Jam. ii. 12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall he judged by the law of liberty.
THE law of works contained in the Ten Command- ments is continued in force under the Gospel dispen- sation, as a rule of life. This appears from the frequent reference which is made to it in the New Testament in this particular view. St. Paul, in his Epistle to the RomanSjwhen inculcating the duty of love, says, *' Owe no man any thing, but to love one another : for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the laiv .... for love is the fulfilling oitJie law^T In like manner St. James, condemning an undue respect of persons which had obtained to a great extent in the Christian Church, says, " If ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors ''." The difference which exists between the law and the Go- spel, is not that the Gospel dispenses with any thing which the law had enjoined, but that it requires the same things in a different manner ; the law inculcating them as the means of obtaining life ; the Gospel re- quiring them as the means of honouring God, and of manifesting that life which God has already imparted to the soul. The law in its requirements begets a spirit o^ bondage : but the Gospel, whilst its require- ments are the same, operates as '^ a law oi liberty;" inspiring us with motives of a more ingenuous kind, and at the same time imparting to the Believer such powerful assistance as renders obedience easy and delightful. Hence the Apostle, shewing that the conduct which he was reproving was condemned by the Gospel no less than by the law, (for the Gospel itself declares, that "he shall have judgment without mercy, who has shewn no mercy ^") intreats the whole Christian Church " so to speak, and so to act, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty."
Now in these words we see,
I. The true character of the Gospel —
It
• Rom. xiii. 8— 10, ^ ver. 9. " ver. 13.