Let us, therefore, acknowledge Him in all the good gifts we receive, and say, "These are from the Father of lights :" and if we would have them begun, or increased, let us go to him, and acknowledge not only that it is his prerogative to bestow every good gift, and every perfect gift, but go expressly praying for his blessing, and believing that he who asks shall receive.

Since it is "the word of truth" that is the great instrument of conversion, let us honour the instrument. It is nothing to a truly serious mind, and I should say it is nothing to a rational mind, if I had not seen the contrary,-but, to a truly serious mind, it is nothing what the world thinks of this. If the Gospel comes, and is not opposed, it is a proof that it is partially set forth. Or, if men hear it merely to get headknowledge, merely to know something more about it as a system, it may fail to become an instrument of conversion to them. But it is intended to prevail so as to change the heart; to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Therefore, it is no wonder that the world opposes it, and that the wicked one rages when he sees the Gospel successful.

Brethren! instead of our being misled and imposed upon by these things, let us consider the assertion of the text, and what God does by "the word of truth." Lectures on morality may make men become moral; but nothing save "the word of truth" can make men Christians. And, therefore, we should take care not only what, but how we hear.

What a miserable condition must you and I be in, if we have not pardon, if we have not holiness, "without which no man shall see the Lord!" The truth is, you and I must know and experience these things here, or we shall never experience them at all. We should see the necessity of a change of heart, and pray to God the Holy Spirit to perform this work in us. We must learn here to say with the Apostle, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." If we learn not this song now, how should we be able to join in it, if we were even transported among the redeemed? We should have no sympathy with, no taste for, their praises.

Finally, if by being regenerated and united to Christ, we are to bring forth fruit, and to be presented by our great High Priest to God,-in imitation of the law of the first-fruits, -then we need not ask, what sort of character a Christian

ought to be. He is set forth, in the text, as a consecrated character. He is preparing, and ripening here, that he may hereafter be presented by God the Son, to God the Father, as 66 a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.' Such a one will regard what the Apostle James says, in the verses following my text: 19 to 27. There should be nothing in the character of a Christian but what is holy, and honourable, and "of good report." We should abstain from the very appearance of evil. 1 Thess. v. 22.

God forbid, I should be so foolish as to bring these things as a title. When morality is put in the place of Christ,-when it is brought to set aside the blood of sprinkling,—it then becomes an opposer. I would honour Socrates, Plato, Confucius, and others, as diligent men, doing their best by the light of a dim taper. But how? not as I would honour St. Paul, setting forth God's marvellous light that was not their dispensation. I would honour them as men groping in the dark, and endeavouring to find their way. But let us not go to their taper in the midst of the blaze of the sun! Rather, let us say with Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." Let us press after the mind of the Apostle, when he counted all things but loss for Christ.

Do we know these things? And have we tasted of the good word of God-" the word of truth?" Let us remember the exhortation, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.' -Have we talents? have we time at disposal? Let us endeavour to do good to the bodies and souls of men. Christianity is not merely a system of obligations; it has privileges. Other religions may bid us do this, or that: but I feel I cannot do anything but what is defiled. I take my Bible, and I see here is One, to break open the prison doors: One, to bind up my wounds, like the good Samaritan: One, who has opened" a fountain for sin and uncleanness:" One, who will show me the path of life who has himself trod this path: Christ is "the first-fruits," the proper pledge of our resurrection to life. Then, let us in all things seek to be conformed to our Divine Head.

[H.-Date uncertain.]

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VI.-CHRISTIANITY A HOLY RELIGION.

But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness.—Obadiah, ver. 17.

WHEN We take the Bible into our hands, in the Church of God, we should consider that we are standing upon holy ground. We should feel the profoundest awe: we should, as it were, take off our shoes from our feet; as it was said to Moses ;- -an eastern custom, as a token of the greatest reverence. When we open prophecy, we should remember, that that God who knows everything from the beginning to the end, who has power to perform what he pleases, tells us, in the prophecies, of his mind, and will, and design; and, at the same time, gives us a standing memorial that he could declare all that should happen: and that, though heaven and earth might pass away, yet his word should not pass away. In considering this prediction, I shall,

I. EXPLAIN THE TERMS USED IN THE PROPHECY; and endeavour to show,

II. THE USE WE SHOULD MAKE OF THE PASSAGE.

I. IN EXPLAINING THIS PROPHECY, we must remember, that it had a twofold reference: first, to a temporal deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, notwithstanding the triumphs of Edom, or Esau, their perpetual enemy; and secondly, it had reference to that great salvation wrought out for the Church by Jesus Christ, to which all the prophets bear witness; together with the final overthrow and destruction of all her enemies.

