Spirit" and "worship God in the Spirit." "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the fruit of the Spirit ;" and the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is-there is liberty." Christians rejoice "in hope;" and there is a blessedness reserved for them in heaven called "the glorious liberty of the sons of God." But this is future; and the Apostle says, where the Spirit of the Lord is not there shall be-but there is, liberty. What liberty? A freedom from sin. A freedom in duty. A FREEDOM FROM SIN. There is something in the very sound of slavery that offends the ear and revolts the heart. Hence when our Lord spoke of making them free, the Jews answered, "We were never in bondage to any man; and how sayest thou then ye shall be made free?" Yet their whole history showed that they had been in vassalage to all the nearer, and to many of the remoter powers; and were even then a province of the Roman empire, paying tribute unto Cæsar. And thus men are unwilling to own that they are naturally enslaved. There is nothing they so glory in as their freedom. They despise or pity the godly as captives under the most melancholy and mortifying restraints; and therefore say, "Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us""With our lips will we prevail, our tongues are our own, who is Lord over us?". But while they use great swelling words of vanity, they themselves also are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage." He that committeth sin is the servant of sin; and of all wretches in the world he serves the worst tyrant, and is employed in the vilest drudgery. Sometimes, like a madman, he dances and sings in his chains. But this is not always the case. The hypocrite may boast of pleasure which he never feels: but there is no peace unto the wicked. The way of transgressors is hard, as well as the end of these things death. Many effects, the natural produce of his iniquity, often make him groan inwardly. Stung with remorse and shame, he sometimes says, I will be such a slave no more-I will be free. And he resolves, but it is in his own strength. He is therefore overcome, and bound faster than before: and frequently the result of these short-lived reformations, put off as long as possible, resorted to with reluctance, and hated in the performance, is, that the latter end is worse than the beginning. At best, he only exchanges one sin for another; and while he gives up grosser transgressions, he comes under the power of more "spiritual wickedness," pride, self-righteousness, and unbelief. But if the Son makes him free, he is free indeed-For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Thus the Apostle says to the Romans; "Ye were the servants of sin, but have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which was delivered you." And "now being made free from sin, ye became servants unto God." "For he that is dead is freed from sin." He does not mean, freed from the very being of itThis would contradict the language of the Scripture at large, and make those sad whom God has commanded us to make merry. For what is the painful experience of every believer? He finds a law, that when he would do good evil is present with him: he feels the sin that dwelleth in him: he groans, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" But he is freed from the rule of it. It reigns in others, in their mortal bodies; and they obey it in the lusts thereof: but from this Christians are delivered, and against the return of it they are secured: "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace." They are also freed from the love of it. Persons may avoid that which is evil, and not abhor it. While inclination urges, authority may restrain, or the fear of consequences may deter. Many wish they could indulge themselves freely and safely in their crimínal passions and pursuits; and therefore hate the law that forbids and threatens them. But Christians are not held back from sin against their wills; they are mortified to it. They are dead to sin. They have seen the evil of it in the cross. Is it possible that a mother could ever love the murderer of her child? But there is no love like that which the saved sinner bears to the Saviour. Can I ever be reconciled to that which made him bleed and die? Can I ever cherish that which grieves and dishonours him who loved me and gave himself for me? "Furnish me, Lord, with heavenly arms, From grace's magazine; And I'll proclaim eternal war MAY 25.-"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."