To every one of you then I say, "Hold fast that thou hast, that no man take thy crown;"* or rather, look to the Lord Jesus Christ for more enlarged "supplies of his Spirit ;"+ for "He has received this gift for men, even for the most rebellious:" and as "God has not given the Spirit by measure unto him,"§ so is there no measure fixed for the dispensation of it to us. It is our privilege, not only to "have the Spirit," but to "be filled with the Spirit." Many of you, I would hope, “have already received the first-fruits of the Spirit:" but be not satisfied with these. "Christ came, not only that you might have life, but that you might have it more abundantly."** He has promised to "pour floods upon those who are thirsty."++ Yes, he would have you to "live in the Spirit," and "walk in the Spirit," and "purify your souls by the Spirit,"§§ and "abound in hope through the Spirit:"|||| and be filled with "joy in the Holy Ghost."¶¶ See to it then, that you avail yourselves of these immense advantages; and beg of God to "pour * Rev. iii. 11. § John iii. 34. ** John x. 10. §§ 1 Pet. i. 22. + Phil. i. 19. Rom. xv. 13. Psa. lxviii. 18. ¶ Rom. viii. 23. ‡‡ Gal. v. 25. TTActs xiii. 52. out his Spirit more and more abundantly upon you through Jesus Christ," that, being "led in all things by the Spirit, ye may be, and give decisive evidence that ye are, the children of God." And may "the Holy Spirit be so richly poured out upon us from on high, that this our wilderness may become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be so luxuriant as to be counted for a forest."‡ Tit. iii. 6. Rom. viii. 14. Isa. xxxii. 15. THE END. |