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LAW AND
THE GOSPEL.
187
But
ifa
law be
taken
in
a large
sense,
for any consti-
tution of
a
governor, whereby
he
graciously
accepts
at
our
hands,
less
than
his law
requires, and pardons
those
offenders
who
are sincerely
willing
and
desirous
to obey
his
law,-and who
trust
in his
mercy
;
then the
gospel may
be
called a
law.
Torah,
in
the
Hebrew,
is
used in this
large sense
for
the gospel
;
Is.
ii.
3.
"
Out
of
Zion sliall
go,
forth
the
law,
IS.c.
and
other
places.
And
NoNcos,
in
the
Greek,
may be
enlarged
to
such
an
extensive sense also
:
But
originally
it
signifies;
that
which
distributes
to every one
their
due
reward,
according
to
their
merit
or
their
services
;
and
in
this sense the gospel
cannot
be
a
law.
St.
Paul
does
not
usually
call
it
so
nor
can
I think it
the best
way
for ministers, to
represent it
thus.
'Yet,
after
all,
it
is
but
a
sort of
difference
in
words,
if
we
'do
bat
explain
the
'things
in
the
right manner,
and
guard against
those errors, which
we
are
liable to fall
into
on
either side.
Nor
would
I
be
angry
with any
man,
who
considerately
and
sincerely thinks this the best
way
of
representing
and
explaining
the
gospel,
any
further
than
to
say,
that
St.
Paul
did
not
think it the best
way
;
and
I
ani much
of
his mind.
Remark
4.
IIow
much
should
our
souls bless
God,
for
the introduction of
the gospel into the world,
at
the-first
promise;
and even for all the promises
of
this
new
cove
-,
nant,
especially
in
this'
last,
and
best,
and brightest edi-
tion,
and the
administration
of
it
by
Jesus
Christ, and
his
_Spirit? As it
is
expressed and
explained
in
Heb.
viii.
10;
12.
Have
we
not
sometimes
had an
awakening
and
pain-
ful sense of
guilt?
Have
we
never thought ourselves .sinners, and
feared
the
eternal anger
of
God,
and
cried
out
for
salvation,
from
the condemning
sentence
of
the
brokenlaw
?
And when
we
have
resolved, and watched,
and la-
boured
again to
fulfil
the holy
law
of
God,
and
failed in
many instances,
have
we
not
bewailed ourselves as weak
and
impotent
creatures,
as well as
under
the guilt
of
so
many
offences,
repeated
and
abounding
?
O
what
abun-
dant
reason have
we
to
bless
God,
for
the gospel
of
his
grace,
through
Jesus
Christ, wherein
our
only
hope
lies,