-2 Cor. iii. 17. A FREEDOM IN DUTY. There are some who dislike the word duty, though it is a word by no means unevangelical; for it entirely excludes the idea of merit; as that which is due cannot be meritorious. And are persons, in proportion as they are favoured, without obligations? Do not benefits gender claims to service? "Know ye not," says the Apostle, "that ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price; wherefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." David acknowledges this; "O Lord, truly I am thy servant: thou hast loosed my bonds:" this is, thou hast loosened me to bind me-loosened me from disease and destruction, to bind me to love and serve my deliverer and benefactor. Those who dislike the word duty, it is to be feared, dislike the thing itself; and resemble Ephraim, who loved to tread out the corn, yet not to break the clods. But the spiritual" can say, "his commandments are not grievous." They consider religious duties as privileges, and feel them such when the Lord is with them; for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." To this David refers when he says, "Then shall I run in the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart." The heart is enlarged for obedience when it is exempted from the influence of carnal considerations. When Paul received his trying commission, immediately, says he, I conferred not with flesh and blood. Flesh and blood are sad counsellors in the work of God; and it is easy to imagine what advice they would have given him. Some persons are not at liberty to pursue the way that they should choose. They feel restraints arising from their reputation, or connexions, or worldly advantage. They could easily decide whether the thing was true or VOL. I. 24 right in itself; and this should be the only question; but before they act, they must know what people will think and say of them. Whe ther they shall not be charged with hypocrisy? or enthusiasm ? or provoke an enemy? or lose a friend? or suffer in trade? Thus they are checked by the fear of man, which bringeth a snare. What snare? The danger of drawing back, or turning aside, instead of going forward and abounding in the work of the Lord; the danger of concealing or denying their principles, and conforming to the place and company they are in, instead of confessing the Saviour before men, and declaring themselves on the Lord's side. Now the grace of God delivers us from these preventions: it sets us free to follow the calls of duty; it induces us only to ask, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" And what a blessed liberty does a man then feel! Thus the bird that rises high and flies along is free from obstruction; and can move straight and quick: while the bird that keeps near the ground must make many a zigzag in his course, to avoid trees, and houses, and towers, and hills. A timid animal starts or creeps aside continually; but "the lion" keeps on in his march, "and turneth not away for any." And "the path of life is above to the wise." And "the righteous is bold as a lion." Conviction is a great source of courage, but affection is a greater. There is no fear in love. Perfect love casteth out fear. Love is strong as death many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. What then will be the effect of the love of God shed abroad in the heart? "We cannot," said Peter and John, "but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Bunyan very wisely makes Mr. Greatheart the conductor of the pilgrims. How would they have been let and injured without him! But where he was, there was liberty. The Christian is also enlarged for obedience by deliverance from formality. We may well talk of the dulness and deadness of formality. The effect of it in duty is to make our souls like Pharaoh's chariots with the wheels off: we drag on heavily. But holy fervour makes us "like the chariots of Amminadab." Sails are useful, but what are they if there be no breeze? Nothing contracts and obstructs like the want of spirituality in religion. We sometimes complain of darkness; and darkness confines; but the rising sun releases the prisoners of night, and they go forth to their work and to their labour till the evening. We feel coldness; and coldness confines. The frost binds up the stream; but the melting causes it to flow.' The winter holds back the powers of nature, and keeps barren the fields and the garden; but the warmth of spring sets free the principles of vegetation, and all is life and fertility. Such a difference is there in our devotional exercises, whether retired or public; between our frames, when we are left to ourselves, and when the Spirit helps our infirmities: and the preparation of the heart, and the answer of the tongue are from the Lord. We may add, that nothing more prepares for and aids us in the work of obedience, than a discharge from the dread of condemnation. "The blood of Christ purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God." By dead works the Apostle means sins, which produce spiritual and deserve eternal death. The purging of the conscience from these does not here refer to sanctification, but to the effect of justification, in freeing us from a sense of guilt, and giving us peace and joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement. And this grace wherein we stand is not only the most delightful privilege, but according to the Apostle it is necessary to our serving God. For how can we pursue our work to advantage while we are pressed down with a burden too heavy for us to bear? How must we be labouring in the fire, and wearying ourselves for very vanity, while we are thinking of atoning for our lives, or going about to establish our own righteousness? Believers have nothing to do here-Their sins are expiated; the righteousness in which they appear before God is provided. They therefore cease from their legal and tormenting drudgery, and enter into rest, and are made free indeed-and free to attend entirely to their grateful and pleasant work of pleasing and serving God in the Spirit of his Son-There is nothing servile in