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kingdom of heaven suffereth violence from the baptism of John until now, and the violent take it by force;" giving them to understand that the baptism of John had initiated into the kingdom, as the baptism of Moses in the cloud, and in the sea initiated into the Law. From the anointing with the Dove, I believe that our Lord entered upon a higher and holier walk than mere law-fulfilling, giving to us the ensample of that spiritual holiness which knoweth no Law, but the Law of liberty; that is, the will inclined unto the will of God. Therefore it was, that our Lord broke the Sabbath without offence; and touched lepers, and otherwise offended the Law; and therefore, also, he went up to the feasts, or went not up, according to his mind. And many things besides he did, which are all expressed in these two similitudes, of which, when challenged for this neglect, he made use: "No man putteth new wine into old bottles; no man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old garment;" signifying that the spirit of his discipleship, of which he was then performing the noviciate, would not piece on to, much less be contained within, the old wornout commandments of Moses. Besides, the works which he did by the Spirit were the self-same works which the Spirit in the Apostles did; and it is continually written, he set us an example that we should follow his steps. Now, it is my conviction, from these and many other grounds which I cannot now enter upon, that our Lord enjoyed, during his public ministry, that measure of the Spirit which his church was to be endowed with after the resurrection, to the end that his life

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might be the model of every Christian's life who is regenerated with the Holy Ghost. He walked in liberty, he rejoiced in power, he triumphed in victory from the time he received the Spirit after his baptism, until the time he fell, as it were, plumb down from that elevation into the agony of the garden and the abandonment of the cross. Before entering upon which, he was strengthened with that voice out of the heavens, "I have both glorified my name, and I will glorify it again." Then came on that hour and power of darkness of which he said himself, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? but for this cause came I to this hour: Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." This, I think, brought on the great crisis, and put him upon his probation to the very uttermost. And now openeth that scene of agony, that ocean of sorrow, concerning which it is not our present purpose to discourse, save to mark it as a grand epoch in the Redeemer's life. It is my conviction, that our Lord's life between these two points of time, the descending of the Dove, and the bringing of the Greeks unto him, when that fearful hour began, is truly the great realization and prototype of the Spirit's work in every regenerate man, in order that his life might not only fulfil the Law of Moses, but give the prototype and the example of all spiritual righteousness. The Father when his Son had accomplished and fulfilled the Law, did bestow upon him a measure of that resurrection-life in the Spirit which he himself should afterwards be

honoured and privileged to bestow upon the church. The Father baptized him with the Holy Ghost, who was afterwards to baptize all the elect children; and so he became an example unto us, and must have tasted a great enjoyment of his Father's countenance, far above and beyond what he enjoyed before, and in the removal of which I deem the misery of that agony and death to have chiefly consisted. He had the Spirit lifting him into a high communion with his Father, to the end of shewing him the regenerate church, and what should be the measure of 'their enjoyment; and this being accomplished, I say again, he was let plumb down into the former measure of the Spirit, to swim in the tempestuous ocean, which all the elements of moral disorder could raise around him. Fearful chaos! awful valley of the shadow of death! season of the hour and power of darkness!-Thus have we two measures of the Spirit; the first for law-keeping, to be in lieu of the obedience of those elect ones before, who had believed on him under the Law, or, as it is written, "for the transgressions that were under the first covenant;"-the second measure of the Spirit being for an ensample unto us of that baptism of the Dove with which we should be baptized. And there is a third measure of the Spirit, which quickened him in the tomb, with which also our bodies shall be anointed when we shall be quickened in the tomb.-And thus have we the whole mystery of the Holy Ghost realized in the life of Christ. First, the mystery of law-keeping, done for the sake of those that were under the Law, but not for us: secondly, the mystery of the

Holy Ghost, which the church now enjoyeth: and thirdly, the mystery of the Holy Ghost, which shall constitute the New Jerusalem of the risen saints in the millenial kingdom. And thus the work of the Holy Ghost is substantiated and realized in the person of Christ; is a fact, is a thing upon which faith may be rested by every poor creature of whose substance Christ hath taken a part. And thus is answered the only question which remained against the removal of the Law: what model remaineth to us in its stead? Christ's life from his baptism to his agony is our model of the liberty and power of the Holy Ghost. And let this suffice for the subject of the removal of the Law.

CONCLUSIONS.

It may be asked, after this discourse concerning the method of the Incarnation, And what serveth it that Christ should thus have reconciled all flesh unto God, and taken away the middle wall of partition which was between Jew and Gentile, and preached peace unto them which were near, and to them which were afar off, seeing that it is only to a chosen and elect portion of the fallen creatures that salvation and blessedness, and glory, do eventually come? Is there not in this method something which is inconsistent with itself, which either makes Christ over generous to cast away his bounty, or the Father over stinted to restrain his Spirit? Hath not some part of the work of Christ been wrought to no effect? or hath not a promise and hope been held out unto men, larger than the Father purposed to

fulfil?-Not so, by any means. The purpose of the Father is the purpose of the Godhead: the work of Christ is the will of the Father, shewing forth that purpose of the Godhead; and so also is the work of the Spirit. Though wrought in different persons, it is by the same one absolute will, by the same one substance of God wrought. To explain this matter, I shall now address myself in a few words.

1. The purpose of God, in creating man, was the manifestation and communication of his own glory unto the creatures which he had made, or which he was about to make; and to bring the creature wholly to depend upon him, and to worship him. As he was to make it out of nothing, he would have it remember its nothingness in itself, and to acknowledge the will, the absolute will, from which it derived its form and blessedness; to this single end of bringing the creature to apprehend the nothingness of its substance, and the absoluteness of its dependance upon the Divine will, which is the very truth. This, I say, is the great object which God hath in view, and the great consummation unto which he will attain, by his dealings with the creatures. To this end, a fall was ordained, that the creatures might know their own insufficiency, their own emptiness. Then came the Law, which as a. schoolmaster did instruct the creature in its sinfulness, did bring into vision, and openly shew, how far it came short of its own perfection. The Law added no iniquity to the creature; but it brought all its iniquity clearly to view. As there be certain chemical solutions, with which if you anoint the skins of ancient parchments whereon

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