p. 194 | Dr. McCosh on the Law

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 1, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 13.

Dr. McCosh on the Law.

LAW was in the nature of God from all eternity, and is the instrument of his government; it was inscribed on the nature of man when he was created; it was graven by God's own finger on the granite blocks of Sinai; it was spoken in gentle and attractive tones by our Lord in the sermon on the mount, and it is written by God's own Spirit as a new commandment on the hearts of God's people. It goes with man wherever he goes, to tell him, if he is prepared to listen to it, what is right and what is wrong, and to the end to punish him if he refuses to obey.

That law has been broken, but it is still binding. When Moses came down from the mount with the two tables, he threw them from him, and broke them, as he witnessed the wickedness of the children of Israel. But he had just to reascend to the mount and have them written again by God's own finger. Which thing may be unto us for an allegory. Man has broken God's law; but that law retains all its claims, and ever renews them. The law is embodied in the gospel. All this was instructively represented in the ark of the covenant, laid up in the holiest of all, and typifying the new covenant. On the lid of it were the cherubim, overshadowing the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat; and the promise was given: "There will I meet with thee, and commune with thee on the mercy-seat from between the cherubim." But within the ark were the two tables of stone. Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill. The gospel, wherever it goes, carries within it the law fulfilled by Christ—the law still binding on his followers. There is a sense in which believers are free from the law; they are free from its curse: but in another sense, they are still under it; they are not free from the obligation to obey it. When sinners come to Christ, he welcomes them. He says, Your sins be forgiven you; but he does not give them liberty to go back to their sins, but, "Go and sin no more." Just as the father, after rejoicing over the return of his prodigal son, took him into his house to keep him in safety, so our heavenly Father takes us into his family to train us to obedience. When the sinner comes to Christ, Christ pays his debts; but it is only to send him to pay his dues, not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit. In Heaven itself the soul, brought into union with the law of love, will be fulfilling it to perfection; and the music of Heaven will consist essentially in attuned hearts, each breathing his own melody, and all in harmony—hearts in accord with the heart of God and in accord with one another, and fulfilling the pleasure of God forever and ever.—From a Sermon Reported in Christian Union.