without the influence and light of the Spirit of God, the other light will be but darkness, because the natural man cannot know the things of the Spirit of God, which being spiritually discerned, we must consequently partake of the Holy Spirit to perceive them. The operation of the blessed Spirit on our minds is the cause of all the good that is wrought in us; for the grace of God, which justifies, or renders us as eptable to him (through Jesus Christ), is not only necessary for the remission of past sins, but does also procure us strength to resist sin for the future. Neither is this grace given us to do those works more easily, which we could otherwise have done by our own free will, though with very great difficulty; for, concerning all Christian virtues or fruits of holiness, the Lord does not say, that without me ye shall do them with difficulty'; but these are his words-Without me ye can do nothing; that is, nothing tending to justification or acceptance with God.

Human reason is only good to lead us to revelation; it has no virtue in itself to save; but still it is one gift of God, and the subject whereupon his blessed Spirit works, and subdues it to himself.

The seed of regeneration is sown in the sacrament of baptism. We are then baptized, or washed mystically, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, from

the infection of that impurity naturally derived to us by a corrupt inheritance. By virtue of Christ's ordinance, the spiritual effects of the sacrament are conveyed to the soul of the person admitted to it: this must be so, or, in the case of infants, it would not avail for their salvation. As the subject advances in reason and understanding, he becomes accountable for every breach of the ovenant he has entered into. In proportion to the use or abuse of the further means of grace, this good seed takes root and grows, or is choked and withers away. Thus you have a short view of the method and means whereby the kingdom of God is obtained by infants; or, as our Church expresses it, of their being made children of grace (or divine favour) and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven: for our Saviour assures us, that except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Respecting persons baptized at riper years, or those who have fallen from grace, God, in his mercy to his creatures, and for the sake of Christ's atonement and satisfaction for the depravity of a fallen nature, has most graciously appointed other means of establishing his kingdom in their hearts; and these are, repentance and faith. The first was the necessary condition on which any were invited even to John's baptism; and to this the Apostles added faith in

our Lord Jesus Christ, as the only means that could qualify Christians to receive any benefit by this sacrament, supposing them of age to make profession for themselves: and in the case of past offences, these two terms, accompanied by humble prayer, are the means still held out to us in the Gospel, whereby alone we can recover an interest in Christ's blood, and petition God with any hopes that his KINGDOM MAY COME. And this is the faith, my brethren, we must continually pray that God would increase in all our souls, viz. to believe, that, respecting our repentance, nothing we can do, even by the assistance of the Holy Spirit (which is necessary to qualify every good endeavour and effect), is able to pay off our former debts, or cancel past transgressions, but the satisfaction made to God for sin by Jesus Christ in the design of his mercy, before the world was made, and now actually performed in God's appointed time, by the death and sufferings of this immaculate and blessed Saviour. It is the power and effect of this sacrifice that justifies us (upon our repentance and faith) from all our sins; and it is the influence of Christ's Spirit in our hearts (procured to us by his merits), that purifies and renders us acceptable to God. As to the manner of the operation of God's good Spirit upon the human mind, as it neither concerns this subject,

nor any person to be curious in determining it, we shall do well to be content with Christ's description of it: As the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth, so are all those that are born of the Spirit. And, therefore, when once we are convinced, that we can do nothing purely good of ourselves, and that every exertion towards holiness proceeds from a love of God-from a sense of our duty to him-from humble obedience to his commands, and not to gratify our own affections, or exalt us in the esteem of men; when we act towards each other from gratitude to our Maker, helping our fellow-creatures for his sake, and loving him, because he first loved us; when all the good we receive from the Creator, or do for the creature, is ascribed to his glory, inasmuch as such conduct cannot be derived from principles strictly selfish, we may humbly assure ourselves, they are the fruits of the Spirit, and that we are so far born again of God.

Here, then, is another short statement, both of the assurance of our hope, and of the means by which we may recover a title to God's kingdom of grace within us, and a glorious inheritance above, even after we have fallen off through the corruption that is in the

flesh through lust, provided always, that we apply these means with sincerity. The preparation to prevail on God to pour down this blessing upon us is frequently to meditate on the spiritual virtue of his own gracious form of words, to sit loose from the pleasures and temptations of this life, and to resign our will to God's will, in all things. This last principle is of the utmost importance in our Christian warfare; and as it leads immediately to the consideration of the next petition in the Lord's Prayer, THY WILL BE DONE, I shall conclude with a short comment on the words on which I have been discoursing, in the pious language of a most exemplary Prelate of our own Church.

"May the kingdom of the world become the kingdom of the Lord, and of his Christ. Dethrone, O God, and destroy Satan, and his kingdom, and enlarge the kingdom of grace in every member of thy church. Establish thy kingdom in our hearts, O God! We own thee

for our King; do thou make and own us for thy faithful subjects. Inspire the conduct of all thy ministers with a pure desire of promoting thy glory, by studying the good of the flock intrusted to their charge. Increase thy flock, most mighty Lord, for the honour of thy holy name; and may we ever preserve the kingdom of thy grace within us, by submitting to the govern