she is free from the law; so that she is no adul teress though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." As in the words of Christ, so in these of the apostle is shown, that to put away the law while its priesthood was alive, and marry to another would be adultery. Christ reverses the subject and says, "And whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery." The apostle says, as above quoted, "My brethren, ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another." The body of Christ, of which it is said, a body hast thou prepared me, contained the end and fulfilment of the whole ritual priesthood, so that the offering of that body once for all, disannulled, as the apostles term is, the priesthood of the law, and delivered the people, who were solemnly married to it, from that marriage covenant, so that they were free from the law of their former husband, and at liberty to marry to a risen Saviour. As is shown in the notes, the last adultery spoken of by Christ, was that of marrying to the legal covenant after it was put away. This adultery was committed by the high priests and their disciples, who had lost the knowledge of what those rites represented, and were zealously attached to the letter of the law, seeking righteousness and salvation by it. This brings us as was proposed

to consider,

3d. The miserable state of moral darkness and death into which the order of high priests under

the law, and those of the house of Israel, who adhered to those blind guides, were cast. This is represented in the last paragraph of the 16th of Luke, by the death of a rich man, as the notes plainly show.

Conceiving that the notes on the subject of the rich man and Lazarus are sufficiently explicit in respect to the application of the parable, a more general view of the subject will be taken by recurring to other scriptures illustrative of this state of moral darkness and condemnation. St. Paul speaks of this subject in Rom. ix. 31, 32, 33.

"But

Israel which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law; for they stumbled at that stumbling stone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling stone, and rock of offence and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." Thus they failed in making unto themselves friends of the rites of the first priesthood, because they expected to attain to the law of righteousness, by those literal services, while the weightier matters of the law were omitted, which are judgment, mercy and faith. St. Paul notices the subject something largely in the 11th of Romans, see verse 7, "What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." Here the apostle refers to Isaiah vi. 9, 10. "And he said, go, and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and

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hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." Jeremiah describes the wickedness of the priests, prophets and people as follows, see chap. v. verse 23. "But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone; 27-31. "As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore they are become great and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine; yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophecy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?" These Priests who bore rule by means of the false prophets, waxed fat and become rich; they devoured widow's houses, and for pretence made long prayer.

Here is the rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day, who did not judge the right of the needy, and on whom our Saviour pronounced "the greater damnation."

The reader will see that the subject on which we are now laboring has already been considerably discussed in the illustrations of notes on the 25th of Matthew, where particular attention was paid to the 24th and 23d chapters, with a view to show the general connexion of those chapters, and their fulfilment. In the 23d Jesus pronounced on his enemies, whom he calls a generation of

vipers, the damnation of hell. This damnation is described in St. John iii. 19. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Jesus was the light; his preaching and doctrine was particularly directed against the church, which had the high priest at its head, who was surrounded by pharisees and scribes, of whom the prophet Jeremiah said, as above quoted, "they overpass the deeds of the wicked." They had, by their traditions, established criteria by which they distinguished between the righteous and the wicked. Those who conformed to the traditions of the elders, were righteous; but those who did not, were accursed; and it was then as customary to talk of we righteous, and they wicked, as it is now in the antichristian church. But as it is now, so it was then; those who accounted themselves to be righteous, overpassed, in iniquity, the deeds of those whom they called wicked.

Here is seen, not through a glass darkly, but as face answers to face in water, the reason why the Jewish church rejected Christ, and also why the antichristian church of the present day does the same. Jesus was accused by the Jewish church of being a friend to publicans and sinners, and this is the present accusation which is urged by the antichristian church. The judgments of God on the antichristian church are set down, as has been noticed in a former part of this work, in Rev. xviii. And for a full account of the judgments. of God on the Jewish church, the reader is referred to Leviticus xxvi. out of which a number of passages are here set down without particular

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reference to verses. "I also will do this unto your; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the , and cause sorrow of heart : and eyes, a shall sow your seed in vain; for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass. And your strength shall be spent in vain for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hands of the enemy. I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. And upon them that are left alive of voli, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the land of their enemies, and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleemg