adorned with the flowers and figures of rhetoric. There were others who attempted to "spoil" the people "through vain deceits;" that is, they gave them excitement instead of spirituality, noise for truth, declamation for application of the truth to their consciences. The consequence was, that the hearers were never confirmed, never established, in the truth; and whatever teacher came and manifested these things to the people, he was the man, and they were immediately running after him, and siding themselves with him as a partisan. The apostle tells us they were "like children, tossed about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive."

And is there not still as much reason for caution as ever? Men still love the same degree of novelty, still have the same itching ears, still are characterized by the same wandering minds. It is difficult to find a congregation any thing like the Bereans, who will not take any thing we say for truth, but are determined, each for himself, to take the Bible when they go home, and compare the sermon with it. People are careless of comparing what they hear with the Word of God, and of bringing it to that standard. It is therefore the more necessary to exhibit to believers the necessity of their stability in the truth; and the apostle offers two reasons for this necessity. One is, the glory and dignity of Christ. It is not meet to see them perpetually wavering in the doctrines of the Gospel; for " in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." The next reason is, their completeness by that alliance. They are "complete in him;" and therefore (as if he said) you need no better Saviour; you can have no better escape; ye are already complete in him: why, therefore, look after something new?

I know not that this is a sin chargeable on any who hear me this morning I know not that any individual present has itching ears, is desirous of hearing new truths in eloquent language, adorned with the beauties of rhetoric; but I know that one way to prevent it in the church of Christ is to present the benefits and the excellences which they derive from this association with the Lord Jesus. I now publish this to every believer present, whether he be stronger or weaker, whether he be a babe, or a son, or a father in Christ. I am aware that multitudes of teachers have gone over to the Antinomian school, and have exhibited the power and the blessedness of some of the distinguishing truths of the Gospel, unconnected with their practical effect upon the hearts and lives; and that, in consequence of this, many teachers, extremely fearful that the

people would run with them, have gone to the opposite extreme, kept those truths in the back ground, and introduced nothing but doctrines of a practical nature. Now, I believe, with your late venerable pastor, that the only way to destroy Antinomianism is to exhibit good sound Calvinism. I believe the only way to take from the spirits of the people any itch for novelty is to exhibit to them the fulness of the blessedness of their state in Christ, and then to draw from that state the powerful motives which would induce them to walk honourably, humbly, and actively in the world.

I beg, therefore, to lay particular emphasis on the sentiment, that this text does not refer to advanced Christians only. Some may be induced to suppose, that it would do well for an aged father, standing on the brink of eternity, and about to enter another world; but it is a text which applies to every believer in the whole family of God, be he weak or strong, poor or rich, trembling, and “fearful to launch away," or with the full assurance of hope, and the brightest prospects of the heavenly world. Therefore, let all who are interested in the Saviour give audience this morning, and pray that the Spirit may enable me to exhibit this blessedness.

First: Believers are complete in Christ BY UNION TO HIS PERSON. There are four figures by which this most delightful union is set forth in the Scriptures.

It is compared to a vine. The branch is not tied to the stem ; it is not dependent on some foreign support for its existence: the branch naturally grows out of the vine to which it is allied, forms part of the vine itself, is nourished and grows up by sap derived from it, and bears fruit by virtue of its union with the vine. This doctrine is beautifully set forth in John, xv., and you need only to be reminded of the chapter, that you may read the verses when you go home. "Without me," says the Saviour, that is, separated ye can do nothing." How secure, how blessed is such

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a union!

The union is exemplified by the stones of a building resting on a foundation: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, that ye should offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Believers are stones, but Christ is the lively stone; and they are made living stones by being built upon him. What can be more completely safe? "Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." How many attempts have been made to dissever Christians from

the living stone, and the life imparted to their spirits by union to Christ! The fire, the sword, chains, imprisonments, and confiscations, have all been instruments by which men have attempted to destroy this union; but they could not. When the magistrate told Polycarp that he had beasts of prey which would devour him, "Do your best," he said, "I will not deny my Lord and Master. Four-score years and six have I served him, and he has never said an unkind word to me; and shall I deny him now?" When poor Jane West, the blind woman, who used to pay people to teach her the Scriptures, because she could not read, was condemned at Derby for her attachment to Christ, the poor young woman, led by the hand of her brother, said, "I go to the stake with cheerfulness, because I am going to Christ." And when John Knight and Bradford were united together to be burnt in Smithfield, and poor John Knight, the apprentice boy, only nineteen, was a martyr for Christ, and his heart began to faint, Bradford said, "Cheer up, brother, we shall have a merry supper with Christ our Lord to-night." It is not possible to break or divide this union.

