Page:The works of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., late fellow of Lincoln-College, Oxford (IA worksofrevjohnwe3wesl).pdf/60

 words, the more convinced he will be that St. Paul by the law mentioned in this chapter, does not mean either the ancient law of Rome, or the ceremonial law of Moses. This will clearly appear to all who attentively consider the tenor of his discourse. He begins the chapter, ''Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law, to them who have been instructed therein from their youth) That the law hath dominion over a man, as long as he liveth''? ver. 1. (What the law of Rome only, or the ceremonial law? No surely; but the moral law) For, to give a plain instance, ''the woman that hath an husband, is bound by the (moral) law to her husband as long as he liveth''. But if her husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband, ver. 2. ''So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, tho' she be married to another man.'' ver. 3. From this particular instance the apostle proceeds to draw that general conclusion. Wherefore, my brethren, by a plain parity of reason, ye also are become dead to the law, the whole Mosaic institution, by the body of Christ offered for you, and bringing you under a new dispensation: that ye should without any blame ''be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, and hath thereby given proof of his authority to make the change, that ye should bring forth fruit unto God''. ver. 4. And this we