Life and Travels of William Conrad

Chapter XXVII - For I delight in the Law of God after the Inward Man For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; 22nd verse of 7th chapter Romans.

In the above we have couched in few words them, who "Are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." -3rd ch., 3rd verse, Phil. The people of God, of which it is said, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit." And that freedom from condemnation effected by the mighty power of God as reported to the church at Rome by his servant Paul, in 2nd ver., 8th chap., "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death." And in the 3rd verse shows the weakness and the utter failure of the law in that it was weak through the flesh, hence God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit."

Here in this last verse we have recorded the great cardinal point for which such freedom from condemnation was wrought that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, by which God is glorified and his dear circumcised children "delight in the law of God after the inward man," and are accounted as Zachariah and Elizabeth. Righteous before God, for if we so walk that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. We shall walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless; and shall be regarded "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them," and shall thereby bear fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. And all along the way the Lord hath so brought them they will be giving evidence of their birth of the spirit of God and of their call to the fellowship of saints; whose highest object is to show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light and daily to feel as Peter wrote to the "Strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bythinea, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ; grace unto you and peace be multiplied." And to them who so walk in newness of life in this Nineteenth Century, as Peter said to the above strangers, thus: "For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish arid without spot," etc.-18th and 19th verses, 1st Peter, 1st chapter. Such are born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For so living they "purify their souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. And doubtless both see and feel that they should love one another with a pure heart fervently." Now, dear reader, we have before us the people whom God hath delivered from the power of darkness, and hath translated into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom they have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. The children of his love and to whom his divine power hath given unto them all things that pertain unto life and Godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, and given unto them exceeding great and precious promises, that by these they might be partakers of the divine nature. A blessed people whoso God is a rock whose work is perfect, he fashioneth their hearts alike.

O reader, what blessing beside the above could be added; we pause for the moment, and add but the one thing, and that is his helping hand, for we remember he hath said, "without me ye can do nothing; well, his help is promised, and that right early, and that he is a present help in time of need.

O blessed people, whose God is the Lord, their strength and their shield, their front and rear guard and strong tower.

And, after all such gracious and God glorifying work thus of God wrought, such highly favored ones are so surrounded with a body of death that they can not do the things they would. Yet, they own under the influence of the spirit of grace that the law is holy and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

And more, with Paul they ask: "Was then that which is good made death unto me?" God forbid but sin that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good. That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For, while they know and know experimentally too that the law is holy and the commandment is holy, and just, and good; for by the law is the knowledge of sin, remembering they wore alive without the law once and can not forget that when the commandment came sin revived (made manifest)and they died-that is to say with Paul to the Galatian brethren: "For through the law I am dead to the law that I might live unto God."

So, that with all furnished to the hands of God's dear circumcised family, the things, yes, the things that are freely given us of God as given above; the full, the complete armor furnished them from heaven's magazine-all placed by the spirit of God.

Yet with all, however complete the armor, not one of all the household of faith is at any time able to successfully use the things so freely given of God.

Hence, notwithstanding, they have all things and abound, yet if God but hide his lovely Face then are they faint and their hands hang down, and feel to know that the law is spiritual, but they are carnal, sold under sin; they are ready to say with Job: "Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? for my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters; for the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me ;" 3rd Chapter, 23rd, 24th and 25th verses.

They can give that which is to them full ground or reason for their shortcomings and their every failure to glorify God in their bodies and spirits, which are God's.

And why it is that I am so far from God and groping in the dark, and feel the last ray of a glimmering hope is fled, and hence I now have sorrowful days and mournful nights. Thus I feel like one alone and often wonder where the scene will end. Their reason is found in Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 15th verse of 7th Chapter, and onward: "For that which I do I allow not; for what I would that do I not; but what I hate, that do I."

So, says the tossed and tempted child of God, like Jacob of old, all these things go against me. I fail in every part, not one good duty can I do; so that with David they feel. They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep; for he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth the waves thereof. "They mount up to heaven; they go down again to the depths; their souls are melted because of trouble; they reel to .and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end; then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses;" 23rd on to 28th verse inclusive of 107th Psalm.

