enter into the kingdom of heaven; that where the Head is, they, the members, may be also,-whereas, all such as remain in an unconverted state, without God and without Christ, are pronounced by the Apostle to be "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world."* And the only reason of this woful situation is, "they are not in Christ, on whom alone the Church is founded, in whom alone the new covenant is established, in whom alone all the mercy we can hope for, is promised, and in whom alone God ever was, and ever will be, gracious and merciful to any man. All, who are conscious of not being new creatures in Christ Jesus, and perceive, on examining the state of their consciences, that they have no foundation for hope in his redemption, would do well to ponder these things with becoming seriousness; and, if they have any religious sentiments about them, to calculate, while yet they may, the woful consequences of "falling into the hands of the living God," which they must inevitably do, who have no interest in Christ, and reject all the proposed terms of salvation,-for it would be rash and presumptuous folly for them who are born in sin, and live and die in it, to expect a milder fate. All the prin ciples of justice, all the attributes of the Deity concur in obviating and extinguishing such delusive ideas, and this consideration alone should effectually persuade us "to put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupted according to the deceitful lusts, and to put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."+

Thrice happy, they who have chosen this better part, who have adopted this one thing needful, who being thus taken out of the old and grafted into the new Adam, are made new creatures in him. In this noble capacity they

enjoy every means and ingredient of happiness. In Christ they are blessed with forgiveness of sins. They are en dowed with all the graces of the Spirit conducive to holiness. In Him they have wisdom to direct them in all their ways, and power to protect them against all their enemies. In Him the Eternal is well pleased with them; becomes their friend, and styles them his children. In Him they inherit the whole extent of the mighty purchase which he has made for them by the pouring out of his soul unto death; all they can want or desire to render them completely and everlastingly happy.

Now, if these things be so, as undoubtedly they are, who would not long and strive to be in Christ? Who would not wish to become a new creature? And, blessed be God, this enviable state is within the reach of us all. For Christ died for all, and therefore is ready to receive all, who come unto him. "Him that cometh unto me," says he, "I will in no wise cast out."* Let us, then, take him at his word,-approach him with confidence,-and close in with the terms of salvation held out in the Gospel. For this end, let us watch and pray, and hear, and read, and meditate upon his holy Word; and act, in all things, as this Word prescribes; so that we may dwell in Christ, and Christ in us, and be made one with him. But in all these our Christian exertions, let us still trust in him "to create in us a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within us," to model us after his own heart,-to keep us firm and steadfast in true faith and fear,-that we may both live and die in Him, our dear and ever blessed Redeemer,— the eternal, the only begotten Son of God,-to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, for ever and ever.

* John, vi. 37.

SERMON VI.

THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST.

Now IF ANY MAN HAVE NOT THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE IS NONE OF HIS.-Rom. viii. 9.

THESE words present us with an occasion to speak of the holy Spirit of God, and of the wonderful works which he has done, and still does in the world. But, alas! who is sufficient for these things? "Who can express the noble acts of the Lord, or show forth all his praise?" Who can describe his infinite glory, or declare his gifts and graces, which are innumerable? This is a subject which would claim the pen or tongue of an angel. We mortals know nothing of him, but what he has been pleased to reveal in his holy Word; and what we read of him there, can no farther affect our minds, than he himself is pleased to open our understandings to this important truth. Our comfort, however is, that our blessed Saviour has assured us, that he, and in him, our heavenly Father "will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." Wherefore, although but dust and ashes, we will presume to speak of him from the words of the text-" Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

And here we may begin by observing, that in the former part of this verse, he is called the Spirit of God, and in the latter, the Spirit of Christ, to teach us, that he is the Spirit of Christ, as Christ is God, and that Christ is truly God, one with the Father; otherwise the same Spirit could

not be the Spirit of Christ and of God also. And as he is thus called in holy Scripture, sometimes the Spirit of God, at others, the Spirit of Christ; so he is frequently styled emphatically the Holy Spirit; or, which is the same thing, the Holy Ghost-especially where the three divine persons are all mentioned together,* and this, no doubt, to show, that although he be the Spirit both of the Father and the Son, yet so as to appear a distinct person from both, as each of the other persons also is; "for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one." Wherefore, whatsoever personal, though, to us, incomprehensible distinctions, there may be between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, either among themselves, or in their operations, we must still believe them all three to be but one and the same God; for, as St. Paul expresses it,† "There are diver sities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God, which worketh all in all." Here, we find, is one Spirit, one Lord Jesus, one God the Father; each and all working all in all, and, therefore, must necessarily be all one, and the same first cause of all; or, in other words, one God. ·

When, therefore, we think of God the Son, in his pecu. liar quality of our Redeemer and Saviour, we must conceive of him as the one living and true God, who made and governs the world, and, of course, praise and magnify him as such, as the holy Virgin did when she said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour." So that when we read, as in the text, or speak of the Spirit of Christ, although we must believe the Spirit to be one person, and Christ another, yet we must still believe them to be of one Divine nature, the one almighty and eternal God, whether acting as Father, Son, or Holy Ghost. As

* Matt. xxviii. 19; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; 1 John v. 7.

† 1 Cor. xii. 4, 5, 6.