"Now, therefore," continues the apostle, "why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" This was strong, earnest language. God did not want "to put a yoke upon the neck" of those whose hearts had been set free by the gospel of peace. He would rather exhort them to stand fast in the liberty of Christ, and not be "entangled again with the yoke of bondage." He would not send those whom He had received to His bosom of love to be terrified by the "blackness and darkness and tempest" of "the mount that might be touched." How could we ever admit the thought that those whom God had received in grace He would rule by law? Impossible. "We believe," says Peter, "that through the GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST we shall be saved, even as they." Both the Jews, who had received the law, and the Gentiles, who never had, were now to be "_saved_ through _grace_." And not only were they to be "saved" by grace, but they were to "stand" in grace (Rom. v. 2.) and to "grow in grace" (2 Pet. iii. 18.). To teach any thing else was to "tempt God." Those Pharisees were subverting the very foundations of the Christian faith; and so are all those who seek to put believers under the law. There is no evil or error more abominable in the sight of the Lord than legalism. Hearken to the strong language--the accents of righteous indignation--which fell from the Holy Ghost in reference to those teachers of the law,--"I would they were even cut off which trouble you." (Gal. v. 12.)
And, let me ask, are the thoughts of the Holy Ghost changed in reference to this question? Has it ceased to be a tempting of God to place the yoke of legality upon a sinner's neck? Is it now in accordance with His gracious will that the law should be read out in the ears of sinners? Let my reader reply to these inquiries in the light of the fifteenth of Acts and the epistle to the Galatians. These scriptures, were there no other, are amply sufficient to prove that God never intended that the "Gentiles should hear the word" of the law. Had He so intended, He would assuredly have "made choice" of some one to proclaim it in their ears. But no; when He sent forth His "fiery law," He spoke only in _one_ tongue; but when He proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation through the blood of the Lamb, He spoke in the language "_of every nation under heaven_." He spoke in such a way as that "_every man in his own tongue, wherein he was born_," might hear the sweet story of grace. (Acts ii. 1-11.)