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On these two commandments hang from the process of the last day, "Then shall he say unto them on his left hand, Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." The curse of the moral law is that eternal death, which is the proper wages of sin. And here it should be remembered, that both the precept and penalty of the moral law is founded in the nature of things. It is right in the nature of things, that all men should be perfectly and perpetually holy; and it is equally right in the nature of things, that every transgressor of this perfect

all the law and the prophets."Universal benevolence or perfect holiness is what the moral law requires of all men, at all times, and in all circumstances. This is the comprehensive precept of the moral law. If we now inquire after its penalty, we shall find it to be the curse of God or eternal destruction. This penalty was publicly and solemnly denounced against every transgressor at mount Ebal. After the Levites had denounced particular curses against particulartransgressors ofthe moral law, they proclaimed in general, "Cursed be he that confirmeth ly and immutably holy law,

not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen." If we now turn to the third chapter of Galatians, we shall find the nafure and extent of this penalty of the law clearly explained. "For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Here the curse is denounced against him who is guilty of the least transgression or moral imperfection.-And the nature of this curse, the apostle explains in the following words. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Here it appears, the curse of the law means that curse which Christ came to redeem men from, and what that curse is, appears

should suffer the penalty of eternal death. So long, therefore, as God remains God, and men remain moral agents, it will be right and just, that he should require them to be perfectly holy, upon pain of his everlasting displeasure. Both the precept and penalty of the moral law mentioned in the text, are immutably holy, just, and good. Let us now,

II. Consider what we are to understand by the gospel. The gospel sometimes signifies the whole scheme of redemption by Christ, and comprehends all the counsels, operations, and laws of God. The gospel is sometimes used to denote all the precepts, prohibitions, promises, and threatenings in the New Testament.But it is more often taken in a more strict and limited sense, to signify good news, or the proclamation of pardon and peace to all

who

cordially embrace Jesus says, "In whom we have re-
demption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to
the riches of his grace." And he
says the same thing in his epistle
to the Colossians. "In whom we
have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of
sins." It is peculiar to the gos
pel, to promise salvation through
faith in Christ. And this peculiar-
ity is often emphatically called the
gospel itself. In this sense of the
gospel, the apostle calls it the
law of faith in the context, and
faith itself in the text. He uses
the same mode of expression in
the 3d chapter of Galatians.-
"But the scripture hath conclud-
ed all under sin, that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be
given to them that believe. But
before faith came, that is, the
gospel, we were kept under the
law, shut up under the faith, that
is, the gospel, which afterwards
should be revealed." The gos-
pel, therefore, may be briefly de-
fined thus: It is a proclamation,
or promise of a full and fiual par-
don to all who believe in Christ.
Having described the law and the
gospel, and distinguished them
from each other, I proceed to
show,

Christ. This proclamation was
made to the shepherds by the
angel, at the birth of Christ.--
"And the angel said unto them,
Fear not for behold I bring you
good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. For unto
you is born this day, in the city
of David a Savior, which is
Christ the Lord." Our Savior
himself proclaimed pardoning
mercy on the terms of faith and
repentance, to all who heard him
preach. We read, "Jesus came
into Galilee, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God, and say
ing, The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand; repent
ye and believe the gospel." Again
he said, "God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have
everlasting life." And he com-
manded his apostle to proclaim
the same glad tidings to a perish-
ing world.
"And he said unto
them, Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved." Paul
preached according to this divine
direction in the synagogue at An-
tioch. "Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that
through this name is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins: and by
him all that believe are justified
from all things from which ye
could not be justified by the law
of Moses." In Ephesians, 1. 7.
the apostle speaking of Christ

