ready acquiescence with The DIVINE Appointment, even when extending to the Sacrifice of the Son of his love-an act which manifested the most unhesitating confidence in DIVINE Goodness and Mercy, and proving a feeling of delight above all other enjoyments, in fulfilling The DIVINE Will; Whence he has been characterized in all after-ages as, the Father of the Faithful. A trust in the Word of GOD, more especially in That Transcendant Work of DIVINE Love, the Sacrifice for Mankind's Salvation by The SON of GOD, is the most Acceptable Offering of the heart of Man to GOD; and, when in true piety yielded, the works of righteousness flow therefrom as unfailingly as the stream from its fountain. The assertion therefore that Such as were well grounded and built up in dependance wholly on CHRIST, and relied not for Salvation on a conformity to the ritual law of the Jews, were virtually as Children of Abraham, was thus to be pressed upon the Sticklers for a continuing observance of Jewish ceremonies. The Prophecy, that in Abraham should all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed-Gen. xv. 6-xxii. 18, called for an exercise of faith towards That Great and Precious Promise amongst all Gentiles, who were made cognisant of It, and was Intended habitually to familiarize the minds of All to the Realization of That Promise, and to influence too the hearts of All, to rest upon That Source of hope, as All-Sufficient in Its Fulfilment for the Surpassing Blessing of Redemption from the power of Satan and sin, and of Advancement to Righteousness and Holiness of life in Such as had faith therein. And to whatever exaltation of Heavenly Blessedness Abraham had been Raised by his faith, to an equal Elevation in Holiness and Spiritual Happiness would All Such attain, who cherished the faith that the Apostle had preached in The MESSIAH, through the Efficacy of His Mediation.- -The Ministration of The SPIRIT is the most Glorious that can be Received or engaged in by Man; and though the Gifts of Healing or Prophecy, and of Tongues, were more especially Reserved for the Apostolic days, and the Christian Church in its infancy; yet That Gracious Ministration, to all needful purposes of Edifying and Sanctifying the Soul, and fixing it on a right faith in CHRIST JESUS, is still Offered, and Offered Freely without money and without price, to All Such as will meekly and submissively and gratefully receive and fulfil It; See 2 Cor. iii. 8. In the perverse disputations of some of the infidel Jews with our SAVIOUR, and when, as an Earnest of the Power of His Mediation, He Avowed Himself The SO of The MOST HIGH, and Alluded to their abandonment of the faith, which Abraham had shewn, characterizing them as virtually making themselves Children of the Evil One, though they still laid claim to be considered as the Children of Abraham, JESUS Said unto them, If ye were Abraham's Children ye would do the works and have the faith of Abraham; for Abraham rejoiced to see My Day and he saw It, and was glad.-John viii. 38, 56.-Peter in one of his sermons addressed to the Jews, referred to That Gracious Prophecy of Universal Blessedness through the Advent of The MESSIAH in the Seed of Abraham, a Preference Cast on that holy Patriarch as a Reward of his peculiar faith in the Wisdom and Power, the Truth, the Justice and the Mercy of GOD-the Apostle, after characterizing his Auditors as the Children of the Prophets, adds, and of the Covenant Which GOD Made with our Fathers, Saying unto Abraham, `And in thy Seed shall All the Kindreds of the Earth be Blessed!' Gen. xxii. 18.—and then the Apostle goes on to point to JESUS as That Seed, and Source of Blessing, thus, Unto you first GOD, having Raised up His SON JESUS, Sent Him to Bless you, in Turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Acts iii. 25, 26.So utterly incompatible is a continuance in sin with the possession of that faith, which hath the Promise through CHRIST both of the Life that is, and of That which is to come, that we must be like holy-minded with the faithful Abraham, to have

the assurance of a like Blessedness with him in the Favour of GOD, and in His Promise of Sanctification and Glory Everlasting.

VERSES 10 to 12.-For as Many as are of the works of the Law, are under the Curse: for it is written, 'Cursed is every One, that continueth not in all Things, which are Written in the Book of the Law, to do them!' But that no Man is justified by the Law in the Sight of GOD it is evident, for The Just shall live by Faith.' And the Law is not of Faith; but, The Man, that doeth them, shall live in them.

