acceptance with God through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ : and we declare also, that a new heart shall be given you, and a new spirit shall be put within you, and the whole law of God be written in your hearts, if only you will believe in him : for he will send down his Holy Spirit upon you, according to his promise, and, by his gra- cious influences upon your souls, will " cause you to keep his statutes and his judgments^" All this shall be " ministered unto you abundantly through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," if only you will come unto him ; and it shall be given you " freely, without money and without price" ]
2. Of the Church at large —
[Your minds should be intent on this great subject : you should seek to grow daily in the knowledge of it : you should come up to the house of God with the same preparation of heart to receive the word of God from your ministers, as the Israelites did to receive the law from the hands of Moses : your state of mind should be like to that of Cornelius and his company, when Peter came to preach the tidings of salvation to them ; " Now are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God^" And as there is no veil put before our face, so you should beg of God that no veil may remain on your hearts. The law was hid from Israel without involving them in any guilt or danger, if only they complied with it as far as it was revealed to them : but " if the Gospel be hid from you, you must eternally perish^;" because it is the only possible way of salvation, and can save only by operating effectually both on the understanding and the heart '\ O then beg of God to counteract the devices of Satan, who strives continually to hide this Gospel from you ; and entreat him " to shine into your hearts to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'!"
At the same time you must remember, that in this respect the obedience you pay must correspond with the privileges you enjoy. Being liberated from the law, you are released also from all servile hopes and fears : and your service must be no longer that of a slave, but of a child : you must serve God, not in the oldness of the letter, but in newness of the spirit'^; and in this way you will attain all the blessings which the Gospel is intended to impart. The intent of this Gospel is, to assimilate you to that Saviour who proclaims it to you. Whilst you receive it from him, a portion of his splendour must cleave
e Ezek. xxxvi. 25—27. ^ Acts x. 33. s 2 Cor. iv. 4.
'> 1 Thess. ii. 13. « 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. ^ Rom. vii. 6.