his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God." If God be our Father, we have a share in his kingdomthe kingdom of nature, the kingdom of providence, the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of heaven on earth, and the kingdom of heaven in glory. All the resources of those different departments of God's government are open; for the apostle says, in consequence of our adoption into his family, and becoming sons of God, "all things are ours.' Oh, what a glorious fact is this! Can the world, can pleasures, can wealth, be any equivalent to this? Did the Saviour speak wisdom when he said, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul ?" Dr. Watts has caught this thought most beautifully, when he says,

دو

"I'll read the histories of thy love,

And keep thy laws in sight;
While through thy promises I rove,
With ever fresh delight.

"'Tis a broad land of wealth unknown,
Where springs of life arise,

Seeds of immortal bliss are sown,
And hidden glory lies."

Such, then, brethren is the possession of the Christian; he has these promises, and they are the pledges of a full reward.

In the second place, let me direct your attention to the application made by the apostle of this fact,— "Let us therefore." The possession of any gift whatever, involves a serious corresponding responsibility as to the use we make of it. These promises are given with a certain distinct and definite understanding. We must not wrap our treasure in a napkin, or bury it; we shall have to give an account of it. We may not place our lighted candle under a bushel; we are bound to shew it for the light of others. And whatever God confers, whether it be one talent or ten, we shall have to give an account to God at last. No man has any right to do as he will with his own. It is a heathen, profane, unscriptural and irrational idea that man, who is dependant upon God for every thing,-dependant upon God every moment,-should make their mind the law of their life, instead of making the law of God the rule of their conduct. Whatever therefore God has bestowed upon us, whether in reference to this life or the life to come, we are bound to use it as he requires. Religion is not a system of mere privilege, it is not a system of mere luxury of life in which we may revel, nor is it a mere system of abstract notions. Our religion is in one sense a religion of faith; in another sense it is a religion of works; and the man whose religion consists simply in the scientific arrangement of truths contained in the Word of God and in the surrendering of his understanding to the truth of these things, but whose heart and life are unaffected by them, is not a religious man; that may be the religion of a devil, but it cannot be the religion of a child of God! The religion of the Bible is equally a system of activity and of obedience. Faith after all is obedience; it begins in obedience, and it ends in obedience. It is a great privilege for us to know that "they who believe shall persevere to the end." I say this is a privilege, but it is no less an absolute duty for every true believer to be found" striving and persevering even to the end." There is enjoyment in the way, that leads to God as well as in the possession and the presence of God. A true believer finds as much delight in obedience as he will ever find in heaven. A true believer would not think it at all a privilege to serve the world, and not live in accordance with the commandments of God; so that his religion is altogether rather of a practical than a theoretical and abstract character. "We are saved by grace," it may be said; most truly and entirely we are, but grace works

from motives, it does not implant new faculties, but simply developes and stimulates the old ones; Paul says, therefore "Let us cleanse ourselves." Striking language! He says to all believers, "Come let us address ourselves to this object, we are polluted by nature, polluted by practice; let us now seek to cleanse ourselves;" elsewhere it is said, "Make to yourselves a new heart;" A mighty work to which a man should be called! Again, it is written, "Work out your own salvation." Again, "Make your calling and election sure." Again, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." Now in all these pas. sages, we have the one thought, that part of our religion is to strive with God; to seek to cleanse ourselves just as the poor invalid at the pool of Bethesda was always waiting and watching, and had been waiting and watching many years; and the moment he saw the waters troubled, he was ready to plunge in, but some one more active and alert, plunged in before him. And so every one must be using every effort in order to secure the accomplishment of his object.

