our manhood, and to offer Himself of His own will for us upon the Cross. Oblatus est quia ipse voluit.[1] It was the law of liberty that moved the ever-blessed Trinity to predestine, to call, to justify, to glorify us by the adoption of sons; to call us to the priesthood, to make us the first-fruits of the first-fruits of the Spirit. As all things are for His glory, so He ordained us for His greater and for His greatest glory. All this was without necessity or constraint. It was done only and altogether of the free will of God; for the will of God is His wisdom and His love in one perfect act, and His wisdom and love are His law. He is the law to Himself. Law and liberty are distinct, but indivisible. And this law of liberty was manifested to the world in the Incarnate Word. In Jesus Christ we see a will that is a law to itself; and all who are like Him in the measure of their likeness become their own law in the use of their liberty. This law leaves behind it all literal commandments, as the learned becomes unconscious of the alphabet, and the skilful singer unconscious of the octave. It is a law more constraining than any commandment. It moves the heart, and urges the conscience, and prompts the will by a continuous pressure. By this law we shall all be
- ↑ Isaias liii. 7.
