nor depth, nor any other thing in creation 'shall be able to separate us from the love

' of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our lord.'

It is thus, that in the doctrine of a trinity

we have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope, set before us: for it teaches us, that, when there was no man to make our peace with God, and no intercessor to urge a plea in our defence, the lord's own arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness, it sustained him. He, with whom nothing is impossible, has undertaken our cause; and the same spirit, who breathed who breathed into the nostrils of our first parent the breath of life, is ever ready to renew the gift, which he first imparted. 'Now the lord,' (says saint Paul in the text,) is that spirit; and where

the spirit of the lord is, there is liberty,' freedom from the dominion of evil desires, disengagement of mind from the distracting concerns of time, liberty to approach the father in unrestrained prayer with filial confidence and affection, even the glorious liberty of the children of God.

SERMON XIII.

1 Peter i. 17.

Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear!

THE progress of our researches has now brought us, my beloved brethren, to perceive with some distinctness, in what the life of a christian consists, from what it originates, and in what it ends. It differs essentially from the life, which we should lead by nature: and therefore it is important for us to know all these points, to which I have just adverted, if we would live, as christians ought to live, or die, as christians desire to die.

The life of a worldling requires no help from any superior power. It is but to act, as our natural inclination or judgment or calcu

lation of prudence and interest would dispose us to act; and we shall follow the life of a worldling without effort or assistance. But the life of a christian is begun, continued, and ended by the spirit, which dwelleth in him. It is only in proportion as he follows the guidance of this spirit, that he lives the life of a christian; and, when he ceases to be led by that blessed spirit altogether, the christian life is extinct within him. Hence the gift of the holy ghost is the peculiar distinction of the christian system. Other institutions might teach us duty, and promise us reward, as the law of works said to Adam-' This do, and live!' But the gift of the holy ghost is that, which alone can enable us to perform the duty, or to attain the reward. Other institutions may declare the remedy for guilt, and point out the sacrificed saviour to our faith, as the law of Moses instituted perpetual victims for the atonement of sin. But the gift of the holy ghost alone is that, which inspires the faith, by which the remedy is apprehended and applied. Hence also the doctrine of a trinity in the Godhead,

which gives to the holy ghost his proper place in our creed, and his just prominence in our religious hope, becomes essential to the light and comfort of a christian. It is no barren, speculative, theoretical truth, alike destitute of influence and vitality, but one, which shews us practically the way to the father, to whom we have access through the son by the spirit, one, which will enable us to understand, what is that covenant which was made by God with man, as represented in Christ Jesus, before all worlds, carried on in believing men themselves through the operation of the holy spirit from day to day, and to be finally fulfilled and compleated at the day of judgment, when those, who have come to God by faith, will be admitted to him in person, being acknowledged by the son himself, as his brethren, and as partners of his spirit; a doctrine therefore, which shines upon our path with a light from heaven, and shews us, both where we are, whither we are going, and what are our helps, and dangers, and encouragements by the way.

What then upon this subject is the discovery,

which it makes to us? It is, that a gracious interval is allowed to us, in which we may flee from sin, and return to God. This interval is called in the text the time of our sojourning

:

here for we are here but for a time, and a christian, while upon Earth, can never rightly reckon himself at home. It is an interval, begun in justification, continued by sanctification, and ending in glorification. But it is an interval, by those, who are passing through it, not to be contemplated without apprehension on account of the fearful results to be expected from it, and the dangers, which beset it at every stage of the journey: and therefore the apostle says- Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear!' This is the language of saint Peter: and saint Paul agrees with him, saying, in the concluding verses of his twelfth chapter to the HebrewsWe receiving a kingdom, which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may 'serve God acceptably with reverence and

godly fear! For our God is a consuming 'fire.' And the same caution, which is thus administered by the apostles in the new testa