And now to some few remarks upon these words, I would lead your serious attention, and may He who is the light of the soul, and the sanctification of the soul, vouchsafe His holy unction, for Jesus' sake. after GOD is created in righteousness | from the markings of the pen, or the and true holiness." teachings of the school, or the discourses of the pulpit, and yet there is as a wide gap betwixt this, and a true knowledge of Christ, as may be. But some of yourselves can meet me with your testimonies here. You remember when the head was charged, and the tongue was busy, nay, flippant, with the name of Christ, but when nothing went deeper; and you lacked First,-THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST. QUISITION OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. Thirdly,-THE Effects and inflU-the spirit of the wisdom which now ENCES OF THIS KNOWLEDGE IN ITS RE- THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST. makes you wise indeed?-wise unto "But ye have not so learned Christ." Where is this learning of Christ imperfect and superficial— where is it erroneous—and where is it full and complete? It is imperfect and superficial where it merely affects Christ's person where it reaches only to the verisimilitude the coincidences of the lines of his life with the lines of ancient prophecy --where it rests upon his miraculous works only as the proof of his divine mission-where it comprehends the bare trials and sufferings of the man and of the martyr-where it extends no further than to a general survey of his duties and doctrines and ordinances and offices. Now he who is wise thus much may comparatively be a fool a knowledge of that which appears, betokens no knowledge of that which is hidden. Thus a man standing at a distance may see, and give you a pic-now, does not this knowledge present ture of a flower, and yet be altogether unconscious of its fragrancy; or upon looking at the flame, he might represent its colour and figure, and yet be altogether unconscious of its heat. And so a man may know almost every thing about Christ, and yet not understand any thing of his influences -of his mysteries. Thousands have this knowledge, they suck it in with their mother's milk, they get at it in that of many here? Have not some of you, in a religious sense as it were, your Sunday suit and your everyday suit? Are you not feeding your self-complacency upon your baptism in the name of Christ, and your assemblings together in the name of Christ and your keeping of ordinances in the name of Christ, and your public avowals in the name of Christ, while you go on sinning against the pattern of Christ, returning from your profession to your guilty practice, as the sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire? Concerning whom, looking from this day's declarations to the morrow's acts, might I not tell, like the Apostle, even weeping, that under an assumed friendship you are the enemies of the cross of Christ? May the Divine Grace make the number of such instances less and less at each returning period of my labours amongst you, for your soul's sake. And now, what is the full and complete learning of Christ? This begins with a man's knowledge of himself— in his own heart he must find the alphabet by which he may spell out the very name as well as the offices of Christ. The knowledge is practical; theories are cobwebs; in the appropriation of Christ to the existing wants of the soul, lives the true and only wisdom of Christ. To know the truth as it is in him, you must know the truth as it is in your own heart. Let down into this well, and you will draw up the living water; the deeper you go the water will be the sweeter. Go along the avenue, and you will come to an opening; the further you walk the opening will be the wider and the brighter. Do you know, experimentally know, that you are a guilty sinner, that you are under the weight of the curse, of GOD's righteous curse-that you are a rebel against your King-that you are stricken with the leprosy of evil, so that there is no sound part in you from the crown of your head to the sole of your foot-that you are ignorant and weak, and like the troubled sea, for agitation and strife—that you are aliens and strangers from the true commonwealth of Israel-that you are by nature the children of wrath and the heirs of destruction. Oh! if you have, indeed, a deep and inward knowledge of this, if you are sunken in these lower depths of consciousness, you may look up and see, what were else invisible, a star shining above you, the eye of Christ looking down upon you, who is to you pardon, and redemption, and reconciliation, and sanctification, and wisdom, and strength, and peace, and adoption, and exaltation to the right hand of GOD. This is the learning of Christ as he is, from a learning of the man as he is. This is to know "the truth as it is in Jesus," by a knowledge of the suitableness of his offices to the existing wants of the soul. If thus you hear of him with the spiritual ear, and believe on him with the spiritual heart, you have come to that full and complete, and essential knowledge which maketh wise to salvation. And now, Secondly,-THE WAY OF OBTAINING THIS