sometimes from the incapacity of the carnal man to comprehend the things of the Spirit of God. The pure love of God, and disinterested charity towards our fellow-creatures, are chimeras and foolishness to those who have not spiritual discernment. But as to you, my brethren, if the Lord calls you to this ministry, he will give you grace to prefer the advancement of his kingdom, and the salvation of sinners, to everything else. The Spirit which inspires this preference can support it, and He only can do so: it is the Holy Spirit, which dwells in those who believe.

2. It is necessary that the Holy Spirit should dwell in us, to enable us to triumph over those obstacles which a ministry like ours has to

encounter.

In the eyes of carnal men, and in the face of human calculations, these obstacles are such, that our hope of success appears unreasonable and ridiculous; and their power, it is true, can scarcely be exaggerated. What do we propose to do? To regenerate the world. What is implied in regenerating the world? It is, to inspire it with disgust and hatred for everything that it has hitherto adored, and to produce in its heart a deep and ardent love for those things which it has always hated. It is, to rekindle the extinguished torch of faith, and thus liberate the slaves of selfishness from their spiritual yoke, and bring them under subjection to the love of God and of their neighbour. It is, to convert a number of unbelievers-of voluptuous, ambitious, covetous, and revengeful people-into a company of saints, of patient, humble, disinterested friends of God and of man. In order to succeed, we must unmask and spoil the idols of the world; we must testify that its works are evil. Can we hope to do this without exciting its scorn and its anger? And, confidently foreseeing, or painfully feeling, its power and its malice, will you be able to persevere in pursuing the noble task assigned to you? I hope, dear brethren, that you will never relax but, in order to this, it is necessary that the Holy Spirit should dwell in you.

:

It is no very great thing not to be overcome by evil; but you propose to "overcome evil with good." But how can you hope to do this? What can you offer men in exchange for the valued objects which you invite them to sacrifice? Have you anything that can tempt them, anything that flatters their passions, or that gratifies their natural taste? O no! the good things that you present to them are spiritual benefits,-benefits to which neither the eyes, nor the ears, nor the heart of the unregenerate man can give any testimony. If you were invested with an imposing authority; if the choice of a constituted body in the state, and the approbation of the Sovereign, recommended you to the respect and notice of your countrymen; or if you had on your side those prepossessions in favour of the religion of their fathers, which appear to exercise so much influence over men; from these circumstances you might expect some success. If the prejudices of the age were in favour of religion, and men were pre

disposed to give credit to the word which announces to them the truths of Christianity, in that you might find some encouragement; but who does not know that the case is quite the reverse, and that they who speak in favour of piety are generally received with suspicion and displeasure? Do not complain of this, dear brethren: this general disposition of mind is unhappily too much justified by the fraud, the usurpation, the wickedness of all sorts, which have disgraced many of those who profess to be sent by God. And be not discouraged on this account: perhaps a proper distrust of men, when considered merely in itself, promotes, rather than prevents, the real progress of divine truth: for truth has no greater enemy than a stupid credulity; as is proved equally by the annals of superstition, and by those of a false philosophy. At all events, if God sends us to instruct men, he will make our instructions successful. What do we need for this purpose, to overcome this indifference, to triumph over this suspicion, and to lead men, not to faith in ourselves, not to a faith founded on human authority, on that confidence in man which is accursed, (Jer. xvii. 5,) but to faith in God, the only faith that saves? We must have the Holy Ghost dwelling in us.

3. All other power is evidently insufficient for the work which God has intrusted to us. It is a spiritual work; and intellectual means, such as great talents, profound and varied learning, are not sufficient. Certainly, dear brethren, you do not despise these gifts of God; you have laboured, and will still labour, diligently, to acquire and preserve them they are, in themselves, very excellent things. But woe to the Minister of religion who possesses nothing better than these! They cannot produce either repentance, or faith, or the holiness which the Gospel prescribes; and that religion in which these are not to be found, whatever orthodoxy of opinions it includes, whatever regularity in religious practices, whatever propriety of manners, is of no value in your eyes, as it is of none before God. That is your conviction, we know. Keep, then, the good deposit, by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in you.

4. The care of souls, the spiritual management of a flock, and the faithful exercise of Christian discipline, equally require the constant inspiration and aid of the Holy Spirit. To be a faithful Pastor, a good steward of the grace and of the mysteries of God, to warn every man and teach every man in all wisdom, so as to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,-what grace is necessary! what wisdom, what courage, what integrity, what charity! "Who is sufficient for these things?" He only in whom the Spirit dwells,-the Spirit of power, of love, and of wisdom.

III. Let it be, therefore, your principal business, the object of all your desires and of all your cares, to secure the constant presence of the Holy Spirit. For this purpose I will give you only two directions.

1. Guard against everything that might grieve the Holy Spirit. And, to this end,

Take care, first, of your personal piety. The idea of an official sanctity, possessed by a person destitute of personal sanctity, and securing to him the succour and the guidance of the Spirit of God, is of all fancies the most ridiculous, and the most repugnant to Christian truth. The Holy Spirit can dwell only in an upright and devoted heart, and in a good conscience; which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck. "Abstain," therefore, "from all appearance of evil." Let no filthiness, or foolish talking, or jesting proceed out of your mouth; let all bitterness and all covetousness be banished from your discourse and from your heart. Take heed to yourselves, lest there spring up in you any root of bitterness, whereby you may be defiled.

