[What are the ordinances of religion, or what the souls of men, without the Holy Spirit ? The one are an empty form ; and the other, " a cage of every unclean bird." Regard us as men, and every thing we do is defiled before God. But con- sider us as priests, for into that office every true Christian in the universe is brought e, and how can we approach the Most High God, and offer any acceptable sacrifice unto him, unless we be first consecrated with that divine unction, which God has promised to all who seek him in spirit and in truth f? It is the duty of the greatest of men, and the privilege of the meanest, to get himself anointed with this holy oil. Even our Lord Jesus Christ himself, as man and as Mediator, needed it. We are informed, that " God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power g :" much more, therefore, must we, corrupt and sinful creatures, need, under all circumstances, his gracious communications : indeed we are expressly told, that, " if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of hisV]
II. His sufficiency for all to whom that influence is applied —
This appears,
1. From the preciousness of the ointment which was used —
[The spices were peculiarly rare and odoriferous ; and the oil with which they were blended was most pure. And was this appointed for nought? Doubtless this was intended to shadow forth the excellency of the Spirit's gifts: for on whomsoever he was poured, whether on the Saviour himself or on any of the sons of men, he was " a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and of might, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and he made the person of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord1." There is not a faculty in man to which the Spirit's influence does not extend, or which it will not sanctify : it imparts light to the understanding, flexibility to the will, purity to the affections, tenderness to the conscience, and holiness to the entire man : it makes us altogether " a new creation," and sanctifies every offering which we present to God ; so that " God smells a sweet savour from itk," and is well pleased with services which could not otherwise be accepted of him. J
2. From the virtue infused into every thing anointed with it —
e 1 Pet. ii. 9. Rev. i. 6. f Luke xi. 13. e Acts iv. 27. and x. 38. h Rom. viii. 9. i Isai. xi. 2, 3. k Phil. iv. 18.