III. That the gospel does not make void, but establishes the law. According to the representation in the text, the apostle meant to refute an objection, which he supposed some had made, or would make against his preaching the doctrine of justification by faith

alone without the deeds of the law. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." You say we preach justification by faith alone, which sets aside good works, and makes void the law. This we deny, and affirm that we establish the law, by preaching justification through Christ's atonement. Ever since the apostle's day, some have supposed the law and gospel cannot be reconciled with each other. Those who maintained justification by works, have always complained of those who have maintained justification by faith alone, as setting aside good works and making void the law; while those who have maintained justification by faith alone, have as constantly complained of those who maintain justification by works, as setting aside the gospel.

tell a man he shall be saved by
faith? When the law tells him he
must be damned for his trans-
gression of it? Here seems to
be a double difficulty. One is to
reconcile the gospel with the ve-
racity of God; and the other is to
reconcile the gospel with the jus-
tice of God.
This leads me to
observe,

1. That the gospel does not make void the veracity of God, in respect to the penalty of the law. The plain reason is, the veracity of God is not pledged in the penalty of the law. If the law pledg ed the veracity of God, that the transgressor should certainly suffer the penalty of eternal death; then the promise of pardon upon the condition of repentance and faith, would really make void the penalty, and contradict the veracity of God. Many suppose, that God pledges his veracity in the threatening of every law. But if this were the case, there could be no room for forgiveness under the divine government. If God had pledged his veracity in the threatening to Adam, "In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," there would have been no room for an atonement, nor a possibility of salvation through a Mediator. When God pledges his veracity, he is morally obliged to maintain it. He does pledge his veracity in his promises, and therefore is morally bound to do whatsoever he promises to do, on the condition on which he promises.

If we now recollect what has been said concerning the law and the gospel, we shall easily perceive why it has so often been supposed, that the gospel makes void the law. It has been said, that the law requires perfect holiness, and threatens eternal destruction for the least transgression. And it has been said, that the gospel promises a full and final pardon to those who are condemned by the law, upon the condition of their believing in Christ. Now it is asked, how can the promise of the gospel be fulfilled, consistently with the threatening of the law? How can the gospel If his veracity is as much pledged

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in his threatenings as in his promises; then he is as much obliged to fulfil his threatenings as his promises. But if this be true, then he is as much obliged to make every transgressor of his law eternally miserable, as to make every believer of the gospel eternally happy: or in other words, he is obliged to make the believer both eternally happy and eternally miserable at the same time. The truth is, God never does pledge his veracity in the precept or penalty of any law. When he says to every man, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart," he does not pledge his veracity, that every man shall actually love him with all his heart; but only declares what is right and what ought to be. He means to say, that every man ought to love him with all his heart. His precept is designed to measure his duty. It fixes obligation upon every man to love him supremely and perfectly. This is right in the nature of things, and the indispensible duty of every man, whether he performs his duty, or not. So when God declares, "Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them, he does not mean to pledge his veracity, that every transgressor of his law shall certainly perish forever; but only declares what is right, or what the transgressor, in justice, deserves to suffer forver. It is right and just on God's part, to punish every transgressor

of his law forever; but he does not mean to pledge his veracity, that he will actually inflict eternal punishment upon every transgressor. Now if the penalty of the law only expresses the punish. ment that the transgressor deserves and not a promise of God, that he will actually inflict the deserved punishment; then the promise of pardon to the penitent believer, does not make void the penalty of the law. God may pledge his veracity, that he will save the penitent believer, though he has told him in the threatening of the law, that he deserves to be punished forever. God's declaration of the sinner's desert in the law, is entirely consistent with his promise to pardon him upon the terms of the gospel. The gospel leaves the law in its full force.-The believer may be under the precept, and deserving the penalty of the law, while at the same time, he stands entitled to pardon and salvation, by the promise of the gospel. And this is in fact the case in respect to every believer.-The law requires him to be perfectly holy, and condemns him for the least transgression or moral imperfection; but the gospel promises him pardon for the sins for which the law condemns him. The gospel which pardons the believer every day is perfectly consistent with the law which condemns him every day. For God pledges his veracity in the gospel to fulfil his promise to the believer, but does not pledge his ve