brought into subjection to the Lord Jesus. I observed, also, that it was progressive. "Sanctification," the Shorter Catechism tells us "is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man, after the image of God, and are enabled, more and more, to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness." This is the nature of sanctification. It proceeds, from small beginnings, to a great increase. It is just like a grain of mustard seed, scarcely perceptible at first, but it goes on till it becomes a great tree. It is thus that it operates on the heart and mind; upon the whole outward, as well as upon the whole inward man. It is like the morning light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. I then shewed you also how it was attained, it is God's work-we cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean. If the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots, no more can they that are accustomed to do evil learn to do well. It is the work of divine power, and that divine Redeemer, who has said, "all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," can subdue all people to his will, can conquer the hardest and stoniest heart, can bring their whole desires into captivity to himself. It is His work, not merely at the commencement: the great artificer must be at the laying of the foundation stone; and not only so, but superintending and assisting to the close, from the first to the last, through all the intermediate steps of our advancement in holiness, till we arrive at the fulness of the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus-till we be no longer fitted to live in this world of sin and corruption-till we be translated into the world of purity, where no sin is to be found. The whole is the work of God; he must begin and carry forward, and he must perfect. This was shewn from the declarations of God's word, and from the experience of the people of God. They know that their own efforts are fruitless and unavailing, unless God be with them to strengthen, help, and uphold; but the word of God tells us that God makes use of means. Our Lord, when he prays to his heavenly Father that his disciples might be sanctified, says, "Sanctify them through thy truth-thy word is truth;" and we do not hesitate to affirm, that it is by the word of truth, either communicated in writing, or addressed orally to men, that

the salvation of individuals in that church is promoted, and their relation to Christ, their turning to God, their growth in grace, their establishment in peace, purity, and meetness for heaven, secured. It is the word of salvation that is preached unto perishing sinners, and it is of essential importance to the most advanced Christian as well as to him that is just beginning to lisp, as it were, the language of praise; it is just of as much importance to those that have made the greatest progress in the divine life, as to those who have made the least; just of as much in the end, as in the beginning. And how valuable must be that word, when it is considered that it comes home to all circumstances, that it is a light to the feet, and a lamp to the path, that it comforts in distress, soothes in the hour of sorrow, and upholds in the hour of death!

But how does the word sanctify us? It is to this that I am now to turn your attention. In the first place, it has a tendency to sanctify, by the discoveries it makes to us; secondly, by the motives it presents to us; and, thirdly, by the examples it holds out to us. In the first place, the word has a tendency to sanctify us, by the discoveries it makes. Where there is ignorance of divine things, there cannot be much purity; where the mind is darkened, the heart must be corrupted-the life cannot be holy. No doubt, much knowledge maketh mad, and much religious knowledge too, there may be, without any sanctity of character. A man may be profoundly learned in the truths of religion, and yet the light of his own mind may be darkness: he may still continue, notwithstanding all he knows of the ways of God, in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity; he may not be, in any degree, conformed to the divine will and image; he may look unto the Lamb of God, but not behold him in the mirror that is held up to him; and, beholding him in the mirror of salvation, he may go and forget what manner of person he is. But this is not the natural tendency of the thing-this is not the design, and this is not the effect of sacred revelation, nor was the word of God communicated for this purpose. Its tendency is good, if it be used well; but it may be perverted-familiarity with it may defeat the gracious purpose the Lord had in view in communicating it to us.

He is the propitiation for our sins, but not for ours only. His atonement, as it was applied to all our race, is capable of pardoning all our race. To speak indeed, of its pardoning, though never applied to us, is unmeaning language. It cannot be an atonement for our salvation, unless our sins are pardoned by it. Our sins are not pardoned by it, unless it be applied to us; but then to the capability of the extension of the atonement, to the inherent virtue of this atonement, no limits can be set. Not the most inveterate transgressors are placed beyond the reach of its pardoning merit; not the transgression of the darkest stain is removed from its cleansing power. What are all mankind, all that ever have lived, all that ever shall live? They are beings whose numbers can be reckoned, whose rank in the scale of existence can easily be ascertained; but the character of Jesus as God in our nature, cannot be estimated; it stands forth in glory, which, in moral dignity, sinks infinitely beneath it the whole creation of intelligences.

The propitiation made in his person, my brethren, is to be considered as not only taking away the sins of us who believe, but if the whole world would believe, it is equally capable of taking away the sins of the whole world. Who, then, can doubt the power to benefit his own individual case, of what is thus announced universally full? or who, conscious of his need of an atonement, can reasonably doubt that he will receive the blessing of it, especially when he reflects, that even the multitudes that have discarded him, are still invited to come and receive it. Whoever comes, then, to this propitiation whoever comes to this propitiation bewailing his sins, must not allow a suspicious thought to interrupt that confidence which we are called to repose in the fulness of the atonement, and in the freeness of its offer. Whoever would reason you into the idea, that the propitiation is not able to meet your case, account that person an enemy equally to the honour of the Saviour, and your own peace. Say you to every such accuser-There is an advocate with the Father. The satisfaction of Christ is an infinite satisfaction. I will not, I ought not, to despair of pardon. I will raise my supplication, in the persuasion of receiving a gracious answer. I look from myself to my Surety-from my guilt to his atonement-from the throne of justice to the mercy seat-from the

judgment that might righteously have consumed me, to that Lamb as it has been slain, whose blood is sufficient to take away my sins. Say all this in the exercise of faith, with humbleness, with repentance for every sin, with a resolution to rest implicitly in the perfection of the propitiation with which God has declared himself well pleased, seeking before all, in the atoning sacrifice, the means of rendering you like in holiness to him who rendered the sacrifice.

