro’ faith_, has not infected thousands of believers.

*Has it not infected you? Examine yourself honestly and closely. Do you not do now, what you durst not have done when you was _under the law_, or (as we commonly call it) _under conviction_? For instance. You durst not then indulge yourself in food. You took just what was needful, and that of the cheapest kind. Do you not allow yourself more latitude now? Do you not indulge yourself a _little_ more than you did? O beware, lest you _sin, because you are not under the law, but under grace_!

5. *When you was under conviction, you durst not indulge the lust of the eye in any degree. You would not do any thing, great or small, merely to gratify your curiosity. You regarded only cleanliness and necessity, or at most very moderate convenience, either in furniture or apparel; superfluity and finery of whatever kind, as well as fashionable elegance, were both a terror and an abomination to you.

*Are they so still? Is your conscience as tender now in these things, as it was then? Do you still follow the same rule both in furniture and apparel, trampling all finery, all superfluity, every thing useless, every thing merely ornamental; however fashionable, under foot? Rather, have you not resumed what you had once laid aside, and what you could not then use without wounding your conscience? And have you not learned to say, “O, I am not _so scrupulous_ now.” I would to God you were! Then you would not _sin_ thus, _because you are not under the law, but under grace_.

6. *You was once scrupulous too of commending any to their face, and still more, of suffering any to commend _you_. It was a stab to your heart: you could not bear it: you sought the honour that cometh of God only. You could not endure such conversation: nor any conversation which was not good, to the use of edifying. All idle talk, all trifling discourse you abhorred: you hated as well as feared it, being deeply sensible of the value of time, of every precious, fleeting moment. In like manner, you dreaded and abhorred idle expence; valuing your money only less than your time, and trembling lest you should be found an unfaithful steward even of the mammon of unrighteousness.

Do you now look upon praise as deadly poison, which you can neither give nor receive but at the peril of your soul? Do you still dread and abhor all conversation, which does not tend to the use of edifying; and labour to improve every moment, that it may not pass without leaving you better than it found you? Are not you less careful as to the expence both of money and time? Cannot you now lay out either, as you could not have done once? Alas! How has that _which should have been for your health, proved to you an occasion of falling_? How have you _sinned, because you was not under the law, but under grace_!

7. *God forbid you should any longer continue thus to _turn the grace of_ God _into lasciviousness_! O remember, how clear and strong a conviction you once had, concerning all these things. And at the same time you was fully satisfied, from whom that conviction came. The world told you, you was in a delusion: but you knew, It was the voice of God. In these things you was not _too scrupulous_ then; but you are not now _scrupulous enough_. God kept you longer in that painful school, that you might learn those great lessons the more perfectly. And have you forgot them already? O recollect them, before it is too late. Have you suffered so many things in vain? I trust, it is not yet in vain. Now use the conviction without the pain: practise the lesson without the rod. Let not the mercy of God weigh less with you now, than his fiery indignation did before. Is love a less powerful motive than fear? If not, let it be an invariable rule “I will do nothing now I am _under grace_, which I durst not have done when _under the law_.”

8. *I cannot conclude this head, without exhorting you to examine yourself likewise touching sins of omission. Are you as clear of these, now _you are under grace_, as you was when _under the law_? How diligent was you then in hearing the word of God? Did you neglect any opportunity? Did you not attend thereon day and night? Would a small hindrance have kept you away? A little business? A visitant? A slight indisposition? A soft bed? A dark or cold morning?――Did you not then fast often? Or use abstinence to the uttermost of your power? Was not you much in prayer, (cold and heavy as you was) while you was hanging over the mouth of hell? Did you not speak and not spare, even for an unknown God? Did you not boldly plead his cause? Reprove sinners? And avow the truth, before an adulterous generation?――And are you now a believer in Christ? Have you the _faith that overcometh the world_? What! and are less zealous for your Master now, than you was when you knew him not? Less diligent in fasting, in prayer, in hearing his word, in calling sinners to God? O repent. See and feel your grievous loss! Remember from whence you are fallen! Bewail your unfaithfulness! Now be zealous and do the first works; lest if you continue to _make void the law through faith_, God cut you off, and _appoint_ you your _portion with the unbelievers_!

SERMON XXXVI.

THE LAW ESTABLISHED THRO’ FAITH.

DISCOURSE II.
ROM. iii. 31.

