which causes you to long after more of the Divine mind, and more conformity to His blessed will and holy image.

And then I would say, oh! that ye would desire all that God has promised! And remember, it is in the way of faith that ye are to seek it; it is only in Jesus you can find it, in receiving Christ, and all fulness treasured up in Him. If you are the least of all that ever have been, or ever shall be of God's saints, you have the same reason for going to Christ and receiving out of His inexhaustible fulness. It is only by faith in Him, that ye can ever receive large communications, and it is by faith that ye shall receive them, God the Spirit helping you thereto.

Oh! I would say, beware of self-exaltation. It is easy to say, '1 am nothing;' it is easy to say, 'I am a poor fallen sinner;' it is easy to say, 'I am very ignorant, and know nothing;' but it is not easy to feel it. I perceive that the saints of God who have most of the image of Christ, lie the lowest. If I come near a man who thinks himself very holy, I begin to ask myself the question, 'Is he holy at all?' If I were to hear a man in prayer so speak before God, and in private so speak of himself, the question would at once rush into my mind-' Does he know holiness at all?' Pride fattens itself upon what it finds in our carnal nature; even in acknowledgements, and our deep humiliations in mind and body, it can find some cause for boasting. Beware of self-exaltation. As ye "press towards the mark," long for more; ever remember that ye are "less than nothing and vanity," and that if the Lord were to test you in the balances of the sanctuary, you would be found wanting.

See then, lastly, the greatest of all points that I would urge upon you, which is this,-lay the greatest weight upon the finished work of Christ. Whatever ye aim at in holiness, whatever ye aim at in conformity, aim at it looking to Jesus, remembering that your great weight must be laid upon the finished work of the incarnate Godupon that perfect righteousness, which is "to all and upon all them that believe." Take this as a stimulant, take it as an occasion of abasement, take it as an occasion of humiliation, and encouragement too; but remember, that the basis of your hope and confidence is out of yourselves, and in the righteousness of another.

May God help you and me to steer between these narrow rocks, and keep us stedfastly looking to Jesus, aiming at an entire conformity to His will, in thought, word and deed.

CHRISTIANS SENT INTO THE WORLD.

A SERMON,

BY THE REV. J. H. EVANS, M.A.

PREACHED AT JOHN STREET CHAPEL, KING'S ROAD, BEDFORD ROW, ON SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 21, 1846.

"As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world."--John xvii. 18.

THE apostles of our Lord must be considered in a double point of view. We must regard them, in the first place, as extraordinary officers in the church of Christ-called to an extraordinary work, qualified by extraordinary gifts; and, therefore, meeting with extraordinary blessing. We find in the twelfth chapter of the second epistle to the Corinthians, that there were "signs" of an apostle; and if the words mean anything, then where those "signs" are not, there apostles are not: "truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." To speak, therefore, of successors to such, seems to me to be an awful mockery. They had the power, not only of working miracles, but of communicating the Holy Ghost, and that in His extraordinary gifts; surely it is part of "the man of sin" to speak of such things, belonging to us in the present day. There is, in fact, a succession of holy men of God, qualified, taught, and led by the Holy Ghost, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ,—and that not merely as all Christians do, more or less, as the Lord helps them, but especially consecrated and set apart to that work and office. There can be no doubt, that there are pastors and teachers in the church of God now, as there were in the apostles' days; but we know of no other succession, beloved. There is also another point of view in which they are to be regarded; and that is, as ordinary Christians, VOL. XIII.-No. 450.-August 13, 1846.

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as simple children of God: having no more righteousness of their own than we have, having no more power to obtain pardon of sin by anything in themselves than we have, as weak and as helpless as we are, as dependent upon the power of the Holy Ghost as we are. Therefore it must be evident, if this be so, that this address to God concerning them will embrace them in both these particulars. Thus do we see, beloved, the wondrous adjustments of Divine wisdom: that, where He exalts, He abases; and where He abases, He exalts; and He does abase by that very thing that does exalt. For these apostles were in themselves as poor and needy as we are, and some of them vastly more conscious of it, than you and I have ever been, because of the greater grace that was communicated to them. But although these words were addressed to the Lord God Almighty by the Lord Jesus Christ, more especially in reference to them as apostles, the seventy, and the then disciples, yet it embraces all the family of God; it takes in all their circumstances, in all ages of the church. And as a proof of it, let me bring before you a very common order of proof, which, as I conceive, is quite unanswerable. We read, "in the world ye shall have tribulation"-this was especially true of the apostles-is it exclusively true of them? What! are they the only persons that ever find out that in the world there is tribulation, and tribulation for the Gospel's sake? Again, you find, “that in Me ye might have peace;" it was especially their high privilege, as brought more immediately into contact with God, by the larger communication of His grace, that they found abundance of peace in believing in Jesus; but, is it exclusively their privilege? Oh! let sick rooms, let dying beds give testimony to this truth, that it is not the exclusive property of the apostles of Christ.