KNOWLEDge. I am anxious, saith some inquiring voice, thus to learn Christ, as my prophet, priest, and king—as the way, and the truth, and the life, and yet I know not how I cannot see myself in the condition you describe--I have hitherto striven to do so in vain. And who, my brother, has been your master? Has he been in or out of Christ? Have you forsaken other guides, as the blind leaders of the blind, and consented, in the words of my text, to be "taught by him," to be taught hy his holy and promised Spirit, who "when he is come," said Christ," he shall teach you all things." It is, indeed, a weary, hopeless work, where you set about to know yourselves, without a prayerful dependence upon him who" convinceth of sin," to seek truth in the inward parts, without a diligent calling upon him who is the guide into all truth. Do you think that it is for you to supersede him in the ministry of his offices? Can you expect other than that the knowledge shall be withholden where the source of its communication is unsought? Begin, | UPON THE HEART, Where the know ledge of Christ is, there must be the aboundings of Christ's spirit. The knowledge of the wise will thus reveal itself in a spirit of wisdomthe knowledge of the meek, in a spirit of meekness; the knowledge of the humble, in a spirit of humility; the knowledge of the obedient, in a spirit of obedience; the knowledge of the loving, in a spirit of love; the my brother, the work again,-enter anew your close retirement, and having the law of the first and second tables before you, with your knees in the dust, earnestly and importunately (as you would call for light upon a world of three days darkness, or for rain upon the parched corn while it is full in the ear) beseech the gracious influences of the spirit pursuing the heads of your self-com-knowledge of the pure, in a spirit of munion, and praying as you go onbeing heedful that no fresh acts of wilful sin, or omissions of holy duty, quench the light that is about to be given-restrain the blessed unction that is about to be shed. Do not, however, imagine that so costly a favor shall be at once afforded, that you shall know the sin of your own hearts as a plague, and Christ in his blood of atonement as a Saviour, at your first supplication. The opening may be by little and little, but only go on, and be assured that, in due time, the fulness of the knowledge of Christ shall possess your soul,—that in it you shall live, and move, and have your being. Oh! I wish for your sake, I wish for the authority of my direction and your encouragement, that I could unfold before you the records of saints, who, by this means, by this simple process, have traced their way out of darkness into marvellous light. I honestly confess that whatever modification the rule might be made to assume, I know of none other that can secure to you the end in view. I hold this as one of the great and fundamental truths in the order and economy of divine grace to the conversion of the soul; and living or dying, I could only wish for a thousand voices to multiply its echoes through the church of Christ. But, Thirdly,-THE INFLUENCE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE IN ITS RE-ACTION purity. If the Holy Spirit takes of the things of Christ, and shows them unto us, he at the same time imbues and enriches with the things he reveals. The light that makes manifest assimilates to the manifestation; and thus the former conversation, "the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts," is put off, and in the renewal of the spirit of the mind there is a putting on "of the new man, which, after GOD, is created in righteousness and true holiness." The very process in the acquisition of spiritual knowledge indicating itself by the change of the life,-the two-fold operation of the same mighty spirit! The old man of pollution being put in opposition to the new man of purity-the death in sin to a new birth unto righteousness-dissolution of the lusts of the flesh to a creation after God in true holinesstrue holiness, not a mere holiness of the exterior, but as touching the motives and affections of the inward soul. It is impossible by any language to mark more strongly the transformation and change that takes place in the temper and conversation of a believer in Jesus, than is set forth in the terms of the text; the Apostle's words being the echo of those of his master, "ye must be born again." Regeneration is the soul's new clothing for the company of Jesus; it is the wedding garment, the white apparel of admission to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He cannot be of the church of Christ, he cannot mix in the fellowship of the faithful, he cannot prefer a claim to the blessings of the new covenant, he cannot lean upon any of the exceedingly great and precious promises of the Gospel, he cannot enter into the bliss of a true communion with GOD, he cannot see the Lord (for without holiness no man shall see the Lord), who has it not-through whom the great change, the blessed renewal, the glorious creation, after the image of GOD, has not passed! And now, my dear friends, as there are no exceptions to a submission, to a yielding of ourselves