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1. (i.) "Save me." I now take the prayer as it may be understood by the full light of the Christian revelation. In that light look at the condition of man, as an individual. He is guilty separated from God by sin, condemned to eternal separation. He needs forgiveness. This is one branch of salvation: restoration to the forfeited favour of God.

(ii.) He has lost the image of God. He is, by nature, dark, strengthless, unholy. He needs spiritual illumination, spiritual power: he needs a complete change of heart; one that shall be "from the power of Satan, unto God."

(iii.) This is "salvation:" forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified: redemption from the guilt and bondage of sin: restoration to the favour and image of God.

(iv.) And this is, emphatically, God's gift; God's work. He alone can pardon; he alone regenerate and sanctify. And as we cannot purchase it, nor effect it ourselves, to Him must we seek for it. We must cry unto God that he may save us; and our prayer must be that of a contrite heart; seeking to be heard for the alone sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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2. And I shall keep thy testimonies."

The real nature of obedience is often overlooked, even by many who speak very loudly on the subject. Worldly morals come very short of it, both in principle, spirit, and extent. Worldly morals refer merely to man; and are often, practically, regardless of God.

One word in the text states the rule of obedience. We find it in the "testimonies" of God. God is our Lord. Obedience is submission to authority, expressing itself in law. It has pleased God to testify to us concerning his will; to enact and promulgate his commands. To these, obedience refers; acknowledging the authority; submitting to it; taking the law as the rule by which temper, words, and works are all to be governed. He obeys God, who keeps God's testimonies.

And remember what these are. That we love God with all our heart; that we love our neighbour as ourself; that we show in our whole life that in love is the fulfilling of the law. II. Let us now show you the connexion between the two.

1. Salvation is necessary to obedience.

For, (i.,) To seek salvation is one important command of God. His testimonies require that we repent, pray for pardon, believe in Christ. If, therefore, we neglect this, we cannot say that we keep the divine testimonies. They say, "Seek the Lord while he may be found." We refuse to seek him: we disobey God.

But, (ii.,) Till we are saved, obedience, in the proper sense of the word, is out of our power. We must be delivered out of the hand of our enemies, if we would serve God in righteousness and true holiness. We cannot love God till the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the divine Spirit. And, while we remain under guilt and condemnation, unabsolved, because we seek not absolution properly, we are not pardoned, our works cannot be accepted. The guilt must be removed; the principle of real, acceptable obedience, implanted. Till then, we are in the flesh; and "they that are in the flesh cannot please God." We may be struggling with the flesh, and longing for deliverance; but obedience follows from deliverance, that is, from salvation.

While crying to God, "Save me!" such "works meet for repentance," as opportunity calls for, and time admits, are to be wrought. He who hates sin casts it from him with abhorrence. But, properly speaking, this is not a part of Christian obedience. That begins when the penitent sinner is enabled with the heart to believe unto righteousness." Good works, properly such, flow from faith in Christ, and do not precede it.

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And he who feels the guilt of sin,—sin as declared by the holy law of God,—and who knows the plague of his own heart, and his utter helplessness, will feel all this; and feeling this, the cry of his soul will be, "Save me, that I may keep thy testimonies."

2. I point out this connexion, secondly, by observing that salvation, properly understood, and truly enjoyed, always produces obedience: issues in it, and is evidenced by it. What is salvation as a blessing personally enjoyed," Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your soul,"— but the deliverance of the penitent sinner from the guilt of

past sin, and from the power of sin, though it has hitherto prevailed over him? He who is thus saved, has the love of God shed abroad in his heart: grateful love to God his Saviour, flowing into admiring and adoring love of God his Sovereign. There is, therefore, love of the law of God; real hatred of sin; the desire and purpose of obedience. And, withal, a blessed power over sin; liberty from its dominion, that we may walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The issues of salvation are holiness and obedience.

III. A few concluding inferences.

1. Obtain correct views of each.

See what salvation is, and you will never be careless about obedience. See what obedience is, and you will not be negligent about salvation. The two cannot be separated. An appearance of either is but an appearance, if it be alone. You are not saved if you do not obey God. You cannot obey God if you neglect his salvation.

