this union with him, merely figurative, or is it real? We answer-the union is real. This union is real, because, as Paul declares, that believers have access to God the Father by one Spirit,' they having the same Spirit that Christ possessed.-Christ and believers are one, by that one spirit. Father, Christ and believers are one, by one 'life.' 'In him was life.' He is 'that eternal life that was with the Father, and was manifested to us.' Yea, he is our life; for when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.' By one spirit, therefore, and one life, believers are in Christ; and so are they made alive in him. Therefore as all who are in Adam die, because they are in him, so all who are in Christ live, just because they are in him. The words of Paul do not signify that so sure as all men die in Adam, so sure shall all men be made alive in Christ. No. But they mean that so sure as all who are in the first Adam die, so sure shall all who, by the one spirit, by the one life, from the one Father, are in Christ, be made spiritually and eternally alive. Are we, then, spiritually alive? Paul furnishes the answer: The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.' Now, what is it to live by faith? Faith is the ground of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Therefore, to live by faith,' is to live under the power of the hope of glory and to live amidst the scenery of this world, but entirely by the principles of a world unseen. Now, these principles of the unseen world are three-First, Christ crucified,' by whom the world is crucified unto us, and we unto the world,' and by faith of whom we die unto sin, even as he died for it. Secondly, Christ interceding for it is 'because he ever liveth to make intercession for us,' that we rely upon him, knowing that thereby he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.' Thirdly, Christ coming unexpectedly, suddenly to judgment, deliverance, resurrection, and glory. This the believer dreads not, but earnestly prays for, saying, 'Lord Jesus, come quickly,' and longs for, and hastes unto, laying aside every weight, and every burden, and pressing onward to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ.' Such are the symptoms of true spiritual life in the flesh-an eve ever looking to Christ crucified-a confident reliance upon his continual intercession-with that earnest desire that waits and watches for his promised return, and which, in the midst of all worldly allurements and attractions, never requires more than to arise and trim the lamp, and go in with the Lord to his glorious espousals. This inheritance the believer now has in glory, as Abraham possessed the inheritance in Canaan. He received it not in fulfilment, but remained a stranger in the land—but he received it in a promise of the future; and being strong in faith, staggered not at the improbability of its fulfilment. He believed God, and it was counted unto him to righteousness. Now there is nothing in this world so improbable as that a dead body should live. Accordingly when Paul preached at Athens, concerning the resurrection, the philosophers replied in scorn, 'What does this babbler mean?' But from the heart of the believer all improbability and uncertainty are cast out. For by faith he beholds Christ already risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.' He sees that as by man came death, by man' came also the resurrection from the dead. But every man in his order; Christ the first-fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming,' when shall come to pass that saying, Death is swallowed up in victory; when the believer shall join in that eternal song of triumph, ‘O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' 'O the heighth and the depth, the length and the breadth of the love of God!' For his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath he quickened us together with Christ.' 6 But this melancholy change in the perceptions and feelings of our first parents, indicated no corresponding change in the nature or rights of God. And though the infidel models his God to suit his fancy, or patronise his sins, yet God continues the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;' ‘a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right in all his ways;' 'forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, but by no means clearing the guilty.' lovely summer day, or in the maniac fierceness | delity. Our first parents admitted that God of the winter storm. The river has its voice, could speak, and they did not attempt to escape whether it roll its infant waters amidst the from his voice-but they forgot, because they dewillows and pebbles of some obscure and untrod- sired to forget, that God's eye could see whereden glen, or have collected the tributaries of a con- ever his voice could reach; that is, that his attinent to descend in the thunders of the cataract. tributes were all perfect, and therefore, all equal. Each beast, and bird, and insect, hast its voice by And so, infidelity, if it admit at all the being of which, according to its nature, it inspires either a God, readily asserts and takes refuge in his terror or delight. Above all-man has a voice, mercies, while it utterly denies and repudiates the the oracle of his reason, the vehicle of his will, existence and exercise of his retributive justice. and the light of his affections. And since God has thus given to the animate and inanimate, to the rational and irrational-to each his peculiar voice, shall God alone, who bestowed these several gifts, be held voiceless and incapable of speaking in words to his creatures? 