May 30

stream without a spring! But when the divine laws are put into our minds, and written in our hearts, our obedience is not only rendered certain, but natural and delightful. God of all grace! fulfil thy covenant engagement in my happy experience—"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." And may I "be filled with the Spirit."

We see from the whole the oneness there is between Christ and his people. They are predestined to be conformed to his image, that he might be the first born among many brethren. In all things indeed he has the pre-eminence. He is the Son of God in an unrivalled sense; but they also are sons. He had indeed the Spirit without measure; but they have it in degree; for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his—and it is the same Spirit that resides in both—"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts." This conformity extends to their future condition as well as their present character. "When he who is their life shall appear, they also shall appear with him in glory." As they now "hear the image of the heavenly," in having in them the mind that was in him, so they will hereafter corporeally resemble him; for "he shall change their vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious body"—"It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but this we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

MAY 30.—"Crying, Abba, Father."—Galatians 4:6.

Such is the effect of the divine communication here spoken of—"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Every thing depends upon our possessing this Spirit; for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his;" But "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, and if children then heirs." Hence it is also called "the earnest of our inheritance."

We should therefore be anxious to ascertain whether we have received the all-important benefit. And it is possible to determine this. For whenever the Spirit of Christ takes possession of the heart, its residence will be evinced—It will operate there. It finds us indeed in darkness, but it opens the eyes of our understanding, and makes us light in the Lord. It finds us earthly-minded and cleaving to the dust, but it induces us to seek those things that are above. The pretensions of a man therefore are vain unless he be made to differ from what he once was. The influence of the Spirit is compared to leaven in the meal, and leaven will work; to fire, and fire will burn; to water, and the spring will flow out in streams—If, says the Apostle, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts," it is not inactive or silent there, but—crying, Abba, Father. Let us observe the exercise, and the influence that produces it.

The exercise intended is prayer; but the representation is peculiar. It is not said what they will pray for; indeed it would be

endless to specify their wants and desires; and "for all these things," says God, "will I be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." But we are told how they pray—Crying, Abba, Father. Does this intimate the simplicity of their prayer? "Because," says Solomon, "God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth, therefore let thy words be few:" and how brief and free from every thing studied and artificial are the prayers recorded in the Scriptures, and which were offered by persons under the most powerful and favourable impressions! "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee." "Lord, save, I perish." "God be merciful to me a sinner." "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"—Such is the language of feeling—So it is when the heart speaks.

Does it not intimate the confidence with which they pray? Among the Persians there was a law that whosoever presented himself before the king, unless he was first called to go in, should be put to death. We have no such prohibition. The golden sceptre to us is always stretched forth. We have a general, a universal invitation to draw near at all times, and in all circumstances, in every thing by prayer and supplication to make known our requests unto God: and are authorized to address him not as the Infinite, the Eternal, the Almighty, the first cause and the last end of all things; but as our Father, though he is in heaven. It is not the spirit of bondage to fear, but the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father. It is not the address of a criminal to a judge; nor of a slave to a master: but of a child to a Father, to whom he is most intimately related, and who feels in him the claims of nature and affection. "I write unto you, little children," says John, "because ye have known the Father." Who is a child so likely to know as his father? What is the first name he utters but "my father, or my mother?" To whom is he so likely to flee in every danger? On whom in every distress will he call so freely for relief? He relies upon his care; he expects that he will teach him, and defend him, and provide for him—And will not God who stands in this endearing relation exemplify it? And fulfil it perfectly and divinely? Let this therefore encourage and embolden us in our approaches to him.

Does it not also imply earnestness? The word "crying" would express this alone, but here is added to it the reduplication, "Father, Father!" This surely marks eagerness and fervency. The importance of such importunity our Saviour illustrates in the manner of him who spake as never man spake—"Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." He himself also was an example of this. "In the days of his flesh, with strong cryings and tears, he made supplications to