Some imagine that religion is of this character,-it can only be one of two things, either requiring that man should do nothing towards his salvation, or else do every thing towards his salvation. Some put us to this alternative, and say, you must deny the one or the other. We reject them both! The one is presumption, and the other sloth, and both sin. The man that would do nothing for salvation, never deserves it; and the man that would seek to accomplish it without God, and Christ and the Holy Spirit, shews_that he knows nothing of himself, nothing of God, and nothing of the gospel. I say we reject both; neither conceding to the terms of one man who says, "I can climb to heaven by my own strength," nor to the man that will have nothing to do with himself; who imagines he may lie asleep all the days of his life, and yet, peradventure, awake up in heaven. We choose the middle course-that which God himself has marked out; and while we eschew sloth on the one hand, we would ever be found relying upon God on the other. Diligence and dependance are in no sense incompatible; but form a beautiful combination. I say, diligence and dependance at the same time. This is very beautifully expressed in the passage, "Work out your own salvation, for it is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure." Depend upon it, to make a determined manly, courageous effort against sin, and increasing anxiety to subdue evil, eradicate evil, mortify the flesh, crucify the body, put away every irregular desire, every unholy passion; never to harbour but always expel sin, is a reasonable as it is a religious duty. The extent of this duty is distinctly marked out in this passage. Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness." What sort ? "All filthiness of the flesh, and all filthiness of the spirit." Most men will admit that it is a desirable thing that every member of society should seek to be free from all filthiness of the flesh; about that there can be no diversity of opinion. But the filthiness of the spirit, that is, after all, a Christian question. There are not only unclean acts, but all unrighteous principles are uncleanness. Some imagine that only outward profligacy can pollute, but there are sins that are harboured in the soul that are infinitely more polluting in their character than all the outward indulgence of the flesh. Ungodly thoughts, ungodly desires, ungodly passions; the indulgence of envy and revenge; the crime of selfishness; these things are not so palpable, but in my judgment, they are far more sinful, and far more polluting in their character than drunkenness or even sensuality! Moreover, a polluted spirit can never be long separated from a polluted life. A man may contrive by mighty efforts to conceal the state of his mind from the view of the world, but sooner or later that state of mind will manifest itself. Men are restrained by education, and by a selfish regard to their prosperity in the world, and these considerations preserve them from gross immorality. This is especially true in reference to the refined, and

educated, and polite. There is a kind of conventional morality, conventional propriety which arises not out of a renewed heart's regard to God, but simply out of the fashions of the day. It was the fashion in the time of Charles the second, to be thoroughly polluted and depraved, and he was the bravest man, who was the most thoroughly saturated with profligacy and drunkenness. The consequence was, it became the universal feeling among the people. But now, in our own times it is of a very different character. A man that shall yield himself up to his passions would be put out of society, he would not be welcomed in any respectable or decent family, so that even those addicted to profligacy, are obliged to cover their deeds with darkness. A man may sometimes obtain a respectable reputation while he is harbouring a very bad state of mind and heart, but, before God, that man is as corrupt as the outwardly gross and open profligate; he may be decent outwardly, but he is only to be compared with a whited sepulchre of polished marble, very beautiful in its material, costly in its ornaments and its structure, but within, it is full of corruption and dead men's bones. He is polished, but he is a polished hypocrite! the heart is corrupt, depraved, abandoned; the heart therefore, is included in the passage before us. Now the only way really to cleanse the flesh from this filthiness, is first to cleanse the spirit. A new heart is the only remedy for all the pollutions of society. How much better is this than the performance of hard ceremonies, or the infliction of any lacerations whatever, that may be appointed to the body for the sin of the soul! How much better it is to teach the people to go to the Holy Spirit and ask for a new heart, than to teach the child to go to the priest, to go to the font, to go to the confessional, to go on pilgrimage, or to go to penance! Only let the people believe in Christ, have his blood sprinkled on their consciences, and ask his pardon, only let them seek for the renewing of the Holy Ghost, then all these things are unnecessary. The apostle, therefore, teaches us not to preach the doctrine of penance, or confession, or any of the ceremonies or rights connected with public or family worship; but he teaches us to impose it upon every man's conscience, to seek to "cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness, in the fear of the Lord."

وو

This prepares us then to notice in the last place, the Christian's aim, "Perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." And perfection in this department is our duty, at least it must be our aim; and we must never be content with any thing short of this, we find the greater advances the Christian makes in the divine life, the less satisfied he is with himself, and the more fervently does he pray to be made like his Lord. Men are apt to substitute another enquiry instead of that placed before us in the text. The apostle says we are to "cleanse ourselves; perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." Some persons set aside this duty, this injunction; they never allow it to engage their minds, but rather delight to ask such questions as these, "Am I chosen of God ?" "Think ye that I am predestinated for salvation? If so, I am safe; if not, all effort is unavailing.' And so in this way they find an excuse for indolence, rid themselves of all anxiety for their salvation, and go down to death with a lie in their right hand. Now, instead of this, the apostle teaches us ever to be seeking on the one hand to be rid of all "filthiness of the flesh and spirit ;" and on the other hand, to seek to be "perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." You must remember that men are not only predestinated to be saved, but they are also predestinated to be "conformed to the image of God's Son." Great mistakes are made in reference to this matter. They imagine the doctrine of predestination has to do with the end only, and not the means also; whereas we find in Scripture the doctrine has not to do so much with the end as the means; and with the means in order to the end. If you turn, for instance, to that extraordinay passage in Romans viii. 29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate," to what? "to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born

