So the promises in return secure obedience to the law; as St. Paul has said, " Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the lawu." To this truth the whole Scriptures bear witness. " The grace of God which brings salvation, teaches us obedience x;" and the faith that apprehends that salvation, secures it ; for it " works by love," and " purifies the heart," and " overcomes the world." The state into which we are brought by the promises, pre- cludes a possibility of our living in any wilful siny: it would be contrary to the very idea of our being servants of Christ, to render service to that which he so abhors. A spiritual man cannot endure the thought of so grievous an inconsis- tency2. On the contrary, the promises afford him encourage- ment to aspire after universal holiness, because, whilst they set him free from all slavish fears, they assure him of a constant supply of grace and strength proportioned to his necessities a. Hence, apprehending and living upon the pro- mises, he will " cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of Godb." Let this then appear in all our lives : so shall it be seen beyond all contradiction, that, though we build not on our works, we diligently perform them ; and that the doctrine we profess is in truth " a doctrine according to godliness."]
u Rom. iii. 31. x Tit. ii. 11, 12. y Rom. vi. 1 — 7.
z Rom. vi. 15, 16. a 2 Cor. xii. 9. b 2 Cor. vii. 1.