through the Church of God, animating it as the soul does the body, and thus quickening into life the element, which it combines. But "the grace

of Our Lord Jesus Christ"-because in Him is the beginning of that new creation, which from Him is imparted to His brethren in the world. He is the Head from whom all the body by joints and bands, has nourishment ministered. For it is the Son alone who became Incarnate, and not the Father or the Holy Ghost. So that out of Him grows that course of grace, which is opposed to the course of nature; that higher life which is opposed to the inheritance of the first Adam. For "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are be

come new."

In this great work does the whole Blessed Trinity co-operate-the Father by His original will, the Holy Ghost as the acting principle, both when the Son took our nature by Incarnation, and when we are impregnated with His by regeneration and grace. For "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit, that dwelleth in you.' But that into which we are actually engrafted, that whereof it may be truly said, according to the course of grace, we are bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, is that Second Person in the undivided Trinity, who has vouchsafed to become the New Head of man's race. Therefore do we read ever

of the grace of Christ; never of the grace of the Spirit.

For this gift of grace is a real gift, whereby men through supernatural influence receive their Maker. The work of mediation is the true entrance into this lower world, of that higher being, whereby heaven and earth are joined together. It is the reality of that Jacob's ladder, which in dim vision the Patriarch beheld. When this truth was made known to the later watchers at Bethlehem, it was no longer as a vision of the night, but as an actual fact, which changed the condition of mankind. For thus does grace find its way from heaven to earth; and those who were by nature the children of the first, became by new birth members of the Second Adam.

And now let us mark in conclusion one practical consequence of this wondrous mystery. Christ is truly present in His servants. They live, yet not they, but Christ liveth in them. The whole Church of the redeemed is filled with that power of the Holy Ghost, which once had its habitation in our Master's earthly frame. Therefore should it all be like one holy temple, consecrated by the presence of that hallowed being, whose dwelling is among the children of clay. Therefore should every individual heart, each single body, be purified like that hallowed humanity of the Son of God, whereof every Christian is a member. Therefore should our thoughts, works, and actions, be

P

cleansed from all pollution both of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. For "as He is so are we in this world." "Beloved now are we the sons of God: and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

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SERMON XVIII.

THE GOSPEL MINISTRY.

II. CORINTHIANS, iv. 5.

"We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake."

THESE words are a sort of epitome of the Gospel. To preach Christ the Lord, to set Him forth as the object of men's affections, and cause of their salvation, as the channel through whom all gifts are bestowed by God on man, and through whom all prayers ascend from man to the Almightythis is its sum and substance. Let us endeavour to realize, in the first place, what the truth is which is here delivered; and secondly, let us consider how it is permitted to men to contribute by their ministry or service to so great a blessing.

Now what is it to preach Christ? It is to set Him forth as the means of man's reconciliation with God, as the channel of renewed intercourse

between man and his Maker, as the corrector of the fall, the conqueror of Satan, the Second Adam of redeemed Humanity, through whom those gifts of grace and glory, which were lost by our first parent have been abundantly replaced. Why was such a restoration needed? Restoration implies that something has been lost. And the purpose for which man was created was in truth destroyed by that sin, which not only lost us Paradise, but lost that intercourse with God, in which lies the happiness of heaven itself. For the basis of all religion lies in the conviction that in God alone is the original fountain of purity and happiness. The law of man's creation was that he should be the mean whereby these perfections should be exhibited upon earth. Therefore was he created in God's image, that the excellencies of his Maker might be reflected in his earthly clay. Of this privilege did sin deprive him. The perfect image of God was broken and defaced. Thereby was that intercourse lost, by which the Almighty might have been exhibited among His creatures. His best and last work, that which was meant to represent and set Him forth below, to rule over the inferior creation as His delegate, which is still called in Scripture "the creature," because His Maker's type and example among material beings, was by sin degraded to the level of the beasts.

Now by what means could this evil be remedied? How could men be restored to their lost estate?