tree, lives by virtue derived from the tree, and is enabled from that time to bring forth its appropriate fruits. Our Lord in this view says, " I am the vine ; ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit : for without me, or separate from me, ye can do nothing k." In this again the Gospel differs widely from the law : for, whilst the law issued its commands, it imparted no power to obey them : but the Gospel conveys to the soul of the believer such a measure of strength, as enables it to mortify sin, and to abound in all the fruits of righteousness to the praise and glory of God. This is what St. Paul expressly tells us : " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that is, the Gospel, (which St. James in nearly similar terms calls ' the law of liberty, ') 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 Spirit1."
I may add, that the Gospel gives us a more liberal spirit, in that it does not force us to do what is hateful to us, but disposes us willingly to take upon us the yoke of Christ, and renders " his yoke easy, and his burthen light." The current of a believer's affections is changed by itm ; so that, though he still feels the workings of corruption strong within him, he " delights in the law of God after his inward man"," and " has his conversation in heaven," as the unbeliever has on earth0.
Thus does " the law of faith p" " make men free*1;" and " the liberty which they receive from Christ renders them free indeed1."]
The Apostle, in calling men's attention to the law of liberty, marks,
II. Our duty in relation to it —
If we have been made free by the Gospel, we are bound to regard it,
1 . As our rule of conduct here —
[The substance of all its commands is comprehended in one word, Love. As he that loveth fulfils the law, so he that loveth fulfils the Gospel also ; as St. Paul has said ; " Bear ye one another's burthens, and so fulfil the law of Christ s." But here we must particularly observe, that our obedience to
k John xv. 1, 5. ' Rom. viii. 2 — 4. ™ Col. iii. 2.
n Rom. vii. 22. ° Phil. iii. 19, 20. P Rom. iii. 27.
<i John viii. 32. r John viii. 36. s Gal. vi. 2.