The Lord grant that this may be to every one of us "the house of God," and the very "gate of heaven." May he satisfy us with the goodness of his house, even of his holy temple; and cause us to experience, from Sabbath to Sabbath, within these walls, the truth and preciousness of his word of promise, "In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee." SERMON IX. THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD NOT STRAITENED BY THE REV. A. L. R. FOOTE, FREE WEST CHURCH, BRECHIN. "O thou that art named The house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened ?”— MICAII ii. 7. CONSIDERABLE obscurity hangs over this passage in reference to its original application: yet the general application is quite obvious. In it we are to consider God as expostulating with his Church, when in a low and languishing state, as to the cause of this. He is vindicating himself from all share of blame in the matter-he is showing them where the blame lies, even with his professing people themselves, in their want of faith and prayer. It is their unbelief that mars all. This is the radical evil. This keeps them away from the free and full provision of spiritual blessings contained in the New Covenant, and urged upon their acceptance. This straitens, shuts up, imprisons their spirits, so that their desires do not flow forth with any enlargement after Divine communications. It is not the Spirit of the Lord that is straitened, as they, on a hasty consideration, may conclude, for men are ever ready to find excuses for their sin, even at the expense of the Divine character. There is a straitening, but it is all on their part; and they must be brought to feel this, both that they may acknowledge their sin in not having adequately valued the Spirit, and his justice in not having visited them with so large a share of his influence, and that they may be stirred up to the exercise of that faith and that prayer in answer to which alone we have any title to look for the fulfilment of any of the promises. I. In farther illustration of this subject we would remark, in the first place, that the question in the text, "Is the spirit of the Lord straitened?" implies, that he is not straitened in the sense which our unbelief would suggest. No. 9.-SER. 9. 1. The Spirit is not straitened in respect of his own inherent sufficiency. All grace, wisdom, might, and faithfulness are in him. He is an Infinite Spirit. He cannot therefore be straitened, limited, confined, as the creature is. The creature-every creature, however high and noble-is finite, that is, has bounds set to it. The creature is limited, in respect of the space he occupies; but the Spirit is omnipresent. We cannot go where he is not-" Whither," says the Psalmist, "shall I go from thy spirit." The creature is limited in respect of duration. All things had a beginning, but the Spirit had none. He is eternal, that is, from everlasting to everlasting. Says Paul to the Hebrews, Christ, through the Eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God." The creature is limited in respect of knowledge; but the "Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." The creature is limited in respect of power; not so the Spirit. The work of creation is attributed to him; and he who made all things must needs be omnipotent. "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." "By his Spirit he garnished the heavens." "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the earth." The creature is limited in respect of moral excellence; but the Spirit is distinctively and supereminently the "Spirit of holiness,"-having all holiness in himself, and being the author of all holiness in those beings who are in any degree characterised by it. 2. The Spirit is not straitened in respect of the Saviour's purchase of him for the Church. As the Head of his Church, Christ is its source of spiritual influence. In him, for the use of his Church, the Spirit dwells in immeasurable degree. For the "Father giveth not the Spirit by measure unto his Son." It has thus pleased the Father, that in him all fulness should dwell; and the conclusion is clear-Out of his fulness may we all receive, even grace upon grace. Oh, it was no scanty supply of the Spirit Christ ensured for his Church. There is no risk of soon draining this fountain dry. Believe it, it is inexhaustible. Hither may you repair, and drink of the water of life as largely as your finite capacities will admit of, and yet leave it undiminished. Mark well, for it is important, the encouragement afforded us by the death of Christ to expect free and full communications of the Holy Spirit. Had Christ not died, the Spirit could in no degree-not even in the smallest -have been sent forth to enlighten, and sanctify, and save; for the justice of God, unpropitiated and unappeased, would have stood immoveably in the way of this. But now Christ having died, and justice being satisfied, and every obstacle on God's part removed, what hinders that the Spirit be now shed forth through Christ, and that not grudgingly and sparingly, but cheerfully and