HKB
"he alone discovers who proves") by proving the truth of the doctrine, now for the first time declared with the requisite authority, by the requisite, appropriate, and alone satisfactory evidences."
But is this the Apostle's answer to the Jewish oppugners, and the Judaizing false brethren, of the Church of Christ?--It is not the answer, it does not resemble the answer returned by the Apostle. It is neither parallel nor corradial with the line of argument in either of the two Epistles, or with any one line; but it is a chord that traverses them all, and only touches where it cuts across. In the Epistle to the Hebrews the directly contrary position is repeatedly asserted: and in the Epistle to the Romans it is every where supposed. The death to which the Law sentenced all sinners (and which even the Gentiles without the revealed Law had announced to them by their consciences, the judgment of God having been made known even to them) must be the same death, from which they were saved by the faith of the Son of God; or the Apostle's reasoning would be senseless, his antithesis a mere equivoque, a play on a word, quod idem sonat, aliud vult*. Christ *redeemed mankind from the curse of the Law: and we all know, that it was not from temporal death, or the penalties and afflictions of the present life, that believers have been redeemed. The Law, of which the inspired sage of Tarsus is speaking, from which no man can plead excuse; the Law miraculously delivered in thunders from Mount Sinai, which was inscribed on tables of stone for the Jews, and written in the hearts of all men (Rom. ii. 15.)--the Law holy and spiritual! what was the great point, of which this Law, in its own name, offered no solution? the mystery, which it left behind the veil, or in the cloudy tabernacle of types and figurative sacrifices? Whether there was a judgment to come, and souls to suffer the dread sentence? Or was it not far rather--what are the means of escape; where may grace be found, and redemption? St. Paul says, the latter. The Law brings condemnation: but the conscience-sentenced transgressor's question, "What shall I do to be saved? Who will intercede for me?" she dismisses as beyond the jurisdiction of her court, and takes no cognizance thereof, save in prophetic murmurs or mute outshadowings of mystic ordinances and sacrificial types.--Not, therefore, that there is a Life to come, and a future state; but what each individual Soul may hope for itself therein; and on what grounds; and that this state has been rendered an object of aspiration and fervent desire, and a source of thanksgiving and exceeding great joy; and by whom, and through whom, and for whom, and by what means and under what conditions--these are the peculiar and distinguishing fundamentals of the Christian Faith! These are the revealed Lights and obtained Privileges of the Christian Dispensation! Not alone the knowledge of the boon, but the precious inestimable Boon itself, is the Grace and Truth that came by Jesus Christ*! I believe Moses, I believe Paul; but I believe *in Christ.
[139] Coleridge quotes this passage in his Conclusion.--ED.
[140] J. Taylor's 'Worthy Communicant.'--H.N.C.
[141] Isaiah xxxiv. compared with Matt. x. 34, and Luke xii. 49.--H.N.C.
[142] Conclusion, Part III. ch. 8.--H.N.C.
[143] Sermon at the Funeral of Sir George Dalston.--H.N.C.