Who are the recipients? "Sons"-a name often given to the people of God in the Scriptures. They are subjects, and he is their Sovereign, and they owe him obedience; they are servants, and he is their master, and they owe him attendance-But these relations do not go far enough: they are not sufficiently affectionate, and near, and privileged, to express the state of Christians. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon them-They are called the sons of God. And now are they the sons of God. And they are so, not only or principally because they are the creatures of his power, but the partakers of his grace. Ánd two ways the title is applied to them exclusively adoption; and regeneration. For they are not only taken into the household of faith, but they are new born, born again, born of God. Among men these sources of filiation are never united. A man does not adopt those who are begotten of him. And when he admits the offspring of others into family relation, and gives them his name, he cannot convey to them his qualities. He may be generous, and they may be selfish; he may be meek, and they may be severe. He may indeed instruct and admonish them, and exemplify his requisitions in his own life: but this is all. But God not only changes our state, but our nature. He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure-He speaks; he acts like himself-" Behold, I create all things new."

What is the blessing?" The Spirit of his Son."-There are several other places in which the Spirit is held forth by this relation to Christ. But wherefore? Peter, speaking of the prophets, says, "the Spirit of Christ which was in them, testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow"-It was employed in bearing witness to him from the beginning. Our Saviour also said, "He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." He also personally possessed this Spirit, and was always actuated by it. "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." But the principal reason of the name is, that he procured this Spirit for us by his sufferings and death; the whole dispensation of it was lodged in his hands; and from his fulness all we receive, and grace for grace. Therefore he said to his disciples, "If I depart, I will send him unto you." "I will send you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." And Peter reports the accomplishment in a most signal instance: "Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." It is therefore derived from him to us -"We have an unction from the Holy One."

Where does it reside? "Because we are sons, he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts." Here God begins; "he shines in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge glory in the face of Jesus Christ." Here he places the riches grace, and "a good man out of the good treasure of his hear eth forth good things; for out of the abundance of the h mouth speaketh. The Lord looketh at the heart. If this him, every thing else will follow; but all is nothing witho What is practice without principle, but a tree without a ro

stream without a spring! But when the divine laws are put into our minds, and written in our hearts, our obedience is not only rendered certain, but natural and delightful. God of all grace! fulfil thy covenant engagement in my happy experience" And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." And may I "be filled with the Spirit."

We see from the whole the oneness there is between Christ and his people. They are predestined to be conformed to his image, that he might be the first born among many brethren. In all things indeed he has the pre-eminence. He is the Son of God in an unrivalled sense; but they also are sons. He had indeed the Spirit without measure; but they have it in degree; for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his-and it is the same Spirit that resides in both-"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts." This conformity extends to their future condition as well as their present character. "When he who is their life shall appear, they also shall appear with him in glory." As they now "bear the image of the heavenly," in having in them the mind that was in him, so they will hereafter corporeally resemble him; for "he shall change their vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious body"-"It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but this we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

MAY 30.-"Crying, Abba, Father."-Gal. iv. 6.

SUCH is the effect of the divine communication here spoken of"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Every thing depends upon our possessing this Spirit; for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his ;" But "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, and if children then heirs." Hence it is also called "the earnest of our inheritance."

We should therefore be anxious to ascertain whether we have received the all-important benefit. And it is possible to determine this. For whenever the Spirit of Christ takes possession of the heart, its residence will be evinced-It will operate there. It finds us indeed in darkness, but it opens the eyes of our understanding, and makes us light in the Lord. It finds us earthly-minded and cleaving to the dust, but it induces us to seek those things that are above. The pretensions of a man therefore are vain unless he be made to differ from what he once was. The influence of the Spirit is compared to leaven in the meal, and leaven will work; to fire, and fire will burn; to water, and the spring will flow out in streams If, says the Apostle, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts," it is not inactive or silent there, but-crying, Abba, Father. Let us observe the exercise, and the influence that produces it.

The exercise intended is prayer; but the representation is peculiar. It is not said what they will pray for; indeed it would be

endless to specify their wants and desires; and "for all these things," says God, "will I be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." But we are told how they pray-Crying, Abba, Father. Does this intimate the simplicity of their prayer? "Because," says Solomon, "God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth, therefore let thy words be few:" and how brief and free from every thing studied and artificial are the prayers recorded in the Scriptures, and which were offered by persons under the most powerful and favourable impressions! "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee." "Lord, save, I perish." "God be merciful to me a sinner." "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"-Such is the language of feeling-So it is when the heart speaks.

Does it not intimate the confidence with which they pray? Among the Persians there was a law that whosoever presented himself before the king, unless he was first called to go in, should be put to death. We have no such prohibition. The golden sceptre to us is always stretched forth. We have a general, a universal invitation to draw near at all times, and in all circumstances, in every thing by prayer and supplication to make known our requests unto God and are authorized to address him not as the Infinite, the Eternal, the Almighty, the first cause and the last end of all things; but as our Father, though he is in heaven. It is not the spirit of bondage to fear, but the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father. It is not the address of a criminal to a judge; nor of a slave to a master: but of a child to a Father, to whom he is most intimately related, and who feels in him the claims of nature and affection. "I write unto you, little children," says John, "because ye have known the Father." Who is a child so likely to know as his father? What is the first name he utters but "my father, or my mother?" To whom is he so likely to flee in every danger? On whom in every distress will he call so freely for relief? He relies upon his care; he expects that he will teach him, and defend him, and provide for him-And will not God who stands in this endearing relation exemplify it? And fulfil it perfectly and divinely? Let this therefore encourage and embolden us in our approaches to him.

