Christ,"—that is, in the person, character, offices, work and salvation of our Lord. This is the Gospel, and includes all collateral subjects, so that the true believer knows Him in whom he believes, and is thoroughly persuaded that He, to whom is committed the safe keeping of his soul for time and eternity, is willing, as well as able and faithful, to accomplish all that is cherished by every Christian who rejoices in hope of the glory of God.

It is hardly necessary to refer formally to sacred Scripture for corroboration of these statements. But there is an utterance of Apostolical authority that is particularly suitable to the subject before us, and this I deem worthy of deep and prayerful consideration; and, therefore, I lay it before you, and trust that its corroborative importance may be duly appreciated: "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Rom. viii. 9). They who walk after the flesh, unrenewed in nature, and, therefore, destitute of true religion, are most distinctly, most decidedly pointed out as not having qualities forming the elements of personal religion. They are, in fact, not Christians. For he adds what brings the matter to a just, but an awful issue, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." The possession, enlightenment and guidance of the Holy Ghost were clearly and forcibly set forth by the Lord Jesus Christ when he said to the disciples:-" When he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you" (John xvi. 10-14). Thus shall all persons who have real religion in them be taught of God.

This originates what the apostle terms, very accurately "the fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. v. 22, 23). The fruit "is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." These nine graces, as they may be scripturally called, deserve individual notice, and may for greater clearness be thus arranged:-three cardinal graces, "love, joy, peace; "-three kindred qualities, "longsuffering, gentleness, goodness; "-three concurrent manifestations, "fidelity, meekness, temperance." These are contrasted with "the works of the flesh" by the same divine writer, giving by that contrast additional force to the line of remark already made in this paper on personal religion. In his strikingly contrasting view there is a monition of such a nature that I cannot but notice it. In the twentyfirst verse of the fifth chapter of Galatians, after enumerating the various overt actions of unrenewed humanity, the apostle adds " and suchlike," or, literally, things similar to these; "of the which I tell you

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before"-or forewarn you, as I have also told you in time past or forewarned you, "that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Let us now review, however briefly, the nine sorts of the fruit of the Spirit, that is, the nine distinctive features of personal religion, which each true believer in, and follower of, the Lord Jesus presents to the Church and the world. Of the three cardinal graces, the first in order and pre-eminence is "love." Love to God, love to real Christians, love to mankind (Matt. xxii. 37-40). Love to God is the first and great commandment, including and regulating the other two. The latter are embraced in our Lord's wording of the second commandment, in His comprehensive summary of the second table"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." With regard to God we may assert that love is such an affection as cannot so properly be said to be in the soul, as the soul to be in that,-it is the whole man wrapt up into one desire. Right love of God has two phases, the esteem and desire of Him. The believing soul holds communion with the Father of lights, by the out-goings of spiritual love. The love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto him, and thus there is a discernment, more or less, of those who are possessed of the same divine privilege, and an inclination towards them, more than the kindness, or strong regard of men inculcated in the precept to love one's neighbour as himself. Love to real Christians is, in this way, distinct from love to mankind at large, or from that to our own flesh and blood. "Every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him." (1 John v. 1). This is the new commandment, or the old, the original commandment in a new form, and with a new object.

The next cardinal grace is "joy." It is "joy in the Holy Ghost," as a fruit of the Spirit-satisfaction arising from actual good assuredly possessed, amounting at times to a high degree of pleasure, but, as South writes, not that "trivial, vanishing, superficial thing, that only gilds the apprehension, and plays upon the surface of the soul." It is lasting, and cannot evangelically exist without Christ-without union to Him, and a lively exercise of faith in Him. This is finely expressed by the Apostle Peter, in writing to the Christians of his time. "Whom having not seen, ye love,-in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" ( Pet. i. 8).

The third grace, in the order which I am following, is " 'peace.' In the epistle to the Romans the Apostle Paul ranks this before joy. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. xiv. 17). Peace, denoting re

conciliation, must precede the grace termed peace, or any other fruit of the Spirit-which are bestowments following from, and in connection with reconciliation between God and the sinner. Peace, as a grace, is a passion or condition of mind tranquillised by the Divine Spirit from alarm and terror of conscience, under a sense of sin, and judgment due to sin, so that the happy relation to God clearly set forth in the fifth chapter of Romans, first verse, becomes a realisation. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." There ensues a peace of soul that may well be termed "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Phli. iv. 7). From this arises a peaceable disposition that leads the possessor to live, as far as possible, in peace with all men.

What has been advanced concerning the three cardinal graces justifies the appellation by which they have been designated. They bear an analogy to the fundamental doctrines that form the first principles of the oracles of God. Amongst the fruit of the Spirit they occupy the chief position, as fundamental principles claim precedence and importance among the indispensable requisites of Gospel truth. There is also a close connection between them. Personal religion, or the religion of a person, cannot exist without the three. He that has Christ, who is "all in all," will have, cannot but have "love, joy, peace."

