SERM. V.] OF THE MORAL LAW, AND THE EVIL qv SIN. 71 III. This law must be perpetual, for " it is suited to every state and circumstance of human nature, to every condition of the life of man, and to every dispensation of Go : And since it cannot be changed for a better law, it must be everlasting. It is suited to the state of man in innocence, and of man fallen from his happiness : It is suited to every tribe and nation of mankind : All are required to yield their utmost obedience to the com- mands of God. It began in paradise as soon as man was created, and it will never cease to oblige in this world or the other. Neither Jew nor gentile, neither saint nor sinner on earth, nor Enoch, nor Elijah, nor the blessed spirits in heaven, nor the ghosts of the wicked, under the punishments of hell, are released from their obligation to this law which requires them to love and honour God, and to be faithful and just to man : For if any persons whatsoever were released from the bond of this law, they would not be guilty ofsin, nor do amiss in neglecting the practices of virtue and godliness. IV. It appears yet further, that this law is perpetual, because whatsoever other law God can prescribe or man can be bound to obey, it is built upon the eternal obligation of this moral law. Every positive command of rites and ceremonies and sacrifices given to the patri- archs, or the Jews ; every command of faith in the Mes- siah, trust in the blood of Jesus, and obedience to him in his exalted state ; every institution of the Old Testa- ment and the New, circumcision and baptism, the feast of the passover and of the Lord's supper, with all, the forms of worship and duty towards God and man, which ever were prescribed, receive their force and obligation from the moral law. It is this law which requires all men to believe whatsoever God shall reveal with proper evidence, either by the exercise of their own reason, or by hisdivine revelation : It is the moral law that requires our,heart and hands to yield obedience to all the positive laws God has given to men : Some of those rites and ce- remonies, so far as we can discover, seem not to be of any great importance in themselves ; but a wilful neglect of the least of them is a disobedience to the great God, and a violation of this law ; and I think we may say that if this lawwere abolished, no other could bind us : for it is one of Vie first and stron est requirements, of this E
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