ancient covenant, which, in all but its fuller developement and clearer light, is unchangeable: that "being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." We now feel the constraining influence of the love of Christ; we float on the powerful stream, and rejoice to take the direction of its current. Before, we lived to ourselves: self was the motive, self the object: most emphatically speaking, it was we who lived. But now, though we live, yet it is with a higher life: it is not we, but Christ who liveth in us; and the life that we live in the flesh is "by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us." We yield ourselves unto God, to whom we present our bodies, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, and, in the highest view of reason, our reasonable service. Of the whole church of Christ, washed from their sins in his own blood, and made, by the separating and anointing power of the Holy Ghost, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, to show forth the praises of God, and to offer to him spiritual sacrifices, acceptable through Jesus Christ,-the united language is, "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."

And thus, all that we have seen to be comprised in the scriptural notion of sanctification,-morally and really, that is to say, not ritually or symbolically, considered,—is found in the justified believer, as such. He is truly regenerate, and born anew of the Holy Ghost; he is consecrated and dedicated to the service of God; he is made holy; he is sanctified. And to this connexion between justification and sanctification, and to the possession of both by the penitent believer, most explicit is the testimony. borne by Scripture. David prayed, "Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me." And what was this but a prayer for the blessings, especially, but not for the first time, offered in the evangelical ministry, and stated by our Lord to be its object, design, and result; a prayer for "forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified ?" And very remarkable is the language of the Psalmist, assigning the reason of his resolution to "hear what God the Lord will speak: ""He will speak peace to his people, and to his saints." The former term denotes their covenant relation; the latter, their actual character. There is "no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus ;" and, "If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature." The believer is sanctified: Christ Jesus is of God made unto him not only wisdom and righteousness and redemption, but also sanctification.

And let not its source, its principle, and its character be for a moment overlooked. It is reigning love to God, producing not only submission and obedience to the divine will, a consecrating devotion to the sovereign Lord of all,—but a hallowed conformity to his image, caused by the spiritual and comforting manifestation of his glorious goodness, as our reconciled God and Father in Christ Jesus; and especially exhibiting, in united righteousness and benevolence, his likeness as the just God and our Saviour. And this is vouchsafed to us as justified freely by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Him whom God hath set forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood. The Holy Ghost being given to us, we receive the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience through sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. All thus depends on our "faith in his blood." By that faith we live, experiencing forgiveness and acceptance, and the gift of

the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and the Author and Preserver of spiritual life. By faith in Christ, we have access to God, and communion with God. The veil is no longer upon our hearts; "but we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." If we may borrow an illustration from our physical constitution, as it is by the eye that we possess the benefit of light, of " that which maketh manifest," and so perceive surrounding objects, and consciously hold communion with all nature within its range, but all this depends on the preservation of the connexion between the eye and brain, by means of the living nerve; so, while we live by faith, we behold this transforming glory of the Lord. Let faith be weakened, and our perception becomes in proportion dim; let it cease, and we relapse into dark blindness. We only live the life of acceptance and holiness, as we live by the faith of the Son of God. Coming to him at first, though we see and feel ourselves to be the chief of sinners, and though the view of sin deeply, painfully humbles us, yet are we to look away from our sin, that we may look to the Propitiation for sin, and obtain forgiveness through his merit alone. And so, when we become his called saints, though looking at the holiness wrought within us for thankful exultation in-not ourselves, even then, but in-the Giver of all good, yet for the continuation of acceptance, and of the indwelling Spirit, with his sacred manifestations, and the glorious work which he effects in us by them,—changing us from glory to glory,- -we are still to look only to Christ. All we have, we have as we are united to him; and we were united, and continue to be united, to him by the living faith in his blood. From first to last, Christ, apprehended by a living faith, is all in all. Whatever degree of holiness and blamelessness may be vouchsafed unto us, although we may rejoice in them as witnessing the goodness of God, and the power of his grace, and as constituting a richer meetness for "the inheritance of the saints in light," yet the first consideration of the believer is, to abide in Christ, to look for the continuance and increase of all kinds and degrees of spiritual good, as a sinner to a Saviour,—to seek to be "filled with all joy and peace through believing," and to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost, as freely bestowed on the justified by faith.

