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.”