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faculties and feelings, as on eagles' wings, in adoration and love to God, and leading us to break forth, in that enraptured language of the Psalmist, "O how amiable are thy tabernacles, thou Lord of Hosts!" No wonder, therefore, that the apostle speaks of acts of lively faith, as the instruments of nourishing the vital energies of the Christian life.

Again; to live by the faith of the Son of God, is to live with constant reference to that system of faith, which was revealed to the world by the Son of God, including, therefore, both its doctrines and precepts; to make, in short, the will of God the sole rule of our conduct, and to look to His approbation as the great and glorious reward of all our tribulations, and exertions. Now an adherence to these principles is that which lays a solid foundation for confidence in God, for it gives us the highest evidence we can desire, and that which God himself has directed us to judge by, that we are really led by His Spirit; and we know that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, and will be acknowledged as such at the resurrection of the just. And when we can believe on rational grounds, that we are already in the favour of God, we shall have a double reason for wishing and striving to continue in His love, both from the happiness we have hitherto found in it, and from our anticipation of that state

of bliss which is hereafter to succeed it. But of these considerations, which are principally efficacious in renewing and feeding the flame of spiritual life, the apostle has singled out for our use the most powerful, and the most affecting; "I live," he says, "by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Men are incapable of being strongly moved, except by something which is brought home pointedly to themselves, and in which their own interest is deeply involved. Now every sincere Christian is at liberty to appropriate to himself the tender mercies and the availing merits of Christ, and to feel and to say, with the apostle, the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. And who that makes this declaration and believes it, can help being touched and penetrated by it; can any one be thoroughly persuaded that Christ has died to save his sinful soul, and feel nothing like holy gratitude in return for such a boundless blessing? If the thought of this, when duly weighed, shall fail to melt the heart of a sinner, what can? But however this be, it will not be lost upon the saint, he will feel its quickening impulse through every stage of his Christian progress, and he will have nothing to do, when he wishes to increase his ardour in the race, but to think within him

Ꮓ

self, "Christ loved me and gave himself for me."

It appears, then, that besides the earthly, visible, animal life of the body, there is also a life of the soul, commensurate with the capacities and desires of an immortal being, begun and carried on unto perfection by the agency of God's Holy Spirit in the hearts of all real Christians. To many, who have no manner of notion of it by their own experience, the thing may seem incredible, and God's minister, who declares it, may be thought a setter forth of strange doctrines; but we have the undeniable testimony of an apostle to confirm its truth, and all the saints in heaven would join in asserting, that they had found in it their greatest comfort while on earth. The blind man would perhaps disbelieve us when we attempted to describe to him the glorious spectacle afforded by the sun, and moon, and all the host of heaven; but the spangled firmament would yet glow in its usual majesty and splendour, whether he believed its existence or not; and so likewise the life of faith in the Son of God is not the less real because many men understand it not. But to those who have it not, and know not of it, it is a matter of the last importance to become practically acquainted with it-it will be well worth their seeking after, and when found will amply reward all the

labour of the search. If they would be satisfied of the truth of the representations given of it, as the summit and perfection of all human happiness, let them only be persuaded to enter upon it in earnest, and they will be no longer faithless but believing.

SERMON XXI.

LIVING AFTER THE FLESH AND AFTER THE SPIRIT.

If

ye

ROм. viii. 13, 14.

live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

THE text describes, in very plain and perspicuous language, the spiritual condition of those two classes of persons into which all professing Christians may be divided; and it points out the ultimate consequences of each of those conditions, if persevered in to the end of life. It is one of those Scriptural declarations which will be abundantly sufficient at the last day, to vindicate the justice of God in the condemnation of sinners, because it is one which forewarns them, in the clearest and most perspicuous terms, both what they have to