'He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that teacheth knowledge, shall he not know?' And he that giveth voice to his creatures, shall he not speak? And yet there are those who altogether either deny this capacity to God, or else deny that he has ever employed it—and this is infidelity. That is to admit that every creature around us has a voice whereby either its nature or will is made known; but either that the Creator of all has no voice, or never spoke with it for the instruction of his rational and account-sualists- God is not in all their thoughts.' It able offspring. Were a father never to speak to his ignorant children to instruct them, nor to his suffering children to comfort them, we must pronounce him either dumb or unnatural-and surely were God so to act to his intelligent creatures, we could form no other judgment of him! But God has, at sundry times, and in divers manners, spoken in time past to the fathers by the prophets; and in these last days has spoken unto us by his Son.' 6 The conduct of our first parents strongly exemplifies, not only that fear of God which hath torment,' and the most ignorant attempt to escape from him-but that alienation from God, as an object of love, which soon eventuates in enmity against him as an object of fixed aversion. Alienation from God appears in banishing the thoughts of him from the heart; as it is written of the sen farther appears in neglect of, or aversion to, his word, so that the sinner thinks of it, and speaks of it as Ahab did of the prophet when he said, I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.' This alienation farther appears in neglect, or forsaking, of God's holy ordinances. His sabbaths become a weariness, unless they may be profaned, the word of truth becomes distasteful, unless to be criticised and rejected, while prayer becomes either a lifeless formality, in which the body bends in the sanctuary, while the heart, with the fool's eyes, wan Why, then, is there infidelity in the world? Just because there is sin in the world. A guilty conscience soon produces a darkened understand-ders to the ends of the earth. But this alienaing. And men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil,' and then flee away to every vain imagination and refuge of lies,' to escape alike from themselves and from God. All this is wondrously exemplified in the conduct of our first parents when they heard the Voice of the Lord God.' Once had that voice been sweet to the ear of listening innocence; now it sounds terrible in the ear of trembling guilt. Accordingly, when they heard his voice, they hid themselves among the trees of the garden,' as if the eye of God could not see and discover as far as his voice could sound. This unbalancing, as it were, of the attributes of God, still continues to be one of the chief refuges of every form of infi tion, we have said, soon eventuates in enmity; even so, saith the apostle, 'the carnal mind is enmity against God.' Now this is what men are little willing to acknowledge or believe. Like Hazael to the prophet, each of them is ever ready to reply to the charge, is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?' And yet, notwithstanding all this denial, nothing can be more evident, for when God was manifest in the flesh,' both Jew and Gentile hated him with a 'perfect hatred;' and now that he is received into glory, the name of Jesus is blasphemed, not only among infidels, but he is daily crucified afresh,' even in the house of his friends.' up From the conduct of our first parents-let sin ners, finally, learn two things never to be forgotten. The alienated sinner has no peace; the impenitent sinner has no escape. Peace must come from the blood of the cross; escape from him who said—if ye seek me, let these go their way.' Lord, we will no more foolishly attempt to hide us from thine eye; but will humbly confess our sins, for thou art faithful and just to forgive, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 'And, in the shadow of thy wings Our refuge we will place, Do wholly overpass.' TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY.-EVENING. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?' Psalm cxxxix. 7. our spirit thinks, or remembers, or anticipates. We know not how a blade of grass grows, or an ear of corn ripens. We know, from evidence, that these things are so, but 'how' they are so, we cannot tell. Even so is it with the mystery of Godhead. We know, from scripture testimony, that, in Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit, the Godhead eternally and unchangeably subsists; we see how gloriously the doctrine solves the great problem of a sinner's salvation; and we see how it converts desire into certainty, and builds upon a rock that cannot be shaken; more, for satisfaction of reason, we need not know, and it may be that, in this imperfect state, more of God we cannot know. The words upon which our meditation rests lead us chiefly to consider the Spirit of God as omnipresent; the other parts of the psalm to view him as omniscient. For if the Spirit of God be everywhere present as God is, then must he know every thing where he is, as God knows; but the understanding of God is infinite-therefore is the Spirit of God omniscient. The knowledge of God, however, with which we are concerned above all others, is his intimate knowledge of ourselves. And of this the Psalmist testifies, Lord, thou hast searched me.' How emphatic the word! thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thoughts afar off; thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo! O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and thou hast laid thine hand upon me. