Let us consider a word of warning
against two opposite evils that are working among Christians at the present
time. These are legality on the one hand and levity on the other.

The first of these evils, taking
up the law as a rule of life, is dishonoring to God and utterly subversive of
one’s peace and liberty. It is needful to set forth the free grace of God, the
value of the blood of Christ, the standing of the believer before God in
perfect righteousness and acceptance in Christ. These precious truths, when
applied to the heart in the power of the Holy Spirit, must deliver it from all
legal influences.

But it frequently happens that
persons, when apparently delivered from legality, run into the opposite evil of
levity. This may arise from the fact that the doctrines of grace are only taken
up intellectually, instead of being wrought into the soul by the power of the
Spirit of God. A great amount of evangelical truth may be taken up in a very
light way by persons in whom there has been no deep work of conscience, no real
breaking down of nature, no thorough subjugation of the flesh in the presence
of God. When this is the case there is sure to be levity of spirit in some form
or another. There will be a very wide margin allowed for worldliness of various
kinds—a liberty given to nature wholly incompatible with practical
Christianity. In addition to these things, there will be exhibited a very
deplorable lack of conscience in the practical details of daily life—duties
neglected, work badly done, engagements not faithfully observed, sacred
obligations trifled with, debts contracts, extravagant habits indulged. All
these things we place under the head of levity, and they are, alas! too common
among the very highest professors of what is termed evangelical truth.

Now we deeply deplore this and
would desire to have our own souls, as well as the souls of all our Christian
readers, really exercised before God about it. We fear there is a great deal of
hollow profession among us, a great want of earnestness, truthfulness, and
reality in our ways. We are not sufficiently permeated by the spirit of genuine
Christianity, or governed in all things by the Word of God. Thus the soul gets
into a bad state, conscience does not act, moral sensibilities become blunted,
the claims of truth are not responded to, positive evil is trifled with, and
moral relaxation is allowed. So far from there being the constraining
power of the love of Christ, leading forth in the activities of goodness, there
is not even the restraining power of the fear of God keeping back from
the activities of evil.

We appeal solemnly to the
consciences of our readers as to these things. The present is a deeply solemn
time for Christians. There is a demand for earnest, deep-toned devotedness to
Christ; but this cannot possibly exist where the common claims of practical
righteousness are neglected. We must ever remember that the self-same grace
which effectually delivers the soul from legality is the only safeguard against
all levity. We have done very little for a person, if anything at all, if we
bring him/her out of a legal state into a light, easy-going, careless,
unconscientious condition of heart. And yet we have frequently marked the
history of souls and noticed that when they were delivered out of darkness and
bondage they became far less tender and sensitive. The flesh is ever ready to
turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and therefore it must be subdued.

It is necessary for the power of
the Cross to be applied to all that is of the flesh. We need those deep
spiritual exercises that result from positive entrance into the power of the
sufferings of Christ. We need to meditate more profoundly upon the death of
Christ.

The Cross, beloved reader, is at
once the cure for both legality and levity. Christ "gave Himself for our
sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the
will of God and our Father" (Gal. 1:4). By the Cross the believer is as
completely delivered from this present evil world as he is forgiven his sins.
He is not saved in order that he may enjoy the world, but that he may get done
with it entirely. We know few things more dangerous for the soul than the
combination of evangelical truth with worldliness, ease, and self-indulgence
… the adoption of a certain phraseology of truth where the conscience is not
in the presence of God … a merely intellectual apprehension of standing
without any earnest dealing with the practical state … clearness of
doctrine as to title without any conscientious reference to the moral
condition.

We trust our readers will allow
the word of exhortation. It is not an agreeable task to call attention to
practical evils, to urge the solemn duty of self-judgment, to press upon the
conscience the claims of practical godliness. But there are times when the
true, practical condition of things among Christians weights heavily upon the
heart and rouses the soul to make an urgent appeal to conscience in reference to
matters of walk and conduct; I believe the present to be such a time. (Ed.
note:This was written well over 100 years ago! How much more needed it is
today!) The devil is ever busy and on the alert. The Lord has granted much
light upon His Word for some years past. The gospel has been brought out with
particular clarity and power. Thousands have been delivered from a legal state.
And now the enemy is seeking to hinder the testimony by leading souls into a
light, careless, carnal condition—leading them to neglect the wholesome and
indispensable exercise of self-judgment. It is the deep sense of this that has
suggested a word of warning on "Legality and Levity."

(From Miscellaneous Writings,
Vol. 6, Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune, NJ; used by permission.)