possible for us to understand how, as the result of such a career, such a probation as I have attempted to trace, any should escape destruction, except upon the conditions which actually exist, and by means of the forces which are actually applied; nor yet, upon those conditions, and under the application of those forces, how any could perish. Without the divine support continually given to believers and accepted by them, even they must be destroyed. When judgment begins at the house of God, what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner. appear? And yet, how can the righteous perish, when they have a throne of divine grace to which they may always come boldly, and at which they may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need ? Nay, when God himself is their refuge and strength-a very present help in trouble?' To him that overcometh, is the glorious promise of the exalted Saviour, I will give to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne.

1 1 Pet., iv. 17, 18.

2

Heb., iv. 16.

Psalm xlvi. 1.

4 Rev., iii. 21.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE INFALLIBLE RULE OF FAITH AND DUTY.

I. 1. Relation of the divine Word to the divine Life in the human Soul.-2. All Law implies the Existence both of the Author of it, and the Subject of it.—3. Infinite Lawgiver: Discovery, Comprehension, and Use of any and whatever Law of God. -4. Regulative Principles of Universal Morality: their Nature, Certainty, Origin, and Obligation.-5. Supremacy of the Moral Sense in Fallen Man: Supremacy of the Moral Law in the Universe: The Saviour.-6. Relation of the Moral Law to the Matter and the Form of Salvation: Infinite Grace.-7. Indispensable Necessity to Fallen Man of divine Guidance and Support in the Way of Life.-8. Supreme Relation of the Revealed Will of God to Salvation: Infallible Rule of Faith and Obedience.-II. 1. The true End of our Existence, and the Mode of attaining it, taught only and taught fully in the Sacred Scriptures.-2. What we ought to believe concerning God, considered as the Saviour of Sinners, is matter of pure Revelation.-3. That Revelation the Infallible Rule of Faith: Its Completeness and Efficacy.-4. Relation of Righteousness to Faith-Truth to Duty: the Word of God the Infallible Rule of the New Obedience.-5. Divine Restatement of the Moral Law, and divine Regeneration of the human Soul: The Power of God unto Salvation.-6. All the Work and all the Institutions of God, have Relevancy to the Faith and Righteousness revealed by him, and to the Rule thereof.-7. The Saviour of the World the central Object of all Truth revealed to our Faith, and of all Duty required by the Moral Law.-8. The Sum and Scope of the Moral Law, considered with direct Reference to Christ, and to those who believe on him.— 9. Mediatorial Work of Christ-Universal and Unalterable Law of God-Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice-Infinite Righteousness and Grace of God.-10. Position of the Sacred Scriptures as thus ascertained.

I.—1. Ir has been proved, and repeatedly stated, that man created in the image of God, and abiding in that condition, would have perceived habitually what was true, and chosen what was good, and thus would have found the habitual service and enjoyment of God, his natural and his blessed condition in a universe free from sin. It has also been proved, and repeatedly stated, that even in that condition of sinless purity, unclouded reason, and abounding felicity, man, being fallible, and dependent on God in every sense, could not, of himself, and if strictly tried, have perpetually maintained his condition, much less risen to a higher state of being. God, who was the fountain of his being,

must also have been the fountain to him of light and strength. We cannot conceive of a created being who is not dependent upon God, and, as compared with him, imperfect and fallible; nor can we conceive that an imperfect and fallible creature, can dispense with the perpetual presence and fruition of God in the pursuit of what is true and good, any more than a created and dependent being can dispense with him and live. How much more obvious is this necessity for divine light and strength when, instead of being merely fallible, we are actually fallen and depraved! Dependent, in our first estate, upon those communications of God's grace whereby his image should be maintained in a fallible soul which had been created in his likeness, and had not yet lost it; how much more are we dependent on him now, in order that we may know with certainty what is true and what is good, and may embrace them both with fervour and constancy! Creatures of an infinite God, we cannot, if we would, extricate ourselves from his infinite dominion. Objects of the love of an infinite Saviour, why should we consummate our ruin, by rejecting him who provides for us an ability in itself divine? It is in him alone that lost men are furnished at once with the ability and the way of eternal life. And the immediate object of this chapter is to point out the supreme relation which his blessed word bears to the support and guidance of that life of God in our souls, which manifests itself in nothing more decisively, than in accepting that word as the only Infallible Rule of all Faith and all Duty; that is, of all Truth and all Good unto salvation. Verily, verily, I say unto you-these are the words of Jesus-he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.'

