a blameless conduct ; you should shine as lights in the midst of a dark world n, and " walk worthy of him who hath called you to his kingdom and glory." Would you see the particulars wherein such conduct consists ? read it in that direction which St. Paul gives to the Colossian Church; " Put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humble- ness of mind, meekness, long-suffei*ing, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any ; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness0." Here is living Christianity : this is to walk as Christ walked : and by this shall all men know that ye are the disciples of Christ, " the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty."]
n Phil. ii. 15, 16. ° Col. iii. 12—14.
Rom. viii. 15. Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
OUR blessed Lord in his last discourse with his Disciples, promised to send down from heaven the Holy Spirit, who should " convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment:" and accordingly, on the day of Pentecost he did send down the Holy Spirit, who instantly wrought in the most powerful manner on the minds of thousands, filling them with the deepest convictions, and with the richest conso- lations. From that time the Holy Spirit has continued so to work on the minds of men, in some as a Spirit of bondage, and in others as a Spirit of adoption. The nature of the Holy Spirit's operations is the same in both cases ; their use and tendency being to bring men to God : the difference which is found in the effects, is occasioned by the state of the persons on whom the Spirit works : in those whose minds are yet blinded by Satan, and enslaved by sin, he pro- duces only bondage and fear ■ but those who are deeply penitent, and unfeignedly desirous of fulfilling the word of God, he introduces into a state of light and liberty and joy.