_Do we then make void the law thro’ faith? God forbid! Yea, we
establish the law._

1. IT has been shewn in the preceding discourse, which are the most usual ways of _making void the law thro’ faith_: namely, first, The not preaching it at all, which effectually makes it all void at a stroke: and this under colour of _preaching Christ_ and magnifying the gospel, tho’ it be in truth, destroying both the one and the other: secondly, The teaching (whether directly or indirectly) that faith supersedes the necessity of holiness: that this is less necessary now, or a less degree of it necessary, than before Christ came: that it is less necessary to us, because we believe, than otherwise it would have been: or, that Christian liberty is a liberty from any kind or degree of holiness: (so perverting those great truths, that we are now under the _covenant of grace_ and not _of works_: that _a man is justified by faith, without the works of the law_; and that _to him that worketh not but believeth, his faith is counted for righteousness_:) or, thirdly, The doing this practically; the making void the law in practice tho’ not in principle: the living or acting, as if faith was designed to excuse us from holiness: the allowing ourselves in sin, _because we are not under the law, but under grace_. It remains to enquire, how we may follow a better pattern, how we may be able to say with the apostle, _Do we then make void the law thro’ faith? God forbid! Yea, we establish the law._

2. We do not indeed establish the old ceremonial law: we know that is abolished for ever. Much less do we establish the whole _Mosaic_ dispensation. This, we know, our Lord has _nailed to his cross_. Nor yet do we so establish the moral law (which it is to be feared, too many do) as if the fulfilling it, the keeping all the commandments, were the condition of our justification. If it were so, surely _in his sight, should no man living be justified_. But all this being allowed, we still in the apostle’s sense, _establish the law_, the moral law.

I. 1. We _establish the law_, first, By our doctrine: by endeavouring to preach it in its whole extent, to explain and inforce every part of it, in the same manner as our great Teacher did, while upon earth. We establish it, by following St. _Peter_’s advice, _If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God_; as the holy men of old moved by the Holy Ghost, spoke and wrote for our instruction, and as the apostles of our blessed Lord, by the direction of the same spirit. We establish it whenever we speak in his name, by keeping back nothing from them that hear; by declaring to them, without any limitation or reserve, the whole counsel of God. And in order the more effectually to establish it, we use herein great plainness of speech. _We are not as many that corrupt the word of God_, καπηλεύουσι· (as artful men their bad wines) we do not cauponize, mix, adulterate or soften it, to make it suit the taste of the hearers. _But as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God, speak we in Christ_: as having no other aim, than _by manifestation of the truth_, to _commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God_.

2. We then by our doctrine establish the law, when we thus openly declare it to all men: and that, in the fulness wherein it is delivered by our blessed Lord and his apostles: when we publish it in the height and depth and length and breadth thereof. We then establish the law, when we declare every part of it, every commandment contained therein, not only in its full literal sense, but likewise in its spiritual meaning: not only with regard to the outward actions, which it either forbids or enjoins: but also with respect to the inward principle, to the thoughts, desires and intents of the heart.

3. And indeed this we do the more diligently, not only because it is of the deepest importance; inasmuch as all the fruit, every word and work, must be only evil continually, if the tree be evil, if the dispositions and tempers of the heart, be not right before God: but likewise, because as important as these things are, they are little considered or understood. So little, that we may truly say of the law too, when taken in its full spiritual meaning, It is _a mystery which was hid from ages and generations since the world began_. It was utterly hid from the Heathen world. They, with all their boasted wisdom, neither _found out God_, nor the law of God, not in the letter, much less in the spirit of it. _Their foolish hearts were_ more and more _darkened_, while _professing themselves wise, they became fools_. And it was almost equally hid, as to its spiritual meaning, from the bulk of the Jewish nation. Even these who were so ready to declare concerning others, _this people that know not the law, is accursed_, pronounced their own sentence therein, as being under the same curse, the same dreadful ignorance. Witness our Lord’s continual reproof of the wisest among them, for their gross misinterpretations of it. Witness the supposition almost universally received among them, that they needed only to make clean the outside of the cup: that the paying tythe of mint, anise and cummin, outward exactness would atone for inward unholiness; for the total neglect both of justice and mercy, of faith and the love of God. Yea, so absolutely was the spiritual meaning of the law hidden from the wisest of them, that one of their most eminent Rabbi’s comments thus, on those words of the Psalmist, _If I incline unto iniquity with my heart, the Lord will not hear me_: that is, saith he, if it be only in my heart, if I do not commit outward wickedness, the Lord will not regard it; he will not punish me, unless I proceed to the outward act!

