acting as the Advocate and Intercessor of his people. And these very objects are sought, with supreme solicitude, by all the humble and faithful disciples of Christ. They can not be true Christians who have not supreme regard to the glory of God; and to whom the salvation of sinners, and the interests of Christ's spiritual kingdom are not peculiarly precious. These sublime objects are exceedingly precious in the estimation of all consistent Christians. With fervent zeal, and with holy and increasing delight, they labour to advance the Redeemer's kingdom-to save guilty and perishing men-and to extend Jehovah's glory. They love to exalt, and praise, and magnify the Lord their God, and to "worship at his footstool." As in heaven, among angels, and "the spirits of just men made perfect"-so among devout Christians on earth, there is joy over sinners who repent, and turn to God, and "do works meet for repentance." With "joy unspeakable and full of glory," they exult in the prosperity of Zion. Their purest and highest happiness is like the happiness of Christ. Their best friends are the friends of Christ. They have the same enemies to encounter which Christ is successfully opposing. His interests and theirs, in every important respect, are the same. And, by these interests, he and they will for ever remain inseparably united.

8. The union of believers with Christ is produced by mutual and solemn covenant stipulations.

It is proposed, by Christ, to sinners, in the precious invitations of the Gospel" Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." "Look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else." "My oxen and my fatlings are killed; all things are ready; come unto the marriage." "Whosoever. will, let him take the water of life freely." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." In these invitations we are assured that the price of our redemption is paid; that Divine Justice is satisfied; and that a door is opened for the free and full exercise of mercy to all repenting and believing sinners. Here Christ makes a kind and gracious offer of himself, and of all the blessings of heaven, to sinners of every description. He promises that all who will repent of their sins, embrace him in the arms of faith and love, and render holy obedience to the Law and the Gospel, shall receive pardon, and sanctification, and eternal life.

When sinners cordially submit to this plan of salvation-when they abandon their iniquities, and exercise "repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ," they accept and confirm the offered covenant. In this covenant, thus confirmed, they are united to Christ, interested in his merits, and entitled to all the benefits of his mediation.

The union of believers with Christ, which is produced by these covenant transactions, is the basis of their title to the blessings of salvation. The

merits of Christ constitute the foundation of their acceptance with God. And they become interested in his merits by the "faith that worketh by love, purifieth the heart, and overcometh the world"—the faith by which they accept of his covenant. All true believers, therefore, are united to Christ in the covenant of grace, and are personally interested in the “exceeding great and precious promises" of the Gospel. Hence "God can be just and yet the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus."

It appears then, that the union of real Christians with Christ resembles, in some respects, the union of the branches with the vine of the various parts of an edifice with the foundation-of the different members of the human body with the head-and of the wife with her husband: and that all real Christians are inseparably united to Christ, by the holy disposition of their hearts; by the spirit of adoption; by similarity of interests; and by mutual covenant engagements.

From these considerations we are led to reflect,

1. How great is the benevolence and condescension of God, as exhibited in the plan of redemption by Jesus Christ.

Guilty and hell-deserving as we are, he offers to us the pardon of our sins, and the salvation of our souls. He proposes to us an everlasting covenant of grace: a covenant by which all penitent and believing sinners are admitted to the most endearing and honourable relation to Christ, and, through him, to the infinite Jehovah.

Should a child of infamy and wretchedness be adopted into a family of affluence and reputation, and be treated with the tenderness of an heir, all men would applaud the disinterested condescension of the benefactor. This, however, would be but a very faint representation of Jehovah's condescension, in admitting any of the human race into union with his beloved Son. In the supposed case, it would be only the condescension of one creature to another. But in the gracious act of God to believers, there is the condescension of the Infinite Creator to guilty creatures. By an act of free and sovereign grace, he condescends to receive them into his own family, to call them his children, and to treat them as heirs of his throne and kingdom. He exalts them to a covenant-union with his own Son-the King of glory-the Saviour of Israel.

2. From this subject we may be assisted in deciding the momentous question, whether we are indeed Christians.

We are not Christians unless we are inseparably united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we are truly united to Christ, we possess and exercise the same holy dispositions of heart, which he exhibited while dwelling among men: we have the Spirit of adoption; we are pursuing the same interests which he sought; we have abandoned the love and the practice of sin; we have fled, for refuge, from the condemning sentence of Divine Law, to the hope which is set before us in the Gospel; we have accepted of the covenant of grace, and solemnly and sincerely given away ourselves to Christ, as everlasting trophies of his redeeming love. If we are truly united to Christ, we possess and exercise that living faith in him, which includes, not only the assent of the understanding, but, also, a warm and hearty approbation of

his mediatorial character, and a full reliance on his merits for acceptance with God. If we are inseparably united to Christ, we have something of that heavenly temper of the Lamb, which he so eminently displayed while in this "vale of tears;" we are daily imitating his zeal for the glory of his Father, his kindness and compassion towards men, his humility and meekness, his patience and resignation: And the great and glorious objects which he so zealously pursued while here below; and to which he is still devoted in the Heaven of heavens, will ever call forth our most vigorous and persevering exertions. Carefully examine your own hearts, then, dear brethren, and rest not contented, for a single moment, until you have clear and decisive evidence, that you are united to Christ in that "everlasting covenant" which is "well-ordered in all things and sure."

