The Gofpel a Law of Liberty. 45 ment. In the verfes immediately preceeding, S E R M. the apoftle ftates the cafe of a partial obe- II. dience to God's law, and (hews the infuffi- - -v---j ciency of it to our acceptance. For whofoever 'hall keep the whole law, and yet ojènd in one point, is guilty of all. For he that faid do not commit adultery, faid alfo do not kill. Now, if thou committe no adultery, yet if thou killji thou art become a tranfgrjjör of the law. The reafon and the juftnefs of this decifion is very plain, fince it is the fame fupreme authority which has enjoin'd all the commandments of the law, and forbidden all the tranfgreffions of it, that authority is affronted, and its right violated, by difobey- ing any of the commandments, and by committing one tranfgrefiïon as woll as an- other; for example, by murder as well as adultery ; for 'tis evident, that if a refpeft to the will of God governs the mind of a man in any cafe, it ought to govern him in all cafes where the will of God is equally known ; and even where the fubftance of an ahtion feems to be conformable to a di- vine precept, yet the principle cannot be available to a man's acceptance with God, unlefs there be a conformity in the whole tenor of his life to all the divine precepts. The fame temptation, or an equally ftrong one,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=