Mr. Wesley might well say, that "the state of a justified person is inexpressibly great and glorious." It must be so; for by the pardon of sin he has become the child of God, heir of all the promises, whether of grace, providence, or glory, a regenerate, and therefore new, creature, and he is now in the way to his great end, everlasting life. No contemplation of any other, even though in some respects richer, blessing should lead to any undervaluation of this, even in word. It is indeed "inexpressibly great and glorious;" nor can any future blessing be obtained unless this be held fast.

But neither is it to be made too comprehensive. The believer is fully accepted of God, but, at first, he is not fully sanctified. The sanctifying influence of the Spirit extends, indeed, to every faculty, every affection; but not so fully to them all as that there are no longer even any remains of the carnal mind. They are subdued, indeed, held in bondage by the spiritual mind as the awakened conscience and affections were, previously to justification, held in bondage by the carnal mind. The fruits of righteousness are present in full cluster, but not yet in full ripeness. The “ old man," though crucified, is not dead; he is capable of struggling, and therefore requires opposition, and an opposition which shall declare on our

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part the earnest desire by which we are influenced for his extinction. The significant expression used by the Apostle brings this before us. We are to mortify the deeds of the body.* The word is inapplicable to the mere avoidance of improper actions. Deeds come from principles, tendencies, inclinations; and any and all of those that would, if indulged, issue in actual sin, are to be mortified, put under vigilant repression, and subject to that course of mental discipline which, if anything merely mental could effect it, would effect their dissolution. Using the same word in reference to the oppositions and persecutions Christians underwent for Christ's sake, the Apostle (and in the same chapter in which he had spoken of mortifying the deeds of the body) says, "For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Thus is every sinful principle and tendency to be dealt with by us, to be mortified, to be "killed all the day long." Such principles and tendencies, requiring this mortification, therefore exist.

The more particular expression, "crucifying," putting to death as by the cross of Christ, is used by the Apostle. "Our old man is crucified with him." 66 "I am crucified with Christ." They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." It is by faith in Christ crucified that we possess the power and principle of mortification, of nailing the "old man 99 to the cross, and causing, him to be "killed all the day long." If mortal wound he is ever to receive, there only will he receive it; and there must he continue to hang. Take him down from the cross, and allow him to touch his parent earth, and he will again start up with fresh life and renewed vigour, and the whole contest have again to be commenced and carried on.

Thus, therefore, does the Apostle exhort believers: "Having, therefore, these promises,❞—and his language shows that he had in view not only the promise of God's reception and paternal care, but that which refers to the sprinkling of clean water upon us, cleansing us from all our filthiness and from all our idols,—“ let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting"-completely maturing-" holiness in the fear of God."

Two extremes of mistake require to be carefully guarded against.

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First. There must be no undervaluing the inestimable blessings connected with justification, as though they constituted a low and comparatively inferior state. We again say, with Mr. Wesley, they are inexpressibly great and glorious." Confidence in a sin-pardoning God is still to be held fast; and whatever higher blessings we seek, they are to be sought in connexion with the humble and thankful joy, that God is become our salvation. Nor are the remaining evils of our nature to be described as though they were free and rampant within us. "Our old man is crucified." If so we may speak, he may yet live; but he is nailed to the cross. He may solicit nourishment. He may ask for relief. But not a nail is to be taken out. He not only does not reign, but only exists as crucified, crucified, that he "might be destroyed."

On the other hand, if yet richer blessings be promised, and are therefore

* OavaTOUTE, "To put to death." We must not content ourselves with the modern use of the English terms, "to vex and humble," "to cause grief or shame," or both combined. It refers, as a moment's reflection even on our own word will show, to "death;" "to put to death," or, to do that of which death will be the issue. (Comp. Rom. viii. 13, 36.)

