Father, and such an inward perception of His eternal love, as transcends all our convictions of the love which parents and relatives and friends can bear to us, few persons perhaps will be disposed to deny, except those who are altogether unacquainted with the word of God. For, indeed, the holy Scripture proves, beyond all question, that such peace can be, and really is, communicated to those who serve God in humble contrition and sincerity. It is no enthusiastic delusion, but the calm sobriety of conviction, with which the Psalmist speaks: "I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever1." "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me: thy

1 Ps. lxxiii. 23-26.

rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever1." This, my brethren, is not the rapturous vision of the recluse or the ascetic: it is the tranquil and steady enjoyment of one who was immersed in the business and duties of life; one who drank deep of the cup of adversity and care; one who found it as difficult to resist temptation, and to save his soul, as we can.

The language of the New Testament is equally distinct and express: "Behold," saith the Apostle John, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God," for of our present condition we have real knowledge,

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now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know, that, when he shall appear, we

1 Ps. xxiii. 4, 6.

shall be like him; for we shall see him as

In what way is such knowledge to be obtained? How shall we be able to know, as the Apostle saith, that we are "the sons of God?" to know, as he saith in another place," that we have eternal life"," and that, when we awake from the dust of death, we shall be made partakers of the glory and honour and immortality of our Father's kingdom? The Scripture will inform us, in the words which I have taken for my text: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." That is, the Holy Spirit of God communicates to our minds a calm and abiding conviction, that we are admitted into the favour of our heavenly Father; that we are indeed his children, and shall receive our share in the eternal inheritance which he has given to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is by this testimony.

1 1 John iii. 1, 2.

2 1 John v. 13.

of the Holy Ghost dwelling in our hearts, that we can be able to know that we are the children of God.

Observe, my brethren, the precise nature of our question. We do not now inquire how sin can be atoned for. We believe that to have been done, once and for ever, when our blessed Redeemer made upon the cross, "by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world." We are not now inquiring, how we are to obtain the forgiveness of our sins. We believe that if we confess our sins to God, in reliance on the merits and mediation of our Redeemer, and with an honest determination to forsake them, "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness '." The question is not, how shall we be prepared to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ? but, how shall we know that we are prepared? The question is not, how shall we be made meet

1 John i. 9. Compare ch. ii. 1, and Prov. xxviii. 13.

for the inheritance of the saints in light? but, how shall we know that we are made meet? how shall we know that we are of those whom God calls his children, and that we shall finally have our part in the inheritance of those who are beloved of him? This is our question, and the answer is, that our knowledge of these particulars is derived from the testimony of the Holy Ghost, assuring our hearts, that we are indeed the children of God.

Observe further, that this knowledge is very different from faith. Faith, in the ordinary use of the word, is the belief of that which is revealed in holy Scripture. By faith, we believe that we are all to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, and that, at that day, he will bestow eternal happiness on a certain class or character of persons. But the names of these persons are not revealed: and, therefore, such a confidence as we speak of must be derived from some other source than written revelation. If we possess an instinctive consciousness that we are the children of God, it is not from the Scripture we have