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parable from it: "You will walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."]

2. But methinks I hear the voice of an objector

[Some one, perhaps, is saying, 'A fine easy way to heaven indeed! Only believe; and you may live as you will, and be sure of heaven at the last!' But this objection will never be urged by one who knows what faith really is. Were it a mere assent to any set of truths, we might well be alarmed at the virtue assigned to it. But it is a grace, which contains in it the seed of all other graces. We speak of a living, not a dead faith and a living faith will as surely be productive of holiness, both of heart and life, as the light of the sun will dispel the shadows of the night.

But the objector will say, that our whole statement is contrary to the Holy Scriptures; since our blessed Lord, in answer to one who had asked him, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?" replied, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." The same answer

will I give, if, like that inquirer, you are determined to save yourselves by your doings. But then, remember, you must keep them all, and perfectly too, and from the first to the latest moment of your existence. But if, in one instance, even though it be in thought only, you fail, the law will curse you to all eternity; as it is written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." And if you will not rest your hopes on such an obedience as this, then is there no other refuge for you but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor any other hope of acceptance for you than through faith in him. But if you still wish to adhere to the commandments, know that "this is God's commandment, that ye believe in his Son Jesus Christm;" and that there is no commandment in the Decalogue more peremptorily given than this; since it is expressly declared, that "if you obey it, you shall be saved: and if you obey it not, you shall be damned."]

3. Let me not close the subject without a few words to one, as an approver―

[It is truly delightful to think, that, however hostile the heart of man is to this doctrine, there are some who cordially approve it. Beloved brother, whoever thou art, who embracest it from thy heart, I congratulate thee from my inmost soul. For, in relation to all other works, a self-righteous man can never tell whether he has a sufficiency of them to justify him before God. To his latest hour he must be in fearful

m 1 John iii. 23.

suspense about the state of his soul: but thou hast in thine own bosom a ground of the fullest assurance. The work of faith is such as will at once commend itself to thy conscience as really done. Thou wilt feel a consciousness that thou renouncest every other hope, and reliest on Christ alone. And in Christ there is such a sufficiency of all that thou needest, that thou canst not possibly entertain a doubt, whether he be able to save thee to the uttermost. Go on, then, " strong in faith, and giving glory to God." And, as the world will look for the fruits of thy faith, yea, and as God himself also will judge by them, see that thou shew thy faith by thy works, and that thou "abound in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God."]

MDCXXXVIII.

THE LIVING BREAD.

John vi. 34. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

A FANCIED approbation of the Gospel will consist with rooted enmity against it. But such an approbation always arises from carnal, or partial views of the truth. Many love God under the idea" that He is such an one as themselves." Thus the Samaritan woman desired the living water, that she might have no more occasion to go to the well. Thus also the people, whom our Lord was now addressing, seem to have misapprehended our Saviour's meaning. They had desired him to confirm his Divine mission by some miracle equal to what Moses had wrought for their forefathers in the wilderness". Our Lord assured them that He himself was the true bread, of which the manna was only a type and figure. They, little knowing what they asked for, desired him to give them the bread of which he spake. The petition however, in itself, was good. That you may be led to offer it in a more intelligent manner, we shall set before you,

I. The excellence of that bread

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Our Lord enters very minutely into this subject. He institutes a comparison between the manna, and himself as the bread of life; and shews the superiority of the true bread,

1. In its origin—

[They supposed that the manna had been given them from heaven whereas it came only from the clouds; and was as earthly in its nature as if it had been formed like common bread. But Christ himself was the true breadd: and He came down from heaven. His abode from all eternity had been in the bosom of his Father. And he was now come down from thence to be the food of his chosen people.]

2. In its properties

[The manna, like any other bread, was suited only to the body; nor could it give life to that, but only maintain its life; and after all, the bodies which it nourished would die at last. But the true bread was intended for the soul. Nor would it merely support it when alive, but quicken it when dead". Yea, the soul, once quickened by it, should never die. Christ himself being their life, they should live by him here1, and with him for everk.]

