may fail, and "have failed," so, after all is done, the creating Holy Ghost Himself comes within, as it is written (Ez. xxxvi. 24-32), "I will take you, gather you, bring you, sprinkle you, cleanse you; a new heart also will I give you, a new spirit will I put within you"; but the crowning act remains, and beyond all and above all the wondrous promise is given, "I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them."

20. First, God sends us the life of His Son, and then the Spirit of His Son; this is God's order (Gal. iv. 6). The Holy Ghost regenerates before He indwells. He builds the house, and then occupies it and furnishes it. He constructs His temple, and then takes His place there, uniting us in Himself to our risen and exalted Head in heaven, and to all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling evermore personally and essentially in Him, receiving of "His fulness grace for grace," and therewith regenerating, filling, and anointing each individual believer taken by Him out of the kingdom of darkness for an habitation of God, building all together from foundation to topstone "till we all come in the unity of the Spirit and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ;" then the glory of the Lord shall for ever fill the Temple of the Lord, and "God shall be all in all !"

21. Our regeneration by the Holy Ghost is a preeminent grace. It discovers to us our election, alters our state, changes our nature, secures our bliss, and makes us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. The Holy Ghost dwelling within me in His own new creation is adequate to enable me to receive and enjoy

all God's unspeakable love and purposes in grace con. cerning me and "given me in Christ Jesus before the world was." In this one inestimable gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit all others are inwrapped. It is union with Christ," anointing" for service, our "seal unto the day of redemption," "the earnest of our inheritance," and "the firstfruits of glory!" There is not a blessing in the heart of God, purchased for us by the blood of Christ, not a fulness of grace here or a weight of glory hereafter, but what He is commissioned and adequate to receive and impart. He knows best what is the measure of the fulness laid up in Christ for our supply, which He has come to bestow, for He is God of God; He knows also the measure of the need of His people, "for He dwelleth in them," and Himself maketh intercession for them with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Rom. viii. 26.) Believers are said to have "the firstfruits of the Spirit" in reference to the harvest which is to follow here and hereafter, even the abounding increase of knowledge, fulness, faith, hope, love, joy, peace, grace, and glory in fellowship with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for ever and ever.

N.B. "If the firstfruits be holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root be holy, so are the branches." (Rom. xi. 16.)

22. It is written, "We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." (Gal. v. 5.) Blessed hope! Blessed waiting! Blessed faith! Thrice blessed Holy Spirit through whom we wait! Note three inestimable blessings for which we, as believers, wait in faith. (1)“We wait for the Son of God from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which

delivered us from the wrath to come." (1 Thess. i. 10.) (2) "We which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Rom. viii. 23.) "He shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself." (Phil. iii. 21.) Verily, the new creating, regenerating, and resurrecting powers of God Almighty shall one day operate on the very dust He has redeemed. (3). "We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." For even when justified by faith through Christ's righteousness imputed to us, the Holy Ghost keeps the heart waiting for and holding on to that righteousness alone for joy and peace, and assurance of full salvation, and from betaking ourselves to any other ground of confidence for acceptance before God. "Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free," and without any confidence in self in any sense or degree whatsoever, not even in justified self. For one of the highest lessons in the school of faith is to regard ourselves and look on ourselves as ungodly and doers of no good, even in the very act of our believing on our Lord Jesus Christ for justification through Him. (Rom. iv. 5 and 16.) Human nature, alas ! is always looking to self within, and knows no other way of justification but self-improvement and attainment. Nature seeks to be found in that righteousness in which grace is afraid to be found. (Phil. iii. 8, 9.) "We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." The Holy Spirit will not permit even His own work of sanctification within to form any part or portion of the believer's

righteousness, but leads us to Christ for both our sanctification and justification, and always points to Christ as our peacemaker and our peace, and as the giver and fountain of the rest, and joy, and love He at any time sheds abroad in our hearts. As it is written, "He shall not speak of Himself; He will shew you things to come; He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you." (John xvi. 13-14.)

23. The Son of God our Saviour, our risen Lord Jesus Christ Himself, is the Fountain of the Holy Ghost, and this Fountain of Life did burst forth from His tomb on the morning of His resurrection, and flows down to His. redeemed from the Throne of God and of the Lamb, a river of living water, to dwell in us for ever, and be within us a "well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John iv. 14.) The whole work of grace within is His production; the whole Church of Christ is His charge; and our entire pathway through the wilderness to our home in God is before Him. "And as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Rom. viii. 14.)

24. Let us prayerfully remember that in guiding His people into all truth, the Holy Ghost evermore leads them to Christ, "teaches them all things, and brings all things to their remembrance" by the written Word of God, which He has Himself inspired to be the foundation of their faith, the rule of their conduct, the test of their opinions, the food for their life, the source of their comforts, the light for their feet, the lamp for their paths, and the mirror for their characters. He it is who gives us a spiritual understanding to apprehend the things for which we are apprehended of Christ Jesus, enlightening

and instructing us by the Word of God, applying its promises and its precepts, teaching us to pray, and even "making intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered," inclining and persuading our wills, without in the least interfering with our individuality or personal responsibility, using our enlightened and quickened faculties as His instruments-our eyes, ears, hands, feet, wills, and affections-removing our ignorance, correcting our misunderstandings, overcoming our unbelief by "the word of the truth of the Gospel," and coming thereby Himself to dwell in our hearts for ever. (Gal. iii. 2, 5.) The Holy Spirit is to the Bible what light is to the eyes, and it is "in His light we see light." In fine, the whole work of God within our persons, our beginnings, progress, and perfection in the knowledge of Him Whom to know is life eternal, has been by covenant settlements between the Eternal Three in One, committed to His Almighty hands, and His personal indwelling in the redeemed is their eternal link and bond of union with our risen and glorified Head in heaven. He is Himself the seal of our redemption, the pledge of our adoption, and our unction from the Holy One.

25. When "the Word was made flesh" and dwelt among us, born of the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, and by the power of the Most High, and "therefore called the Son of God," "that Holy thing" could have had no union with our sinful flesh and blood; "He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." His was a solitary, unique, peculiar, self-existing, holy, heavenly, perfect Manhood. He was alone in all this; every other man was sinful. "THAT corn of wheat" was God's only