Yes, dear reader, it is then as in the days of the humiliation of the Son of God when the disciples in the ship was tossed on the rolling billows, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves, but he was asleep and his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord save us, we perish; and he said unto them why are ye fearful? O ye of little kith; then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm; 25th and 26th verse, 8th Chapter of Matthew.

Then they are glad, for immediately they are at their desired haven or rest, and set in a wide place. Then their joyful hearts cause their glad tongues to say. "O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" While in the enjoyment of Jesus' lovely presence filled with gladness, are ready to say to him, Lord let us here build three tabernacles-one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias. This they say, not knowing what they say, because they feel while in his lovely presence that it is good to be there with Jesus on that lovely mount.

Just on such occasions they set out afresh to run, but forget to ask the blessed Jesus to give us grace and glory, and to withhold no good thing from 'us and oftentimes to do that he commanded not, and then we are sure to do that we ought not.

And with Paul: "If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good," which is always our sad condition when Jesus goeth not with us in the way and we have not looked to nor examined, as David, who said of him: "Thy testimonies also are my delight, and my counselors;" 119th Psalm and 24th verse.

Sure if we run or act outside or without his testimonies we act just as the prophet or minister who speaks not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them; forgetting that Jesus said: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto our souls; all this for the best of all reasons; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light; 28th, 29th and 30th verses of 11th Chapter of Matthew.

There has not been, there is not now or ever shall be a period with the Church of Jesus that they may dispense with or lawfully disregard the last quotation, for whether we forget or stubbornly refuse to take upon us Jesus' yoke and learn of him who is meek and lowly in heart, the result is when the light of life shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus, we are compelled to own we have done that we would not and that we must consent unto the law that it is good.

Yes, dear reader, for while we thus do consent unto the law that it is good and own up before God his rightful claim upon us, that we should so walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.

Hence, while I delight in the law of God after the in. ward man, I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

The reason of our failure to do good, to serve God as in our best judgment acceptably, with reverence and Godly fear, is manifested daily; "for the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do."

Hence, in the integrity of our hearts and in the usage of all our powers we fail and alike daily have we to own before God and our brethren the utter inability to perform even one good act, such as we, ourselves, under the influence of the light of life would accept of, and there cry out in the bitterness of our hearts-Lord help, Lord save, we perish; for all our help must come from thee; for, except thou Lord go up with us we can not stand, but must flee before the enemy; for thou Lord art our hiding-place.

Yes, my dear father's children, your God will contend with him that contendeth with thee. That other law that you see in your members warring against the law of your mind, bringing you into captivity to the law of sin which is in your members, as well as now is and will continue as long as you inhabit your house of clay, that dreadful strife of the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye can not do the things that ye would; 17th verse of 5th Chapter Gal.

It is still true that the blessed Jesus must of necessity for the well-being of his circumcised be always in lead as well as rear on either side and in their midst; otherwise, feeble will be their fight against spiritual wickedness in high places for it should always be borne in mind that Jesus hath and doeth all things well and alike remembered by the children of God in every land and in every clime that Jesus said: "without me ye can do nothing."

Thus, as we have seen, the child of God is brought to see another law in his members warring against the law of his mind and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin, which is in his members.

Hence, they all in their right minds are brought in their measure to cry out in the bitterness of soul as did the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Church of Rome-7th chapter, 24th and 25th verses: "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

Thus, in their extremity captives held thus in chains and fetters, and amid their weakness and gloom they can but cry for mercies' helping and delivering hand.

Now, in their deepest despondency, the Lord their King bids darkness and unbelief flee away; then faith quickly says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin.

They at least virtually acknowledge the law of God a rule by which to measure offences, and also a rule by which to walk as set forth in the New Testament, and that of their walk, such that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in them who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, seeing it is so that there is therefore now no condemnation to them, which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.

