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that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. iv.16). When man has been taught by God what his purpose was in creating, in redeeming, and in sanctifying the noblest work of creation; he is in a state to receive the full revelation which the Scriptures contain of the character of God, as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; and the full disclosure of the privileges and glories which are promised to those who, knowing their own worthlessness, are really poor in spirit, and are content to receive as free grace and unmerited mercy that salvation which God hath provided and freely offers in Christ Jesus.

But before we pass on, let us make our foundation sure, by insisting upon understanding the Scriptures which have been referred to, in their plain, literal meaning: for the subtlety of Satan is in these days principally shewn in his inducing men to give an ambiguous or indefinite meaning to the Scriptures, and so entirely evade the force of their application, while they profess to hold them in.the highest reverence.

Be it observed, then, that the eternal Son, the second Person in the Trinity, was the manifested form or prototype, in whose image and after whose likeness man was created, and into whose image man is again renewed, in spirit at regeneration, in body and soul at the resurrection (Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10; Phil. iii. 21). The Father is in himself incomprehensible, invisible, and unknown; but is revealed by the Son: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John i. 18). The Son was from all eternity the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person (Heb. i. 3). By the Son, the Father revealeth whatsoever he pleaseth to make known concerning himself: by him " he made the worlds," him he hath "appointed heir of all things" (Heb. i. 2). "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell" (Col. i. 19); and he hath "made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth" (Eph. i. 10). And Christ himself declareth, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him" (Matt. xi. 27).

Man, therefore, being created in the image and likeness of

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Christ, it would have been no degradation, no humbling of himself, to take the nature of man in its unfallen state; for man in that state was the image of God, and had dominion over all the works of his hands; and Christ would so be assuming that body which was his own proper likeness, in it to exercise the dominion proper to unfallen man, Adam's royal prerogative before the fall. That Christ did humble himself for the work of redemption, is the testimony of all Scripture; he came not to rule, but to be the servant of all. He who was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God," in becoming man came not as creation's lord, but" took on him the form of a servant....and, being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. ii. 8). God sent his Son, not in his own likeness, not in the likeness of unfallen flesh, but "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin," and thereby "condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. viii. 3). And as there was condescension infinite in him thus to step down from his proper form and dig nity, and to take our present degraded condition, that by uniting it to himself he might raise it to that glory for which it was destined in the purpose of God; so is there exaltation infinite offered to us, whose nature and condition he assumed, if we by faith become one with him, as he by condescension became one with us. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and death..... But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. viii. 2, 11).

And observe further, how all these most consolatory and invigorating doctrines are gathered into the concluding prayer of our Lord, put up in immediate prospect of his crucifixion; the last words which he spake before entering the garden of agony. John xvii." Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee....I have glorified thee on the earth;" in humiliation "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.....And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one: and that the world may know that thou has sent me, and hast loved them, even as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

Thus, the wisdom of God received into the heart of man

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renews his understanding, and re-constitutes therein that image of the Creator, which Adam lost at the fall. And, thus taught to know God, we delight in the law of God in the inner man, and continually bring the whole man into subjection, by following the footsteps of Jesus, who learned obedience by the things which he suffered; we pressing forward incessantly to attain the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Jesus. But this mark and prize of our high calling of God we cannot reach by our own efforts, and the Almighty power of the Holy Ghost is promised to all them that believe, in order to work in us this seeming impossibility; to make us, even us, creatures as we are, fallen creatures as we are, rebellious creatures as we are— to make us, who in the first Adam became children of wrath, to become in the Second Adam children of grace. The children of darkness thus become children of light; the seed of the serpent become sons of God; the strong man armed is cast out of his castle by one stronger than he, and the tenement of Satan becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost; that we thereby may fulfil our high calling, of being holy as God is holy, and perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. v. 48). Know ye "the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is, Christ in you the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Col. i. 28). Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (1 Cor. iii. 16). " Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people....and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. vi. 18).

