is light, and dwelleth in light. He is holy, just, and true, and will keep truth and faith with His people; He will not deceive them, for in Him is no uncertainty nor vacillation, "no variableness nor shadow of turning," but He is ever to be depended upon, and what He says, that will He perform. If we do not walk in faith, if we do not hearken unto His Gospel, then are we in darkness; because belief of the Gospel manifests itself in the life, so that it is no longer saying, but doing: "Faith without works is dead."

This, then, is the obedience of faith, whereunto the Holy Ghost sanctifies us, that we should not give ear to the doctrine taught by the world, which is a doctrine of self-righteousness, and that we should keep ourselves altogether "unspotted from the world," in our daily walk and conversation, and that we join not with the world in any thing that denies God and Christ, be it what it may.

And where such an obedience exists, (as it does in. the elect, through the powerful sanctification of the Spirit,) there is a participation in all the privileges and blessed effects that are connected with such an obedience, namely, that we, through the Holy Ghost, are assured that we belong to the elect of God; even as the apostle John writes, that thus "we have fellowship one with another;" and that, as poor and miserable sinners, we have constant access to the free and open "fountain for sin and uncleanness;" because thereunto does the Holy Ghost set apart the elect, that they first believe, and then receive the fruit of their faith, even purification from all their

sins. To this effect writes the apostle John: "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin," (that is, "if we walk in the light," 1 John i. 7;) and Peter says: "unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ." By the word "sprinkling," the apostle gives us to understand, that all other sprinkling is unnecessary, and is set aside; and he thereby teaches us also with what baptism we are baptized, even with a baptism in which the old man is buried, and the new man in Christ, purified from sin, is raised up; and he teaches us also how we may have a good conscience towards God, in spite of sin, the devil, the world, and all that would oppose us, and strive to drag us from our stronghold.

This, then, is what the apostle Peter, is what the Lord Jesus Christ, wishes to tell us: Ye suffering ones, be of good courage; I know your condition, and I come to you with this comfort, that I shall gather you together, that ye are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, and that ye are sanctified by the Holy Ghost; abide in faith, and ye shall be washed from all your sins, and be given to drink of the river of Eden. And how glorious is the blessing bestowed upon us! "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you." But of this more hereafter.

But you, who do not listen to the Gospel, who walk after the course of this world, whatever be your religious views, whatever be your ways, which are not of God the Father, O! consider, while it is yet time, what the sanctification of the Spirit is, and trust not to a grace which does not belong to you, but to God's chosen ones. Think not that any one can be

blessed, who belongs not to the "elect, according to the foreknowledge of God:" and if ye think that ye belong to it, be assured you deceive yourselves, unless it can also be said with truth concerning you: "Through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience." Therefore, from this time forward give up entirely the works of darkness, and turn with all your heart to the true Light, which hitherto you have extolled with your lips only. And you who sit down, timid and helpless, while the enemies of your souls whisper to you things that make you more fearful still, O! break through at once, venture to trust in the name of the Lord Jesus, and hearken to the voice which so tenderly calls to you: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden ;" wherefore sit ye there without that sprinkling which is ready for every one who will trust therein?

And you who are troubled with many sorrows, look up to God for help, for grace, for pity; cleave entirely to Him; let no one take from you this consolation, that you are "elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," and that the Holy Spirit will produce and manifest in you all that for which He has been given to us by the Father, and obtained for us by Christ.

SERMON II.

"Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you."-1 Peter i. 2—4.

IT has rejoiced our hearts to meditate on the superscription of this first epistle of the apostle Peter. We who are the Lord's, perceive by this superscription that the epistle is written to us. It must lift us up above every trouble, to think that from the beginning we have been chosen of God, that He hath loved us, and that therefore we have been separated by the Holy Spirit from all that is corrupt and perishable, from all darkness and impurity, in order that we may stand fast in the faith, abide in the word of life, and also partake of the continual purification from all sin by the blood of Christ. When the believer, through the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, inwardly feels, This letter is to me, all that it says relates to me; how acceptable will then be to him the apostolic benediction: "Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied!" But coupled with God's election are the rejection and contempt of the world; with God's

everlasting love, we must expect the hatred of the world, even as our Lord hath said: "Because I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." Against the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, against his continuance in faith, and in that holiness without which no man can see the Lord, the believer must expect to be tempted with all the temptations to which his carnal nature is inclined, in order to draw him away from the living God, and to induce him, if possible, to please the world, the flesh, and the devil, by falling down and worshipping them. Whenever the believer is so assailed, let him, in his temptation and affliction, think thus within himself: God the Father knows me, and has led me in a way that seemeth to Him good, and will not let my labour be in vain; then when a sense of sin makes him long after Divine aid, shall he immediately receive, from above all that is necessary to supply his need, and to soothe his trouble, while strength shall be infused into him whereby to overcome all temptations. This is what the apostle tells us in his benediction. It is wonderfully suited to him that is in suffering, and tends greatly to heal his wounds, and restore peace to his soul, through the knowledge that he is watched over by Divine goodness. The spiritual sufferer can only be ministered to by Divine grace, it is only through peace of soul that he can be healed; and the more fully grace and peace are imparted to him, the sooner is his spiritual health restored. You may perhaps ask why the apostle here says, "Grace and peace be multiplied