Hence, it is doubtless observed by the reader of the above subject that the writer has embraced the idea quite fully, that except the Lord go with us in the observance of all his ordinances and in keeping his commandments and statutes to do them, we shall fail. Yes, unless the spirit of the Lord go up with us in our efforts of praise, prayer, preaching of the Gospel of Christ, hearing the truth of the Gospel proclaimed, all our efforts to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear is vain; so that the great importance of our constant entreaty or prayer to God for his blessed presence to go with us all our journey along this vale of tears, is so needful in all our attempts to live to the glory of God and our own enjoyment and happiness, and the comfort and encouragement of our fellow-pilgrims in the midst of a world that knows not God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have also in the connection of the words heading this subject called up or quoted portions of Scripture that to us seems to embrace fully the idea that the law of God is and should be so regarded by the circumcised in heart a fit rule or law by which their moral conduct should be shaped. For, in truth, when we delight in the law of God after the inward man, we do at least virtually signify that the law of God is our proper guide or rule for our moral conduct as the living people in Jerusalem.

And to the above add the 4th verse of 8th Chapter to the Church at Rome: "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit."

It therefore follows that if the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, it is doubtless in that respect the rule or law by which our actions are measured, and as the law is spiritual such action or walk after the spirit and not after the flesh is a fulfillment of the righteousness of the law, and hence a fit rule by which the children of God should shape their moral actions in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.

To which we append as we feel in a more full and tangible light from the pen of that gracious man of God, Abraham Booth, as found in his work, entitled the Death of Legal Hope, published in pamphlet form from the Ninth London Edition, by Albert F. Uitts.

Thus, on the last clause of second column of 44th page and onward, Elder A. Booth says: "That the moral law is a rule of life to believers, may be proved by various arguments. Some few of the many which might be produced I shall now offer to the readers' consideration.

Paul, we find, even in that very chapter where he treats the most largely and explicitly concerning believers being dead to the law, and the law being dead to them asserts, with regard to himself, I delight in the law of God after the inward man; 7th Chapter Rom., 22nd verse.

Now whatever law it be that is here designed, he informs us that he delighted in it after the inward man. By which expression he intends, not the soul, in contradistinction to the body; but the mind, considered as renewed in opposition to the corruption of nature, still inherent.

This law, therefore, can not be that which is ceremonial, for that was abrogated by the death of Christ; nor can it be the law of sin, for that was his greatest burden, as appears from the context; nor can it be the law of his mind or that new and holy disposition which was produced in his heart in regeneration, for then the sense would be I delight in the new disposition of my mind after my renewed mind; nor can it be the moral law as a covenant, for to that he declares he was dead.

It remains then that it must be the law, as the rule of his obedience to God. In the law thus considered he greatly delighted. He saw it was holy, and just, and good. That supreme love which he had to his God, that ardent affection which he had to his neighbor, caused him to esteem it highly and to observe it with diligence.

Nay, whoever is possessed of the same holy and heavenly principle can not but love that law which requires the constant exercise of it. See also verse 25th. In another part of the same epistle he evidently exhorts his christian brethren to the practice of duty by setting before them the precepts and prohibitions of the moral law. These are his words: Owe no man anything, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law, For this thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law; 13th Chapter Romans, 8th, 9th, and 10th verses.

Now, to what purpose does the infallible teacher make use of these precepts and prohibitions when exhorting believers to good works if they have nothing to do with the law? Where is the propriety, where is the reason of his doing so, on supposition that it is not the rule of their conduct? For no one acquainted with the Gospel can imagine that he is here urging the law upon them as a covenant of works, which prescribes duty as the condition of life, and yet there is no other light in which to consider it if it be discarded as a rule of conduct.

I conclude, therefore, that the inspired author has here taught us in a very emphatical manner that the law is a rule of life to believers.

The same experienced saint and incomparable man, when writing to the church at Ephesus, says: Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. This exhortation he enforces by adding honor thy father and mother, which are the words of the law and the first commandment with promise; 6th Chapter Eph., 1st and 2nd verses.

Now, is it not strange, exceedingly strange, that the apostle should thus refer to the law and expressly mention its precepts when exhorting the people of God to perform their respective duties, and that he should do it not only once but repeatedly, and to different churches. See also Gal., 5th Chapter, 13th and 14th verses.

