The Spirit's Abolition of the Law

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

. — 2 COR. iii. 17 Pa say sometimes of a task we are learning, ‘i ‘I have not yet got into the spirit of it.” We mean that it has not yet become easy to us. Nothing becomes easy to us until we have got into the spirit of it. The spirit of any study is its harmony with my spirit; it is the change of law into love. When I am a pupil at school I begin by learning rules, but when I have mastered the science I forget the rules. I forget them in the very act of observing them — keep them most perfectly when I am unconscious of their presence. I no longer think of my scales and exercises, I no longer think of my stops and intervals; these belonged to the days of law, but I am now under grace. The master-spirit of the musician has set me free — not free from the law, but free wm it. I travel over the old scales and exercises, over the old stops and intervals, unconscious that they are still on the wayside. I pass unnoticed the places of my former pain; I go through undisturbed the scenes of my youth’s perplexity, for the spirit of music has made me free, and its law is most destroyed when it is most fulfilled.

So, Thou divine Spirit, is it with Thee. Before I have entered into Thee it is a hard thing to be divine; it is all scales and exercises, the law of my members wars against the law of Thy mind. Until Thou comest I am not at home in the holy places; the presence of my God is not fulness of joy. I am too anxious about the counting of my stops and intervals; I am too eager about the measuring of my moral distances; I am too disturbed about myself and my remoteness from the goal. But when Thou comest I forget everything but Thee. I forget even my own humility, my own rags, my own nothingness; in the presence of Thy love I am burned up with unquenchable fire. Thy love is the music of my religion; it puts me in the spirit of it. I no longer need to learn the separate notes of duty; I can play by the ear; I can improvise. I no longer count the number of times I shall forgive; my every act of forgiveness is for eternity. I no longer ask, “Am I commanded to follow Thee?” I say, “Lord, suffer me to go.” I no longer cry, “J must come to Thee or I shall go to hell,” but I] say, “It is hell without Thee; bid me that I come.” Thou hast become my vital air; I breathe in Thee. Thy will is my joy; Thy work is my play; Thy law is my life; Thy service is my glory; Thy cross is my power; Thy command is my strength; the constraint of Thy love is my spirit’s liberty.