Here are two points, beloved, that I would desire you to consider this morning on these words. In the first place, observe, the Father sends our blessed Lord to the world-let that be our first point, and the wherefore. And then, secondly, observe, that even so the Lord Jesus sends His people into the world; His apostles, the seventy, the then disciples; and it is true of all the family of God, He tells us, that He sends them into the world, and the wherefore of this too.

I. With regard to the first point, observe the place to which the Father sends the Son. It is not into the retirement of the family, it

is not into the sanctity of the temple, it is not into the society of His disciples, it is not into the solitude of the wilderness of Judea, but He sends Him into the broad world. The Father sent the Son into the broad world, that He might be the Saviour of sinners, that He might save them from their sins, even all that believe in Him, be they who they may, from the least to the greatest. "His name shall be called Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins;" and He was sent into the world for that very end and object. And, observe, beloved, it does not imply, as some would say, because the Lord Jesus was sent by the Father, that therefore He is inferior in nature to the Father. Many, who deny the Deity of Christ, are fond of this argument; it is light upon the weights-because an equal may condescend to be sent by an equal. It is no proof of inferiority of nature that He was so sent. That which was the greatest humiliation of our Lord, they affirm to be proof of His inferiority. It does not prove that our Lord, as God, was absent from heaven, while He was upon earth; for He speaks of the Son lying in the bosom of the Father at the very time that He was upon earth. It does not deny that there is a blessed unity:-"I and the Father are one;" and as much one then as they ever were. But it doth prove, beloved, (and if there be any here with any awful misgivings-I call them awful misgivings-upon this point, let them mark this passage)—it does prove that our Lord existed before He was sent, or how could He be sent? He must have existed before He was sent. It proves too that He was a distinct Person from Him who sent Him; otherwise words prove nothing. As a Divine Person He did assume our nature, and that too, in accordance with the Father's secret purpose, and secret counsel, according to His good pleasure. And this is the very meaning of the expression, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish."

I need scarcely take up any time to prove that the portion of the world, where our Lord tabernacled, when on earth, was a very small one. It was chiefly in Judea; a small place, a small province; but there, and in Samaria, and in Galilee-most of all in Galilee—did He preach the unsearchable riches of His Gospel. Yes, and in that small portion of the world, beloved, did our Lord magnify the law and make it honourable; in that small portion of

the world did He glorify God in the perfection of His obedience; in that small portion of the world did He display the image of God— for our Lord came to prove that there was a God; and though the Jews knew that before, yet He came to tell them what sort of a God He was how good, how gracious, how holy, how just, how faithful, how unchangeable, how ready to forgive, and how slow to anger! Thus did He, in that small part of the world, to which He was immediately sent, unfold the very image of God. It was His glory there to lift up the veil, to lift up the cloud that was upon the hearts and understandings of men, and show unto them, what that God was, whom they had despised. And in His person, in His miracles, in His life, and in His doctrine, He was the unfolder of God, in all the perfection of His glory, as far as man was able to endure the sight. And in that part of the world, beloved, did our blessed Master live by faith. He lived by faith upon the glorious promises of His heavenly Father. Oh! that this truth were more deeply contemplated by us, and realised in our souls. I oftentimes think that it is through a fear of sinking the character of our Lord, that we are afraid of admitting that He lived such a life. You and I are to live a life of faith, and as we live a life of faith on the Son of God, so He lived a life of faith on the promises of the living God. See, as I lately endeavoured to show, in the fiftieth chapter of Isaiah, how clearly it is declared, "I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help Me." If that language does not set forth a life of faith, what language ever can set it forth!

But chiefly, and above all, did our Lord in that world, or in that part of the world, work out a great salvation for His people. There, as the great Surety of the covenant, did He bear their sins, and make an end of their sins, and blot them out in His own precious blood. There did He work out an all-sufficient righteousness, which is "unto all and upon all them that believe;" for He "finished the work ;" and ascending on high, He sends down the blessed Spirit by which the souls of men are regenerated, and by whose influence that precious blood is sprinkled on their consciences, and they are thus drawn up to God; and, the love of Christ constraining them, they live to God thereafter; and they are delivered from the inbeing of sin; sin shall have no being in them,-it shall be His triumph,