If he did not consider it as the rule of their moral conduct-if the moral law had been entirely abrogated-if believers had been freed from all concern with it, he must have known it. But if so it is absolutely unaccountable that he should in this manner make use of it and urge its injunctions when writing to a Church of Christ called out from among the Gentiles. What! was the Lord's ambassador so much at a loss for motives and arguments to enforce his divine master's commands even on the minds of those who were in professed subjection to him, that he must, in order to gain his point, make use of an antiquated law-a law with which they had no concern?

This was far from him; the thought be far from us; that first rate minister in Messiah's kingdom was well persuaded that the holy law was a rule for the conduct of Christians. Our divine surety having paid it the highest respect in performing that perfect obedience which it required, and in suffering the dreadful penalty which it threatened as a covenant, Paul knew that it deserved the most sincere and uninterrupted regard from all who profess to believe in Jesus in the whole of their conversation.

Without supposing this we can not discern either propriety or sense in his thus making use of it when addressing believers. We have a testimony to the truth for which we plead from the pen of another apostle, which, as it appears directly to our purpose, may be considered.

James, in perfect agreement with Paul says: If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scriptures thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well; 2nd Chapter James, 8th verse.

That it is the moral law of which he speaks can not admit of a doubt, for he expressly mentions one of its principle commands. Now, says he, if ye believers fulfill the royal law of love, one to another, without any difference of rich or poor, of high and love, according to the scripture in which it is written: Thou shale love thy neighbor as thyself-ye do well, ye act agreeable to the will of your heavenly Father and to the commandment of your divine Lord, who is King in Zion. Acts of christian kindness and of brotherly love to your fellow creatures and fellow Christians proceeding from love to God, and with a view to his glory are good works-such as the Lord himself will acknowledge to be well done.

Here we may further observe, that in loving our neighbor and in evidencing this love by a series of suitable actions, we should have our eye upon that authority which enjoins it, and upon that law which requires it. It is the authority of God in his law which we ought to regard.

I now proceed to confirm the truth by other considerations: If the moral law be not a rule of life to believers, either there is some other and a new rule given in its stead or there is not. If another, it may be presumed that it is either more or less perfect than that contained in the moral law. But more perfect it can not be without supposing that the old, the eternal law was imperfect-to suppose which is absurdly blasphemous; if it be less perfect the consequence is plain. It is not a complete system of duty; It admits of imperfections; it connives at sin. But for any one to imagine that infinite wisdom would contrive, and that infinite holiness would give such a rule for the conduct of rational creatures is absolutely inconsistent with the divine character and pregnant with blasphemy. Such a rule therefore condemns itself and sinks with its own weight; but if there be not another then it follows, by necessary consequence, that as there is no rule to regulate the conduct of believers, they can neither obey nor disobey. Sin and duty as to them are unmeaning names and empty sounds, because obedience presupposes a command.

It is equally evident that where there is no law, no rule of action, there can be no transgression. For how should that be sin, which is not forbidden; which, therefore, is not the breach of any law?

But, if all irregularities of temper and conduct be forbidden to believers, and if dispositions and practices of a contrary kind be required of them, it must be by a law-a law they are bound to regard as the rule of their duty to both God and man.

The sentiment opposed represents the holy one of God as the minister of sin; for it supposes that Christ has, in reference to his disciples, dissolved all obligation to duty; than which nothing can be more false nor more derogatory to our Saviour's honor.

The satisfaction which he made to eternal justice delivers the persons of believers from final condemnation and everlasting punishment, but the nature of their actions remains the same. Every affection of heart and every action of life which the law forbids and condemns in others is equally forbidden and equally criminal in them. Nay, they being considered as under additional obligations as knowing their duty better, and as having superior motives to the performance of it, if there be a difference on the comparison in regard to any impurity of heart or irregularity of life, it, lies against them. Though redeemed from the curse of the law they are under obligations to observe its precepts; nor would it be either to their honor or to their happiness to be otherwise.

I suppose it will not be denied by any who acknowledge the bible to contain a divine revelation that the saints and people of God, under the ancient Jewish economy were bound to regard the moral law as the rule of their conduct. Yet it is evident they were no more under it as a covenant, nor any more obnoxious to its curse than real Christians under the Gospel dispensation.

