ness, to a choice of spiritual things, to a hatred of sin as sin, to supreme love to God and Jesus Christ his Saviour, to resignation and acquiescence in God's holy will and sovereignty in providence and grace-in a word, his being trained to that peculiar kind of life which springs from gratitude and love, and produces the fruits of all good works-this mighty change, by the power of the Holy Ghost, is the grand operation attributed to that divine person in the Christian system.

5. The doctrines of THE SACRAMENTS AND

THE OTHER MEANS OF GRACE AND INSTRUC

TION may, perhaps, not appear, at first, of sufficient importance to accompany the prodigious discoveries of the preceding topics; and yet, so far as man is concerned, they are so essential to a right reception of the peculiar truths of Revelation, as to demand a brief notice. For the immense blessings of redemption are not merely revealed, but a subordinate system of means is connected with them. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are appointed visibly to represent and seal; and convey, in some measure, to those who receive them rightly, the grace of God and his consolations of pardon and peace of conscience; as well as to be a bond of union and a badge of mutual faith amongst Christians. The spiritual repose of the sab

a thousand times-when you begin to compare those statements with your actual state, and to pray in earnest for grace and direction; that is, when you know and feel your real condition, then will this argument rise upon your view. You will feel the need of an authoritative guide to decide upon what is truth; you will feel the exact correspondence between the description of the Bible and your own state; you will perceive the magnitude and appropriateness of the remedy which it reveals. Thus you will stand in the right light to catch the beauty and perfections of Revelation, which, if you view it from a false position, will present only a confused mass of unmeaning forms.

I appeal to those devout Christians who are best capable of judging of what is suited to man in all the extent of his wants.-Tell me if you do not find the Scriptures adapted to all your exigencies. Tell me if this does not give it a direct, practical authority in your judgment. Tell me if there is not a completeness in the Scriptures which meets every varied case under all imaginable circumstances. Tell me whether, as life flows on and your experience widens, this suitableness doth not appear more and more evident. Tell me whether new views of it do not open upon you, as you

arrive at new points of prospect in the journey of life. Tell me whether, in the seasons of affliction, in the times of awakenings of conscience, in the moments of reflection upon your past life, in the conflicts of anxiety and the forebodings as to eternity;-tell me whether, as you ascend the hill, and approach the lofty summit, and command a wider prospect and a clearer and more unclouded horizon, you do not behold more distinctly the adaptation of Christianity to your state and wants, to the real relation of things, to your fears and sorrows, to your most importunate interests. Tell me, in fine, whether the confirmations arising from this source, do not give to the proofs arising from external evidences a softness and richness of persuasion, a power of communicating repose and peace to the mind, a perception of the excellency and fitness of the remedy of the gospel, which endears it to your heart, and raises to a demonstration your assurance that it is indeed the Revelation of God.

46

LECTURE XV.

THE EXCELLENCIES OF THE DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.

1 JOHN IV. 8-10.

God is love; in this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

HAVING Considered the general suitableness of the Christian Revelation to the obvious state and wants of man, we come now to point out the excellency of its doctrines; that is, of the leading truths which are made known to us on the authority of the religion. Some of these relate to the being and perfections of the Deity, and others to a stupendous scheme which he has been pleased to reveal for the redemption of man.

Here, then, the propriety of the limits to

goodness of the Almighty Jehovah. It is the character of our God from which all our doctrines emanate; the guilt of man is what this ineffable purity teaches as an inevitable consequence; the mighty work of redemption agrees with the unspeakable love and benevolence of his moral attributes; the gift of his own Son, and the mission of the Spirit, when revealed, are seen exactly to become the divine compassion and grace.

Man has ever been found to bear a resemblance to the object of his worship. In Christianity, the one true God surpasses in purity all his creatures, is the infinitely excellent object of love and imitation, and draws man upwards to holiness and obedience.

This holiness of God penetrates every part of the religion, sustains it, gives birth to its details, demands and renders necessary its provisions, and constitutes its excellency and glory. It is this which is the spring of all the virtues of Christian worshippers. The more the attributes and works of God-his sovereignty, his law, his providence, his gift of a Saviour, his promise of the Holy Spirit, his declarations of a future judgment—are considered, the better and holier men become. The glory of the Lord is the sum and end of every thing;