Does it not also imply earnestness? The word "crying" would express this alone, but here is added to it the reduplication, "Father, Father!" This surely marks eagerness and fervency. The importance of such importunity our Saviour illustrates in the manner of him who spake as never man spake-" Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. Í say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' He himself also was an example of this. "In the days of his flesh, with strong cryings and tears, he made supplications to

him who is able to save him from death:" and the true condition, exigences, and dangers of his followers, when realized and felt, will urge them to pray in the same manner.

But does not this indicate the accordance of their prayers? Whatever distinctions prevail among them, the Lord gives them one heart and one way. They all kneel before the same mercy-seat; and address the same God, the God of all grace. "Abba,” signifies father; but the word is Syriac; and this was, when Paul wrote, the common language of the Jews. The word rendered father, is Greek in the original. And thus we see that the same Spirit would actuate the inhabitants of every country; Jews and Gentiles would appropriate the same relation. "Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also." "For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." What father is, in China, in Tartary, or among the Esquimaux, we know not: but he who made them, and gave his Son to die for them, understands all their dialects; and the hour is coming when "the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one."

But we here see the source of all this-It is the Spirit of God's Son in our heart that cries, "Abba, Father." It is therefore called "the Spirit of grace and of supplication." And we are said to "pray in the Holy Ghost." It is he that shows us our state, and causes us to hunger and thirst after righteousness. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." He enables us to believe on the Mediator, and thus gives us boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. He makes us spiritually-minded, and renders prayer our privilege; and we feel that it is good for us to draw near to God. Hence we are constant in the performance of it; for if we delight ourselves in the Almighty, we shall always call upon God.

A weighty inference is derivable from hence. We cannot say too much in recommendation of prayer with regard to our trials, duties. and improvements. Prayer is the life of religion-But what is the life of prayer? "The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Wherefore, first, let us not grieve the Holy Spirit, and cause him to withdraw or suspend his influences. And, secondly, let us pray for the Spirit, that we may pray with it. If there be any inconsistency in this, our Saviour has sanctioned it: "If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

MAY 31.-"That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."-Heb. vi. 18.

ONE of these two things was his promise, the other was his oath. The Apostle acknowledges that both of them were immutable. Why then was the latter added to the former? Not to constitute, VOL. I.

25

but to show the immutability of his counsel. It was not to bind himself; but it was for our sakes, that in the condescension of his kindness he might remove from our minds all suspicion of his veracity, by adopting the last mode of appeal among men; "For verily men swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife"-God therefore swears, and because he could swear by no greater, he swears by himself "As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth"-" Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more"-"I will never leave thee nor forsake thee-as sure as I am God." Four things result from hence.

We First see how hard it is to comfort the conscience, and to inspire us with "a strong consolation," not only while we are fleeing for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us, but even after we have fled. We have a controversy with God, and we know that he has much ground against us; and a consciousness of guilt makes us timid and suspicious. Under a sense of our unworthiness, the very greatness of the blessing will astonish us into incredulity: "It is too good to be true, at least with regard to such a wretch as I am." Men are frail and false, and we ourselves are weak and changeable; and in judging of him we insensibly transfer something of this to God, if we do not think him altogether such an one as ourselves. How natural and justifiable it seems to give up persons after numberless provocations of ingratitude and vileness. Dark providences apparently oppose the promises: deep and lengthened afflictions depress and weaken the mind, and betray us to think that God has forgotten to be gracious. The blessing we so much desire seems to recede as we advance after it; and hope deferred maketh the heart sick. We look at our work and our danger; and yet feel more of our ignorance, and weakness. Experience cannot only attest all this, but also add much to the representation. But here is enough to depress and intimidate-and we may be assured that God does nothing in vain-but he who knows what is in man judged it necessary, not only to speak, but to swear: "that by two immutable things" he might comfort and establish our hearts.

We see Secondly, How concerned he is for the consolation of his people. He takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants; and they never appear to such advantage as when they walk in the light of his countenance, rejoice in his name all the day, and in his righteousness are exalted. It is then they do honour to their religion, and commend the ways of godliness to others-" Here are people who are happy in this vale of tears. What we seek after constantly, and never come in sight of, they have found. Their hearts are at rest. How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." The joy of the Lord is not only their ornament, but their strength. It enlivens them in duty: they never run in the way of his commandments so freely as when God has enlarged their hearts. It emboldens them in their profession-It raises them above the fear of man-It weans them from the world-It bears them up under the trials of life-It raises them above the fear of death. He therefore that is infinitely concerned for their welfare, and knows perfectly wherein it consists, would have them not only