Those who believed in the promised Messiah before he appeared were pardoned and justified-were sanctified and saved; and that by the same glorious grace and the same all-sufficient mediator, with all who have known the Lord since the eternal word became incarnate; the way of justification and salvation having been but one, and precisely the same in all ages.

If then those ancient saints were bound to regard the law as a rule of their moral behavior, what reason can be given why believers now should not be under the same obligation? Especially since our Lord has declared in the most solemn and explicit manner that he came not to destroy but to fulfill the law; to fulfill it as a covenant by his own consummate obedience, and by his most bitter sufferings in the stead of his people, and to enforce on their minds by the most cogent, motives its heavenly precepts as a perfect rule of duty. So, that whether we consider the law as a rule of duty, or as a covenant of works it is not made void by the coming of Christ, nor yet by the doctrine of grace; but, on the contrary, it is firmly established and highly magnified; 3rd Chapter Romans and 31st verse; 13th Chapter Isaiah and 21st verse.

If believers be not under the commanding power of the law, supposing them to act ever so contrary to it, they are not chargeable with sinning against it, nor can they be denominated transgressors. For instance, the law says, "Thou shalt love God with all thy heart;" that is, with a supreme and perfect affection. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." These are its capital commands; these are the sum of the law. But if the law be not a rule of faith to the christian; if he be not under its commanding power; he is no longer obliged to love God or his neighbors. Consequently, on supposition that he love neither of them, he is not guilty in the eye of the law; for where there is no right to command, there can be no authority to pronounce guilty. If; therefore, the believer be not under the commanding power of the law, whatever the disposition of his heart, or the actions of his life may be, he is no transgressor of the law, it having no concern with him. Such are the shocking absurdities, and such the implicit blasphemy, which follow a denial of the truth ton which we contend. We may argue, also from the experience of the Christian, and the dictates of his own conscience. When he reflects on the corruptions of his heart, the imperfections of his duties, and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, what is the standard by which he forms an estimate of these things? Some rule of duty he must have; some rule he must, in his own conscience, acknowledge; or he could not appreciate the dispositions of his heart and the actions of his life, so as to pronounce them either good or evil, perfect or defective, and be pained or pleased on the reflection. Now, what rule can this be, but the moral law? Is it not a complete one, and fit for the purpose? Is there any sin which is not forbidden; is there any duty which is not commanded, by that law which requires the constant exercise of perfect love to God, and perfect love to man? Can the believer acquit himself; in the court of conscience, when he is persuaded that his tempers or actions are contrary to it? Or does he ever condemn them as criminal, but on a supposition that there is something in them which is forbidden by it? Was it ever known that a christian should say of his inclinations or actions, "I pronounce these to be evil, though required by the moral law; and I declare those to be good, though contrary to it." An infallible pen has informed us, that "by the law is the knowledge of sin." Nor is its usefulness, in this respect, confined to the time when a sinner is first awakened and converted. It is of use, in the hand of the spirit, in all the future progress of the christian life. As the believer grows is grace, he sees more of its purity, and is proportionally humbled under a sense of his own depravity. If, then, it be of use to a believer, still to convince of sin, and still to humble for it; and if sin be no other than a transgression of the law," it follows that it must be the rule of his moral conduct.

The law, considered as "moral," is founded on the nature of things, the sublime perfections of Jehovah, and the relation in which he stands to man as being his creator, preserver and governor; the dependant condition of man, and the blessings he receives from his maker, constitute that foundation on which the law is built, as it respects our duty to God, in the exercise of perfect love, and in the performance of holy worship. As the law regards our neighbor, it is founded on that mutual relation in which we stand one to another, in the present state of existence. As is the stability, therefore, of those foundations on which the law is built, must be that of the obligation attending the law itself. If those relations from which all our obligations to God and one another arise, be firm and unchangeable, such also must be the obligations themselves, for the several relations and obligation co-exist. This being the case, it follows by necessary consequence, that while Jehovah is possessed of absolute perfection, and man a dependant being; while God is God and man is man, that law which requires perfect love to our maker is unchangeable. So long, also, as our relation to one another continues the same, it can not but be the duty of every one to "love his neighbor as himself." Consequently, so far as we come short in either of these respects, we fail in the performance of duty, and are chargeable with sin.

