by the very exercise of the duty. But if our prayers for others benefit them, when at the very time they may be ignorant of our offering them, this must be by God's doing something in a way of answer. This is the very ground and encouragement of our offering them. And the Bible is filled with instances of the accomplishment of such prayers, as it is with commands for the performance of them.

NOVEMBER 4.-"FOR THEIR SAKES I SANCTIFY MYSELF, that they also might be sanctified."-John xvii. 19.

HERE are two sanctifications spoken of, very distinguishable from, yet intimately connected with each other-The sanctification of Christ; and the sanctification of Christians. Let this exercise turn on THE SANCTIFICATION OF CHRIST-"For their sakes I sanctify myself."

Here the word to sanctify does not mean to renovate or purify; but to consecrate or devote. He could not be sanctified in the former sense, because his nature was not depraved or defiled by sin. But under the law, when persons or things were dedicated to God, they were considered as hallowed or holy, and to use them for any common purpose was to profane them. Thus the Sabbath was sanctified, and the tabernacle, and the temple, with the vessels thereof. Thus Jesus devoted himself to the service of God in the salvation of sinners. "Lo!" said he, "I come to do thy will, O God. I consecrate myself to be an atonement, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. I will suffer, the just for the unjust, and bring them nigh who were once far off, by my blood." Here he displays the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us. For,

Observe the voluntariness of the consecration. He does not say, I am sanctified, but, "I sanctify myself." He was not passive in the business; neither was he compelled. No man, says he, taketh my life from me; I lay it down of myself. He made himself of no reputation. It was therefore with him a matter of the freest choice, and of the fullest purpose. A man walking by the side of a river, may see a fellow-creature in danger of drowning, and may plunge in to save him, and perish himself in the attempt. He may be considered as falling a sacrifice to his kindness; but the sacrifice with him was only eventual, not designed. Nothing was accidental in the sufferings of Christ; nothing was unforeseen; he assumed our nature, and entered our world, for this very end-The Son of man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Observe also the relativeness of the consecration; "For their sakes I sanctify myself"-Not his own. He had no sin of his own to expiate. He was therefore cut off, but not for himself. He was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted: but he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed. And he suffered not only for our sakes, but in our stead. His death was not only for our good, but for our redemption; and we are expressly assured that he redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He was therefore a true and proper

sacrifice for sin. As such he was typified by the sacrifices under the law. The people were guilty. The High Priest confessed their sins, and laid his hands on the head of the victim; and having thus transferred their guilt to the substitute, he slew the victim, and taking the blood in a basin, entered the holiest of all, and sprinkled the mercy-seat, and burned incense; and then came forth and blessed the absolved congregation. And thus once in the end of the world Christ appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and then entered the holy place, there to appear in the presence of God for us and to them that look for him will he come forth and appear a second time without sin unto salvation.

Nor must we forget the expensiveness of the dedication. This it is not in our power to estimate. We must possess the same feelings, and bear the same load, before language or imagination, however lively, can enable us to do any thing like justice to the sufferings he endured. The history is not indeed silent. It tells-how he was born in a stable and laid in a manger; became a man of sorrows; had not where to lay his head; endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, bore every kind of reproach; and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. But a veil is drawn over his internal anguish. What, before human treachery or violence had yet seized him, made him to be sore amazed and very heavy? What led him to say, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;" while his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground? How well, blessed Jesus! mayest thou say, "Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if ever there was sorrow, like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger."

Finally, let us keep in mind the unworthiness and vileness of the subjects on whose behalf he thus devoted himself. We read of benefactors: but how few of them have ever exercised self-denial ! And when they have made sacrifices, for whom have they suffered ? Men have hazarded their lives in the field; they have been wounded, they have been slain. But they bled and died for their country, their friends, their families. But "when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Here every Christian will look at his character and his own life. he will review his years of unregeneracy; his omissions of duty, his actual offences: his heart deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; his depraved nature itself, shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin: and can he only glance at this, and not exclaim, with self-abasement and wonder-

NOVEMBER 5.-"For their sakes I sanctify myself, THAT THEY ALSO MIGHT BE SANCTIFIED."-John xvii. 19.

HAVING viewed the sanctification of Christ, let me consider the SANCTIFICATION OF CHRISTIANS-"That they also might be sanctified."

This sanctification differs much from the former. It does indeed take in the notion of dedication. In this sense believers are sanctified, and they wish to regard all they are and all they have, as the Lord's, not only by claim, but by consecration. And in their experience there has been a time in which they "gave their ownselves unto the Lord," saying, "Lord, I am thine, save me." But to dispose them for this surrender, and that they may be vessels unto honour, sanctified and made meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work, a change must pass upon them. Renovation and purification are necessary. New principles must be implanted; and the promise fulfilled; "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Christians therefore are new creatures, concerning whom he says, This people I have formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. This sanctification therefore is very superior to natural amiableness of temper, and outward reformation, and mere morality. It includes morality, but it includes much more: it includes piety; and while it secures the practice of all good works, it sees that the heart is right with God. At present indeed the work is not complete; but it is begun, and is advancing. The subjects of it love holiness; they mourn over the remains of sin as their greatest burden, and long and pray to be sanctified wholly, body, soul, and spirit.

But let us see what a connexion it has with the sacrifice of Christ-"For their sakes," says he, "I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified." Now this clearly shows us the importance of it. We may err in our estimation of things, but his judg ment is always according to truth: and here we see his judgment.