their obedience, and therefore it is not partial and constrained; but full, and of a ready mind-They are upholden by his "free Spirit." They are sons that serve him: for they have not received the spirit of bondage to fear, but the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father. Not that they indulge in a careless, presumptuous manner in dealing with God; but they feel their relation to him, and knowing that God is not only pacified towards them, but that they are accepted in the Beloved, and are now not only reconciled but infinitely dear to him, they have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Jesus; and can draw near in full assurance of faith. They feel their unworthiness, but they know they are welcome-welcome to approach his gates-welcome to enter his house-welcome to sit down at his table-welcome to hang upon his arm-welcome to lean on his bosom-welco.ne at all times and in all circumstances to spread their wants and cares before him with a certainty of relief-For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! While we believe the importance of the possession, and know! that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his; let us rejoice that our heavenly Father will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him; and that he giveth more grace. Let us, therefore, be enlarged in our desires; and not only have the Spirit, but be filled with the Spirit. MAY 26.-"Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God.”Heb. xii. 15. WE are here admonished not to "fail of the grace of God." There is a difference between failing of the grace of God, and failing from it. We are persuaded the Scripture gives no real countenance to the doctrine of falling from grace. The certainty of the end includes the necessity of the means; and therefore we can, with consistency, make use of every warning and motive against declension and apostacy, while yet we believe that the righteous shall hold on his way, and are confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. When the angel had announced the safety of all on board, and the apostle believed God that it should be as it had been told him; yet he made no scruple to say to the Centurion and the soldiers, when the mariners were meanly leaving the vessel, "Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved." Dr. Owen, no mean critic, contends that the word here rendered to fail, signifies always to want, to come short; and never, to fall from actual possession. We say, the trees this year will fail of a crop: we say to a racer, see that you fail not of the prize, and to a warrior, see that you fail not of the victory: and in all these instances we intend not the loss of a thing when obtained, but the not obtaining it. The meaning therefore is, take heed that you miss not the grace of God; or, as it is expressed in an earlier part of the Epistle, "Therefore fear, lest, a promise being left you of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." The caution implies importance, acquirableness, and danger. It implies importance-It is as much as to say, your supreme concern should be to secure the grace of God-This is the principal thing "Sufficient in itself alone, And needful were the world our own." Even the devil is good authority here; he knows the worth of what we neglect and despise; and all his aims and devices are to keep us from seeking after it. The grace of God is-The only source of relief under conviction of sin-The only principle of true obedience-The only safeguard of prosperity-The only support under trouble-The only deliverance from death-The only meetness for heaven-The evidence, the earnests, the foretastes, the beginning of eternal life. It implies acquirableness. The admonition would be futile unless the grace of God were within our reach. It is impossible to read the Scripture, and not perceive that the inestimable blessing is not only revealed to our view, but proposed to our hope, and pressed upon our acceptation. We are commanded to be "renewed in the spirit of our minds;" and to be "filled with the Spirit:" but the command, or it would be absurd, involves the possibility of the thing, Grace is laid up in the Mediator for this very purpose. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell for our use. "H received gifts for men, and even for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." We have also the promise; "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find." The invitation also is universal: "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." We can appeal to actual instances. How many in heaven, how many also on earth, who by nature were all children of wrath, even as others, and in whom was no good thing, are now the partakers of the grace of God in truth. We are encompassed with a great cloud of witnesses; and each of them testifies that he is good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon him. But it implies danger. Unless it was possible, and very possible, that we should come short of it, the Apostle would not have expressed himself with such peculiar earnestness- -"Looking"-" diligently;" nor have extended the caution to all, whatever advanta ges they have in their favour-" Lest any man fail of the grace of God." You may fail of the grace of God-Though you were born |