Why should any one wish to be free from the law, considered as a rule of moral conduct? It commences nothing but what is right, nor forbids anything that is not wrong. As the things it requires are worthy of God and useful to man, so the things it prohibits are hateful to him and hurtful to us. To suppose it possible for God to approve those things which the law condemns, would be a flagrant dishonor to his divine character; and to imagine that men might perform them without injuring their own souls, is a fatal mistake. Besides, it is not the design of the holy spirit, in the regeneration of sinners, to produce in them an habitual desire of doing that which is right? But can those dispositions or actions be accounted right which are contrary to the attributes of God, or inconsistent with a due acknowledgment of them? When the divine sovereign displays his perfections, he manifests his glory; and so far as we acknowledge those perfections in a suitable manner, we glorify him.

Now, as the law requires no more of us than to treat God as God, and our fellow creature as our fellow creature; in other words, as it only requires us to treat objects and things as they are, in their own nature and in their several relations to us; its precepts and prohibitions must be unalterable, and the never-failing rule of the christian's moral conduct. The very learned and celebrated Vitringa, when reasoning on this important subject, speaks to the following effect: "When Paul affirms that believers, being under grace, are "free from the law," he must; not be understood as asserting that they are loosed from an obligation to observe the precepts which constitute the substance of those moral laws which are contained in the writings of Moses; for how absurd, how blasphemous, how shocking it would be to suppose that the people of God, under the gospel dispensation, are not bound by any law to revere, and love, and adore their maker; nor under any obligation to seek the good, or promote the happiness of their fellow-creatures! Certain it is, that grace and faith neither do, nor were ever intended to free believers from the obligations and laws of humanity. No; their benevolent design was to restore mankind to happiness, and to perfect them in holiness. But were Christians released from the law of love, they would not be in the common condition of humanity. For what is it to be a man, but to be a creature endued with reason, dependant on God for existence, and for all the comforts of life; from whom only he can expect salvation from every evil, and the enjoyment of every good that is necessary to perfect his nature and render him completely blessed? To God, therefore, as his creator, preserver, governor, and supreme good, he necessarily stands related; so related as to be accountable to him for the enjoyment of every favor, the exercise of all his powers, and the performance of every action.

As Jehovah's consummate perfections demand of a rational creature that is absolutely dependant upon him and formed for his glory, the highest acts of adoration; as the dominion of God over all creatures requires obedience and subjection; as the majesty and justice of God challenge humility and reverence; so the boundless goodness of God, which is the source of all the comforts we have received, of ail the blessings we now enjoy, and of all the happiness we hereafter expect, that infinite goodness, I say, to which every man's conscience bears witness, obliges the reasonable creature to love God; that is, cleave to him with all the force of inclination and all the fervor of affection, as being supremely amiable; and to rejoice in his happiness as a being of boundless excellence.

Now, as one divine perfection infers all others-and as one relation of God to man comprehends all others-including, at the same time, all the duties of man to God which arise from these relations, so all the duties we owe to God might be demonstrated from any of those divine perfections which have a relation to man."-Vitring, Observ. Sai. Tom. 2, 1, vi. cap. 18, sect. 1.

It must indeed be acknowledged that a complete conformity to this high and heavenly rule is what the most holy and zealous believer can not attain.

A perfect personal holiness is not attainable by mortals, for "if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." The law notwithstanding is no less the standard of duty, is no less the rule by which we should walk, than if we could observe it with the greatest punctuality.

Every one therefore, who pretends to have faith in Jesus ought to use his utmost diligence that his tempers and actions may correspond with it as much as possible. This is his indispensable duty, and this, if a real Christian, will be his ardent desire. Nor has the true believer any objection to it or any fears from it thus considered. It is no longer a fiery law, thundering out anathemas and flashing vengeance against him. No, it is mild and gentle. He sees that its precepts are highly salutary, and its prohibitions exactly right. He does not wish to have them altered. Love to God and our neighbor is a compendium of its precepts, and in the exercise of that love he desires to abound.