4. But alas! The law of God, as to its inward spiritual meaning, is not hid from the Jews or Heathens only, but even from what is called the Christian world; at least, from a vast majority of them. The spiritual sense of the commandments of God, is still a mystery to these also. Nor is this observable also in those lands, which are overspread with _Romish_ darkness and ignorance. But this is too sure, that the far greater part, even of those, who are called _reformed Christians_, are utter strangers at this day to the law of Christ, in the purity and spirituality of it.

5. Hence it is that to this day _the Scribes and Pharisees_, the men who have the form but not the power of religion, and who are generally wise in their own eyes, and righteous in their own conceits; _hearing these things are offended_: are deeply offended, when we speak of the religion of the heart, and particularly when we shew, that without this, were we to _give all our goods to feed the poor_, it would profit us nothing. But offended they must be: for we cannot but speak the truth as it is in Jesus. It is our part, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, to deliver our own soul. All that is written in the book of God we are to declare, not as pleasing men, but the Lord. We are to declare not only all the promises, but all the threatnings too which we find therein. At the same time that we proclaim all the blessings and privileges, which God hath prepared for his children, we are likewise to _teach all the things, whatsoever he hath commanded_. And we know, that all these have their use; either for the awakening those that sleep, the instructing the ignorant, the comforting the feeble-minded, or the building up and perfecting of the saints. We know that _all scripture, given by inspiration of God, is profitable_ either _for doctrine_, or _for reproof_, either _for correction_ or _for instruction in righteousness_: and _that the man of God_, in the process of the work of God in his soul, has need of every part thereof, that he _may at length be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works_.

6. It is our part, thus to _preach Christ_, by preaching all things whatsoever he hath revealed. We may indeed without blame, yea, and with a peculiar blessing from God, declare the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. We may speak, in a more especial manner, _of the Lord our righteousness_. We may expatiate upon the grace of _God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself_. We may, at proper opportunities, dwell upon his praise, as bearing _the iniquities of us all, as wounded for our transgressions_ and _bruised for our iniquities_, that _by his stripes we_ might _be healed_. But still we should not _preach Christ_, according to his word, if we were wholly to confine ourselves to this. We are not ourselves clear before God, unless we proclaim him in all his offices. _To preach Christ_, as a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, is to preach him not only as our great _High-priest, taken from among men, and ordained for men, in things pertaining to God_; as such, _reconciling us to God by his blood_, and _ever living to make intercession for us_: but likewise as the prophet of the Lord, _who of God is made unto us wisdom_. Who by his word, and his Spirit, _is with us always, guiding us into all truth_: yea, and as remaining a King for ever; as giving laws to all whom he has bought with his blood: as restoring those to the image of God, whom he had first re-instated in his favour: as reigning in all believing hearts, until he has _subdued all things to himself_; until he hath utterly cast out all sin, and _brought in everlasting righteousness_.

II. 1. _We establish the law_, secondly, when we so preach faith in Christ, as not to supersede, but produce holiness: to produce all manner of holiness, negative and positive, of the heart and of the life.

In order to this, we continually declare (what should be frequently and deeply considered, by all who would not _make void the law thro’ faith_) that faith itself, even Christian faith, the faith of God’s elect, the faith of the operation of God, still is only the hand-maid of love. As glorious and honourable as it is, it is not the end of the commandment. God hath given this honour to love alone: love is the end of all the commandments of God. Love is the end, the sole end of every dispensation of God, from the beginning of the world, to the consummation of all things. And it will endure when heaven and earth flee away; for _love_ alone _never faileth_. Faith will totally fail: it will be swallowed up in sight, in the everlasting vision of God. But even then love

“Its nature and its office still the same,
Lasting its lamp and unconsum’d its flame,
In deathless triumph shall for ever live,
And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive.”

2. Very excellent things are spoken of faith, and whosoever is a partaker thereof, may well say with the apostle, _Thanks be to God, for his unspeakable gift_. Yet still it loses all its excellence, when brought into a comparison with love. What St. _Paul_ observes concerning the superior glory of the gospel, above that of the law, may with great propriety be spoken of the superior glory of love, above that of faith. _Even that which was made glorious, hath no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away is glorious, much more doth that which remaineth exceed in glory._ Yea, all the glory of faith before it is done away, arises hence, That it ministers to love. It is the great temporary means which God has ordained to promote that eternal end.

