any image so revolting as that of our rejoicing in the death of a former husband; and finding all the relief of heaven in the more kindred and affectionate society of another-You have to remember, that the law has become dead, so as to be divested of all power of reckoning with you-not by an act which has vilified the law or done it violence, but by an act which has magnified the law and made it honourable-not by a measure which has robbed the law of its due vindication, but by a measure which sets it forth to the world's eye in the full pomp and emblazonment of its vindicated honours-not by the new husband having with assassin blow relieved you of the old, but by the one having done full homage to the rights and authority of the other; and rendered to him such a proud and precious satisfaction, as exalts him more than he could have been by all the fidelities of your most unbroken allegiance. It is thus that Christ has negociated the matter with the law; and now invites you to lay upon Him, the whole burden of its unsettled accounts, and of its fearful reckonings, and of its unappeased resentments-now invites you to break loose from the disquietudes of your old relationship, to emancipate yourselves from that heavy yoke under which you have become weary and heavy laden, to come unto Him and take His yoke upon you; and you shall have rest to your souls.

It is thus that the law which is alive, and fiercely alive to all who are under it, becomes dead to the believer-now no longer under the law but under grace. To him the law is taken out of the way. It is the hand-writing of ordinances that was at one

It was then,

time against him, and contrary to him; but its hostility has become powerless, ever since it has been nailed to the cross of Christ. that it put forth all the right and power of condemnation which belonged to it; and therefore it was then, that its authority as a judge may be said to have expired. The law had power over every man, so long as it was alive; and its power went to the infliction of a grievous curse upon all, for all had broken it. But after it got its death-blow on the cross, this power ceased; and we became free from it-just as the woman is free from all the terror and all the tyranny of that deceased husband, who wont to lord it, and perhaps with justice too, most oppressively over her. And thus ought we to hold ourselves as free, from the whole might and menacing of that law, which has now spent its whole force as an executioner, on that body by which the whole chastisement of our peace has been borne. And we actually live beneath our offered privileges—we shut our hearts against that blessed tranquillity, to which by the whole style and tenor of the gospel we are made most abundantly welcome-If we cast not away the terror from our spirits, of an enemy who is now exhausted of all his strength; and resign not ourselves to the full charm of so great and precious a deliverance.

When a sense of the law brings remorse or fearfulness into your heart-transfer your thoughts from it as your now dead, to Christ as your now living husband. Make your escape from all the rueful apprehension which the one would excite, to the rest and the comfort and the able protection

which are held out by the other. Instead of having to do as formerly with the law, have to do with Christ now standing in its place. Thus will you flee to Him, in whom you will find strong consolation. Nor will you throw yourselves loose from the guidance of all rule and of all rectitude, by having thus swept the law entirely away from the field of your vision, and made an entire substitution of Christ in its place-for He is revealed not merely as a witness unto the people, but as a leader and a commander unto the people.

But there is another way than through the death of the husband, by which the relationship of marriage may be dissolved; and that is by the death of the wife. And there is another way in which the relationship between the law and the subject may be dissolved, than by the death of the law; and that is by the death of the subject.

The law has no more power over its dead subject, than the husband has over his dead wife, or than the tyrant has over his dead slave. And it is in this way, that the assertion of all power or authority over us, on the part of the law, seems to be represented in the fourth verse-when we are said to have become dead unto the law, and it is added by the body of Christ. This brings us back to the conception that has been already so abundantly insisted on, that in Christ we all died-that we were dead in law; and, though Christ alone and in His own body died for our sins, yet that was tantamount to the legal infliction of the sentence of death upon ourselves so that the law can have no further reckoning with us, having already had that reck

oning with us to the full in the person of Him who was our surety and our representative: And just as the criminal law has done its utmost upon him whom it has brought to execution, and can do no moree-so the law can do no more in the way of vengeance with us, having already done all with Him who was smitten for our iniquities, and who poured out His soul unto the death for us.

After our old relationship with the law is thus put an end to, the vacancy is supplied, and in a way that is very interesting, by Him, who, after having removed the law through His death out of the station it had before occupied, then rose again and now stands in its place. And we utterly mistake the matter, if we think, that, because emancipated from the relation in which we formerly stood to the law we are therefore emancipated from all service. The wife owes a duty to her second husband, as well as her first. The one has his claims upon her obedience and her dutiful regards, as well as the other. It is true, that, with the former, the predominant feeling which prompted her services may have been that of obligation-mixed with great fearfulness, because of the deficiencies into which she was perpetually falling; and that, with the latter, the predominant feeling which prompts her services may be sweet and spontaneous affection to one, from whom she is ever sure to obtain the kindest indulgence. But still it is evident, that, under the second economy of matters, there will be service, possibly much greater in amount and certainly far worthier in principle, than all that was ever rendered under the first. And thus

In

it is with the law on the one hand, and with Christ on the other. Under the law we were bidden to do and live; and the fear of a forfeiture, or the consciousness of having incurred a forfeiture, already infused the spirit of bondage into all our services. Under Christ, we are bidden to live and do. We are put into the secure possession of that which we before had to strive for; and the happy rejoicing creature comes forth at will, with the services of gratitude and of new obedience. stead of life being given as a return for the work that we render, our work is given as a return for the life that we receive. And it will further be seen, that, whereas a slavish and creeping and jealous selfishness was the principle of all our diligence under the law, it is a free and affectionate generosity which forms the principle of all our diligence under the gospel. In working to the law, it is all for ourselves—even that we may earn a wage or a reward. In working to Christ it is all the freewill offering of love and thankfulness-not in the mercenary spirit of a hireling, but with the buoyant alacrity of an eternally-obliged and devoted friend—because we thus judge, that, as Christ died for all, then were all dead; and He died, that they who live should live no longer to themselves, but unto Him who died for them and who rose again.

And to the eye of the attentive reader, this may throw light on the difficult verse, which comes immediately after the quotation that we have now given. Christ upon earth so lived and so died in our stead, that we may be said to have been held 2 Corinthians, v, 16.

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