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither THE doctrine of the Trinity is the sun of the scriptures, the doctrine of the Spirit, the perfection of the Trinity. The knowledge of the Father' conveys us to God in heaven; even as it is written- Our Father who art in heaven.' The knowledge of the Son' leads to God on earth; even as it is written, The Word was God; the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory,' or it leads us to a fixed locality in unseen glory where Jesus, in human nature, 'sitteth on the right hand of God,' and whence he shall come again into the world, and sit on the throne of his glory.' But the doctrine of the Spirit' bears us at once into immensity—we gaze around, above, below-the earth, the sea, we traverse in our thought-to heaven's utmost assignable height we ascend shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up thence into the lowest hell we penetrate-but wheresoever we go, still the Spirit of God is there. He is there, never separate from the Father and the Son, but ever in triune and coequal Godhead subsisting; but, in each varied locality of the universe, we find the all-pervading Spirit still leading to the Father' in heaven above, to the Son on the earth beneath, or the throne of waiting or of judgment hereafter, to himself everywhere. How deep, how mysterious, is the scriptural doctrine of the Godhead! yet how important and glorious, as revealing the economy of salvation! But its depth and mystery derogate in nothing from its evidence, or truth, or value. For all powers within us, and all nature around us, are full of mystery. We know not how our own body grows, lives, or dies. We know not how into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell'—the state of the dead— behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shali hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me: even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.' ner. degree or manner, thinks every unconverted sin- | the king of terrors. Death's dominion over this Nay, sometimes so do God's own children fallen world, as it is legitimate in its origin, abthink and act as Peter, when, through the fear solute in its exercise, and resistless in its effects, of man, he forgot both his own promise and his so is it wide as the world's extent, and lasting as Lord's presence, and sought first in denial and the world's duration. then by oaths, not only to escape from the danger by which he was pressed, but also to escape from his conscience and his God. But the moment 'the Lord turned and looked upon Peter,'-the moment eye met eye-that moment the omnipresent, heart-searching Spirit of the Lord, was acknowledged, and Peter went out and wept bitterly.' What a near, what an Almighty foe to sin and sinners is the Holy Spirit of the living God what a confidence must he inspire into the hearts of believers. When they know not what to ask, he will help their infirmities and teach them what to pray for as they ought.' He can and he will teach them all things,' ' guide them into all truth,' and 'glorify Jesus' in their conversion and sanctification. While, then, it is every day the design and labour of sinners to escape from God, let it be ours to seek after him more and more, and ever to draw nearer and nearer to his immediate presence. But if God be everywhere, how can we approach nearer to him? Yes, God, our Creator, is every where, but God as new Creator, is only in Christ Jesus. For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature -a new creation- old things are passed away; behold! all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.' For God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them,' having made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' All mine iniquities blot out, Thy face hide from my sin: Cast me not from thy sight, nor take With thy free Spirit me stay.' TWENTY-NINTH DAY.-MORNING. ‘Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression,' Rom. v. 14. DEATH reigned, says the apostle. Art thou a king then?' it may be asked. He is a king-he is The reign of death is legitimate. His is no usurped authority. He is a king by right, and by divine right too. Men have, of late years, disputed much about the legitimacy of earthly dynasties; some recognising no source of kingly power but the capricious voice and fickle will of the people, while others, reviving the exploded ideas of non-resistance and passive obedience, seem almost to maintain in seriousness what has been ascribed to them in satire, the right divine of kings to govern wrong.' But be the true principle of the legitimate power of earthly monarchs what it may,—the rule of death over sinners is legitimate beyond all controversy. A time indeed there was-alas! how short!—when death was not our natural or rightful sovereign-when he was unknown on the earth except by namewhen, to use the language of an ancient Jewish writer, 'the generations of the world were healthful, and there was no poison of destruction in them, neither was the kingdom of death upon the earth; for righteousness is immortal.' But no sooner did unrighteousness enter, than by it, and with it, entered death. Look at man in paradise, and you see there the reign of life—life dispensing to obedient man happiness in every form-perfect health in his body, perfect peace in his soul, and perfect enjoyment from their continued union without the fear of dissolution. But sin reigned unto death; and now, upon man's expulsion from Eden, you see life lying dethroned and dishonoured in the dust; and upon the ruins of the broken law the Law-giver erects and establishes a throne, which death ascends, that he may thence wield his ruthless sceptre over mortal man. Be it never forgotten then, that if death reigns over us, it is by an authority which, though delegated, is divine, even the authority of him by whom kings reign, and princes decree justice.' The sway of death over mortals is absolute and irresistible. Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say unto him, “what dost thou?" The wrath of an eastern despot is said to be as the messengers of death,' insuring swift and sudden destruction. Yet the mightiest tyrants may be resisted, and often have been resisted with success; but who of mortals can resist death? Who hath striven with him and conquered? If he once issue the summons: Arise and depart'—it matters not where, nor when, nor how-that sum claims release from pain and life together; say, as you were compelled to witness a scene like that, which rent your heart's core with an anguish that could only find relief in the assurance that the beloved of your soul lay in your arms a shat accursed thing must be, which, under the government of an All-merciful and Almighty God, can entail such evils. mons must be obeyed. He can no more be overcome by violence, than subdued by intreaty; promises do not allure, threatenings do not awe, tears do not melt him. No human skill nor human strength can blunt his dart, nor could the wealth of worlds purchase one moment's exemp-tered and lifeless corpse,-O say what that tion from his stroke. The king on his bed of state is as open to his assaults as the beggar on his bed of straw; and with the same ease that he enters the meanest hovel, he enters the kingly palace with its turreted battlements, and making his way through bolts, and bars, and hosts of armed guards, he reigns over royalty. Sinner! you may spurn every other yoke, you may throw off every other control, you may conquer every other enemy, but know that you are already death's doomed victim, and the yawning grave's assured prey. 6 Death's empire over sinful men is universal. There have been many extensive dominions, but his is the only really universal monarchy that has ever been on the earth. No country, no character, no condition of life, no age, and no circumstances, can withdraw us from his domination, or save us from his power. And it is specially noted by the apostle here, that he has reigned, as we know he continues to reign, over infantsover those who do not live to commit actual sin like Adam, but who, by reason of their connection with and descent from him, carry within them the seeds of moral depravity, and consequently of bodily corruption; for whenever you see a human body dead, be it only the body of a new born infant, that body is dead because of sin.' There is perhaps nothing we are called to witness so mournfully and mysteriously affecting as the agonising sufferings which infants sometimes endure, and the death in which these sufferings often terminate-so often, indeed, that it is a well known law of mortality that a great proportion of the human race die in infancy. The eye of the babe opens to heaven's light, and is then sealed in darkness; or if he is spared a few mouths to complete his span, it is only till his little tongue can lisp a parent's name, and then be silent in the grave. Ye Jacobs and Rachels! bereaved fathers and mothers, who have seen a darling child pining away with a sickness that was too plainly unto death, or convulsed with paroxysms of suffering, which harrowed up your souls, and were rendered doubly terrible by the inability of the poor babe to tell its distress but by the most piercing cries; ye who have had to hang over an infant's agony so intense and protracted, as to make you, who gave it birth, willing, anxious, thankful, to hear the last sound which pro 6 The empire of death, as it has been co-extensive with human existence since the fall, so it will end only with the world's dissolution. Adam, the first man, 'lived nine hundred and thirty years,' but he died,' and so did his more immediate descendants, each in his turn. Enoch, indeed, the seventh from Adam, on account of his signal piety, was translated, that he should not see death; and the extreme longevity of his son Methuselah might excite the expectation that the power of death was, in some measure, to be broken; but he also, when within thirty years of completing his tenth century, fell before the destroyer. Think of the countless generations over whom 'death reigned from Adam to Moses.' What proofs of his power did not the flood exhibit! "Tis the carnival of death; 'tis the vintage of the grave!'a whole world of victims, among whom, as in Nineveh, there would be many who, from their tender age, could not discern between their right hand and their left.' In the overthrow, by fire, of the cities of the plain; in the engulphing of Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea; in the strewing of the wilderness with carcases in heaps by the sword, the pestilence, and the fiery flying serpent, what do we see but death reigning from Adam unto Moses? Nor since that period has he for a moment ceased to reign. There have been long-lived kings, and long-enduring kingdoms, but the only perpetual dynasty is that of death; and he is immortal on this earth until the day when it shall be burnt up. We every where see how he tramples to dust plants and animals, man and man's works; and even those Egyptian pyramids that appear to defy his destroying rage, are but the trophies of his might; for are they not the sepulchres of kings? monuments at once of man's frailty, and of death's conquest. We too are the subjects of death. And what are we but the copies, so to speak, of long-vanished human beings, our prototypes in body and mind? and after us others will be born, wno will again look, and feel, and think, and act, and suffer exactly as we do, and over whom death will again reign. Yet is there hope in Israel concerning this K |