co-workers with God. He purposes to save us fully, we must fully enter into this purpose. He bids us ask and receive; we must pray with all prayer for the sanctifying leaven. He bids us believe in Christ; we must trust him for a perfect cure. He bids us bring forth all the fruits of righteousness, which by Jesus Christ are to the praise of the glory of God. We are to be filled with these holy fruits. Then we must receive all, and allow the full operation of the fertilizing influence of the Divine Spirit. O for yielding, believing, praying hearts! Then our lives will declare the perfection of that remedy wrought out for us by Christ, and wrought in us by that Holy One, who changes us into the image of God from one degree of glory to another, till all the mind that was in Christ is found in us, and by the indwelling fulness we are enabled to pray without ceasing, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks, and our whole life becomes a testimony that Christ is able to save, to the very utmost, all who come unto God by him,

III. THE TEXT INDICATES A BLESSEDNESS TO BE ENJOYED,

It places before us the human spirit restored to its original and highest fellowship. The darkness is past, the true light shineth. Sin is destroyed, righteousness is brought in, a moral influence circulates through all the powers, and the whole life is in harmony with the word and mind of God. When man is thus renewed, God takes full possession of the soul, agreeably with that gracious promise of Christ, "If any man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." This coming to the soul is in gracious love. This fellowship is habitual and involving fellowship. Both these ideas are implied in the sweet words, "Make our abode with him." Is not the man blessed who is in such a state? Let us enumerate some particulars. Such a person enjoys a Divine-a full consciousness of his acceptance with God. "He knows in whom he has believed." "The Spirit itself bears witness with his spirit that he is a child of God." He has the witness in himself. He can sing and will sing,

"Exults my rising soul,

Disburdened of its load,
And swells unutterably full
Of glory and of God."

Why should we not, why do we not as professing Christians secure this manhood, this fulness of God? Give us, O God, fully to know the joyful sound, that we may walk in the light of thy countenance, rejoice in thy name all the day long, and in thy righteousness be exalted.

A person filled with the Spirit, is willingly obedient to God. His inclination and his judgment both approve the things that are excellent. He has been cast into the gospel mould. A holy fusion has taken place, a Divine renovation; and being made free from sin, he has become a servant of God, has his fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. His heart is enlarged, and he runs in the way of God's commandments. He says, "I delight to do it." Would that all Christians were gladly, willingly obedient to all their Father's

gracious will; yes, it may be so, "for perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment; he that feareth is not made perfect in love." What a sacred charm there is seen and felt everywhere, when, by the Spirit's might in the inner man, we serve the Lord with a perfect heart and a willing mind, and every thought is brought into subjection to the obedience of Christ!""

A person filled with the Spirit will be a witness for Christ-a light in a dark world; a mirror reflecting the Divine glory to Christians. God says, Ye are my witnesses. How? of what? By being in our degree like him. Christ witnessed for God the Father; we must witness for Christ-that he has died; that he has power on earth to forgive sins; that he can save to the uttermost; that Christ is both a willing and a perfect Saviour. So let our experience, exhibited in a holy, useful life, publish to all around the freeness of his mercy, the richness of his grace, the fulness of his great salvation. Then "others seeing our good works will glorify our Father which is in heaven."

A person filled with the Spirit will be a useful member of the church. There he will be "like a child at home." The operation of the Holy Spirit implies a quickening of the nature of man, by an impartation of the Divine nature, and every increase of it implies a fuller communication of the eternal Father to his adopted child. When the soul is filled with the Holy Ghost, the body of man is quickened by the same Spirit. And when both the body and soul are quickened and consecrated by the Spirit, the person so blest is a living epistle, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of God, read and known of all men. Such a person is a centre of moral glory and influence, and will excite others to love and good works. Such a person will have power with God, and prevail. Such a person will know how to estimate and improve all the manifestations of the grace of God. So Barnabas was sent to Antioch as a fit and proper person to guide seeking souls. "Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith and much people was added unto the Lord."

There is no holding back from useful labour, when the Holy Spirit fills the soul. It draws us out in sweet constraint, and we are ready for every good word and work.

That the Spirit is ever ready to replenish the souls of Christians for all actual virtues and practical holiness, we may learn from what the apostle says to the Colossians, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, and all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness." O to be thus strengthened!

