a doctrine admirably calculated to promote the end of all revelation, the cause of piety and morality. This will be evident if we consider that the only two conditions which God has appointed to us as the means of calling down the co-operating influence of his grace, are sincerity of intention and fervency of prayer. "If any man will do the will of my Father," says our Saviour,*" he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." Consequently, since to know of the doctrine whether it be of God, is one of the gifts of the Spirit, it is the same as if he had said, "If any man be willing to do the will of my Father, he shall also be assisted by the Spirit of my Father." Some natural powers of acting and of thinking, perhaps of acting and thinking rightly too, are given to all, and though not sufficient for all the purposes of redemption, yet if we diligently exert the faculties we possess, our exertions will be crowned with more abundance. That faith is the gift of God, is, therefore, a strong inducement to intentions and endeavours after innocence and holiness of conduct, since it is first of all necessary that we strive to arm ourselves with the breast-plate of righteousness, before we can hope to be armed by God with the sword of the Spirit and the helmet of salvation.

* John vii. 17.

But that branch of the whole duty of man, to the practice of which this doctrine, of the necessity of the co-operation of the Spirit to the attainment of faith, most forcibly persuades, is a fervency and frequency of prayer. "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Spirit to them that ask him," saith the Lord. The necessary things of the present life, the provisions and garments of man, the light of the glorious sun, and the powers of understanding and thought, God sheds indif ferently upon the evil and the good. He feeds the lion and the lamb, and sends down his bounty on the just and the unjust. But to those only who ask, will spiritual blessings be communicated. To those only who knock, and who knock in the accepted time, will the Spirit open the everlasting gates of the Gospel. We are called upon, therefore, we are above all things called upon, to be fervent and importunate with God in our supplications for this heavenly gift. Our prayers cannot be too fervent, cannot be too importunate. For there are limits even to God's mercy. He will assuredly forsake us whenever he shall see that we have finally forsaken him; and whenever he may think fit to leave us to our own weakness and wickedness, we shall become the slaves of passion and the enemies of all true reason, and the

DISCOURSE XIV.

PHILIP. chap. ii. ver. 12, 13.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ; for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

THE grain which is scattered upon the face of the earth striketh root downwards and being watered by the genial showers of Spring, doth bring forth, first the blade, and then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear, and man doth eat thereof, and is satisfied. The word of God is the seed of grace, and being sown in an honest and a good heart, and watered by the continual dew of God's blessing, doth bring forth, first, the knowledge of the truth, and then upon that stem the flowers of holiness, and then the fruits of holiness unto everlasting life. From the great storehouse of this spiritual seed-from the Holy Scriptures, which are full of the revelations of the Almighty God, I have this day selected a seed of most

despisers of the Gospel; outcasts from Heaven's mercy, and lost, utterly and deservedly lost, for ever; knowing, as we do, that we had the power of saving ourselves through the aid of the Spirit of God; and knowing also that the prayers we have neglected, were the only effectual and appointed means for calling down his spiritual blessings on our heads.