DIFFERENT countries have different laws, and the punishments for breaking them vary considerably Of course, I speak only of the laws which men have made; God's laws are the same everywhere, and the penalty for breaking them never varies. Some rulers can impose almost any punishments they like upon the people placed under them, while others are themselves bound by laws as strict as those which they administer. I read the other day a story of the Pasha of Aleppo, who was taking his morning walk through the bazaar of Antioch, when he carne upon a furrier, who was sitting, with a very sad face, beside a large heap of fox-tails, which he had bought some months before. The dejected looks of the furrier excited the curiosity of the Pasha, and stopping where the man sat, he asked the cause of his uneasiness. "Alas! my master," was the furrier's reply, "your servant has been cruelly deceived by an Armenian, who sold me these fox-tails very dear, assuring me that I should make good profit by them. And now they have been on my hands these three months; I have not sold one, and I am a ruined man." The Pasha, having heard the man's tale, promised that he would quickly put him in the way of selling his stock, and then left him. On the following day an order was sent from the Pasha's court, commanding all the Armenian merchants to appear before him, and when they were gathered in his presence, he began reproaching them for their cheating habits, called them foxes, and commanded every one of them to wear a fox's tail upon his person, as a penalty for his cunning. As you may imagine, there was very soon a run upon the furrier's stock, and as he asked a high price for his tails, of course, he made a handsome profit out of them. That, now, was a specimen of Turkish justice; but fancy what effect a sentence like that would have produced in England! Thus you see how laws differ.
Perhaps these Armenians deserved all they got, but then there was no proof against them; and it was one of their number, not all of them, who cheated the poor furrier. God's laws are not administered in that way.
Bribery, too, is sometimes practiced in courts of law; that is to say, the guilty person or his friends will pay the judge to deal lightly with his case, or to let him go free; but there is no such deliverance for those who break the law of God. God will not be bribed: and though people often talk of making atonement for the past, and fondly imagine that the good actions of their lives will go to wipe out the consequences of their bad ones, they are making a great mistake. God's law says, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe;" and the penalty must be submitted to. A person under the law who commits an offense for which the penalty is death, must die; and there is no escaping the sentence, for God is inflexible in His justice, and always performs what He says.
Some years ago an English merchant in Morocco was quarreling with some Moors, and an angry scuffle took place. An old woman happened to be passing that way, and quite by accident, the merchant struck her in the face, knocking out two of her teeth. For this he was put in prison, and in course of time, was brought before the Sultan of Morocco, an exceptionally mild and humane ruler; but such was the strictness of the law, that the merchant was sentenced to lose two of his own teeth, and the sentence was carried out. This is a feeble illustration of the inflexibility of God's law.
But the laws which God frames, have to do with the souls of men, as well as with their bodies, and I read in His word, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Now this is a very serious matter. In my chapter on tombs, I told you something about life, but here I am returning to the subject of death. "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Perhaps you are trying to keep the law of God. Well, that passage applies to you, and if you have sinned a single sin, you must die. Sin-death; the two words are linked together; and "The wages of sin is death.”
“Oh! but," you say, "I am not so sinful as that!”
The law says: "The wages of sin is death.”
You say: "But my sins are so few and small, and people very seldom find fault with me.”
The law says: "He that has offended in one point, is guilty of all.”
You say: "But I am not nearly so black as So-and-so.”
The law says: "There is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
You say: "But I say my prayers, and sing hymns, and read my Bible, and people often praise me for being good.”
The law says "All your righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”
From this it will be plain to you that as long as you are under the law, you are in a very awkward and dangerous position. You are like a prisoner who has been condemned to die, and is only awaiting execution. "Condemned already," is the way the Bible speaks of your condition; and so long as you are under the law, it can describe you in no better terms. Do not mistake me. Do not think I am speaking against the law. It may seem very terrible to your mind-as terrible as the thunders on Mount Sinai, from whence the ten commandments were given, but still, it is holy, just, and good All I wish to say is, that by trying to keep it you will never get to heaven.
