under heaven given among men whereby we must be sa ved,'* but only the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ: because there can be no immortal life for us but through the operation of that Holy Spirit which we lost by the fall of Adam, and which we can recover in no other way than through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, from whom, in unity with the Father, the Holy Spirit proceedeth.

For be it remembered, that the redemption by Christ, is to regain that for human nature, which it lost by the apostacy of Adam. The very words, redemption and restoration, convey the idea of recovery from the evil state into which we are fallen, and the being replaced in the good state which we had lost. And they will succeed best in ascertaining what we lost in Adam, who best consider what we gain by Christ. If by Christ we are to gain a resurrection from death, we may be sure we lost our title to immortality, and became liable to death by our original apostacy. If we are to obtain the presence of the Holy Spirit of God, as the principle of life, through the mediation of Christ, we may be sure we lost the Holy Spirit as a principle of life, by the disobedience of Adam. Consequently, by the state of his creation, that Holy Spirit was communicated to man, and was intended to be the governing principle-the life of his life, the soul, if I may so express myself, of his soul: that under his heavenly influence, he might be kept in constant dependence on his Creator, and led through holy obedience, to that immortality in heaven for which he was intended.

The root of many errors in religion, seems to stand in a false notion of what the redemption of Christ is to do for us. Some have imagined that Christ, by fulfilling the divine law in our nature, and in that nature, dying as an atonement for our sins, has obtained a full remission for all the sins which ever were, or will be committed, and has left nothing for us to do; but that his obedience and sufferings shall be so imputed to us, as to make us as holy and innocent as though we never had offended. A man,

* Acts iv. 12.

;

I trust, may have a true sense of the redemption and merit of Christ, and yet not be willing to subscribe to this doctrine. The same holy scriptures which declare there is salvation in none other than Christ,* declare also, that repentance, and faith, and holiness are necessary to obtain that salvation. Upon the same authority that I believe one of these positions, I must believe them both, for the same scriptures declare them both. Whoever, therefore, lessens the necessity of penitence, or faith, or holiness, by leading people to believe they may be saved without them, is unfriendly to christianity, and to the souls of men. Christ hath restored us to the hope of immortality, and to the capacity of holiness; both which we are to obtain through the operation of the Holy Spirit which he procured for us. We are called to this hope by the Gospel of Christ, and are made heirs of this immortality by being elected into his church; and we are to make this calling and election sure by living in holiness, according to the precepts of the Gospel.t To do this we are enabled by the Holy Spirit, which all christians have received as the principle of their life. If they believe and live as the Gospel directs, the supernatural bliss of heaven will be their reward; not on account of any merit in them or in any thing they can do, but through the merit and mediation of Jesus Christ, who hath put this immortal life within their reach, and enabled them to obtain it.

But as Adam, though immortality was before him, and within his power, fell from this hope, and forfeited this prospect of heavenly happiness by sinning against God; so may we also fall from our hope, and forfeit our prospect of heavenly happiness, if we, resisting the motions and solicitations of God's Holy Spirit, continue obstinate in sin. God is always the same, unchangeable in his nature and properties; and eternal life is as much his gift now, as ever it was ; and ever was as much his gift, as it is now. He refused to confer it on Adam, whom he had created innocent and holy, and to whom he had given his own blessed Spirit, because he sinned against his command: And will he not also refuse it to us, if we continue obstinate in sin against his command to repent ? In other words, if Adam, by his disobedience, rendered himself incapable of heavenly happiness, and brought on himself the condemnation of God; why should not our obstinate continuance in disobedience render us incapable of heavenly happiness, and bring on us the condemnation of God also ? If it be said that Christ has redeemed us from condemnation---on account of Adam's sin, I confessit; and Christ's redemption restores us to the hope of eternal happiness in heaven, and to the capacity of receiving the Holy Spirit of God as a principle of life in us, both which we lost in Adam. But I know not that Christ hath redeemed us from the penalty of our personal transgressions, but upon our repentance, and faith in his atonement. I presume not to set limits to the mercy of God, or to say how far it will be extended beyond what he hath revealed. But what he hath not revealed can be no ground of faith, or rule of practice to us.

