am

of eternal life ; and by the sanctifying influence of his Holy Spirit, my nature undergoes a gradual change from evil to good.

Through my Redeemer I partake of sanctification in a threefold sense, by the threefold love of the "holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity." I

“ sanctified by God the Father,” * in the eternal purpose of his choice ; he “having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." + I am 66 sanctified in Christ Jesus;" | being regarded in him, set apart for the divine glory, to be the object of God's complacent love, and the mirror of his perfections. This becomes my privilege, when by faith I am justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. I am "sanctified by the Holy Ghost," S

“ in the commencement of his work upon my soul, by regeneration, and in its continuance, by the gradual implantation and cultivation of the spiritual and moral graces of Christianity.

My Saviour is made sanctification unto me, because I am indebted to him for all that is comprehended under the term. That I might be

consecrated and cleansed for use, as a vessel of honor, in the heavenly temple, was the end for which he gave himself up to the grand work of redeeming love. “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." * Faith in him and the word of his gospel are the chief instruments employed in the hallowing work; † and the blessed agent of that work is styled “the Spirit of Christ.” Dear Son of God, I praise thee as much for the renewing and purifying grace of thy Spirit, as for the atonement of thy blood, and the merit of thy righteousness.

Holy Redeemer! born to save

Thy people from their sin,
Thy sanctifying grace I crave,

To make me clean within.

I would not, if I might, remain

Beneath the dark control
Of that which loosed the fiends of pain

Upon thy righteous soul.

O, crush the subtle serpent's head,

And tear it from my breast;

Implant thy nature in its stead,

And soothe my heart to rest.

I would, dear Lord, be holy too —

Be more and more like thee, Until thy glorious form I view,

Thy full redemption see.

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FORTY-FIRST MEDITATION.

SAVIOUR.

My SAVIOUR! I must have praised him with all the powers of my mind ; I must have loved him with all the affections of my soul, even if he had never assumed any other name than this. It includes every other. To be my Saviour, it was necessary that he should possess all those attributes, and accomplish all those undertakings, which his other titles ascribe to him. The possession of those attributes, and the performance of those undertakings, invest him with the full glory of the saving character, in which my soul delights to contemplate him.

The rescue of my soul from the wrath of God; its emancipation from the enslaved state in which it naturally lies to Satan ; its deliverance from the dominion of its own sinful lusts; the resurrection of my body from the grave ; and the investiture of my regenerated nature with immo“.

tality, happiness, and glory, in the immediate presence of God,- this is salvation - this is the work of my Saviour. "Salvation belongeth unto Jehovah." *

66

The appellation of Saviour first occurs in David's eucharistic " song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies." + The grateful saint accumulates strong terms, by which to express his gratitude; and, as the climax of them all, he exclaims, "My Saviour!" It was the crowning act of Israel's ingratitude, on their long pilgrimage, that "they forgot God their Saviour." The prophets sounded abroad this title of the approaching Redeemer, for the encouragement of expectant Jews and Gentiles. "He shall send them a Saviour, and a great one." That they might place a full reliance on his power and grace, they were repeatedly informed of the nature and dignity of their approaching Messiah. He was to be at once "a man of sorrows " and the "mighty God." "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour." || Mary's faith contemplated the babe in her womb in this exalted character: "My spirit hath rejoiced in