The passage quoted by the Apostle is from Deuteronomy, where it is thus expressed, Cursed be he, that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them-xxvii. 26. And he draws the Jewish attention to the strictness and awful effect of such a Denunciation, thereby pressing upon the mind the hopelessness of Such, as founded their belief of Salvation in their own imagined sufficiency of the Law, when contrasted with the imperfect fulfilment of it; and he points to the Scriptural Authority for the hope, which the Just are Encouraged to cherishthat of their true faith in the Perfect Righteousness of CHRIST Put forth in their behalf-Which is all their confidence and all their joy--Habak. ii. 4.Who can say that in every act and word and thought from his youth up to hoary old age, if he have reached it, or at whatever period he may have arrived, he has evidenced obedience to the Revealed Law of GOD, and to the wholesome admonitions of his conscience--that Still Small Voice of The HOLY SPIRIT Speaking within him? And a law once broken, though in part only, deprives the Individual of an escape from Condemnation at the hand of strict Justice; and impels him to fly for refuge to That Mercy, Which in The DIVINE Ministration is Supplied only by the Sufficiency of the Incarnate Sacrifice of The SON of GOD, and by the Offender's faith Therein. Justification, under an assumed observance of the moral and ceremonial Law, is a fatal error, the offspring of Spiritual pride. To sustain a claim to Justification on the ground of the Law, and an observance thereof, there should be unfailing and universal observance of it; and even with that, if it could be supposed, contrary to all experience, to exist, conscience should prompt that the very power so to act, and the strength to continue in such an unfaltering and unflagging walk in the ways of righteousness and holiness of life, must have been Supplied by the Light and Guidance of DIVINE Grace-See Rom. x. 9, 10.In the Levitical Record of the ALMIGHTY's Proclamation is the Apostle's Quotation, Ye shall keep My Statutes and My Judgments! Which if a Man do, he shall live in them. I am The LORD.-Lev. xviii. 5-Ezek. xx. 11.

VERSES 13, 14-CHRIST hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law, being Made a Curse for us; for it is written, (Deut. xxi. 23,) Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree that the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through JESUS CHRIST, that we might receive the Promise of The SPIRIT through faith.

And What is This Redemption; and What the Cost of It? Who of HumanKind can tell or conceive what to The Holiest of Heavenly Beings must have been the Coming into contact with, and Submitting to the worst and basest elements of Human Nature: Himself Coming in the Very Office of Universal Benefactor to Man, and having both the Will and Power to Save to the uttermost All, who would gratefully and faithfully come unto Him; and to Save from the inevitable state of remorse and self-condemnation, which must in the life beyond the grave follow on an unfitness for a communion with Heaven--for Which the Sanctifying Grace of The HOLY SPIRIT can alone qualify the Soul; Which Blessed Influence can only be obtained through the Righteousness and Intercessory Sacrifice of The Incarnate SON of GOD, and through an abiding

belief in the equal necessity and efficiency Thereof. This is the Crowning Promise of The DIVINE Purposes of Mercy and of Love unto All, who seek earnestly to inherit the Promises. And the Soul that, rightly and to the utmost extent of its capacity, forms such an estimate of GOD's Goodness and Compassion towards a Race of Created Beings, fallen by perversity from the purity and glory of a Paradisaical State, would have its aim unceasingly bent on the inestimable Privilege, so Presented Freely to it, and would make every other object in life subservient to it-See 2 Cor. v. 21. See also in reference to Abraham's faith being Counted for Righteousness-Rom. iv. 16, 17.- -That Christ should Himself Make Atonement for His Own Creatures' sins against Himself, thus Suffering The JUST for the Unjust, is the source of unceasing wonder and adoration amongst the Spirits in the Mansions of the highest intelligence and purity and wisdom. And can Man think lightly of This, for whom Such Sacrifice was made?The Outpouring of The SPIRIT upon Abraham's Seed is adverted to by Isaiah xliv. 3.

VERSES 15 to 18-Brethren, I speak after the manner of Men; though it be but a Man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no Man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises Made. He Saith not, And to Seeds, as of many; but as of One: and to thy Seed, Which is CHRIST. And this I say, that The Covenant, That was Confirmed before of GOD in CHRIST, the Law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the Promise of none effect; for if the Inheritance be of the Law, it is no more of Promise, but GOD Gave it to Abraham by Promise.

