operations of the Holy Spirit for the transformation of our
souls into the Divine image? Can it further, in any
one respect, the everlasting redemption of our souls, so that we shall say, this is the work of philosophy, and not of Christ ?
If the maxims of philosophy cannot effect any thing,
can its deities ? Can they help us, either by their personal efficiency, or by their mediation with any other? I ask further, can Jewish rites, whether those that have been devised by man, or those which were originally ordained of God, add to us in any of these respects ! No ; we confidently say, that the Christian is " complete in Christ :" he has in Christ all that he can stand in need of; and to confide in any other is to rob him of his glory, and fatally to deceive our own souls.]
But besides the Christian's completeness in Christ, we are called to notice,
II. His conformity to Christ —
That Christ is cm example to us, is what every Christian well knows. But there is a distinction which is not generally adverted to, which yet it is of importance to remark ; namely, that as he is an example to us in his life, so is he also, if we may so express it, an exemplar or pattern to us in his work. We will explain our meaning.
Christ having undertaken to redeem our souls, submitted to all that was necessary for that end : he was circumcised, as being made under the law for us : he died under the curse of that law ; and after having been buried in the grave, he rose again for our justi- fication before God. Now all this which was done in him corporeallij, is to be done in us spiritually : the one was intended to be a pattern of the other. This is very minutely set forth by the Apostle Paul, who tells us that the power exercised towards us who believe, exactly accords with that which was exercised towards our Lord Jesus Christ in all the fore-mentioned particulars : his quickening from the dead, his rising from the grave, his ascension to hea- ven, and his session at the right hand of God far above all the principalities and powers of heaven or hell, have all a counterpart in us, wrought by the same divine A^ent6.
e Compare attentively Eph. i. 19 — 22. andii. 4 — 6.