1. The divine counsel may be taken generally and largely. As man proposes an end, and lays down a plan which includes means and end; so, humanly speaking, God is represented as doing. Regeneration was rendered necessary by the fall; hence the establishment of a new dispensation. This is the result of the divine wisdom; and according to this does it please him to save us: not, as it were casually, arbitrarily; but, as in all his other works, in accordance with a constitution and scheme which in his sovereign wisdom he has devised and established.

2. The expression may be more particularly referred to the individual case. The providence of God has especial reference to the salvation of the soul. The events of life are wisely arranged for this very purpose. In every case where personal salvation is the result, this is plainly seen, and adoringly acknowledged. It is the guilt, and will be the misery, of obdurate sinners that they "frustrate" this "counsel of God against themselves." That which was designed for a blessing, becomes in their case a curse. But its original character is not less that of merciful counsel.

3. Then, there is the immediate power, which makes the instrument a cause of which salvation is the effect. The Father draws, and the drawn of the Father come to the Son. That in the administration of mercy, the moral government of the Saviour is not overlooked, alters not the fact of the case, so far as saving influence is concerned. The two are to be viewed, as they are presented in Scripture, perfectly agreeing. It is God's influence that saves. Repentance, faith, regeneration, as the entire new creation, are described as God's gift,-God's work. The sinner may resist this; for it is exerted in connexion with the divine government. Salvation may be neglected. They who are "not disobedient," who yield to the heavenly drawing, are by that divine power " renewed in the spirit of their mind." The contemplation of the divine government of man by itself, or of the divine influence upon man by itself, would give us imperfect conceptions as to the truth. It is God's power. It is exercised as part of that holy and merciful plan by which he now governs, and in reference to which he will hereafter judge us. Why are the wicked punished? Because

of that disobedience which is in Scripture idiom, most significantly, unpersuadableness. While all who are saved, acknowledge the power to be his, to whom the prayer was directed, "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me."

Thus, as we are saved from the guilt of sin by the merit of another, so from its polluting power by the influence of another. All our salvation is thus shown to be of grace: all boasting is excluded.

II. The instrument by which the change was effected: "Begat he us with the word of truth.”

Both the matter and form of the instrument are alluded to. The matter is truth; truth in its religious and moral sense. What is emphatically, the “truth?" The collection of those glorious truths which include the entire scheme for ruling and saving man. The form is the word of truth;—truth, as revealed and spoken; as given from God; as presented, in God's name, by one man to another; or as perceived in those records in which God has been pleased to fix it for the perpetual benefit of man.

This, then, is the instrument. But how is it employed? In itself it is adapted to the intelligent and moral nature of man. It is fitted both to enlighten and to impress. It includes the law: in its precepts, to convince of the fact of sin; in its sanctions, to awaken a sense of guilt. It includes a description of the divine character and government, to show the fearful evil and bitterness of sin. All that is calculated to arouse the conscience, to produce self-condemnation, to awaken the desire of God's absolving mercy, is contained in the word of truth. It includes the Gospel: the revelation of God's love to fallen man. It points to that ever active, unexhausted benevolence which created, as now redeeming us. It leads us to Calvary, and shows the expiation of human guilt. It draws aside the veil from the holiest of all; shows the great High Priest by the throne of grace; and describes "the new and living way" by which the sinner may draw near. It includes that in which law and Gospel shall issue,-final judgment; and describes both the solemnities and the consequences of the "great day of the Lord."

This is the instrument which it pleases God to employ. It is contained in the written word. It is required to be faithfully preached by them "to whom is committed the word of reconciliation." And thus, the salvation of man is carried on in strict accordance with the principles of that rational nature which is God's own gift. He, therefore, that hath the word of God, is to speak it faithfully. They that hear are to take heed both to what and how they hear. God saves not men by error; nourishes them not by chaff. The truth which the Spirit first gave, he still employs. The Gospel message is most significantly therefore termed, "the word of truth; the Gospel of your salvation."

Does the Spirit of God bring the careless sinner to repentance? It is" the word of truth" that is the instrument; convincing him of sin by sending home the commandment to his conscience. And in bringing the penitent sinner to deliverance and peace, the word of truth is still the instrument; even those portions which "lift up the Son of Man" before the wounded and dying, that looking, not to "the brazen serpent," but to the crucified Saviour, the views of truth may become, by the light and power of the Holy Ghost, the appropriation and trust of faith, that so the sinner may pass from guilt to acceptance, from death to life, from bondage to liberty.

