1. 25; 2. 1-13; 4. 11), there are some believers who are so perverted as to deny that the moral law is the rule of life of the saints. For the slaves of corruption, who live in error, have received God's grace in vain, for they have received his Word as the words of men (1 Cor. 2. 13); and consequently they do not know the Lord Jesus as their sanctification. (1 Cor. 1. 30.) But Paul, who was enriched with all the most precious gifts of God, worked out his own sanctification with fear and trembling; and he exhorts us to do likewise, lest we should incur the judgment of God, and be cast out of his Assembly; and he prayed that the grace of God might be with all them that love the Lord in sincerity, that is, who are unleavened by the flesh. (Eph. 6. 24. Comp. John, 14. 21; 2 Cor. 13. 14.) And accordingly he exhorts us by the mercies of God to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our 'Worship according to his word.' (Rom. 12. 1. Comp. Matt. 5. 27-32. Rom. 6. 1-4.)

We all stand in need of purification from the pollution of sin, for our God is a consuming fire whom the unsanctified cannot approach; for as the people of Israel were forbidden to come near the mount that burned with fire; so neither can God's children come near his throne till they are purified from the defilement of sin by confession; so that perfect sanctification is attained only by faith in Jesus as the Sovereign Sacrificer of the saints. For The Christ is all things and in us all' (Col. 3. 11), and we are complete in him (Col. 2. 10); and through faith in him, though we have lain among the pots, we shall be as the wings of a dove, covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. (Ps. 68. 13.) But we must bear in mind, that although Jesus accomplishes all things in us, that the consummation cannot be attained till the body of corruption returns to the dust; when he shall change the body of our humiliation, that it may be like unto the body of his glory; for it is in the New Jerusalem that God will supply all our need in the Christ

Jesus (Phil. 4. 19); so that perfect and everlasting purification from sin, which we, who groan in the body of corruption, long to attain, cannot be accomplished till mortality is swallowed up by life. (Rom. 8. 16-18. 1 Cor. 15. 49-58. 2 Cor. 5. 1-4.)

In confronting our testimony with God's word, how deeply humiliated we must feel, seeing how far we fall short of the heavenly standard; and considering the earnest exhortations of the Lord to cast off the works of darkness, and to put on the arms of light, it behoves us to ask ourselves whether we take his cross, and walk as his disciples, 'with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' (Eph. 4. 1-3.) Do we who are members of the Assembly of God follow after the meek and lowly Jesus? No. The flesh shrinks from taking his cross, and we walk by sight rather than by faith, trying to conciliate piety and worldliness as best we can. We can all say, like Paul, that we are dead to the law that condemned us to die as sinners; but can we say, like him, that we are freed from the dominion of sin, and that the life which we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the Son of God? Being justified through faith, we have peace with God; but are we living in communication with him by abiding in his Spirit and his Word as disciples of Jesus? Our Lord loved us when we were sinners, for he died to save us; but he does not love us as his brethren unless we abide in communication with him through his Spirit and his Word. (John, 14. 21.) Are we who believe in Jesus, then, separated from the world, and transformed by the renewing of the mind, that we may discern that which is the will of God, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect (Rom. 12. 2); that we may be without offence for the day of the Christ? Being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which is through Jesus the Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.' (Phil. 1. 10, 11.) 'Exa

mine yourselves,' saith the apostle Paul, 'whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves: know ye not that Jesus the Christ is in you, except, perhaps, ye be reprobates?' (2 Cor. 13. 5.) Does the Word of Jesus, then, smite our besetting sin, and do we confess that there is no good thing in us; and do we reap the reward of fidelity to him, by suffering for the sake of righteousness, being despised, hated, and persecuted for his sake? If not, we shall be found wanting when weighed in the balance as witnesses for the truth. What resemblance do we bear to the Son of Man in our walk as his disciples? He was indeed without sin, yet he was a man, and was tempted in all things as we are. For although God was in him, inasmuch as his life, his righteousness, his holiness, his love, and his truth were in him, yet, according to the flesh, Jesus the Christ was a son of Adam. And in the weakness of the flesh he prayed to the Father, who strengthened him by the voice of an angel, in the garden of Gethsemane. (Luke, 22. 43, 44. Comp. 4. 10. John, 12. 28. Ps. 91. 11, 12. Matt. 4. 11; 26. 53.) Should we not, then, make use of every available means to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ, by prayer, and by reading his Word, and by commemorating his death and resurrection on the first day of the week, according to his commandment, till he come?

Finally, let us ask ourselves the following questions, namely: Is Jesus our counsellor, to whose voice alone we listen, and to whom we come for help and consolation in all our trials and afflictions? Has our heart been changed by contact with the loving and compassionate heart of the Christ, and are we transformed into his image by love? Is he our sanctuary from the storms of this life, and the confidant of our joys and of our sorrows? And do we, like Moses, prefer the reproach of the Christ to the treasures of Egypt, which is the touchstone of our fidelity to him who

had not whereon to lay his head? And have we drunk of the cup which he drank of and become perfect as his disciples by suffering? If so, we bear our cross, and are dead to sin, and living to God and we fulfil the commandment of the law. (Rom. 7. 7; 8. 1-4. 1 Tim. 6. 14. 2 Pet. 2. 21.) We are conformed to the image of Jesus, for he has manifested himself to us, and we have known him, and seen him, in his love and in his humility, and in his suffering, and in his fidelity to God; and we have felt the power of his resurrection; for we have been baptised with his baptism, and, like him, we have been awakened from the dead, to walk in newness of life (Mark, 10. 38, 39. Rom. 6. 1-4); and we can say, with truth, that the world is dead to us and that we are dead to the world; and we shall grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and who is our righteousness, our sanctification, and our deliverance from the body of corruption. To the Father of mercies, then, be glory and praise for ever, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in his Assembly in the Christ, according as he hath elected us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us for adoption to himself through Jesus the Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, whereby he hath accepted us in the beloved.' Amen.

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CHAPTER XII.

GOOD WORKS.

'I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.'—John, 9. 4. 'And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.'-Col. 3. 17.

I. GOOD works are the fruit of the Holy Spirit; and they are rewarded by the love of the Father, and of the Son, and of our brethren, and by the testimony of a good conscience.

II. The disciples of Jesus are called to glorify God by their good works.

III. The opposition of the world.

IV. The justification of the brethren of the Lord by good works.

I. Good works are the fruit of the Holy Spirit; and they are rewarded by the love of the Father, and of the Son, and of our brethren, and by the testimony of a good conscience.

The Holy Spirit is the motive power which prompts the children of God to love him, and to obey his will as their heavenly Father; and if this Spirit abide in us, we shall manifest our faith by our works, like the meek and lowly Jesus, who went about continually doing good. He worked the works of his Father who sent him while it was day; and so should we do the works that are appointed for us while it is day, if we be his disciples indeed, and not in name only; for the time is short. (Eph. 5. 16. 1 Cor. 7. 29-31.) And whatsoever we do, whether in word or deed, we should do all in his name ; that is, in him or in his Spirit, and in obedience to his