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It clearly appears, from the above, that a right understanding of God, in whose image we were created, lies at the foundation of all Christian experience, and that without this knowledge no certain progress can be made in the Divine life. It further appears, that such knowledge will teach the distinction of the Persons of the Godhead, both externally, in the forms of reason, and internally, in the experience of the Christian;—that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of THE HOLY ON ES is understanding" (Prov. ix. 10);—and that "if any man will do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God" (John vii. 17). God the Father is incomprehensible in himself; known only to the Son; revealed by him to all; but that revelation understood by none except through the teaching of the Holy Ghost, and only in the degree

to which we abandon our self-sufficiency to hear and to obey the instructions and commandments of God.

As in the infinitude of God the Father there is an incomprehensible depth of being, into which the infinitude of God the Son alone can enter, and which the Son, thus possessing in all fulness, revealeth to finite creatures according to their several measures and capacities; so is there in the soul of man a "likeness" to the Godhead, in the exhaustless depths of thought and boundless heights of enjoyment revealed by Christ in him the hope of glory (Col. i. 27). Each step of dignity and enlargement in the soul of man was incomprehensible even to himself, till attained by the continual impartation of the mind of Christ, and increasing participation of the glory of Jesus, in proportion to our increasing conformity to his image. Even now we are daily led forward into mysteries heretofore unknown, and joys such as we could not till now comprehend; and those reserved for the sons of God hereafter, for the heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus, eternity shall not exhaust: they shall go on unfolding and increasing world without end.

And to fill this ever-growing capacity in man, the infinitude of God the Holy Spirit is given; who, proceeding from the Father and the Son, testifieth of the Father and the Son, and glorifieth both. "He shall not speak of himself, but he shall glorify me," saith Christ; "for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.... All things that the Father hath are mine" (John xv. 26; xvi. 14). It is by the Comforter, then, by God the Holy Ghost, that we are made partakers of the mind of Christ, and prepared for the participation of his glory: a glory" which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive; but which God revealeth unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. ii. 11).

The Holy Spirit, therefore, in fulness of power, is that which every one first needs to bring him into conformity to the mind of Christ, and to prepare him for shewing forth the glory of God; for becoming truly that image and likeness of the Creator which is the declared purpose of man's creation. And now, when God is about to complete his purpose, and to bring forth the kingdom of Christ, he hath in a more abundant measure begun to pour out his Spirit on those whom he would prepare for becoming kings and priests with Christ Jesus, when the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him " (Dan. vii. 27).

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These elected ones, chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, are manifested only by their reception of the Spirit of God, and by that conformity to the image of Christ which the Holy Spirit alone can produce, and which is invariably produced in all who are the enrolled in heaven, if they grieve not, resist not, quench not the Spirit of God, and become not reprobate and cast-away. The election being known only to God the Father, it is presumptuous folly in man to pronounce who is or who is not of the number of the elect; but we are sure that all the elect will welcome and cleave to the Spirit of God, as the only possible way in which they can be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

Whether all those who seem to receive the Spirit will persevere to the end, man cannot discern, man may not decide; but man may decide, nay, must most unequivocally pronounce, that those who reject the Spirit have no part in election: they must become wholly changed, new men, before they can enter the kingdom of heaven. And though this change may at any time be wrought by God, with whom all things are possible, and who does occasionally shew the sovereignty of his mercy in this way; yet such interpositions are the rare exceptions to the general rule; not to be denied to God, but not to be reckoned on by man. The character of the elect will be manifested in heartily receiving every fresh manifestation of the grace of God. They will never think that any gift of God is unnecessary, or deem that they already know enough of the wonders of redeeming love; wonders which time shall not fully disclose, and which eternity shall not exhaust. Those who know most of Christ will be the most earnest in desiring to know more; and those who most long for the salvation of the souls of men will most earnestly long that the church may be filled with all the gifts and power of the Holy Ghost; that apostles and evangelists may go forth to gather in all the children of the kingdom, before the great and terrible day of the Lord; to gather the wheat into the garner of the Lord, before the tares and chaff are burnt with unquenchable fire. (Matt. xiii.; Mal. iv.)

No one, who at all knows the true condition of the church or of the world at the present time, will say that there is less need of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit now than in the Apostles' time; and those who fully know our present condition will think that we need it more; that the trials of the last days are greater than those of the first days of the church; her foes more subtle and powerful, and she more infirm; they in full strength and maturity, and she sunk into the decre pitude of age.

The last days of the church are, throughout Scripture, declared to be the time of her greatest trial, and of the peculiar

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