The Law and the Gospel. (Concluded.)
WE now come to the New Testament. The first four chapters of Matthew are devoted to a sketch of the genealogy of Christ, Joseph, and Mary, the birth of Jesus, Herod slaying the children of Bethlehem, John the Baptist, the temptation of Christ, and his entering upon his public ministry. The fifth chapter opens with his inaugural address. This was his first sermon. In this memorable sermon upon the mount, Christ warns his disciples against a terrible heresy that would soon press its way into the church. The Jews boasted of God, of Abraham, and of the law, but despised and rejected Jesus. The great facts connected with his resurrection were soon to be so convincing that many would believe. And as the Jews were to reject and crucify the Son, while boasting in the law, Christians would run to the opposite and equally fatal heresy of trampling upon the authority of the Father, and despising his law, while receiving Christ and glorying in the gospel. It has ever been Satan's object to separate, in the faith of the church, the Father and the Son. With the Jews was the cry, The Father, Abraham, the law; but away with Jesus and his gospel. With Christians the cry was to arise, Christ, the cross, the gospel; but away with the law of the Father. To meet this heresy, ere-long to arise in the Christian church, the Master, in his first recorded sermon, spoke pointedly. Listen to his appeal to his disciples in the presence of the assembled multitudes:— "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy; but to fulfill. 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. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven." These words of warning from our Lord fully meet the case. They need no comment. The history of the church, showing how loosely great and apparently good men have held the law of God, and the present, closing controversy respecting it, give them especial force. Jesus did not come to legislate. In no case did he intimate that he would give a new law to take the place of that of his Father. Speaking of the Son, the Father says, "He shall speak unto them all that I command him." Deut. 18 : 18. "Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." John 7 : 16. "I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things." Chap. 8 : 28. "The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." Chap. 14 : 24. We will now consider the important question of the great apostle to the Gentiles, relative to the law of God and the faith of Jesus: "Do we then make void the law through faith?" Rom. 3 : 31. This question points directly to the true issue between us and the men of this day who teach that the gospel of the Son makes void the law of the Father. Paul decides the question in these emphatic words: "God forbid; yea, we establish the law." The gospel is a necessity in consequence of law transgressed. Where there is no law there is no transgression; no sin, no need of the blood of Christ, no need of the gospel. But the gospel teaches that Christ died for sinners, on account of their sins. Sin is the transgression of the law. He came, therefore, as the great sacrifice for those who transgress the law. The gospel presents him to the sinner as the bleeding sacrifice for the sins of those who transgress the law. This fact establishes the existence of the law of God. Remove the law, and we have no further need of Christ and his gospel. In the gospel arrangement for the salvation of man, there are three parties concerned: the Lawgiver, the Advocate, and the sinner. The words of the apostle are to the point: "If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 1 John 2 : 1. Sin is transgression of the law of the Father; hence the sinner offends the Father, is in trouble with the Father, and needs Jesus to plead his cause with the Father. But if the Father's law has been abolished, and Christ sustains to the sinner the relation of lawgiver, who is his advocate? "Mother Mary," or some other one of the multitude of canonized saints will answer for the Papist; but what will the Protestant do in this case? If he urges that Christ, and not the Father, is the lawgiver, and that in the present dispensation, sin is the transgression of the law of Jesus Christ, then I press him to tell me who the sinner's advocate is. And I ask him to harmonize his position with the words of the beloved John, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Paul addresses the elders of the church at Miletus, relative to the fundamental principles of the plan of salvation, thus: "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20 : 20, 21. The apostle has here set before the men of the present dispensation two distinct duties. First, the exercise of repentance toward God; for his law is binding upon them, and it is his law that they have transgressed. Second, the exercise of faith toward Christ as the great sacrifice for their sins, and their advocate with the Father. These are both indispensable. Paul presented both. He kept back nothing pertaining to the plan of salvation, that was profitable. The closing words of the third angel point directly to a body of Christian commandment-keepers. "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14 : 12. The Jew takes no stock in this text, because he sees in it the despised Jesus of Nazareth. Many professed Christians find it as objectionable as the Jew, for the reason that they find in it the equally-despised commandments of God. But said the adorable Jesus, "I and my Father are one." So the law of the Father and the gospel of the Son pass through all dispensations of man's fallen state, in perfect harmony. Would God, that both the blind Jew and the blind Christian might see this, and embrace the whole truth, instead of each a part, might keep the commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus, and be saved. But here let it be distinctly understood that there is no salvation in the law. There is no redeeming quality in law. Redemption is through the blood of Christ. The sinner may cease to break the commandments of God, and strive with all his powers to keep them; but this will not atone for his sins, and redeem him from his present condition in consequence of past transgression. Notwithstanding all his efforts to keep the law of God, he must be lost without faith in the atoning blood of Jesus. And this was as true in the time of Adam, of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the Jews, as since Jesus died upon the cross. No man can be saved without Christ. On the other hand, faith in Jesus Christ, while refusing obedience to the law of the Father, is presumption. An effort to obtain friendship with the Son, while living in rebellion against the Father, is Heaven-daring. No greater insult can be offered to either the Father or the Son. What! separate the Father and the Son, by the trampling on the authority of the one, and making a friend of the other? "I and my Father are one." The Jew insults the Father, in his rejection of the Son; and the Christian flings in the face of Heaven equal insult, in all his acts of worship in which he vainly thinks to make Jesus his friend while, with light upon the subject, he breaks the commandments of God. The oneness of the Father and the Son is seen at the transfiguration. That voice which is the highest authority in the universe, is there heard saying, "This is my beloved Son; hear him." It is also seen in the closing benediction of the Son, in the last chapter of the Bible, which presents before those who are loyal, the glories of the reward in reserve for the obedient. