The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1899-03-24

are the DOdy ana SplTlL OIL the heVeldLlon
Of God. The soul of our life must live
by both. The spirit of the Law is one
with the grace of the Gospel, the end of
both is love which is the life eternal. st
Paul speaks of this in the preceding
chapter, goal. 3 1926, Before faith
came, we were kept in ward under the
law, shut up unto the faith which should
afterwards be revealed. SO that the law
hath been our tutor to bring us unto
Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. But now that faith is come, we
are no longer under tutor. For ye are
all sons of God, through faith, in Jesus
Christ"
A man is a child until he becomes a
man; but when he has grown to NAH
hood he is no longer a child. The nat
ural man is child and is under the law
until he grows to the spiritual manhood
" hich Is in Christ. The real man of
faith has outgrown the law of Moses and
has begun to live the life of the Spirit of
God. In other words, the man Of the
Spirit fulflls the Law because he has
come into that higher life of love which
includes the life of obedience, as the
greater includes the less. We are all
under the law of righteousness whether
saint, or sinner, but the saint enjoys the
freedom of the law because he loves
God and keeps the commandments
in spirit and In truth; while the sinner
by disobedience is under the bondage ana
curse Of the law, and fears the penalty OF
the law which he knows that he deserves.
St Paul, writing of the divine love, l Cor
1871, speaks of this experience of devel-
opment in the spiritual life: "When
was child, spake as a child, l undef-
stood as q child, | thought as child
but when l became man l put AVA
childish things" The man of faith, hope
and love has grown up into his true sspir
ituaI manhood and is free from the lego
exacting conditions of his childhood.
There were some of the Jewish .Chrn-
tians who insisted that everybody, Gel
tiles and ALL should keep the Law q
Moses, ceremonial law and all, betort
they could be true Christians. To then
Moses was greater and more important
than the Lord Himself, whose servant
Moses was. They put the less before the
greater. They made the foundation Of
the temple to be of more significance thai
the temple itself. The Law to them wa
more sacred than the Gospel which wa,
the perfect fulfiment Of the Law. The
city of Jerusalem, which they knew il
Palestine, the material city, in which wa
the temple, and the official representa-
tives of Moses was more to them than the
real, spiritual, eternal city OF God, tht
Jerusalem above, of which the Jerusalem
which they knew was
ONLY A TYPE AND SHADOW.
They desired to be still under the Law
OF Moses and to subordinate the Gospe
of Christ, and 80 make Christianity &
mere cult or phase of Judaism. st Paul
who was brought up Pharisee and knew
all the ms and outs of the Jewish relig
ion, could not entertain such PROPOSE
ton for one moment.
"Tell me-" he says, rye that desire tC
be under the law, do ye not hear the law
For it is written, that Abraham had two
sons, one by the handmade, and one by
the freewoman. Howbeit, the son by the
handmade is born after the flesh; but thu
son of the free woman Ia born through
promise. Which things contain an allie
CORY; for these women are two coven
ants; one from Mount Sinai, bearing chill.
dren unto bondage, which ia Hagar. Now
this Hagar Is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and
answereth to Jerusalem that now is; fol
she Is in bondage with her children. But
the Jerusalem that is above is free, which
is our mother"
And so he shows them that even true
Interpretation of the law, illustrated by
q simple historical fact with which they
we're all familiar, places the Gospel in the
foreground and makes the life of the spir
1t first and OF chief Importance. It can.
not be that the foundation, essential as il
must be, 10 more important than the per.
fected building for the sake of which IL
was laid. 1t cannot be that the bud and
the blossom are more precious than the
full grown ripening fruit And even Sc
1t cannot be that the life OF the body is OF
greater moment to God than the life OF
the soul. 1t cannot be that the perfec-
ton of the flesh Ii more than she culture
OF the Spirit. 1t cannot be that even the
moral life of this world is of greater in
terest to God than the eternal life Of the
kingdom OF heaven. That which Is born
OF the flesh la flesh. Hagar being bond