and solemn worship of God with this prayer, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all." We are commanded to dread offending him; we are assured, that whoever blasphemes his honor is accounted guilty of a crime of the deepest dye: "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And who soever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Matt. xii. 31, 32.

more than a quality in God," which cannot subsist or be distinguished as a person in the Godhead, he has a name given to him, significant at once both of his essence and energy. The term Holy Spirit implies both that his essence is spiritual, and also that in the dispensation of grace it is his energy which produces holiness in the soul. Now as the spirit within a man, by which he observes his own thoughts, is not a quality, but something really distinct from his body and from his thoughts; so this Spirit which knows the thoughts of God, which even "searches the deep things of God," must be a person distinct from the Father, who is thus known by him.

Thirdly, The same infinite glory which is ascrib- He has all personal actions also ascribed to him; ed to God, and the same self-abasement of men and "He shall not speak of himself, but what he has angels which is exercised under a sense of his imme- heard that shall he speak;" He rejoices and is diate presence, are ascribed also to the Holy Ghost, grieved; He approves and condemns; He convinces and exercised before his adorable presence; and the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. And therefore he must be God. Can you find any descrip- when Peter was still doubtful of the import of the tion of the glory of God more grand and striking heavenly vision which he had seen, "The Spirit said than the vision of Isaiah, related in the sixth chapter? | unto him, Behold, three men seek thee." Acts x. 19. The prophet "saw the Lord," we are told, "sitting But all these must pass for expressions without any upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled signification, unless they are allowed to mark out the temple. Above it stood the seraphims; each one the distinct personality of the Holy Ghost. had six wings; with twain he covered his face, with Thus it appears from this summary view of the twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did Scripture evidence, that the Holy Ghost is possessfly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, ed of the essential attributes of God, that he does holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth the works proper to God; that he receives the honor is full of his glory. Then said I, Woe is me! for due unto God alone: that he stands exalted above I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips." the rank of creatures. Shall it then be said, after I shall not here insist upon the repetition of the all this proof, that he is not by nature God with the epithet holy three times, to prove that the angels Father and the Son? By no means. These Scripture were paying adoration to the Trinity in Unity; it eviderces, considered each apart, conclude forcibly sufficiently appears from the inspired declarations for the glory and Godhead of the Holy Ghost, and, of the apostles. As to God the Father, none dis- united together, admit of no reply, but such cavils as pute that the worship might be justly addressed to pride and infidelity are never at a loss to make against him; with respect to the Son, our Lord directly the plainest truths. They are fully sufficient to avows that Isaiah spake these things when he saw confirm our faith in the article of the glory and his glory that the Spirit was comprehended in this Godhead of the Holy Ghost. And as to those who object of the adoration of heaven, is evident from will contradict and blaspheme, on account of the hence; that the Lord of Hosts, which at this very difficulties which occur in explaining this subject, time spake to him, is expressly declared by St. it must be observed that all the peculiar doctrines Paul, Acts xxviii. 25. to have been the Holy Spirit of revelation, as well as this, become to such, mathimself; "Well spake the Holy Ghost, by Esaias ter of dispute first, and then are rejected because the prophet unto our fathers, Go unto this people incomprehensible; till at length God's blessed sysand say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not un-tem of truth, which none of the wise men of this derstand," &c.

Fourthly, The Spirit is exalted above the rank of creatures; he must therefore be God, since there is no middle state betwixt the Creator and the creature. And that he is exalted above the rank of creatures is evident; because he is never spoken of or represented as a worshipper of God. The relation of all creatures to God, and their dependence upon him, are necessary obligations, binding them to do him homage. And the more excellent their endowments are, and the higher their obligations rise, the more prompt and active will they be in ascribing to God the honor due unto him. Accordingly the Scripture frequently represents the whole creation by a figure, and angels and men, in a proper sense, as employed in ceaseless praises and adorations of God. But whence comes it, if the Spirit also is a creature, that no mention is made of him by the sacred writers as a worshipper of God? Is it not strange, indeed, that these inspired men should have forgot that Spirit, which, if he is a creature, should have led this concert of praise, and been the principal person in it? Was it not highly needful to make mention of Him, in order to prevent error and idolatrous worship? The total silence therefore of the oracles of God on this important matter, is a strong evidence, that the prophets, the apostles, and Jesus Christ, considered not the Holy Ghost as a creature, but as God with the Father and the Son. Fifthly, Lest it should be said, the Spirit "is no

