strive to fulfil this will by an additional promise of the greatest consequence to frail and doubting creatures; and that is, If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God: that is, the Holy Spirit will enlighten his mind to perceive the truth; will remove all his perplexing scruples, and enable him to become a faithful servant. And the Apostle (who professed to have no foundation but Jesus Christ, and him crucified) teaches us (Rom. xii. 1, 2) how we must conduct ourselves in preparation for this spiritual illumination: We must (1.) present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; and (2.) we must not be conformed to this world, but we must be transformed, by the renewing of the mind, in order that we may prove what that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God is. In other words, we must be constant and uniform in our religious duties; we must not be governed by the maxims of the world, but our inclinations and actions must take quite different turns from what we behold to be the general practice of mankind; and then, as Christ speaks, we shall have bodies prepared for the further and more perfect communication of God's good Spirit. Men of all ranks and conditions will then, as the Apostle expresses it (Eph. vi. 6), find themselves disposed to do the will of God from the heart; that is, not consulting worldly

interest only, or the favour of others, but doing their service with pure good will, as unto the Lord, and not unto men. And that it is part of the will of God that we should perform even our relative and subordinate duties with a view to his glory, and that they are noways to be neglected, is evident from St. Peter's charge, 1 Ep. ii. 15: for, after specifying the obedience due from servants, and proper submission to every ordinance of men for the Lord's sake, he declares, For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. To finish this head, St. John, in his 1st Epistle (ii. 15), exhorts us not to love the world, neither the things that are in the world; meaning, that we should not set our hearts upon them, or put them in competition with God's love, or our duty to him. And he affords us this unanswerable reason, ver. 16, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father: and also, that the world passeth away, and the lust (or desire) thereof; but he that doeth the WILL OF GOD ABIDETH FOR EVER.

From this full account, my brethren, of what the will of God is, and of the several ways in which he declares it to us, we may more easily determine why this circumstance is added-that it must be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. The meaning of which part of the petition is

this: that we may have grace to perceive the purity of God's will;-that we may arrive as near as possible in our submission to it, as those blessed spirits do, who behold the face of their Father who is in heaven. And the explanation of these words may serve for the readier understanding another scriptural passage of similar import, where our blessed Lord (Matt. v. 48) exhorts us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect; that is, according to the Apostle's comment on the passage, followers of God, as dear children: not that in this life it is possible for us to attain to such a positive perfection of obedience as angels possess; much less can we expect to equal the Source of all perfection and excellence; but our Lord was here discoursing of CHARITY, the prime of all the Christian virtues; and he proposes the divine goodness for our example, that so, in the exercise of that virtue, we should soar above the common practice of the world; and as it was the greatest perfection of the DEITY, we should imitate HIM as our true father, and most perfeet pattern. Thus, as the angels in heaven not only do the will of God, but do it with all readiness, cheerfulness, constancy, and delight; so we should pray, that it may please God to assist us to fulfil it in like manner to the utmost possible degree, according to the lofty declaration of the Psalmist (ciii. 20, 21), which is very ap

plicable to the case before us: O praise the Lord, ye angels of his, ye that excel in strength, ye that fulfil his commandments, and hearken unto the voice of his words: O praise the Lord all ye his hosts, ye servants of his that do his pleasure. Although, therefore, it is hardly to be expected that we shall come up to so much excellence while here, yet we must pray for it, and use our best endeavours; for by these lessons we are taught, not only in what manner we ought to serve God now, but how hereafter we shall do his will, and how we are to prepare ourselves for his service. when we come to the blessed state and place of those holy spirits in heaven.

To conclude: That we may judge of the great necessity, my brethren, of this petition, and this practice, let us unite in humbling ourselves with the consideration of the extreme depravity of our present natural state, which disinclines us from following the will of God in the manner that would truly profit us. When we seriously attend to the perverseness of our own will, we shall gladly apply for help to mend its baneful inclination. In ease and health, and under passing circumstances, we are ready enough to subscribe to the will of God. But, alas! when pain, or sickness, or misfortune, or the injurious treatment of the world assault us, how does the stubborn disposition of fallen nature demonstrate both our wretchedness and in

firmity! what weakness, what want of fortitude and faith do we discover, when God is pleased to visit and try us with any of the above calamities and corrections! As we cannot, the very best of us, but be conscious of this miserable deficiency in yielding to God's will, surely this is a grace that above all others we stand in need of, viz. to be able religiously to submit, and say, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH, O LORD, AS IT IS DONE IN HEAVEN. That, then, which it behoves all of us to do, is to pray to God to teach us how far the example of our Saviour Christ should lead us; who, with regard to himself, declares, that he always did what pleased his heavenly Father. As he did nothing on earth but according to his Father's will, and as through him we are encouraged to call that glorious Being OUR Father, we must supplicate that gracious Saviour to intercede for us, that the same will may be perfected in us his servants, as he himself obeyed it, to the glory of the Almighty; that, being inseparably united to him. by the powerful working of his Spirit to obedience, we may never seek to do our will but his; that is, may receive every event of our lives as having an intentional tendency to our final happiness. Then will every action be converted to God's service; not our mere positive religious duties, but even our meals, our rest, our conversation, and our connexions, will all be influ