As long as I am under law in any sense or measure, I am under the power of sin. And the most insidious way in which one is under law is for holiness, and not for pardon-although in truth there is not peace, for holiness is sought for in order to it. There is a feeling that God is not pleased with us because we are not good enough, or because we are not so good as we ought to be. That is thorough legality. It is entire forgetfulness of Christ. It is seeking for fruits in us, in order to commend us to God. And it shows itself in the want of rest in the soul because of what we are; that is, the soul is not simply on Christ. Christ may be known as a Savior from wrath and condemnation, and the soul be seeking, now that it is saved, to clothe itself before God with the fruits of the life that He has given. And inasmuch as these are never an adequate covering before Him, there is a feeling of fear and a consciousness of not having that which can commend us to Him; and so the soul gets of Christ entirely, and into bondage, thus looking at the fruits of the Spirit as our covering, and not Christ, and looking for these to cover, and not at Him who has covered' us all of His grace.
The soul has not come to the end of itself: it has not come to know that it is as powerless for good as it was alive for evil, and that Christ is my covering, my robe, now, just as I am, and that all my fruits will never add one ray to His glory as my robe-that I am perfect through His comeliness put upon me, as much as, if in Him, as when displayed in glory. O the heavenly joy and peace there is found in knowing Christ as thus made of God to us righteousness; not merely having forgiveness in Him, but this perfect righteousness, in which I am not only spotless, but comely in the eyes of God! Now in all these legal experiences Christ is not known thus. Hence the experiences.