attainable, most earnestly, and without delay, should they be sought. If, indeed, there are no other blessings than those which are constituted by continued mortification, and growth in grace, then let the struggle with sin, as well as against it, be resolutely maintained till death shall set us free, and do that—not which Christ cannot do; no believer in the omnipotence of grace would say that; and in such a paper as this we would avoid the slightest approach to the language of sarcastic controversy, but-which Christ will not do before, and of doing which death becomes the appointed instrument. But if He who has given us the victory over inbred sin has promised to remove its last remains; if He who has enabled us to crucify the old man, that the body of sin may be destroyed, will himself inflict the death-wound; if He whose imparted Spirit has been the cause of our sanctification and upholding, will bestow the richer measures of the same Spirit, that we may be sanctified entirely, and "preserved blameless in our whole spirit, and soul, and body," even till the day of death, that so we may be found of him, through his own grace, not only in peace, but without spot, and blameless; if our heavenly Father has not only taught us to pray thus, but promised, on his own faithfulness, to hear and answer our prayers; if there be this "second blessing" before us,-and if the promises hold out such blessing, why should we not call it so ?-then surely is it our duty, our privilege, our interest, to seek for it till it be our own. Thus to seek for it, must be included in the ancient and general command, addressed, through Abraham, to all the followers of his faith, and denoting the obligation resting on the children of the covenant in all times, and under all forms of its administration: "I am the Almighty God," "thy shield, and thine exceeding great reward," able and sufficient to cause all grace to abound both towards us, and in us, "I am God, omnipotent and all-sufficient," ""walk before me, and be thou perfect." If attainable, that is the sole question between those who, as Christian believers, differ on the subject; we are not now regarding it as though only belonging to some dry system of divinity :—if attainable, all who love God, and can rejoice in his salvation, will allow that it is inexpressibly desirable to be brought into such a state as shall fully, and in all its parts, be the spiritual exposition of the highly-wrought symbolic language which concludes "the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death." Of course, we place not such language among primary proofs; but it may take its place among those important illustrations which amount at least to subsidiary arguments. Let "Israel" here be taken for the "Israelites indeed ;" and the language of benediction, derived from the external circumstances of the people redeemed out of Egypt, and about to experience now a yet richer fulfilment of the divine promises, be referred to the spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus with which God blesses his people; and then, let the whole be devoutly and prayerfully read. "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thine excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places."

Translate (so to say) these symbolic expressions into the plain language employed since the advent of Him by whom came grace and truth, and will they not bring before us a state of established maturity in which the great salvation replenishes even to overflowing, as well as rules, the heart, and in which the believer, fully proving by experience the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God, stands perfect and complete in the whole ?

Let us not be mistaken. By taking too high views, they who earnestly desire and seek will be disappointed and discouraged; and arguments are often directed against "perfection" under such notions of it as are not held, but utterly disclaimed, even by those that use the term; and the term itself, so often used in such intimate connexion both with obligation and privilege, must have a signification bearing some corresponding relation to the expression itself; as, if this were not the case, the word would be misleading, and even dangerously so. Το say that that cannot be perfect which is not absolutely so, is saying nothing to the purpose. It is assuming that the word has but this one meaning, and ought not to be otherwise used. But it is otherwise used; and used in those records of the divine law which make wise the simple, because they were given by inspiration of God. Undoubtedly, by man the term may be erroneously, and even mischievously, employed; but God has used it. It is one of the consecrated terms for the expression of divine truth: we are not at liberty, therefore, to reject it; nor are we at liberty to explain it away, by depriving it of that peculiarity of meaning which distinguishes it from its opposite-imperfection-in their mutual reference to the object to which they are applied. True, it may be wrongly applied; but the remedy is to apply it rightly. It may be misunderstood, and therefore its correct import should be ascertained. Beyond its proper significance, we have no right to go; short of its full significance, we have no right to fall. Nor may we say that the former is the safer error. No error is safe. The Scriptures say not, "If you must err, err on this side, rather than that;" but they say, "Do not err." Be it admitted that here error on one side may lead to presumption; it is equally certain that, on the other side, it may lead to slothfulness, and sinful indulgence, and a diseased weakness where God "hath commanded our strength." There is a vast difference between scriptural lowliness and humility, and classical debasement. As a scriptural term, used as it is, it must have an important denotation. This it is our duty to discover, that in reference to it we may apply and use the word.

If the phrase might only be employed to signify that which is absolutely perfect, perfect in all respects, discussion would be at an end. It is thus predicable only of God. But he himself, in his holy word, has used it in other respects. It is therefore our duty to seek out what they are. Now, however numerous, and even diversified, the applications of the term may appear, there is nothing bewildering in the case. There is no indistinctness in the idea, nor does the word express a merely rhetorical exaggeration. In common speech, where there is any carefulness of utterance, it is always sufficiently understood. In that which is capable of growth, the completeness of any stage is its perfection, or the maturity of the whole. If it has many parts, it is perfect if they are all there. And if it is capable of mixture, it is perfect if it contains nothing but that which really belongs to it. A crown may be perfect, mechanically considered, while the metal of which it is composed may be impure,-or the contrary. If difficulties be sought for, the employment of this word will often suggest them; but so