manifestation of it. For it made known to men the true extent of their duty : it shewed that we were bound to love God with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul, and all our strength : and to love our neighbour in all respects as our- selves. Nothing less than this was to be paid by us from the earliest moment of our existence to our latest breath. Re- vealing this, it further shewed to men the inconceivable depth of their guilt. By this standard are we to be tried every moment : yet in no one moment of our lives have we acted up to it, either towards God or man. On the contrary, we have been at an infinite distance from it, having been altogether engrossed by self, and caring nothing either for God or man, any farther than the interests of self might be promoted by them. Thus, not to speak of any particular actions, the whole state and habit of our minds, every day, every hour, every moment, has been as contrary to the law as darkness to light, and hell to heaven. Hence the law proceeds still further to shew men their infinite desert of wrath and condemnation. For every single deviation from this perfect standard, the wrath of God is denounced against us; agreeably to that sentence of the law, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." Consider then our duty as ramified in all its extent, and in one single day our sins against it are more numerous than the stars of heaven, or the sands upon the sea-shore ; and of course, a proportionable weight of wrath and condemna- tion is entailed upon us.
Such is the light which the law reflects on our state before God : and does it not endear to us the offer of a free and full salvation ? Doubtless it does : and for this end it was given, that we might the more thankfully accept the promises made to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.]
2. To shut men up to the Gospel —
[Men naturally go to the law, having no idea of obtaining salvation in any other way than by obedience to its commands. Hence the sinner, when once awakened to a concern about his soul, and sensible that he has not obeyed the law in its full extent, hopes to make a composition, as it were, and to be accepted on paying a part for the whole. But the law thunders in his ears, ' Thou must obey me in all things.' He then hopes, that the law will accept his repentance for past transgressions, and sincere obedience for the time to come. But the law replies, ' I know nothing of repentance, or of sin- cere obedience : thou must pay me my full demands, and "continue obedient in all things" from first to last: I have stated the extent of your duty ; and I have said, " Do this, and thou shalt live." These are the only terms on which I