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from all sin," the root as well as branch. Neither is it limited in regard to time; nor does it require the agency of death to give it full efficiency; but, the same at every period, it is the one only fountain for sin and uncleanness. Many of the objections against the doctrine of entire sanctification would give way, were the universal and perpetual efficacy of the blood of Christ but properly understood; that its virtue remains the same, and is full and perfect, at every period. The all-sufficiency of God was the source of that Abrahamic perfection in which the father of the faithful walked; and, cleansed by the all-efficacious blood of Christ, it is also the Christian's privilege now to serve God without fear," in that perfect love that casteth out fear, "in holiness and righteousness before him all our days." Not a few who believe that entire sanctification is a state now to be attained, are yet in great uncertainty as to the method in which it is to be sought. Though they renounce the doctrine of salvation by works, yet there still lingers in their mind some shadowy, indistinct, indefinite idea that the attainment of this state of holiness depends on something in themselves, and that the mount must be scaled by their own effort. Two points are thus, in a great measure, left out of sight; namely, that entire sanctification is effected solely by the agency of the Holy Ghost, through the blood of Jesus Christ; and, that the power and grace which hallow the soul are apprehended by faith only. Then as it is of faith, so works are made void. No previous qualification, beyond a sense of our necessity, is required; and this is created in us by the Spirit of God; but at whatever moment our perfected faith, resting on the atoning blood, takes hold of the great promise, connected with the power of God, we awake up after his likeness. The act of believing is momentary; it may at any time take place; but the moment of our thus believing is that of our entire sanctification.

3. The communion and fellowship thus established is maintained and perpetuated by the blood of Christ, which "cleanseth from all sin.” The holiest actions of the greatest saints, when measured by the perfect law, are found deficient. What, then, is to save the Christian from condemnation, and consequent separation from God? I answer, "The blood of Jesus Christ, that cleanseth from all sin." "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The merit of Christ's sacrifice, like the incense from the golden censer, (Rev. viii.,) comes up before God, and gives acceptance to their works; access to him is kept open, and communion and fellowship hereby maintained. Nay, such is the frailty and weakness of our nature, that too frequently, under the pressure of temptation, we do the things we ought not to do, and leave undone those that we ought to do; so that, by our own act, guilt is contracted, and fellowship with God marred and interrupted. The blood of Christ still remains our only remedy. "For if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father; and he is the

propitiation for our sins;" that is, for the falls of those in fellowship with him. “And not for ours only," says St. John, "but for the sins of the whole world,"-the world, the unconverted part of mankind, distinguished from the fellowship of saints. Let no one, however, abuse this view of the subject, so as to maintain the doctrine of the necessary continuance of the body of sin in the believer, and to prevent him from seeking now entire holiness, or to quiet his conscience under his occasional lapses in duty. On the contrary, "this is the will of God, even your sanctification,"-not merely partial, but entire. To make you entirely holy, to save you from all sin, is the end for which Christ shed his blood; and should you after any, even the least, conscious act of omission of duty, or commission of sin, neglect, by deep repentance, and a renewed act of faith, immediately to seek to be restored to the joy of your salvation, you run the risk of grieving God, and provoking him to take his Holy Spirit from you. Let the transgressor hasten again to the blood of Jesus Christ. Such, then, is the universal and perpetual efficacy of this precious blood. It meets every condition, that of the deepest depravity, and the most aggravated guilt,-cleansing even "all sin." Wherever sin exists, it is also found: it is a fountain which always stands open, and from which not one of all Adam's contaminated posterity is prohibited: the ransom was given for all men. Having established, by its efficacy in the believer, communion and fellowship with God, it maintains the same, flowing downward through every period of life, always accessible, and ever efficacious.

1. We learn, from this subject, the character of a Christian. He is holy. He walks in the light as God is in the light, having fellowship with God, and being cleansed, by the blood of Jesus Christ, from all sin. Much stress has often been unduly laid on the ordinance of baptism; it having been taught that all who have been baptized are regenerate, and as such the children of God; that the mere administration of the sacrament itself conveys grace. We admit that baptism is an ordinance of Christ, the gate of admission into the Christian church, and a recognition of membership; that parents are authorized to bring their children to this ordinance by the warrant of Christ, who has said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God;" that a great benefit is conferred hereby but nowhere does holy Scripture teach the inseparable connexion between sprinkling the body with water, and cleansing the soul from sin; and facts prove that many who have been baptized with water grow up in sin. Baptism is described as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace;" but it is a fearful mistake to imagine that the thing signified must necessarily accompany the sign.

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Mere speculative knowledge is sometimes mistaken for spiritual illumination; and an ability to define the doctrines and duties of

Christianity, for experimental and practical religion. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness to him, because they are spiritually discerned :" yet we cannot help feeling wonder that they who manifest so much discrimination on all subjects connected with the present life, should so fearfully mistake on subjects which involve their eternal interests; that a definition of repentance floating in the mind should be mistaken for godly sorrow in the heart; a description of faith, for a humble reliance on Christ; and a definition of love, for a heartfelt obedience to the first and great commandment. Speculative notions, floating in the mind, produce no sanctifying change. The understanding has light, but the heart remains in darkness. Knowledge, without sanctification, dips transgression in a deeper dye. "The servant who knew his master's will, and did it not, was beaten with many stripes."

