tice called for its being made, then it cannot be un-made, consistently with justice, so long as the ground and reason of it remain, as is self-evident. But the reason of the law is, in the nature of things, unalterable: for the reason of the law was the infinite evil of sin, whereby it deserved an infinite punishment. As long, therefore, as sin remains an infinite evil, so long must the law stand unrepealed: but sin will always be an infinite evil, so long as we are under infinite obligations to love God with all our hearts, and obey him in every thing, which we shall always be, so long as God remains infinitely glorious and amiable, and this will be forever; therefore, this law can never possibly, consistently with divine justice, be repealed.

For any, therefore, to desire to have it repealed, is to turn enemy to the holiness, and justice, and honor of the supreme Ruler of the world, as well as to his law and government; and argues that they have no regard to the rectitude and fitness of things, but only to self-interest; as those among men are real enemies to the civil government who desire the good and wholesome laws thereof to be repealed: And it is upon this ground that St. Paul concludes carnal men to be at enmity against GOD, because they are enemies to his LAW....(Rom. viii. 7.) For if men loved God, they would be disposed to love his law and government, which express his nature.

To suppose, therefore, that the Son of God came into the world and died, that the law, in its threatenings, might be repealed, is to suppose that he also is turned an enemy to God...to his holiness and justice....to his law and government; and that he is properly gone over to be on the side of his father's rebellious subjects.

Besides, to what purpose would it have been (on the hypothesis of these men), for Christ to have died, that the law, in its threatenings, might be repealed? What need was there of it? or what good would it have done? For if, in justice, it ought to have been repealed, there was no need of his dying to procure this; or if, in justice, it ought not to be repealed, then his dying could not procure it, and so would do no good. The righteous

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Governor of the world would have repealed it of his own accord, if it had been right and fit so to do; and if, in the nature of things, it was not right, then not any thing whatever could persuade him to do it.

But the truth is, Christ came into the world, and died to answer all the demands of the law; that so, although the sinner be saved, yet the law might never be repealed, but be firmly established for the Governor of heaven and earth was utterly against the law being repealed, as a thing in itself infinitely unreasonable: And therefore the Apostle says, Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid! yea, we establish the law.... Rom. iii. 31. And indeed it was nothing but God's infinite aversion to repeal the law, as a thing in itself infinitely unfit and wrong, that was the thing which made the death of Christ needful: for, if the law might have been repealed, sinners might have been saved without any more ado; but, if it could not, and must not be repealed, then the demands of it must be answered by some means or other, or every sinner damned: And now Christ stepped in and did this; and so secured the honor of God's holiness and justice, law and government, and opened a way for the sinner's salvation. And this account of the reason of Christ's death the scriptures plainly give us :-Gal. iii. 10, 13, 14....Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.-Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, through Jesus Christ: For (Heb. ix. 22.) without shedding of blood there is no remission: Therefore (Rom. iii. 25, 26.) Christ was set forth to be a propitiation for sin....to declare his righteousness ....that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus: And hence (ver. 31,) Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid! yea, we establish the law.

Yea, the Apostle evidently sets out upon this hypothesis, that the law is not repealed, but stands in full force: He lays this down as a first principle, in that argumentative discourse which we have in the three first chapters of his epistle to the Romans:

Chap. i. ver. 18.... The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And taking this for granted, he goes on to prove, that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, and so the whole world guilty before God; to the 19th verse of the 3d chapter: And hence he argues, that by the deeds of the law no flesh could be justified. But now, if the law was repealed, the whole world was not guilty before God, nor any one in the world: For sin is not imputed where there is no law....Rom. v. 13. And if the law was repealed, what need was there of such a long train of arguments, to prove, that no flesh could be justified by the law? For it would have been enough to have said, that a repealed law could neither justify nor condemn any body. And why does he use such arguments as he does? For thus he reasons, "The law requires perfect "obedience as a condition of life, and threatens tribulation and "wrath against every soul of man that doth evil: But Jews and "Gentiles have all sinned: therefore are all guilty and condemn"ed according to law; and consequently cannot be cleared and "justified by law :" For all this reasoning supposes that the law is as much in force as ever it was: And, accordingly, he goes on to show, that the design of Christ's death was to answer the demands of the law, that there might be a way opened for the salvation of sinners, consistent with divine justice, and, at the same time, the law not be made void, but established; as we have before observed.And now this being the case,

