forming power. By means which awaken the conscience, which influence the natural desire of hap.. piness, and which command the affections, he effects a moral revolution in the soul. And these different means he employs in that order and measure which best suit the peculiar character of the individual, and the special services for which he is designed. But in every case, the subject of his influence is made to feel that the Gospel respects his own personal character and destiny. He cannot rest in vague generalities, but dwells on the truth, with close self-application. The relation of Christ to every believer is impressively taught him; and in proportion to his apprehensions of the intimate nature of that relation, is the depth of the interest he feels in him. When his " faith groweth exceedingly," through an increasing acquaintance with its grand object, he acquires a more vivid perception of the close communion of believers with their surety in his death, resurrection, and glory. And while he dwells on the all-sufficiency of his sacrifice, as demonstrated by the glory that hath followed, he is filled with all joy and peace in believing, and abounds in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit," Rom. xv. 13. But his views are not confined to what may be called the legal or sacrificial bearings of the cross. His conceptions of the love of Christ are heightened by the affecting consideration, that in the very act of making atonement by his sufferings, he sought to establish, by a palpable demonstration, the impressive and influential fact, that sin and misery are inseparable, and thus to give efficiency to the beseeching entreaties by which he calls on the objects of his love to abandon sin as the very bane of happiness. And standing as it were, at the foot of the cross, the

Christian feels that the appeal of his best and tried friend is altogether irresistible. "Has the Son of God," says he, "suffered such things for me, and shall I not arm myself with the same mind?” 1 Pet. iv. 1. Shall I roll that as a sweet morsel under my tongue, the result of which was so bitter to him? Can I ever deem that to be a trifle which cost him so dear?

"The spirit of grace and supplication, while he leads him to the mercy-seat in the celestial temple, directs him to the Lamb which was slain, and whose blood hath been sprinkled on that heavenly throne, and looking to him whom his sins pierced, he mourns because of them with heart-felt contrition," Zech. xii. 10. Rev. v 5-10. At the throne of grace he feels that he deserved to die, and the spirit of self-righteous pride is there levelled to the dust. While convinced that by no services of his own could he ever expiate his guilt, he acquiesces in what was done by his surety for its expiation. And he sets his seal to the judgment pronounced by his representative, when he justified the government of God, and reprobated the outrage committed on it by the rebellion of man.

Nor is this a cold or forced acquiescence, for the Redeemer is endeared to him, instead of being lowered in his esteem, because he thus vindicated the Divine character, and stamped his own with the deepest reprobation. He looks on his apostasy from God, as combining all that is hateful and debasing. He now associates it with the murder of the Prince of Life, and feels as if to continue in sin were to wound him afresh. "Shall I frustrate," he says, "the designs of my Saviour's love? Shall I grieve his holy and benignant heart, or expose myself to the frowns of such goodness." Forbid it gratitude. Forbid it every feeling of esteem and vene

ration. Sin is not only perilous, it is making void the agonies of that friend who breathed out for me a life of misery and woe, passing comprehension." Yes, even while he most exults in forgiving mercy, he loathes himself in his own sight, Ezek. xxxvi. 25. 31. Though forgiven of his Lord, he cannot forgive himself. The heart of stone is removed, and a heart of flesh is given, which is easily susceptible of the most deep impressions, and the most acute feelings, Ezek. xi. 19. His sorrow is not that of the world "which worketh death," nor is his joy like that of a rebel, who having been pardoned his rebellion, cares nothing for the honour of his gracious prince, or the stability of his throne. In the subject of heavenly influence, the mingled emotions of penitential sorrow and exhilirating delight are harmoniously blended. His grief and his joy mutually temper each other, and thus exert a most salutary influence on the whole of his character. He has received "the spirit of a sound mind," by which he is enabled to enter into the precious lessons which are taught in the cross. His prejudices are removed, the eyes of his understanding are divinely enlightened, and his conscience is rendered acutely sensible, so that in the light of his heavenly teacher he discerns the spiritual glory of the excellencies which meet in the character of his Lord. The spirit, whose office it is to glorify the Saviour, imparts to him that spiritual taste by which he is enabled rightly to appreciate the worth of those high attributes, and those lofty moral principles, which beam with such transcendent lustre from the cross. To the rectitude of the Divine government he cordially bows. In the light of the Divine purity he sees his own utter pollution, and

his absolute dependance on that heavenly grace which sanctifies the soul. And by the influence of these holy views and dispositions, he is led to prize the salvation of Christ as a deliverance from the defilement and dominion of sin as well as from its guilt.

