tianity; the glorious system of redeeming love, holiness, and power. Here is the Gospel. It comes from God. As such you have received it, and profess still to hold it. Let your whole manner of living, then, agree with this profession. "Worthy of the Gospel of Christ be your whole behaviour," such as is suitable to it, explains it, recommends it, honours it.

Nor ought we, in these preliminary remarks, to overlook the significant word with which the injunction is prefaced: "Only." As though it were, "Whatever you do, or whatever you leave undone, take care that this be always minded,-never lose sight of it. It is your chief object; make it so practically; only do this, 'Only,' nothing else is required, for beyond this you cannot go; in doing this, you in effect do all, as, in neglecting this, in effect you neglect all. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ, and the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you is accomplished. This is your one, all-comprehending duty: as such, most carefully, in all good conscience, attend to it."

Contrasts are sometimes impressively illustrative. There is an expression used by St. Paul in another Epistle which will serve to bring his present meaning more distinctly before us. He says, "Are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" (1 Cor. iii. 3.) "Walk as men?" How otherwise should we walk? Is not this the very principle of human nature? So completely so, that even professed believers in Christ often refer to it in defence of their own proceedings? We sometimes hear it said, "I am a man; I have a right to do so; I only do as others do, and as they would do if they were in my place." Nay, but this is the very ground of the Apostle's condemnation, "Ye are carnal, for ye walk as men." Is it asked, "How then are we to walk?" The reply is, Not as carnal, but as regenerate, born again : not as men, but as believers, as saints: not as belonging to the unsaved community of mankind, but to the saved community of the people of God: not as those who are dead in trespasses and sins, who walk according to the course of this world, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; but as those who are saved by grace through faith, who have passed from death unto life, and who are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And, if we again ask, what kind of behaviour this is to be, the reply is, "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ." Behave suitably to the Gospel of God your Saviour. Adorn it in all things. This is the short, but most comprehensive, rule of evangelical practice. Only do this, and all shall be right. Study and imbibe the spirit of Christianity, and exemplify it in your conduct. Look at the trees and plants which surround you. Then, take some one of them, mark how it differs from the rest, and ask, What causes the difference? You reply, It is its nature thus to grow, to produce such flowers and fruit. But what does all this mean? Why, that the Creator has, in his wisdom and power, in a way unknown to us, impressed on the life which it has in common with all vegetables, those laws which so govern its internal organization, that these particular results are produced. Its general life acts by special laws, in consequence of which its own special leaves, flowers, fruit, are given forth. So let Christianity dwell within you, that it shall furnish your life-laws, and that by their internal operation your fruit may be unto holiness. You will then have done your part to show the nature and excellence of the Gospel, and to bring others to glorify God by acknowledging it. If at any time you scarcely know what line of conduct to pursue, recollect your profession, and adopt that which shall be most consistent with it: you will thus be seldom mistaken. 2 U

VOL. IV.-FOURTH SERIES.

While, however, the general rule may be so easily stated, in order to its constant application it is necessary that the various aspects under which the Gospel is presented to us should be carefully considered. Every one of those aspects will be seen to have a direct bearing on our conduct. The sculptured statue, whatever power of art it discloses, is still only one mass: the living man is made up of a number of different parts and organs, each necessary for the perfection of the whole, and all contributing to the life and well-being of the whole. So is it in Christian character. The man possesses many faculties and affections, and is capable of many actions: assuming this, religion calls on us, in language as significant as it is emphatic, to be "holy in all manner of conversation." And that we may be so, the Gospel furnishes a powerful instrumentality; complicated, it is true; but neither contradictory nor confused. In whatever point of view it is considered, it will be seen to supply motives and rules for the regulation of our behaviour, so agreeing among themselves, so converging to one point, as unfailingly and decidedly to promote our practical holiness. Some of the chief of these characteristic aspects we shall place before the reader, both for illustration of the general subject, and assisting him to pursue the same train of thought, and extend it to points to which our limited space will not allow us to advert.