But this leads me to state, in the last place, that to the mercy of the proposal of Christ, and the affectionate concern for souls, are united the strictest jealousy for the interests of holiness. These things write I unto you, that ye sin not." The direct result of teaching you forgiveness through the great propitiation of Christ, is moral purity. If forgiveness had been declared as unpurchased by an infinite ransom, the guilt had been lessened in your estimation; and if guilt had been named by extenuating names -if the message brought by us to you, had conveyed the reconciliation of your conscience to God, by certain tidings of an indulgent and endearing exercise of mercy on his part towards you, then, whatever temporary ease the believing of our word might have given you, it would have proved itself to right reason never to have come from a God of purity, because the peace it offered was separated from holiness. But O to learn, as you do from the Bible, that the salvation of your souls were utterly hopeless, except for the sacrifice of infinite value; to learn that, in order to the remedy for sin, the counsels of eternal wisdom were employed, a blessed Trinity entering into the covenant of grace-the Father giving up the Son-the Son devoting himself to the Father's will, and the Holy Spirit carrying forward the merciful scheme; to learn that, for remission of sin, an atonement had been presented, the value of which rises beyond the computation of every created intelligence; to learn that the plans of eternal wisdom, that the incarnation, that the sacrifice on the cross, that the mediation of his Son, that the advocacy with the Father, that all has been combined in the work of taking away your sins, how efficacious to render an evil in itself as hateful in your souls as the reality ought to make it? What a power has all this to give the body of sin in your hearts its deadly

wound, and to urge you to its destruction? These things are all to lead you that you sin not, that you do not spare from your execration and resistance, one habit of feeling or thought which the divine law forbids,-that you wage war with the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, that you mourn over every instance of the reascendency of evil in your soul, and pray that you yield yourselves no rest while you know, that, instead of aiming after universal holiness, there is some portion of sanctity you have not yet thoroughly acquired, and one sin you have not thoroughly forsaken, and that you bring every motive that arises from saving mercy and threatening judgment, to bear upon your souls, to remove you farther from the corruption of the tempter, and attach you closer and closer to the virtues of the Saviour. Thus the Gospel imparts comfort, but only to the penitent, the Gospel gives encouragement, but bear in mind that encouragement is widely separate from licentiousness,-it diffuses peace, but peace away from all false security-it fixes your trust in God, but shakes from you every vestige of presumption,-the privileges of divine favour are received, but these are to increase your reverence for the divine glory,-the blood of the cross is to quench the flame that raged against the sinner, but it is to inflame his soul the more against sin and his sinful propensities, the whole scheme of salvation animates the souls of believers with delight, but the great design is to animate every part of the Christian character to greater fidelity and diligence. While, then, you listen to the message of grace in the Gospel, a message, which, coming from the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour, addresses you with language of most affectionate concern for your souls, and, by drawing you to the privileges of the divine family, would give you in reality what the name of children implies; and while for that very end you early accept the proposal of Christ so free, that not a being who listens to it is excluded, and so ample, as to present a redemption efficacious, if it were applied, to save the whole human race,-while you rejoice in all this, never forget that the mercy offered you is offered for your redemption from the power, as well as from the effects, of sin, and that as ye cannot be children of God unless ye are seeking resemblance

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to your Father's image, and bewailing every mark of dissimilarity to your Father's will, and as even the advocacy of Christ cannot save a soul that is uniting the deliberate indulgence of follies and worldliness, and lusts, to a professed confidence in the Saviour's atonement, so here is the substance of the Gospel,-" These things are written unto you, that ye sin not.' O! I know the truth-in my heart I feel it! exclaims the penitent believer. Then the scheme of mercy brought in by the Gospel cannot be aught but the harbinger of peace, since the scheme originating in God, introduced by his Only Son, is rendered effectual by the Holy Spirit. find it written, that the Word of Life was manifest in the flesh, and seen and looked upon in all the glory of the only begotten Son of God,-and can I doubt that this was done that I sin not? I find it written, that a most noble fellowship is prepared for believers, even communion with the Father, and the Son, and all the followers of the Lamb who have already washed their robes, and made them white in his blood,-and can I doubt that this is written to me that I sin not? I find it written, that to walk in worldliness is to separate the soul from infinite purity, and can I doubt that this is written to me that I sin not? I find it written, that my nature is fallen, that my corruptions are originally great, that the confessing of my sins in an exercise of faith is to bring forgiveness, and thus that blood, in which the Christian trusts, is not only to pardon him, but to cleanse him from all unrighteousness, and can I doubt that this is written to me that I sin not? Well, I am convinced of the holy design of all that is written in the word of God; but, alas! this is the very conviction that oppresses my heart, and is so ready to enfeeble and depress me. I do strive against all sin, yet I sin. I seek the remedy for all disease, yet the disease exists. I have gone to the great High Priest-I have bared my soul to his inspection, yet the leprosy is there, and conscience, though it never questions the efficacy of what is able to reach the sins of the whole world, yet questions the efficacy of my own faith. Thus, many a mourner in Sion is troubled, but we may say to such a mourner in Sion,-The language I have now put into your mouth, is an expression of grief for the remains of indwelling sin; and then, if it be really grief on account