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." I briefly call attention to three grand events which have taken place in connection with the sad history of fallen man, either one of which is sufficient to establish the perpetuity of the law of God. First, the fall with all its terrible consequences. If the law of God was of such a nature that it could, in any particular, be changed at any time, it would have been thus changed before Adam and Eve left Eden. If the plan of God's moral government could be changed, it would then have been changed, so as to set them free, and save the tide of human wretchedness and agony which has followed. But no; it could not be changed. The curse must fall on man, and upon the earth for man's sake; and the blight and mildew of sin must follow everywhere, and hang upon creation like a pall of death. Why? Because God's law that had been transgressed could not be changed—could not be abolished. Every fading flower and falling leaf, since man left Eden, has proclaimed the law of God change-less. This has been the result of sin. It is the result of the terrible fall. And this has all come about because of the transgression of that law which is as changeless as the throne of Heaven. If that law could ever be changed in any particular, it would have been changed when there were but two fallen beings, in such a way as to free them from the sentence of death, and raise them from their degradation, and the race from continued sin, crime, and woe. Think of the recent American war, with all its terrible agony. But this is only an item in the vast record of human woe. For six thousand years, the tide has been swelling, and creation has been adding groan to groan. Oh! the sorrow, the wretchedness, the agony! Who can compute it? The fall then with its accumulated wretchedness, proclaims God's law changeless. We hasten to notice the next great event which proclaims this truth. Second, the announcement of the ten commandments from Sinai with imposing display. It was not left for Moses to proclaim this law.. It was not left for an angel to assemble the tribes of Israel, and utter these ten holy precepts in their hearing.. The Lord himself descended in awful grandeur, and proclaimed these precepts in the hearing of all the people. Do you say that that was the origin of the law of God? Do you say that the Lord descended on Sinai, and there legislated? And do you say that he has since abolished that code, or changed it? When did he do this? Where did he do it? Has any prophet foretold that such an event should take place? And has any apostle recorded that such a work was ever done? Never. The several States empower their legislators to enact laws. These laws are published throughout the commonwealth. The people understand them. Some of these laws are repealed or changed. Is it done in secret, and the people permitted to know nothing about it? No. The same body that enacts laws, also changes, amends, or abolishes, and the people are apprised of the fact. This is made as public as the enactment of the law. And has not the Lord manifested as much wisdom in managing affairs in which man has so great an interest, affairs which affect his eternal welfare? He came down upon Sinai, and proclaimed his law under such circumstances as to impress the people with its grandeur, dignity, and perpetuity. Who can suppose that he would abolish, or alter it, and say nothing about it? Third, the crucifixion establishes the law207of God. If that law was of such a nature that it could be abolished, or any of its precepts be changed, why not have this done, and set man free, instead of the Son of God laying aside his glory, taking our nature, living the sad life he lived here upon the earth, suffering in Gethsemane, and finally expiring upon the cross? Why, oh, why, should the divine Son of God do all this to save man, if that law which held him as a sinner could be changed, so that he could be set free? But no; nothing could be done in that direction. Man had sinned, had fallen, and was shut up in the prison-house of sin. His sins were of such a nature that no sacrifice was adequate but the sacrifice of Him to whom the Father had said, "Let us make man." The death of an angel was not sufficient. He only who engaged with the Father in the formation of man, constituted a sufficient sacrifice to open the door of hope by which he might find pardon, and be saved. "Come, O my soul, to Calvary," and there behold love and agony mingled in the death of the Son of God. Behold him groaning in Gethsemane. His divine soul was in agony as the sins of man were rolled upon him. "My soul," said he, "is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." The weight of man's sin in transgressing God's immutable law was such as to press from his pores as it were great drops of blood. He then bears his cross to Calvary. The nails are driven into his hands and feet. The cross is erected. There the bleeding Lamb hangs six terrible hours. The death of the cross was most agonizing. But there was in his case the additional weight of the sins of the whole world. In his last expiring agonies he cries, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and bows his head in death. The sun, the brightest luminary of heaven, can no longer view the scene, and is vailed as with sackcloth. The vail of the temple, the noblest work of man, is rent in twain. Christ, the noblest being in the universe save One, is dying in agony. Creation feels the shock, and groaning and heaving, throws open the graves of many of the saints, who come out of their graves after his resurrection. This great event transpired because it was the only way by which sinners could be saved. The law must stand as firm as the throne of Heaven, although the earth shake, and the whole creation tremble, as the Son of God dies in agony. The law of God was given to man as his savior. He broke it. Could it then redeem him? It is not in the nature of law, either human or divine, to redeem the transgressor of law. Those who transgress the law of any commonwealth, must suffer the full penalty, unless the Governor shall pardon the transgressor. This is his only hope of escaping the full sentence of the law. It is said by those who do not fully understand our position, that we trust in the law, and the keeping of the Sabbath, for salvation. No, friends. You may observe all these precepts, to the best of your ability, conscientiously; but if you look no farther than the law for salvation, you can never be saved. The hope of eternal salvation hangs upon Christ. Adam hung his hope there. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the believing Jews hung theirs there. We can do no more. The hope of the next life depends upon Christ. Faith in his blood can alone free us from our transgressions. And a life of obedience to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will be a sufficient passport through the golden gates of the city of God.