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Now the children have their law, even though it is
written, 'The law is not made for a righteous man'
(I Tim. 1.9). For it must be remembered that there
is one law having to do with the spirit of
servitude, given to fear, and another with the
spirit of liberty, given in tenderness.
The children are not constrained by the first,
yet they could not exist without the second: even as
St. Paul writes, 'Ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father'
(Rom. 8.15). And again to show that that same
righteous man was not under the law, he says: 'To
them that are under the law, I became as under the
law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
to them that are without law, as without law (being
not without law to God, but under the law to
Christ)' (I Cor. 9.20f).
So it is rightly said, not that the righteous do
not have a law, but, 'The law is not made for a
righteous man', that is, it is not imposed on rebels
but freely given to those willingly obedient, by Him
whose goodness established it. Wherefore the Lord
saith meekly: 'Take My yoke upon you', which may be
paraphrased thus: 'I do not force it on you, if you
are reluctant; but if you will you may bear it.
Otherwise it will be weariness, not rest, that you
shall find for your souls.'
Love is a good and pleasant law; it is not only
easy to bear, but it makes the laws of slaves and
hirelings tolerable; not destroying but completing
them; as the Lord saith: 'I am not come to destroy
the law, but to fulfill' (Matt. 5.17). It tempers
the fear of the slave, it regulates the desires of
the hireling, it mitigates the severity of each.
Love is never without fear, but it is godly fear.
Love is never without desire, but it is lawful
desire. So love perfects the law of service by
infusing devotion; it perfects the law of wages by
restraining covetousness. Devotion mixed with fear
does not destroy it, but purges it.
Then the burden of fear which was intolerable
while it was only servile, becomes tolerable; and
the fear itself remains ever pure and filial. For
though we read: 'Perfect love casteth out fear' (I
John 4.18), we understand by that the suffering
which is never absent from servile fear, the cause
being put for the effect, as often elsewhere. So,
too, self-interest is restrained within due bounds
when love supervenes; for then it rejects evil
things altogether, prefers better things to those
merely good, and cares for the good only on account
of the better.
In like manner, by God's grace, it will come
about that man will love his body and all things
pertaining to his body, for the sake of his soul. He
will love his soul for God's sake; and he will love
God for Himself alone. |