1. In purging out the lusts of it. The Spirit is said to cleanse us, and to purify us to the obedience of the truth : 1 Peter i. 22, ' Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.' The Spirit showeth what purity of heart is pleasing to God, and work- eth it in us, casting out pride, and hard-heartedness, and malice, and hypocrisy, and sensuality, and all those lusts which defile our hearts, and dispose us to walk contrary to God. It is the contrary principle that sets us a- warring and striving against the flesh.
2. Preventing and suppressing the acts of sin : Kom. viii. 13, 'If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' That they may not break out to God's dishonour and our discomfort. We cannot do it without the Spirit, nor the Spirit without us: Gal. v. 16, ' This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.' There is no possibility of getting the power of inbred cor- ruption subdued, or the lusts of sinful flesh curbed to any saving ptu--
VkPv. 38.] SERMONS UPON ACTS If. 37, 33. 293
pose, without the Spirit of God ; otherwise lusts will gather strengtli, and range abroad without any effectual resistance. He warneth us of our danger, and checketh sin. If we would hearken to him, and observe his cliecks and restraints, sin would not transport us so often beyond the bounds of duty ; a man cannot sin so freely as before.
[1.] He doth quicken us to holiness, increasing the internal habits: Eph. iii. 16, ' That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man.' That we may be fitted for the service of God, for which before we were indisposed to, and prepared to eveiy good work. There is an inward man, holy and gracious qualities infused into the soul, which are so called. These are created by the Spirit of God, and supplied and cherished by him thatreneweth strength upon us from day to day, that we may go from strength to strength, and be more able for God's service. Though a renewed heart be yet continued, yet, as the two olive- trees, Zech. iv. 13, dropping into the lamps, and emptying through the golden pipes the golden oil out of themselves ; so doth the Spirit of Christ su{)ply an increase of grace to our graces.
[2.] Exciteth to action, and helpeth us and aidetli us therein, and inditeth good thoughts, and stirreth up holy motions and desires, besides new qualities, that we may be lively and fresh in God's service : Ezek. xxxvi. 27, ' I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them : ' Phil. ii. 13, ' For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do.' Especially in prayer : Eom. viii. 26, ' The Spirit also helpeth our infir- mities ; ' goeth to the other end of the staff. Clothes do not warm the body till the body warm them, and the body cannot warm them till the soul, which is the principle of life, warm it ; so there can be no fervency in prayer without the Spirit, no warmth in the heart. Oh, what a mercy is it that we have an help at hand ! the Spirit of God dwelling in our hearts, to relieve us in all our necessities, and quicken us in the ways of God, which else would soon grow wearisome and uncomfortable to us.
Secondly, The Spirit serveth for consolation, to uphold our hearts in the midst of all trials and difficulties, that we may go on cheerfully in a course of holiness, waiting for the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls. The Holy Ghost, where he cometh, he cometh as a com- forter, refreshing and relieving the soul, especially when we most need comfort, after great conflicts, and contrition, and brokenness of spirit. Cordials are for those that faint : ' To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones,' Isa. Ivii. 15. To those that were pricked m their hearts Peter saith, ' Ye shall receiv^e the gift of the Holy Ghost.' It is welcome news to poor wounded souls that they shall have the Comforter. So in deep afflictions : 1 Peter iv. 14, ' If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, haj)py are ye ; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.' The Spirit of God dwelleth in the hearts of all his own, whether they be sufierers or not ; but especially in the hearts of those that suffer, in regard of his com- forting and supporting operations. Philip, the Landgrave of Hesse, in his imprisonment said,(S'e divinas rnartyrum consola Hones sensisse — that he felt the divine comforts of the martyrs. Their sense of his presence
294 SERMONS UPON ACTS II. 37, 38, [SeR. VII.
is greater and sweeter, and their allowance of comfort larger than what others have, or themselves formerly had. How doth the S{)uit com- fort ? Partly with respect to the time present, and partly with respect to the time to come ; to witness our present standing in a state of grace, and to assure us of life and glory to come.