Now can this change be thought of without wonder -without joy-without gratitude? Is it a light thing, or to be classed with common mercies? No! if there be a spark of sensibility, of grateful feeling in the soul, surely this is calculated to call it forth. What then should be your feelings toward God and Christ? How reverently should you adore your Father who is in heaven! How should the rich love and matchless grace of your Redeemer inspire your heart with wonder, and your tongue with praise!

2. What holy and vigilant conduct should it inspire! Thou, O Christian, art a child of God, and an heir of the kingdom of heaven; training up for immortality and glory. Consider, then, what manner of person thou oughtest to be. Should not thy reflections be of this kind: I am not of this world, even as my Master was not of this world. I am not, therefore, to have my mind engrossed with its vanities. From my former vain conversation I have been redeemed. I should not be occupied even by the business of the present life, as if it were my all. My treasure is above. My home is not here. I must live as a pilgrim and stranger upon earth.—All the doctrines of the Gospel are practical, but none more than this. This requires purity of heart, as absolutely necessary to prepare us for heaven. Our holiness is not, indeed, the foundation of our claim; it is not the cause of our obtaining heaven; but it is our qualification for the enjoyment of it. It is the seal of God's Spirit preparing us for it. Let us bear, then, in mind the conclusive reference of the Apostle: "Seeing these things are so, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?"

SERMON XVI.

WALKING IN THE SPIRIT. THE PRESERVA

1

TIVE FROM THE LUSTS OF THE FLESH.

Galat. v. 16.

This I say, then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.

THESE words contain a direction, and a declaration of the happy effects of following that direction. The effects are such as will be most highly esteemed by every serious Christian: being no less than the subjugation of those lusts of the flesh which it will be his ardent endeavour, his unceasing prayer, and his greatest pleasure to subdue.

The direction is most important, not only on account of the importance of the end at which it aims, but on account of the person who gives it. To whom can we listen on such a subject with the certainty of being directed aright, if not to an Apostle? Whom else can we follow implicitly, under the full persuasion that our labour will not be in vain in the Lord? Here, then, is his

counsel: If ye wish not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh, walk in the Spirit.

We shall inquire, from these words,

I. What we are to understand by the Apostle's advice of walking in the Spirit.

II. To what extent we may expect the effect of following this advice to take place: Ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.

I. We are to inquire what it is to walk in the Spirit.

I scarcely need to observe that the Spirit of God is always represented in the New Testament as the Author of all holiness in the hearts of Christians; whence the Christian dispensation is eminently styled "the ministration of the Spirit." Now the Apostle Paul, in speaking of the influence of the Spirit, uses such terms as these; being "after the Spirit," being "in the Spirit," being "led by the Spirit," "living in the Spirit," "walking after the Spirit," "minding the things of the Spirit." These expressions, however, though they may appear to a superficial observer to mean the same thing, are not all to be confounded with each other as perfectly synonimous, since the Apostle manifestly makes a difference between them. Thus: "They that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit;" minding the things of the Spirit is, therefore, not the same thing as being after the Spirit, but the effect of it. Again; "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit:" here, also, to walk after the Spirit is the effect or consequence of our living in the Spirit. To be in the Spirit, therefore; to be after the Spirit; or to live in the Spirit; seem to describe that participation which every real Christian has in the influences of the Spirit of God. In such the Spirit of God is said to dwell: He is in them a quickening Spirit; through their union with him, they are one with Christ, and Christ with them; and in this respect their participation of the Spirit is absolutely necessary to their being in Christ, or real Christians. "If any man," saith the Apostle,

"have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." By him they are sealed to the day of redemption. Their bodies are said to be his temple, in which he is supposed to reside. However the degree of his influence may vary, yet this union to the Spirit, and his residence in them, are supposed to be perpetual, in the case of real Christians, from their first faith in Christ to their entrance into glory. "I will send you the Comforter, and he will abide in you forever."-And in consequence of this union to the Spirit, which they are supposed to possess, there are peculiar duties required of them. They are exhorted not to "grieve the Spirit;" not to defile the body, which is his temple; not to "quench the Spirit;" to "mind the things of the Spirit;" to "walk after the Spirit."

This view of the Christian's constant union to the Spirit of God, and of the various duties which are derived from such an union, will assist us to understand the meaning of the phrase in my text: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh."

The general idea seems to be this:-Since the Holy Spirit is the author of all holiness; and since, according to his promise, he resides in you who are baptized into the name of Christ, and truly believe in him, you are to cherish his influences, if you would indeed be delivered from the lusts of the flesh; you are to commit yourself to his guidance; act in dependence upon him: attend to his directions; use the means he has appointed for the communication of his grace; in short, you are to exert your utmost efforts to promote his gracious influences upon your heart; and thus, "ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.'

So much for the general idea of the Apostle in this passage, let us now consider more particularly what may be supposed to be included in walking in the Spirit.

1. And first I imagine, that a regard to all the great evangelical principles is implied in the words, "walk in the Spirit."-In the Epistles to the Romans and the