The preacher's text was in Paul's word to the Galatian Church,—the eighteenth verse of the fifth chapter of that epistle: "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law."
We are accustomed to think and to speak of gravitation as a law of matter, when every quality of matter, in and of itself, is inert, inanimate, and non-intelligent. The assertion that matter is a law, or a lawgiver, is anomalous. Wherever law is, Mind is; and the notion that Mind can be in matter is pantheism,—rank infidelity, which either excludes God from the universe, or includes Him in every mode and form of evil. Pantheism presupposes that God sleeps in the mineral, dreams in the animal, and wakes in wicked men.
The distinction between that which is and is not law, must be made by Mind, and as Mind. Law is either a moral or an immoral force. The law of God is the law of Spirit, a moral and spiritual force of Immortal and Divine Mind. The so-called law of matter is an immoral force, of erring mortal mind, alias the minds of mortals. This so-called force, or law, at work in nature as a power, prohibition, or license, is cruel and merciless. It punishes the innocent, and repays our best deeds with sacrifice and suffering. It is a code whose modes trifle with joy, and lead to immediate or ultimate death. Our blessed Master called it "a murderer from the beginning."