1. The Gospel of Christ is a divinely constituted and divinely revealed system, and therefore comes to us as possessing authority supreme and universal.—It is no scheme of human invention. Even taking the phrase in its best sense, "we have not followed cunningly-devised fables" in embracing it. Nor has it come to us by the will of men: the holy men from whom we have received it, "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." It is therefore the mind of God made known to man by superhuman instrumentality. In it, and by it, God speaks to us. To men of eminent wisdom and exalted piety we always listen with respect; but the respect is mixed with caution, for neither does exalted piety confer supreme authority, nor eminent wisdom free from the possibility of mistake. If we find, therefore, that they have fallen into error, however unwillingly we differ from them, yet in this case differ from them we must; for our highest allegiance is due to truth alone, and the way of truth we are bound to follow, from whatever other way we are thus obliged to depart. But in the Gospel we have nothing of this. It is a message from God himself, given in such a manner that we are under an obligation to receive it, and are punishable if we receive it not. Virtually, its language to us is, "I have a message from God unto thee." Its authority, therefore, is supreme, and in this nothing may be compared to it. As all obligation is, whatever the medium, derived from God, so must it always be subordinate to him; and wherever his will is declared, obedience to it must be paid. From this obligation, no creature, no number of creatures, can set us free. "Whether it is right that we should obey God or man, judge ye," said the Apostle once, with respectful, but decided, firmness. And not only is the authority of the Gospel supreme, but universal. It extends to all cases to which it is applicable. It is not designed to regulate our conduct merely in those matters that are sometimes termed, restrictively, religious; as how we are to pray, how worship God, how behave in his church. It extends to every form of life, every possible condition of man. To public and private life, to man considered in relation to himself, his fellow-creatures, or his God,— to individual, domestic, social, civil, life, it is equally applicable. And thus viewing it, is it possible to avoid seeing that there only is one behaviour

suitable to it, when we fully submit to its authority? Here, our profession says, God speaks; and consistency requires that we should hear and obey. Whatever be the inducement, whether it be that of pleasure, or gain, or honour, if we listen to the will of man, be it our own, or that of others, if we obey not the Gospel, our conduct does not agree with our professed acknowledgment of its character. Only then is our conversation such as becometh the Gospel of Christ, considered as divinely constituted and revealed, when it is marked by unreserved and uniform, constant and universal, obedience to it.

2. The Gospel of Christ is a divine system of saving mercy and grace.-This, in fact, is its distinguishing characteristic. It is from this circumstance that it takes its name. "I bring you," said the angel of God, "glad tidings of great joy,-for unto you is born a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." It is in this respect one of the brightest and most admirable manifestations of the divine wisdom. Not only is God revealed as Saviour, but as having devised means for the salvation of man, in true and visible consistency with the honour of his own government and character. "Look unto me, and be ye saved,-I am God, and there is none else,—a just God, and a Saviour." So had he spoken by the word of ancient prophecy. And therefore, where the same Prophet says, "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall behold it together," the Evangelist, in varying the phrase, only brings out its full significance, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." The revelation does not refer to what might be termed the possible occurrence of insulated, of casual and separate, acts of mercy, affording encouragement by awakening hope of what might be ; but unfolds an established and regular system of mercy, so constituted as to be an integral portion of the divine administration. Not only is the throne of God one of creating and preserving power, of providential government in reference to intelligent creatures,-of moral dominion and law,--but likewise, and most emphatically, a throne of grace," to which men are invited and commanded to come for this very purpose, that they may obtain mercy, and find grace to help them, that they may call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. The great duty of the Gospel is, that we seek, the great privilege and blessing, that we find, "the salvation of our souls." The "day-spring from on high hath visited us" in our dark and forlorn condition of error, "to guide our feet into the way of peace:" and what is that but "salvation by the remission of our sins,"-pardon in Christ, producing such "deliverance from the hands of our enemies, that we might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." Thus circumstanced, the corresponding line of behaviour is obvious. If we were brought down to the gates of death by a mortal disease, which took from us the power both of enjoying the blessings of life, and fulfilling its duties, and the benevolence and skill of a Physician provided the means, and offered them freely, of a certain and complete recovery, would it not be equally our duty and our interest to avail ourselves of them, and that without delay and without reserve? This is our condition. This, therefore, is our interest and our duty. Unsaved, we cannot fulfil the great designs of our existence. We cannot serve God, we cannot possess and enjoy the true and supreme good of man, we cannot "glorify God in our bodies and spirits, which are his." It is our duty to do that by means of which our highest duties can alone be performed,―our interest to do that by means of which our highest interests can alone be secured. Our conduct, therefore, is not suitable to the Gospel of Christ,

considered as a system of saving mercy and grace, unless it is directed to the present attainment and full preservation of the great blessings of evangelical deliverance, "forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Christ." If we "neglect so great salvation," our conduct and our circumstances are inconsistent; but when we seek restoration to the divine favour through the blood of Christ, and to the divine image by the power of the Spirit of Christ, and when, being thus "saved by grace through faith," we "keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus unto eternal life," then is our "conversation such as becometh the Gospel of Christ.”

