7. One of the means is prayer. Christ hath taught us to pray for the Spirit, Luke xi. 1-13. None so fatherly as God ; no gift so neces- sary as the Spirit. When you pray for the Spirit, you pray as children that ask bread. A wanton child, that would tread his bread under his feet, may be denied ; but a hungry child will not be mocked. We may crave health, and wealth, and outward prosperity, and receive that answer. Ye know not what ye ask ; but when you beg the sancti- fying Spirit, you beg what is good and necessary for you ; you ask a thing pleasing to the Lord, as Solomon when he prayed for wisdom, 1 Kings iii. 9, 10. One thing more I will add : You say. If I could go to God as a father, I might hope to prevail. I answer — Consider the covenant you are visibly under, and use importunity : Luke xi. 8, ' If he will not rise and give him because he is his friend ; yet, Slu ttjv uvacSetav, because of his importunity he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth ; ' if not interest, yet importunity may prevail.
8. Sometimes God maketh the offer to you when he knocketh at the door of the heart or stirreth the waters. You doubt whether God will give it when you ask it, but will you take it when God offereth it ? Prov. i. 23, ' Turn you at my reproof ; behold I will pour out my Spirit upon you.' Man is departed from God, but he will not lose us so, and therefore he doth reprove us for our folly ; outwardly by the rebukes of his providence, inwardly by the conviction of his Spirit. Now if we refuse or neglect these, ^ye provoke God to forsake us, and give us up to hardness of heart. Surely these smitings should bo improved to further our return to God.
9. When you consent to God's covenant, and enter into his peace you have a certain promise. We consent by faith and repentance. As for faith: John vii. 39, ' This he spoke of the Spirit, which they that believe in him shall receive.' And for repentance: Acts ii. 38, ' Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.' A resolved submission to the way of the gospel quali-
408 SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. [SeR. XXIII.
fieth yon. But you will say, How can we believe and repent first, and receive the Spirit afterwards? Ans. — By the converting grace of the Spirit, given as a free lord, we repent and believe ; then the Spirit is given to us in a more eminent manner by God as a governor. There is a difference between the spirit of regeneration and the spirit of adoption and perseverance. The spirit of regeneration is tied to no condition, but is dispensed according to the good pleasure of God ; it is his resolved gift to the elect : Ezek. xxxvi, 26, 27, ' A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit I will put within you ; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh : and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.' 10. After you are sincerely turned to the Lord, you must obey the Spirit in further subduing the lusts of the flesh, and not take part with the flesh against him : Gal. v. IG, ' Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh ; ' but more and more cherish his motions : 1 Peter i. 22, ' Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.' Especially forbear heinous sins, which grieve the Holy Spirit, and if indulged, quench it ; and so you cut off all means to increase in holiness.
SEKMON XXIV.
Spedldng to yourselves in -psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. — Eph. v. 19.
This is rendered as a reason why they should be filled with the Spirit, as drunkards are with wine, because it breedeth a spiritual joy, which discovereth itself by two effects — singing psalms and giving thanks. In tlie one we praise God, in the other we bless God : Heb. xiii. 15, ' Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually ; that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.' Praise relateth to his excellency, giving thanks to his benefits.
I begin with ' singing psalms.' As the drunkards had their drunken, wanton, obscene, and filthy songs, by which they tainted each others' minds, so they that were filled with the Spirit had their spiritual songs, by which they edified one another and glorified God : ' Speaking to one another,' &c. In the words there is —
1. A duty prescribed, and that is, ' singing of psalms.'
2. It is amplified, and set forth in its parts or necessary branches, outward and inward.