When I was a boy, I was neither very fond of my school nor my schoolmasters, and in that respect I think my tastes resembled those of most other boys. Home, and the society one meets with at home, had always much greater attractions for me than the dreary schoolroom and the stern unbending schoolmaster. But before I could start in life, both schools and schoolmasters were necessary; and so it is with the law. Before we can see the need of a new life, the law has a very important lesson to teach us, and that is, our own sinfulness. "By the law is the knowledge of sin," and the apostle Paul, when writing to Christians, said, "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ." But the moment we have made our start in life—the new life of course I mean, in other words, the moment we have trusted in Christ (for he that believeth on the Son hath life), then there is no further need of a schoolmaster. "After that faith is come," says the apostle, "we are no longer under a schoolmaster." The grace of God, which brings salvation, delivers me from the bondage of the law; the law being like a heavy chain, which falls off the soul directly grace appears.
I suppose you have never been to Arabia, and gazed upon Mount Sinai. Strictly speaking, the Mount does not consist merely of one elevation, but is an enormous pile of mountains extending for nearly forty miles, its jagged peaks almost lost among the clouds. Had you been there at the time of which I write, you would have seen a strange sight, a sight such as your eyes had never seen before, and which would have frightened you not a little. You would have seen the heavens grow dark, and great black clouds roll, muttering, above your head; and then your ears would have been almost deafened with the loud thunder-claps, and your eyes would have been almost blinded by the lurid flashes of fire which lighted up the Mount. And presently you would have seen one dark dense cloud settling upon the Mount, and have heard a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, issuing from the cloud; and while you yet gazed, you would have seen great volumes of smoke proceeding from the mountain, "as the smoke of a furnace," while the mountain itself would have rocked before your eyes! And why, you ask, were these dreadful convulsions? Why the smoke which seemed to issue from the mountain? It was because the Lord was descending upon it, and was about to give the law to His servant Moses.
And now, come with me, and I will show you another picture-a brighter and happier one than this. It is night, and we are in Judea, with the stars of heaven shining above our heads. In yonder field some shepherds are lying, keeping watch over their sheep. Suddenly, a dazzling light envelopes them, and in the midst of the light they see an angel's shining form. It is the angel of, the Lord! At first they are sore afraid; but when the angel begins to speak to them their fears vanish. He tells them that he comes with good and joyful news-news, not for them only, but for "all people;" and the news is this. A Savior has just been born into the world-a Savior for lost sinners; and the shepherds are directed to Bethlehem where the Savior is lying-a little babe in a manger. And while the angel is yet speaking, he is joined by numbers more-a multitude of the heavenly host; and with one voice they break forth into this song, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward man." There is no law here, is there? No, you say, it is all grace.
Now, if you put these two pictures together, you will be able to understand a little the difference between law and grace. "The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." The law, which shows man the wickedness and ruin of his own heart, was given amid fire, and thunders, and earthquakes. Grace and truth, which show what the heart of God is, were ushered in by angels' songs from the midst of shining glory. The law came with a curse, demanding from man what was due to God; grace and truth carne with a blessing, giving to man what man had never deserved. The former said, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." The latter said, "By grace ye are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast." The gift of God. Dear reader, as your eyes are upon these lines, can you say from your heart, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift"? (2 Cor. 9:1515Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. (2 Corinthians 9:15).)
"Free from the law, oh, happy condition!
Jesus hath bled, and there is remission!
Cursed by the law, and bruised by the fall,
Christ hath redeemed us, once and for all.
“Now are we free, there's no condemnation,
Jesus provides a perfect salvation;
'Come unto me,' oh, hear His sweet call,
Come, for He saves us, once and for all.”
Once for all, O sinner receive it;
Once for all, O brother believe it:
Trust in the Lord, the burden will fall,
Christ hath redeemed us, once and for all.