I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. That the Father dwelleth in them appears from 1 John iv. verfes 12 and 13. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. we that we dwell in him and be in

Hereby know us, because be bath given us of his fpirit. That God the Father is here fpoken of, is evident from the next words, which are these, And we have seen and do testify, that the Father fent the Son to be the faviour of the world, verse 14. And that the Spirit dwelleth in believers, is evident from their being faid to be his temple. What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? 1 Cor. chap. vi. verse 19. See likewise in Romans chap. viii. verse 11. And as it refpects Christ, he is faid to dwell in our hearts by faith. And to be in us the hope of glory. Ephef. chapter iii. verse 17. Coloffians i. verfe 27. And as it refpects believers having fellowship with the Divine perfons, John declares in his own name, and for others alfo, Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Fejus Chrift. And that all this is through the grace of the Holy Spirit, appears from these words, For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father. Ephefians, chapter ii. verfe 18. So that from hence it appears, that real faints have in themselves, an inconteftible proof and evidence of the doctrine of the trinity, by the real and experimental fellowship which they have with them by faith in prayer and praise, and in all their fpiritual exercises. And, indeed, this will be their

perfect happiness in heaven, fully to enjoy perfect and uninterrupted fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft; who will through the God-man as the medium, fully poffefs their fouls, and fill them brimful with eternal glory.

O! that you may be daily experiencing the Father's love in your own hearts, by faith in the Son's falvation, through the gracious influences of the bleffed Spirit; that you may be afcribing bleffing and glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, three perfons in one glorious and incomprehenfible Godhead; to whom be equal and most exalted praise, for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON II.

GOD'S TESTIMONY OF HIS SON.

MATTHEW, Chap. iii. Part of Verse 17.

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed.

TH

HESE words contain the Father's teftimony concerning Chrift, and which was declared. upon the following occafion. In order to prepare the minds of the people of the Jews, and fill them with the expectation of Chrift's manifeftation in the flesh,

D

John the Baptift is fent, as the fore-runner and harbinger of the Meffiah, to preach the baptifm of repentance for the remiffion of fins; and, according to my own private thoughts, which I humbly fubmit to be confidered by you, one great end and defign (as I conceive it) of John's baptifm, was that the Saviour of Ifrael might be publicly manifefted. John was born fix months before Chrift, but, by divine providence, was prevented from having any interview with him; and though he was to proclaim him, saying, Behold the Lamb of God, he was as yet kept concealed from him and the way in which he was to know the Meffiah, was by the defcent of the Spirit upon him; agreeably to which he faith, He that fent me to baptize with water, the fame faid unto me, Upon whom thou shalt fee the Spirit defcending, and remaining on him, the fame is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghoft. John, chapter i.

verfe 33.

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Accordingly, among the vaft multitudes which came and prefented themfelves, and submitted to John's baptifm, our adorable Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to John, to be baptized of him, But John forbade him, faying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comeft thou to me? And Jefus answering, faid unto him, Suffer it to be fo now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, then he suffered him. Upon which moft folemn occafion, the following things were tranfacted. And Jefus, our great High Priest, when he was baptized, [having parted the myftic wave] went up straightway out of the water; and lo! the beavens opened unto him, and he faw the Spirit of God de

fcending like a dove, and lighting upon him. And lo! a voice from heaven faying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed. Thefe words were fpoken by God the Father, concerning God the Son, as clothed with our nature, and when he was publicly invested into his divine office of faviourfhip, and anointed, fealed, and declared to be the Meffiah, the great faviour, the prophet, prieft, and king of his church and people, who was to fave them from their fins. And here it may not be amifs to take notice how the eternal three, which bare record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghoft, were pleased to manifeft themselves in their diftinct and divine perfonalities; infomuch, that it used to be a faying among the ancients, "Go to "Jordan and learn the doctrine of the trinity." Here was the Son of God dwelling perfonally in the nature of man, which he had affumed into perfonal union with himself, and by which he became Immanuel, God with us; fubmitting to the ordinance of baptifm; and upon him the Holy Ghoft defcended to confecrate him, and to make him known to be the Chrift of God. Here is the voice of God the Father from heaven heard, faying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed. So that here is God the Father proclaiming, God the Son receiving, and God the Holy Ghoft fetting his feal to this everlasting and fundamental truth of the everlasting gospel; that Jefus is the Son of God, and the anointed. The words of our text contain two things.

First, that Jefus Chrift is God's beloved Son: This is my beloved Son. Secondly, that in him God is well pleased: In whom I am well pleafed.

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The first truth to be confidered by us in the words before us is, that Jefus Chrift is God's beloved Son, and this is clearly revealed in the Sacred Scriptures : we have in the text God's own teftimony to it, and the descent of the Spirit upon Chrift is another teftimony for in confequence of the vifible defcent of the Holy Ghost upon Chrift, John fays, Ifaw and bear record that this is the Son of God. John, chapter i. verfe 34. Nay Chrift himself laid down his life for the confirmation of it. See Luke, chapter xxii. verfe 70. And John declares it to be the profeffed defign of his writing his Gospel. Thefe are written that ye might believe that Jefus is the Chrift the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. John, chapter xx. verfe 31. He whose praises the evangelical Isaiah celebrates in the ninth chapter of his prophecy, and whose illuftrious titles he there declares, is faid to be the Son who was to be given by his Divine Father to his church and people, as their almighty Redeemer.

And when Chrift afked Peter in the name of the rest of the apostles, Whom fay ye that I am? The answer which he returned was, Thou art Chrift the Son of the living God. And with this truth the apostle Paul began his miniftry. And ftraightway he preached Chrift in the fynagogues, that he is the Son of God, A&ts chapter ix. verse 20. And the real knowledge and experimental belief of this truth, is made by the apof