Man can see no more than the thing before him—if even he can see that. But God, who has the glance of omniscience, can see all things, with all their relations to each other. He can therefore tell, not only what will happen first, but what will happen afterwards: not only what will happen in the prophet's own time, but also in the remote ages to follow. Take an instance in God's promise to Abraham, Gen. xxii. 18; the Apostle shows this to be a promise made to the Church in all ages, Gal. iii. 7. So, that to Jacob, at

Beth-el: as says the prophet Hosea; "He found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us; even the Lord God of Hosts; the Lord is his memorial.”

"Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance;" i.e. escape.The "deliverance" spoken of in the text, was a stumblingblock to the ancient, as it is to the modern, Jews. Their grand mistake lay in not perceiving, that their real enemies were the world, the flesh, and the devil; in not perceiving, how vain it was to talk of enemies subdued, and yet sin remaining. The true meaning seems to be this: The Church is peculiarly exposed to danger and persecution in the world: God has, therefore, provided a pavilion of safety-a way of escape,guaranteed to the Church by special appointment and promise. "On Mount Zion shall be deliverance." "Mount Zion" signifies the Church of the living God, set up under whatever dispensation; whether patriarchal, Jewish, or Christian. Thus, Psalm cxxxii. "The Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation." As though God should say, I always dwell in my Church. Again, Psalm lxxxvii. 2: "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob."

If you ask me, What, in modern times, may properly be called " Mount Zion?" I shall find no difficulty in answering the question, for the Church of England has already answered it for me, in one of her Articles; and which appears to me the best definition of a Christian Church that ever was written by an uninspired pen. "The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly administered according to Christ's ordinance." The universal Church on earth is the aggregate of such faithful men, dwelling therein at any given period of time. This is "Mount Zion," in a spiritual sense. This is the chief glory of the world, as Mount Zion was of Judæa.

"And there shall be holiness." Some critics render it, And there shall be The Holy One. But the passage has the same sense whichever way we take it: for wherever there shall be found the appointment and the exercise of real holiness, there will be The Holy One. Wherever holiness is found, Christ and his Spirit are found. Wherever there is worship in the name of Christ, and the word of God is faithfully preached, there is Mount Zion, and the glory of the Lord. "For where two or three are gathered together in my

name," says our Saviour, "there am I in the midst." We should consider the glory which this gives to every place of worship: for, as in the 19th Article, there is the Church of Christ, and, of course, there is the glory of the Lord.

The radical meaning of the word holiness is separation: "there shall be separation." You have only, therefore, to consider a sacred dedicated vessel, set apart for the use of the Church; set apart for God's service. Any instrument employed in God's service is set apart. The real servant of God is a vessel separated and solemnly dedicated and consecrated. to the divine service. "As God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." And then he adds, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;" be ye holy: separate from idolatry of mind; this is the exact idea of the text. "Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness,' or, there shall be "the separated."-The import of the text, then, taken together, is this:-that in the Church of God there is real security; and that where this real security is, there is holiness for, whatever enemies God suffers his people to be oppressed by, he will place deliverance,-the means of escape -in his Church: He will dwell in his Church; " and there shall be holiness." I shall consider,

II. THE USE WHICH WE SHOULD MAKE OF THIS PASSAGE.

First, a general use. It shows us, the error of men's false estimation, both with regard to their enemies, and their advantages. Had you asked a carnal Jew, at the time this prophecy was written,-What is your enemy? he would have said, Moab. Had you asked the same question in subsequent times, he would have said, The Roman yoke. What! when their wickedness had arisen to such a height, that, according to Josephus, if they had not been destroyed by the Romans, they would have killed one another! Sin is a worse enemy than Moab, or than Rome. The greatest enemies of the Jews were their sins, which were their real destroyers. Ask Britain, in the present day, who is her greatest enemy? It would be said, "The French! If Buonaparte were dead, we should be safe, and all would be peace, and ease."-What! while iniquity runs down our streets like a mighty torrent; and a practical infidelity questions the authority and providence of God in the government of his own world! When we see men