SERMON IV.

DELIVERED AT ARCH STREET MEETING-HOUSE, FIRST

DAY EVENING, SECOND MONTH,

1838.

TWENTY-FIFTH,

"If ye

love me, keep my commandments: and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me : because I live, ye shall live also."

And truly, my dear friends, as Christ was the great promise of the law, in whom the types of the law were to be terminated, and the prophecies fulfiled, so the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is the great promise of the gospel of Christ, enjoyed by all who know, love, and serve him, all the world over, and in all ages. For here it is expressly declared, that

he should abide with the church forever; that he was not to come for the benefit of the early disciples alone; he was not merely to pour forth the gifts wherewith the apostles and evangelists were gifted in their day, proportioned to the pre-eminent and most important services to which they were called; but he was to abide with the Lord's people forever. And this declaration agrees with the words of the apostle Peter, when he spake of the fulfilment of the promise of the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was so gloriously poured forth upon the ancient church, both upon men and women; his language was, "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” And very

memorable were the words addressed in ancient evangelical prophecy, to the Messiah himself; "My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever." So that all who are of the seed of the Messiah, who belong to his family among the children of men, enjoy a blessed portion of that holy influence of the Holy Ghost, wherewith Jesus in his human character was anointed without measure; for God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him,

And, beloved friends, that glorious and blessed gift is obtained for the children of men, according to the counsels of Infinite Wisdom, through the meritorious death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life; for, when he led captivity captive, and ascended up on high, he received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also; that the Lord God might dwell amongst them. And were we required to furnish a practical, living, and perceptible evidence of the truth of the doctrine of his propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of men, that evidence is furnished by what we know, what we feel, and what we are assured, respecting the influence of the Holy Ghost, the operation of the Comforter, upon the understandings and upon the hearts of men; even that Comforter whom the crucified, risen and glorified Jesus, sends unto us from the Father, even when he baptizes his people with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

And, beloved friends, may we ever take a comprehensive view of the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of mankind; may we ever adhere to the doctrine of its universality, in a measure, though in many instances that measure may be very small; may we not be afraid of facing the declaration, That Christ who died for the sins of all mankind, is, by his Spirit, the light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. That light which shines in the consciences of men, is it not the light of the

Spirit of our Holy Redeemer? When we consider the utterly degraded state of man in the fall, dark, dead, depraved, without any good thing, as carnally minded, must we not rest assured that this light, so pure and heavenly in its character, however faint, and however weak in its operation, when received by a rational man, is the gift, the supernatural gift of God to mankind, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?

Accepted be the boon of light divine

That our Redeeming God has given to shine
In every human breast, else wholly dark;
Tho' often weak, yet pure the vital spark:
Call it not "Conscience"-Conscience is the eye
That spark illumines-or the soul must die."

And beloved friends, mind the light of the Spirit of Christ, which shines in the dark corners of man's heart, and points out the way to holiness, to happiness, and to heaven; and no longer disregard or trample upon the witness for the Lord Almighty, in your own minds; and mark in the checks, rebukes, and strivings of this inward Teacher, one evidence among many others, of the efficacy of that propitiatory offering which was made for the sins of mankind. Though be it always remembered, that with God, there is no tense, and whatsoever was known of the true heavenly light before, as well as after, the coming of Christ in the flesh, must be ascribed

-to the Lord's plan of redemption through him, who was foreordained before all worlds to be the one sacrifice for sin, and in whom alone we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. But, my beloved friends, the christian believer, the true convert, the follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, is made an abundant partaker of this precious gift of the Holy Ghost. And here we come to the christian doctrine of the inhabitation of the Spirit in the mind of the believer; "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." And here, friends, is the coming of Christ by his Spirit, for the instruction, for the refreshing, and for the cleansing of his own people. "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also." Can any man deny, that these are the plain doctrines of primitive christianity? Can any man deny, that they are written with a finger of light, in the pages of the New Testament? Is it not there plainly revealed that the Comforter was to guide the Lord's people into all truth? And have we not our part in the blessed and glorious promise, even unto the present day? Was it for the primitive church alone, or for