The Apostle then descends from the height of his Spiritual and Scriptural argument, and reasons after the manner of Men who own no Spiritual controul, or disclaim Scriptural Authoritya covenant made, and confirmed both in adoption and acceptance between the Parties, if not of an illicit character, is conclusive upon both sides, and None but themselves, by mutual agreement, can vary or invalidate it. And as GOD, The FOUNTAIN of TRUTH and SOURCE of all Power, Gave His Word to Abraham, and the Patriarch received It with all the confidence and thankfulness that became a Man of GOD, It may be confided in by every Spiritual Child or Descendant of Abraham; and Such is every One, whether Jew or Gentile, Bond or Free, who hath the like faith with Abraham in CHRIST as The SON of Abraham and of David, in the long line of Succession, as well as The SON of GOD, through Whose Incarnation the Blessing of Pardon and Reconciliation is Visited upon every penitent and believing Soul, from Adam to his latest Posterity. The Promise Made to Abraham was Confirmed to his Descendant Jacob, when, as recorded by the Prophet Isaiah, The LORD thus Spoke to him, Hear now, O Jacob My Servant, and Israel, whom I have Chosen! Thus Saith The LORD, That Made thee, and Formed thee from the womb, Which will Help thee; Fear not, O Jacob My Servant, and thou Jesurun whom I have Chosen! for I will Pour Water on him that is thirsty, and Floods upon the dry ground; I will Pour My SPIRIT upon thy SEED, and My Blessing upon thine Offspring-xliv. 1 to 3. The fuller Delineation of that Promised Blessedness in the Fruits thereof is given, both in the Prophet Ezekiel xxxvi. 27, and in the Prophet Joel ii. 28, 29.-St. Paul's chronology, as to the Interval between The DIVINE Promise to the faithful Abraham and his Descendant Jacob, and the Promulgation of the Law from Mount Sinai, is according to the authority in Exodus xii. 40, where it is stated, that the sojourning of the Children of Israel in Egypt was 430 years. And the Apostle elsewhere says, If they, which are of the Law, be Heirs, Faith is made void; and the Promise made of none effect-Rom. iv. 14.

VERSES 19 to 22.-Wherefore then serveth the Law? It was added because of transgression, till the Seed should Come, to Whom the Promise was Made: and it was Ordained by Angels in the Hand of A MEDIATOR. Now A MEDIATOR is not A MEDIATOR of One; but GOD is ONE. Is the Law then against the Promise of GOD? GOD Forbid for if there had been a Law Given, which could have given life, verily Righteousness should have been by the Law; but the Scripture hath concluded All under sin, that the Promise by faith of JESUS CHRIST might be Given to them that believe.

The value of the Law was to point out what should be the purity and perfection unto obedience of Human Nature; and in its Sacrificial Ordinances, to foreshadow the Great and Essential Sacrifice of The SON of GOD, as an Atonement and Compensation for the transgressions of Human Kind in its primeval and continued neglect of that Law of A GOD of Purity and Holiness. The Ordination by Angels may mean the Prophetic Revelation by Angels in visions to the Patriarchs and Sages of Old, in Elucidation of That First Promise of JEHOVAH to Adam, after his fall from obedience to The DIVINE Law and Council, in that The Seed of the Woman should Bruise the Serpent's, or Satan's, the Tempter's head: and that That Bruise should be Inflicted by the Hand of The SON of GOD, to be Made Incarnate for that Great and Merciful Office of An Effectual MEDIATOR between the Justice of GOD and the transgressions of Mankind, when accepted by Man, in the fulness of faith, in Its Necessity and Sufficiency. The Incarnation of The SON of GOD so Constituted a Distinction in That SON from The UNITY of THE GODHEAD, as to Qualify Him for That Office, to which His Exhaustless Love for Man Prompted Him-That of A MEDIATOR-to Reconcile The DIVINE NATURE to Visit repented sin with Pardon, and to Restore the faithful Heart to the Privilege to which Man was first Raised on his Creation-that of an endless Communion with the Holiness and Happiness of Heaven. Can the lot of Man be deemed hard, because All are Condemned by A HOLY GOD as under sin, and as having departed from Original Righteousness; when The Same Hand, That Inflicts the wounds, Offers, and that without money and without_price, other than that at His Own Countless Cost, to Administer the Healing Balm to All who will meekly, yet confidently and gratefully, come unto Him, that they may have the wound of transgression Probed, its gangrene Cleansed, and the healthful action of Spiritual Regeneration Imparted.

