knowledge of sin"; 5: 20-"the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound"; 7: 7, 8—"I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet: bat sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin is dead"; Gal. 3: 24"So that the law is become our tutor," or attendant-slave, "to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith"=the law trains our wayward boyhood and leads it to Christ the Master, as in old times the slave accompanied children to school. Stevens, Pauline Theology, 177, 178"The law increases sin by increasing the knowledge of sin and by increasing the activity of sin. The law does not add to the inherent energy of the sinful principle which pervades human nature, but it does cause this principle to reveal itself more energetically in sinful act." The law inspires fear, but it leads to love. The Rabbins said that, if Israel repented but for one day, the Messiah would appear.

No man ever yet drew a straight line or a perfect curve; yet he would be a poor architect who contented himself with anything less. Since men never come up to their ideals, he who aims to live only an average moral life will inevitably fall below the average. The law, then, leads to Christ. He who is the ideal is also the way to attain the ideal. He who is himself the Word and the Law embodied, is also the Spirit of life that makes obedience possible to us (John 14:6-"I am the way, and the truth, and the life"; Rom. 8:2-"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death"). Mrs. Browning, Aurora Leigh: "The Christ himself had been no Lawgiver, Unless he had given the Life too with the Law." Christ for us upon the Cross, and Christ in us by his Spirit, is the only deliverance from the curse of the law; Gal. 3: 13-"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us." We must see the claims of the law satisfied and the law itself written on our hearts. We are "reconciled to God through the death of his Son," but we are also "saved by his life" (Rom. 5:10). Robert Browning, in The Ring and the Book, represents Caponsacchi as comparing himself at his best with the new ideal of "perfect as Father in heaven is perfect" suggested by Pompilia's purity, and as breaking out into the cry: "O great, just, good God! Miserable me!" In the Interpreter's House of Pilgrim's Progress, Law only stirred up the dust in the foul room, - the Gospel had to sprinkle water on the floor before it could be cleansed. E. G. Robinson: "It is necessary to smoke a man out, before you can bring a higher motive to bear upon him." Barnabas said that Christ was the answer to the riddle of the law. Rom. 10:4-"Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth." The railroad track opposite Detroit on the St. Clair River runs to the edge of the dock and seems intended to plunge the train into the abyss. But when the ferry boat comes up, rails are seen upon its deck, and the boat is the end of the track, to carry passengers over to Detroit. So the law, which by itself would bring only destruction, finds its end in Christ who ensures our passage to the celestial city.

Law, then, with its picture of spotless innocence, simply reminds man of the heights from which he has fallen. "It is a mirror which reveals derangement, but does not create or remove it." With its demand of absolute perfection, up to the measure of man's original endowments and possibilities, it drives us, in despair of ourselves, to Christ as our only righteousness and our only Savior (Rom. 8: 3, 4-"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit"; Phil. 3: 8, 9" that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith"). Thus law must prepare the way for grace, and John the Baptist must precede Christ.

When Sarah Bernhardt was solicited to add an eleventh commandment, she declined upon the ground there were already ten too many. It was an expression of pagan contempt of law. In heathendom, sin and insensibility to sin increased together. In Judaism and Christianity, on the contrary, there has been a growing sense of sin's guilt and condemnableness. McLaren, in S. S. Times, Sept. 23, 1893: 600-"Among the Jews there was a far profounder sense of sin than in any other ancient nation. The law written on men's hearts evoked a lower consciousness of sin, and there are prayers on the Assyrian and Babylonian tablets which may almost stand beside the 51st Psalm. But, on the whole, the deep sense of sin was the product of the revealed law." See Fairbairn, Revelation of Law and Scripture; Baird, Elohim Revealed, 187-242; Hovey, God with Us, 187-210; Julius Müller, Doctrine of Sin, 1:45-50; Murphy, Scientific Bases of Faith, 53-71; Martineau, Types, 2: 120-125.

2. Positive Enactment, or the expression of the will of God in published ordinances. This is also two-fold:

A. General moral precepts.-These are written summaries of the elemental law (Mat. 5:48; 22: 37-40), or authorized applications of it to special human conditions (Ex. 20: 1-17; Mat. chap. 5-8).

Mat. 5: 48-"Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect"; 22: 37-40-"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law hangeth and the prophets"; Ex. 20: 1-17 - the Ten Commandments; Mat., chap. 5-8- the Sermon on the Mount. Cf. Augustine, on Ps. 57: 1.