abundantly? It is now not merely consistent with the Divine character that the Spirit may be obtained. The glory of the Divine character requires that what Christ died for be accomplished-that what he purchased be bestowed. To imagine that Christ has obtained by his death only a small measure of spiritual influence for the Church, is virtually to detract from the merit and effi cacy of his death. To go to God with doubting, confused, straitened desires for the Spirit, is virtually to deny that the Spirit is the purchase of Christ for his Church, and to insinuate that something yet remains to be done to entitle us to receive him, at least so fully as we need. 3. The Spirit is not straitened in respect of the offer of him in the gospel. (1.) He is offered universally. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." John vii. 37, 38, 39. There is not an individual, however far gone he may be in sin-however long he may have resisted, vexed, and grieved the Spirit-to whom he is not offered, on whose acceptance he is not pressed in all earnestness and sincerity, who is not as welcome to this gift of God as he is to the common gifts of his bounty, of which he is daily availing himself, if he will only receive him. Prov. i. 20--23. Let no one then say, I need entertain no hope of receiving the Spirit, for the offer of him is no longer addressed to me, I having sinned beyond the reach of its application. Do you not perceive that even scorners-they who are justly considered as having reached the highest point of impiety-are included in this gracious invitation and promise-"Turn ye at my reproof; behold I will pour my Spirit upon you." (2.) The Spirit is offered freely. Hear his own voice. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 17. No high price-no price at all -is set upon him. The only question is, Will you take him? He is offered as the dearly-won purchase of the Saviour's death; and you have only to ask him as a child asks bread of his parent. You have only to pray for him, and he will be given you. You have only, in a word, to believe the promise the free, faithful promise -and it will be fulfilled in your experience. Acts ii. 38, 39. (3.) The Spirit is offered largely. Point out, if you can, a single passage of Scripture where the believer is limited, is stinted, in his application to a throne of grace. You cannot do it. On the con "If ye ask any trary, the authority, the warrant given him, is unlimited. thing in my name, I will do it." "If ye abide in me, abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” And when the Spirit is spoken of as being given, it is in such language as leads us to expect much; for it is a principle in the Divine administration never departed from, that it shall be unto us according to our faith-"I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." God promises, you observe, to pour forth the Spirit upon his Church like a flowing fertilizing stream-like a mighty rolling flood. He is promised, not in drops, "few and far between," but in showers of abundance. "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth." You see, then, that the risk is not of our exceeding, of our going too far, in our requests and in our expectations, but of our falling far short of what Scripture warrants, and indeed requires of us. II. The second remark we would make upon the text is, that the question, "Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?" implies that he is often straitened or diminished in respect of his actual communications to the Church. Though the Spirit is not and cannot be straitened or diminished in respect of what he is in himself-though the supply of spiritual influence in Christ, our living and life-giving head, is always the samethough the language of Scripture never ceases to hold out the same encouragement at all times to come and partake abundantly of it—still it is matter of fact that the presence and power of the Spirit are not enjoyed by the Church at some periods so much as at others. How this is to be explained, we shall show by and bye. In the meantime, let us dwell a little upon the fact. We say it is a fact-it is a matter of observation. We have only to examine the history of the Church to discover a fact that stands out most prominently, namely, that it has not always been characterized by the same degree of vital spiritual religion. And let us attend to some of the characteristics of a Church from which the Spirit has withdrawn much of his presence and power. 1. In such a church the truth will not generally be preached with evangelical purity, faithfulness, unction, and power. In the pulpit, the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, which, in the experience of all true Christians, contain the life-blood of the gospel, will be denied, or darkened, and kept out of view, and in their room will be taught a cold, heartless system of moral duties and of natural religion, which has no power to benefit or to interest either those who preach it or those who hear it. 2. In such a church there will be a general departure from the simple |