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whole nature under subjection. But these bonds are willing 

 bonds, being only a response to the love of Christ, which 

 surpasseth knowledge ; and the law which we obey, although 

 perfect in its range, extending to all actions, words, disposi- 

 tions, and thoughts is, after all, the perfect law of liberty ; so 

 that, in this condition of perfect subjection, the individual will 

 and purpose are most fully accomplished. 



We cannot look upon this peculiarly fatherly rule of God 

 as anything else than the complete accomplishment of His 

 original purpose with respect to man, because it has been 

 brought about by the atoning and mediatorial work of the God- 

 man, who united in His own person the two natures, as the 

 means and the type of the union between God and men above 

 described. Thus, we are taught what the Creator intended 

 for man, and from the extraordinary means used to accomplish 

 it, when imperilled by a general apostasy, we learn the ail- 

 but infinite importance attached by Him to its accomplish- 

 memt. 



We cannot fail, however, to see, from the complete series of 

 divine acts in the government of men, that in placing the 

 whole race in a condition of responsibility, and in implanting 

 an indelible sense of it in every human soul, there could not 

 be, as the final purpose, a mere assertion of authority. We 

 must look beyond the authority to the consequences of its 

 exercise in those who submit to it. And here at once we see 

 a benevolence which is equal, in its purity and strength, to the 

 fountain whence it sprang and to the channel by which it has 

 flowed to us. The immediate effect of this submission/ is the 

 establishment of a condition of conscious peace with God, 

 which is the means and the authority for a continuous friendly 

 intercourse between the Creator and His creature ; maintained 

 on the part of the creature by grateful thanks for good already 

 bestowed, a worship of submission, hope, love, and trust, and 

 prayer for present and continued acts of fatherly love and 

 blessing. In these exercises there is neither vagueness nor 

 uncertainty, as there is no doubt concerning the assurance of 

 love, the excitement of courage, hope, and faith, and the 

 infusion of new life into the soul from the Lord. In this 

 intercourse, under a divine illumination, the glories of the 

 divine nature, as shown in the records of His providence and 

 grace, are more distinctly and more fully seen, and thus an 

 impulse to higher devotion and more perfect virtue is given. 

 In this manner, beyond the peace and rest from which it 

 starts, . the intercourse with God is the means of increased 

 vigour, righteousness, truth, purity, and goodness. 



There is, however, a joy in this fellowship which arises 



