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النشر الإلكتروني

FOR THE CHRISTIAN'S MAGAZINE.

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THOUGHTS ON HOSEA viii. 10.

I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

THE law of God, to which the prophet refers, is

the whole system of religion, as contained in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, then extant. The first of these were written by Moses, and the rest, by the prophets in succession, for the benefit of the children of Israel. In them was revealed the nature of that worship which is acceptable to the Most High, and the manner in which a sinner might obtain pardon and salvation. Hence to obey God's law is equivalent to the practice of true religion; and to forsake the law, in the language of the inspired writers, is to embrace a false religion.

To this law, thus extensively understood, belonged,

1. The various precepts of Moses; namely, the moral law contained in the ten commandments, and other parts of Scripture, including all the duties which every rational creature owes to God and his neighbour: As also, the ceremonial law, or the rites of external worship, relating to priests, sacrifices, sabbaths, feast-days, washings, and the whole of the temple service: And the political law, which regulates their intercourse with each other, as members of society.

2. The doctrine of Messiah, the promised seed of the woman, in whom all the nations of the earth were

to be blessed. He is the substance of the ceremonial law, and the great subject of whom the prophet spake, to whom the pious Israelites were directed for a better righteousness than their own, and through whose atonement, shadowed forth in their sacrifices, they could only obtain acceptance with God here, and the enjoyment of everlasting blessedness hereafter.

Since the days of the prophet, Messiah has been born of a woman-born under the law. He has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself on the cross, and brought in everlasting righteousness. The ceremonial institutions of the Jewish economy, having received their fulfilment, have been abolished; like shadows they have passed away, when the good thing to come signified by them, had appeared. The Jewish polity has been annihilated in the ruin of their city and nation, for their rejection of Messiah. The law of God, then, as written to us, excludes the Jewish rites of worship, and their peculiar civil ordinances. All the moral duties enjoined on that people, and all the directions relative to Messiah, are still in force. These are revealed in a more perfect and clear manner, in the Scriptures of the New Testament, which is an explanation and confirmation of those of the Old.

The whole system of religion, therefore, as contained in these Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, save those religious ceremonies and political regulations, which are abolished, constitutes at present the law of God. To it belong,

1. Directions concerning the worship of God in public and private.

2. Exhortations to faith and repentance.

3. Instructions as to the manner of acceptance

with God, through Christ.

4. Commandments to live godly in Christ Jesus.

5. Promises to obedience, and threatenings to disobedience.

This law, in every part of it, both as it respected the nation of Israel, and as it regards us Christians, is not of human, but divine, origin. God hath written it-it is his work. Part he is said to have written with his own hand, viz. the ten commandments, on two tables of stone. These commandments he spake audibly unto Israel from Mount Sinai, so that their authority could not be doubted. The rest of the law was written by his servants, according to his direction, and under the guidance of his Holy Spirit. Thus at different times, Moses was commanded to write in a book what the Lord dictated. Thus also, God commanded Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Habakkuk, and John the Evangelist: "All Scriptures is given by inspiration from God; for holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

Thus God hath written to his ancient people and to us, his law, which contains no mean or trifling matters, but great things, matters of the utmost moment, of infinite importance to us. Hath God revealed any thing to his creatures? we may conclude that it must be worthy of himself. He is a Great BeingKing of kings, and Lord of lords; glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, and doing wonders. His law is like himself, the transcript of his perfections, stamped with his image. Every part of it is great; i. e. it is excellent-it is interesting it is divine. It unfolds to us the eternal council of peace between the Father and the Son, concerning the world of mankind. We learn from it, the origin of all things; who made them, and how he made them. God created the heavens and the earth, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, out of nothing. The works of his hand, we read, he still upholds and governs, directing them steadily to that end, for which he made them. Here we have recorded the narrative of stupendous miracles, wrought for the promotion of the divine glory among men. Affecting providences are detailed, in which the faithfulness of God to his people, and his wrath towards the ungodly, are strikingly illustrated. Doctrines are revealed, sublime in their nature; perfectly consistent with the principles of right reason, yet exceeding the powers of man to discover, and practical in their effects; changing the heart, and reforming the life. The way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer, and all the benefits which he has purchased for those who believe in him; such as calling, pardon, acceptance, cleansing, adoption, and perseverance, are fully made known to us. Prophecies delivered ages back, are here preserved, for the confirmation of faith, and the conviction of unbelief. Life and immortality is brought to light, and the glorious reward of righteousness, together with the awful punishments of wickedness, are unveiled to view. Are not all these particulars truly great things -important matters?

Even the positive institutions of religion, those lesser parts of the law, display the same excellence; as "the eagle, wonderful in his soarings, shows in his very stoops, the power of his wing." The es tablishment of a Gospel ministry; attendance on public and private worship; observance of the Lord's day in a holy manner; administration of the sacraments, and exercise of spiritual discipline; all lead our attention to salvation by the blood of the cross, and teach us to die unto sin, and walk before God in newness of life. They all, by the divine blessing, promote growth in Christian knowledge, and in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not less important in significancy and moral influence, thus are the rites of the Gospel, than those of the law were.

Truly, then, the things of religion are great : great in themselves, and great in comparison with other things. Where will you find so clear, consistent, and rational an account of creation and providence, and salvation for sinners, as is contained in the law of God? In the writings of pagan sages, if you except some few moral precepts, you meet with the eternity of matter, the formation of the world by chance, the superintendence of fortune over the con. cerns of men, and a most wretched perversion of the law of nature in many of its most important parts. Among modern philosophers,

"Some drill and bore

The solid earth, and from the strata there,
Extract a register; by which we learn,
That HE who made it, and revealed its date
To Moses, was mistaken in its age.
Some, more acute and industrious still,
Contrive creation; travel nature up
To the sharp peak of her sublimest height,
And tell us whence the stars; why some are fixed,
And planetary some; what gave them first
Rotation; from what fountain flowed their light."

The different theories of the earth, as they are called, which have been invented to account for the existence of all things, stamped as they are with absurdity, fully prove that these men, on scientific subjects, will "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel," rather than accredit revelation. Not wiser are they on the subject of providence; accounting for every fact in the natural and moral world, wholly by the agency of second causes; as if second causes could produce so much harmony and order, without the power and wisdom of a supreme and infinite first cause animating and directing them. On the subject of duties, they call good evil, and evil good; confounding the eternal distinctions between virtue and vice; es

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