and transformed into the Divine image. In this sense we affirm that we may have the Spirit of Christ —
[In the first ages of Christianity, not afetv individuals only, but whole Churches received the influences of which we speak. St. Paul prayed that the whole Church at Ephesus might have " the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ;" and that they might be " renewed by the Spirit in their inward mand:" and, speaking of the Christian Church at large, he especially ascribes their attainments to the operations of the Holy Ghost ; " Not by works of righteousness which we have done," says he, " but according to his mercy God hath saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost e." Now if the whole Christian Church received the Spirit of Christ formerly, why should not we at this day ? Is our strength so much greater than theirs, or the work of sanctification so much easier, that we do not need the same Divine assistance ? or, when the Apostle said, " The promise of the Spirit is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call*," did he mean to limit the gift of the Spirit to the apostolic age ? But why do the Scriptures speak so much respecting our having the Spirit ? They teach us to pray for itg ; they promise it to us h ; they require us to make use of it and depend upon it in all holy exercises, " to live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit1." Would all this be spoken if we were not to expect the Holy Spirit ? Why, in the Liturgy of our Church, do we so often pray for " the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that we may think those things that be good, and for his merciful guidance that we may perform the samek?" Did those holy men who compiled our Liturgy think that we had no just reason to expect the influences of God's Spirit? Is it enthusiasm for us to expect what all the first Christians had, what the Scrip- tures require us to have, and what we ourselves continually pray for ? If we use these prayers with sincerity, the world will call us enthusiasts; but we had better be accounted en- thusiasts by man, than hypocrites by God.
"We should need to apologize for arguing so plain a point, if the daring infidelity of the age did not render it, alas ! too necessary.]
We must carry our assertion still further, and say,
II. That we must have the Spirit —
d Eph. i. 17. and iii. 16 e Tit. iii. 5, 6.
f Actsii. 38, 39. s Luke xi. 13. h John vii. 37—39.
1 Gal. v. 25. Jude, ver. 20.
k See the Collect for the fifth Sunday after Easter ; and for Whit- sunday ; and the first in the Communion Service.