Hence, we find the scriptures every where look upon those who have not a special interest in the righteousness of Christ, by faith, as being as much under the wrath of God and curse of the law, as if Christ had never died. John iii. 18.... He that believeth not is condemned already: Ver. 36.... The wrath of God abideth upon him: And, Gal. iii. 10....As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: And, Rom. i. 18.... The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Thus the wrath of God is revealed against the unbeliever; yea, abides upon him; yea, the law condemns and curses him: But

if the law had been repealed by the death of Christ, all the world would have been freed from the curse: For a repealed law can neither bless the righteous, nor curse the wicked; but stands for nothing.

And hence, also, we find that Christless sinners, when awakened by the holy spirit to see and feel what a state they are in, are always convinced that they are under the wrath of God and curse of the law; and hereby are made to understand their need of a Savior....(Rom. iii. 19, 20.) But if the law had been repealed by the death of Christ, this could not be; for they would then have been under no wrath, nor curse; nor would any have ever felt a spirit of bondage, as they do in every age of the world, and as they used to do in St. Paul's day....(Rom. viii. 15.) For it is the law only that works wrath....Rom. iv. 15.

And hence we shall find, even all the world shall find, and thousands and thousands to their everlasting sorrow, that when the day of judgment comes, the law shall be executed with the utmost severity upon all that know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ....(II. Thes. i. 7, 8.) And God's justice,in so doing, will shine bright in the sight of all worlds; for he designs, on that day, to reveal the righteousness of his judgments: and hence it is called the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God....(Rom. ii. 5.) But if the law is repealed by the death of Christ, and if God has told the world that he has repealed it....for him now to revive it, and judge and condemn the world by it, would be to cast contempt upon the death of Christ, and deceive his poor creatures, and unmercifully and unrighteously judge and condemn them, by a law that was repealed....a law they never were under, and so ought never to have been judged by. From the whole, therefore, it is evident, that the law that threatens eternal damnation for the least sin, never has been, and never will be repealed.

Well, then, (if this be the case) may ministers thunder hell and damnation against a secure, wicked world; and well may poor sinners tremble under a sense of divine wrath, when their eyes begin to be opened to see where they are: for all those

comforts that the formalist gets by thinking the law is abated or disannulled, and so his state safe, are but the result of an erroneous head, and a heart secure in sin. And what has been said under this particular, will rationally account for all the agony and distress of an awakened sinner. When God, the great Governor of the world, the revenger of sin, begins to make the poor sinner remember his ways and his doings which have not been right, and see what a creature he is, and what a condition he is in, and be sensible of what he deserves; and when he comes to understand that his soul is forfeited, and that it is right that justice should take place, and that God is at liberty to do as he pleases, surely this must be heart-rending, soul-distressing to a poor, sinful, guilty, hell-deserving creature.

And if God will not repeal the law, but still insist upon it, that it is holy and just, no wonder the sinner is made to own it too, before ever he is pardoned: For it would be unbecoming the supreme Lord of the universe, to grant a pardon to a guilty rebel, that is too high-hearted to own that the law, by which he stands condemned, is holy and just. O how right it is, that the sinner should come down, and see, and know, and own forever, that he is justly condemned, and, as such, apply himself to the sovereign grace of God, through Jesus Christ, for a pardon! And O how sovereign, and free, and divine, is that grace that pardons and saves the poor, sinful, guilty, helldeserving wretch, through Jesus Christ! (Rom. iii. 19, 27.) And thus as God the Father honors the law, by refusing to repeal it, and God the Son, by answering its demands—so does God, the Holy Ghost, by making the poor sinner see, and feel, and own, that it is holy and just, before ever he internally reveals the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ, unto him; so that the law is honored, and sin is embittered, and the sinner humbled, and grace glorified, all at once: As in the external revelation God has made in his word, the law is before the gospel; so it is in internal influences and operations of the holy spirit upon the elect; and that for the same reason, that the law might be a school-master, to bring men to Christ.