the living God;"-Martha gave him the same appellation," I believe thou art Christ the Son of God." The Ethiopian eunuch professed his faith in the Messiah, "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God." The enemies of Jesus also expressed their view of Messiah's character in the very same words, "I adjure thee (said the High Priest) that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God." From these passages it is abundantly evident, that the Jews always considered Messiah to be the Son of God-so that if the Resurrection proved Jesus to be the Christ, it equally proved him to be the Son of God.

We have thus seen the proofs that our Lord rose from the dead, and the proofs which his Resurrection furnishes that he was the predicted Messiah, and consequently the Son of God: let us now proceed to consider the result of believing the truth thus proved that you may have “life through his name. It was for this purpose that the proofs of the Resurrection were recorded, and if we have not life through his name, so far as we are concerned, Christ is risen in vain, we are yet in our sins. Hence arises the importance of this last branch of the subject, which urges upon us the dangers to which we are exposed, if we disregard this "life," and remain contentedly "dead in

trespasses and sins."-When man is ignorant and careless about the great truths of religion; when his conduct exhibits that love of the world and that pursuit of things temporal, which never fails to flow from ignorance and unbelief, the word of God pronounces him to be dead-spiritually dead; and as this spiritual death consists in the alienation of the soul and all its affections from God, so it represents the future death of the soul as a continuance of that alienation perpetuated to all eternity. All that is required to make a man eternally miserable is to leave him as he is unchanged and unrepenting because such a character cannot dwell with God, being under his curse, and being unfit for his presence. In life he was neither washed, nor justified, nor sanctified-and after death he must be "punished with everlasting destruction from the of the Lord, and the glory of his power." Such a one through life loved darkness rather than light, and his choice will be confirmed after death, and his portion shall be "the blackness of darkness for ever.'

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Thus spiritual death must end in eternal death-and since all men are born under and in this fearful state of separation from God; "in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only

begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him," and the life through his name of which the text speaks, consists in a state altogether the opposite of that which belongs to the state of fallen man. Life is the turning of the heart to God-the fixing the affections so firmly on him as to render the Psalmist's words a just expression of the predominant feelings of the soul, "whom have I in Heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that I desire beside thee." The conduct is and must be influenced by this new disposition of the heart and affections-for what makes an ungodly man act as he does? Is it not because he loves sin, loves the world, and dislikes every thing that is not connected with the habitual bent of his inclinations?-Let another and contrary feeling, love to God, predominate in his mind, and all his affections will flow in a different channel-this change is to pass from death unto life-this is to be born of the Spirit, and this is to be turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Now, as spiritual death leads to eternal death, so this possession of life spiritual, leads to life eternal, which is the gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ; and it is imparted freely as a means of accomplishing that gracious design of bringing many sons to glory, which

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is laid before us in the Holy Scriptures, God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Life spiritual and life eternal, are said to be through the name of Jesus; "these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." In the persons here addressed the results of believing that which the resurrection proves, were accomplished; and thence we see that to believe on the name of the Son of God, was to receive Jesus as such, to consider his death as the predicted atonement which Messiah was to offer, to regard it as the efficient sacrifice to which the types pointed, and to trust to it alone for the removal of sin. He that believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. His heart is turned to love God, because his belief of the truth has taught him that God first loved him-his affections are placed on him, "because the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him," and loving God, he keeps his commandments. There is now no predominance of sinful affections in his mind-being risen with Christ, he seeks those things which are above, where

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Christ sitteth on the right hand of God; he sets his affections on things above, not on things on the earth, for he is dead, and his life hid with Christ in God; and knowing that when Christ who is his life shall appear, he shall also appear with him in glory, he mortifies his members which are upon the earth, and renounces those things for whose sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.Every one must allow that such a change is neither small nor unimportant, nor easily overlooked; it is the result of believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and is produced and carried on by the influence of God's Holy Spirit, which having been given when Jesus was glorified, connects the whole of this blessing with his resurrection.

The character and conduct of a real Christian is described as the effects of life, of a new and holy principle implanted in his soul, whereby his affections are directed, and his conversation influenced: let us always bear this in mind, when we would ponder the paths of our feet, and question ourselves whether we are treading a broad and frequented way, or a narrow and comparatively a solitary path. Living to God is the real test of conversion-acting under the influence of things which are unseen, and endeavouring to ap