him thereof;" and this grace and this pledge were rendered necessary "because of transgressions."

Thirdly, the law of Moses was given "because of transgressions," as a looking-glass wherein our human nature might see its own weakness and deformity, and thus be brought, with deeper lowliness and warmer love, to lay hold on the offered merits. of the Redeemer. In the law was shown forth the anger of God against sin; in the law were exhibited the purity and holiness which were necessary to purchase His approbation; and the difference which every man felt between his own character and this perfect model; and the impossibility which he could not but feel in himself to equal or resemble it, while they were sufficient to have driven him to despair if no atonement had been provided for sin, made him cling with ten thousand fold more of joy, and love, and thankfulness to that wonderful and precious atonement which God had prepared in His Son. The Jew, on looking on the law, perceived its spiritual nature, and that he himself was carnal, sold to sin. He felt another love in his members warring against the law in his mind'; he felt that he was unable of himself to merit Heaven or to escape the wrath of God; and when he was now ready to cry out, "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" he found on a sudden his condemnation withdrawn, his ransom paid, his chain of sin unloosed by the

1

Rom. vi. 23.

2

Rom. vii. 24.

meritorious life, the redeeming sufferings, and the sanctifying grace of Jesus Christ our Lord! Well might his thankfulness be proportioned to the dangers from which he was set free, and blessed was that knowledge of himself and his condition which the law supplied "because of transgressions."

But all these ends which the law so excellently answered, these ends were temporary only, and lasted no longer than "till the seed should come to whom the promise was made" that in Him all the nations of the earth should be blessed. The assurance and certainty of everlasting life and of a just and equal judgement after death which Christ declared to all men, and of which He gave an ample proof by His own resurrection, are a far more powerful sanction to the law of nature and conscience, and the purity of Christ's example is a far more perfect rule of life than any which were supplied by the law of Moses. The sacrifices for sin, which were "a shadow of things to come 1," faded away at once when those realities were present which they only prefigured; and the forms which were proper as types of an expected Saviour were fitly replaced by that feast of thanksgiving, which became those who rejoiced in an atonement already offered.

1

The anger, lastly, of God against sin, and the purity which were required to please Him, were shown forth more strongly than ever in the dread

4 Col. ii. 17.

ful expiation which the sins of the world required, and the aweful fact that it was His own beloved Son, in whom only He was well pleased.

If then, we are asked, why the law of Moses was given by God? the answer will be," It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made." If we are asked, whether we are bound to keep that law? we should reply that it was not given to us nor to our fathers, and that we live under a better covenant, and have, in the example of Christ, a better rule of life before us. If it should be further enquired, why, then, do we read the Scriptures of the Old Testament? we may answer, that we read them to confirm our faith in Christ by learning all that wonderful chain of prophecy which, from Adam to Moses, and from Moses to Malachi, fixed the attention of the world on Him before His coming; that we read it to increase our thankfulness, by comparing the glorious light which we now enjoy, with the dim and blunted rays which were cast from the veiled countenance of Moses; that we read it to quicken our godly jealousy, and make us more active in the service of the Lord, by observing the zeal which, with far less advantages than ourselves, the ancient patriarchs exhibited. If, lastly, the enquirer should ask what obligation we have, since the law of Moses has no weight with us, to the practice of moral and religious duties? let our answer be given, not only with our lips but in our lives, that the greater the benefits bestowed, the

more we are bound to show forth our thankfulness by doing, to the utmost of our feeble power, whatever may please our Benefactor; that the greater the pardon which we have received, the more should we fear to fall again into those sins which rendered it necessary; that the greater the salvation offered, the more offence and peril there must necessarily be in neglecting it. There is no privi-lege conferred in Scripture which does not carry along with it its corresponding duty. Christ only made the law of Moses unnecessary by furnishing us with stronger motives of hope and fear to the practice of the law of nature; He died for our salvation that He might, by the example of His love and the privileges which He has purchased, purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works, and while He has given, both in His life and in His preaching, a perfect pattern of Christian holiness, He hath declared that not those who say Lord, Lord, but those who do the will of His Heavenly Father, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!

SERMON VI.

THE CHRISTIAN'S FAITH AND FEAR.

[Preached at Dum Dum, Dec. 4, 1825.]

ISAIAH li. 12, 13.

I, even I, am He that comforteth you.

Who art thou, that shall die, and of the

thou shouldest be afraid of a man that son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched out the Heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth?

THE chapter from which these words are taken, is part of a prophecy intended to support and comfort the faithful worshippers of God in the kingdom of Judah, under the weight of those calamities from which, on account of the many sins and provocations wherewith the greater number of their countrymen had offended the Almighty, the nation at large, and even the few righteous among the many wicked, were to suffer. It is this small minority of humble and holy men whom the prophet calls upon in the first verse of the chapter. "Hearken to me ye that follow after righteousness!" whom he exhorts to take example by the unconquerable faith of their great forefather Abraham,