that we shall be hereafter placed in those eternal mansions which the Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for us, but for which we must be individually prepared and qualified by the Spirit of our God.

Let me, then, call upon you, earnestly and solemnly, as you would not deceive yourselves, and as you cannot deceive God, to consider whether this great vital truth of our religion has at all the same place in your minds which it possesses in the revealed Word, or in the services of our church. I will confine myself, as our time is short, to the latter. Look only at the prominency of this great doctrine of the absolute necessity of the Spirit of God for every degree of spiritual life, as manifest in the service of your own church. Observe only how you yourselves have recognized it since you entered this church today. At the very opening of this service we besought God to "grant us his Holy Spirit, that those things might please him which we do at this present, and that the rest of our lives hereafter may be pure and holy, so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord." Here in a single sentence the Spirit of God is recognized, prayed for, acknowledged as the only person through whom our present service can be made pleasing to God, or our future lives holy, or our meetness for eternal joy possible. You then next solemnly besought the Lord to "make clean your hearts within you," and to "take not his Holy Spirit from you." You have then thus invoked the same Spirit in one of the most comprehensive prayers that mortal ever penned, in the beautiful litany of our church: "O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, have mercy upon us, miserable sinners." And you have afterwards, in the same prayer, besought God to "endue you with the grace of his Holy Spirit, to amend your lives according to his most holy word." While in addition to these (and many more might be adduced) you have, in the collect for the day, expressly asked God to "grant you by the same Spirit, to give you a right judgment in all things" most clearly, therefore, inferring, that not only in the first awakening of spiritual life, and not only after you have received this divine gift, and have been, like the prophet's army, restored to animation, and set up upon their feet, you still require, day by day, and hour by hour, the abiding influences of that divine Spirit, to "give you a right judgment in all things."

Your necessity, then, is, even according to your own confession, just as real, just as uniform, as was that of the restored army of the prophet. At any part of their renewed existence, had their breath been again recalled, every individual would have dropped motionless and lifeless, on the spot on which he stood. At any period, yes, at the latest and most advanced of our spiritual life, let but God withdraw his breath, and recall his Spirit, and the life of faith is gone, the Christian is no more. The very act of withdrawing his Spirit would bring with it instant spiritual death: for the believer only lives, even at his best estate, moment by moment upon the strength of the Redeemer, with whom he is in blessed union, and has imparted to him as he needeth, by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. If, brethren, you are convinced of these truths, (and who that knows the Word of God will deny them?) then all we ask, and all we urge upon you is, to pray for the Spirit, to live in the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit: and what will be the consequence? Let the apostle answer: "This I say, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh:""He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the

Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting:" for "to be carnally minded a death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

Mark, then, the effects, not only in the language of the Apostle, but in the language and in the meaning of common sense. Is it not, in other words this, To live as the world lives-its pleasures your pleasures, its follies your follies, its sins your sins-is full and sufficient proof that you are not partakers of the Spirit of God. O brethren, be assured that all religion which falls short of the possession of this blessed Spirit is, as we have seen, without life; it has every thing pertaining to life, except the power of breathing.

What can such a religion profit you? It is as the sinews and flesh of outward form, but nothing more. There can be no life in you; it cannot impart to you the blessed relationship which every Christian bears to his heavenly Father; and for this simple reason, that the Word of God declares that it is only by the Spirit of adoption that we can be taught to cry "Abba, Father." We cannot enable you to draw near to God in prayer, for the same Word declares, that we can only "have access by one Spirit to the Father." We cannot make you holy, for the same Word assures us, we are "sanctified by the Spirit of our God." We cannot lead you to hope that you are the subjects of God's sovereign love, for the same Word says expressly, he hath only "chosen us through sanctification of the Spirit." We cannot give you any ground of hope, that you have the abiding blessing of our God; for the same Word declares, that we can only "know that he abideth in us by the Spirit that he hath given us." Lastly, we can never prepare you for his eternal kingdom; for the same Word asserts, that "except a man be born of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Cease, then, we urge you, and affectionately entreat you, from a religion made up of flesh and sinews, forms and ordinances; and be satisfied with nothing short of that powerful indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the breath of spiritual life, never denied to those who seek it, which renews the heart, sanctifies the life, regulates the affections, detaches us from the world, and renders us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

THE CHRISTIAN CONFLICT.

