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racters that are graven on the tablet of revelation -it is to incorporate in your creed the necessity of a holy life, in imitation and at the will of the Lord Jesus, along with a humble reliance on His merits as your alone meritorious plea for acceptance with the Father-it is to give up the narrow, intolerant, and restrictive system of theology, which, by vesting a right of monopoly in a few of its favourite positions, acts like the corresponding system of trade, in impeding the full circulation of its truths and of its treasure, through that world within itself, which is made up of the powers and affections and faculties that reside in a human bosom. But do you, my brethren, obey the whole form of Christian doctrine, as well as each and sundry of its articles-be your faith as broad and as long, as is the record of all those communications, that are addressed to it-and be very sure that it is only when you yield yourselves up in submission to all its truths, that you can be made free from sin by sharing in the fulfilment of all its promises.

You often read in Christian authors of the power of the truth; and by which they mean its power, not merely to pacify the sinner's fears, but its power to sanctify his character. It is a just and expressive phrase, and is adverted to in the passage before us, where it is said that the being made free from sin, and becoming servants unto righteousness, turns on the obedience of the heart to doctrine. But it is not one doctrine only, but the entire form of doctrine, to which the heart is obedient; and so this power of the truth, is the power of the whole truth. Mutilate the truth and you

cripple it. Pare it down and you paralyse its energies. The Spirit is grieved with the duplicity and the disingenuousness of men, when they offer to divide that testimony, which, if they would but treat it fairly, He would turn into the mighty engine of their conversion, and so pass them over with the strength of His own right hand, from the service of sin to the service of righteousness. The obedience must be sincere, or it is not obedience from the heart; and it must not be partial, or it is not obedience to the whole form of doctrine that is delivered. And at the sight of this flaw, the Spirit takes His flight from the heart that is deformed by it; and leaves the owner thereof in the thraldom of nature's corruption and nature's carnality. And thus, my brethren, as you hope to be rescued from the tyranny of sin by the power of Christian truth, you must fan and foster the whole of it. There must be the submission of a whole faith to a whole testimony. Divide and you darken. The whole of that light, which one truth or one portion of the record reflects upon another, is extinguished—when the inquirer, instead of looking fearlessly abroad over the rich and varied landscape of revelation, fastens his intent regards on one narrow portion of the territory, and shuts out the rest from the eye of his contemplation. The Spirit will not lend Himself to such a man-one who does not choose to see afar off; and is sure to forget some capital truth or other, in that finished scheme of doctrine which the gospel has made known to us. And of all the things which he is apt to forget-perhaps the most frequent is, that

every true Christian is purged from his old sins; and thus, in the language of Peter, the person who is thus blind, lacketh righteousness, and is both barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The reason why you remain in the fetters of sin is, that you refuse your consent to some part or other in the scheme of truth. You would fain have orthodoxy, and perhaps think that you are in the actual possession of it, when, without power and without spiritual discernment, you only strain at a few of the literalities of Christian doctrine, and sit down in the unmoved lethargy of nature, with the word upon your lips that there is salvation by faith, and forgiveness through the blood of a satisfying atonement. Could we only get you to admit the necessity of a personal surrender, in all holy obedience unto God-could we prevail upon you to believe that Christ came, not merely to redeem. you from guilt, but to redeem you from the vain conversation of the world-could we, under the power of this incipient conviction, only persuade you to make a beginning, and to move a single footstep in the way of transition from sin unto righteousness could you understand, that, even as the remission of sins must be had, so repentance must be accomplished, ere you be admitted into heaven, and the honesty of this your understanding approved itself by your forthwith acting upon itcould we only get you thus to set forth on this measure of incipient light, the light would grow with the incipient obedience; and, ever brightening as you advanced, would the principle of for

saking all for Christ become more decided; and your decision for Christ would grow with the growth, and strengthen with the strength of your dependence upon Him. The justification and the sanctification, these two mighty terms in Christianity, would be alike clearly apprehended as essential to the completion of the scheme of that doctrine, by the obedience of the heart unto which it is that you are saved. And I again repeat it, my brethren, take in the whole of gospel truthlay hold of its offered pardon, and enter even now upon its prescribed course of purification. The Spirit will not look indifferently on your day of small things; but if you, casting yourself into the mould of the whole truth, shall labour to realise it and seek to be renewed as will as to be forgiven-He will come down with the might of His creative energies upon you, and, breaking asunder the chains of your captivity to sin, will cause you henceforward to be the servants of righteousness.

This practical change, stands connected with the obedience of your heart to the from or scheme of Christian doctrine-for it is upon this being rendered, that you are made free from sin and become the servants of righteousness. Yet let us not think therefore, that we, of our own proper energy, supply as it were the first condition on which our deliverance from sin is made to turn; and that then the Spirit comes down and gives full and finished accomplishment to it. The truth is, that He presides over the initial, as well as over all the successive movements of this great transfor

mation; and accordingly, in the 17th verse, the primary circumstance of your obeying form the heart the form of doctrine, is made matter of thanks

giving to God. It is through grace, in fact, that you are made to embrace the whole form of doctrine. If any of you feel so disposed in consequence of our imperfect explanations-the glory of this is due to grace, which has revealed to you the necessity of holiness as well as pardon-which has touched and softened your hearts under the impression of this truth—which has moved you to an aspiring obedience thereto which will lead you, I trust, to carry out the principle into practice and daily conversation -which will vent itself upward to the sanctuary in prayer, and bring down that returning force, which can unchain you from the bondage of corruption, and give you impulse and strength for all the services of righteousness. It is grace that begins the good work, and it is grace that perfects it—and to sin because we are under this grace, carries in it just the same contradiction, as to be in darkness because the sun has arisen; or to be in despair because an able friend has come forward to support us; or to be in disease because an infallible physician has taken us in his charge, and is now plying us with a regimen which never misgives, and with medicines the operation of which never disappointed him.

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