that divine teaching which shall open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of the law.

III. These observations are equally applicable to the office and operations of the Holy Spirit, the comforter, who is sent to renew and sanctify the souls which the Father hath given to the Son, and the Son has redeemed by the sacrifice of himself. A correct apprehension of his divine work, for the people of God, is only to be gained, in an adequate understanding of their relation to the law, and their condition under it.

The Holy Spirit is given in the great covenant of redemption, to regenerate the sinful nature of those, whom "God hath chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before him in love;" to create them anew after his divine image; to enlighten them to discern the riches of their inheritance in Christ; and to bring them to the enjoyment of their adoption into the family of God. In precise accordance therefore, with the view which we have, of the spiritual necessity of guilty man, upon whom this work is to be accomplished, will be the estimate which we shall form, of the work itself. The less we suppose to be our natural opposition to God, and our alienation from his image, the less will there be in our view, to be done by the Spirit in our behalf. If there be not entire hostility in our fallen nature towards God, and an utter destruction of the first creation of our souls in holiness, what necessity can there be for a new creation? If the defect be partial, the remedy may be partial also. If we are not actually dead in sin, why should we require a divine and life-giving power to raise us from the dead. If we have not wholly gone out of the way of life, are not completely lost and ruined, how shall we suppose, we need Almighty grace to restore us again to the path of peace, to cleanse us from our pollutions, and to keep us in the way everlasting? If we are made to feel that our dangers and wants are extreme, that our condition is one

of total corruption and depravity, as well as of condemnation and guilt, we shall see that we must have a remedy adapted to such extremities; we shall be content with nothing short of the power of the Living God, in that Spirit who is to pluck us "out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and to set our feet upon the rock," which the Father's love hath placed for us, in the atonement and righteousness of the Son.

They who gain not this clear perception of the condition of man under the violated law, see not their need of the continued special influence of the Holy Spirit, to illuminate their minds, or to sanctify their hearts. They are led to doubt, or even to deny, his personal agency in the great work of man's redemption. In connexion with this, they are often deluded by the same ignorance, to reject the whole revelation of the Glorious Persons in the Trinity,—and the various indispensable doctrines of grace which are connected with it, such as the doctrine of actual satisfaction for sin in the Saviour's death, of the imputation of his righteousness to believers for their justification,-and of the certain preservation of them in new obedience, by the power of the Holy Ghost. They do not feel themselves to be destroyed in sin; they see not therefore their need of the free and boundless love of the Father, electing them unto life, as the origin of their hope; of the divine merit of an Immanuel to bring them in acceptance before him, and into possession of this life; and of the Almighty agency of the Spirit to enable them to know and to receive the things which are thus freely given to them of God. Multitudes thus bring down their avowed system of religion to some low and miserable standard, which in fact almost assumes the sufficiency of their own nature, and their own works to meet the judgment and to claim the favour of God. All these are mistakes which spring altogether from an ignorance of his law. Let them obtain a thorough insight into its claims and character by the enlightening power of the Spirit,

and they will then see how solemnly and fatally its demands and sanctions shut them up under the condemnation and bondage of sin; they will then see, that if any one less than God himself, undertake their salvation, they must assuredly perish; they will be convinced that no arm inferior to the Lord of hosts, can rescue them from the wrath to which they are exposed, or bring to them the victory they require;-they will humbly seek, and then shall surely find, the free and great salvation, which God has so clearly revealed, and so fully offered, in the provisions of his Gospel,-and they will realize the importance of the prayer before us, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law,”in discerning that all these advances in spiritual knowledge are dependant upon an accurate understanding of its character and claims.

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LECTURE II.

THE PRACTICAL INFLUENCE OF A KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW.

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.-PSALM XCIV. 12.

THE sacred writer uttered this sentiment under circum. stances which well display the truth he intended to express. He stood amidst the overflowings of ungodliness. The wicked appeared to triumph on every side. They boasted of their success and power, and proclaimed their contempt of God. They derided the warnings of the divine inspection, and of their own final responsibility to God. Amidst the enormities of their transgressions, they were still self-confident and selfrighteous. The psalmist beheld this wild tumult of human passions and human pride, and implored a divine manifestation of the power of God, in the execution of judgment and vengeance upon the ungodly who boasted of his absence and unconcern. And in the midst of such iniquities flowing from an ignorance of God, and his holy law, he proclaims the happiness of those who, under the teaching and chastening of the Lord, have been led to avoid the ways of evil doers, and to seek their comforts in the paths of his commandments. Under his holy discipline, they have learned the principles of truth, and acquired that practical obedience which a knowledge of his law is adapted to impart. And by its direction, they are saved alike, from the rebellion which vainly opposes the authority of God, and the self-righteousness which justifies itself in opposition to him. The text exhibits the practical in

fluence upon man, of a knowledge of the divine law, which is the subject now before us. And while it declares the blessedness of the man who has thus been taught by God, it shews to us, that this knowledge of the law of God, is far from being a mere speculation, a dead theory in theology, but is a spring of great practical influence, which distinguishes and blesses the whole course of a sound experience in religion, and a just intelligence of religious truth.

I. All true religious feeling is intimately connected with a proper knowledge of the law of God. Real spiritual affections are, in a great degree, dependant upon it. Without it, man cannot have real conviction of sin, or humility, or gratitude, or zeal, or love to God. And whatever blessedness there is, in these exercises of a renewed mind, there is also, in the knowledge of the law, upon which they depend.

1. We can have no real conviction of sin, without an adequate conception the demands of the law, and of our own condition under it. But this is the very first step in the work of the Holy Spirit when he regenerates a child of wrath. He makes him to see his guilt, and to feel his burden, as a transgressor against God. Mere natural religion makes very partial and scanty acknowledgments of sin. It confesses the guilt of acts of transgression, but it knows nothing of the guilt of a state of sin. It mourns for crimes, but not for condition. It imagines no other method of return to God necessary, than a sorrow for the deeds of the past, and an effort of amendment for the future. But our natural condition is one of entire ruin. We are, in our fallen state, under the divine condemnation. "As many as are of the works of the law, are under a curse;" and the wrath of God abideth on them. Of the reality and extent of this guilt and ruin however, we are ignorant, until God the Spirit teaches us out of his law. "By the law is the knowledge of sin;" and the conviction which we have of our guilt as transgressors under it, must depend upon the knowledge