3. The Gospel of Christ is most evidently a moral rule, an established portion of the moral government of God.-Such is the method of redemption which God has devised, that it is not only formed and designed to uphold and glorify the character of God as our Ruler,-for Christ is "set forth as a propitiation to declare the righteousness," as well as the mercy," of God in the remission of sins,"-but likewise, to promote and secure the objects of that rule, both in showing the continued obligations and necessity of obedience, and in actually bringing men to obedience. Christ not only gave himself as a sacrifice for sin to redeem us from the curse of the violated law, but also, that the sinner might be made free from the law of sin and death, and "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in them who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Does the Gospel manifest the abounding grace of God? Yes; and "the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." Does the Gospel declare the love of Christ in giving himself for us, that he might "bear our sins in his own body on the tree?" Yes; and he " gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." In the various expressions, therefore, employed to bring before us the fulness and extent of the divine system of redemption, none are employed of which the effect would be to represent God as being less our Sovereign for being our Redeemer, or man as less obliged to obedience because he is called to receive all the blessings of a provided salvation. Man's moral nature is always assumed; and salvation is so far from being represented as consisting in mere deliverance from guilt, and from the penal consequences of sin, that it is sometimes described as mainly consisting in the conversion and recovery of our fallen nature, and the restoration of that sovereignty of the divine law by which it was originally the very life-law of human nature, a restoration consequent on forgiveness, and inseparable from it. One part of the new covenant is found in the promise that the law of God shall be written in our hearts, implanted, as an internal and governing principle, in our minds; so that "being delivered from the hands of our enemies, we may serve God, without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." Such opposition between law and grace as implies the abrogation of the first as our great rule of life, the Apostle not only indignantly repudiates, but affirms what is directly the contrary: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! Yea, we establish the law."

What line of conduct is suitable to this idea of the Gospel, and which is one of its essential characteristics, must be immediately apparent. Moved by the mercies of God, and enabled by his grace, we shall present our bodies to him as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is our reasonable service. This is the love of God, in its certain influence and fruits,

even that we keep his commandments. Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report,-if there be any virtue, any praise, of these things we shall ever think, that so we may be filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Our conduct contradicts the Gospel if it be not our aim to preserve a universal sanctity. It agrees with it when, even as He who calls us is holy, we also seek to be "holy in all manner of conversation."

4. The Gospel is a clear revelation to man of the Supreme Good, and calls on him to secure its possession and enjoyment.—Even in the earlier Scriptures, with all their comparative obscurity, and references to a dispensation in many respects temporary and local, this is most unequivocally stated. The desire of good is inherent in man. It is the main-spring of all the movements of the soul, and the great object of the inquiries of the ancient philosophers, whose writings disclose both the amazing power, and the unaccountable-except on one principle-weakness, of human nature. It is the universal cry, however variously uttered, "Who will show us any good?" And nowhere but in revelation is the true answer given. Man's good is God: not merely his highest good, but his good absolutely. He who has not the divine favour, consciously enjoyed in spiritual communion with God, has not the good for which he was created, and by which alone he can be made happy, perpetually, and in connexion with his entire wellbeing. What Greece and Rome heard not, in their highest stages of improvement, was heard distinctly on Zion: "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us! Thou hast put gladness in our heart more than in the time that their corn and wine increased." This, therefore, was -as it still is-the language of those who are taught of God. "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in thy sanctuary. Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips." Under the same figures of thirst and water, as impressive as they are instructive, our Lord refers to the same subject; but casts new light on it by identifying it with his own work, and the merciful provisions of the Gospel. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." "Whosoever drinketh of this

water," that comes only to the streams of earthly comfort, "shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him,” (“and this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive,") "shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Thus, he who is justified by faith, receives the Spirit that Jesus gives, opening the joyous and peaceful fellowship of the soul with God, by shedding the love of God abroad in the heart, witnessing that we are the pardoned and adopted children of God, enabling us to come to him with filial confidence and love, crying, "Abba, Father," and to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This is the only, the true, the eternal good of man. God, reconciled in Christ, admitting us to spiritual communion, and thus "satisfying his people with his goodness," is the proper, the present, and everlasting portion of man. Other objects both disappoint and degrade; this both satisfies and elevates. It produces, not happiness alone, but happiness in connexion with the necessary improvement of our nature. The peace of God, viewed in its