3. *Let those who magnify faith beyond all proportion, so as to swallow up all things else, and who so totally misapprehend the nature of it, as to imagine it stands in the place of love, consider farther, That as love will exist after faith, so it did exist long before it. The angels, who from the moment of their creation, beheld the face of their Father that is in heaven, had no occasion for faith, in its general notion, as it is the evidence of things not seen. Neither had they need of faith, in its more particular acceptation, faith in the blood of Jesus: for he took not upon him the nature of angels; but only the seed of _Abraham_. There was therefore no place before the foundation of the world, for faith either in the general or particular sense. But there was for love. Love existed from eternity, in God, the great ocean of love. Love had a place in all the children of God, from the moment of their creation. They received at once from their gracious Creator, to exist, and to love.

4. Nor is it certain (as ingeniously and plausibly as many have descanted upon this.) That faith, even in the general sense of the word, had any place in paradise. It is highly probable, from that short and uncircumstantial account which we have in holy writ, That _Adam_ before he rebelled against God, walked with him by sight and not by faith.

“For then his reason’s eye was strong and clear,
And as an eagle can behold the sun,
Might have beheld his Maker’s face as near,
As th’ intellectual angels could have done.”

He was then able to talk with him face to face, whose face we cannot now see and live. And consequently had no need of that faith, whose office it is, to supply the want of sight.

5. On the other hand, it is absolutely certain, faith in its particular sense had then no place. For in that sense it necessarily pre-supposes sin, and the wrath of God declared against the sinner: without which there is no need of an atonement for sin, in order to the sinner’s reconciliation with God. Consequently, as there was no need of an atonement before the fall, so there was no place for faith in that atonement: man being then pure from every stain of sin, holy as God is holy. But love even then filled his heart. It reigned in him without a rival. And it was only when love was lost by sin, that faith was added, not for its own sake, nor with any design, that it should exist any longer, than until it had answered the end for which it was ordained, namely, To restore man, to the love from which he was fallen. At the fall therefore was added this evidence of things unseen, which before was utterly needless: this confidence in redeeming love, which could not possibly have any place, till the promise was made, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head.

6. *Faith then was originally designed of God, to re-establish the law of love. Therefore in speaking thus, we are not undervaluing it, or robbing it of its due praise: but on the contrary shewing its real worth, exalting it in its just proportion, and giving it that very place which the wisdom of God assigned it from the beginning. It is the grand means of restoring that holy love, wherein man was originally created. It follows, that altho’ faith is of no value in itself (as neither is any other means whatsoever) yet as it leads to that end, the establishing anew the law of love in our hearts, and as, in the present state of things, it is the only means under heaven for effecting it: it is, on that account, an unspeakable blessing to man, and of unspeakable value before God.

III. 1. And this naturally brings us to observe, thirdly, The most important way of _establishing the law_: namely, The establishing it in our own hearts and lives. Indeed without this, what would all the rest avail? We might establish it by our doctrine; we might preach it in its whole extent, might explain and inforce every part of it. We might open it in its most spiritual meaning, and declare the mysteries of the kingdom: we might preach Christ in all his offices, and faith in Christ, as opening all the treasures of his love. And yet all this time, if the law we preached, were not established in our hearts, we should be of no more account before God, than _sounding brass or tinkling cymbals_. All our preaching would be so far from profiting ourselves, that it would only increase our damnation.

2. This is therefore the main point to be considered, how may we establish the law in our own hearts, so that it may have its full influence on our lives? And this can only be done by faith.

Faith alone it is, which effectually answers this end, as we learn from daily experience. For so long as we walk by faith not by sight, we go swiftly on in the way of holiness. While we steadily look, not at the things which are seen, but at those which are not seen, we are more and more crucified to the world and the world crucified to us. Let but the eye of the soul be constantly fixed, not on the things which are temporal, but on those which are eternal, and our affections are more and more loosened from earth, and fixed on things above. So that faith in general is the most direct and effectual means of promoting all righteousness and true holiness: of establishing the holy and spiritual law, in the hearts of them that believe.