2. See the true nature of Christian character. The spiritual inward experience of the saving goodness and power of God in Christ, is its animating soul; holy, willing, careful, uniform obedience, its visible body. Seek to possess both.

3. Do you desire to obey more exactly? You do, if you are at all obedient on right principles. You love obedience. You want to be more holy. Cry unto God to save you more fully to give you more wisdom, more love; more spirituality and heavenly mindedness. Cry to him to save you by the full indwelling of Christ in your heart. Pray to him to “make you perfect in every good work to do his will." Receive all from him. Devote all to him.

RIGHTEOUS SOWING, AND JOYFUL GATHERING. "Sow to yourselves in righteousness; reap in mercy."-HOSEA X. 12.

THE figures employed in the text are derived from well known sources, sowing and reaping. Two facts at once recur to the memory. 1. That without sowing, there would

be no reaping. 2. That the produce yielded by the seed greatly exceeds in quantity the seed sown; so that the excess amply repays the original expense and trouble.

Infinite wisdom thus sees fit to illustrate our religious duties and encouragements. We need not attempt to trace resemblance exact in all points. It is sufficient that we observe the general analogy. If we sow in righteousness," we shall reap in mercy."

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I. "Sow to yourselves in righteousness." Here is our present duty.

The obvious meaning is, that by the attainment and practice of righteousness, we are to look for that future blessedness which it has pleased God to reveal and promise.

But God has not only revealed future blessings, but present duties. As, for the future, our faith and hope must come to the word of God, so likewise must our conscience for the knowledge of obligations and duties. The written. word is the rule and standard of righteousness.

What then, according to that word, is included in "sowing to ourselves in righteousness?"

1. We must truly repent of past sin. That is, we must look at sin in the light in which the law of God places it; and at ourselves in the light in which the law of God places us. And pray that our heart may be tender, that what we see may duly affect us. Conviction of sin must be sought, and cherished. He who resists the first strivings of the Holy Spirit will never offer the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. He who does not, neither does he " righteousness."

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2. It implies the exercise of true faith in Christ. I mean not merely the belief of those truths which relate to him, though that is essential. Who that knows the danger of trusting in an arm of flesh, will trust in Christ, if he think him to be less than the true God and eternal life? But this is not all. The entrance into the holiest is by his blood. For acceptance, as though we had been righteous, faith must rest on him who is the Lord our righteousness. All self-confidence must be abandoned; and Christ become to us all in all, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

3. We must seek after entire conformity to the will of God. Man has lost the holiness of his original nature. When he truly turns to God in Christ, God is not only merciful to his unrighteousness, but writes the law in his heart. When God adopts, the Spirit of adoption regenerates. Thus "saved of the Lord," the promises set yet higher blessings before us. They are given that we might be partakers of the divine nature. Our duty is plain. We are to aim at constant growth in grace. We are to mortify every evil. We are to cherish and cultivate every good. And we are to do what the apostle did,—pray that the very God of peace would sanctify us wholly. At purity of heart we should aim. For purity of neart we should pray. Religion in its fulness, as a blessing as well as a duty, we are to seek.

4. We must diligently attend to every religious and moral duty.

By religious duties, I mean those which more directly refer to God: by moral, those which thus refer to man. The first class comprises all the actions of worship, and zeal for God's honour and the interests of his cause in the world: the other class, all that belongs to justice and mercy. Thus must great part of our life be filled up. The duties of our station, and those connected with our union with his church. these, we are sowing to ourselves in righteousness.

In doing

Let me add, first, that all must be done in the name of Jesus Christ. Changing the figure, no sacrifice is acceptable but as presented by him. Second, all must be done perseveringly. There is a season of sowing. The season answering to it extends to man's whole life. Begin early. Sow plentifully. Sow till "the night cometh, when no man

can work."

II. Consider the encouragement.

And let me remind you, in the very first instance, that all our reaping will most literally be reaping "in mercy." Man is a sinner, and the wages of sin is death. That the sinner should be permitted to sow in righteousness with the promise of such joyous gathering, is from the rich and everlasting mercy of God. And this mercy is especially revealed in Christ. In Him we see how God can be just, and yet justify

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