fly for shelter thither; yet I have prepared my throne for judgment. All judgment is committed unto me: I am the Judge of quick and dead; and, as a righteous Judge, I shall condemn the wicked, and bring his wickedness on his own head; and justify the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. As Judge of quick and dead, I shall bring forth the book of life, and the book of the law: the quick, and those who died in the faith, shall be judged by the book of life, and the dead by the law of death. The children of the freewoman shall be judged by the law of liberty, and the bondchildren by the law of works. "As many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law." The manifold wisdom of God shall be unfolded to perfection on the one hand, and the roll of lamentation, mourning, and wo, on the other. The blessing shall be pronounced from the first, and the curse from the second: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And the one shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law"

"Or the prophets." I am not come to prove the prophets liars, or to make their predictions void. I shall neither oppose their writings, contradict their assertions, nor let one prediction

noted in the scriptures of truth ever fail of its full accomplishment: the things therein written shall be accomplished in me. The faithfulness of God in his word shall never fail; his veracity shall never fall to the ground; the hope of Israel shall never be lost, nor their expectations be ever cut off. I am not come to destroy the prophets:

"But to fulfil." All that has ever been written in the law, the Prophets, or the Psalms, concerning me, shall have a fulfilling end. All that is said of my birth, and of my life; of my mean appearance, and mighty power; of my matchless love to men, and of their cruel treatment of me; of the miracles performed, and of peace proclaimed; of magnifying the law, and preaching the everlasting gospel; of my sorrowful life, and cruel death; of the destruction of the Jewish nation, and the salvation of the Gentile world; shall all be fulfilled. My reward is with me, and all my work before me: nor will I bow my head in death, till all be finished. I am not come to destroy the prophets, but to fulfil.

"For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." I plight my veracity, I speak in verity. Amen, so it shall be. Verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass:

The elementary and starry heavens shall stand to the world's end. Then the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the stars shall fall from

their sockets, as the untimely fruit of the fig tree; the sun shall be confounded, and the moon ashamed; the heavens and the earth shall flee away, and new heavens and a new earth shall appear, when I arise to shine before my ancients gloriously.

Till then, "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The law shall stand as it does in all its sense, and in all its meaning, without being evangelized, or without ceasing to exist as a covenant of works; without being bereft of its irritating power, or shorn of its penal sanction; without mitigation, and without repeal. It shall stand as my children's schoolmaster, and first husband; as the master's commanding will, and the bond servant's only rule; as the creditor's hand writing, and the debtor's dreadful account-book; as a testimony for God in defence of his holiness, and against the wicked for every transgression. So shall it stand,

"Till all be fulfilled." The law is fulfilled in a fourfold sense.

1. Perfectly, in both precept and penalty, by the Saviour.

2. In the church, efficaciously, by the Spirit. 3. Imperfectly, in the exercise of grace, by the saint.

4. In the execution of the curse, which is the damnation of the wicked.

First, The law is perfectly fulfilled, both in

precept and penalty, by the Saviour, who assumed man's nature, and took man's name, to act in man's stead. He was made of a woman, and made under the law. He became surety for man's debts; and, by his kind undertaking and circumcision, became a debtor, in the debtor's place, to restore that honour to the law, which he took not away. "He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Of him a perfect obedience to the precept was exacted, and he made restitution; the debt of suffering was demanded, and he was pressed to pay. When he had given a perfect obedience to the precept, he says, "I have finished [this part of] the work which thou gavest me to do." And, at closing his obedience unto death, he bowed his head, and said, "It is finished." Thus he magnified the law, and made it honourable; so that one jot, or one tittle, did in no wise pass from the law, till all was fulfilled. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for God's righteous servant to fail of performing the will of his God. "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." So he undertook, and so it became him to fulfil all righteousness, Matt. iii. 15. And so it behoved Christ to suffer; for he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil.

Secondly, The law is fulfilled efficaciously in the church of God, by the Spirit: as it is written, "That the righteousness of the Law might be

fulfilled in us, who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Now the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in the church.

1. By the imputation of Christ's righteousness for our justification, Rom. v. 19.

2. By the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, which is our sanctification, Rom. xv. 16.

3. By God's circumcising our hearts, to love him with all our heart, and with all our soul, that we may live, love to God being the first and great commandment of the law.

4. By the indwelling of God's good word, and by the good treasure of his

grace.

First, What is the law? It is a just law, and is the rule of righteousness. "And it shall be our righteousness," says Moses, "If we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us." Christ's obedience to the law, imputed to us, answers this: "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." This is justification from all things; and makes the believer a just man, as the law is just.

Secondly, The law is holy: and the soul of the saint is the seat, and his body the temple, of the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in us, and makes the believer holy, as the law is holy.

Thirdly, The law requires love to God above all things else; and the saint of God is blessed with the love of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, shed abroad in his heart; and has fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit. He dwells in God, who