And how precious and invaluable must he have deemed this sanctification, since he considered nothing too great or expensive to procure it for us. He well knew that unless we were delivered from the bondage of corruption, and renewed in the spirit of our minds, we could have no meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light, and must be incapable of enjoying or serving God here. This therefore was his aim in dying. "He gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." He "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

And we learn hence, That they do not improve his death aright who seek from it hope but not holiness. Such a desire has nothing spiritual in it; neither can it be realized. Jesus came by water as well as by blood: and these are as inseparable in their application to the soul as they were in their effusion from the cross. What then can we think of those who derive from his death even a licence to sin: and who, when reproved for their evil ways, satisfy themselves that Christ has satisfied for them; and not only for their past, but for all their future transgressions-and so they have nothing to fear!

But they have every thing to fear. At present they have no part nor lot in the matter; and if they die as they are, Christ will profit them nothing-For he has said, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me."

It is equally obvious that they are badly instructed in the mystery of sanctification who think to gain it from some slavish, legal, superstitious, self-righteous methods of their own, instead of repairing to the sufferings of Christ, the only fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. It is the blood of Jesus that alone cleanseth us from all sin; and this is true as to our purification, not only from the guilt, but also the love and power of it. Our old man is crucified with him. There is no true holiness separate from the cross. There he obtained for us not only eternal redemption, but all the supplies of grace.

And as the death of Christ is the source from which the Spirit is derived, so it is the principal means by which he works: for he works rationally and in a way of argument and motive. And what can equal the view of his sufferings? There we see most strikingly the evil of sin; and there we behold the love of Christ, which most powerfully constrains us. At the sight of this the Christian rises, and says, Did he devote himself thus for me, and shall I not dedicate myself to him? Lord what wilt thou have me to do?

NOVEMBER 6.—"The everlasting God."--Gen. xxi. 33.

THE eternity of God is the most sublime and astonishing subject on which our thoughts can fix. Let us not darken counsel by words without knowledge. Three things may be said, and this is all we can say. First. He will have no end. If we carry our views forward, and add millions of ages to millions of years, till the mind be lost in the computation, we shall make no progress in the duration of the eternal God. A week is too long for the beauty and fragrance of some flowers. There are insects that are brought forth, and pass the several stages of their being, and die in a single day. The life of man is compared to a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. But the oak of the forest survives several generations of possessors and observers. The earth continues through all the changes of its inhabitants. The river Jordan, which the Jews crossed, continues to wind its uneven course: and the mount Ararat, on which Noah stepped out of the ark, still remains to be seen. The heavenly bodies shine on above the reach of our revolutionary system. Yet this is only comparatively true: nothing is absolutely durable" They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." Some creatures will endure for ever. Angels are imperishable. So are the spirits of just men made perfect. The soul will view untouched the destruction of the universe: yea, the body, though material, will be immortalized. But none of these will live for ever like God. He is the fountain of life; all other beings are streams flowing from him, and sustained by him. They are not immortal of themselves, but by his pleasure and bounty. But he has life necessarily and independently in himself, and is un

affected by any external cause. Therefore it is said, "He only hath immortality."

Secondly, he never had a beginning. The space of time which has elapsed since the creation seems long: the globe is near six thousand years old. But through an immensity of duration, of which we can form no idea, God had been living equal to his own happiness, and able to do whatsoever he pleased. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting," as well as "to everlasting, thou art God." It is needless to observe that this prerogative is entirely and infinitely peculiar to God. Thus he is "the first" as well as "the last." He inhabiteth eternity, and indeed constitutes it; for properly speaking, eternity is nothing else but the duration of his being and agency.

Thirdly, there is no change in his being, no diminution, no increase, no variableness or shadow of turning. We speak of the past, the present, and the future: but "I am" is his name, and his memo rial in all generations. Our continuance is computed by periods: but his duration is one permanent now. We exist by parcels; we existed partly yesterday, we exist partly to-day, and shall exist partly tomorrow; but he possesses and enjoys his whole being at once. We never continue in one stay: infancy grows into manhood, and manhood descends into old age. Even in the Christian the outward man perisheth, and the inward man is renewed day by day; and even in heaven the saints will be changed from glory into glory; but he says, "I the Lord change not." He was never less, and he will never be more wise, and holy, and happy than he is. He will never be older than he is, and he was never younger. One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day.

"Why this is an abyss in which our thoughts are swallowed up." It is. And observe the inference we draw from it. Are we not therefore chargeable with the greatest absurdity, when we reject a doctrine because we cannot comprehend it? Is not this to make our understanding the measure of truth? How much reality is there that does not come within the reach of our senses, or of our reason! -We talk of mysteries. There are such in the Scriptures; and are there none in Nature? There is no doctrine we are called to believe in Revelation more difficult than this eternity of God. Every notion we can form of it involves in it a seeming inconsistency, and a real inexplicability; yet every Deist admits it; and the man that den ed it would render himself universally ridiculous.

Let us therefore adore a Being who cannot, by searching, be found out unto perfection, and have grace whereby we may worship him acceptably, with reverence and with godly fear. And convinced of the infinite distance there is between him and us, let us admire his condescension. How evident is it that he does not stand in need of us, and is "exalted above all blessing and praise!" Yet we and our mean affairs have always engaged his attention-" What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? and that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?"

The eternity of God should take off our attachment and dependence from things below. Creatures, however agreeable or powerful, are