world knew, is reduced to nothing more than those maxims of morality which the philosophers of old delivered without the help of revelation; and which the Deists now oppose to it, as a sufficient guide to duty and happiness. But whether this be rationally to interpret Scripture, or covertly to renounce all subjection to the book of God, judge ye!

SUNDAY XVI.-CHAP. XVI.

THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Ir is not enough that our judgment should be fully informed concerning the personal glory and divinity of the Holy Ghost: a Christian must also know to what great purposes that infinite, almighty, eternal Spirit, exercises his office in the church of Christ; and in what way his influences are exerted. For unless we have a clear and distinct knowledge of this, we can never ascribe to the Holy Ghost the glory of his own work in our souls on the one hand; nor, on the other, be secured from dangerous delusion, and from mistaking some creature of a brain-sick imagination for the work of the Spirit of God. Both these evils will be happily prevented by firmly adhering to our infallible guide the Scripture; which is not more full in declaring the divinity of the Holy Ghost, than in determining pre

cisely, the nature and the effects of his inestimable influence.

To him, we are taught, is intrusted the arduous work of managing the cause of God and Christ against a sinful world, and of making it triumphant over all opposition, in that measure which seems best to unerring wisdom. By the secret yet mighty energy of the Holy Ghost, the foundation of Christian religion is laid in the soul of the believer; by him maintained, and at length completed. The foundation of Christian religion, as the term imports, is a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a sincere love to his person. Till this knowledge and this love possess your soul, though you may do many things which are commanded by God, and seem by profession a Christian, you still want the root of all acceptable obedience in your heart; according to that express declaration from Christ, "If any man serve me, him will my father honor." John xii. 26. which intimates that he will honor no one beside. But if you consider the account given in Scripture of the condition the world was in when the name of Jesus was first preached in it, or of the natural blindness of man in all ages to the truths of God, you will acknowledge that wherever the glory of Jesus is worthily apprehended and effectually imprinted, it must be owing to the interposition of the Holy Ghost, and his influence on the mind.

blast them altogether.-To penetrate through such a cloud of darkness, what is the light of reason? to balance against such bitter prejudice, what the force of moral persuasion? To make such a sacrifice of wealth, of ease, of character, and become as it were the offscouring of all things, even to be deemed a curse upon the earth that bears you, what the power of human resolution?* Yet all this sacrifice was understood and considered; it was a certain consequence evident before the eyes of all that joined themselves unto the Lord Jesus Christ; who, on account of the odium cast upon his name in every place where the gospel first came, is styled, "He whom the nation abhorreth."

Not only to counteract, but entirely to vanquish this deep rooted enmity against the Redeemer, the gospel is to be preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. The apostles first were to receive power, after that the Holy Ghost was come upon them. Thus armed, they were to be witnesses unto Jesus, that is, of the redemption that is in him, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. This eternal and almighty Spirit, by imparting to them miraculous gifts, bore down the opposition of prejudice, of education, and of worldly interest; and exerting his gracious influence on the mind at the time he was appealing by miracles to the evidence of sense, he made the glory of the Lord appear with such transcendant brightness, that thousands were added to his church, and ready to suffer death for his name's sake.

righteousness in the person and cause of Christ, since God had borne such testimony to him; of the excellency of that righteousness he accomplished, living and dying in obedience to the law of God; and of the necessity of it, as imputed to believers for their complete justification. He convinced the world of judgment, in giving them to behold with their own eyes, the throne of Satan cast down; his collusive oracles silenced, his temples deserted, abhorred, and thousands upon thousands of his miserable captives set at liberty.

