that thou mayest do it.'-(Mat. v. 19.) Until a new dispensation arrives from heaven, this holy law is therefore universally binding. The period elapsing between the time of our Lord's appearance on earth, and the arrival of any new dispensation, is that which is always referred to in the following pages, unless the contrary is expressed. 22. All the obligations and rights of men, then, emanate from the divine law, and none being able to live but in association, and the constitution of human nature, confirmed by divine revelation, equally obliging every individual of the human race to do all that lies in him, to promote the well-being of all his associates, it is obviously necessary for the purpose, that he should have an equality of rights with all of them; for, if the rights differ, the obligation must; as it is not for a moment supposable, that God, who is infinitely wise, powerful, and benevolent, would have laid all men under the same obligation, and yet have assigned to some a less measure of rights than to others, thereby abridging the means of performing such obligation. Such a procedure would prejudice, not only the particular members, from whom such rights are abstracted, but, in a less or greater degree, the whole association, its welfare being, as has been seen, dependent on all its members having the greatest plenitude of means, and exerting those means for the general good. It is therefore derogatory to the wisdom and goodness of God to affirm, that though he has placed all men under the divine law, therefore, under an obligation to perform it, rendered them liable to the same penalty for the non-performance of it, and appointed the same ransom for penitent offenders against it, yet he has abstracted from any the means, or a portion of the means, of doing it. If, therefore, such means are or have been withheld from any one or more members of any nation in any age, it is manifestly against the will of God. Nature, says Vattel, imposes no obligations on men, without giving them the means of fulfilling them. They have an absolute right to the necessary use of those means nothing can deprive them of that right-as nothing can dispense with their fulfilling their natural obligation.-(Law of Nations.) 23. The rights of every man comprehend the unrestricted use of his faculties, and an equal right to the property in the land, with all his fellows. These rights can only be secured to him, by his enjoying an equal share of political right with all his fellows. We shall hereafter see, that a government cannot be formed in any nation or age, in accordance with the divine law, without assigning an equal share of political right to every man; and shall thus perceive how this all-important right, comprehending all other rights, emanates immediately from God, to every man that cometh into the world, in all ages and all places. The divine law thus determines the obligations and rights of men; and thus we arrive at the only righteous foundation of all human laws; no other law, but that holy rule, being deducible, either from the constitution of human nature, or divine revelation; and exactly as the rules which are deduced from it are obeyed, the happiness of mankind is promoted. The law of nature, says Locke, stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for other men's actions must, as well as their own and other men's actions, be conformable to the law of nature: i. e. to the will of God, o. which that is a declaration.-(On Govt.) Human laws, says Hooker, are measures in respect of men, whose actions they must direct; howbeit, such measures they are, as have also their higher rules to be measured by; which rules are two- the law of God and the law of nature. So that laws human must be made according to the general laws of nature, and without contradiction to any positive law of scripture; otherwise, they are ill made.-(Eccl. Pol.) As man, says Blackstone, depends absolutely upon his Maker for every thing, it is necessary that he should, in all points, conform to his Maker's will. This will of his Maker is called the law of nature. (Com. on the Laws of England.) 24. The excellent Vattel, just quoted, makes the following observations on the law of nature:-It is, says he, by the desire alone of happiness, that we can bind a creature possessed of the faculty of thought, and form the ties of that obligation which shall make him submit to any rule. Now, by studying the nature of things, and of that of man in particular, we may thence deduce the rules which man must follow in order to attain his great end,-to obtain the most perfect happiness of which he is susceptible. We call those rules the natural laws, or the laws of nature. They are certain, they are sacred and obligatory on every man possessed of reason, independently of every other consideration than that of his nature, and even though we should suppose him totally ignorant of the existence of a God. But the sublime consideration, of an eternal, necessary, infinite Being-the Author of the universe, adds the most lively energy to the law of nature, and carries it to the highest degree of perfection. That necessary Being necessarily unites in himself all perfection. He is, therefore, superlatively good, and displays his goodness by forming creatures susceptible of happiness. It is, then, his wish, that his creatures should be as happy as is consistent with their nature. Consequently, it is his will that they should, in their whole conduct, follow the rules which that same nature lays down for them, as the most certain road to happiness. Thus, the will of the Creator perfectly coincides with the simple indications of nature; and these two sources, producing the same law, unite in forming the same obli gation. The whole reverts to the first great end of man, which is happiness. It was to conduct him to that great end that the laws of nature were ordained; it is from the desire of happiness that his obligation to observe those laws arises. 25. There is, therefore, no man who is not bound to obey the laws of nature. They are necessary to the general happiness of mankind; and whoever should reject them, whoever should openly despise them, would by such conduct alone declare himself an enemy to the human race, and deserve to be treated as such. Now, one of the first truths which the study of man reveals to us, and which is a necessary consequence of his nature, is, that in a state of lonely separation from the rest of his species, he caunot attain his great end-happiness; and the reason is, that he was intended to live in society with his fellow creatures. Nature herself, therefore, has established that society, whose great end is the common advantage of all its members; and the means of attaining that end constitute the rules that each individual is bound to observe in his whole conduct. Such are the natural laws of human society.—(Law of Nations.) 