SERMON I. MALACHI iv. 4. "Remember ye the law of Moses my Servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments." THIS is the final admonition of the eternal Spirit before the cessation of the Mosaic dispensation, addressed to sinners of mankind by Malachi, the last heaven-commissioned prophet until Messiah's manifestation to Israel. This is the terminating clause of the Canon of the Old Testament Scriptures, except Malachi's prediction of the re-appearance on earth of Elijah the Tishbite, as the harbinger of the Second Advent. That Elijah raised from the dead will, in his own person, be the precursor of the Second Advent as was John the * * Many passages of the Old Testament have suffered from transposition. Transposition is self-evident in the fourth chapter of Malachi. In the Septuagint and Arabic Versions, verse 4 closes the chapter, and thus the order is lucid and clear. I propose to read Malachi IV. as under.— For behold the Day cometh which shall burn as an oven, And all the proud, yea, and all who do wickedly, shall be stubble, And the day which cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, That it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you who fear My Name Shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, And ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall, And ye shall tread down the reprobate, That they be ashes under the soles of your feet, In the day when I shall do this, saith Jehovah of hosts. Behold I send to you Elijah the Prophet Before the great and dreadful Day of Jehovah, And he shall convert the hearts of the progenitors together with the progeny, Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Remember ye the Law of Moses my servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the Statutes and the Judgments. Baptist of the First Advent, is the concurrent judgment of all *the Fathers, and is evident from two considerations-from this re-appearance immediately preceding the great and terrible day of the Lord (which is the second not the first Advent,)-and from our Lord's prophecy, that he shall restore all things. Now John the Baptist did not restore all things, whatever that predicted restoration may signify, and his ministry preceded the second Advent more than eighteen centuries. Hence John the Baptist is not that Elijah, whose resuscitation Malachi predicts will usher in the second Advent and glorious Epiphany of Jehovah Jesus. The triple law emanating from Divine wisdom and promulgated by the legislator Moses was the ‡MORal, the SCEREMONIAL, and the ||JUDicial. The Moral Law is epitomized in the Decalogue, and dilated, explained, and enforced by Christ in His celebrated Sermon on the Mount. The Moral Law is a transcript and mirror of the Divine perfections, requiring perfection of love to God and of love to man, without any allowance for human infirmities or short comings, in thought, word, or deed, from the hour of birth to the hour of death. Hence the Moral Law is the ¶ministration of death and the ministration of condemnation. **" Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." "It is well known that all the Fathers (unless S. Hierom somewhat staggered) were of this opinion, that Elias should be the harbinger of Christ to the nation of the Jews before His Second Coming, as John the Baptist was at His First and why we should so wholly reject it as we are wont to do, I can see no sufficient reason."-Joseph Mede's Works, page 98. "When he saith, that Elias indeed cometh, he shows that he has not yet come. But he will come the precursor of the Second Advent, and will restore to the faith of Christ all the Hebrews who shall be found obedient, as it were re-instating in their paternal inheritance those who had been excluded therefrom."Theophylact on Matthew xvii., 11, 12. Mark ix., 12. Deut. xxvii. 3; and xxxiii. 4.; Joshua viii. 32. Lex Cæremonialis. Castelli Heptaglotton. .the Moral Law תורה ? חקים $ Lex forensis, ritus politici, constitutiones ad societatem tuendam pertinentes. Castelli Heptaglotton. The civil statutes of the Mosaic Law, more particularly the penal sanctions, and the rules for deciding questions of property and suits for damages and trespasses. Castalio, quoted by Bishop Horsley in his invaluable Translation of the Psalms. 