REV. T. DUNN,

MARSH CHAPEL, STRATFORD, JULY 8, 1835.

"He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."-REVELATIONS, ii. fl.

It is an obvious truth that all temporal blessings emanate from Divine goodness; man cannot command or purchase them, nor does he deserve them. Yet this admitted truism would not detract from the guilt of that individual who chose to resign himself to indolence and indifference, or render it unjust that he should suffer for yielding to such conduct. Your daily bread is the gift of heaven's munificence; yet, "If a man will not work, neither should he eat," is the just decree both of reason and revelation. It is in God that we live, move, and have our being. Still would you not strongly censure every man that failed to use the appointed means for the preservation of his existence; and would you not denounce him guilty of suicide, who should abstain from food, air, and exercise? The husbandman would never realize the harvest, but for the dew and the rain which descends, and the sun which shines at God's command: this does not, however, release him from the obligation of ploughing, sowing, and preparing, in every possible way, for the desired event.

Such is the connexion between the bestowments of infinite mercy, and the duty of man, in reference to things temporal: and the connexion is as close and perpetual in reference to spiritual gifts. Of these the ever blessed God is the sole and sovereign dispenser; yet, you are taught, that their communication is to be preceded by earnest and continued entreaty on your part: "Thus saith the Lord, I will yet further be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." Under the economy of grace, the command and promise is, “Ask and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find: for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth:" while the destruction of the impenitent spirit, that refuses to rise and act upon the invitation of the God of love, will be as inevitable as it will be just. "Because I called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress, and anguish cometh upon you." It is evidently, then, imperative on all to whom the Gospel is proclaimed to seek "the pearl of great price," and having received it, to retain it with the utmost tenacity, to guard it with the most sedulous care, that its brightness may never be effaced, its value always appreciated. "As ye have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye-in him, rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught; abounding therein with thanksgiving;" is but one of many injunctions of a similar

character. So that while redemption from the curse is according to the riches of God's grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, a knowledge of an interest in that redemption, joy in God, the hope, the prospect, the earnest of heaven, will usually be in proportion to the devotedness in the service of God, and adherence to his commands that may be evinced. If you would enter the gates of paradise, expect not to be carried to the skies as a dead body is carried to the grave, on other men's shoulders; you must task your powers to the uttermost, ever striving to enter in, until seated before the throne, you join the everlasting song, saying, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and glory, and blessing."

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The text is formed on this principle, you are not instructed to attempt some great thing, as if it were possible for you, unaided by the might of the Omnipotent, to attain eternal bliss, the object of the inspired writer is to inflame you with a holy ambition to conquer, in the best of causes. You are here viewed as a soldier of the cross, while one of the most sublime and momentous considerations that can be conceived, is urged why you should be vigilant and unceasing in your efforts to obtain the crown. "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." That you may overcome, and thus be exempt from the bitter pains of eternal death, allow me to remind you, first, of the opponents you need to have subdued; secondly, of the means for their subjugation; and thirdly, of the felicity consequent upon their overthrow.

