Nature and Design of the Law.
THE moral law, or the rule and obligation of moral rectitude in the sight of God, which is revealed in the Scriptures, and interpreted by Christ, as obligatory upon the thoughts and feelings of the soul, is not only in its nature of perpetual and universal obligation, and adapted to produce conviction of sin in every soul that is sensible of transgressing its requirements, but the Scriptures expressly declare that it was designed to produce conviction of sin in the soul, in order to prepare it to receive the gospel. The moral law is set forth in the Scriptures as holy, just, and good in its character; and whatever may be its effects upon the soul itself, that its character is such no intelligent thing in the universe can doubt, because it requires of every one perfect holiness, justice, and goodness; it requires that the soul should be perfectly free from sin in the sight of God; and as we have seen, God ought not to allow the sin; if he did, the law would not be holy, nor adapted to make men holy. But the more holy the law, the more conviction it would produce in the mind of sinners. If the law extended only to external conduct, men would not feel guilty for their wrong thoughts, desires, or designs; and if it extended only to certain classes of spiritual exercises, men would not feel guilty for those which it did not condemn; but if it required that the soul itself—the spiritual agent—the “I” of the mind—should be holy, and all its thoughts and feelings in accordance with the law of love and righteousness, then the soul would be convicted of guilt for a single wrong exercise, because while it felt that the law was holy, just, and good, it could not but feel condemned in breaking it. When Christ came, therefore, every soul that was taught its spirituality would be convicted of sin. One of two things men had to do, either shut out its light from their soul, and refuse to believe its spiritual and perfect requirements, or judge and condemn themselves by those requirements. And while the law thus showed sin to exist in the soul, and condemned the soul as guilty and liable to its penalty, it imparted no strength to the sinner to enable him to fulfill its requirements; it merely sets forth the true standard, which is holy in itself, and which God must maintain; and, by its light, it shows sinners their guilt, condemns them, and leaves them under its curse. Now the Scriptures declare that this is the end which, by its nature, it is adapted to accomplish, and that it was revealed to men with the design to accomplish this end, and thus lead men to see and feel the necessity of justification and pardon by Jesus Christ. The Scripture saith, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” “The law worketh wrath—where there is no law, there is no transgression.” “Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, for 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.” Mark the following: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God; therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The argument of the apostle in vindicating the holiness of the law, while it, at the same time, produced conviction and condemnation, is conclusive. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet [i. e., I would not have felt covetousness to be sin except the law had condemned it as such]. For I was alive [i. e., not consciously condemned] without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life [i. e., which required the soul to be holy and therefore alive to God], I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment [or acts shown to be sin by the commandment], deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin [i. e., sin which did exist in the soul, was made to appear in its true evil character], working death in me by that which is good [i. e., the holiness of the law showed the evil of sin]; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.” And then, for deliverance from this bondage, he looks to Christ: “For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death,” &c. And mark again: “Is the law then against the promises 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 [i. e., while the law showed the soul to be unholy and condemned to spiritual death, it provided no means for the relief of the sinner; no influence by which love and holiness could be produced in the heart]. But the Scripture [that is, the revelation of law in the Scripture] hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 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.” Now, from the above scriptures, it is evident that the apostle understood the law not only to be adapted, but designed by its author, to show the soul its guilty and lost condition, its inability to free itself from the condemnation to which it was liable, and to prepare it, at the proper time, to trust in and love Christ for salvation from sin, and from death, the consequence of sin.—Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation. “OPEN to me the gates of righteousness.”