of God.' The three Persons of the blessed Godhead are all mentioned together in Matt. xxviii. 19; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; 1 John v. 7. To each of these Persons in the Godhead a share is ascribed in the salvation of fallen man. Of the Father it is said, in Eph. i. 4, that 'he chose us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world;' and in John iii. 16, that 'He so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.' Of the Son it is said that He died a sacrifice for our sins, in order to redeem us from their guilt and power, and to reconcile us unto God (see Matt. xx. 28; 1 Tim. ii. 6; Gal. iii. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 24; Col. i. 19-22.) And regarding the Holy Ghost, we are taught that He sanctifies believers, and makes them, as it were, temples of God (see Rom. xv. 16; 2 Thess. ii. 13; 1 Cor. iii. 26; vi. 19, 20). All this is well comprised in 1 Pet. i. 2, where the true believers are called 'elect . . . according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.'

2. With regard to worship.

The service or worship of God is much more elevated and spiritual in the new economy than in the old. The Law of Moses contains a great many precepts concerning ritual defilement and purification, the observance of certain times or places,

and of different kinds of sacrifices, as will be seen from a perusal of the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Whereas in the New Testament we read that Jesus, far from appointing a new Qibla, or other needless observances, said to an inquiring women of Samaria, 'Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father . . . . but . . . the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers' (John iv. 21-3). St. James writes in his Epistle (i. 27), 'Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.' According to the gospel, the service which God requires of us does not consist mainly in a number of outward acts, such as frequent ablutions, public prayers, fasting, visiting of particular temples, etc.; but what He requires of us, above all, is repentance from sin, faith in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners, a complete change of mind, a conversion from sin to holiness, so thorough and real that it can be called a 'new or second birth', and then a whole life spent according to His will and for His glory. Hence we read that both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus began their preaching by the exhortation. 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: Repent ye, and believe