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glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also "with exceeding joy." (1 Peter iv. 13.)

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And, finally, in order to such a blessed consummation," make you" (according to the exhortation of Ezekiel) “ a new heart, and a new "spirit:" (Ezekiel xviii. 31.) " put off" (as the apostle exhorts)" concerning the former con"versation the old man, and be renewed in the

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spirit of your minds." (Ephes. iv. 22, 23.) Such a new creation must certainly be wrought in you previous to an entrance into the new heavens and the new earth; and it must be wrought not without your own good-will and sincere exertions; for could not man have done something towards making himself a new creature, the above exhortations to that effect had been vain words. No doubt God "worketh

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mightily" in His children, by the constraining love of Christ, and the powerful influences of His Spirit, to renew them unto a conformity with His will; still it is incumbent on them gladly to second His gracious operations, and especially to claim, by earnest prayer, His repeated promises, that a new heart and a new spirit He will give them. (Ezek. xi. 19; xxxvi. 26.) About this there can be no question with men of honest and unclouded understandings. Wherefore, instead of foolishly looking for happiness, which is not to be found by man in his

old, or unrenewed state, be ruled, my brethren, by the wise arrangement of God. According to your desire of new or better circumstances, see that yourselves be first of all made new. Call without ceasing upon Him who giveth more grace to every one that will humbly ask for it; and strive thereupon as fellow-workers with His grace, that your whole spirit and soul' and body may be purified from the corruption that is in the world, and be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then," as the new heavens and the new earth, "which I will make, shall remain before me, "saith the Lord," so shall you remain to inherit and enjoy them. Unto death shall succeed an endless life in a kingdom which cannot be removed; and you shall walk for ever" in the light of His countenance," and be given to "drink of the river of His pleasures."

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The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

WITH these words Jesus concluded His answer to the woman of Samaria, when she had inquired of Him, as of a person authorized to declare the will of God," where men ought to "worship?" About this chiefly, had arisen that inveterate hatred, which was subsisting between the Samaritans and the Jews; the Jews contending zealously for the privilege which God had assigned, from of old time, to their temple, while the Samaritans perversely chose to worship Him on a mountain in their own district, called Gerizim, and would scarcely allow a passage for persons preferring to go up to Jerusalem. Accordingly, no sooner did the woman discover that she had fallen in with a prophet, than she proposed to Him this highly interesting matter, in order to obtain a decision of it

from His mouth: "Our fathers," she stated, worshipped God in this mountain; and ye

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say, that in Jerusalem is the place where "men ought to worship." To this Jesus in effect replied, that the time was fast drawing on, when all respect with God to particular nations or places should be at an end; although the Jews had hitherto been right in asserting the superior sanctity of the city and temple to which they resorted: "Woman," He said, " be"lieve me, the hour cometh, when ye shall nei"ther in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, "worship the Father: ye worship ye know not "what; we know what we worship: for sal"vation is of the Jews." Considering how soon the temple at Jerusalem should be laid in ruins, and the vail of ignorance, which had long been spread over all people, destroyed, Jesus deemed it more important to speak concerning the manner, than the place, in which God might be acceptably worshipped. Thus therefore He forewarned the woman of Samaria, even before He decided it against her, that the point in dispute between her nation and the Jews was already ceasing to be of consequence, since the really peculiar holiness of Jerusalem, no less than that which had been falsely claimed for mount Gerizim, should soon be utterly abolished, and in every place," from

"the rising up of the sun, even unto the going "down of the same," men should offer "a pure

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offering" unto the Lord. (Malachi i. 11.) Also, in the succeeding verses, which I have chosen for my text, He uttered a like doctrine. Having so far set aside the controversy referred to Him, our Lord thence took occasion to declare, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the "true worshippers shall worship the Father in

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spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh "such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

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Now, such having been so positively enjoined by our Divine Master, as the only acceptable description of worship, especially for His disciples, the duty of worshipping accordingly must needs appear, to all well disposed Christians, a topic highly deserving consideration.

First, then, God, being a Spirit, demands to be worshipped in spirit by all who would be accepted with him.

Observing God declared to be a Spirit, our notion of Him thence should be, that He has no bodily parts like ourselves, and that He is invisible to mortal sight. However we may read in Scripture of the face, and eyes, and ears, and hands, and feet of God, it is not, therefore, to be imagined, that He really pos