the reverse is true, that a holy and temperate ha bit of soul "Begins to cast a beam on the outward shape, The unpolluted temple of the mind, And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, Let us conclude our meditation with a prayer, written for us by the good Jeremy Taylor. "O Almighty and gracious God and Father of men and angels, who openest thy hand and fillest all things with plenty, and has provided for thy servants sufficient to satisfy all their needs; teach me to use thy creatures soberly and temperately, that I may not, with undue meat and drink, make the temptations of my enemy to prevail upon me, or my spirit unapt for the performance of my duty, or my affections sensual and unholy. 0 our God, never suffer that the blessings which thou givest us, may either minister to sin or sick ness, but to health and holiness and thanksgiving; that in the strength of thy provisions I may cheerfully and actively and diligently serve thee; that I may worthily feast at thy table here, and be accounted worthy through thy grace to be admitted to thy table hereafter, at the eternal supper of the Lamb, to sing an hallelujah to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen." XI. "AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW." AFTER considering, as we have done, the great purity and extent of those virtues, here declared to be the result of the Spirit's influence upon the Christian character, we should deprive ourselves of much instruction, encouragement and comfort in the Christian life, were we to omit a proper meditation upon the few words with which the text concludes. The apostle has been arguing to show that the new man in Christ Jesus, whose heart is ruled and whose life is ordered by the Holy Ghost, is no longer in bondage to the law, which had so long governed the Israelitish worshipper; but that, as one grown to man's estate, is set free from the autho rity of tutors and schoolmasters, (ch. iv. 1-6,) to guide himself by his own discretion, so the church, being complete in Christ, is admitted to a spiritual freedom, and set above the law. It is free from the law of ceremonies, (which, from its heavy exactions, might well be said to have been "a yoke of bondage,") because the Spirit of Christ now does for the soul, by his inward grace, all that these ceremonies signified; and it is free from the moral law, because Christ, by his substitution, righteousness and death, hath magnified the law for us and made it honourable, redeemed the believer from that penalty, which he must justly have incurred, as a sinner, and by his Spirit so transforms the dispositions and desires of his people, that God's commandments are no longer grievous to them but joyous, a perfect law of liberty, with which they delight to comply. The Christian life is not a slavish and reluctant obedience to God's requirements, because we fear punishment should we transgress; but a willing sur render of our affections and powers to God and his service, and because we love him for his excellent goodness, hope in his mercy, and find pleasure in those things which he has commanded us to do. The laws he has given are to be studied by us, not as affording, through a compliance with them, the only escape from death, but as wise and salutary rules of living prescribed for us by our loving and merciful God. They are constant and friendly guides, to assist us in finding the way in which we wish to walk; and thus, instead of being against us, as restricting our pleasures, demanding hard and painful services, or threatening us with extreme and deserved punishment, they are for us, as helping us on in the pursuit of happiness in this, and eternal life in the world which is to come. The heart which is now full of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, such as we have learned those graces to be, must have been converted from its |