MR. brown' S THTRD REPLY. 173 



Chrisfs design, to honor the Sabbath, — not to abrogate it. 



to prove that the Law of the DecaJogue is ahrogated, before 

 you demand proof of its re-enactment. Till this is done fully 

 and fairly, till tlie argument from 3Iatf. v. for example is 

 fairly met and set aside (which W. B. T. has not even at- 

 tempted in his Reply), you have no right to demand proof of 

 any hind as to its present obligation. Here is the Sab- 

 bath. Look at it. The seal of the world' s Creator — of your 

 Creator, and of mine — is upon it. Efface it if you can ! At- 

 tempt it, if you dåre ! 



But I love not the language of defiance, even in so strong 

 a case as this. I prefer the language of earnest deprecation. 

 Tell me not that Jesus Christ has come from Heaven to abro- 

 gate this Law — in the face of his own express declarations to the 

 contrary. That Law was in His heart! Tell me not that He 

 fuIfiUed, and by so doing superseded it. He did indeed/t<//?/ 

 it, in His faithful exposition, in his noble vindication, in His 

 constant application — in His whole obedient life, and in His 

 sin-atoning death, by which He redeemed us from the curse, 

 aud secured the promise of the holy spirit to write it forover 

 in our heart of hearts ! But all this was to honor it as immu- 

 tahle — not to ahrogate it. In vain will you plead Paurs words 

 to the Bomans: ''But now we are delivered from the law — 

 that heing dead. ivherein ice icere heldT Paul does not say 

 that the Law is " dead/' but its curse only, " in which we 

 were held" by our guilt. (yGal. iii. 13.) This curse is now 

 ''dead" as to believers — that is, deprived of all power to hurt 

 us. And our deliverance, he expressly adds, is^ "that we 

 might serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the let- 

 ter." The authority of the Law then remains, vital and intact. 

 Indeed Paul had explicitly guarded his meaning before. {Rom. 

 iii. 31.) "Do we make void \i. e. ahrogate'] the Law through 

 faith f God forbid. Yea, we estahli&h the Law.'^ This is 

 PauFs true doctrine, here and everywhere. It is identical 

 with that of Christ. Perish the sophistry that would attempt 

 to set them at variance ! 



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