2. Independently of those permanent and regulative principles which we call laws, which the human mind, by its very constitution, is constantly impelled to search for and to accept in all things; there could exist no permanent relation between one thing and another-nothing which could be called science; knowledge could never have increased, if indeed it could have existed in any proper sense-and the very idea of duty would disappear. They belong so decisively to the very essence of the whole order of the universe, and enter so fundamentally into the constitution of our.

1 John, v. 24.

own nature, that they are manifested in every thing that exists, and in every act of our lives their existenee is implied, and thought itself is regulated by their irresistible control. These permanent and regulative principles, in one form or other pervading all things, are in the strictest sense-laws: nor does it alter the case at all to call them laws of nature-laws of thought-laws of morals-laws of this or that particular science. They are laws whose existence implies, on one side, the existence of him who gave them, and, on the other side, the existence of the subject of them, the object upon which they operate. Our ability to discern, to classify, and to use them, implies the existence of our own rational nature and our total inability to create, to produce, or to impress a new one upon any subject, or with reference to any existing thing, implies the complete dependence of our own being. In themselves, and in their relations to us as rational and dependent beings, they demonstrate a Creator and Ruler of the universe, distinct from the universe itself. They do this in the most general and absolute manner, altogether beside any question of their own special nature. For, while it is true that the special object and mode of operation of the law, may be a conclusive evidence of the character of him who gave the law; it is the existence of the law itself, that puts beyond dispute the existence of him who gave it. These laws are the product of an intellect, a will, and a power competent to produce them, and the universe, from whose essence and operation they are inseparable. And operating under an unchangeable purpose, for definite, unalterable, and illimitable ends, through all time, upon all existence, throughout a boundless universe: we are not only warranted, but forced, to attribute them to a lawgiver and ruler who is infinite and eternal. The whole universe, all existence upon which these laws operate, is shown by the fact of that operation, to be dependent and created: it is all regulated by those laws-but produced and sustained, not by the laws, but by him who gave them. The moment we conceive of independent and uncreated existence, the idea of law, in the strict sense, regulative of it-disappears: because, otherwise, something is before and above independent and uncreated existence-which is absurd, since whatever is independent and uncreated, is eternal. In like manner, if we could think either the author of law, or the subject of law, out of existence, the idea of law itself neces

sarily vanishes. If we can be certain that any thing exists in the universe, which we can properly call law, and which we know exists as a permanent, regulative principle in the universe; then it involves a direct contradiction to deny the existence of the maker of that law-and another contradiction to deny the dependent and, therefore, created existence of the subject of that law. In effect, we cannot construe to ourselves the existence of the universe of which we form a part, or the action of any thing we behold in it, without an infinite lawgiver and Creator resulting on one side, and our own dependence and accountability resulting, on the other side. Such considerations are completely decisive with reference to our own relations to God, whether considered with regard to what we ought to believe concerning him, or to what duty he requires of us. Nor does it affect their conclusiveness in the smallest degree, whether we regard them from the point of view of Natural Religion or that of Revealed Religion-from our stand-point as creatures, or from our standpoint as sinners. It is impossible to deny the existence of permanent and regulative principles, pervading the universe with an intimate, uniform, and irresistible force: but the moment we admit their existence, what follows concerning ourselves is, the absolute certainty that we must seek in the author of those laws for the rule of our own conduct, and find in him the portion of our own souls.

3. The discovery and full understanding by us, of these great laws imposed upon all things by the Infinite Creator and Ruler of them all, is a matter altogether different from the nature and significance of the laws themselves. Their existence and operation, in most things, are completely independent of us---and in all things the utmost extent of our ability, in our highest state of knowledge, is a certain conformity, either instinctive or voluntary, unto them-and thereby a certain use and application of them. The discovery, the comprehension, and the voluntary use of them, are amongst the highest distinctions of our spiritual and rational nature and yet the slow and irregular progress of these conquests of our highest intelligence, is one of the most decisive proofs of our utter insignificance, when compared with the great lawgiver. There is not a single department of knowledge in which our discoveries can be said, with confidence, to have 1 Rom., i. 18-24; ii. 13-16.

1