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THE BONDAGE OF SIN
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Many, truly, are the shoes of the sinful soul, by which it is bound and cramped. For each man is cramped by the cords of his own sins.”—Ibid. pp. 168-169.
"Sail past the song; it works death. Exert your will only, and you have overcome ruin; bound to the wood of the cross, thou shalt be freed from destruction : the word of God will be thy pilot, and the Holy Spirit will bring thee to anchor in the haven of heaven."(Clement) A.N.C.L. vol. iv. p. 106.
“Man, that had been free by reason of simplicity, was found fettered to sins. The Lord then wished to release him from his bonds, and clothing Himself with flesh divine mysteryl-vanquished the serpent, and enslaved the tyrant death; and, most marvellous of all, man that had been deceived by pleasure, and bound fast to corruption, had his hands unloosed, and was set free. O mystic wonder! The Lord was laid low, and man rose up; and he that fell from Paradise receives as the reward of obedience something greater (than Paradise)-Damely, heaven itself."-Ibid. p. 100.
"Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."-Romans viii. 21.
"But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"-Romans vii. 23-24.
"... he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bound."-Luke iv. 18.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. . . Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever : but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."John viii. 32-36.
The above abundantly show that the soul's present condition of embodiment is a very unfortunate and undesirable one. It is held in the bondage of sin whereby the Christ element has died within it. We shall study the nature of sin and matter in the next chapter a little