A form of religion, with attention to outward ceremonies, has frequently lulled the conscience to sleep, and deluded the unwary; and yet nothing is more severely reprehended or more strongly condemned in holy Scripture. The whole strain of our Lord's discourses aimed at the heart; the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is constantly exposed, and the nature of divine worship and service explained: "God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Through the blood of Jesus Christ, the believer is brought nigh to God; whilst the uncreated light, flowing from the Father of lights, fills his heart, transforms him, and makes him light in the Lord, by a life of holy obedience he walks in the light, and exhibits the divine nature in all holiness.

2. The church of Jesus Christ is a holy fellowship. "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." All the members are holy, having communion with God. The character of the true church has been greatly mistaken and misrepresented. Different sects and denominations have set up most arrogant and exclusive claims. One set of professors pretend to antiquity, and that the kingdom of Christ upon earth, with its ministry, sacraments, and privileges, belong only to them; that their head is the visible representative of Christ on earth; and that all other churches, who differ from them, are cut off from the tree of life, and in a state of damnaAnother denomination, scarcely less modest, though differing from the former, in professing reformation of the abuses, yet denying the validity of any other ministry except what is episcopally ordained, claim the exclusive right of teaching and administering the sacraments, as if it were impossible for God to convey his saving grace except through this channel. It has always been the policy of the great adversary of God and man, to lead mankind off from the reality of religion, to put their trust in a shadow. The Jews claimed salvation because they were descended from him with whom God had established his covenant. The Papists hope for salvation through their

connexion with a corrupt and degenerate Church; and did we believe in the dogmas of not a few advocates for the Establishment of our own country, we should conclude that only her sons are of the true church. I give all due weight to an outward form, and well-adapted plans for carrying on a course of scriptural teaching and edification,— to purity of doctrine, the due administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of discipline; but these things are but the outward framing of a church: the church itself consists of a holy fellowship.

Much stress has been laid on purity of doctrine; long and sharp have been the controversies on points admitted as non-essential; but the excellency of all doctrine consists in its influence on Christian holiness. The church universal is scattered over the earth, externally parcelled out in sections distinguished by differences in creed, practices, and ceremonies; but still there is a bond of union pervading and joining the whole; a unity of character, in a conformity to God. "If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another."

3. Unholy men are not of the society of God's people. They may have their names enrolled in church-membership; they may have been duly admitted by the ordinance of baptism; they may hold and maintain pure doctrines, and may not be disorderly in reference to external discipline; but they walk in darkness; their minds are under the influence of ignorance, error, and mistake; their hearts are unrenewed; they have no fellowship with God. There exists a moral disqualification. Light cannot dwell with darkness, nor can Christ have concord with Belial. We could weep over those professors who refuse to yield up themselves to the full influence of God's word and Spirit; who approve in their judgment of the things that are excellent, but who are conscious they do them not. They carry about with them their condemnation in their own minds, and wander far from happiness. It is by persons of this class that the knell of dismay is tolled, of a fallen church and a lifeless people. They draw the picture of their own condition, and apply it to others. Where persons of this character sustain office, their proceedings are dictated by a policy which partakes of their own character, which savours of pride, worldly wisdom, and love of power. O that such would but consider the character of a Christian! that they would but aspire to that character, and walk in the light! Vain is their union with the church on earth, and their professed attempts at usefulness, whilst their hearts are in darkness. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord! shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;" but many who will plead, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful works?" shall hear the awful sentence of rejection: "I never knew you; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity." It is not to build churches, and endow them; to form benevolent Societies, and

support them; to maintain the teachers of Christianity; nay, nor merely to preach the truth; that will give a title to church-membership, or a meetness for heaven. "A new heart and a right spirit" are indispensable requisites; and "without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

4. The resemblance between the church on earth and in heaven. It is a holy fellowship, of which earth is but the lower abode. Both heaven and earth are parts of God's vast dominion; and the one leads directly to the other. In heaven is the fullest resemblance of God in entire holiness: in the believer on earth all the lineaments are drawn, which are matured in eternity. In heaven is the fullest enjoyment of God here it is already begun in him who walks in the light. On earth the church is in her militant state: in heaven she is triumphant. When Jehovah addressed his servant Abraham, being about to make his covenant with him, he said, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward;" intimating that he would protect and save him on earth, and be his happiness in heaven. The Patriarch's heaven was to be the enjoyment of God himself. A similar idea is advanced by St. Paul, in those expressions: "Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus." See John xiv., &c.

Because Christians are children of light, therefore they are heirs of light; they walk in the light, they shall dwell in it for ever. It is the light of God, beaming from his unsullied throne, that gives the beauty and brightness to the church, and fills with itself the heart of every believer. In heaven it is the same light, but unmitigated in its splendour, and exhibiting its glory in the perfected powers of believers.

THE ESSENTIAL IMPORTANCE OF FAITH IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY, BRIEFLY STATED. "THE holy church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee, The Father of an Infinite Majesty, Thine honourable, true, and only Son, Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter." For nearly fifteen centuries has this been the sacred song of Christian believers. And why? Let the answer be given in the language of another ancient formulary, which it is much more easy to censure than to confute : "Whosoever WILLS to be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith." Man needs salvation. It has pleased God to raise up for him "an horn of salvation." The salvation thus provided for him is offered to him in the Gospel; but that it may be his, it must be received and accepted by him. In reference to this is the Gospel ministry instituted. The work of the ambassador for Christ is to "persuade men," to "pray them in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God." In discharging their all-important duty, this is the substance of their testimony,-" Repentance toward God, and faith toward our

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