That true and worthy acceptations of the Redeemer, that lively and lasting impressions of his excellency, were owing to the Holy Ghost, when men were first called Christians, no one can doubt. Thus in an outward and visible manner the At that time to entertain becoming thoughts and to Holy Ghost fulfilled the Redeemer's promise, whilst feel suitable impressions of the Redeemer's glory, he laid the foundation of true faith in the soul of was directly contrary to the united force of nvete-every one that believed. In this manner he testified rate prejudice, corrupt education, and every view of Jesus: he glorified him. In this manner he reof worldly interest. For the illustration of this proved the world of sin, in their contemptuous repoint, suppose yourself an inhabitant either of Je-fusal to believe in Jesus as the only Saviour; of rusalem or of Rome, at the time when Christ was first preached; when Pharisaism or Sadcucism reigned throughout the one; and the most impure idolatry, propagated from age to age, triumpaed in the other suppose, that in this situation you had heard an apostle of the Lord call aloud upon you, commanding you in the name of God to confess the sinfulness of your sin, and to flee for refuge from deserved wrath to Jesus Christ; that this apostle, instead of concealing the meanness and weakness in which Jesus Christ lived, the shame and pain in which he died, told you that on his cross he made This great effect must not be supposed to have atonement for sin, bought you with the price of his been produced by the mere display of miracles to blood, that you might live in subjection to him as the senses: it evidently discovered a positive inyour sovereign Lord; that he possessed irresistible fluence exercised upon the mind. This is exempower to save or to destroy, and unsearchable rich- plified in the prayer of the great apostle for the es to reward and bless his faithful people; suppose church at Ephesus. By the miracles wrought bethat he concluded with a most solemn asseveration, fore them, they were so far impressed with a knowthat if you refused the call you heard, and was not ledge of the truth of the gospel, as highly to esteem united to this man Christ Jesus, as your only Sa- the much despised, much persecuted name of its viour, you must feel indignation and wrath from ever-blessed Author. Nevertheless, the apostle God for evermore. Instantly upon such a declara- makes a clear distinction between this effect, flowtion your hearts tell you, that in the circumstances ing from the evidence of the miracles which were above described, bitter and disdainful prejudice wrought in attestation of the gospel, and the interwould have shown itself against the messenger. nal gracious influence of the Holy Ghost on the The life of Jesus, infamous through innumerable slanders, his death ignominious, in your apprehension, to the last degree, would have made you treat the report as the most palpable lie ever forged to deceive. Accustomed from childhood to worship either false gods, or to trust the true God without a Mediator, a sacred horror must have chilled your blood upon hearing your idols blasphemed, or Jesus glorified as one with God; whilst every desire remaining in your soul, of esteem with men, of sinful pleasure, or of happiness from the world, must have inflamed your rage against a doctrine, which, if received, was sure, like a pestilential wind, to

mind. He prays therefore that God would grant unto them the grace of his Spirit, that "the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, they might know what was the hope of their calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance

The unlearned reader is to be informed, that all the primitive apologists for our most holy faith, take notice of the charge brought against the Christians, as the procuring cause of all the public calamities inflicted on the Pagans; and that these, in their blind and cruel superstition, thought they did their gods service by putting them to death.

age.

"When the Comforter is come, he will reprove the world of sin, because they believe not on me." The sin of overlooking the Son of God, so as to exercise no dependence on him for righteousness and strength, is not perceived by man till renewed by the Holy Ghost, though he may acknowledge the truth of the Christian creed. Deceit and fraud, envy and malice, with the crimes destructive to society, are generally reprobated, and their evil is manifest. But the great sin of entertaining such thoughts of ourselves and of our own virtues, as do in fact render all the names of honor we give unto Christ merely titular: this sin, most injurious to the perfections of God, you never see in the catalogue which unenlightened man draws up against himself. He can approach the holy, the jealous God in prayer, without fear or suspicion of his displeasure, though he never committed his cause to the appointed Mediator, nor laid his sacrifice upon that altar, which alone can sanctify it in the sight of God.

