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 onc, but are made free in

deed, 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 lawfulfiller. 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!

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 bondage again to fear. And 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 afresh, still they must be answered and silenced with this plea-in the Lord Christ have I righteousness; he is my law-fulfiller, 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.