XII. We are true members of the kingdom of God; when the kingdom of God is within us; when the spirit of religion is the spirit of our lives; when seated in our hearts, it diffuses itself into all our motions; when it is the principle of all our thoughts and desires, the spring of all our hopes and fears; when we like and dislike, seek and avoid, mourn and rejoice, as becomes those who are born again of God. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, to give us a _new understanding_, a _new judgment_, temper, taste, and relish, new desires, and new hopes and fears. But so far as we nourish any foolish passion, indulge any vanity of mind or corruption of heart; so far we _resist the graces_ of God’s Holy Spirit, and render ourselves _indisposed_ to relish and improve his secret _inspiration_.
XIII. Christians are therefore not only to consider themselves, as men that are to act by a principle of _reason_, but as spiritual beings who have a higher principle of life within them, and are to live by the _wisdom_ and _instructions_ of the Spirit of God.
As reasonable men would do every thing that tended to strengthen or improve their reason, so Christians ought to practise every thing that can strengthen or preserve their union with the Spirit of God. For as a man without reason has but the _figure_ of a man; so a Christian without the Spirit of God, has but the _form_ of a Christian. Here therefore we must fix all our care, and concern, that we may remove all hindrances of divine grace; that we may be truly spiritual in all our ways and designs, and indulge no tempers that may lessen our union with the Spirit of God.
XIV. Some persons will perhaps refrain from _grief_, when they find that it hurts their _eyes_; they will avoid _passion_ and _anger_ if it ends in pains of the head; but they would do well to consider that these tempers are to be abstained from, upon much greater accounts. Passion may disorder our bodies, waste our spirits, and leave pains in our _heads_; but it leaves greater marks of injury in our better parts, as it throws us into a state of madness, and _banishes_ the Holy Spirit of peace, and gentleness, and _prepares_ us for the suggestions of the spirit of darkness. _Grief_ may hurt our _eyes_, but it much more hurts our _souls_, as it sinks them into a state of gloom and darkness, which _expels_ and _quenches_ the Spirit of God; for light may as well unite with darkness, as the Spirit of God dwell with the gloomy dulness and horror of stupid grief. What I have observed of these two passions, ought to be concluded of every other _passion_ and _temper_; we are to consider it as it _suits_ with, or _resists_ that new Spirit, by whose motions we are to be preserved in a state of holiness.
XV. Now seeing this _newness_ of spirit is the whole of religion; we must fear and avoid all _irregularity_ of spirit, every _unreasonable temper_, because it hurts us in our principal part, and makes us _less capable_ of the graces, and _less obedient_ to the motions of God’s Holy Spirit. We must labour after a state of peace, and thankfulness, free from the folly of vain hopes, idle fears, and false anxieties, that our souls may be disposed to rejoice in the comforts, and advance in the graces of the Holy Ghost.
XVI. And with what _care_ and _exactness_ we are at all times to conduct ourselves, is fully set forth in the following words: _Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers; and grieve not the Holy Spirit of_ God, _whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.¹_ That we may not here mistake what is meant by _corrupt communication_, the apostle adds; _but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers_. So that it is _a conversation that does not edify_, and profit the hearers, that the apostle condemns as _corrupt_. And let it be observed that the apostle does not prohibit this kind of conversation because it is _useless_, and impertinent; but for a reason of the utmost consequence, that we may not _grieve the Holy Spirit of_ God. This shews us that we Christians are to govern ourselves by no less a rule, than a _conformity_ to the Spirit of God; that we are not only to deny ourselves vain and foolish actions, but also idle and unedifying discourse, and conduct ourselves in all our behaviour, with such a spirit of wisdom and purity as may make the Holy Ghost _delight_ to dwell in us. Such a wisdom as is not occasionally exercised in this or that place, or at set times; but is always in being, and constantly disposing us to thoughts, words and actions suitable to it.
¹ Ephes. iv. 29.