among many brethren." And then in the tenth chapter of the same epistle, and fourteenth verse, "How, then, shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?" Now here you see the whole process through which the soul must pass from darkness to light, from death to life, from sin to holiness. The apostle speaks of it very differently from those who pervert and abuse his language and doctrine. Read the thirteenth verse for the sake of connexion, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved;" that is a settled principle. This is the process through which the man must pass, in order to secure the end. He intimates that if the means are wanting, the end shall not be secured, "How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed— and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard-and how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach except they be sent ?" God is not a hard Master; there is nothing absurd in his government; every thing in his government is as equitable in grace, as it is in nature and in providence. But there is a special process through which the human heart must pass, in order that he may perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord." The best evidence a man can have in answer to the question "Am I chosen-am I predestinated ?" the best evidence in confirmation of this, is a holy life. If an angel should come and tell me that I am saved, I would not believe him if I did not perceive that I was holy. An angel can never contradict the word of God; and in the word of God it is written, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Holiness, then, is as much our duty as faith; and it is as much our duty to seek to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, as it is for us to discharge any duty pressed upon us in the word of God. We must aim, therefore, to be "perfecting holiness." Be satisfied with nothing short of this. If you desire to be with God, you must try to be like God; or else, where God is, you can never come. For "Except a man be born again, not of water, but of the Spirit of God-except a man be born from above, born of God, born from heaven he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." Holiness is the transmission of God himself into his own children; and the more perfect our standard is, the more resolute will every effort be; and the man who is aiming at perfect holiness, is the man most likely to strive for the faith once delivered to the saints. But then there is a rule by which these efforts are to be regulated, "in the fear of the Lord;" "perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." Doing it in the spirit of holy fear, reverence, and dependance; not from any self-confidence or vain boasting, but dependant on God, looking to God for all the help in grace we need; "perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." And the means by which this christian work is to be promoted, are by prayer and self-discipline, by a diligent attendance on the means of grace, public, private, and social; by a manly resolution never to tamper with sin; never to trifle with duty; and all who resolutely set their hearts upon holinesss, as well as upon heaven, and are seeking to "perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord," will certainly not labour in vain.

You may learn from this passage, brethren, in the first place, that religion is vindicated from the charge of impurity. We suffer grievously; and O! we suffer most unrighteously from the world on account of the gross inconsistency of some who belong to our fellowship, and who worship where we worship. Our answer to them, on account of the inconsistency, and vulgarity, and coarseness of those about us, is this-that the apostle has written, "Having this promise, beloved brethren, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit." This is our reply, there must be no inconsistency, impurity, and unbecoming spirit and character manifested by those who worship where we worship. We are not answerable for them; "to his own master must every man stand or fall." There is no such word as indulgence in the Word of God. If a thing be wrong, God never sanctions it— never grants indulgences; if a thing be right, we must do it. Religion is clear

from all these charges. Religion never sanctions toleration. There ought to be no such thing upon the earth as toleration! It is an insult to God! If a thing be right, who shall dare to presume to tolerate it? If a thing be wrong, who shall dare to sanction or permit it? Religion is point blank against all filthiness of the flesh or spirit!" Everything inconsistent in man's life must be traced out and attributed to himself, to the corruptions of his own evil heart. It belongs not to his religion; it is not sanctioned in the Word of God. We therefore throw back the taunt that is ofttimes urged against us. We say it belongs not to us; cast your stones at them who offend you, and not at the Word and Spirit of God.

In the second place, every person should aim to cultivate holiness; not merely to say, "I believe." That may be very well and very good in its place; but holiness is the thing. No Christian may be satisfied merely with justification. Justification is only the beginning of the work; justification is but the beginning of sanctification, and of God's sovereign mercy, and the great principles of his government. But what the Christian desires more than justification is sanctification, that he might be made meet to be made a partaker with the saints in light. The great aim and object, therefore, of every true believer, is to "perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord.

And then, brethren, how strongly does this remind us of the attractiveness of heaven to every true believer. Here we have a mighty conflict; here we are constantly fighting against the "filthiness of the flesh and the Spirit;" here we find it taxes all our faculties to the highest possible pitch, keeps the heart and mind on the stretch to resist what is evil; but in heaven all will be still, and without a struggle and withour a fear. The mind and the heart will be in true harmony with the will of God. It would require an effort to do wrong, and no effort to do right. The current of our thoughts and the current of our feelings will be towards the throne of God; and looking at him, we shall be like him. O! what encouragement then is there for the Christian to be valiant for the truth. Rest assured that if you labour now-strive nowsoon you shall be crowned; for the Spirit says, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life." Amen.

G., J. & R. BANKS, Printers, 14, Bermondsey New Road.