3. In its uses

It was for

[The manna was very confined as to its use. one nation only; whereas the true bread is intended for the use of all mankind'. It is more extensively necessary. The Israelites might as easily have been supported by other food. And we can find many substitutes for bread. But without Christ, no man can livem. Neither earth nor heaven can provide a substitute for him. That bread is equally needed by every child of man. It is also more extensively suitable. Persons may be so disordered as to be incapable of enjoying, or even digesting, common bread. But in whatever state we be, Christ is the proper food of the soul. He is a bread, which is suited both, as milk, to babes, and, as strong meat, to them that are of full age". Further, it is more extensively satisfying. The manna could supply but one want. Whatever abundance of bread we have, we may need a variety of other things, for want of which we may even perish. But if we have Christ, we have all things. We can want nothing which is good for the body°; nor any thing that relates to the soul". He is food to the

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hungry, clothing to the naked, riches to the poor, health to the sick, life to the dead; He is ALL AND IN ALL'.]

Such a glorious account of this bread being given by Christ himself, it becomes us to inquire into, II. The means by which it may be obtained—

Every provision for the body must be obtained by labour; but this for the soul must be accepted as a free gift

[We are extremely averse to stand indebted to another for our spiritual sustenance. We should be much better pleased to earn it by our own industry. But all our exertions for this end are fruitless. If we were to obtain an interest in Christ by our own works, salvation would no longer be of grace. We are therefore cautioned against every attempt to gain it in that way'. We are expressly told that the Israelites were left for ever destitute of this bread, because they would persist in these self-righteous methods of obtaining it". We are exhorted to receive it freely, without money and without price.]

Nevertheless we are not to decline all kind of labour for it

[We are to seek this bread in prayer, and in the use of all God's appointed ordinances. We are to exert ourselves as much in order to obtain it, as if the acquisition of it were the sole effect of our labour. But we are at the same time to depend as much upon God for it, as if we used no endeavours whatever to procure it. Nor is there any inconsistency in such a view of our duty. Our Lord himself says, "Labour for the meat which the Son of man shall give you."] APPLICATION

Let us be

- Let

Nor once

[Let us seek it by prayer and faith thankful that it is sent us in such rich abundance us gather it fresh every day and hourattempt to hoard it for future use. There is a fulness in Christ to satisfy our every want Nor shall we ever be refused if we plead with him as we ought to do. Let us remember, that in our Father's house there is bread enough and to spared. And rest assured, that by feeding upon Christ, we shall find him to be meat indeed and drink indeed.]

q Rev. iii. 18. 1 Cor. i. 30.

Rom. xi. 6.

x Isai. lv. 1, 2.

a Exod. xvi. 16.

d Luke xv. 17, 18.

t Gal. v. 2-4. y The text.

b Exod. xvi. 19, 20.

e John vi. 55.

r Col. iii. 11.

u Rom. ix. 30-32. z John vi. 27.

c Matt. xv. 26-28.

MDCXXXIX.

CHRIST'S WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE SINNERS.

John vi. 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

IT is a pleasing reflection that there is a people secured to Christ, who, having been given to him by the Father, shall, each in his appointed time, "be gathered unto Shiloh," to be the fruits of his travail, and the spoils of his victory. This pleasure however would be greatly damped, if we believed, that there were any infallibly, and from eternity, given over to perdition, who should be sent into the world for no other purpose than to fill up the measure of their iniquities, and to fit themselves for the place, to which they had been doomed by an eternal and irreversible decree. We confess that we cannot so draw the line between præterition and predestination, as to satisfy in all cases a cavilling, or perhaps a scrupulous mind: but the same difficulties occur, if we attempt to mark the distinct boundaries of free will, and free grace; or to shew how the existence of sin could ever consist with the holiness of God. This however is not our province we must leave to God to reconcile the difficulties that occur; and receive the truths he declares, not because we can comprehend every thing respecting them, but because they are revealed by an unerring God. That some are secured to Christ appears from hence, that, if they were not, it might eventually happen, that none might come to him; and consequently, that he might shed his blood in vain. We are not however left to found this sentiment on any uncertain reasonings of our own; since our Lord himself, in the very words before the text, says, "All that the Father hath given me, shall come to me." But are all others therefore of necessity sealed up unto perdition? no; for he adds, "And him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."

To improve this blessed declaration, let us consider,

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