"Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh; for the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts."* And also to the Philippians: "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me." It is then the duty of all Christians to pray, that God would grant them, through Jesus Christ, his Holy Spirit, and that he would so work in them "to will and to do of his good pleasure,' that henceforward they might " yield their members' instruments of righteousness unto God," and be sanctified "wholly in spirit, soul, and body." But, I must endeavour to shew, 3rd. The measure according to which we must perform the Will of God. Our text says, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Our rule of conduct, then, in obeying the divine will, must be conformable to the service of the Angels of God, and the spirits of just men made perfect; and they obey cheerfully, universally, perfectly. "Be ye perfect as your Father, which is in Heaven is perfect."** "Ye shall be holy, Gal. v. 16, 22, 23, 24. + Phill. iv. 13. 1 Thess. v. 23. Phill. ii. 13. ** Matt, v. 48. for I, the Lord your God am holy."* But here we are disposed to say, "This is too much—If such are the rigorous demands of the law, who then can be saved?" But, let us not be frightened from our duty by a false representation of things. Let us take care, that self-deceit and self-indulgence, to which all men are dreadfully prone, do not obtain dominion over us, and that we do not form a scheme of salvation for ourselves, which a strict and accurate investigation of the Holy Scriptures will force us to abandon. "To the law and to the testimony"† then; let us search the scriptures, and by their decision let us abide. In order to shew how much is required of us, I shall first select some of the passages, which treat of our progress in holiness, and secondly some others, which treat of our perfection. Among the passages which treat of our progress in holiness, consider the following. The first shall be taken from the 9th chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, where the christian life is compared to a race. "Know ye not," says the Apostle," that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize; so run, that ye may obtain: And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate "'* in all things; now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible; I, therefore, so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that, by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast away.' Saint Paul, who made this declaration, was a great Apostle, and highly favoured of God; yet he was not contented with his present state, therefore he speaks to the same effect in his Epistle to the Philippians: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things, which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things, which are before, I press towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."† In the 1st chapter of the second Epistle of Peter we find an exhortation to the same purport. "Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these + Philip. iii. 12-14. 1 Cor. ix. 24-27. things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; but he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see far off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins."* Now, does it not appear very clear from these passages, to which many others of a similar import might be added, that we must be growing in grace, and increasing in holiness, and is it not neces sary, that we should " exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of" us "should be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin? For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end." But, if we are to go forward, it must be to some mark. We must have a rule, whereby to measure our conduct, and that rule can be nothing less than the will of God, who desires that his creature should be holy as He is holy. Observe how strongly this doctrine is inculcated in the word of God. "I beseech you Brethren," says St. Paul in the 12th chapter to the Romans, "that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service; and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed + Heb. iii. 13, 14. * 11 Pet, v. 9. by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." Again, Eph. iv. 11, 12, 13: "He gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, for the edifying the body of Christ, till we all come, in the unity of the Faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." So to the Colossians; chap. iv. 12.— Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." In the second Epistle to Timothy, chap. iii. 17, the design of Revelation is said to be for this purpose, "that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Just in the same language is Saint Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians, Epistle I. chap. iii. 12, 13, "The Lord make you to increase and abound in love, one towards another, and towards all men, even as we do towards you, to the end he establish your may hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints." And at the conclusion of this Epistle, |