Such are the views and feelings which naturally arise from a just perception of the love which is revealed in the cross of Christ. All the high moral principles exhibited on Calvary, many and diversified as they certainly are, center in the manifestation of Divine love and mercy. And how influential is the appeal which is thus made to the affections, when brought home to the heart by the energy of the Spirit. When this unutterable love" is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost," by his enlarging our conceptions of its grandeur and its tenderness, and giving us an abundant sense of its fulness and efficiency, we then feast upon it as the very life of the immortal mind, Rom. v. 5. And when the affections which had before been habitually directed to the vain pursuits of this world, are turned from those vanities which imprinted their own likeness on the heart, the whole of our moral powers are enlarged, we find our enjoyment in dwelling on the absorbing glory of "the Sun of Righteousness," and in walking in the light of that holy love which beams from the heavenly mercy-seat. God commended his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners and enemies Christ died for us, Rom. v. 6-10. And his Spirit brings every subject of his influence to view himself in the very light in which God viewed him, when he spared not his own Son, but gave him up for his sake. He in a particular manner exhibits the divine love as displayed in the incarnation, sufferings, and death

of Immanuel. And how impressive the spectacle of love which was exhibited in the humiliation of him, "who being in the form of God, took upon him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," Phil. ii. 5-8. There is a glory and sublimity in this altogether overwhelming. Here the love of God has a tangible character, and comes home to every feeling of the heart. That God in human nature should have stooped so low, is indeed overpowering. It far surpasses what the imagination of man could ever have conceived. And yet when the mind of a sinner is divinely enlightened, it appears as if written with a sunbeam, that nothing short of this astonishing display of love could have sufficed.

It is the province of the Holy Spirit to "strengthen us with all might in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, -that we may know his love, which passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of God," Ephes. iii. 16-19. By his powerful agency, the highest faculties of the soul are so invigorated as to be able in a growing measure to comprehend this mighty and overwhelming subject. He thus calls forth the affections of the heart into high activity; inspires them with celestial fervour, and gradually purifies them from every bare admixture, so that the love of God, as revealed in Christ, ratifies and governs the whole soul.

The spirit of God, in testifying of Christ, bears witness in a very particular manner to the glory which hath followed his sufferings, 1 Pet. i. 11. Acts iv. 31-33. He leads the subject of his influence so to dwell on the import of his resurrection, as experimentally to know its power in confirming his faith, establishing his hope, spiritualizing his affections, and N. S. No. 33. ↑

consoling and animating his heart, under all the vicissitudes and afflictions of life, Phil. iii. 10. 2 Tim. ii. 8. 1 Pet. i. 21. And while dwelling on the glory of his Lord, as "a priest upon his throne," in the celestial sanctuary, the Christian sees in it the continuation of the very love which governed him on earth, and he rejoices to think, that "if when an enemy he was reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled he shall be saved by his life," Rom. v. 10. He feels as one with his surety, and as "dead with him," he feels that his connexion with the present world is for ever broken, while as "risen with him," he rejoices in the participation of that new and heavenly life to which his exalted head has been raised. In virtue of his union to him, as his legal representative, he already "sits with him in the heavenly places," and the conviction of this attracts the whole of his moral nature towards him, Ephes. ii. 5, 6. He admits the equity of the sentence which exacted from his surety the life which had been forfeited by sin, while he rejoices that by the death of the second Adam the curse has been exhausted, and that his great representative had been quickened to a nobler life than was lost by the fall, and over which death can never have power. Jesus his forerunner has gone to prepare a place for him in the heavenly temple, and thither he follows him in his heart and affections. spring of his life he knows to be within the veil; amid all his perils he rejoices that it cannot be lost, since it is hid with Christ in God;" and in the prospect of death he may triumph in the animating thought, that the stroke which shall separate him for ever from the present scene, will bring him to the very spring and seat of a blessed immortality. And in an

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ticipating the solemn day of retribution, he is taught to rejoice, "that when he who in his life shall appear, then shall he appear with him in glory." And what so calculated as views and prospects, such as these, to attract the affections from earthly things, to the glorious objects which are in the heavenly kingdom where the Saviour dwelleth? Col. iii. 1-4. And such are the means employed by the spirit of God to meeten the heirs of the celestial inheritance for their exalted portion. When the glory of Christ is thus identified with the bliss of his redeemed, and his gracious Spirit enables the Christian to appropriate to himself the privileges which belong to the family of God, the effect must be powerfully sanctifying. Hence the spirit of inspiration often reminds the disciples of Christ of the dignity of their new character, and the grandeur of their privileges and prospects, as citizens of "the heavenly Jerusalem," in order to excite them to act as becometh saints, Ephes. iv. 1-6. Col. i. 10. 2 Thess. i. 11, 12. Heb. xii. 22— 26. Phil. i. 27. iii. 20, 21. The sense of honour, and the desire of glory, which, through the corruption of the heart, are now naturally occupied with the low and impure objects of worldly ambition, are directed by heavenly influence to genuine greatness. The Christian is enabled to deny himself to the false glory of the world, and to aspire to that lofty grandeur which springs from moral excellence of character. And being spiritually enlightened, the character of Christ is seen to be the supreme perfection of moral worth, so that to be like to him becomes the great object of ambition. Heaven is endeared to him, because it is there that the bright effulgence of his glory is displayed. He feels as a pilgrim and a stranger on earth, and he maintains a con

stant intercourse with the land of his better nativity. His treasure is in heaven, and thither his thoughts spontaneously ascend. While deeply conscious of personal unworthiness, he exults in his dignity as a child of God, and

