of necessity, have made good laws, and that some good men, from mistake or other weaknesses, have enacted laws had in themselves, and pernicious in their consequences.

All human laws partake of human imperfection. It is not so with the laws of God; he is perfect, and so are all his works and ways. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes. All his judgments are truth, and righteousness altogether.”—Psalm xix.

Among men every society and country has its own laws and form of government, which may be very different, and cannot operate beyond their limits; but those laws and that form of government are undoubtedly best, which have the greatest tendency to make all those that live under them secure and happy. As soon as we consider man as formed into society, it is evident that the safety* of the whole must be the grand law which must influence and direct every other. Men did not pass from a state of nature into a state of society, to render their situation more miserable and their rights more precarious. That government and tyranny is the hereditary right of some, and that slavery and oppression is the original doom of others, is a doctrine that would reflect dishonour upon God. It is treason against all mankind: it is indeed an enormous faith that millions were made for one. Transubstantiation is but a harmless absurdity, compared with the notion of a divine right to govern wrong, or of making laws, which are contrary to every idea of liberty, property, and justice.

The law which the Apostle speaks of in our text, is not a law of man, but of Him who is the only lawgiver, that can save and condemn, to whom all owe obedience, and whose laws none can transgress with impunity.

Though all the laws that God ever gave unto man are worthy of God, and tend to promote the happiness of those to whom they were given, yet we may observe a very striking variety in the different laws which he gave at different times and to different people. “He shewed his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel; he has not dealt so with any other nation.” Ps. cxlvii.18, 19.

To the generality of mankind he gave no written law, but yet left not himself without a witness among them; the words of the law were written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while excusing or else accusing one another. It cannot be said they were without law, whilst what they were to do, and what they were to forbear, was written in their hearts.

To Israel God came with a fiery law in his hands; it was given with the most awful solemnity upon Mount Sinai. And as the sum and substance of all their ceremonial, political and moral law centered in the ten commandments, so the sum and substance of these are comprehended in love to God and love to man, which, as our Lord himself informs us, contain all the law and all the prophets.

All manifestation of the will of God have been gradual; and it is probable the means of knowing God will be progressive through different ages, till eternity gives the good man a full sight of God in his immediate presence. During the dispensation of the old testament and the ceremonial law, a spirit of bondage obtained unto fear, the law was a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ; neither did the law make any thing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope. Grace and truth were brought to light by Jesus Christ; and hence the dispensation of the gospel under which we live, is called the law of liberty.

Though there is a manifest distinction between law and gospel, and sometimes these two things are even opposed to one another, yet the doctrine of the gospel is also called “The law of faith,” Rom. iii. 17.; partly because it was usual with the Jewish writers to call every doctrine a law, and partly also because the doctrine of the gospel presents us with a rule of life, which all its professors are bound to obey; hence they are said to be “not without law, but under the law of Christ,” 1 Cor. ix. 11.; and hence our apostle speaks of a royal law, which, though we cannot obey in perfection, nor derive any merit from our imperfect obedience, we cannot neglect without danger, nor disobey without shewing our disregard to the doctrine of the gospel in general.

It deserves very particular attention that the doctrine of the gospel is called a law of liberty. Liberty and law are perfectly consistent. Liberty does not consist in living without all restraint; for were all men to live without restraint, as they please, there would soon be no liberty at all. The strongest would be master, the weakest go to the wall; right, justice, and property, must give way to power, and, instead of its being a blessing, a more unhappy situation could not easily be devised unto mankind, than that every man should have it in his power to do what is right in his own eyes. Well regulated liberty of individuals is the natural offspring of laws, which prudentially regulate the rights of whole communities; and as laws which take away the natural rights of men are unjust and oppressive, so all liberty which is not regulated by law is a delusive phantom, and unworthy of the glorious name.

The gospel is called a law of liberty, because it bears a most friendly aspect to the liberty of man. It is a known rule, Evangelium non tollit politias, the gospel makes no alteration in the civil state; it by no means renders man’s natural and social condition worse than it would be without the knowledge of the gospel. When the Jews boasted of their freedom, and that they never were in bondage, our Lord does not reprove them for it, but only observes, that national freedom still admits of improvement: “If the Son shall make you free, then are you free indeed.” John viii. 16. This leads me to observe that the gospel is a law of liberty in a much higher sense. By whomsoever a man is overcome, of the same he is brought into bondage; but no external enemy can so completely tyrannize over a conquered enemy, as sin does over all those who yield themselves its servants. Vicious habits, when once they have gained the ascendant in the soul, bring man to that unhappy pass, that he knows better things and does worse. Sin, like a torrent, carries him away against knowledge and conviction, while conscience fully convinceth him that he travels the road of death, and must expect, if he so continues, to take up his abode in hell; though his decaying body clearly tells him sin breaks his constitution, as well as wastes his substance; though he feels the loss of credit and wealth, still sin has too strong a hold of him to be forsaken; though he faintly resolves to break off, yet, till the grace of God brings salvation, when he would do good, evil is present with him. In short, instead of being under a law of liberty, he is under the law of sin and death; but whenever he feels the happy influence of the grace of the gospel, then this “law of liberty makes him free from the law of sin and death,” Rom. viii. 2. It furnisheth him not only with motives to resist, but with power also to subdue sin; sin reigns no longer in his mortal body, because he is not under the law but under grace. By this law of liberty he is made free from sin, and has his fruit unto holiness, and the end of it eternal life. There is another reason why the gospel is called a law of liberty, which is to distinguish it from the ceremonial law under the Mosaick dispensation; a yoke, of which an Apostle saith, neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. It was superadded on account of their transgressions, and suited to the character of a gross and stubborn nation, to whom it was originally given. They were so prone to idolatry, and so apt to forget their God, their notions were so gross and carnal, that a number of external rites and ceremonies became necessary to put them in mind of him, and to attach them to some degree of his worship and service. This, however necessary, was a heavy burden; it bid them “touch not taste not, handle not.” It required of them expensive sacrifices, and a costly and painful service. It was attended with the most fearful threatenings. If any man brake Moses’ law, he died under two or three witnesses; and the very spirit they then received, was a spirit of bondage unto fear: whereas the gospel dispensation breatheth a spirit of confidence, and under the law of liberty we call upon God, as Abba, Father. By this law of liberty the professors of the gospel will be judged.

Every man is a rational, and therefore accountable, creature. As a creature he must needs depend on his Creator; and as a rational creature he must certainly be accountable for all his actions. Nothing is more evident than that man is not of himself; and if once we admit that he holds his existence, his faculties and favours from God that made him, it becomes a very obvious conclusion that his Maker

*Salus populi suprema lex.