from the foundation of the world;" for "Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me;" the friends so made, may bid you a glad welcome, as they stand forth, the witnesses of the truth of your Saviour's words. We might speak of the conduct of God's children one to another, and in the world, but time forbids. Suffice it to say, that as the light of heavenly truth pervades the mind, and regulates the thoughts and purposes of the heart; that as the power of the cross subdues the selfishness, and manifold lusts, of the flesh; that as we look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith,-the leader and the perfecter of faith in his own person, and in the hearts of his saints,—and, finally, as the life within us is fed by faith on the Son of God, Christ will be seen in our ways, his voice will be heard in our words, his spirit will be breathed in our manner and our acts. Oh! it were worth while to live, though by living we forego, for a season, the bliss of being with Christ, which is far better; though by living we know deeper trial, and sorrow, and a fiercer fight with Satan, and sin, and corruption :-oh! it were worth while to live, if to us living it could thus be Christ; if we could display to the eyes of God and men somewhat of the beauty of holiness, and adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, by manifesting the beautiful features of the life of Christ with which our God and Father has renewed us. And oh! it were better to die at once than to live simply because we have the comforts and blessings of this life, and are satisfied to enjoy the good things which God has given us in his providence, while we care not to show forth the death of Christ in our

daily dying to sin and to the world; and to show the life of Christ through the deeds done in our mortal bodies. Had we, in this great city, some hundreds of evangelists and teachers, who, Paul-like, would preach Christ to the world, and teach Christ to the saints, in the power of the Holy Ghost, it would be shaken to its centre, and men would learn the meaning of that strange cry, "The men that have turned the world upside down have come hither also." And had we many thousands of Christians truly living Christ in our churches and in the world, there would be such a blaze of heavenly light, that men must feel its living reality; that iniquity would either shrink from the light to hide away its foul abominations, or the enmity of men be so excited against the heavenly apparition, as again to cry out, "Away with it, away with it; it is not fit to live!"

But Christ himself lived not his life of holy devotedness, and of suffering obedience, unto God, without ceaseless prayer, and the fulness of the Holy Spirit. His nights on the mountains, and his visits to the desert, tell how he dwelt in the secret place of the Most High, and held close communion with his God, and how he hung upon him for strength, and guidance, and comfort in all things. Wherefore he has led us into the presence of his Father, where he stands ever to intercede for us, that, continuing constant in prayer, and being increasingly filled with. the Spirit, we may live upon Christ, have Christ formed in us; may not live unto ourselves, but unto him who died and rose again for us-and thus live Christ. Be it so. Amen.

FAITHFUL WORDS.

BY

JOHN OFFORD,

OF PALACE GARDENS CHAPEL, KENSINGTON.

THREE-FOLD ONENESS WITH CHRIST:

OR, THE GROUND OF THE LIVING UNION.

"Crucified with Christ." "Risen with Christ." "Ye in me." Gal. ii. 20; Col. iii. 1; John xiv. 20.

SINCE the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, and took his place at God's right hand, in his glorified manhood, as head of his body, the Church, the reception of life from him has involved instant and abiding union with him. In like manner, the myriads of redeemed spirits, who had received life from Jesus in ages past, and who, when he ascended up on high, entered with him into the presence of God, became one with him as their living head. So that the new-creature life now exists in no human spirit, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, save in the members of the risen Christ, who is its sole fountain and head. Wherefore God is called, "The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." He is the Father of the whole family, every member of which holds its life, as his new-born child, in union with Christ Jesus the first-begotten from the dead, and the first-born amongst the many brethren. But this living union could never have existed, had there been no

other kind of oneness between Christ and the redeemed. The living union is based upon the oneness of the believer with Jesus in death, and it is closely connected with his oneness with him in his resurrection from the dead. In this discourse, we propose to consider these two kinds of oneness, and their necessary relation to our union in life with Jesus. Hence our minds will still be directed to subjects which concern the "Inner Life" of the saints. The believer's death with Christ may be called his substitutional oneness with him; and the believer's resurrection with Christ, his representative oneness. We use these terms simply to distinguish the one from the other, and to mark off both from the living union.

I. The believer's substitutional oneness with Jesus; or his death in and with him. The word death, as used in scripture, in reference to, mankind, involves three things. First, man's spiritual separation from God: the deprivation of all God-like life and principles in his spirit: his alienation from the life of God, because of the blindness of his heart his state of death in trespasses and sins. Spiritual death also includes the moral corruption and pollution of man's whole inner being; the state of his natural mind, of which it is said, "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God." This was the first death, of which man became the subject. It entered his spirit with the seed of the first sin, implanted in him by the tempter; even as God had declared, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Separated from the living God by the bottomless gulf of sin, moral death has thus seized and held the whole

human family beneath its direful sway. The next form of death is that of the body, issuing in the removal of the spirit from its tabernacle of flesh; in accordance with the solemn, but righteous sentence, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." It is appointed to man once to die; and long, and sad, and desolating indeed has been the reign of death over the human race. As a consequence of spiritual death, and of its evil fruits, comes that state, which the scriptures call the second death. The spirit, in its unchanged, and unchangeable enmity against God, re-united to the raised body, taking up its abode in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. This death, resulting from the first, or spiritual death, and taking effect when the body shall no longer lie silent and insensible in the dust, is well named the second death-the temporary dissolution of the body being regarded as at an end. Bodily dissolution is but an interlude in the terrible drama of death. Only two of the appalling scenes of that drama continue ever. The one-the ceaseless aversion and opposition of man to God; the other—the abiding judgment of God upon man. The one-the wilful departure of the spirit of man from all that is holy and good in his Creator, into a state of utter and changeless sinfulness and guilt; the other-the righteous separation of man from all that is gracious and blessed in God, into a state of utter and hopeless misery and despair.

From this threefold death our divine surety undertook to deliver us. But, oh! he knew that, if he would stand in our place, and take upon him our