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sence of the holy Lord God. Although in ourselves we can have nothing to offer but nakedness and deformity, guilt and pollution, yet, beholding us in Christ, he is not extreme to mark iniquity, he sees not our perverseness, he enters not into judgment with us; on the contrary, he considers our debt as discharged by our Divine Surety, the hand-writing that was against us being wholly and for ever cancelled and taken out of the way; we are thus received by him as his beloved children in whom he is well pleased; we dwell in Christ and Christ in us, we are one with Christ and Christ with us, according to the request which, in the days of his humanity, our blessed Lord made to his Father in behalf of all who should ever believe in his name,-"I pray for them.. that they all may be one; as thou Father art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us... and that the world may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me;..that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them."

As obedience to the injunction in the text is the only way to preserve peace of

conscience; so, it is only thus that ever we can maintain, with any degree of consistency, a spirit, temper, and conduct, becoming his disciples and followers. Let us then look to Jesus as our example, and copy into our own lives those virtues which shone with so much loveliness in his. Let us attentively study his spirit and deportment, and strive to be likeminded. By submission to our parents or temporal superiors, by lowliness of mind, self-denial, and contentment; by fervency in devotion, by compassion towards the miseries especially the spiritual miseries of others; by "speech seasoned with salt," and such as is calculated to minister grace unto the hearers; by meekness under sufferings and wrongs, a readiness to forgive, zeal for the glory of God, and an universal submission and obedience to the whole will of our heavenly Father:-in all, and in each of these particulars, let us study to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and to be made like unto him. To this end let us diligently maintain communion with Christ in prayer, by means of his word and

ordinances, and by holy meditation. Thus coming to him and living upon him by faith, and walking in love as he hath loved us, we shall be more and more ingrafted into Christ, and more firmly rooted, built up, and established in him; our conformity to his image will become more perfect, and the characteristic graces of his kingdom will so adorn our lives, that all with whom we converse will have reason to take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus, and that we do indeed belong to him.

SERMON XII.

THE GLORY OF GOD DISPLAYED IN THE OPERATIONS OF HIS GRACE.

PSALM XC. 16, 17.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

THE Connexion is so close, and the analogy so striking between the works of creation and providence, and the operations of divine grace, that the contemplation of the one might easily lead our thoughts to the consideration of the other. In both, the same wisdom is exhibited, the same Omnipotent arm made bare, the

same end proposed; and with regard to each it may be said, that " Of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever and ever."

The words before us have respect generally, to the works of Jehovah; of which we may truly say, "We have heard with our ears, and our fathers have declared unto us the noble works which were wrought in their days, and in the old time before them." By faith in the divine record, we understand that the material. frame of things-these wonders of creation-were called into existence by the word of Jehovah, that voice which is mighty in operation. When he designed to spread forth the heavens as the curtains. of his tabernacle, and to lay the foundation of the earth, he spake and it was done, he commanded and they stood fast. We have heard also how the same Omnipotent arm which was exerted in creation, was stretched forth to redeem. The achievements of his mighty power, and the wonders of redeeming grace, have been so exhibited and set forth in the word of truth, that all the ends of the

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