[2.] The delight and relish of the soul is corrupted : Phil. iii. 19, ' Whose god is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things ; ' Luke xii. 19, ' And I will say to my soul. Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' No relish for higher things.
[3.] Their strength is weakened, that they cannot resist any temp- tation. They are slaves to their brutish affections : 2 Peter ii. 19, * For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought ia bondage '
Use 1. See the folly of the exchange of the joys of the Holy Ghost for the sordid pleasures of excess. Will you cheat yourselves in this brutish excess, and grieve the Spirit of God ? How miserable is it to part with the birthright for brutish pleasures ! Heb. xii. 16, ' Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.' Shall a slight pleasure prevail more than the joys of heaven ? You hazard name, health, soul and all, for a contemptible delight, which is not valuable to a leasonable man.
2. Because it is an imperious lust, you must offer violence to it, and
398 SEllMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. [SeR. XXIL
bridle your appetite, as David poured out the waters of Bethlehem before the Lord.
3. Never hope to join these irreconcilable things, fulness of wine and fulness of the Spirit; as many put on a pretence of the Si)irit the belter to cover and hide their licentiousness ; though they live not in open scandalous sensuality, yet they serve the flesh in a more cleanly manner : these are never brought under the power of the gospel, nor made par- takers of the Spirit thereof.
SERMON XXIII.
But he filled with the Spirit. — Eph. v. 18.
DocT. That all sincere christians should be careful to be filled, not with wine, but with the Spirit.
Here let me open — (1.) What this Spirit is that we must be filled with ; (2.) Show the reasons why we are bound to be filled with the Spirit ; (3.) The means how we come to be filled with the Spirit.
I. What this Spirit is, or what is meant by it ? I answer — Either the person of the Holy Ghost, or some created gift, called ' the divine nature,' or ' the new creature ; ' the word signifieth both. Sometimes it is taken for the person of the Holy Ghost himself, with whom we are in covenant, as well as with the Father and the Son : Mat. xxviii. 19, ' Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' As we take God for our God, that is, for our proper Lord and chief good, and Christ for our Eedeemer and Saviour, so the Holy Ghost for our guide, sanctifier, and comforter. Sometimes it is taken for the gifts and graces of the Spirit, that divine nature which is begotten in us : John iii. 6, * That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' The first word ' Spirit' noteth the author of grace, the second the effect, the renewed heart. We have both the fruit and the tree, the fountain and the stream ; the one cannot be without the other, not the graces without the Spirit, for they are his production ; and the Spirit himself cannot be said to dwell in any but where he produceth these graces ; for his presence anywhere is to be determined by some eminent efiect, and this residence and dwelling by a constant effect, ^e?' modum Tiahitus permanentis, non per modum actionis transeuntis. Therefore he cannot be said to dwell in any heart but where he produceth these graces. The Spirit doth first renew and sanctify the souls of the elect, and then abide there to keep afoot God's interest in them, and main- tain it against all opposition within and without, more and more over- coming their sweetest and dearest sins, and quickening them to all their duties, assisting them in the exercise of grace, and increasing it by all fit and holy means. Well, then —
1. We have the Holy Ghost himself, called the Spirit of God r 1 Cor. vi. 11, 'In the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit o£ our God ; ' and the Spirit of Christ : Gal. iv. 6, ' God hath sent the
VeR. 18.] SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 399^
Spirit of his Son into our hearts ; ' Eora. viii. 9, ' Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.' We cannot live inde- pendently without influence from God, for all life is originally in him, and from him conveyed to us, and that by his Spirit. All that God doth in creation is done by the Spirit : Job xxvi. 13, ' By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens : ' Ps. civ. 30, ' Thou sendest forth thy Spirit ; they are created.' So in a way of grace, which is called a * new creation,' we have all from his Spirit : 2 Cor. v. 17, 18, ' If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ ; ' Titus iii. 5, 6, ' But according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which he hath shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.' Now this creature, once produced, cannot subsist without the continual presence of the- Spirit, there being so much opposition within and without.