every age this doctrine has been, and to the end of the world it shall be, " preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven0."]
Address —
1. Be careful to receive these truths into your
hearts —
[It cannot be that, when so much care has been taken to reveal them to us, we should be at liberty to neglect them : yet are they most grievously neglected by the great majority of the Christian world. The blood of Christ is actually denied by many as an atonement for sin: and of those who do not systematically deny its virtue, many are yet unmindful of it as a source of salvation to their own souls. And as for the in- fluences of the Holy Spirit, they are derided by the generality as the dreams of a heated imagination. Ah ! brethren, let it not be thus with you. Trample not in this ungodly manner upon " the blood of the covenant," whereby alone you can be purged from guilt: and " do not such despite to the Spirit of God," by whose all-powerful influence alone you can ever be truly sanctified and saved But rather seek to be your- selves living witnesses of their truth and efficacy. Seek by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon your souls to obtain peace with God and in your own consciences : and seek by the effusion of the Spirit of God upon your souls to be renewed in your inward man, and rendered meet for heaven. So shall you in this world be " epistles of Christ, known and read of all men ;" and in the world to come be everlasting trophies of his redeeming love.]
2. Beware that you never attempt to separate what God has joined together —
[Some there are of a self-righteous turn, who look to sanctification only as the means of recommending them to God ; whilst others of an Antinomian cast think of little but of justification through the Redeemer's blood. But both of these are involved in nrost grievous errors ; and, if they obtain not juster views of Gospel truth, will perish for ever: for, on the one hand, there is no fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, but that which was opened on Mount Calvary ; nor, on the other hand, can any one that is unsanctified behold the face of God in peace : for " without holiness no man shall see the Lord." If any take refuge in the doctrines of predesti- nation and election, let them know, that God has ordained the means as well as the end ; and that, if we are " elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," it is " through sancti-
c 1 Pet. i. 12.