Christianity strive to lay hold on them with a yet firmer, a yet more comprehensive and tenacious grasp; that so you may be yet more valiant for the truth, and may be prepared more earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, and to commend more effectually to others the religion you have embraced. But be assured that you never can rightly comprehend these doctrines, without an influence from on high, which will extend to the heart as well as to the intellect. And you never can have really received and appreciated these truths, and never can consistently proclaim and defend them, as long as you are insensible to their practical influence, and do not "obey from the heart that form of doctrine," which is the divinely appointed mould for your character as your creed.

The religion of Christ is equally distinguished by the doctrine which it unfolds and the duty which it enforces. But the doctrine and the duty do not stand apart from each other. They are intimately connected together, as the root is with the branches, the leaves, and the fruit. And just as, in the growth of plants, the sap rises from the root to the leaves, and is returned by them, wellowed and elaborated by contact with the light and air, thus giving new strength to the root itself, and sending through the branches nurture to the clustering fruit; so, if we rightly "learn Christ," and are taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus," that truth will flow from the mind into the heart; and there, by. the grace of God, it will be made to contribute to the growth of our whole spiritual being, and to our fruitfulness in good works. The understanding and the affections will act and re-act upon each other. The truth

66

will sanctify; and sanctification will increase both the love of the truth and the power of apprehending it. If we be "willing to do the will of the Lord, we shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God;-as we grow in grace we shall grow in knowledge. And the result of the whole process will be manifested in that "WORK OF FAITH, AND LABOUR OF LOVE, AND PATIENCE OF HOPE," which our whole life shall exhibit and exemplify.

2.-Imitation Be it observed, however, that it is not by of Christ. the influence of a mere system of abstract truth—even when clearly apprehended and cordially embraced-that this result is to be effected. It must be by the spiritual contemplation of that living and personal Saviour whom the truth reveals ;-it must be by that direct communion with Him through which the soul is transformed into His likeness. The efficacy of the gospel for the moulding of the believer's character and the regulation of his life, consists mainly in this, that it sets before him a glorious Person, who is the living embodiment at once of trnth and of holiness,– the object at once of grateful confidence, and of humble, yet hopeful imitation. Christ suffered for us, "leaving us an example that we should follow His steps ;" and if, by faith, we see Him working out our deliverance, at the cost of His own agonies, we cannot avert our gaze from Him as soon as we discern the foundation which He has laid for our peace: we will continue to fix on Him our trusting and admiring regards, as at once the source and the exemplar of purity. If we look and live, we will look and love. Our eyes will be rivetted, and our affections drawn forth, by the loveliness of His

character, and the holy beauties that adorned all His life on earth and, "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we will be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord."

"Forasmuch, then, as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, let us arm ourselves likewise with the same mind." Let us seek to manifest the same stedfast resolution in fighting the good fight of faith, and laying hold on everlasting life, as He did in enduring that great fight of afflictions by which He purchased eternal life for us. While we contemplate all that He hath done and suffered for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, let us arm ourselves with the same mind which He exemplified in enduring humiliation so deep, from motives so high and holy. Let us arm ourselves against temptation, by that same hatred of sin which He exhibited in enduring such awful pangs, that He might deliver us from its power and pollution, as well as from its penalty. Let us arm ourselves against all that would bring dishonour on the name of Him whom we profess to serve, by that same zeal for God's glory in which Christ magnified the law and made it honourable, at the expense of such suffering and sacrifice. Let us arm ourselves against the depressing influence of pain and sorrow, by that meek submission to God's will, that unshaken trust in God's love, which Christ manifested, even when bearing the sorest afflictions, poured down upon Him directly by the hand of His Father. Let us arm ourselves against opposition and discouragement, by the same confidence of ultimate success and triumph, by which Christ Himself was sustained, when, for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross and despised the shame.

Let us strive and pray, that in every respect the mind that was in Christ may be manifested by us, in all our intercourse both with God and with men. Let us seek that, like Him, we may be ever "about our Father's business ;"-that whatsoever we do, we may do all to the glory of God; and may be regulated, in all our endeavours to promote God's glory by an implicit regard to God's will, as declared by His word, or indicated by His providence. Let us seek that, like Christ, we may combine love to God, with love to men ;-that, in all our bearing toward God, we may unite lowly reverence and submission with holy boldness and confidence ;-that, in all our dealings with men, we may conjoin tender sympathy and considerate kindness with conscientious faithfulness and candour. Let us seek, like Him, to combine humility and meekness with earnestness and zeal; —sensitive shrinking from sin with readiness to confront and to combat it, wherever it appears. Like Him, let

us draw all our joys and our consolations from above : yet, like Him, let us be willing, after our seasons of most intimate communion with the Father, and of sweetest refreshing from His presence, to go down into the world, that we may diffuse abroad the gladness put into our heart by the light of God's countenance; that we may increase, by scattering, the blessings showered upon our own heads; that we may put forth the strength with which we have been imbued, in discharging the duties of our sphere, and making sustained, and strenuous, and self-sacrificing efforts, for the good of our fellow-men.

Let us seek that thus, as Christ was, so we may be in this world. So shall we exemplify, what to many is a mystery and a paradox,-the life hidden, yet manifest;

-the life of faith amidst the things of sense and sight; -the conversation in Heaven amidst the cares and concerns of Earth. So shall we harmonize the claims of devotion with the calls of daily duty, being "diligent in business," yet "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." So shall we shew how possible it is to be at once godly and manly;—at once pious and practical; at once prayerful and painstaking; at once contemplative and active ;— sensitively alive to all spiritual influences and interests, yet healthfully alert to labour,-strong and stalwart for all the struggles of life,-robust to battle and to brave opposition, to bear and to baffle temptation.

Let that mind be in us which was also in Him who said, "I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day." Let us "be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." And let us not, on the one hand unduly contract, nor, on the other hand, unwarrantably extend, the limits of that sphere within which we may consider ourselves as engaged in the "work of the Lord." Christ was working the works of Him that sent Him, when He laboured as a carpenter with His reputed father at Nazareth, as well as when He was occupied in His public ministry. Even then He was working righteousness for us, as well as setting us an example of meek and patient submission to the will of our Heavenly Father. But it was with a distinct reference to the Father's will, and with an immediate view to the promotion of the Father's glory, that He engaged in these humble pursuits; and just as, during His public life, He felt that He had still 66 a baptism to be baptized with, and was straitened until it was accomplished;" so, during His earlier years, He