October 6

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.—Romans 8:16.

THIS subject applies itself to those whose conscience is burdened by the sense of guilt and sin. You desire to be able to cry "Abba, Father." You have heard of the Spirit of adoption, and his blessed witness with our spirits, "that we are the children of God." For this blessing you have perhaps been waiting: and what is the reason that you have not received it? How is it that you are not now rejoicing in the mercy of God, through the testimony of the Spirit of adoption? Have you earnestly desired this great grace? Has it been a special object of your prayers? Have you learned the art of waiting upon God, and of keeping your spirits in a waiting frame? Have you been expecting his mercy? Have you been fully persuaded that this is your Christian privilege and calling? Do you feel that this is a blessing to be obtained by faith in Christ? that you must plead the merit of his atonement? And do you know that mere hoping will not do? that those who really desire and hope, will also plead and pray? When once you get the faith that waits, and pleads, and prays, it will not be long before God will hear your earnest prayer, and say unto you, "I am thy salvation." Look up to him now. The blessing is purchased for you. You are sinful, and can never merit it; you need the heavenly gift; you deeply feel your need; you earnestly desire its supply; you therefore can never be better prepared for it. All things are ready; come to the marriage. There is the blessing of pardon, free justification before God, and the Spirit of adoption, to enable you to cry, "Abba, Father." Rest not short of the grace offered you in the gospel. It can not be that these impressions shall continue in all their strength, if they are not allowed to urge you to the great result. God has begun a good work in you; he has awakened you to a sense of the value of the blessings which he promises. You must "follow on to know the Lord," and be determined to wait for him as they that watch for the morning; otherwise your impressions will become weaker, and by and by you will feel that you have grieved the Spirit of God, and that he has departed from you. God is pleased that you should take hold of his strength. Jacob, when he discovered that he was wrestling with the Angel of the covenant, when, he found that he had hold of a Being who could bless him, grasped him the more powerfully, and would not let him go. God is well pleased with your earnestness. Take hold, in earnest prayer, of the same condescending Angel of the covenant, say, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." Yes, and he will bless you, and you shall be blessed.

Let those who have received the Spirit of adoption recollect both their privileges and their duties. "If children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ." Such is your blessed condition. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, and of the blessings you profess to enjoy. In your whole temper and deportment, show the real character and tendency of the blessings you profess to have received. If the Spirit of Christ has shown you your own personal interest in the blood of Christ, then has he made you Christlike,—humble, and meek, and gentle. The very feeling that your sin is pardoned increases your hatred of sin. You feel that you have much forgiven; and that very feeling produces and preserves the temper by which you are always disposed and prepared to be kind, and courteous, and forgiving. True happiness in God, and sweetness of temper, are always conjoined. God's Spirit bears no witness of pardoning mercy, where pride, and wrath, and bitterness, and self-willed obstinacy are indulged. You are called to adorn the gospel of God our Saviour in all things; adorn this doctrine also. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." But, "let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." Thus, if you walk with God, you shall have the testimony that you please God; you shall walk in the light of his countenance. And this joy of the Lord shall give you strength for labor, and patience for suffering and trial. Nor shall it be dimmed in death. When you are about to "sleep in Jesus," your last hymn shall be, ere you escape from earth to sing the new song, the song of the redeemed, in heaven, "My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."