2 Cor. iii. 7 and 9. ** James ii. 10. *Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them." The Moral Law is t" our schoolmaster to bring souls unto Christ." It convinceth of sin and leads to Christ the only Law-fulfiller. Hence it follows that justification before God is not in whole, or in part, by works of righteousness which we have done. Works spiritually good in the Divine estimation follow after and result from, but never precede, justification. "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight." Justification before God is not by man's obedience, which is fallible and imperfect, but by the vicarious obedience of Christ, which is Divine, perfect and infallible. This obedience of Christ to the law is the wedding-garment of those who have put on Christ, which covers every sin, conceals every iniquity, justifies before God, exempts from condemnation, and confers a covenant right and title to eternal glory. The Moral Law is of universal and perpetual obligation. Man has lost his power to obey; but God has not lost His right to command. Hence the sin of those separatists from all visible churches, who advocate the abrogation of this Law, which Christ came §" not to destroy but to fulfil." Hence our national sin in the transit of mails and the opening of provincial postoffices on the Lord's Day. Man is as much obligated to obey the fourth, as the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth commandments. Man is as much obligated to observe the sanctification of the Sabbath, as obedience to his earthly parents, or abstinence from adultery murder and theft. The Ceremonial Law is a shadow of good things to come, a prefiguration of the Incarnation, Ministry, Atonement, Miracles, Obedience to the law, Obedience to death, Passion, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Session in glory of Him, who is "the effulgence of His Father's glory, and the perfect expression of His *Galatians iii. 10. † Galatians iii. 24. § Matthew v. 17. Romans. iii. 20. Hebrews i. 3. Essence," who is from everlasting to everlasting. The ceremonial law was abrogated by Christ's Incarnation. The shadow was not needed when the Divine original was manifest in the flesh. But the study of this Law is essential to give us a deep insight into the mystery of redemption, into the love of God in Christ, who *" so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life:" into the love of Christ towards sinners of mankind, which constrained Him to leave the glories of heaven and adoration of the angelic host, that He might be clothed with the sinless infirmities of human nature, that He might "finish the transgression, make an end of sins, make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in an everlasting righteousness," for the justification of all who should believe in His Name. The Judicial Law was enacted by Infinite Wisdom for the repression of crime, the reformation of transgressors, the protection of civil society, and security of persons and properties. The supereminent excellency of this Law is attested by Jehovah Himself: "What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this Law which I set before you this day." Its enactments are mercifully designed by Divine wisdom, compassion and love, to protect the poor, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and to promote the real happiness of man. Nothing is thereby prohibited but what is antagonistic to the best interests of civil society. By this Law the gleaning of the land is conferred on the poor, an inalienable appropriation by Divine right for ever. By this Law slavery, universally subsisting anterior to the Christian dispensation, is modified and restricted, though for a time, like polygamy and divorce," suffered because of the hardness of the human heart." By this Law slavery the result of man-stealing is authoritatively prohibited, and manstealing is branded with the penalty of death. This Law legitimates slavery solely as an awarded§ punish *John iii. 16. † Daniel ix. 24. + Deut. iv. 8. § Exodus xxii. 3. "If a thief be found breaking up.... he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft." ment for crime, to effectuate restitution to the party plundered. I. The enactment of the Mosaic Judicial Code for the repression of crime is a proof that Satan is the *prince and tgod of this world, and +" worketh in the children of disobedience"-that §"the whole world lieth in the wicked one," that " many are called and but few chosen." St. Paul in Galatians v., 19-23, infers what is the purport of the Judicial Law. "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." And in 1 Timothy, i., 9 and 10, St. Paul declares plainly, "The Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." Hence no universality of an intellectual education, no universality of a preached Gospel, can supersede the necessity of Judicial Laws for the repression of crime. The object of a preached Gospel is to evangelize all for the salvation of as many as the Lord our God shall call. The object of Judicial Laws is to protect the sons of peace against the fractious and disorderly. Hence Judicial Laws will ever be needed to repress the outbreak of the unregenerate, until Christ shall be ¶King of kings and Lord of lords -until t†the saints shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever-until** Satan shall be bound, and the ‡‡earth shall be full of * John xii. 31; xiv. 30; xvi. 11. + Eph. ii. 2. § 1 John v. 19. 1 Timothy, vi. 15; Revelations xvii. **Revelations xx. 2. tt Daniel vii. 18. +2 Cor. iv. 4. Isaiah xi. 9. |