freemen, to which Christ by his Spirit, through the faith of the truth, hath raised them, to be the servants of men. Their judgments must not be guided, when they act like themselves they will not be guided, by the writings of Luther or Calvin, nor based on the decisions of councils, however venerable. They will honour their fellow disciples, especially such of them as have obviously profited by the teaching of their common Master; but they will sit only at his feet, and take the law only from his mouth. There is another aspect of the Christian's freedom, in reference to his fellow men, that deserves to be cursorily noticed before leaving this part of our subject. Human approbation, in some form or other, is a leading object with the great body of mankind, and exercises a powerful influence over their conduct. They seek the praise, they fear the censure, and reproach, and revilings of men; and they fashion their conduct so as to secure the one and avoid the other. With the Christian, Divine approbation is the great object. He seeks the honour which comes down from above; and, in doing this, he is set free from the enslaving influence of the hopes and fears which spring out of an exaggerated estimate of the value of the good opinion of With him, "it is a very small thing to be judged of man's judgment; for he believes that there is one that judgeth him, that is the Lord."1 men. (3.)—Free in reference to the Power and Principles of Evil. Let us now look at the third aspect of the Christian's condition as free. He is free in reference to the powers and principles of evil. By the powers of evil, I understand the devil, that crafty, and powerful, and active spiritual being, of whom we read so often in Scripture, and of whose personal existence I think no unprejudiced reader of the Sacred Volume can entertain a doubt; who introduced moral evil into our world in the beginning of the history of our 11 Cor. iv. 3. race, and has been ceaselessly endeavouring, with but too much success, to uphold and extend its influence; and his subordinate agents, "the evil angels." By the principles of evil, I understand the various depraved propensities of our fallen nature, acted on by the present world, "things seen and temporal.” By these powers and principles all men are naturally enslaved. The evil spirit is "the god of this world;" he "worketh in the hearts of the children of disobedience;" he "leads them captive at his will." They "are of their father the devil, and the lusts of their father;" the things which he desires and delights in, "they will do," they choose to "do." Though to a great degree the unconscious, they are not the less the devoted, servants of the wicked one. When a man becomes a Christian, he is delivered from the power of Satan. "The prey is taken from the mighty, and the captive of the terrible one is delivered." He by no means ceases to be the object of the malignant attempts of his great enemy. "Like a roaring lion, he goes about seeking to devour" him. Like a cunning serpent, he lies in wait to dart into his soul the poison and pollution of sin. But he ceases to be his slave. His new state of favour with God, secures for him the protection of a power, compared with which diabolical power is weakness; and the guidance of a wisdom, compared with which diabolical craft is folly: so that he can "tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon he can trample under foot:" and the good Spirit, by the instrumentality of his word, furnishes him with principles which enable him to baffle his devices, and frustrate all his attempts to regain his lost dominion. Men are by nature not only the slaves of Satan, but they are represented as serving divers lusts and pleasures as the servants of sin: "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant," the slave, "of sin." The Apostle represents them as so: "the servants, the slaves of sin;" as to be "freemen so far as righteousness is concerned," that is, to be entirely unin 1 Cor. iv. 4. 2 Tim. ii. 26. John viii. 44. b See note B. fluenced by holy principle; to be wholly under the power of evil; "sin reigning over their mortal body," while they "obey it by means of the desires of the body,” and “yield their members to it as the instruments of unrighteousness." Such were some, such were all true Christians, previously to their conversion; but God be thanked, that they who were the servants of sin, have, by obeying from the heart the form of doctrine which has been delivered to them, been "made free from sin;" freemen in reference to sin, and have become the servants of righteousness;" no longer "yielding their members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity, but yielding their members servants to righteousness unto holiness."1 By the faith of the truth they are so identified with Christ, as that his death, resurrection, and new life, are theirs. They are brought under their influence, both justifying and sanctifying; "so that as he died unto sin once, and being raised from the dead dieth no more, death having no more dominion over him, but liveth to God, they also reckon themselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord: and the consequence is, they no longer let sin reign in their mortal body, that they should obey it in the lusts thereof; neither do they yield their members to it as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield themselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and their members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin no longer has dominion over them: for they are not under the law, but under grace." "Whoso is born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." The new nature is a holy nature, and, so far as a man possesses this nature, he does not sin. And every man who possesses it at all, possesses it in such a degree as that he habitually hates and avoids sin. Not that any Christian in the present state is completely freed from the influence of depraved principle: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and 1 John viii. 34. Rom. vi. 16-20. 2 Rom. vi. 9-14. 1 John iii. 9. the truth is not in us." While we are in the present state, "there is a law in our members which wars against the law of the mind;" but the Christian "consents to the law that it is good," "delights in the law of God after the inner man ;" and though, “with the flesh,” i. e., so far as he is unrenewed, he serves the law of sin," yet with the spirit, i. e., so far as he is renewed (and this constitutes his prevailing abiding character), "he serves the law of God;" and though often, when he loses sight of the truth, which sanctifies as well as comforts, constrained to sigh out, "wretched man, who will deliver me?" yet, habitually, he rejoices in the begun and advancing emancipation from the principles of evil, "thanking God through Jesus Christ," who hath delivered, who is delivering, and who will deliver; rejoicing that not only is "there no condemnation to him, being in Christ Jesus," but that "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has made him free from the law of sin and of death." § 2.-Christians are the servants of God. Having made these cursory remarks on the condition of Christians as free, free in reference to God, free in reference to man, free in reference to the powers and principles of evil; let us now, for a little, attend to the second view of their condition. While in one point of view they are free, in another, they are " servants, servants of God." These are by no means inconsistent representations. So far from this, it is only by becoming the servants of God that men can cease to be the slaves of Satan and sin. The only true liberty of which a dependent being like man is capable, is the free use of his faculties in the service of God. Independence, strictly speaking, belongs only to God. Man in seeking it, instead of obtaining, lost liberty. Seeking to be supreme lord of himself, refusing to be the servant of the best of beings, he necessarily became a slave of the worst. It is the very condition of our beings, as creatures, that we 11 John i. 8. Rom. vii. 14; viii. 2. serve; are "we have not the liberty to choose whether we shall serve or not, all the liberty we have is to choose our master." Men in their natural state are not God's servants. They are "the children not of obedience," as Christians are; they "the children of disobedience." In one sense, indeed, all men are God's servants. They are all bound to submit to his authority; they are all under his control; they are all employed by him in the execution of his purposes. But Christians are God's servants in a sense peculiar to themselves. They are his peculiar property; they have been formed by him to the character of his servants; they have voluntarily devoted themselves to his service; they habitually employ themselves in his service. They are his servants, for they are his peculiar property. All men are God's property. "All that is in the heaven and in the earth is his." Men may renounce God's authority, but they cannot despoil him of any part of what belongs to him. But Christians are God's property in a peculiar sense. They are his "purchased possession." Justice had doomed. them to death, and they were bought off, "not by such corruptible things as silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." "Jesus gave himself for them, that he might redeem them from all iniquity, and purify them as a peculiar people." As God purchased them to be his servants, so by the influence of his good Spirit he has qualified them for his service. Well may he say to each of them, "Remember thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant;" and of them all as a body, "This people have I formed for myself; that they may show forth my praise." He has "shed his love abroad in their hearts;" he has "put his fear in their hearts." He has "put his law in their inward parts, and written it in their hearts." He has "created them anew in Christ Jesus unto good works," and "transformed them, by the renewing of their minds:" and, under the influence 1 Sanderson. |