III. I come to the designed results: "That we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.”

There is an allusion to a very interesting part of the Jewish ceremonial. The first-fruits of their harvest, of their cattle, nay, their own first-born males, were all sacred to God. In the place of the last, the whole tribe of Levi, were taken, who were thus " a kind of first-fruits;" consecrated themselves, and designed to exert a hallowing influence on others.

1. The first-fruits were consecrated to God. So are all who are truly born of God. Let us never speak lightly of Christian regeneration; nor reduce it to a mere form. The regenerate are spiritually, truly, and fully, what the Levites were under their shadowy and imperfect dispensation: they are sacred to God. All that was typified in the ceremonial consecration, they have realized. The sprinkling of blood;

the washing of water; the anointing with oil; the investment with sacred garments;-all are found in the regenerate man. The ancient type was not the type of an external form, but of a living, mighty reality. Adoption confers a new relation; regeneration imparts a new life; and the accepted and regenerated believer is himself "holiness unto the Lord."

2. The first-fruits told of the coming harvest. The earliest Christians were so; and in a century or two, the name of Christ had spread through the known world. And this is the purpose of God. The leaven is to "leaven the whole lump." The truth is to spread, till the knowledge of the Lord covers the whole earth.

1. Do you belong to the unregenerate? It is your own fault. Look at your misery; look, till you feel your guilt. Look at the law; look forward to the judgment. How, in your present state, shall you meet God? Do you see this? Is the burden "too heavy to be borne?" Yet is it irremovable by yourself? Look to Him who bore thy sins "in his own body on the tree." Plead his merits. Rest upon them. They are greater than thy sins. He rejects none that come to him. Pardon and spiritual life are the blessings he confers. Ask, and thou shalt receive; seek, and thou shalt find.

2. Have you reason to believe that the text describes your own state? In humble, adoring gratitude, ascribe all the praise to God. Live in dependence on him. Only grace can keep you from falling, and cause you to go on and prosper. Live on the word of truth. By this the Spirit works. "Grow

in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ." Thus, by connecting together the lessons of truth, studied, with the power of grace, sought by prayer, you shall experience that the word of his grace builds you up, and more fully gives you "inheritance among them that are sanctified." Live as the consecrated first-fruits. What others do, is not your rule. You are the Lord's. You rejoice in the privilege. Feel all its obligations. Pass through the world, living exemplifications of entire, unwavering Christian devotedness.

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PAINFUL REMEMBRANCES.

"I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed."-PSALM lxxvii. 3.

IF truth be sometimes evaded by simple neglect, by withholding or withdrawing attention altogether,—at others, its influence and power are neutralized by false deductions, by unsound inferences.

I will not multiply instances of this, but only refer you How many take for granted that all thoughts of God must necessarily be pleasant and consoling!

to one.

And in some, in many respects, so it is. Yet that it may be so regarded incorrectly, is evident from the text. I propose to call your attention to this particular aspect under which the contemplation of the divine Being may be considered.

The text itself describes the exercises of the mind in some hours of troubled watchfulness; and points out some particular objects of thought. These exercises we may follow up somewhat more fully, still keeping in view the analogy of faith.

1. I remembered the existence of God. I thought on the fact that there was a Being, self-existent, eternal, by whom all things were created, on whom all things depend: to mortal eye invisible; yet nothing more certain, than that He is. I endeavoured to realize the fact: to bring it home to my own mind with all the force of a sensible conviction. And thus, "I was troubled." I saw how much real, practical atheism existed in others; how much in myself: how often I had lived as if there were no God. Transient feeling, instead of deep and abiding conviction, was too often all the homage paid to this supremely exalted truth,-the existence of God. If " in Him we live, move, and have our being," then ought there to be constant, powerfully influential, practical conviction of it. Because I saw so little of this, "I was troubled."

2. I remembered the omnipresence of God. So far as I can reason on the fact of the divine existence, I must acknowledge it to be truly, and every way, infinite. With all its mysteriousness, the fact is clearly revealed, and is borne out by every just