As used here, the term manifestly means the whole revealed will of God, considered as a rule of duty, whether made known to us through Moses, or any other prophet of the Lord. Let no one think that to love the precept, and yet reject the penalty as unjust and cruel, is loving the law of God in the sense here intended. I answer, It is more than approbation. The conscience of every moral agent, whether he be holy or sinful, approves the law of God. The wickedest of men are sometimes very conscious of strongly approving the great law of right, that is, the revealed will of God, as the rule of universal duty.
Approbation belongs to the conscience.
It is an intellectual state, and does not imply virtue or true religion. I think I can say myself that I as thoroughly approved the law of God before I was converted as after, so far as my conscience is concerned. This is no doubt a common experience of unconverted men. To love the law of God is more than admiration of it. It includes a real feeling.