As to its prohibitions he knows that the things forbidden would be an injury to him were they pursued; therefore, he esteems it his happiness to abstain from them. The new disposition received in regeneration expresses itself in love to God and in obedience to his law as pure and holy The Gospel furnishes him with the strongest arguments and the most winning motives to abound in obedience, while it is his earnest prayer that the spirit of grace would afford effectual assistance for the performance of every duty. It is his greatest grief that he does not more constantly and perfectly transcribe the sacred precepts into his conduct, and cause them to shine in his own example. Besides, the believer beholds the law, not in the hands of Moses, and as surrounded with the flames of Sinai, but in the hands of that Prince of Peace, who is King of Zion. He sees that the dear, the adorable, the ascended Jesus, having fulfilled its highest demands as a covenant, and released him from its awful curse now employs it as an instrument of his benign government, for the good or the redeemed and the glory of his own eternal name. As in the hand of Christ it is a friend and a guide, pointing out the way in which the Christian should walk so as to express his gratitude to God for his benefits, and to glorify the redeemer. It shows him also how imperfect is his own obedience, and so is a happy means of keeping him humble at the foot of sovereign grace, and entirely dependent on the righteousness of his divine sponsor.

Now, reader, what think you of the law as a rule of moral conduct? Is it pleasant, is it delightful to you? In vain you profess to know the gracious Gospel while you continue an enemy to the holy law. For, as the law in its covenant form is the appointed means of convincing the careless sinner of his need of that righteousness which is revealed in the Gospel for the justification of his person before God, so the Gospel exhibiting adequate relief to the distressed conscience is the happy instrument of conciliating the believers' regard to the law as a rule of conduct that his faith may be evidenced in the sight of men.

Thus the law and the Gospel are mutually subservient to one another, while both agree to promote the happiness of the redeemed and the glory of their divine author. He, therefore, who does not pay an habitual regard to the law in a course of obedience, has no experience of the Gospel in a way of comfort. As he tramples on that divine authority which appears in the former, so he despises that boundless grace which is revealed in the latter-such a one is an enemy to both and his state is most deplorable.

Remember reader that you may talk as much as you please about the holy tendency of evangelical principles, but the adversaries of the Gospel will never believe you if they do not see the truth of what you say exemplified in your own conduct.

The import of those observations which they make on your conversation is, you that speak with such fluency and confidence about the doctrines of grace and the necessity of faith, let us see what influence these doctrines have on your own tempers and your own behavior! Show us your faith by your works!

This is a reasonable demand; they are authorized to make it, and woe, woe be to every professor of evangelical truth, whose behavior is not answerable to that demand; for, if our conduct be inconsistent with our profession we shall soon be treated as the greatest enemies to Christ and his cause.

Are you a believer in Jesus-one that knows the grace of God in truth? You have the purest and strongest motives imaginable to regard the law. Has the son of the highest done all you were bound to perform as the condition of late, and suffered all you were condemned to sustain as the penalty annexed to disobedience? Has he done and suffered all this in your stead, that He might procure a full, final, and everlasting salvation for you, a poor perishing sinner? Has he expressed his regard to the law as a covenant, not in words but in deeds-in such deeds as astonish the universe? And shall you be backward to manifest your love to the law as a rule of moral duty by a serious, holy, heavenly conduct? Did he, whom angels adore, obey, and bleed, and die-die an accursed death, that the claims of the law as a covenant might be all answered? And, shall it seem hard to you to deny yourself to subdue your corruptions and to walk by this heavenly rule? Is it the popular clamor against the genuine Gospel that it makes void the law? And shall it be your constant business and fervent prayer to observe the sacred precepts as to be a living confutation of that detestable slander? Do not reason and conscience, scripture and experience, all concur to show the expediency, the utility, the necessity of conforming your life to the law as a rule?

O believer, yours is the happy state; let yours be the holy life; let it appear that though dead to the law as covenant, you abhor the things it forbids and delight in the things it commands. Then will you stop the mouths of gainsayers; then will you glorify the name of your God. Amen.

