He tells us plainly that the law can only condemn, while the gospel alone has power to justify. He assures us that in this respect—in its condemning power—it is “done away” to the believer, while the free grace of the gospel alone “remains.” But when he speaks of the moral requirements of Christianity, while he tells us that (as in the religion of Moses) love is the essence and sum of all, he nevertheless sends us to the commandments of the second table, to learn how love is to be exhibited, or rather perhaps to shew us, that the moral requirements of the two dispensations were essentially the same. {28a} What an extraordinary use to make of the law, if the decalogue be part of “the weak and beggarly elements” abolished by Christianity. St. John tells us that to love God is to keep his commandments. But we know not which of his commandments we are bound to keep, if we reject those which he wrote with his own finger, and pronounced with his own voice. St. James refers to the moral law as if recognising its obligation. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” {28b} It may be objected, that this reference to the law is merely for the purpose of illustration. But surely if the violation of one precept involves the guilt of breaking the whole law, the whole law must still be in force. For if the enactment has been repealed, there is no law; and if there is no law, there can be no transgression; and if there is no transgression, there can be no guilt. How strange, too, is this appeal to the law by the Apostle Paul, if the law has been annulled: “Children obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth.” {28c} We thus approach very near the establishment of our position, that there is evidence in the New Testament, that the moral law is still binding on men. It may indeed be objected, that in the scriptures quoted or alluded to, the reference is chiefly, if not exclusively, to the second table of the decalogue. But we think few will venture to deny, (especially after the assertion of St. James, that the violation of one precept is the violation of the whole law) that if the part which regulates our duty to man is in force, the part which teaches our duty to God must be equally in force. Besides, if love is the fulfilling of the law, and the love of God is keeping his commandments, how can we express our love to him, if we reject that part of the law, which especially guides us in the proper manner of shewing our love _directly_ to him?