It has been observed that the body of Adam in his innocency was not fit for the kingdom of heaven---the blessed presence of God. St. Paul has told us, 'that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.'* This was as true when Adam was created, as when St. Paul wrote it. His body, therefore, must have undergone some changes from an earthly to a heavenly nature, before he could have inherited the happiness of the heavenly world. The instruments of this change were to be the Holy Ghost, and the tree of life. This will appear by considering what must be done for our bodies to fit them for the happiness of heaven. According to St. Paul, they must be changed from an earthly to a heavenly nature.† The body he saith, 'is sown, that is, born into this world, ' in corruption; it is raised in incorruption : It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory : It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. He saith also, that the animal body is first, and afterward that which is spiritual. There could be no reason for this process with regard to us, but because it was to have been the process with Adam, from whom by natural generation we receive our earthly, natural or animal body. Accordingly the apostle quotes the history of Adam's creation : The first man, Adam, was made a living soul,' referring evidently to the text; ' the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." This is not to be found in so many words in the present copies of the old testament, but is manifest. ly an allusion to Genesis i. 27, 'So God created man in his own image, and shews what the apostle understood by the image of God in man, through which the body of Adam was to be made spiritual, and exalted to immortality in heaven, even the quickening life-giving Spir. it of God. By him also our bodies are to be quickened from the dust of the grave, or changed in a moment at the last trump, and made like to the image of the last Adam, the Lord from heaven.

To this all-powerful Spirit is the resurrection of the just from the grave, and the change of those of them who shall be found alive at the coming of Christ, when the last trumpet shall sound, always ascribed: The resurrection also of Christ himself is attributed to this operation.*

Should it be observed, that the resurrection will be universal; that all who have ever died shall rise at the last day, without regard to the distinction which christianity makes between those who have, and those who have not the Spirit of God: I beg it may be noted, that it is never said that the wicked shall be raised by the Spirit of God which dwelleth in them. This is peculiar to the righteous, to those who are led and live by the Spirit, who are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. The wicked shall be raised by the power of God, not as joint heirs with Christ, his beloved Son, but as the children of Satan, his enemy; not to a happy immortality in heaven, but to die the second death. • All that are in the graves,' said Christ, ' shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.'* In this the great difference between the righteous and the wicked, with respect to the resurrection, will consist: The former shall be raised by the dwelling of that Spirit in them who raised up Jesus from the dead: By him their mortal bodies shall be quickened, and made like unto the glorious body of the Son of God: For as they have borne the image of the earthly Adam, so they must bear the image of the heavenly. But the wicked shall be raised by the power of God, not to everlasting life but to everlasting contempt.†

The other means of spiritualizing the body of Adam, and making it fit for heaven, it has been observed, was the tree of life. That this tree had the property of continuing life to Adam, appears from the guard God put over it, to prevent his eating of it after his fall. And that the immortality he was to obtain from it related to another life, appears from the impossibility there was that all his descendants should find room to live in this world, had they continued immortal; and also from the care God took to prevent their eating of it after the disobedience of their father.

This opinion is confirmed by the illusions which St. John makes to this tree, as a means of the immortality of heaven: 'To him that overcometh will I give, saith the Spirit, to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.'s Paradise here cannot mean the garden of Eden, for that is passed away and gone; but, under the figure of that garden, is expressed the more immediate presence of God in heaven; or, in the lowest sense, the intermediate state of the souls of the righteous between death and the resurrection.

Again, Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.'ll The allusion here to the garden of Eden as a type of heaven, and to the tree of life as the means of immortality, is evident; + Dan. xii. 2. † Gen. iii. 23, 24.