A difficulty, however, arises, in reconciling this its acknowledged characteristic, with those temporary or local dispensations of revealed religion which lay equal claim to a Divine original. How will it accord with the grant of special religious privileges to certain favoured individuals, families, or nations? How, in particular, shall we account for the continuance, through a long series of ages, of a peculiar system of faith and worship, exclusively appropriated to one race of people, chosen to be the depositaries of God's will, and distinguished from the rest of mankind by manifold tokens of His signal favour and protection?

This difficulty is removed, by shewing, (as has been attempted in a former Discourse,) that such temporary or partial dispensations were not detached or entire systems in themselves; but were constituent parts of one vast and comprehensive design, with which they were essentially interwoven, and from which their chief importance was derived. Considered thus as necessary adjuncts to that great purpose, far from clashing with its main object, or derogating from the consistency of its Divine Author, they exalt both the one and the other in our estimation, by enlarging our conceptions of that omniscience and om

nipotence so wonderfully manifested throughout the whole procedure.

But, when the relative use, the comparative value, and the harmony of these several parts of the system have been thus adjusted; another difficulty presents itself, which has sometimes proved a stumblingblock to prejudiced or negligent observers. Whatever has received the sanction of the Divine will, derives from that single circumstance an authority never to be overthrown. And as nothing can supersede the Divine will, so can that will never be at variance with itself. The Law which it has once promulgated, it will never disown. That which it has declared to be "holy, just, and good," it will never suffer to be set at nought. "God is "not a man, that He should repent. Hath "He said, and shall He not do it? Or, hath "He spoken, and shall He not make it

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good?" If then, any particular dispensation of revealed religion be evidently of Divine original, can it be otherwise than of perpetual obligation? Can it be annulled or invalidated by any authority whatsoever, without an impeachment of the Divine perfection and immutability? This is the sum of certain objections urged by unbelievers against

VOL. I.

b Numbers xxiii. 19.

the Divine authority either of the Jewish or of the Christian religion, or of both. The Jew alleges it against the Christian; the infidel, against the Christian and the Jew. Nor would the difficulty be easily surmountable, if it could be proved that the two religions were contradictory to each other, or that there was even any hostile competition between them.

Our Lord, as if in anticipation of such objections, declares, in the very first Discourse delivered to the multitude that surrounded him, "Think not that I am come to destroy "the Law or the Prophets: I am not come “to destroy, but to fulfil." So positive a declaration admits not of compromise or evasion. The antithesis is too clear to be misunderstood, too strong to yield to any subtleties of reasoning. Neither by Himself, nor by His authority, could that ever have been brought to pass, which He so unequivocally disclaims.

How, then, shall this declaration be rendered consistent with that actual cessation of the Law which subsequently took place? that cessation, which not only appeared to follow as a natural and necessary consequence of embracing the Christian faith in its full extent; but was also declared by his Apostles

to have been the manifest intention of its Divine Author?

To explain this matter satisfactorily, we must first ascertain the full and precise import of our Lord's declaration; and then see how it concurred with what eventually took place.

The whole force of our Lord's declaration evidently turns upon the contrast between destroying the Law and fulfilling it. If He, in his own person, accomplished its entire design; if He did that, without which the Law itself could not have effected its intended purpose; then he could in no proper sense be said to destroy it. On the contrary, it should in that case rather be said that He brought it to perfection; that He gave it the most direct sanction; confirmed its authority; raised its character to the highest possible degree of elevation; and invested it even with so much greater dignity and importance than otherwise could have belonged to it.

Now, this its accomplishment in the person of our blessed Saviour is established by the clearest evidence.

The records of His life testify His own observance of the Law, even in the minutest particulars. His sermon on the Mount ma

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nifested His reverence for its moral precepts, and conveyed such enlarged expositions of their real spirit and signification, as put to shame the pitiful and evasive glosses of those who nevertheless made an ostentatious display of their scrupulous adherence to the letter of its enactments. His whole deportment corresponded with His declarations in this respect; and the attempts of His adversaries to convict him of violation of its precepts constantly recoiled upon themselves. The same regard for its civil and municipal regulations invariably marked His conduct. He neither assumed the privilege, nor intimated a desire, to depart from any of its institutions: nay, He enjoined His disciples to pay all due obedience to those who "sat in "Moses' seat," however reprehensible might be their personal conduct. In the observance of the ceremonial Law, He exhibited the same edifying example. We find Him punctual in the prescribed ritual of the temple and the synagogue; attendant upon public solemnities; careful, even in His miracles, to require a strict compliance with its requisitions; thus proving to His followers, that it was one great purpose of His coming into the world, to be "made obedient unto the Law c Matth. xxiii. 2.