Never employ the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, or the influence over your fellow-creatures resulting from them, for your own private advantage, for your personal aggrandizement, or that of your family. After our Lord's baptism, and the Holy Spirit's descent upon him, and before he commenced his ministry, he had a memorable struggle with the prince of this world. The first temptation presented to him was, to use, for his own personal advantage, and for the relief of his sufferings by hunger, that power which had been given to him as Mediator, for the fulfilment of his divine mission. In refusing to command the stones to become bread, our divine Pattern has shown ús that he chose rather to endure the most severe sufferings, than to obtain relief by employing his miraculous power for his temporal advantage. Let not this example be lost on you. If, by means of the ministry which you exercise, God gives you any influence over the souls of men, use that influence only for the proper objects of your ministry. Let not the gifts of the Spirit be prostituted to the service of the flesh. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.

Submit to the influence of the Holy Spirit; cheerfully yield to his power. His voice is frequently so soft, and his motions so gentle, that the distracted mind and the inattentive ear do not notice them. Our spiritual faculties are strengthened by exercise; disobedience weakens them. Happy he who listens to instruction, and does not reject it his ears shall hear the voice of him who is behind him, saying, "This is the way; walk ye in it." Disobedience and inattention grieve the Holy Spirit; and this Spirit soon abandons the soul that habitually neglects his admonitions, and remains unprofited by his instructions. When the Spirit urges you to fulfil any known duty, immediately obey. Never seek to excuse the neglect of any duty, by the little importance of such duty. Obey immediately, if possible: to delay obedience is often an actual refusal to obey, and such refusal is rebellion. If you walk in the way of prompt and universal obedience, your path will be like "the shining light, that shineth more and more

unto the perfect day." "If a man love me," says the Lord, "he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

2. Always endeavour to honour the Holy Spirit.

That is a principle of the divine government, declared by God himself to Eli, and from which He will never depart. "Them that honour me, I will honour; and they that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed." The infallible word teaches us, that all men must "honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." And that this same honour should be given to the Holy Spirit, is proved by the terrible denunciations of the word against those who dishonour him by their blasphemies; and by the awful death of Ananias and Sapphira, who had allowed Satan so far to get possession of their heart, that he induced them to lie to the Holy Ghost. Honour the Holy Spirit, therefore, by acknowledging his divinity; by addressing your prayers to Him, as well as to the Father and the Son; by worshipping Him with the Father and the Son, one God in three Persons, blessed for

ever.

Honour the Holy Spirit, by maintaining in your hearts a constant and habitual sense of your absolute dependence on his aid. This state of mind cannot be preserved without continual vigilance. Christian principles are exotics in the heart of man; and even when they have been sincerely embraced, we are always in danger of forgetting and forsaking them. Thus, however fully we are convinced of that great truth, that "without Christ we can do nothing," and of that other truth, which is its necessary counterpart in the Gospel, that we can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth us; we, in practice, often lose sight of both and hence it follows, that, in our experience, we frequently raise ourselves by a rash confidence, or else fall into an indolent and disgraceful kind of discouragement. A constant sense of your dependence on Christ, with an habitual trust in his promises, will preserve you from these great evils, and will secure to you the presence and aid of the Spirit of holiness.

Honour the Holy Spirit, by the constant and persevering use of those means by which you may render your union with that Spirit more intimate, and may increase his influence over you. Of these means the principal are, the reading of the word of God, and prayer. This, unquestionably, is one of the most important benefits connected with the possession of the oracles of God, that they constitute the instrument by which the Holy Spirit ordinarily operates on the souls of men. The word of God is not a dead letter: it is, says St. Paul, "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life: such is the declaration of the Saviour himself. This explains the fact, that the same operations of the grace of God, which are attributed to the Holy Spirit as the Agent, are attributed to the word as the instrument. Such are regeneration, (compare John iii. 6, 8, with 1 Peter i. 23)

"

sanctification, (see John xvii. 17; and 2 Thess. ii. 13,) and several others. This advantage is not, I think, sufficiently noticed. The word of God is neglected by many, because they think they know its contents well enough; and, among those who read it, to say nothing of those who read it only for the sake of discharging a religious duty, -how many are there who read it merely with a view to the instructions which it contains! Seek instruction therein, by all means, dear brethren; but seek, also, something more; and, falling on your knees in the presence of the Lord, open your Bible before you, saying, as the great Saxon Reformer frequently did, "Speak, Lord; thy servant heareth."

in

Honour the Holy Spirit by an unshaken confidence in his help, and by hoping for great success through the fulfilment of his precious promises. "Ye are of God, little children," said St. John to the believers of his day, "and have overcome them; because greater is He that is you, than he that is in the world." It is the want of a proper confidence in God, that leads nominal Christians, and sometimes, alas! some of those of whom better things might be expected, to employ stratagems,-what have been called, by a strange perversion, pious frauds,—and various artifices, incompatible with the simplicity of the Gospel, and with faith in Christ. You will honour the Holy Spirit by expecting great things from him, and by attempting great things for him. It is dishonouring him, to fear anything while fighting under his banner. It is dishonouring him, to believe that the enemy of God and man has inflicted any wounds which the Holy Spirit cannot heal; or to teach, that, in order to accomplish the cure, he must absolutely take his children out of this world. Honour the Holy Spirit by believing, and by expecting to gain a perfect victory through the powerful operation of his grace. "Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." And as to your ministry, let it be the firm expectation and hope of each of you, not to be ashamed in anything; but that, while you speak with boldness, Christ will always be glorified in you, whether by life or by death. Amen. Finally,

Honour the Holy Spirit by faithfully giving him the glory of all the good that he may do by your means. Avoid Hezekiah's sin, if you wish to avoid his punishment. He cried unto the Lord in his deep distress, when he was threatened with death; and the Lord heard him, and gave him a sign. "But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem." There are few of God's children, few among the Ministers of the Gospel, who have not occasionally walked in Hezekiah's steps, and shared in his punishment. How often, amid the numerous difficulties of his ministry, has the servant of God in great distress implored the help of the Holy Spirit! His cry has been, "Save, Lord, for thy name's sake; let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto thy child