May 18

selves. First, because by his property—for he had substance, he succoured and solaced the poor and miserable. And, Secondly, because by his preaching he comforted the people of God, and encouraged sinners to come to the Saviour for deliverance. Ministers may differ considerably from each other. Some may be called Boanerges, or sons of thunder, not only as they are bold in their manner, but as the severe seems to be their element, and they deal much in the alarming. Others are Barnabases; and have given them, the tongue of the learned, that they may know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. Let us not oppose the servants of Christ to each other, thereby inflating one, and running down another, because of their diversities. Let us view them all in their commission, and their suitableness to their appointments. Their stations, their natural dispositions, their gifts, their graces, are not the same: but we need them all; and they are all useful. Let one plant, and another water; let one lay the foundation, and another build thereon; let one be set for the defence of the Gospel, and another abound in the application of it: each is alike respectable; and each shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. Beware, says the Apostle, in his address to the Corinthians, that you fall not into spiritual babysim; or walk as men. "While one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?" To him let us look, and say, not formally, but sincerely, "Lord, send by whom thou wilt send." If we attempt to make the favourite a substitute "in God's stead," we shall provoke the Most High to remove him, or to withhold his blessing from him; thereby to reprove our idolatry; and to convince us that he will not give his glory to another. Happy they whose strength is in Him! They are most likely to succeed, both in hearing and in preaching, who are most imbued with the conviction; "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."

MAY 18.—"Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."—1 Corinthians 1:30.

HERE are four articles. The first is wisdom—He is made of God unto us wisdom. He is the true excellency of the understanding. In knowing him, we know all that is necessary to be known. Especially we know God—No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who was in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. He is the author of our spiritual illumination: he is the prophet of his church, and leads us into all truth by his word and Spirit. As the sun can only be seen by his own rays, so he is only known by his own revealing. He therefore says, "I will manifest myself unto him." The second is righteousness—He is made of God unto us righteousness. That is, he delivers us from guilt and condemnation, and makes us just before God. The Apostle tells us how it is accomplished: he hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This righteousness, derived entirely from himself, regardless of our worthiness or works, is called the righteousness

which is of faith, because it is only apprehended, and made ours, and pleaded, by faith. The third is sanctification—He is made of God unto us sanctification. This is as much from him as righteousness, only not in the same way. He is the one to us by imputation, he is the other by communication. By the one he changes our state, by the other our nature. By the one he entitles us to life, by the other he makes us meet for it. But though the blessings are distinguishable, they are not separable. He came by water, and by blood. Whom he justifies he renews. And this sanctification is more than a reformation of manners, or mere morality. A man may be moral without being sanctified, but he cannot be sanctified without being moral. When he sanctifies us he puts a new spirit within us, delivers us from the dominion and the love of every sin, and enables us not only to obey God, but to delight to do his will, and to dedicate all we have to his service and glory. The fourth is redemption—He is made of God unto us redemption. To ascertain the meaning of which, we must observe that it is distinguished from the foregoing benefits. But if it were taken for redemption from the curse of the law, it would coincide with his being our righteousness, and if for emancipation from the servitude of sin, it would be comprised in his being our sanctification. It is also mentioned after wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification. To which we may add an appeal to other passages of Scripture where the same term is used. Thus Paul says to the Ephesians, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. And to the Romans, We groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. Here the import of the term must mean the resurrection to eternal life. And there is a peculiar propriety in applying the word to this conclusion of the Christian's recovery from the effects of the fall, not only because any great deliverance, regardless of price, is called redemption in the Scripture, but also because it is the effect of the purchase of the cross. Christ has ransomed the bodies as well as the souls of his people, and therefore God's covenant also is with their dust. Their bodies will not only be raised, but infinitely improved, and will bear not the image of the earthly but of the heavenly Adam. The sacred writers, therefore, in speaking of the happiness of believers, go forward at once to the glory of the last day—not to the denying or undervaluing of an intermediate state, but because their salvation will then, and not till then, be perfectly achieved. This consummation is all his own work and honour—"To them that look for him will he appear a second time without sin unto salvation." "We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body."

And is he made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption?—Then we learn what is our condition by nature: we are destitute of all these, and can never derive them from ourselves.—Then we see the importance and value of the Lord Jesus. He is not something only, but every thing to them that are lost. In him we are blessed with all spiritual blessings.—Then we need not wonder that he is the substance of revelation, and that the Scriptures every where should testify of him.—Then he

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