3. How exceedingly important is it that Christians should walk worthy of their relation to Christ.

It is well known that the conduct of our earthly relatives produces no inconsiderable effect on our reputation. If they conduct well, we share in the honour which they justly acquire. But if their conduct be vicious and infamous, we suffer by the dishonour they bring upon themselves. And the more nearly related they are to us, the more tenderly do we feel the wound which their dishonour inflicts.

So, when as Christians we maintain a near and humble walk with God; when we faithfully and habitually practise the holy religion which we profess; when we exhibit, in our daily conduct and conversation, the virtues which so eminently distinguished the life of our exalted Redeemer: then we reflect honour on Christ and his cause-we adorn the doctrines of the gospel-we produce living testimony to the superlative excellence of the Christian religion. But when we contradict our profession, by unhallowed practice; when we are luke-warm, and careless, and inattentive to the duties of practical piety; when we yield to "covetousness, which is idolatry," and are manifestly more anxious to enjoy the riches, pleasures, and honours of this world, than to secure an inheritance among saints and angels in glory; when our lives are unholy, irreverent, prayerless, or immoral: then Christ is deeply "wounded in the house of his friends;" his laws are violated; his holy religion is dishonoured; and sinners are hardened, and plunged deeper in impenitence and unbelief.

Since, then, the visible glory of Christ, and of his cause, depends so much on the conduct of his professed friends, and since we are admitted to such intimate and honourable union with him; surely we should exhibit the fruits of holiness in our life and conversation. We should remember that we are closely allied to a Being whose honour is infinitely sacred; and that we have espoused the most important cause which ever called for the enterprise and exertion of intelligent creatures. For the honour of our Divine Master, then, as well as for the sake of our own precious souls, and the souls of those around us, we should live in the daily and faithful practice of every Christian duty. We should resolutely surmount every barrier in our way to glory. We should "run, with patience, the race which is set before us." We should "give all diligence to make our calling and election sure."

"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before," we should "press," with holy and increasing ardour, "towards the mark for the prize of the high-calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Finally; Let none forget, that union with the Lord Jesus Christ is of unspeakable importance to all men.

It is absolutely essential to salvation. They, who are not united to Christ, have no interest in his atonement. They are yet under the condemning sentence of the Divine Law. In a spiritual sense, they are "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” They are " without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise; having no hope, and without God in the world." They are "dead in trespasses and sins." This is the deplorable condition of each one in this assembly who is not united to Christ. Let me, affectionately, but faithfully, warn you of your danger. While your affections centre in the pleasures of sin, the riches of this world, or the honour which cometh from man; and while you slight the honour and happiness of a covenant union with Christ, you incessantly expose yourself to the wrath of Heaven!

Christ is now offering you pardon and justification and eternal salvation. He is disclosing the terms on which reconciliation with God may be obtained. He is mercifully waiting for you to accept of those terms, and to receive his rich and sovereign grace. By his own tremendous death he has made atonement for your sins. By the agony of his cross; by his resurrection from the dead; by his ascension to glory; by all the horrours of perdition, and all the glories of Heaven, he now beseeches you to accept of his covenant, and be reconciled to God. If you accept the offered grace, and faithfully consecrate your life to his service, he will receive you to Heaven," that where he is, there you may be also." He will crown you with "glory and honour." You shall dwell "where is fulness of joy." But if you reject Christ and his great salvation, you must, inevitably, “be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." For God is not a man that he should lie! And O, remember, too, that these benevolent interpositions of the Holy Trinity, if thus rejected, must for ever aggravate your ruin ;-must become a savour of death unto death.”

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Be persuaded, then, to view, with deep concern, your guilt and danger. Forsake the hard" way of transgressors," without a moment's delay. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation." "Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." To-day abandon sin and the powers of darkness: humble yourselves before God; and, by the vigorous exercise of evangelical faith, cordially receive Christ as your Prophet, Priest, and King; and thus ratify, in your own souls, that everlasting covenant which he has sealed with blood. So shall you be everblooming and ever-fruitful branches of the Tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. AMEN.

NATIONAL PREACHER.

Go-Teach all Nations.-Matt. xxviii. 19.

ACTS ii. 1.—And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place..

THE Pentecost was an annual religious festival of the Jews, designed to commemorate the promulgation of the law from Mount Sinai. It was instituted fifty days after Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage: -a circumstance from which it seems to have derived its name. And it is worthy of notice, that the Pentecost alluded to in the text, was on the Sabbath-fifty days from the resurrection of Christ.

Perhaps few pages of the sacred history can afford the believer either more satisfaction or profit, than the one which exhibits the events of that memorable day.

After glancing at those events, we shall be prepared to contemplate some of the important instruction they afford.

The hundred and twenty disciples were assembled, for prayer and religious conference. And the twelve were doubtless expecting a speedy fulfilment of their Lord's promise, that they should be endued with power from on high. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind; and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, which rested upon each of them. Immediately they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in languages with which they had previously been unacquainted. These facts being published through Jerusalem, drew around them crowds of astonished hearers. In this multitude were men from at least sixteen different countries or provinces, and of as many different languages or dialects. The disciNo. 8.

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