and they had boldness and access to him with confidence. And therefore,

5. They lived in light and walked in love, like his children and heirs, who were to abide in his house for

ever.

❝ sons.

See also what great freedom the Galatians had, chap. iv. 4, &c. "God sent forth his Son, made of a wo66 man, made under the law, to redeem them that were "under the law, that we might receive the adoption of And because ye are sons God hath sent forth "the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, "Father: wherefore thou art no more a servant, but "a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through "Christ." O what treasures of grace and consolation are there in this scripture, tending to subdue thy legal spirit. Consider some of them.

1. All men having broken the law, and being under the curse of it, Christ was made under the law, that the law might reach him as the surety of his people, accordingly,

2. By his obedience to the precepts, and by his suffering the penalties of the law, he redeemed his people,

who were under the law; so that,

3. They are no longer in bondage to it, but being made free, and having received the adoption of sons,

4. They have the spirit of liberty, sent into their hearts to witness to them, that Christ fulfilled the law for them; and,

5. That the Father loves them, as his dear children, and they love him and serve him without fear, crying to him, Abba, Father;

6. Wherefore they are no longer servants in bondage to any one, but are made free indeed, being now the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And,

7. If sons, then heirs of God, and free to inherit whatever he has promised to give his children in earth and heaven.

These and many more arguments are contained in

this one scripture, tending to subdue thy legal spirit, and to bring thee to live more comfortably by faith upon Christ, who, as thy surety has fully kept the law for thee in his life and death. Thou art to consider thyself now, not under the law, but under grace, and therefore absolutely free from the condemning power of the law. This thou must maintain against all the carnal reasonings of thy legal spirit, Christ is my law fulfiller. And thou wilt glorify him for redeeming thee from under the law, and wilt live in sweet peace in thine own conscience, while thou keepest fast hold of this most blessed and eternally precious truth. May all thy reading and prayer, and the use of all means help thee to grow in the knowledge and experience of it.

And

There is a very strong bias and leaning in weak believers to a legal spirit, which ought to make them read such promises as I have been mentioning over and over again, that God may thereby encourage them to maintain the liberty which he hath given them in Christ Jesus, and to stand fast in it against the fresh attacks of the devil and unbelief. They should be always jealous over themselves, and watchful against their enemies because, after they have in a truly gospel and evangelical way through grace got their legal spirit subdued, yet if it be not in the same way kept subdued, it will break out with more power than ever, and will be likely to bring them into bondag again to fear. this may, and I have known it often happen; after they had obtained some great victories over it and finding it not stir for some time, they flattered themselves they should have but little trouble with it any more. Thus they were drawn off their guard, which gave room to their legal spirit to exert itself again with vigour. This surprised the weak believers, put them upon reasoning and doubting, whether all had been right with them before; and so at the very time when they should have taken the shield of faith, and should have been making use of it, they were questioning whether they had any, which left them unarmed in the midst of their

enemies, an easy prey to every temptation; but an invisible power kept them safe, although they were not comfortable in themselves.

For the encouragement of persons in this case, that they may presently recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, they should observe,

1. What the scripture says of a legal spirit, describing it to be one of the members of their corrupt nature, one of the affections of the flesh, which will never be quite dead, while the breath is in their bodies. It is an enemy that will be always fighting against the Holy Spirit: for they are directly contrary the one to the other, and therefore believers must not dream of any such victory as leaves no more fighting, but must expect sharp battles with their legal spirit as long as ever they live. And,

Secondly, the same means, by which they formerly obtained victory must be made use of again. As often as the legal spirit is tempting, Christ's strength must be opposed to it, and his strength must be brought into the soul by faith in his righteousness, as it is written, Isa. xlii. 24. "Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I "righteousness and strength." Righteousness comes first and is established in the conscience, that it may be pleaded and maintained there against all the charges and accusations of the law. And as often as these arise fresh, still they must be answered and silenced with this pleaIn the Lord Christ have I righteousness, he is my lawfulfiller, and I depend upon his promised strength to make me stand fast in that liberty wherewith he hath made me free. And the soul must not only thus quiet and stay itself by faith upon the righteousness and strength of Christ for victory over the present temptation, but must also,

Thirdly, continually do this: because there is in our nature a continual opposition to it. The experience of which is the believer's safety. The abiding sense of his being naturally inclined to lean to legal dependencies, and therefore his want of Christ every moment to jus

tify him by his righteousness, and to keep him by his strength, will be the surest way to prevent his falling into bondage; for this will keep him very jealous over himself, and will shew him the necessity of living out of himself for righteousness and strength, and while he liveth upon Christ for these by faith he shall not be overcome by any enemy.

The glory of the incarnate God, and his infinite sufficiency to save, have not a greater enemy than a legal spirit, and therefore I have enlarged upon this point, that believers might be convinced from the word of God they were saved from the condemnation of the law. They will never live comfortably till they see the law dead and buried, and then willingly give up themselves to be espoused to Christ, who will make them free indeed. And when they have learned of him to enjoy and walk in their christian liberty, then they will be better acquainted with the warfare between nature and grace, the old man and the new, the flesh and the spirit, which warfare is the

Fourth great hinderance, that stops the growth of faith in weak believers. They are unskilful in it, soon tired of it, and often likely to be defeated. They do not enter into the battle strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, nor are they certain if they fall in battle, they shall be saved with an eternal salvation.. These are great discouragements, and until these be re-. moved, they cannot fight the good fight of faith, like good soldiers of Christ Jesus..

The case is thus. There is in every believer an old man, and a new man, nature and grace, flesh and spirit, and these are opposite and contrary the one to the other in their principles and actions; they are always desir ing different things, and pursuing different ends, which, occasions a continual war between them. The flesh. lusteth always against the spirit, and has many and mighty allies on its side, armies of lusts, the faculties of soul and body to bring forth sin, hosts of fallen angels, and all the world that layeth in wickedness. But the

new man renewed in the spirit of his mind has a reconciled God on his side, and therefore he need not fear what any enemy can do unto him, but may bravely face the stoutest of them, even death itself, relying upon that sure word of promise, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Here is the believer's encouragement to fight, his God will never leave him. Here he obtains victory every day, his God never forsakes him; and after he has fought the good fight of faith, his God and Saviour will make him more than conqueror: he will send death to kill sin. And then the believer will never more have temptation from it, nor sorrow about it. But till that happy time come, he must be fighting against his corrupt nature and all its allies. No peace can be made with them, not even a truce. He must expect no kind of favour from them; because they are God's irreconcileable enemies, and therefore as long as he is in the world, he must be fighting against the world, as long as he has a body of flesh, he must oppose it with its affections and lusts, because they war against the soul, and as long as he is in the reach of temptation he must oppose the tempter, stedfast in the faith, never putting off his armour, until the Lord give him a discharge.

The believer's peace within, and victory without, are closely connected with the clear understanding of this case, and although I have stated it, from the word of God, and agreeably to the sense in which the church of God has always interpreted it, yet for its more full confirmation some testimonies must be brought, which speak to the very point; first, to the believer's having in him an old man and a new; secondly, that these two are at war; and thirdly, that they fight together till death.

First, The apostle says to the saints at Ephesus, chap. iv. 22, &c. "put off the old man, put on the "new." Mind, the same persons had both in them an old man, corrupt according to his deceitful lusts, daily to be put off, and a new man to be put on, and renewed