not ashamed to be called their God," and felt that they, as Abraham's seed, had the inheritance of God in all those tender and endearing relations in which Abraham knew him so we Christians when we say "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" ought never to doubt, that we are introduced thereby into the same nearness of communion and fellowship in which He, our blessed Forerunner and Example, the Author and the Perfection of our faith, experienced him; are heirs of the same sustaining Spirit, of the same fulness of joy, of the same inexhaustible strength, and, in one word, of all his probations and triumphs during the days of his flesh, and of the glory into which he entered by the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven. God is known by his works, at the -head of which standeth the creation of the heavens and the earth, and of man his moral image and vicegerent on the earth. That this God should make friends afterwards with a shepherd, and should covenant with him, and enter into promises to a thousand generations, did raise that shepherd far above the princes of the earth; that he should choose one of our race to call him Son, and to treat him as a Father, and to give him the victory over the devil, the world, and the flesh, and over sin and death, and to raise him to the right hand of power, and set him in his own throne; raiseth that Son of Man far above angels and principalities and powers, and every name that is named, both in this world and in that which is to come. And that we should enter into the teeming fulness of that love, into the possession of that very favour, of that same experience every way, is our Christian prerogative; in comparison with which an angel's crown, and a seraph's lyre, are never for a moment to be desired.

But, to be more particular, I will explain the two points in which God's dealings with Christ, and through him with us, transcend his dealings with all that went before him: First, in that he was spiritually begotten of sinful flesh; secondly, in that he was raised from the dead to the inheritance of the heavenly throne. In virtue of the former of these he was able to subdue the law of sin and death in his members, and to present himself holiness unto the Lord continually in virtue of the second, he was raised from the dead, and

hath received the dominion of all the creatures of God. Of these two things, holy living in flesh and blood, and glorious power in the risen body, he now hath freedom to bestow the community and full participation. And this he doth by writing upon us the name of his God, which is, permitting us to know God as he only knew him; and in order to possess either the present benefits of regeneration in holy members, or the future benefits of resurrection in power and glory, we must know God by his name "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." If we will not seek to Christ as the channel where this new stream of Divine beneficence flows, we shall not obtain one drop of it. If we will not approach God by that name, "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," not one of Christ's experiences shall we ever possess; and of which the church in this life coming out of regeneration, the new Jerusalem, of the future life coming out of resurrection, are the two principal. Of this I will exhibit one or two proofs taken from the New Testament, where the name is used.

In the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, this style of God is used in connection with the mercy and consolation of which we are made partakers in and through Christ (i. 3), through the coming of the Comforter, whom the Father did send in his name to abide with the church for ever, and to make her partaker of Christ's joy and peace in the midst of all her tribulations undergone for the Gospel's sake. In the Epistle to the Ephesians (i. 3) the same style is used, and the same benediction offered to the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," because of the spiritual blessings in the super-heavenly places which we have received in Christ, that is, in that Christ hath received them. For as, after he had enjoyed the Holy Ghost for a spiritual generator during the days of his flesh, he did promise him after his departure to the church, which promise on the day of Pentecost he fulfilled: even so, now that he enjoyeth the seven Spirits, the communicable completeness of the same holy flesh in his resurrection glory, he promiseth to us that we shall be made partakers of the same, in the day of our manifestation as the sons of God, by the redemption of our bodies from the bondage of death and corruption. In that day of redemption, when all bonds shall be loosed, we shall share with

Christ in the glory of the Spirit of God, as we now share with him in the consolation; then in the power, now in the weakness; then in the honour, now in the dishonour. The Apostle accordingly goes over the twofold mystery of the regeneration and the resurrection, the lesser and the greater mysteries of the Christian faith; the lesser respecting the redemption and forgiveness now possessed in the assurance of the Holy Ghost (v. 7); the greater abounding in the knowledge and anticipation of the future preferment which we shall hold in the dispensation of the ages to come, when all things shall be gathered together and headed up into the Christ, exhibiting the reality of that purpose from all eternity conceived in the mind of the Father, and set up in the person of the Son by the operation of the Holy Ghost. Of this completeness of the Divine idea the Apostle being happily delivered, and how much he esteemed the utterance then given to him, he himself declareth (iii. 3); he doth at the 17th verse resume the name "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ," and calleth him "the Father of the glory," and maketh prayer to him to introduce the church into the full apprehension and enjoyment of the infinite store of grace and mercy, and glory, treasured up for them in their heavenly Head. The same name and character giveth he to God, in the Epistle to the Colossians (i. 3), introducing therewith a discourse concerning the fulness and glory contained in Christ, which hath no parallel in Holy Scripture except that in the Ephesians referred to above and it containeth in like manner the precious things of God hidden in him from before the birth of time, and manifested by his incarnation of the Holy Ghost, and his resurrection in the full strength and power of the same Holy Ghost; all which are derived to us, through the faith of that God and Father of his, who first in him did shew that full fountain of blessedness and glory which is in him for every man who will call upon him by that thrice blessed name "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." And finally, not to multiply quotations, the Apostle Peter, in his First Epistle, openeth with the same doxology, to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," as the Father of mercies, and the author of regeneration unto the blessed hope of the imperishable inheritance, the new Jerusalem in the heavens, the inherit

