fully, and perseveringly, apply myself to the imitation of my Master's piety, zeal, fortitude, wisdom, deadness to the world, benevolence, meekness, patience, compassion, and forgiveness of injuries. I must aim at the union and harmony of graces and duties which was so gloriously displayed in him. I must seek to be CONSISTENT. I must more especially follow those parts of his example, which I should naturally be most inclined to omit. I must pray to be like him, that I may look like him. If I profess to "abide in him, I ought also so to walk, even as he walked."* I ought to

66

grow in grace,' as I grow "in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," and ardently long for that time, when I shall be perfect," as my "heavenly Father is perfect," and be altogether "like my Saviour, because I shall see him as he is."

*

1 John ii. 6. + 2 Pet. iii. 18. 1 John iii. 2.

DISCOURSE VII.

THE CHRISTIAN AN HEIR OF GOD THROUGH

CHRIST.

ROм. viii. 14-17.

THE

OUR

AS MANY AS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD, FOR YE HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE AGAIN TO FEAR, BUT YE HAVE RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION, WHEREBY WE CRY, ABBA, FATHER. SPIRIT, ITSELF BEARETH WITNESS WITH SPIRIT, THAT WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD; AND IF CHILDREN, THEN HEIRS, HEIRS OF GOD, AND JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST; IF SO BE, THAT WE SUFFER WITH HIM, THAT WE MAY BE ALSO GLORIFIED TOGETHER.

دو

WE are now arrived at the last link in the chain of consequences which ensue from the profession of Christianity, to those who are Christians indeed; and it is one the more important from the fact, that it connects the things of time with those of eter

nity; one half of it is visible to our mortal eyes, the other is lost in the dazzling glory of the world within the veil. 66 I AM A CHRISTIAN-WHAT THEN? Why, I am an heir of heaven, and hastening on to the abodes of the blessed, to join the full choir of glorified ones in singing the Song of Moses and the Lamb, and surely I ought to learn that song on earth.”

This is the end and consummation of all that we have been considering with reference to the Christian's history on earth. Has he been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and justified by the grace of God? It is that he may be made an “heir according to the hope of eternal life."* Is he become the temple of the living God, sanctified and set apart for his service by the power of the Holy Ghost? It is that he may be prepared for joining hereafter in the worship and service of the heavenly temple. Is he made a child of God by adoption and grace? He is thereby constituted

* Tit. iii. 7.

an heir of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. Is he conformed, in some measure, to the likeness of Christ? It is that when he "sees him as he is," he may be made altogether "like him,"* and "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth," throughout an eternity of holiness and

bliss.

In the passage before us, we have a striking statement of the part which each person of the blessed Trinity sustains in thus "bringing the sons of God to glory." The Father prepares the kingdom, and bestows it freely upon his adopted children by an act of grace. The Christian is an heir of God. The Son atones for the guilt of those rebellious children, and by his perfect obedience merits eternal life for them; the Christian is "an heir of God

through Christ." The Spirit of God having first regenerated and sanctified them, "leads" them on the way to their inheritance through the wilderness of this

* 1 John iii. 2.

world, and, as the Spirit of adoption, gives them an earnest and foretaste of he a en by the way.

We have hitherto contemplated the Christain as "a redeemed sinner, and a pardoned rebel;" who, by faith, "washes his robes and makes them white in the blood of the Lamb." It remains for us to dwell upon the details of the final blessedness that awaits him, and the motives to holiness which such a prospect presents. But in so doing we must never for a moment lose sight of the point from whence we started. We must never forget "the rock whence we were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence we were digged;" never lose sight of the gratuitous price that was paid, not only to redeem us from iniquity, but to purchase for us a title to eternal life. The blood of Christ was shed not merely to atone for our guilt, and then leave us to work out a title for ourselves to the rewards of eternity. The gift of God is not only pardon, but "eternal life through