Section II. — First, Labour to be deeply sensible of thy deplorable state while without the Spirit; an unsavoury creature thou art, unable for any duty, incapable of any comfort. The Sjiirit is often in Scriptvn-e compared to water, rain, and dew ; now, as the earth is barren, and can bring forth no fruit without these, so is the heart of man without the Spirit of God. O get thy soid affected with this! When the fields are burnt up for want of rain, man and beast make a moan, yea, the very earth itself, cleft with drought, by opening its thirsty mjuth, expresseth its extreme need of some kind showers from the heavens lo refresh it. And hast thou no sense of thy woful condition ? Which is worse, think you, that the fruits and beasts of the field should pei-ish for want of water, or thy soul for want of the Spirit? Couldst thou but be brought to lament thy want, there were hope of having it supplied ; Isa. xliv. 3 : ' I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground : I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed.' Secondly, When thou art inwardly scorched with the sense of thy graceless condition, earnestly beg this gift of God ; now thou goest in a good time, and mayest hope to speed. Possibly thou hast heretofore prayed for the Spirit, but so indift'erently, that thou hast grieved him while thou hast been praying for him ; but now thou seest thy need, and thyself imdone except thou have him, therefore I hope thou wilt not be a cold suitor, which, if thou art not, thou art sure to have him. Christ assures thee as much, Luke xi. 13, " If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ?' A father may deny his wanton child bread to play with, but not his starving child, that cries for it to preserve his life. God can, and will, deny him that asks the Spirit with a view to pride himself witli his gifts ; but not the hungry- soul, that humbly, yet vehemently cries. Lord, give me thy Spirit : nay, let me tell thee, thy strong cries and earnest prayers for the Spirit would be a sweet evidence to thee that thou hast him already within thee. Thirdly, Plant thyself under the word preached ; this is the Spirit's cliariot in which he rides, called therefore the 'ministration of the Spirit.' '^Phe serpent, that evil spirit, got into Eve's heart by her ear, and the Holy Spirit ordinarily enters at tlie same door: he is received ' by the hearing of faith,' Gal. iii. 2. They that leave off hearing the word, to meet with the Spirit, do as if a man should turn his back on the sun that it may shine on liis lace. The poor do not stay at home for the rich to bring their alms to their house, but go to their door and there wait for relief. It becomes thee, poor creature, to wait at the posts of wisdom, and not expect that the Spirit should run after thee. If the master come to the truant scholar's house, it is to whip him to school. Fourtlilj', Take heed of resisting the Spii'it when lie makes his approaches to thee in the word; sometimes he knocks, and meeting a repulse goes from the sinner's door. He that hath promised to come in if we open, hath not promised to come again, if we unkindly send him away. He doth, indeed, often return after repulses, but sometimes, to shew his liberty, he doth not; nay, leaves a padlock, as I may say, on the door, a judiciary hardness and unbelief, which no ministers key can open. Thus Christ dealt with those who so politely excused themselves to his messengers that invited them, — ' None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper,' Luke xiv. 24. Doth the Spirit move on thy heart in an ordinance ? Beware how thou behavest thyself toward him. Quarrel not with the preacher as if he had a spite against thee, and came for a spy to find out the nakedness of thy soul. Struggle not with thy convictions, smother not the motions of the Holy One, but rather cherish them. It is no little mercy, that as the Spirit went by in his chariot, he would call at thy door, and give thee so merciful a wai-ning, which may end in thy conversion here, and salvation here- after. It heightened the favour which God bestowed on the widow of Sarepta, that there were many other widows in Israel at the same time, but the prophet was sent to her, and not to them ; so it enhanceth this mercy vouchsafed to thee, that there should be many other sinners in the congregation, and yet the Spirit not sent to them, but to thee, with a secret message from heaven, to rouse thy sleepy conscience, and woo tJiy aflections from sin to Clnist. Be friendly to
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