Solly, On the Will, 162, gives two illustrations of the fact that positive precepts are merely applications of elemental law or the law of nature: “Thou shalt not steal,' is a moral law which may be stated thus: thou shalt not take that for thy own property, which is the property of another. The contradictory of this proposition would be: thou mayest take that for thy own property which is the property of another. But this is a contradiction in terms; for it is the very conception of property, that the owner stands in a peculiar relation to its subject matter; and what is every man's property is no man's property, as it is proper to no man. Hence the contradictory of the commandment contains a simple contradiction directly it is made a rule universal; and the commandment itself is established as one of the principles for the harmony of individual wills. "Thou shalt not tell a lie,' as a rule of morality, may be expressed generally thou shalt not by thy outward act make another to believe thy thought to be other than it is. The contradictory made universal is: every man may by his outward act make another to believe his thought to be other than it is. Now this maxim also contains a contradiction, and is self-destructive. It conveys a permission to do that which is rendered impossible by the permission itself. Absolute and universal indifference to truth, or the entire mutual independence of the thought and symbol, makes the symbol cease to be a symbol, and the conveyance of thought by its means, an impossibility."

Kant, Metaphysic of Ethics, 48, 90-"Fundamental law of reason: So act, that thy maxims of will might become laws in a system of universal moral legislation." This is Kant's categorical imperative. He expresses it in yet another form: "Act from maxims fit to be regarded as universal laws of nature." For expositions of the Decalogue which bring out its spiritual meaning, see Kurtz, Religionslehre, 9-72; Dick, Theology, 2:513554; Dwight, Theology, 3: 163-560; Hodge, Syst. Theol., 3: 259–465.

B. Ceremonial or special injunctions.-These are illustrations of the elemental law, or approximate revelations of it, suited to lower degrees of capacity and to earlier stages of spiritual training (Ez. 20:25; Mat. 19:8; Mark 10:5). Though temporary, only God can say when they cease to be binding upon us in their outward form.

All positive enactments, therefore, whether they be moral or ceremonial, are republications of elemental law. Their forms may change, but the substance is eternal. Certain modes of expression, like the Mosaic system, may be abolished, but the essential demands are unchanging (Mat. 5:17, 18; cf. Eph. 2:15). From the imperfection of human language, no positive enactments are able to express in themselves the whole content and meaning of the elemental law. "It is not the purpose of revelation to disclose the whole of our duties." Scripture is not a complete code of rules for practical action, but an enunciation of principles, with occasional precepts by way of illustration. Hence we must supplement the positive enactment by the law of being — the moral ideal found in the nature of God. Ez. 20: 25 -"Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances wherein they should not live"; Mat. 19:8"Moses for your hardness of heart suffered you to put away your wives"; Mark 10: 5-"For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment"; Mat. 5: 17, 18-"Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or ons tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished"; cf. Eph. 2: 15-"having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances"; Heb. 8: 7-"if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second." Fisher, Nature and Method of Revelalation, 90—“ After the coming of the new covenant, the keeping up of the old was as

needless a burden as winter garments in the mild air of summer, or as the attempt of an adult to wear the clothes of a child."

Wendt, Teaching of Jesus, 2:5-35-"Jesus repudiates for himself and for his disciples absolute subjection to O. T. Sabbath law (Mark 2:27 sq.); to O. T. law as to external defilements (Mark 7: 15); to O. T. divorce law (Mark 10:2 sq.). He would 'fulfil' law and prophets by complete practical performance of the revealed will of God. He would bring out their inner meaning, not by literal and slavish obedience to every minute requirement of the Mosaic law, but by revealing in himself the perfect life and work toward which they tended. He would perfect the O. T. conceptions of God - not keep them intact in their literal form, but in their essential spirit. Not by quantitative extension, but by qualitative renewal, he would fulfil the law and the prophets. He would bring the imperfect expression in the O. T. to perfection, not by servile letter-worship or allegorizing, but through grasp of the divine idea."

Scripture is not a series of minute injunctions and prohibitions such as the Pharisees and the Jesuits laid down. The Koran showed its immeasurable inferiority to the Bible by establishing the letter instead of the spirit, by giving permanent, definite, and specific rules of conduct, instead of leaving room for the growth of the free spirit and for the education of conscience. This is not true either of O. T. or of N. T. law. In Miss Fowler's novel The Farringdons, Mrs. Herbert wishes "that the Bible had been written on the principle of that dreadful little book called 'Don't,' which gives a list of the solecisms you should avoid; she would have understood it so much better than the present system." Our Savior's words about giving to him that asketh, and turning the cheek to the smiter (Mat. 5:39-42) must be interpreted by the principle of love that lies at the foundation of the law. Giving to every tramp and yielding to every marauder is not pleasing our neighbor "for that which is good unto edifying" (Rom. 15:2). Only by confounding the divine law with Scripture prohibition could one write as in N. Amer. Rev., Feb. 1890:275-"Sin is the transgression of a divine law; but there is no divine law against suicide; therefore suicide is not sin."