in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of his | this subject, which has been already considered in power towards us that believe." This goes much its primary sense, and as it related to the apostolic deeper than the force of miracles alone could reach. | It implies a transforming knowledge of those sublime truths which miracles alone can never produce, and a happy experience of the certainty of the words of truth from their vital operation within. It is evident, then, that it was the power of the Holy Ghost which produced conviction and faith in the minds of those who heard the gospel preached by the apostles, and which laid the foundation of the primitive church. But it may be said, "There does not exist in the present day the same necessity for his agency. The circumstances of the Christian world are quite different. Now, instead of blasphemous insults offered to the name of Jesus, he is adored as God in the daily service of our established church. Instead of bitter prejudices of education being generally entertained against his death as a sacrifice for our sins, we are pledged by baptism in our earliest infancy to receive it as our dearest hope. Instead of suffering persecution from our relations, because we profess ourselves the disciples of Christ, we should give offence to them were we not to do so. This alteration in the state of the world has therefore removed the necessity which before existed for the agency of the Holy Ghost. We accordingly no longer see a single miracle wrought in confirmation of the truth of the gospel, now that its own establishment, the most convincing of all miracles, has taken place." Thus, because the extraordinary operations of the Holy Ghost have ceased, the necessity and efficacy of his influence at present is absolutely denied by some, and received with doubt and suspicion by many; and all that has been so plainly inculcated in Scripture of his teaching, his strength, and his comforts, has been injuriously restrained to former ages. A mistake this, destructive of all real religion: a mistake proceeding from an utter ignorance or impious disbelief of the natural blindness of man to the truths of God, and of his aversion to receive them with an obedient heart. For if the Scripture account of the blindness of the human understanding and the depravity of the heart is received, it must follow that man of himself cannot receive and come into subjection to the truth of God, though the rage of Jews and Gentiles were supposed to be entirely removed, and the truth of the gospel revelation were allowed. The natural man, the man who acts only upon the principles of natural reason, and seeks no illumination in his understanding from the Holy Ghost, "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned," 1 Cor. ii. 14, in their divine truth, excellence, and glory, they can be discovered by none who are not enlightened by the Spirit of God. It follows from this declaration, that a true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of salvation by him, must be the production of the Holy Ghost as much at this very hour, as when the apostles first planted churches in the name of Jesus. The Holy Ghost must "take of the things which are Christ's," and, by his powerful effectual teaching, "show them unto us." Otherwise the Redeemer will never be exalted and extolled, nor receive any heartfelt adoration for all his kindness towards us. What was the work of the Holy Ghost immediately after our Lord's ascension, is still his work with every one that believes to the saving of his soul; the exhibition of the external miracles which accompanied it in old time, only excepted.

The proof of this assertion, so much questioned now, and so often vilified as enthusiasm, I shall endeavor to evince from that most instructive text on

To reprove for this sin in particular, is the work of the Holy Ghost. He it is who must open your eyes, if they are ever opened, to see your own sinfulness, and to loathe yourself before your Maker, for the mean thoughts, the grovelling apprehensions, which notwithstanding the declarations of the Bible, and your pretended belief of it, you have had concerning the Lord's Christ, the Rock of ages, the Beloved of the Father. It is by the Holy Ghost you must be enabled to say, with a firm reliance on him, that "Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." By his influence it is, that you will ever so behold the Saviour as to believe in your heart, and to confess with your mouth, “that if any man love him not, that man is anathema, maranatha," accursed of God; and unless he repents of this great wickedness, sure to be condemned by the Lord when he cometh to judge the world. And when the sin of not depending on Jesus, and not honoring him as the Father is honored, is thus clearly perceived and heartily detested; it is not flesh and blood which have made this revelation, no; nor barely the written word of God; (for long after that was allowed by you to be the truth, no such effect followed,) but it is owing to the Spirit of truth, who has communicated to you this most precious knowledge.