ance of the saints, which is about to be manifested for their habitation and possession in the last times against the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ; and this he giveth to them as their strong consolation under their manifold trials, and by the assured hope thereof he calleth them to gird up the loins of their minds, and to be sober, and to hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now, I ask all men if these passages do not cast a steady light upon the use of the expression "my God," in connection with the poor, despised, and weak church of Philadelphia, to whom he promiseth these super-celestial blessings of the New Jerusalem, and the temple, and the name of his God;-now indeed above in the heavens, but to descend from thence into the earth; "to come down out of heaven from my God." They shew that Christ received them from his God, in reward of his faithfulness, and truth, and piety, and obedience to him during the days of his flesh, in the midst of enormous sufferings and hideous oppressions of the devil, the world, and the flesh. "He was heard in that he feared" (on account of his piety), and received that glorious redemption from the grave, and exaltation to the headship,-to have and to hold the honour of God's name, and write it on whom he pleaseth, in their hearts and in their foreheads,-to have and to hold the key of David, which openeth the gates of the new Jerusalem, in order to admit therein whom he pleaseth to admit. And whom pleaseth he to admit to those celestial seats and titles? As many as will name the name of God as "the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ," and serve him as Jesus Christ did serve him: they, and none but they, shall enter by the gates into the city. He holdeth it as his own; but his own is God's own, for he is God: he administers it as Christ; but Christ will do nothing against God, for Christ Is God. And therefore he doth signify that only to the sons and servants of his God will he grant these unspeakable blessings, which are reserved in the heavens for them who are kept through faith unto salvation. These things are given to the Philadelphians because they walk nearest and closest after the Lord's pattern; but they are equally free to all, who will make themselves meet for them, by the same holy and heavenly

course which Christ followed, shewing us an example that we should follow his steps. Oh my soul, awake, arise, and climb those happy heights of glory! Though the way to them be through that dark and deadly valley, gird thyself and descend to the very depths of thy Lord's sufferings, filled with the glorious hope set before thee of rising to the very summit of his exaltation. My soul, descend from thy proud and vain-glory of the life that now is. It is naught, and worse than naught, most odious to a holy God, and ever abhorred by the holy Jesus; by thee then in like manner abhorred, crucified, and kept in continual death. O my soul, enter into the holiness of thy God, and hate the life of Adamhood; because in Adam it rose against God, and love the life of Christhood, because in Christ it pleased God. Then will God be pleased in thee, as in Christ he was well pleased. Amen, yea, and amen.

"And I will write upon him my new name." There is such a collection of glories gathered together around the head of this Philadelphian church, that I fear lest I should lose myself in the admiration of their much splendour, and forget the soberness of mind which beseemeth the interpreter of God's holy word. Poetry is the fit vehicle for these sublime ideas, and by such I had thought and do still meditate to set them forth; but latterly my life hath been overladen with trials and labours which break up the musings of the soul, and hinder them from forming themselves into fit language and harmonious numbers. My station at present is as a fighting man, in the heat of battle, who hath time for nothing but the handling of his weapon, and the keeping of his post with stern fortitude until help come to his side. When that day arriveth, I shall sit under my vine and make melody unto the name of the Lord my God, in the midst of the congregation of his saints.

Of Christ's "new name" I think we have the account in the Epistle to the Philippians, ii. 9-11; where, after recounting his wonderful and most gracious condescension from the form of God into the likeness of man, and the ignominy of the cross, it is said, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should