but the full assurance resulting from having won Christ and from living daily upon him. It is to this source that we trace,

3. The spirit of adoption so decidedly expressed. There might be much from without to dispute the relation, much to invalidate it. Satan and conscience might accuse and condemn-there might be a tide of outward trial, and outward opposition-yet above it all, his believing soul would still hear a small voice within, bearing witness with his spirit, that he was in deed, and in truth the child of God-prompting him to cry, "Abba Father," and enabling him to say "I am thine."

4. The words further imply a sense of complete and implicit dependence. It is as though he had said I look to no other refuge, I rest in no ' other strength, I trust in no other shadow, I take 'counsel of no other guide, Thou art the clay and 'I the potter. I yield myself entirely to thy 'operations, and to thy care. Behold the servant 'of the Lord-be it unto thy servant according to 'thy word, for-" I am thine." "

5. But above all, it is most obviously the language of love and devotion. It implies the abandonment of every other service, the renunciation of every former idol. It involves the denial and mortification of self, the crucifixion of the world, the emancipation from captivity to Satan. No half-hearted, halting, wavering, procrastinating disciple could say "I am thine." No one, brethren, who is living for himself, or worshipping mammon,

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no lover of pleasure, no formalist, no hypocrite dare make such an appeal. It evinces a heart (conscious indeed of manifold inconsistencies, and of utter unworthiness, but still) conscious of integrity, free from guile, united and concentrated in its love. Such was evidently the case with the Psalmist. With Peter he could venture upon the declaration, "Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." Thou knowest that 'I am thine, I challenge thee to disprove the 'claim or repudiate the relation. I am thine by 'thine own sovereign grace, thine by the choice ' of my own renewed will; thine by baptismal obligations, and baptismal privileges; thine by open profession, thine by secret communion, thine 'by many a plighted vow, by many a solemn 'covenant, by countless sins forgiven, by unnum'bered mercies received; thine above all by the 'blood and spirit of Christ, thine only, and unre'servedly thine now and for ever.' O my beloved brethren, are you able thus to claim connection with God, thus to assert your interest in Christ? I bear you record, dearly beloved and longed for, (justice requires me to do it,) that you have always approved yourselves an attentive and a willing people. You have appeared at least to receive the word with joy-you have been uniformly cordial toward him who has ministered it amongst you. You have never by your frowardness, or your pride, by your neglect, or your unkindness, occasioned an hour's pain to your pastor. You

have not been fickle in your preferences, you have not been fastidious in your expectations, you have not been unreasonable in your requirements. You have made allowances for every apparent personal neglect. You have done justice to my interest in your welfare, you have appreciated my love for your souls. And now, as a recompence in the same, the warmest desire that I can breathe, the most comprehensive prayer that I can present at the throne of grace is, that you may each be enabled to adopt the language of the text as your own. God is my witness, how fervently, how frequently I have longed for this, how painfully, how very painfully I have shrunk from the idea that any with whom I have lived in such endearing intercourse should finally be cast away. Dear brethren, some one's you must be; some master you must needs be loving supremely. "His servants ye are to whom ye obey." Oh, then, are ye the Lord's? Do you ask then,' How may I deter'mine whose I am?' The context will assist you the decision by supplying,

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v. The evidence by which this relation is supported :-" I have sought thy precepts." This is the assertion of no unrenewed spirit. The carnal mind, we know, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. But when the man consents to the law that is good, when he delights in it after the inner man, when so far from esteeming his Saviour's commands to be grievous, he hides them in his heart, rejoices in them as much

as in all riches, and makes the Divine testimonies his delight and his counsellors-when he can say, "Oh! how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day," then he has the witness within himself, that he is born again-may safely conclude that he has passed from death unto life; may have confidence towards God, may assure his heart before Him. It is important to attain and preserve clear and scriptural ideas upon this point. Whilst the ground of our salvation consists wholly in the obedience of Christ, the reality of our salvation is to be evidenced mainly in our own obedience. The mere fact of calling Jesus Lord and Master will not warrant us in saying, "I am thine," except we do the things which we say. For thus it is written, "Then will I profess unto them," i. e. in the awful hour of the universal judgment, when they will be most anxious to establish the relation, then will I profess unto them "I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity." O rest not then in anything formal, in anything partial. See that your hearts be right with God-come out from the world; be decidedly on the Lord's side; embrace his cross; bear his reproach; in a word, seek his precepts, and thus shall all men take knowledge of you, that you are his of a truth. Then too, but not till then, will you have confidence in urging in the second place,

II. THE PLEA WHICH THE PSALMIST FOUNDS UPON HIS RELATION TO GOD.

"I am thine, save me.' It is a brief petition, but it comprehends every blessing. It is not the worldling's cry extorted in the spasm of his terror, when the scourge of God is laid heavily upon him, or when the icy grasp of death arrests him in his rebellion it is not the instinctive ejaculation, "Lord, have mercy upon me," which forms in so many minds the passport to heaven: it is not the mere impatient wish to be eased from the pain of body, or delivered from the terror of mind, to be rid of the cares and sorrows of this world, and freed from the fearful looking for of judgment in the next-but it is the craving after spiritual freedom; the longing to be delivered from the bondage of corruption and the body of death, the panting to be transformed, renewed and sanctified. It is, in fact, saying to God, Thou hast 'begun a good work in me: forsake not the work ' of thine own hands. Be faithful to thine own 'promises by thy grace I am what I am; O let 'that grace be exceedingly abundant, with faith 'and love which is in Christ Jesus. Having ob'tained mercy of thee, I am enabled to look up ' unto thee, and say, "I am thine." O keep me thine; thou hast delivered my soul from death; 'wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling?' In short, the force of the plea is, 'By all the love 'which first made me thine, by the precious blood 'which hath been shed for me, by every spark of

grace thou hast communicated, by every past de'liverance, by every present blessing, by every