Again, "When the Comforter is come," saith our Lord, "he shall reprove the world of righteousness, because I go to my Father." To be received into favor with God, by virtue of what another has done; and to confess that the life and death of Jesus are of such efficacy as to bring down blessing and salvation on every sincere dependent upon him for righteousness, is a mystery offensive to the haughty spirit of man in its natural state. Still, if left to ourselves, though the Bible is in our hands, though we profess a sacred regard for its dictates, we shall go about to establish our own righteousness; we shall stand upon our own personal worth before God, as the foundation of our eternal hopes. Under the accusations of conscience, we shall have recourse to our own frailty and the strength of temptation, as our advocates; to our repentance and amendment, as our propitiation. For so inveterately, through the corruption of our natures, are we prepossessed in favor of our own virtues, and even of our feeblest attempts to be virtuous, that we can be as confident, as if we were as holy as the law of God requires us to be.

It is the work of the Holy Ghost to reprove the world for this self-exalting lie: for this hateful overrating our poor tainted performances, our much

blemished obedience. The eternal Spirit only can | the mind. This important doctrine is repeated overthrow such vain confidence, and can establish again and again in Scripture, and must therefore a persuasion in the mind directly opposite to it; namely, that "Jesus was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification;" that in consequence of this, we are always accepted, even after our highest possible advancement in holiness on earth, not for our own sake, but for the sake of Christ; and that his access to the Father, in the character of Mediator, is all our hope; that though unfeigned repentance, sincere love to God, and universal obedience to his commandments, are and must be our vouchers that we belong to Christ; yet, neither singly nor altogether do they make reconciliation for the least of our sins; that Jesus alone accomplished a work, impossible to any creature, too mighty even for angels to attempt, when he bled on the cross, and cried out, "It is finished."

In one instance more, the text under consideration declares the work and influence of the Holy Ghost: "He shall reprove the world of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged;" that is, he shall convince men of the complete victory which Jesus has obtained over sin, the world, and Satan, in order to make all who believe in him happy par-nisters, by whom ye believed as the Lord gave to takers of the same.

fruits of this life; but the Author of it is invisible, and the method by which it has been produced and maintained is incomprehensible.

Jesus Christ, "by whom you have received the atonement," in the place of that guilty uneasiness or stupid insensibility which you showed before, at the mention of such awful subjects; the marvellous Secondly, Though the Spirit's influence is secret, change claims a divine parent, and is expressly de- silent, and not to be observed but by its fruits, it is clared to be the "fruit of the Spirit." If possessing not on that account less powerful in the effects proin your heart the heavenly treasure of love, peace, duced. The new creature in Christ Jesus is born and joy, you are patient under repeated injuries, to conflict, toil, and labor. Born for fight and ingentle under exasperating provocations, kind ac- tended for victory; but not at present formed to encording to your ability, meek so as to evidence the joy so much as to act. A power, therefore, proporhumble opinion you entertain of yourself, the good tioned to the difficulties with which a Christian has will you feel towards all men; this union of amia- to struggle, and to the enemies with whom he has ble tempers cometh from above. It is the image and to contend, must be continually supplied. And this superscription of one sanctified by the Spirit and ex- is granted; "Whosoever is born of God overcometh pressly said to be "his fruit." There is not a duty the world;" the love of its pleasures cannot corrupt we are called to perform, not an evil temper we are him, nor the fear of its frowns dismay him; he required to vanquish, but we are directed in Scrip- marches on in the strength of God, and will not be ture to seek for the aid of the Spirit of God, that turned out of the path of his duty. But the influour endeavors may be crowned with success.-ence by which such a victory is maintained, must We are taught that he "helps our infirmities in be full of energy; and those who stand in this conprayer;" that on this account he is called the "Spi-dition, must be kept by the power of God through rit of grace and supplication." We are command-faith unto salvation."

