May 24

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 it—This 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!