Next to these are the three kindred qualities-" long suffering, gentleness, goodness." These are akin to the former, but owe their existence to them, with which they are simultaneously connected. Whoever is actuated by love, joy, peace, will manifest, as occasion demands, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, either singly or in combination. Long suffering will not always be called forth, but gentleness will be an observable habit, and goodness, both in disposition and in exercise, will be an ever present characteristic, leading to such acts of well-doing as our own circumstances may afford, or those of our neighbour may require.

We are naturally led, by the course of our review, to the remaining items in the fruit of the Spirit, which we have classed under the term concurrent manifestations,-"Fidelity, meekness, temperance." These are manifestations, or outwardly exhibited results of the cardinal graces and the kindred qualities, so that they concur with them and appear as consequences of grace abiding and operating in the soul, of whose indwelling and active working they are evidences, and proofs of lively faith in Christ. They are genuine concurrents of the forementioned graces, so that you may be confident that whenever and in whomsoever those are these will appear, and, consequently, the latter are indexes and assurances that the former are possessed, and

in more or less active operation. I have used the word fidelity instead of "faith," because the original is so translated (ver. 10), in the second chapter of Titus, where it expresses as well as here a moral virtue, along with meekness and temperance. A striking illustration and confirmation occur in Matthew's Gospel. "Woe unto you,

scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith," or fidelity (xxiii. 22). There it is ranked with moral virtues, and very similar with those of "meekness and temperance." Meekness indicates the manner of dealing with others, especially in reproving others, or when called upon to animadvert upon them for faults; temperance requires the government of our passions and appetites, exceeding neither in the quantity nor kind of food, or beverage, but maintaining, on all occasions, and in every place, self control.

The brief review just taken of personal religion includes the prominent and general characteristics of true Christians, under which graces of every kind may be arranged. Like all other views of truth, they are comprehensive, and the student of Scripture will easily ascertain under which to classify any variety with which he may meet, as the skilful in botany, when he lights upon a production in the vast field of nature, judges, by his already acquired knowledge, in what class to place the hitherto unobserved variety.

The fruit of the Spirit, or the characteristics of real religion in any professor, are the productions of the true vine, according to the inimitable simile of our Lord Jesus Christ. "I am the true vine, ye are the branches" (John xv. 1, 5, 8). He means most evidently that, while the whole tree may be, in simile, a representation of the Church, he is, distinctively, the vine stem, and they who are believers may be well represented by the branches, that those who are real believers are specifically regarded as branches that bear fruit, and are cared for and trained, that they may produce fruit, nay more, that they may produce much fruit. That this production of fruit arises from connection with him is strongly set forth by himself, and he subjoins" He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me," apart from me, "ye can do nothing." The Father is the husbandman, but the Holy Spirit invites sinners to Christ, and causes all means to be efficient, producing faith, and carrying on sanctification, in all its internal gradations and external concomitants, so that the triune Jehovah, Father, Son, Spirit, are recognisable in the fruit of the Spirit who is the operating person in the Godhead. We see, then, the force, as well as the meaning and propriety of the Saviour's words (ver. 8), “Herein is

my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit,—so shall ye be my disciples." All this implies individual, and, therefore, personal religion, and confirms the fitness of the line of remark that has been adopted, and the illustrative character of the mode in which the subject has been treated.

These fruits, moreover, are in each believer evidences of personal religion. They show not only the existence, but the working of grace, and, consequently, prove that the root of the matter is in every person exhibiting them, reminding us of the Great Teacher's memorable utterance-"Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matt. vii. 16-20). The particular tree is known by the kind of production that it yields, and also by its fruitfulness. "Do men," the Lord asks, "gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."

The works of the flesh confirm this view. They are as much the results of the unchanged heart as the gracious ones, of which the preceding pages have treated, are indications of the new nature. They afford ground, too, for judging of the existence of the irreligion of all those by whom they are manifested, as the fruit of the Spirit is the invariable proof of being in Christ, and of being born again to newness of life. The thoughts, feelings, and motives of different characters may, to a certain extent, be concealed from those of the same or of the opposite class. But is there no way of ascertaining the real or probable state of the inner man? Sad would be our lot if there were no satisfactory answer to this question. It would be no relief to have even deeply impressed upon our minds, that the Knower and Searcher of hearts is intimately acquainted with all, but it is extreme satisfaction to every right-minded person, to be assured that the great Inspector of hearts has given us a way of ascertaining, in some degree at least, the condition and working of the hidden man. The acting, speaking, and general behaviour of human beings, tell most plainly whether they walk according to the flesh, or after the spirit. "Ye shall know them by their fruit" (Matt. vii. 16) is an indisputable, as well as a divine rule, that ought to be studied and applied.

The reality of true, that is spiritual religion, is placed beyond the domain of supposition. It has undoubted existence. Fruit cannot come from a nonentity, and that which produces fruit must not only be likely to produce the same kind, again and again, but have living