this law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. Can this law of the wise be the ten commandments, which are affirmed by some to be the believer's only rule of life? I trow not. Paul tells us the letter killeth, 2 Cor. iii. 6; that it is the law of death, Rom. viii. 2; that the law worketh wrath, Rom. iv. 15; and is the ministration of death and condemnation, 2 Cor. iii. 7, 9. Nor does our faith in Christ alter the nature of the law, or make it to us what it was not before. It is the yoke of bondage, and gendereth to bondage still; hence we are exhorted to stand fast in our liberty, and not be entangled again with that yoke of bondage, Gal. v. 1. It still retains its binding nature, even to the believer, and will entangle him again if he looks to it for help. This rule of life, as some term it, is still a killing letter; hence God declares that, "we are delivered from the law, that being dead, wherein we were held, that we should serve [him] in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter," Rom. vii. 6. If the law be a killing letter, and the law of death, it cannot be a fountain of life; by which the wise man departs from the snares of death. We know that sin is a transgression of the law, and that where there is no law there is no transgression; and that death is the sentence of the law; if so the commandments are the snares that hold the sinner in the arms of death. The first snare that entangles a thief is the law; and if he is left to the mercy of that, it will serve him as the spider does the fly in

the web, never let him go till it has killed him; it is a killing letter, and so all will find it that weave the spider's web; no web can be woven that will cover the soul on that loom; the commandment is exceeding broad. Nor can we suppose that our calling the ministration of condemnation the rule of life will alter this matter, or turn a killing letter into a living fountain; for that law gives no life, therefore it can be no part of this law of the wise. "Had there been a law given that could have given life, verily righteousness should have come by the law." This law of the wise, that is, a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death, is what Paul calls the ministration of the Spirit opposed to the ministration of death, 2 Cor. iii. 9. Solomon's fountain of life is Paul's ministration of the Spirit; and what Solomon calls the snares of death is Paul's law of death. The wise man's law of life is the same as the living water that the Saviour gives, that is in the believer as a well of water springing up into everlasting life, John iv. 14.

Blessed be God for ever, it is a fountain of life indeed, by which the poor believing sinner departs from the snares of death, and that for evermore; or, to speak in the apostle's language, "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death;" that is, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin that works in my members, and from the law of Moses, which is the ministra

tion of death. We may call this law of the wise the believer's only rule of life, without talking

nonsense.

But perhaps my unknown friend may ask why this dispensation of the Spirit is called a law? To which I answer; first, because of its binding power; the cords of everlasting love, the bond of peace, and the girdle of truth, will hold the soul faster than all the lifeless commandments in the world, whether they be from heaven or of men. Secondly, It is called a law, because of its constraining power; "the love of Christ constrains me," says Paul; it is a powerful constraint from evil, and mightily influences the mind to that which is good. Thirdly, Because of the obedience it produces; the Blessed Giver of this law circumcises our hearts, that we may love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul, that we may live, Deut. xxx. 6. It produces the fruits of the spirit, which is evangelical obedience; we are taught of God to love one another by the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, which is attended with filial fear that keeps us from departing from God, Jer. xxxii. 40. God directs our work in truth by it, Isaiah lxi. 8; and works all our works in us, Isaiah xxvi. 12; he works in us an inclining and moving power, "both to will and to do of his own good pleasure," Phil. ii. 13. Well may this be called the law of the Spirit, when it produces such spiritual obedience; well may the desire of the righteous when it cometh be called a Tree of Life, Prov. xiii. 12; seeing

it produces love, joy, peace, meekness, temperance, &c. This law of the wise is called a fountain, because it plays all its productions high enough to reach the spring from whence it is supplied; evangelical obedience springing from the Spirit of life and love, directed to the glory of God as the believer's chief end, makes the assembly of the saints like a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, or a fountain sealed, Song iv. 12. This law of the Spirit of life produces more real obedience to God in one hour than ever hath been produced by all the living rules that have been drawn by human wisdom from killing snares. This law of the wise is Christ's yoke that is easy, and it is his burden that is light, Matt. xi. 29, 30. Those souls that are under this arc "the circumcision that worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." God writes this law on our hearts, and in our minds does he put it, Jer. xxxi. 33. This is the law that goes forth of Zion, not from Sinai, and is the word of the Lord that went from Jerusalem, Micah iv. 2; and those that receive it are the people" that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus," Rev. xiv. 12. By this law are the servants of God warned, and in keeping this there is great reward, for charity abideth for ever, Psalm xix. 11. This is the holy commandment delivered unto us, from which legions have continually departed, 2 Peter ii. 21; because it was only delivered to them in the letter of it, not put into them as a fountain of

life. Hence they begin in the Spirit, or with the dispensation of the gospel, and end in the flesh, or under the killing letter.

The law of the wise may be called a fountain of life, because it quickens the dead soul, and raises it to a lively hope; it produces that life which the law promised but could not give because we could give it no obedience; but this law enables a soul to live unto God, to live by the faith of the Son of God; it produces a lively motion toward God; it is attended with life and peace, and enables us to love God that we may live eternally with him.

Thus, Sir, the believer is not without law to God, for God has written his law in his heart, and he is under this law to Christ as his eternal head, king, and ruler. And I think this is speaking as the oracles of God, and preaching of it is doing the work of an evangelist, and making full proof of the ministry, much better than telling poor blind souls to look with one eye to Christ, who is our life, and with the other to the law, which is death; and it is better than bringing rules of life from a law which is the strength of sin; or telling people that the rule of life is implied in the killing letter; or that it appears from the fitness of things; when we know that a living soul serving God in the oldness of the letter are things that can fit no better than darkness and light; the eye of faith and a blinding vail; perfect liberty and a yoke of bondage; real love and a gendering to fear; a display of mercy and a re