Jam. i. 25. Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and coniinueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
A PROFESSION of religion without the practice of it will avail us little. Obvious as this truth is, it
needs to be frequently insisted on. Even in the Apostle's days there were many who " professed to know God, while in works they denied him." St. James wrote his epistle with a more immediate view to such persons. He tells them plainly that they only " de- ceive their own selves11:" but affirms with equal confidence that the practical Christian shall be blessed.
We shall consider,
I. The Apostle's description of the Gospel —
The Gospel is generally thought to be a mere sys- tem of restraints —
But it is, in truth, a " law of liberty" —
[It finds us under a worse than Egyptian bondage ; and proclaims liberty from our oppressive yokeb. It offers pardon to those who are under the condemnation of the laiv ; and freedom from sin to those over whom it has had dominion. It rescues us from the captivity in which Satan has held us ; it breaks the fetters whereby the world has retained its ascendency over us ; and opens the way for the unrestrained observance of holy duties. It is to captive sinners, what the jubilee-trumpet was to the enslaved Jewsc; and effects for the imprisoned soul what the angel wrought for Peter d. This liberty however it proclaims with the authority of a " law." It does not merely offer what we may alter or reject : it is properly called by the Apostle " the law of faith." It pre- scribes the only possible method of obtaining salvation ; it declares that all attempts to find out another will be vaine; and it enjoins us to embrace this at the peril of our souls f.]
It is justly called a "perfect" law of liberty —
[Nothing can be added to it to render it more effectual : neither ceremonial nor moral duties can at all improve Christ's finished workg. It will be utterly made void also, if any thing be taken from it. The blood of Christ, not any work of ours, must be regarded as the price of our redemption1'; and the liberty itself must be received as the gift of God through faith1. The Gospel is perfect also with respect to its effects upon the conscience. The Mosaic sacrifices were little more than remembrances of sinsk; but in the Gospel we have a
a ver. 22. b Isai. lxi. 1. c Lev. xxv. 9, 10.
d Acts xii. 7 — 10. e 1 Cor. iii. 11. f 1 John hi. 23.
« Gal. v. 2, 4. h 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. * Eph. ii, 8.
k Heb. x. 3.