THE ENEMIES YOU REQUIRE TO HAVE SUPPRESSED. Their name is Legion, for they are many: yet their aim is one-it is to possess the citadel of the heart, to dethrone its rightful sovereign, to enthrone an usurper and traitor in his stead. This contest is not of modern origin: it began in the garden of Eden, has been carried on ever since, and is now raging as fiercely as ever in all the inhabited parts of the earth: the foul spirit of darkness, with his thousand emissaries, is arrayed against the soul that would live answerable to its high destiny, that would rise to the adoration and love of its glorious Creator. It is essential then that you survey your opponents, that you mark their operations, while you abhor and aim to intercept their designs. The most formidable foe that presents himself is Satan, the powerful, the malicious being that destroyed man in a state of innocence, the destructive spirit that compassed the first murder, the accursed fiend that has originated all the moral evil whereby the world has been deformed; and myriads of immortal spirits bereft of eternal happiness, have fallen into the caverns of endless despair. This subtle opponent struggles for the throne of the heart by introducing within it, enmity against God, disaffection to his authority, distrust of his providence, aversion to his service, hatred to his people. He darkens the understanding, hardens the heart, stifles the cry of the sinner for mercy and salvation, labours assiduously and unceasingly to hurl the human race into the vortex of destruction. He tempts one to lie, another to steal, a third to blaspheme: a portion of our species he fills with pride and arrogance; another section he torments with envy and every hateful feeling. Into the minds of a different section he infuses doubts of the Being of a God, or the authority of Revelation. There are some whom the insidious foe plunges into the depths of sensuality; others have suggested to them the fallacious idea that they are sure of immortal joys, because in some respects better than thousands around them; while not a few

of the sons of men are driven by this hellish adversary to the verge of despair by being instructed either that God is too great and too holy to notice them with approbation, or that they are far too vile and depraved to receive the blessings of eternity. Youthful inquirers after salvation are especial objects of Satanic hate: he whispers in the ear of such, that they are born into the world to enjoy it; to their imagination he pourtrays the riches, honours, and pleasures of this world; to them he suggests that death is far distant, that the future will supply abundant opportunities for attention to the soul and eternity; or he hardens their spirits to all entreaty, and all remonstrance, that eventually they may care for none of the things that relate to their everlasting happiness; or the crafty fiend strives for the mastery by lulling them asleep in the lap of forgetfulness, and arms of indifference, ever soothing them with the idea, that if they are not so perfect as might be desired, the mercy of God will overlook, or forgive any deficiency that may be discerned. Thus is the foe ever active with young converts to divert them from all proper thoughts of God and themselves. Hence we occasionally perceive such persons spending their time and energies in matters of doubtful disputation, and conforming to the world, when they should be growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

But not only youthful inquirers, professors of religion in general are constantly assailed by the prince of darkness: he seeks to delude and destroy by tempting them to cast off the fear of God; to restrain prayer, to neglect the means of grace, to come down from their watch-tower. He tells them, that if they are to be saved, nothing can prevent it; that God does not see sin in his people; that he only sees his people in Christ, the Beloved, in whom they are cepted; and that, therefore, he does not with disapprobation notice, and will not punish, the transgressions of his chosen. Consequently the father of lies goes on to suggest that all anxiety and circumspection is superfluous, and only the mark of a weak faith, or he works upon their fears, suggesting that their afflictions are an evidence of God's displeasure-that heaven is too high and holy for them-that they were never truly converted, that their pretensions to piety are a mere delusion and dream, that they have not persevered as they ought, and that their many misgivings and anxieties are only the prelude tc their eternal overthrow. Thus from the pinnacle of presumption does the foe aim to precipitate the saints of the Most High to the gulf of despair: or if these courses do not succeed, the plan of attack is changed; the adversary and the accuser covers the servants of the living God with the mantle of sloth; in which condition the duties of the closet are neglected, the works of piety abandoned, and the cross, which the command of a risen Saviour required to be taken up, is shunned. The foe of God and man produces this languid Laodicean state, by tempting them to cavil at and criticise the dispensers of God's truth in a censorious spirit, or by inducing them to occupy their leisure time in vain conversation, or in perusing light and frivolous publications, until the holy and elevating influence of the Gospel is scarcely imbibed by them at all.

While, therefore, men of every age, rank, and clime, individually and collectively are assaulted by the cruel deceiver and his emissaries, those portions of the human family who evince any anxiety to gain the heights of the new Jerusalem, are peculiarly assailed by the powers of darkness.

I have thus referred you to some of the wiles of your chief adversary: to enumerate them all is impossible, for