ing the relations between them, is involved in what must be accepted as true in order to exhibit clearly this great Scripture doctrine! How completely must the whole proportion of divine faith lie open before us, in order to appreciate fully the revealed method of our pardon, and the grounds and effects thereof! And yet, of itself, how simple and obvious is the truth, that in order to be pardoned we must forsake our sins and turn to God, and that if we will not do this we must perish! And yet, once more, with what light and triumph do the doctrines of grace, so simple in themselves, so deep and wide in their connections, come forth always from the most thorough and severe trial of them! Thus what we have sought to explain and establish in this chapter, involves the absolute nature of God as revealed-the absolute truth of the revelation of him-the reality and efficacy of the plan of salvation therein disclosed-and the mode of the divine existence revealed in accordance with that method of saving sinOn the other hand, it involves the absolute truth of all that relates to the creation, fall, nature, present condition, and endless destiny of man: the absolute truth, also, of the spiritual system disclosed unto salvation, and the divine authority of the means of its enforcement-sin-holiness-the covenants-grace -knowledge ordinances. All is true-all is real or else all is worthless, and the whole scriptural conception of Repentance is inexplicable--absurd-unreal. In all such cases two immoveable supports remain to the Christian heart. It has, in its own inner life, that which attests the certainty of these great truths of God. It has in the universal experience of the human race, and in the surest conclusions of the human understanding, that which attests the futility of all other methods ever suggested to men, whereby sinners might escape the wrath to come.

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CHAPTER XV.

THE NEW OBEDIENCE.

I. 1. What God purposes concerning his Children.-2. What he requires of them.3. What he is preparing them for-and how.-4. The New Obedience: with the Relation of Good Works and the Christian Warfare thereto.-II. 1. The New Obedience, in its Inward Nature: whole Work of the Divine Spirit, as related to all Gracious Exercises of the Renewed Soul.-2. Duty toward God-specially embraced in the Internal Aspect of our New Obedience: Influence of this on our duty to our Neighbour.-3. New Obedience as rendered to God, distinguished from those Exercises of it called Good Works: Summary of all Duty.-4. Special Fruits of our New Obedience-rendered unto God.-5. Prayer.-6. Fasting: Watching.-7. Thanksgiving.-8. Vows: Lawful Oaths.-III. 1. The Heart kept: the Heart hardened.-2. Natural Aspect of these things: Gracious Aspect of them.-3. Human Nature, when under their Complete Influence.

I.-1. IF we desire to have grace and peace multiplied unto us, we ought to know, assuredly, that this is possible only through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing was ever uttered by the Saviour directly to God who sent him, with more emphasis and solemnity, than that the eternal life which he bestowed on as many as the Father had given to him, was accomplished in this, That they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. It is only through the knowledge of him who has called us unto glory and virtue, that all things which pertain to life and godliness are bestowed upon us with divine power. In this manner exceeding great and precious promises are given to us: and through these promises, having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust, we are made partakers of the divine nature."

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2. Well does it become us, having such a course as this set before us, to run in it patiently. Giving all diligence, we ought to add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For it is only as these things are in 1 John, xvii. 3. 2 2 Peter, i. 2-4.

us and abound, that we are neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nay, it is by giving diligence to make our calling and election sure, that we are kept from falling; and that an entrance shall be administered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. On the other hand, when we lack these things we are blind, and cannot see afar off, and have forgotten that we were purged from our old sins."

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3. That we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; is exactly to the intent that we should show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. The saving grace of God has taught us nothing more distinctly, than that they who look for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; must not only deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; but must realize that the Saviour gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These are the very things which the ambassadors of Christ have in charge to speak, and exhort, and rebuke, with all authority. The great thing for us to do, is to address ourselves earnestly to this vast concern of working out our salvation and considering the awful majesty of God, to do it trembling, with his awe and his dread upon us and considering the immensity of the work and its issues, to do it with all anxiety and pungent fear. Through it all we have this unspeakable comfort and encouragement, that it is God himself who works in us both to will and to do both the purpose and the ability; and that he does this of his good pleasure. Infinite mercy, in infinite complacency, is working out its fruits in us.'