A person filled with the Spirit will reap a full reward. He has a large portion of the earnest of his inheritance, and rejoices in the hope of the glory of God. His heart is in heaven, where his treasure is.

"He draws from heaven that sweet repose,

Which none but he that feels it knows."

In all he passes through, he walks and talks with God by a faith which is the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things

hoped for. In nothing he is ashamed; for he knows that Christ shall be magnified in his body, whether it be by life or by death; "for to him to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Here he feels the infirmities of humanity, but in all his afflictions, in patience he possesses his soul, and by joyful anticipation, mingled with Christian resignation, he commits himself to God, saying, "As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake up after thy likeness." The sting of death is sin; but where sin is all removed, there is no sting left. Then life or death is gain.

In the preceding remarks we have endeavoured to bring out the meaning of the text. A blessed text it is: would that all Christians enjoyed the glorious fulness expressed by it! The subject should teach us how fallen men may be restored to God and glory. "Our sins have separated between us and God." This is the lamentable state of all unconverted men, "for the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Is there a gracious power to take away this crushing guilt, this distressing dominant power of evil? Yes, blessed be God, it comes through Christ, and is applied to the soul by the Spirit of God. The want of this Spirit leaves man estranged from God: the reception of it makes us accepted in the beloved. "Hence," says the apostle to the Romans, "ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his." Let every sinner seek to obtain the Divine Spirit, that he may by his gracious power be enabled fully to believe in Christ Jesus to the saving of his soul. How many grieve and quench the Spirit! What desperate folly! By what other agent can man be renewed? O man! O man! take heed! beware, lest he, for thy continuance in sin, leave thee for ever. Yield now; and may the Holy Spirit bring thee to thy right mind.

From the subject we may see what manner of persons Christians ought to be. They are to be temples of the Holy Ghost, vessels of honour fitted for the Divine Master's use, conductors of the divine influence from the source of life to the world without. Happy sons of God and heirs of glory. Looking at our text in the aspect of a duty, and of the moral height which a full realisation of it would produce, let us open our hearts to the full tide of glory, and present ourselves, body, soul, and spirit, a living acceptable sacrifice to God, which is our reasonable service, and thus show to all around that we have Christ put on, and are ready for and determined to do all our Master's will.

If ministers and all Christians were filled with, and actuated by, the Spirit of God, what wondrous effects would follow. "What glory would fill our sanctuaries." "What refreshing influences would be realized in all the social means of grace." Delightfully and promptly would Christians improve all seasons for edifying and speaking to each other of the things that pertain to the kingdom of God. Joy and rejoicing would be heard in the dwellings of the righteous. The word of the Lord would have free course, run, and be glorified, and multitudes of men and women would be turned to the Lord. Signs and wonders would follow in succession, until the accumulated glory per

vading the churches would powerfully affect the world for goodness and for God.

The subject shows us how the world may be set right. Look upon the millions of sinners around. Can they live for and with God? It is possible; for Christ has died for them. There is a spirit to quicken. Come, O Holy Ghost, breathe upon the slain put forth thy vivifying power, and renew our world in righteousness! Thus it shall be, for God says, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen, and Amen.

INFANT SALVATION;

OR, THE ETERNAL HAPPINESS OF ALL WHO DIE IN INFANCY.
BY C. HIBBERT.

PART I.

THE EVIDENCE OF THIS TRUTH.

HUMAN life is but of short duration when it is extended to its utmost limits. Three-score years and ten, or even four-score years, glide rapidly away, and soon come to an end. But many of the human family pass not the period of manhood. While they are yet in the zenith of their days, and are busied with the cares and active duties of life, they are seized with some dire disease, the malignancy of which defies human skill, and soon lays them in the dust. Yea, there are many who have not attained the strength and maturity of manhood, who are full of youthful hope and joyous anticipations, that begin to droop, to sicken, and die. Nor is the lovely child, whose lisping prattle delights a father's ear, nor the innocent babe, whose placid smiles have endeared it to a mother's heart, always screened from the blighting influence of disease, or shielded from the shafts of death.

