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as the author of his own death; we must view him as the tenant of the grave, and the food for worms, and the inheritor of corrupt mortality. We must continue our melancholy gaze over the whole creation, and see the moral blight which has set upon the works of God; and when the mind is thus reduced by dwelling upon the sad reality, by the grace of God, it shall be comforted by a manifestation of his eternal love, and by the wondrous works that he doeth for the children of men. The impulses of the mind, when impressed by Divine grace, are of a character approaching to its first purity; it sees no longer through a glass darkly, but a view of redemption is given to it, by which it can appreciate the eternal love of the Deity. From dwelling upon the fallen state of man, it turns to the plan which was laid in heaven for its restoration; it beholds a revelation to the creature of that glorious work, which was shadowed forth in the Old Testament, but evidenced in the New. And by all that Christ has done, and by all that he has suffered, it gains consolation

which only can be derived from that spring, whose waters roll forth life and immortality. And it increases in that spiritual knowledge; and as it increases, the glory and the wondrous works of God become more exalted before the eye of its faith, resting upon the sufferings of a crucified Redeemer. The lost affections in a measure return, the purity of the soul, the intellect, the mind, the heart, the life, all through the mercies of a compassionate God, are restored to the creature. Those glorious properties that man lost in Paradise, are engrafted afresh in his bosom, through the grace and mercy of Jesus. The loss to him becomes gain;-life, though a dreary pilgrimage, to him is the road to heaven, the grave to immortality. to immortality. Man yields not lastingly to the withering hand of death; the enemy is conquered, the victory over the grave is gained, life and immortality are brought to light, and the kingdom of heaven is thrown open to all believers. The human body is but a mouldering casket of that bright jewel that lies within it; we speak not therefore of the mortal crumblings of

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the outer man, but we speak of the salvation, the eternal destiny of the soul. Oh! who could have redeemed it but God? He, by a mysterious union of Divinity with manhood, has accomplished the grandest work that was wrought out for the benefit of the creature. He has manifested a power beyond the finite capacity of man; he has revealed a glory too bright and dazzling indeed for the human eye to feast upon-he has established a faith too deep and incomprehensible for the natural man to fathom; yet it can by the spiritual man be grasped in all its fulness, it can be attained in all its apparent mystery, developing to the mind the eternal truths of Jehovah and when received in all its strength and efficacy, it can impart that consolation to the mind that it requires, that, to which it cannot attain in its natural and lost condition. It can unfold the mysteries of salvation, and give actual possession of that eternal kingdom, which Christ has prepared for those who love him. For it is by faith that ye are saved, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. This

then is another marvellous work of Deityfaith to understand the divine mysteries; and that faith which worketh by love, and produces obedience to the will of God, is the true and only characteristic of the spiritual state of man. And while faith enables us to understand the mysteries of redemption, it doth also impart the knowledge of the gifts of the Holy Spirit :gifts, which were vouchsafed to the twelve Apostles, when the cause of Christianity was confided to them, in order that they might evidence before men "the wondrous works of God." The Holy Spirit descended in a bodily bodily shape, in cloven tongues, like as of fire', upon the heads of the Apostles, and gave to them a power which alone could have emanated from the Deity, the power of working miracles, the power of inspiration, and the power of spreading throughout a heathen land the divine tenets of Christianity. See then

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Fire was one of the emblems of the Holy Ghost; and yλwσσɑι πʊρòs being no uncommon expression, and being one used in the Hebrew by Isaiah, the appearance was that of cloven tongues of flame.

"the wondrous works of God," see the conversion of thousands in a single day, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the glorious effect, which that Gospel achieved. Oh! we bid you look back to those days of heathenism, when the rude altar, and the graven image were the chief objects of men's worship; see them torn down by these men of God, and on their site see erected the true and eternal temples of the Lord. We bid you look to that day, when St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the Apostles, went forth in the strength of Jehovah, clad in the armour of God, with the sword of the Spirit to wage a spiritual war with the world, to trample upon sin, and ultimately to decide the destinies of empires. See them imparting spiritual life to the dead, exciting to the battle the lost house of Israel, and extending to the Gentiles the blessings of heaven. But after all, what are historical facts unless they produce admiration of" the wondrous works of God?" The heart must be affected by the sacred truth-the glad tidings must enchant the soul-must convert the crea

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