26. The law, says Dr. Brown, on which right and wrong depend, did not begin to be law when it was written; it is older than the ages of nations and cities, and contemporary with the very eternity of God. There is, indeed, to borrow Cicero's noble description, one true and original law, conformable to reason and to nature, diffused over all, invariable, eternal, which calls to the fulfilment of duty, and to abstinence from injustice, and which calls with that irresistible voice, which is felt in all its authority, wherever it is heard. This law cannot be abolished or curtailed, nor affected in its sanctions, by any law of man. A whole senate, a whole people, cannot dispense from its paramount obligation. It requires no commentator to render it distinctly intelligible; nor is it different at Rome, at Athens, now, and in the ages before and after; but in all ages, and in all nations, it is, and has been, and will be, one and everlasting; one, as that God, its great author and promulgator, who is the common Sovereign of all mankind, is himself one. Man is truly man, as he yields to this divine influence. He cannot resist it but by flying as it were from his own bosom, and laying aside the feelings of humanity, by which very act he must already have inflicted on himself the severest of punishments, even though he were to avoid what is usually accounted punishment. We feel that the laws of nature are laws which no lapse of ages can render obsolete, because they are every moment operating on every heart, and which, for the same reason, never can be repealed till man shall have ceased to be man.-(Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind, by the late Thomas Brown, M. D. Lecture 15.) 27. Nor can there, says a late prelate, in reference to the law of nature, be any one so absurd and unreasonable as not to see and acknowledge the absolute equity of this command in theory, however he may swerve and decline from it in his practice; and to agree upon it, as that golden mean, which, if universally observed, would make the world universally happy; every man a benefactor, a good angel, a deity, as it were, to his fellow creatures, and earth the very image of heaven.-(Atterbury.) 28. As to the government of the relations of men, by the divine law, we find the connexion of husband and wife so intimate, and the affection each should bear to the other so strong, as to be thus expressed :- They are no more twain, but one flesh men ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself.' In allusion to the coming of the Son of Man, we are told, there shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left.' What an unspeakably affecting consideration must it be to married persons, of the possibility of one being saved, and the other lost. And seeing the great influence those in this most intimate connection necessarily have on each other, with what solicitude should it be entered into! And after it has commenced, how zealous should each party be to provoke the other unto love, and to good works, and by thus working out their own salvation, with fear and trembling,' insure, as far as possible, both the present and everlasting welfare of themselves, their families, and connections. The regard of parents for their children is compared with the infinite love of God;-like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.' 29. With regard to the obedience of a child, we find it directed in a very remarkable manner by God;-in the Mosaic Code it is made one of the commandments, Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.' And a malediction was pronounced on those who neglected it. Cursed be he, that setteth light by his father or his mother.' A stubborn and rebellious son was liable to be punished capitally, if both his parents required it.-(Deut. xxi. 18 to 21.) ;-it being possibly considered, that such a son might not only be the cause of introducing anarchy, and all its attendant evils, into his father's house; but not be likely to fill any relation of life, either with advantage to himself or others, nor consequently to the glory of God. But as this may to some appear severe, we may observe, that the punishment was of course directed against those only, who were so utterly contumacious, that nothing would reclaim them. It is obvious, that the bias of parents is generally to screen the faults of their children. For the most part, the case must be an extreme one, which will induce parents to do any thing prejudicial to their children. Few would be willing to be instrumental to the death of a child; fewer still to a violent one judicially inflicted. And both father and mother were required to be present at the condemnation. 30. According to the divine law, whereby all are to consider themselves as bretheren, little distinction is made between those who are so by descent from the same earthly parent, and those who are so only by the common ties of humanity; this holy law, as we have seen, thus directing all :- Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' In the Mosaic Code, the same language is adopted: The stranger that dwelleth with you, shall be unto you as one born amongst you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.' The parents, says Dr. Brown, who hang over our cradle, thinking for us before we have formed what can be called a thought, and who continue during life to be viewed by us with a peculiar sort of tender veneration, which no other created being seems to us entitled to possess ;-the comrades of our pastimes in boyhood, and the friends who partake with us the graver occupations and the graver pastimes of mature years; these are they, who transfer into us their feelings, and from whom, without thinking of them as examples, we derive all that good or evil which example can afford, and yield ourselves more completely to the influence, because we are not aware that we are yielding to any influence whatever. The great source of the fraternal regard is in that general susceptibility of our nature, to which we owe all our friendships, that susceptibility which has made brothers of mankind, at least of all the nobler individuals of mankind;-a regard which, Push'd to social, to divine, Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing thine. Extend it-let thy enemies have part. Grasp the whole worlds of reason, life, and sense, In one close system of benevolence : --- Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree, And height of bliss, but height of charity.-POPE. (Dr. Brown's Lectures, 85 and 60.) 31. We find servants commanded as follows:-'Obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.'-Job, 'the greatest of all the men of the East,' and that 'was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil,' thus speaks: If I did despise the cause of my man servant, or of my maid servant, when they contended with me; what then shall I do when God riseth up? And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?' The consideration, that we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ,' and that the joyful salutation,- Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, from the |