The written law was imperfect because God could, at the time, give no higher to an unenlightened people. "But to say that the scope and design were imperfectly moral, is contradicted by the whole course of the history. We must ask what is the moral standard in which this course of education issues." And this we find in the life and precepts of Christ. Even the law of repentance and faith does not take the place of the old law of being, but applies the latter to the special conditions of sin. Under the Levitical law, the prohibition of the touching of the dry bone (Num. 19: 16), equally with the purifications and sacrifices, the separations and penalties of the Mosaic code, expressed God's holiness and his repelling from him all that savored of sin or death. The laws with regard to leprosy were symbolic, as well as sanitary. So church polity and the ordinances are not arbitrary requirements, but they publish to dull senseenvironed consciences, better than abstract propositions could have done, the fundamental truths of the Christian scheme. Hence they are not to be abrogated "till he come " (1 Cor. 11:26).

The Puritans, however, in reenacting the Mosaic code, made the mistake of confounding the eternal law of God with a partial, temporary, and obsolete expression of it. So we are not to rest in external precepts respecting woman's hair and dress and speech, but to find the underlying principle of modesty and subordination which alone is of universal and eternal validity. Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book, 1: 255 —“ God breathes, not speaks, his verdicts, felt not heard - Passed on successively to each court, I call Man's conscience, custom, manners, all that make More and more effort to promulgate, mark God's verdict in determinable words, Till last come human juristssolidify Fluid results,-what's fixable lies forged, Statute,- the residue escapes in fume, Yet hangs aloft a cloud, as palpable To the finer sense as word the legist welds. Justinian's Pandects only make precise What simply sparkled in men's eyes before, Twitched in their brow or quivered on their lip, Waited the speech they called, but would not come." See Mozley, Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, 104; Tulloch, Doctrine of Sin, 141-144; Finney, Syst. Theol., 1-40, 135-319; Mansel, Metaphysics, 378, 379; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 191-195.

Paul's injunction to women to keep silence in the churches (1 Cor. 14: 35; 1 Tim. 2:11, 12) is to be interpreted by the larger law of gospel equality and privilege (Col. 3:11). Modesty and subordination once required a seclusion of the female sex which is no longer obligatory. Christianity has emancipated woman and has restored her to the dignity which belonged to her at the beginning. "In the old dispensation Miriam and Deborah and Huldah were recognized as leaders of God's people, and Anna was a notable prophetess

in the temple courts at the time of the coming of Christ. Elizabeth and Mary spoke songs of praise for all generations. A prophecy of Joel 2: 28 was that the daughters of the Lord's people should prophesy, under the guidance of the Spirit, in the new dispensation. Philip the evangelist had 'four virgin daughters, who prophesied' (Acts 21:9), and Paul cautioned Christian women to have their heads covered when they prayed or prophesied in public (1 Cor. 11:5), but had no words against the work of such women. He brought Priscilla with him to Ephesus, where she aided in training Apollos into better preaching power (Acts 18:26). He welcomed and was grateful for the work of those women who labored with him in the gospel at Philippi (Phil. 4:3). And it is certainly an inference from the spirit and teachings of Paul that we should rejoice in the efficient service and sound words of Christian women to-day in the Sunday School and in the missionary field." The command "And he that heareth let him say, Come" (Rev. 22:17) is addressed to women also. See Ellen Batelle Dietrick, Women in the Early Christian Ministry; per contra, see G. F. Wilkin, Prophesying of Women, 183–193.

III.

RELATION OF THE LAW TO THE GRACE OF GOD.

In human government, while law is an expression of the will of the governing power, and so of the nature lying behind the will, it is by no means an exhaustive expression of that will and nature, since it consists only of general ordinances, and leaves room for particular acts of command through the executive, as well as for "the institution of equity, the faculty of discretionary punishment, and the prerogative of pardon."

Amos, Science of Law, 29-46, shows how "the institution of equity, the faculty of discretionary punishment, and the prerogative of pardon" all involve expressions of will above and beyond what is contained in mere statute. Century Dictionary, on Equity: "English law had once to do only with property in goods, houses and lands. A man who had none of these might have an interest in a salary, a patent, a contract, a copyright, a security, but a creditor could not at common law levy upon these. When the creditor applied to the crown for redress, a chancellor or keeper of the king's conscience was appointed, who determined what and how the debtor should pay. Often the debtor was required to put his intangible property into the hands of a receiver and could regain possession of it only when the claim against it was satisfied. These chancellors' courts were called courts of equity, and redressed wrongs which the common law did not provide for. In later times law and equity are administered for the most part by the same courts. The same court sits at one time as a court of law, and at another time as a court of equity." "Summa lex, summa injuria," is sometimes true.