4. It is obvious, therefore, alike from what God purposes concerning us, and what he requires of us, and what he is preparing us for; that a New Obedience, widely different from any thing that could be rendered to him by any creature, except a penitent and believing sinner; is the very substance of that Repentance by which we turn from sin unto God, and of that Faith by which the heart is purified and the world overcome, and is the very expression of that Sanctification through which we are perfected in 21 Pet., ii. 9. 3 Titus, ii. 11-15. * Phil., ii. 12, 13.

1 2 Pet., i. 5-11.

holiness. In like manner, Good Works are the necessary result of this New Obedience-the very manifestation of it. And to complete the case, the Christian Warfare is that ceaseless conflict with all the enemies of God and of our souls, through which every follower of Christ must exhibit his New Obedience, and make his Good Works manifest. Lovest thou me ? is the conme? stant and searching question of our divine Lord. Follow me, is his perpetual command.'

II.-1. The Scriptures plainly teach that they who are born of the Spirit, are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. To explain and to enforce this divine workmanship in the human soul, is one of the chief ends of the divine word. Renovated in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, after the image of God, we become new creatures and while innumerable blessings and benefits are thus conferred upon us, new duties also arise, and a new ability to perform all duty is given to us by God. Every exercise of every Christian grace is a putting forth of this new ability—a manifestation of our New Obedience: no matter whether that exercise be purely internal, as, for example, simple Faith in the Lord Jesus, or whether it is connected with the most striking external circumstances, or lies in the performance of some great outward act. The great end of our existence is to glorify and to enjoy God: to do this, his written word is our infallible rule: and the chief things taught us therein are, what we ought to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of us. When God works in us, therefore, both to will and to do, he enables us unto all that he requires of us for these two things taken fully, embrace all the power, all the capacity of our nature. To grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, is to grow up unto the fruition of eternal life; for eternal life is, to know God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. And this is not only required of us by God as the continual exercise of our New Obedience, but is of the very nature of the New Creature, and of its New Obedience. The root of the whole matter lies here; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness-and out of it are the issues of life. It would, therefore, be altogether appropriate in this place to take up, in succession, all the exercises of the re1 John, xxi. 15, 16, 17; Matt. xvi. 24; xix. 21. 2 Eph., ii. 10.

newed soul, and the work of the Spirit on which they are founded, in order to explain, in that way, the inward nature of our New Obedience. This, however, in all its fulness, is the work of the ministers of the Gospel: nor is it necessary to go over that aspect of the subject here, in a general manner, after devoting the whole of the preceding Book to the careful discussion of those great benefits of the Covenant of Redemption, by the application of which to us we are borne forward to the consummation of grace and the commencement of glory.

2. It is the duty which we owe to God, which is especially embraced in that aspect of our New Obedience, which is internal. But the duty which we owe to God is transcendently great, when compared with any other obligation binding on us; so much so that all other duties which bind us have their origin in this, and take their rise from truths and relations, the whole of which involve God and our duty to him. Independently of the true and the good, there is no such idea as duty in the human soul. But God is the very sum and source of all truth and all goodness. Our denial of the being and perfections of God, does not obliterate God or change his attributes; if it could, the sense of duty would cease the moment we embraced atheism. As our denial of God, of truth, and of goodness, affects only ourselves, it does not extinguish, but only pollutes and degrades our nature. It is manifest, therefore, why our offences against each other are accounted by a righteous God offences against himself; and why our charities to each other are reckoned by a gracious God as done to him. Thus David, bewailing his terrible sin in the matter of Uriah, said to God, Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight:' And in the great day, the cruel omission of our duties to each other, will be charged and punished as offences against the blessed Saviour; while not even a cup of cold water, given to his disciples in his name, will be forgotten by him then." And this is the very rule of eternal judgment: and the sentence following that rule will be, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom; depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!

3. There is, however, a very plain sense in which the exercise of our New Obedience directly to God, is distinguishable from those exercises of it which we call Good Works. There is a • Matt., xxv. 31-46.

1 Psalm li. 4.