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DISC.
ITI.]
LAW
AND
THE GOSPEL.
áQÌ
The man
that
doth them
shall
live in them.
James
h
-10.
For
whosoever
shall
keep
the
whole law,
and
yet
offend
in
one'pbint,
he is
guilty
of
all.
.
The Jewish
law
given
at
Sinai
is
the
particular
law
here
meant
in
the
first
part of
the verse
:
The
law which
was
given
four
hundred
years
after
the promise
;
even
the
whole
lacy
of
Moses, given to
the Jewish
nation.'.
Quest.
2.
What
is this
promise
?
Answ.
The
promise to Abraham,
that
all
the
nations
should'be
blessed
in
hire
:
that
he
and
his
seed should be
heirs
of
an inheritance,
and
that
Good
should
be
their
God.
It
is,
in
short, the
gospel
of
salvation
contained
in
the promise given to Abraham.
See
Gal.
iii.
8.
The
scriptureforeseeing
that
God
wouldjustify
the
hea-
then-
through
faith,
preached
before the
gospel.
unto
Abraham, saying,
in
thy
seed
shall
all
nations
be
blessed.
And
it
is
called the promise, to distinguish
it
frdm
the law
of
Sinai, and
indeed
from
all
proper laws:
for
as
I
shall
shew,
the
gospel does
not
save
us
in the
way
of a
law ;
'and
'therefore
is
not
a proper
law.
Quest.
3..
What
is
meant
by the
law's
giving
life.
Ans.
The
word
is
)01r01116-ezi,
which
more naturally
sig-
nifies
quickening,
or bringing
a
dead thing into
life,
by
putting
a
spirit or
life
into
it,
or
by
making
it
active.,
in
a
vital
manner
:
And
so
it
might
seem to imply giving
new
spiritual
life
to those who
are dead
in
trespasses and sins.
But
the
whole context-
rather
constrains
us
to
construe
it,
the
giving
a
title
to
eternal
life
and happiness to
men
in
a
judicial
or
legal
manner. This no
law
of
God
can
do,
as the
apostle here asserts.
Quest.
4.
What
is
meant
by
righteousness?
Answ.
A
justifying righteousness,
or,
a
sentence
of
justification, a rectitude
in the
court of
God, a freedom
from punishment, and a
right
to
life,
which
is
the
natural
and
proper
effect
of
perfect obedience
to
any
law
of
God
given
to
men.
But
this blessing, may be
given also an
-.
other
way, viz. by
the free
grace
of
God, without any
such obedience
or righteousness
of
our
own working..
Quest.
5.
What
are
we
to
understand
by
the
scrip-
ture
concluding
all
under
sin
?
Answ.
It
signifies
that
the
scripture,. or
the word
of
God, declares
that
all
mankind
are sinners,
there
is
none
righteous,
no
not
one;
Rom.
iii.
10.
And,
as
sinners,}
M4