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This union is compared to the marriage union. Thy Maker is thy husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name." Now this is the closest of all living unions and friendships upon earth; but it is often unhappily, sometimes speedily dissevered; and, at the very best, this union only reaches to the most distant period of the longest life; imperfection is attached to every part of it. But this to which it is compared is infinitely above it: the flame of Christ's love can never be quenched; many waters cannot quench it, nor can the floods drown it. Nothing in his bride shall ever produce a divorce; he hateth putting away; and, strange to say, ere he united himself to his bride, he foresaw all her iniquities, rebellions, backslidings, hardness of heart, and wanderings; and yet he says, "I love thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee." All unions among men are imperfect: this is complete.

It is compared to the union of the members with the head. We are said to "grow up in Him who is the living head," to be members one of another, attached and united to Christ as the great Head of the church. How firmly united is every member to the head! What sympathy has the head with every part! How the head influences, directs, and governs the whole! How impossible to sever the head from the members without the destruction of both! "Because I live, ye shall live also." The head cannot

say to the feet, not to the smallest member, "I have no need of thee." Think of this, weak Christian, that the completion of the body of the church to Christ would not be perfect without you; that the meanest member of Christ's church must get to heaven, or else heaven itself would be deficient of one for whom Christ shed his blood." He that toucheth them toucheth the apple of my eye." O! how completely safe, blessed, and happy, must this union be! Friendships shall be dissolved, unions shall be broken, contracts shall be set aside by death, those on whom you have leaned, die, and be no more for ever, and Jonathans, and those on whom you have trusted, depart to another world. But of this union you may ask, with triumph, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ?"

Secondly: Believers are complete in Christ BY JUSTIFICATION THROUGH HIS BLOOD. It is to be noted that they were the children of wrath, even as others; the penalties and curses of a broken law were their portion as well as the portion of others, the sentence was issued against them, and they, like others, were in the prison of justice until the reprieve of mercy should be expired, and then be cast into the dungeon of hell. This was their state; they were in themselves anything but complete; they owed ten thousand talents, and they had not a farthing to pay; they were debtors to the crown and dignity of heaven, and yet obstinate, and unwilling to submit. But when God, by his Spirit, discovered to them their true condition, their danger and misery, they saw, for the first time, that they had nothing which could make them complete before him. If for the future they attempted to be perfect, and said, "I will resolve never to commit sin any more," then there were the sins of their past lives; how can these be atoned for? If they said, "I will endeavour to atone for them by some perfect acts of obedience for the future," then this Scripture met them, "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified." The very discovery of their guilt obliges them to cry, like the leper, "Unclean! unclean!" And what was to be done? Must they lie in this state of guilt, and perish? No-everlasting glories crown the brow of Jesus of Nazareth!-though they are incomplete in themselves, they are complete in him. When Jacob hesitated to send Benjamin into Egypt, in order that corn might be bought for the family, Judah said, "Send him, my father, I will be surety for him :" and these words satisfied Jacob's mind, and he entrusted the child to Judah. And so Jesus presented himself to his Father for us, and said,

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"I will be surety for them; I will take their debts on myself; their curse shall fall on me, their punishment shall be mine." The terms were accepted: in the fulness of time Christ came, " made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. "Made under the law," that is, made under its commands, its penalties, its cursings. And when he came in our flesh, in the same nature that sinned, then justice demanded of him all our debt. Jehovah laid upon him the iniquities of us all: "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts." Now those sins he bore, those curses he endured; and being God as well as man, he suffered all the punishment his people would have endured through all eternity. In the strong language of Erskine, "With one great draught, he drank hell dry." There was sufficient in this atonement to be an acquittal for all the sins and iniquities which we have committed.

Now hearken to the result. Christ offered himself a sacrifice to God, a sweet-smelling savour, and the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake, because he has magnified the law and made it honourable. He became sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God through him." " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:" so that now when the sins of Judah are inquired for there are none; and when the sins of Israel are inquisitorially sought after they cannot be found; the great scapegoat on whom the sins of the people were laid, carried them into the land of everlasting forgetfulness. "I have cast their iniquities behind my back;" and he will never turn to look on them again; he has cast them into the depths of the sea, and not one of them shall ever rise up against them.

The moment a convinced sinner believes this, the moment he receives the atonement of the Lord Jesus, and the righteousness he wrought out, his guilt is removed, his innocency is declared, his sentence is reversed; and he is not only a candidate for heaven, but is actually permitted to have a foretaste of it. The merits of Christ are imputed to the sinner, and are as if he had wrought them himself; he is complete, therefore, in Christ, without any addition of good works. He has a righteousness, and what is it? A full righteousness, adequate to the satisfaction of the Eternal Father: an only righteousness; for there is "no other name given under heaven whereby men can be saved:" an everlasting righteousness,