Any attempt to obtain his favour by our own woi'ks will make void his whole Gospel, and infallibly disappoint our hopes^: for nothing but perdition awaits such ignorant and ill-advised zeal'.]
3. From all legal views and dispositions — [Those who have truly received Christ into their hearts
are " not his servants, but his friends^;" yea, they are " sons of God^," and, with "a. spirit of adoption, are enabled to call him, Abba, Father y." They go in and out before him with the liberty of endeared children : for " the Lord Jesus has made them free ; and they are free indeed^." Formerly they were, as all men by nature are, in a servile spirit, doing every thing rather by constraint than choice : but now, " having no more the spirit of bondage to fear, they have received the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind^;" and, under the influence of this spirit, they " walk at liberty ''," and account the service of their God to be perfect freedom.]
4. From the power of sin altogether —
[This is the most blessed part of their inheritance. A freedom from " the bondage of corruption is the most glorious part of the liberty of the children of God'=." And that this is possessed by them, the whole Scriptures bear witness. Let the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans be read throughout, and this matter will appear in the clearest light. A believer is dead with Christ ; and therefore cannot possibly live in sin*^. The being under the covenant of grace ensures to him a victory over sin of every kind®. From the moment that he embraced this better covenant, he was made free from sin (from its dominion); and being " become a servant of God, he has his fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life^." The whole of this matter is placed, if possible, in a stronger point of view in the eighth chapter of the same epistle; where the Apostle gives precisely the same view of the whole of reve- lation as we have done, and ascribes to it precisely the same eflicacy: " The laio of the Spirit of life iii Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, (hath done ; that is, he hath) condemned sin in the flesh ; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit*^." Thus does
s Gal. v. 2, 4. t Rom. ix, 31, 32. and x. 2, 3.
" John XV. 15. '^ John i. 12. > Rom. viii. IT).
2 John viii. 30. -i 2 Tim. i. 7. '' Ps. cxix. 45.
« Rom. viii. 21. <• Rom. vi. 1,2. <= Rom. vi. 14.
f Rom. vi. 22. R Rom. viii. 2 — 4.