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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 all- 
but infinite importance attached by Him to its accomplish- 
ment. 
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 
