DISCOURSE XXII.

Subjeet. THE EFFUSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

THE WEAKNESS AND INSUFFICIENCY OF THE NATURAL MAN. THE OPERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, EXTRAORDINARY AND ORDIMORAL INFERENCES.

NARY.

ACTS ii. 4.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost: and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave

them utterance.

T requires no deep knowledge of the

human mind to be convinced that fallen man, if left entirely to his own powers and resources, would be utterly insufficient to effect any thing purely good, or really great.

This truth does not require the authority of Revelation to ratify it; for it is undeniably established by universal experience.

We all feel that our passions are naturally so strong, and our judgment so weak; our estimates so erroneous, and our principles so unsteady; our motives, at best, so mixed, and too frequently so leavened by the suggestions of self-interest; as must compel every thinking and candid man to acknowledge that no human action can ever approach to the character of an excellent one, unless its sources have been purified by the secret operation of the Holy Spirit; and its performance regulated by the divine commands.

Should the pride of the human heart, however, refuse to admit this humbling fact, the Word of God is strong and decicive in confirming it; and declarations. occur in every part of the Bible, (as well as examples to illustrate them,) of the moral weakness, darkness, and insufficiency of the natural unassisted man.

Scripture, alluding to our fallen state, tells us that we are "wretched, and misera"ble, and poor, and blind, and naked;' it tells us that "the God of this world hath "blinded our minds;" that "we walk on "in darkness;" that "we have inherited lies,, vanity, and things wherein there is "no profit ;" that our " way is folly;" that judgment is far from us, neither

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"doth justice overtake us;" that "we "wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness;" that we grope for the wall like the blind "and we grope as if we had no eyes;' that " we stumble at the noon-day, as in "the night;" that "we are all as an un"clean thing ;" and that "it is not in man "that walketh to direct his steps."

Together with these humiliating views, however, of man's defects and deficiencies, so well calculated to extinguish all " pride "of heart," and to make us "lowly" in our own eyes; the Word of God is full, also, of declarations consolatory, encouraging, and animating; and of promises and assurances of the divine assistance, to enable us to become both good and great-to enable us to rise superior to the weakness and degradation of our nature; to invest ourselves with true dignity of character ; to" put on the garment of righteousness, and be resplendent in "the beauty of holi"ness ;" and even while we are sojourners in a world of sin and imperfection, to keep ourselves "unspotted" from its pollutions; unharmed by its temptations; and unconquered by its trials, afflictions, and persecutions. "I will pray the Father," saith our blessed Lord," and he shall give you

"another comforter, that he may abide in you for ever: even the Spirit of Truth." "Ye are washed; ye are justified; ye are "sanctified;" saith St. Paul, "in the "name of the Lord Jesus, and by the "Spirit of God." "Ye have purified

your souls, in obeying the truth through "the Spirit." "Likewise the Spirit also

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helpeth our infirmities;" writes the same Apostle to the Ephesians; and adds, in another Epistle, "where the Spirit of the "Lord is, there is liberty." And finally, Jesus Christ, before he quitted the scene of his painful ministry, left this consoling pledge to all his faithful disciples: "These things have I spoken unto you, that in

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me ye might have peace. In the world "ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Of the performance of which promise the Apostle John reminds the converts, when he tells them, "greater is he that is in you, "than he that is in the world."

There is no doctrine, indeed, more clearly, fully, or repeatedly revealed in Scripture, than that of the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the humble and sincere Christian; renewing his soul; sanctifying and purifying his heart; assisting him in the performance of his duty; supporting

him in his time of need; comforting him amid his sorrows and misfortunes; and strengthening him against the approach, and under the inevitable stroke, of "the last enemy. 99 But it is melancholy to add, that there is no doctrine more mistaken or perverted than this most comfortable revelation.

To some among the multitude of those who "name the name of Christ," and who hold high opinions of the dignity of human nature, this doctrine appears to be neither more nor less than extravagant enthusiasm. They are not, indeed, like those early professors of the Christian faith who had "never heard whether there be any Holy "Ghost," but having heard, they disbelieve; and, in the very face of scripture and universal experience are bold to affirm, that the secret infusions of the Spirit into the soul, and its silent suggestions to the will, are unnecessary encroachments on the prerogatives of reason; which in itself are all-sufficient to indicate and direct what is right to be done, and to afford the ability for its performance. They consider these spiritual operations as despoiling human actions of all their merit; and as making the noble creature man rather a passive machine than a voluntary agent.