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a joint heir with Christ," of the celestial inheritance; and while by patient continuance in welldoing, he seeks for glory, honour, and immortality, Rom. ii. 7. 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12. he acquires a true greatness of spirit, and a lofty sublimity of aim which elevate him above all the low and vain pursuits of the present world, and meeten him for his exalted destiny, 1 John iii. 1-3. Phil. iii. 7-14.

The glory to which the Saviour hath been raised, when contemplated in the light of his spirit, cannot fail deeply to impress and to influence the heart. It is not mere abstract grandeur that is then seen, but grandeur most powerfully expressive of the divine delight in his work and character. And how fitted to convince the disciples of Christ of the reality and strength of the love of God to them, is the heart-cheering reflection, that the work rewarded is that by which our redemption was achieved, that the character in which Jehovah delights was displayed in effecting our deliverance, and that the constituent principles of this sacred character comprehend the exercise of love, mercy, and grace towards us, passing comprehension. If because he so loved us, Jesus is himself loved of his Father, how great the love of the Father himself to us. Can we wonder then, that the Redeemer should with a tone of high and benevolent triumph, exclaim, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again," John x. 17. And when Jehovah declares that in effecting our redemption the Saviour em

bodied the brightest display of the divine character itself, can we fail to see that in contemplating the character of Christ, as thus honoured in the celestial temple, we are brought into close contact with an immortal and glorious principle of life and blessedness, because it is singularly adapted to influence and govern the whole principles of our moral nature; and we partake of its immortality and glory when it becomes the sole ground of our confidence, the spring of all our enjoyment, and the centre of attraction to our every faculty and affliction. It is thus that the Christian becomes imbued with the very principles which distinguished the Saviour, so that it may be said of him, that being "joined to the Lord he is one spirit," as well as one in law with him, I Cor. vi. 17. And thus, by the agency of the great Sanctifier, he grows in meetness for heaven, where there shall be such a communion of sentiment, feeling, and affection, between him and his glorious representative, as shall produce such a perfect evenness of character, and fulness of joy in everlasting fellowship, as shall consummate his bliss. How important then is the work of the Holy Spirit! Much has the Saviour done for his people, but much also he has to do in them. His gracious spirit is given to dwell in the heart as his temple, and to hallow the whole soul unto God. He is the source of all spiritual life. By his influence the sinner is at first made "to come to himself," to feel his guilt and his wretchedness, and to return to God by faith in Christ. And as he begins, so he carries forward the work of renovation to its close. He gives to the Christian strength for the duties, the trials, and the conflicts of his course, and he secures to him the final triumph. He "perfects that which is lacking in his faith,"

by enlarging his views of the personal grandeur and official administration of his Lord. The truth by which he operates in the heart is a revelation of the character of God, and gives a tangible form to his high and holy attributes. And partaking as it does of the infinity of Jehovah, it grows upon the mind as the faculties of the Christian are expanded, and its multiplied and extensive bearings come to be understood. Aud through the channel of faith advancing as the understanding spiritually enlightened takes in more of the divine record, it continues to influence the character, for the Christian grows in grace as he grows in the knowledge of the Saviour, 1 Pet. iii. 18. As the gracious Comforter, the spirit of Christ gives such views of the plenitude of heavenly love, of the exuberance of divine grace, and of the magnificent prospects opened in the Gospel, that the soul is raised above the evils of time, and is enabled even to glory in tribulation.

In the midst of all our weakness, then, there is reason to rejoice that there is exhibited a ground of confidence fully adequate to our numerous wants. We can do "all things through Christ who strengtheneth us," by the mighty influence of this omnipotent agent, It becomes us to pray with the most importunate fervour for the abundant communication of this mighty influence. We ought not to be satisfied with occasionally looking for his aid, but ought to maintain a habitual dependence on his agency, and honour him in all our services. And when conscious of much remaining repugnance to divine things, and of the workings of an evil bias towards earthly pursuits, is it not at once our duty and our privilege to commit ourselves to one who is able and ready to give a blessed efficiency to the means of his