In another Epistle St. Paul writes, The Law entered, that the offence might abound; but, where sin abounded, Grace did much more Abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might Grace Reign, through Righteousness, unto Eternal Life by JESUS CHRIST our LORD-Rom. v. 20, 21. Till He, The Appointed Seed of Abraham and of David Came, the Earth since the fall of Adam had not witnessed the perfection of Righteousness and Obedience unto Holiness in Human-Kind.The Pro-Martyr Stephen, with his countenance irradiated with Glory, as bespeaking the Power of The HOLY SPIRIT Working within him, charged his faithless Countrymen with not keeping that Law, which had been received by the disposition of Angels-Acts vii. 53; and again in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said, We ought to give the more earnest heed to the Things, which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip; for if the Word Spoken by Angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so Great Salvation ?-ii. 1 to 3-the Salvation, which is Proffered by the Hand of That MEDIATOR, Whose Advent and Ascension were alike greeted by the acclaiming voices of Angels, as The SOURCE of Peace and Good-Will to Man. Moses, as one of the many Types of CHRIST, was a Mediator between JEHOVAH and His Chosen People, the Jews; for the Sound of The ALMIGHTY's Voice Struck such awe into the hearts of the People, that they prayed for Moses to be allowed to act as Mediator-Exod. xx. 19, 20. But CHRIST

Offers Himself as The PRINCE of Peace, Unsought for by a heedless World, to Mediate Pardon and Reconciliation: even amidst the Outrage of common humanity against Himself—FATHER, Forgive them, for they know not what they do! was His Merciful Exclamation, when Exposed to the agonies of His tortured limbs and parching thirst upon the Cross-Luke xxiii. 34.-Our SAVIOUR's Declaration in His Comprehensive Sermon on the Mount was, Think not 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-Matt. v. 17, 18. The Spiritual and Moral Law is evidently from the Context the Law here Insisted on, as needing indispensably Fulfilment and by CHRIST Himself (in Whom was merged the Ceremonial Law as but typifying Him) in all respects Fulfilled.The inobservance and consequent insufficiency of the Mosaic Law, as a whole, to effectuate Salvation and Spiritual Holiness, is largely entered upon in the Apostle's Epistle to the Romans iii. 9 to 20; and in the following chapter he insists, That the Promise, that Abraham should be the Heir of the World, was not to him, or his Seed, through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith; and he adds, therefore it is of faith, that it might be by Grace; to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Secd: not to that only, which is of the Law; but to that also, which is of the faith of Abraham-13, 16.

VERSES 23 to 26.-But before Faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the Faith, which should afterwards be Revealed: wherefore the Law was our School-Master to bring us unto CHRIST, that we might be Justified by Faith. But after that Faith is come, we are no longer under a School-Master, for ye are all the Children of GOD by faith in CHRIST JESUS. The DAY-STAR from On High was The Incarnate SON of GOD, and He Came by the Inspiration of The HOLY GHOST within the Spiritual vision of Patriarchs and Prophets. Abraham rejoiced to see His Day, and even Balaam acknowledged that he saw Him, but not nigh. The Revelation however was not universal, and, until the actual Advent of CHRIST in a Visible Presence upon Earth, that measure of true and confiding faith had not been cherished, which justified a relinquishment of the Ceremonial Law, the very tendency of which was but to foreshew The Great and All-Comprehensive Atonement in the Sacrifice of The SON of GOD as Man. The ritual Law therefore, pointing in all its offices to A Higher and All-Effectual Sacrifice in JESUS, The MEDIATOR of the New Covenant of Pardon and Reconciliation, by His Bringing in and Exemplifying a Perfect Righteousness and unfailing Obedience unto Holiness, was merged Therein. It is This Perfection of Human Nature by The DIVINE Adoption of it, that can justify in Man the hope of Acceptance into DIVINE or Heavenly Communion; and the purest Creature, that ever inhabited the Earth, clings fondly and faithfully and solely to This Means of Reconciliation, utterly disclaiming any dependance upon any works or merits of his own, however great or distinguished in devotedness to GOD or Man they may have been for how can the Prize of Eternal Blessedness, amidst the unspeakable and inconceivable Glories of HEAVEN, be compensated by any self-wrought efforts through the utmost span of this present life in Man!- -St. John, when characterizing CHRIST as being both The Light and Life of Men, said, that as Many as received Him, to them Gave He Power to become the Sons of GOD, even to them, that believe on His Name-i. 4, 12. And again in his first Epistle he writes, Behold, what Manner of Love The FATHER hath Bestowed upon us, that we should be Called the Sons of GOD!' therefore the World knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. And then he goes on to illustrate this all-important Doctrine, saying, Beloved, now are we the Sons of GOD; and it doth not yet

E