contrary, where love to the one prevails, hatred of the. other will be proportionally strong. Love to God and his law is the reigning principle in the believer, and it is accompanied with an aversion to sin equally strong. "Thy word," said David, "have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word." Psalm cxix. 11, 101. "I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." ver. 127, 128. That love to God and holiness which reigns in the believer's heart must render it impossible for him to pursue sin with pleasure and delight, as all the faculties of the soul act, in opposition to it: the understanding disapproves it, conscience condemns it, the affections are averse to it, and the heart hates it. Hence it is that the believer, when tempted to sin, exclaims "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God!"

3. THE Spirit of Christ dwells and operates in him. The Spirit of Christ is a spirit of holiness; and one great part of his work is to destroy sin in believers. He is the immediate agent in the new creation, destroying spiritual death, and communicating a new life to the soul. Paul ascribes this work to his agency, as he had experienced it upon himself. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. viii. 2. The work thus begun in regeneration is progressively advanced in sanctification. On one hand the remaining depravity of the heart is reduced and weakened, and on the other hand the new man of grace is increased and strengthened. He conveys additional light to the mind, in which he may take a more extensive view of the evil nature of sin, and of the beauty and

excellence of holiness. He puts the believer upon the work of self-examination, causes him to persevere, and crowns his enquiry with success. He increases the aversion and enmity of the heart against sin, and strengthens its love to God. By dwelling and operating in the soul he makes it vigilant against the motions of lust, and the attacks of temptation, and enables it to resist them. "The Spirit lusteth against the flesh." Gal. v. 17. But though this work is carried on under the influence of the Spirit, the believer is not allowed to be passive in it; nor is it possible because the Spirit does his work by the instrumentality of the believer. He must work out his own salvation, while the Spirit works in him both to will and to do. The Spirit furnishes him with powers which he is to exert, both in the mortification of sin, and the practice of holiness. He therefore depends upon him, and applies to him, for direction and aid in the prosecution of this work; and in this way, "walks in the Spirit, that he may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh."

THE Spirit then, that dwells in the believer, is a Spirit of holiness, and one great part of his work is to destroy indwelling sin; it will therefore natively follow that the heart will be more powerfully set in opposition to sin, and the will more inclined to holiness. "They

that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit." Their views and resolutions, their desires and pursuits, are the reverse of those who are after the flesh, and mind only the things of the flesh. The latter cannot please God because their chief object is to gratify the flesh; but the former, having the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, are spiritually minded; and, instead of living after the flesh, make it their great study to mortify the deeds of the body, to crucify the flesh

with the affections and lusts. While the Spirit increases their aversion to sin, he strengthens their attachment to holiness, and excites them to the practice of it. He is. promised for this purpose by God. "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Ezek. xxxvi. 27. If such be the work which the Spirit carries on in the souls of believers, it is impossible they should pursue the practice of sin, or indulge themselves voluntarily in the enjoyment of its pleasures. They see its deformity, they are convinced of its malignity, and they are aware of its danger; they therefore hold it as a very hateful thing, and, with much solicitude, seek its destruction. All this is the fruit of the Spirit's operation in them, by whose direction they walk, and under whose influence they act. "They live in the Spirit, and therefore walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." On the other hand, the profane scoffer at religion, whose chief object is to walk after his own ungodly lusts, is sensual," having not the Spirit." Jude 18, 19.

4. THE influence of supreme love to God, and a regard to his honour, prevent the believer from pursuing the practice of sin. It is only by the committing of sin that men dishonour God and rob him of his glory; which demonstrates the hatred and enmity of their hearts against him. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, and of course, they remain enemies to him in their minds, and by wicked works. God is love: and when the work of the new creation takes place in the soul, love is one of the most distinguishing features in the character. Love in God is the spring of this gracious work; and the production bears a striking resemblance of its original: "We love him; because

he first loved us." 1 John iv. 19.

"And every one

that loveth is born of God." ver. 7.

Because God

loves his people, he raises them to a dignified station, loads them with many favours, and confers upon them peculiar honour. "I, says he, am the Lord thy God, the holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee." In like manner, and after the example of God, believers love their heavenly Father, and study to do him the highest honour. Having an interest in God, and having his love shed abroad in their hearts, they dwell in love; they wish to be wholly under its influence, and to act from it, in the whole of their deportment, in his service.

LOVE to God must be regulated according to that discovery which he hath given of himself in the Scriptures. It includes a supreme esteem of his divine excellencies, as holy, just, and good, and a cordial approbation of his will, with a prevailing inclination to do whatever pleases him. Such was the love of Christ to his Father, as it is delineated by himself. "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart!" From this principle he obeyed and honoured him, as his beloved Son, in whom he was well-pleased. It is the will of God that his people should hate sin, and abstain from the practice of it. "Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate." His law prohibits it, and in the gospel he has provided astonishing means for its destruction. Love is the principle of obedience, it is the fulfilling of the law; and obedience to God is that which does him honour. The Jews claimed an interest in him as their Father, while they offered polluted bread on his altar, and brought the blind, the lame, and the sick, for sacrifice, and thus professed to ho

nour him: but he would not sustain their claim nor approve of their service. "If I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear?" Men often make high pretensions to honour God, but where these do not proceed from supreme love in the heart, he will hold them as the enemies of his glory, though professedly acting under the mask of friendship. "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me." Mat. xv. 8. Holiness is the sure criterion of genuine love, fixed by Christ himself. "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: If a man love me he will keep my words." John xiv. 21, 23. A heart actuated by this divine principle, can never take pleasure in the pursuit of sin; holiness is its great object, because it is highly honouring to God. "I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word," was the careful study of the man according to God's own heart.

5. BECAUSE it exposes him to severe corrections from the hand of God.

THOUGH the believer is freed from the dominion of sin in his heart, yet its principles in part remain; and these are the source from which all his actual sins proceed. These are highly displeasing to God, even more so than the sins of the wicked, as they are committed in opposition to an experience of the work of grace in his soul, and, though he have received pardon, expose him to fatherly chastisements. On account of that union which he hath to Jesus his righteous head, no sin which he can commit will ever affect his justified state: He shall not come into condemnation, because he has passed from death unto life. His corrections are not

legal punishments inflicted by God as a judge, taking

.