Applying now to the divine law this illustration drawn from human law, we remark:

(a) The law of God is a general expression of God's will, applicable to all moral beings. It therefore does not exclude the possibility of special injunctions to individuals, and special acts of wisdom and power in creation and providence. The very specialty of these latter expressions of will prevents us from classing them under the category of law.

Lord Bacon, Confession of Faith: "The soul of man was not produced by heaven or earth, but was breathed immediately from God; so the ways and dealings of God with spirits are not included in nature, that is, in the laws of heaven and earth, but are reserved to the law of his secret will and grace."

(b) The law of God, accordingly, is a partial, not an exhaustive, expression of God's nature. It constitutes, indeed, a manifestation of that attribute of holiness which is fundamental in God, and which man must possess in order to be in harmony with God. But it does not fully express God's nature in its aspects of personality, sovereignty, helpfulness, mercy. The chief error of all pantheistic theology is the assumption that law is an exhaustive expression of God: Strauss, Glaubenslehre, 1:31-"If nature, as the self-realization of

the divine essence, is equal to this divine essence, then it is infinite, and there can be nothing above and beyond it." This is a denial of the transcendence of God (see notes on Pantheism, pages 100-105). Mere law is illustrated by the Buddhist proverb: "As the cartwheel follows the tread of the ox, so punishment follows sin." Denovan: "Apart from Christ, even if we have never yet broken the law, it is only by steady and perfect obedience for the entire future that we can remain justified. If we have sinned, we can be justified [without Christ] only by suffering and exhausting the whole penalty of the law."

(c) Mere law, therefore, leaves God's nature in these aspects of personality, sovereignty, helpfulness, mercy, to be expressed toward sinners in another way, namely, through the atoning, regenerating, pardoning, sanctifying work of the gospel of Christ. As creation does not exclude miracles, so law does not exclude grace (Rom. 8:3-"what the law could not do ... God" did).

Murphy, Scientific Bases, 303-327, esp. 315—" To impersonal law, it is indifferent whether its subjects obey or not. But God desires, not the punishment, but the destruction, of sin." Campbell, Atonement, Introd., 28-"There are two regions of the divine selfmanifestation, one the reign of law, the other the kingdom of God." C. H. M.: "Law is the transcript of the mind of God as to what man ought to be. But God is not merely law, but love. There is more in his heart than could be wrapped up in the 'ton words.' Not the law, but only Christ, is the perfect image of God” (John 1: 17 — "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ"). So there is more in man's heart toward God than exact fulfilment of requirement. The mother who sacrifices herself for her sick child does it, not because she must, but because she loves. To say that we are saved by grace, is to say that we are saved both without merit on our own part, and without necessity on the part of God. Grace is made known in proclamation, offer, command; but in all these it is gospel, or glad-tidings.

(d) Grace is to be regarded, however, not as abrogating law, but as republishing and enforcing it (Rom. 3:31-"we establish the law"). By removing obstacles to pardon in the mind of God, and by enabling man to obey, grace secures the perfect fulfilment of law (Rom. 8:4-"that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us"). Even grace has its law (Rom. 8:2-"the law of the Spirit of life"); another higher law of grace, the operation of individualizing mercy, overbears the "law of sin and of death," this last, as in the case of the miracle, not being suspended, annulled, or violated, but being merged in, while it is transcended by, the exertion of personal divine will.

Hooker, Eccl. Polity, 1: 155, 185, 194 -" Man, having utterly disabled his nature unto those [natural] means, hath had other revealed by God, and hath received from heaven a law to teach him how that which is desired naturally, must now be supernaturally attained. Finally, we see that, because those latter exclude not the former as unnecessary, therefore the law of grace teaches and includes natural duties also, such as are hard to ascertain by the law of nature." The truth is midway between the Pelagian view, that there is no obstacle to the forgiveness of sins, and the modern rationalistic view, that since law fully expresses God, there can be no forgiveness of sins at all. Greg, Creed of Christendom, 2: 217-228-"God is the only being who cannot forgive sins. . . . Punishment is not the execution of a sentence, but the occurrence of an effect." Robertson, Lect. on Genesis, 100—“Deeds are irrevocable,—their consequences are knit up with them irrevocably." So Baden Powell, Law and Gospel, in Noyes' Theological Essays, 27. All this is true if God be regarded as merely the source of law. But there is such a thing as grace, and grace is more than law. There is no forgiveness in nature, but grace is above and beyond nature.

Bradford, Heredity, 233, quotes from Huxley the terrible utterance: "Nature always checkmates, without haste and without remorse, never overlooking a mistake, or making the slightest allowance for ignorance." Bradford then remarks: "This is Calvinism with God left out. Christianity does not deny or minimize the law of retribution, but it discloses a Person who is able to deliver in spite of it. There is grace,