Again, I say, this is a great
mystery. But again, I say, this is the law, not Moses' law, but the
Gospel law;--the law of liberty, by which a man becomes truly free,
because he has trampled under foot the passions of his own selfish flesh,
till his immortal spirit can ascend free into the light of God, and into
the love of God, and into the beneficence of God. My dear friends,
remember these words, for they are true. Remember that St Paul always
couples with the resurrection and ascension of our bodies in the next
life the resurrection and ascension of our souls in this life; for
without that, the resurrection of our bodies would be but a resurrection
to fresh sin, and therefore to fresh misery and ruin. Remember his great
words about that moral resurrection and ascension of our wills, our
hearts, our characters, our actions. "God," he says, "who is rich in
mercy, for His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;)
and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus.
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