Having concluded my comments on the 22nd verse of 7th Chapter Romans, the investigation of which it seemed to the writer that in the several portions of Scripture called forward while treating on the above 22nd verse and its connection, more plain to him than at any previous time in life, that the law was and is a fit rule of moral conduct to believers.

And here would add that in his repeatedly quoting-"for I delight in the law of God after the inward man" that, in that respect the child of God circumcised in heart, who delights in the law of God after the inward man, in which confession it is quite significant on his part that the law is holy and the commandment holy, just, and good. Hence, he feels at least while in such frame, that he should not only honor but keep the moral precepts of that law, which is holy, and so regard it as did the apostle Paul in 11th verse of 7th Chapter Romans: "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." That although delivered from the law in its covenant form, we should regard its moral precepts, though we fail so far in observing them, that we again and again decide with the apostle that we are "carnal, sold under sin," while it remains true that the law is spiritual as well as holy.

The same we gather from 4th verse of 8th Chapter to the Church at Rome: "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit."

So, that law, whose righteousness claims or precepts is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit is doubtless a fit or proper rule by which the people of God should love God and their neighbor.

O child of God, we never can be released from that claim of God contained in the law that we should love God with all our heart, etc, and our neighbor as ourselves, however much we fail and so often write bitter things against ourselves, in view of our delinquency in love to God and love to our neighbor. Upon these two, love to God and love to our neighbor, hang all the law and the prophets.

And lastly, as long as we live we should remember that it is written in the 7th verse of the last Chapter of Deut. thus: "And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." And that it is also written in the 10th verse of same chapter thus: "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face."

And we should gather from the same that the searching eye of the law is still the same; its strength or force the same as when first written on the tables of stone, or when it was first delivered to Israel by Moses.

That while it is true that the blessed Jesus has magnified as well as fulfilled the law and hushed into quiet its curses against the gift of his Father whom he redeemed from its curses, bore their sins away like as God took Moses and laid him away, and his grave not yet known by man. Yet its moral precepts abide unchanged, while it is written by inspiration in 2nd Chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians that they were "His (God's) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

Hence, they of God's circumcised children, who live to God, walking in those good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

In such children so walking the righteousness of the law is fulfilled, and the moral precepts of the law observed and may be regarded as written of Zachariah's and Elizabeth's righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

The only apology I would offer for stringing out to such length the present subject is, I have seen-yes, I have seen and feel deeply afflicted in soul in view of the sad decline of and the passing away of the once tangible signs and marks of the visible Church of God as set forth anciently in the chart and map furnished by Zion's King for his glory and for her well-being, and under the strict observance of his laws they are the salt of the earth. But, dreadful thought, as recorded from the mouth of the King himself: "But if the salt have lost his Saviour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men." But how glorious as well as blessed of God is his beloved Zion when they shall so fully observe and walk with God as directed in his laws that they are called by him "the light of the world; a city that is set on a hill can not be hid." And besides, her king hath said his Israel shall dwell alone and shall not be numbered with the nations.

Hence, as the writer has observed so great dud sad departure on the part of the inhabitants of our Zion that all her ways do mourn, and that darkness and that awful spirit of slumber hath pervaded not only the borders of our beloved Zion, but almost if not altogether spread its baneful influence throughout the once visible kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. So that in truth, the service, the devotion to God according to the direction given by Zion's King is sluggish, so poor, so foreign to the service and devotion in which the Church of God, the pillar and ground of the truth, were daily employed in, not only immodestly after organized, when they continued steadfastly in the Apostle's doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers.

But how vast the contrast in the beginning of the present century of the then tangible signs and visible marks to be seen of the building of God; and the present form and appearance of the professed Zion of God in this the near entrance upon the last quarter of this nineteenth century.

O Lord, how dissimilar the condition of the Church of God in 1800, and in October, 1875.

Hence, the writer, from deep solicitude of soul has written of such length and called the reader's mind to the law as a rule for their conduct, that; under the blessing of God we might turn to him quickly, repent of our sins, and do the first works, that the candlestick be not moved out of his place.

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