God?" Surely it was not to no purpose that he told his disciples, and in them all future Christians, that he would" be with them always unto the end of the world":" and that he promised "the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, to abide in them for ever!" As long as the world shall last, and " the prince of the power of the air," the spirit of falsehood, "shall work in the children of disobedience," so long shall the Spirit of truth and holiness dwell in "the children of light." I speak not of those visionary raptures, which are sometimes described by enthusiasts as the in-dwelling of the Spirit. But I speak of that "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," which he himself describes by the mouth of his inspired messengers, as "the kingdom of God that is within us;"-of that “ goodness, and holiness, and trutht;"-of that

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love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, which are the fruit of the Spirit"," and the end of which is everlasting life. I speak of that “ peace of God, which

r

Matt. xxviii. 20. 'Rom. xiv. 17. Gal. v. 23.

passeth all understanding, and which keepeth the heart and mind through Christ Jesus." I speak of that" joy and peace in believing, wherewith the God of hope filleth the humble Christian, that he may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost"." It was" through the Eternal Spirit that Christ offered himself without spot to God";" and it is through the same Spirit, "dwelling in us as his temples," that "the blood of Christ must purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God;" must endue us with holiness here, and so lead us to glory hereafter.

May it be our constant endeavour with the aid of this Holy Spirit so to cleave unto Christ, by faith, and by obedience; in outward ordinances, and by inward holiness; that having the Son of God for our Saviour and our Lord, our Prophet and our High Priest, we may finally attain to that eternal life, which God hath given to the disciples of his Son! Grant this we beseech thee, O merciful Father, for the sake of 'Heb. ix. 14.

Phil. iv. 7.

Rom. xv. 13.

Jesus Christ, our Lord! to whom with thee, O Father, and thee, O Eternal Spirit, three Persons in one Godhead, be honour and glory for ever! Amen. i

SERMON IV.

ON THE DIVINITY OF THE WORD.

JOHN i. 1.

In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God.

IN the portions of scripture selected for the morning's service of that day, on which we commemorate the Nativity of our Lord, it appears to be the intention of the Church to fill us with the most magnificent notions of the dignity of that divine Person, whose appearance in the flesh we then more immediately celebrate. The royal Psalmist leads the way, addressing him in a prophetical hymn of incomparable sublimity, as God; seated on a throne of everlasting

duration, and bearing a sceptre of unerring righteousness. The evangelical Prophet follows, describing him as invested with an everlasting dominion, established "in justice and in judgment;" and as intitled to the lofty appellations of " Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace"." To him succeeds "the beloved Physician whose praise is in the Gospel," announcing the incarnation of the same divine Person, and representing him in the. language of an angel, as "a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." By the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who next comes in the order of selection, he is represented as "the Son of God;"-" the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person ;"—as the object of adoration to "all the angels of God;"

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as God," the everlasting King;-as the "Lord," the unchangeable Creator of the universed. Lastly, the beloved Disciple stands forward to bear testimony to the majesty of his Lord; and speaking of him under the appellation of "the Word,” be