ed to "pray in the Holy Ghost:" which plainly im- Thirdly, The influence of the Holy Ghost is alplies, that as in prayer we must seek his sanctify-ways exactly correspondent to the written word, ing grace in order to do all other duties, so must we acknowledge and depend upon his assistance for the right discharge of the duty of prayer itself. This is plainly marked in the Scripture account of the acceptance of our holy duties. It teaches us, that all true Christians "have access to the Father through the Mediator by one Spirit." Eph. iii. 18. So in discharging the duties of praise, when Christians are exhorted to be much employed in the praises of God, they are exhorted to be "filled with the Holy Ghost." And this operative influence of the Holy Ghost is not spoken of merely as a privilege which God promises, but a duty which he requires. From whence it is evident, that without him all our services will want the very soul which should animate them, and be as a maimed sacrifice. In a word, it is to denote the never-ceasing influence and operation of the Holy Ghost on the hearts of all the faithful in Christ Jesus, that their life is expressed in these terms, a being, a walking, and living in the Spirit.

SUNDAY XVII.-CHAP. XVII. THE PROPERTIES OF THE SPIRIT'S INFLUENCE. We have already discoursed upon the personality and nature of the Holy Spirit; we have also endeavored to learn from Scripture what purposes his influence is designed to effect. It remains now that we should explain, in order to prevent enthusiasm, the properties of his operation, and that we should also expose the impious, though too prevalent error, of denying the reality of his agency upon the hearts of them that believe.

First, then, This influence of the Holy Ghost is secret, discernible only by its fruits. The Spirit is not to be understood as using violence or constraint on man, but as acting in a way similar to what we observe in the established course of nature. Accordingly, the prophets, the apostles, and the Son of God, refer us to the growth of the vegetable world for the illustration of the Spirit's influence. As the juices of the earth are first received into the root, from whence they gradually ascend the trunk, and thence are diffused to the branches, producing blossoms and fruits to the admiration of every spectator, though the most penetrating eye cannot discern how so it is with the agency of the Spirit.— The life of holiness in the soul of one born of the Spirit appears in his actions, discourse, desires, affections, and most secret thoughts. Every one that diligently observes him can perceive the excellent

|

and preserved and increased in the use of the means of grace. He makes no new revelations; but gives success and efficacy to what is already revealed.He accomplishes no other change in the habits, sentiments, and feelings of the soul, than what the sacred oracles point out, and such as to unprejudiced reason must appear excellent and desirable. He works by means apt and suitable in themselves for the maintenance and increase of holiness, though his influence is entirely distinct in itself from those means. As the life of the body, though upheld by a divine power from moment to moment, is not maintained miraculously, but in the use of food, rest, and sleep: so the soul of the regenerate, that walks in the Spirit, and lives in the Spirit, "desires the sincere milk of the word, that he may grow thereby;" he prays and watches; and by the use of his enlightened sanctified reason, he avoids what would endanger his soul, and chooses that by which it can be profited.

Fourthly, The influence of the Holy Ghost "is various in the degrees of its communication and operation." All who are the blessed partakers of the Holy Ghost, not only differ from others who share the same privilege, but from themselves at different seasons, in the degree of benefit they receive. Some have much more light and joy, strength and vigor, than others; and there is often a quick succession of peace and trouble, of tranquillity and conflict. But this variety respecting those who are under the government of the same Spirit, is generally owing to the different degrees of watchfulness, diligence, and fidelity in the use of the talents already committed to their care. The Spirit, we are taught, is often grieved, and in a degree quenched by carelessness, neglect, and much more by a fall into some known sin. In such cases the paternal justice of God requires that proper rebukes should be given; that his children, feeling their own deadness and cheerless thoughts, may be more vigilant for the time to come, and avoid all undutiful deportment. For the same reason, in order to encourage and reward the zealous obedience of those who more carefully and faithfully adhere to God, studying to serve him with their whole hearts: the Father and Son will abundantly manifest their favor to them by the Holy Spirit, and come and make their abode with them.

We have now explained with sufficient copiousness the nature of the Holy Spirit's influence; it remains only that we should conclude this subject with a remark upon the impiety of the opinions but 100 fashionable in the present day, which vilify his