I am aware that this counsel of the law appears harsh. But it is not really so : nay, it is a statement in which the Israelites of old zvere expected cordially to acquiesce. The very passage which, with some slight alterations, the Apostle quotes in Gal. iii. 10, are contained in the words which the Levites, as God's representatives, were to deliver to all the people of Israel from Mount Ebal : " Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law, to do them : and all the men shall say, Amen c." Let me hope, therefore, that, instead of exclaiming, ' God forbid!' as some perhaps would ignorantly be dis- posed to do, in reply to the statement before given, there shall be but one sentiment pervading this whole assembly ; and that all, in a way of cordial approba- tion, as well as in a way of intellectual acknowledg- ment, shall with one voice cry, ' Amen, Amen.'
Now, the Scripture bears ample testimony that this is indeed the first use of the law. " It was not possible that a law should be given to fallen man whereby he should have life : if it had, verily," says the Apostle, " righteousness should have been by the lawd." The law, therefore, must not be regarded as intended to give life : it was given to shew how sin abounded ; as St. Paul says, " The law entered, that the offence might abound6 ;" that is, might ap- pear to abound. And again he says, " By the law is the knowledge of sinf." And this view of the law will- explain what he means, when he says, " I, through the law, am dead to the lawg." In fact, this expression comprehends and illustrates this entire part of my sub- ject. The Apostle saw that the law did nothing but condemn him ; and therefore he renounced it utterly in point of dependence, and determined to seek sal- vation in some other way. And the same effect must the knowledge of the law produce on us ; it must destroy all our hope by the covenant of works ; and lead us to inquire after the way of salvation which God has provided for us in the Gospel of his Son.
c Deut. xxvii. 26. d ver. 21. e Rom. v. 20.
1 Rom. iii. 20. s Gal. ii. 10.