mercy's sake to send them to you, that you may be delivered from the bondage of your evil nature. Pray thus to our Lord and Saviour; and be assured, he will hear you, and ere long will send you the new feeling and the new principle which are to change and better your nature.

This brings me back to the question which I asked a while ago: what is this new feeling and this new principle, which are powerful enough to work such wonders, as to change the very wishes of our hearts, and to make our thoughts and lives savour of heaven? The principle is faith, that faith in praise of which St Paul is so full and frequent. A degree of faith, which we will call belief, the Christian must of course have from the outset. He would never have left the service of sin, unless he had believed that the wages of sin is death. The threats which God denounces against the wicked, must have made an impression on his mind: else he would never have taken the pains of breaking off his evil habits. So must he have believed that God hears prayer: else he would not have prayed. He must have believed the Bible to be the word of truth, and must have been led by what is called the preventing or guiding grace of God,-that grace which comes and knocks at the sinner's heart, to rouse him from his deadly slumber, he must have been led by that grace to

apply the threatenings of the Bible to himself, and thus to feel his danger. This degree of belief every sinner must have, before he will begin to shake off his sins. But this is a very different thing from that mixture of belief and trust, which makes up a saving faith. Of this more perfect faith it is not too much to say, that it is strong enough to carry a man through all dangers, through all hardships, through all temptations, through all distresses, for the sake of him in whom we believe. In the words of St John. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (1 John v. 4.)

But if this principle be not sufficient for us, Christ has another equally powerful gift in store, in the shape of a new feeling to purify and strengthen our hearts, just as faith enlivens and strengthens our souls. This new feeling is love, the love of God, which marks the new-hearted or Christian man, just as the love of self marks the old-hearted or worldly man. Now this love and this faith may exist in Christians in almost every degree. There are babes in Christ, as well as grown men. But even babes live, and have a spirit and principle of life in them, and learn to love their father and mother, long before they have learnt to say so. Thus must it be with babes in Christ. Even they must have a principle of

faith and a feeling of love toward God. If they have not, if they have not this new spirit, and this new heart which always goes along with it, the Christian life has not even begun in them. Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, and examine yourselves, whether you really love Christ, whether you have a hearty trust in God. Unless you have these only certain signs of a Christian life in you, your Christianity is a dead letter and an empty show.

I feel sure however that some at least among you have these signs of a true Christian life. Let us go on therefore a step further, and see what other gifts you are to look for. The Scriptures speak of many such, the gift of Christ's flesh, which is the Christian's food,-the gift of Christ's peace, which is the Christian's balm, -the gift of Christ's joy, which is the Christian's sunshine,—and finally the gift of an eternal inheritance, which is the Christian's reward and haven. But the largest gift of all, the gift in which all the others are embraced, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. "It is expedient for you," said our Saviour, "that I go away: for, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you." (John xvi. 7.) To him is committed the whole work of our sanctification. It is he, the Holy Ghost, that makes us holy. He gives us that

holiness, without which no man can ever see God. This indeed is the gift which the Psalmist seems to have had chiefly in view for to this end, he tells us, did Christ receive gifts for men," that the Lord God might dwell amongst them." Yes, my brethren, so wonderful is the loving-kindness of our Almighty Father, so precious the gift which Christ has obtained for us, that the Holy Spirit of God has vouchsafed ever since to come down and dwell amongst us; and not only amongst us, but in us, in all such as come to Christ with a simple and faithful heart. For this is what St Paul says to the Corinthians (1. iii. 16:) "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" This question, which St Paul put to the church of Corinth, I put to you: know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Beware therefore, dear brethren, lest ye defile the temple of God, by any thing impure or sinful, whether in thought or word or deed: "for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."

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SERMON XXI.

HOLY BRANCHES ;

OR,

WHY WAS THE TRINITY REVEALED ?

ROMANS xi. 16.

If the root be holy, so are the branches.

THE purpose of our Saviour's coming was to redeem and deliver us from all iniquity, and to purify us as a peculiar people, zealous of good works. This is the great end of his teaching; and this end all the doctrines of his religion further. For instance, the doctrine of the everlasting pains of hell,-why has that been made known to us, except to frighten us from sin? Why again has the doctrine of the unspeakable joys of heaven been made known to us, except to comfort and encourage us in well-doing? In like manner all the