The well-stored mansion of the opulent, as well as the humble cottage of the poor, is often entered by the disease which lays prostrate their offspring, and robs the domestic circle of its loveliest ornaments.

one, perhaps,

It has been the lot of some parents to lose one, and that an only child. Other parents have been more frequently called upon to part with their children, and to lay them in their beds of dust. And those whose domestic circle has not yet been thus invaded, know not how soon it may be. The subject to which we would invite the attention of the reader is one in which all parents especially will feel a lively interest. It is the salvation or eternal happiness of all who die in infancy, or before they have become morally accountable for their actions.

It is not for us to determine at what point of time a child passes from an unaccountable to an accountable state.

No particular age can be fixed upon as the exact period when this important change takes place in the condition of the young. Some children are endowed with a clearer perception than others of what is right and wrong. Some are also placed in much more favourable circumstances for acquiring a knowledge of their duty, and the consequences of attending to or neglecting it. This, however, is a matter which may, with the fullest confidence, be left to the wise and impartial decision of Jehovah, whose character and whose dealings with mankind give the fullest guarantee that he will not require that which is unreasonable or unjust from any of his

creatures.

It is admitted by many who think but little upon the subject, that all children that die in infancy are not only early taken from the toils, snares,

J

and sufferings of this life, but that they are admitted into heaven to mingle in its society, enjoy its pleasures, and be employed in its sacred exercises for ever. But upon what is this general persuasion founded? Is it the result of a clear and well-grounded_conviction of its truth, produced by ample and satisfactory evidence? Is it not with many a vague notion, a fondly cherished hope, but unsustained by any clear reason or solid conviction.

The consequence of this therefore is, that though the persuasion may to some extent assuage the pungency of grief in the season of bereavement, yet it does not exert that constant, that powerful and consoling influence upon the mind it otherwise would do. It is, therefore, the dictate of duty, as well as of Christian benevolence, to remove all obstructions to that knowledge which will afford fullest consolation to those whose hopes are laid prostrate, or whose hearts are bleeding under the pressure of bereavement.

Then, let a little time be taken from earth's varied engagements, and be devoted to a calm consideration of that provision which has been made for the happiness, joy, and honour of those whose absence you mourn, but whose lovely forms often flit before your imaginations. The divine word assures you that they are not lost, but that they yet live, though the body is held in captivity till He who is the conqueror of death shall proclaim its freedom. Yes, the spirit is admitted to the society of angels and the presence of Jesus. Such an assurance should hush every murmur and quiet the restless spirit, and allure onward in the path of heavenly blessedness.

The eternal happiness of all that die in infancy is one of those subjects that is assumed by the sacred writers, rather than expatiated upon by them at very considerable length.

1. In support of this truth, we may observe that as all children who die in infancy are subjected to the consequences of the sin of the first human pair, so they participate in the benefits of the redeeming covenant. The participation of infants in the sad effects of the fall, is stated in the most explicit manner. It is affirmed, without any disguise or hesitancy, that it was by sin that death entered into the world. The sin of our first parents not only interrupted their tranquil enjoyments in Eden, not only made them the subjects of disquietude, remorse, and guilt, but it subjected both them and their posterity to death.

It was their violation of the law that drew forth from the lips of Jehovah that solemn announcement, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." That this was the decree of Heaven concerning the posterity of Adam as well as himself is evident to all, "for death has passed upon all, for that all have sinned." Here it is explicitly stated that death is the result of sin. But infants cannot, with any propriety, be said to have sinned except in Adam. As they are personally incapable of any moral act, they must be personally incapable of any moral offence, and consequently of guilt.

And yet nothing is more clearly, nothing is more painfully demonstrated than this, that infants are subject to death. It is not only to the man who is full of years, who is bending beneath a load of bodily infirmities that the Almighty says,-"Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return," but to the child that is sportive as the lamb, fair as the lily, and whose cheek blooms as the rose.

So that whenever you see a lovely child laid prostrate by sickness, or distracted with pain,-whenever you see an infant convulsed in fits, or languishing under disease,-whenever you see one of these little ones laid breathless at your feet, or consigned to the grave-you have presented to your view the sad and lamentable effects of Adam's sin. These scenes are witnessed every day. The inmates of the mansion as well as of the cottage have to look on them. The history of almost every family contains records of such events-as our depravity is universal, so is our mortality.

But we further remark that, as infants are subjected to the consequences