to this divine agency, it is a question of unspeakable moment if you have become subject to it? If the grace of GoD has had its effectual working on your prayerful hearts? I know that many of you would shrink from the home question, would strive to blink or avert it: But it must and will return upon you as the touchstone of your professions in having learned Christ, as the proof of your knowledge of the truth which he came into the world to diffuse. And surely I had better press it upon you now, than leave conscience to do so at a future and a dying hour-when your body may be racked with sharp pains, and your mind has become weak, and harassed, and exhausted in a conflict with a thousand cares. The only platform of a minister's work, exists in the word now; and thus, though I may be holding against many a man's breast the point of a piercing sword, I dare not, for any human consideration, let it remain idle in the scabbard. I address each man, each woman before me, are you renewed in the spirit of your mind? Are you the created anew in Christ Jesus? Have the regenerating influences passed upon you? Have you received the Holy Ghost? Touching your former life and conversation, what was it? Touching your present, what is it? While that poisoned and choked up all around with the rank luxuriancy of the weed, does this exhibit the yielding of the good seed, bear the promise of a bright harvest? Are you come out of slavery into freedom? Are you come out of darkness into light? Are you come out of disease into health? Are you come out of death into life? It matters not, when or how, the change was wrought, but dwell upon the great fact. Go home, musing as you go-though in company still be alone-in the solitude of the thinking heart let the one enquiry dwell. And if some of you have reason to bless GOD in the answer, do so; and if many of you should have cause to fear that all is not safe, that the work is yet to be begun, let it prompt to an immediate seeking and striving with GOD for his Holy Spirit, that you may learn Christ, and find the truth that shall make you free-I say, to an immediate seeking and striving, for the door that now stands open in the living opportunity, may soon be shut-eternally shut! Amen. A Sermon, DELIVERED BY THE REV. CALEB MORRIS, AT FETTER-LANE CHAPEL, SUNDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 16, 1832. Hosea, iii. 5.---“ Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” We observed, in the morning, that these words contain a prophecy, which, unquestionably, refers to the person and the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. And we further observed, that there were three points here, peculiarly worthy of our notice. First, the designation which is given to the Gospel dispensation, the "goodness of the Lord." Secondly, the first stage of its developement"in the latter days." And, finally, the peculiar effect which this developement was to produce on the feelings and passions of men; "they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." The Gospel dispensation is in itself the essence, the consummation, the ⚫ perfection of excellence. However, it deserves that appellation, it deserves it, peculiarly, because it is the supreme gift of divine love-it is the supreme evidence of divine love-it is the supreme instrument of divine love. As such, we can give, at once, this appellation to the whole of the Gospel economy, to its prophecies, to its doctrines, to its history, to its promises, and to its representations. The phraseology," latter days," refers to the last period of the Jewish hierarchy, commencing, probably, about the time of Herod the Great, and ending with the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Temple. Such meaning, I believe, generally, we are to attach to the words "latter days," both in the Old and New Testament; though, occasionally, it may indirectly, and only indirectly, refer to the last period of the present state of being. It is said, that this astonishing exhibition of Christianity during the latter period of the Jewish hierarchy, produced in the mind of some of the Jews produced in the minds of the Gentiles the emotion of fear.—“ They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." It is intimated that there is a peculiarity in the expression and in the sentiment. Goodness generally excites admiration, and gratitude, and obedience; but here it is said, that the exhibition of goodness produces fear. Hence, there must be something in the mode of exhibiting this goodness, which has a tendency to touch this passion of the human breast, and to bring it forth to the glory of GoD and the good of man: and this was the case, particularly at the first establishment of the Christian dispensation in the world: there was every thing calculated to produce fear. There was, in the first place, the astonishing fall of the Jews, and the calling in of the Gentiles; an event which must have struck awe and terror through the world, as well as gratitude on the part of the Gentiles. Then, secondly, there was a most splendid exhibition of divine power; the great GoD moved forth, as it were, from the secrecy and mystery of his own nature, and spoke |