A Piece of Bark, Not the Tree

“^ man that keeps the law only outwardly ca7i no more be said to keep the law, thajt he that hath undertake7i to carry a tree, and only takes tip a little piece of the bark.” The essence of the law lies in the things of the heart: external acts are as the outward bark. The Pharisees were great bark-mongers, but the solid timber was too heavy for their shoulders. David was the man to carry the whole of the blessed load. He said, “I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.”

He who does not love the whole law is not holy. He who does not regard the law in his heart has no heart to the law. As he is not a Jew who is only one outwardly, so he is not a doer of the law who only attends to its externals. He would not have sacrificed a bullock unto the Lord, who should only have brought its horns and hoofs; and he has not yielded himself as a servant unto the Most High, who only brings his lips and hands.

O Lord, I would love all thy law, but especially those precepts of it which concern my inward parts. ‘I beseech thee, therefore, to write thy law upon my heart, and engrave it upon my mind. Let its spiritual commands have full command of my spirit.