MAR. 10.-Our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. CONCERNING which we have four admonitions to urge. First, Hold fast this liberty "wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage." This is the admonition which the apostle himself gives to those Galatians. If Christians lose not their estate, they may lose some of its spirit; they may lose some of its enjoyments, and some of its noble profession; they may tremble when they should be bold, and temporize when they should be firm; they may conceal and cringe when they ought to be open as the day. "If reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye." It is enough for the disciple to be as his master, and the servant as his Lord. Secondly, Do not abuse your liberty. "Brethren," says the apostle, "ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Remember, your liberty is not liberty to sin. Why, the thought of continuing in sin that grace may abound quite shocked the apostle, who said, "God forbid. How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?" Thirdly, Improve this liberty. In one sense we cannot its provisions surpass all expression and conception. But we mean we should make use of it and improve it. As to ourselves, we should be "blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation." We should seek to be exemplary—to be useful and to show forth the praises of Him "who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light," and to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." Fourthly, Recommend this liberty to others only. We should be careful to exemplify what we recommend. Christians should show what their religion has done for them and what it has done in them, and then they may expect and hope that it will do something by them, for then our address to others will be effectual; if we hold forth the word of life by our tempers and conduct, it will not be difficult to hold it forth by our lips. It is when we adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, we may go and say to others, "Come thou with us, and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” MAR. 11.-Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. xv. 57. THERE is something very interesting, very poetic, in this chapter, arising partly from the principle of association. where is the person who has not in the mansions of the dead, and when attending the funeral solemnities of some near neighbour, or esteemed friend, or bereaved relation, heard the words, "Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive"? And who can ever forget them? The most peculiar, and indescribable, and melancholy of all sounds, even in this vale of tears, is that made when the earth falls upon the little tenement of clay, and is followed with the declaration, "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The interest of this chapter arises partly also from the nature of the subject of which it treats-a subject the most important-a subject in which we are all personally and deeply concerned-the resurrection of the dead. All will rise! "All that are in the graves shall hear his voice and come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." But to the wicked it can hardly be considered an advantage to rise from a bad state, conscious that they will go to a worse; and therefore, because the wicked derive no benefit from the resurrection, the apostle does not consider it in reference to them at all; he views it only in connection with those who "sleep in Jesus," and that not as a mere event, but as an inestimable privilege, arising from their union with him, and evidenced and pledged by his own resurrection from the dead. "Every man in his own order, Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." "For if we believe," says the apostle, "that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." How sublime are the words immediately preceding our motto! "Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." "Behold, I show you a mystery." Now, this mystery regards all the men that shall be living when he shall come. What is to become of these? They die not, and therefore they cannot be raised from the dead. But the apostle says they experience a change which is equivalent to dying,such a change as was experienced by Enoch and Elijah. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." MAR. 12.-Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. xv. 57. VICTORY supposes warfare. Various are the metaphorical characters under which Christians are held forth in the Scriptures of truth. Sometimes they are labourers in God's vineyard, sometimes they are travellers, sometimes they are merchants, sometimes they are racers, sometimes wrestlers; very frequently they are soldiers, good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and they fight not as one that beateth the air. The combat in which they are engaged is not an imaginary one, but a real, and a strenuous one too; but they have this incomparable advantage, they war a good warfare, and in it "no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth up against them they shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." Victory, we have said, supposes warfare, and so warfare supposes enemies. The enemies of the Christian are sin, the world, Satan, death, and the grave. Let us notice the acquisition. How is this victory obtained? In other cases winning a victory is gaining a victory; but here observe: First, It is given :—"Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." It is true we gain it, but he giveth it. It is true we fight, but it is equally true that he "causeth us to triumph." He not only furnishes the crown, but he also gives us the capacity by which we acquire it therefore, Secondly, It is dispensed through the mediation of the Lord Jesus. From the beginning to the end of our salvation, the propriety, the expediency, the necessity of Jesus as a mediator is not for one moment left out. Is God well pleased with us? "In him," says God, "I am well pleased." Have we "exceeding great and precious promises"? They are all "yea and amen in Christ Jesus." Are we redeemed? "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." Are we heirs? "In him," says the apostle, "we have obtained the inheritance." Are we blessed? In him we are "blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places." In him "it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell." Thus we see that light is around us, but not a beam is transmitted through any other medium. All is goodness around us, but there is not a blessing that comes to us through any other channel. He is ALL, and in ALL. Not only is this victory; a divine donation, and dispensed through the mediation of the Son of God; but, Thirdly, It is gradually exemplified and accomplished. It is not said that he will give us the victory, though this is true, for that is already promised, but he giveth us the victory; and this is true, because it is gradually conferred and experienced. It is not the effect of an hour or a year. This victory is not achieved at once; it is carried on through the whole course of a believer's life, and is perfected in death, or rather in the resurrection of the dead. The apostle tells us that the good work is begun in us in the day of conviction; but he says, it is not performed "until the day of Jesus Christ." Already the Christian has many a time overcome, and he says, as David said, when he thinks of the victories, he has obtained, "By thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall." And this encourages believers, with regard to the future, to say, "Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that shall tread down our enemies." This victory, therefore, is both present and future: the future is the complete accomplishment; the present is the earnest in its gradual and partial accomplishment even now. MAR. 13.-Ye greatly rejoice. 1 Pet. i. 6. CHRISTIANS, then, are no strangers to joy; at least they ought not to be. "Who can have greater cause to sing- Than children of the heavenly King, Yea, they are commanded to "rejoice in him," and to "rejoice in him always," "for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." "The world knoweth us not," says John. They consider the lives of Christians to be "madness," as well as "their end to be without honour;" and they commonly consider this madness as not of the most lively and cheerful kind either, but as made up of mopishness and melancholy in which we must bid adieu to every thing like happiness. And woe to those professors of religion who confirm their prejudices by wearing long faces, by groaning and sighing as if they were always at funerals; by their disconsolation in all their troubles, and their murmurings and repinings, and their sinking under their cares, for by these things "the way of truth is evil spoken of," as well as by their falls and miscarriages. Christians should be careful not only to be, but to appear, not only the heirs of this joy, but the subjects of it too, evermore confirming the divine testimony:-"Blessed are the people who are in such a case, yea, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord." If they are workers, they should be concerned to sing at their work in order to tell others that they do not find their employer a hard master, nor the work drudgery. Or, if they are travellers, they should go on their way singing,— "singing in the ways of the Lord," as David has it,—to recommend them, and to say virtually to all around them, "Come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." Now we add another thing here. It may be conceded that religion does require us to give up the pleasures of sin (if they deserve the name of pleasures) and also the dissipations of the world; but then it substitutes other pleasures in their room infinitely superior to them. It only requires us to exchange the dunghill for the throne; the filthy puddle for the spring of living waters; the leeks, and garlic, and onions of Egypt, for the grapes of Canaan, and the produce of the land flowing with milk and honey. Oh! Christians may look the world in the face and say, "The men of grace have found |