THE law is the chief and most pure resemblance of the justice and
holiness of the heavenly Majesty, and doth hold forth to all men the
sharpness and keenness of his wrath.
This is the rule and line and plummet whereby every act of every man
shall be measured; and he whose righteousness is not found every way
answerable to this law, which all will fall short of but they that
have the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ, he must
perish.
The law is spiritual, I am carnal. Therefore every requirement is
rejected and rebelled against. Strike a steel against a flint, and
the fire flies about you. Strike the law against a carnal heart, and
sin appears, sin multiplies, sin rageth, sin is strengthened.
Sin seen in the glass of the law is a terrible thing; no man can
behold it and live. "When the commandment came, sin revived and I
died;" when it came from God to my conscience, as managed by an
almighty arm, then it slew me. And now is the time to confess sin,
because now a soul knows what it is, and sees what it is, both in
the nature and consequence of it.
He that is under the law is under the edge of the axe.
The proper work of the law is to slay the soul, and leave it dead,
in a helpless state.
The law has laid all men for dead as they come into the world; but
all men do not see themselves dead, until they see the law that
struck them dead striking in their souls and having struck them that
fatal blow. As a man that is fast asleep in a house, and that on
fire about his ears, and he not knowing it because he is asleep;
even so because poor souls are asleep in sin, though the wrath of
God, the curse of his law, and the flames of hell have beset them
round about, yet they do not believe it because they are asleep in
sin. Now, as he that is awakened and sees this, sees that through
this he is a dead man, even so they that see their state by nature,
being such a sad condition, do also see themselves by that law to be
dead men naturally.
Take heed of fleshly wisdom. Reasoning suiteth much with the law: "I
thought verily that I ought to do many things against the name of
Jesus," and so to have sought for life by the law. For thus reason
will say, Here is a righteous law, the rule of life and death;
besides, what can be better than to love God, and my neighbor as
myself? Again, God has thus commanded, and his commands are just and
good; therefore, doubtless, life must come by the law. Further, to
love God and keep the law, are better than to sin and break it; and
seeing men lost heaven by sin, how should they get it again but by
working righteousness? Besides, God is righteous, and will therefore
bless the righteous. O the holiness of the law! It mightily swayeth
with reason when a man addicts himself to religion. The light of
nature teaches that sin is not the way to heaven; and seeing no word
doth more condemn sin, than the words of the ten commandments, it
must needs be therefore the most perfect rule for holiness.
Wherefore, says reason, the safest way to life and glory is to keep
myself close to the law. But though the law indeed be holy, yet the
mistake as to the matter in hand is as wide as the east from the
west; for therefore the law can do thee no good, because it is holy
and just; for what can he that has sinned expect from a law that is
holy and just? Naught but condemnation. "There is one that accuseth
you, even. Moses in whom ye trust."
Here is the poison; to set this law in the. room of a Mediator, as
those do who seek to stand just before God thereby. And then nothing
is so dishonorable to Christ, nor of so soul-destroying a nature as
the law; for that, thus placed, has not only power when souls are
deluded, but power to delude by its real holiness, the
understanding, conscience, and reason of a man; and by giving the
soul a semblance of heaven, to cause it to throw away Christ, grace,
and faith.
Alas, he who boasteth himself in the works of the law, he doth not
hear the law. When that speaks, it shakes mount Sinai, and writeth
death upon all faces, and makes the church itself cry out, A
Mediator! else we die.
The law out of Christ is terrible as a lion; the law in him is meek
as a lamb.
FAITHFUL. "So I went on my way up the hill. Now when I had got about
half-way up, I looked behind me and saw one coming after me swift as
the wind; so he overtook me just about the place where the settle
stands.
"So soon as the man overtook me, he was but a word and a blow; for
down he knocked me, and laid me for dead. But when I was a little
come to myself again, I asked him wherefore he served me so. He
said, 'Because of thy secret inclination to Adam the first;' and
with that he struck me another deadly blow on the breast, and beat
me down backwards; so I lay at his foot as dead as before. When I
came to myself again, I cried to him for mercy; but he said, 'I
know not how to show mercy;' and with that knocked me down again. He
had doubtless made an end of me, but that one came by and bid him
forbear."