The aid of God's Spirit is necessary in order to our being Christ's : without it,
We cannot know Christ —
[By nature, we are altogether blind to spiritual things. "We are assured on most unquestionable authority, that " the natural man accounts the things of the Spirit to be foolishness, and that he not only does not receive, but cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned1." And, with respect to the knowledge of Christ in particular, our Lord tells us that, as no man knoweth the Father but the Son, so no man knoweth the Son but the Father, and he to whom God shall be pleased to reveal himm. The Spirit of God must " take of the things that are Christ's and shew them unto us ;" he must " open our understandings to understand them ;" and unless he " guide us into all truth," we shall wander in the mazes of ignorance and error to the latest period of our lives, and " perish at last through lack of knowledge."]
We cannot resemble Christ —
[We have altogether lost the image of God; nor can we ever recover it by any power of our own. That image consists in righteousness and true holiness, not the smallest part of which we can obtain without the Spirit. If we would not go on fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, we must walk in the Spirit": if we would mortify the deeds of the body, it must be through the Spirit0: if we would have our trials sanctified, it must be through a supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ p: if we would " wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, it must be through the Spirit q." There is not any single grace which can be pro- duced by any other means; they are all fruits of the Spirit1: and as long as any man continues destitute of the Spirit, he must of necessity continue earthly and sensual s. He, and he alone, can give us either to will or to do any good thing*. Now is holiness necessary in order that we may resemble Christ ; and is every part of holiness, both root and branch, the produce of God's Spirit ; and can any one doubt whether it be necessary for us to have the Spirit ?]
We cannot enjoy Christ —
[We have not naturally any taste for spiritual enjoyments; we affect the things of time and sense, and those only. Indeed, how is it possible that we should enjoy him whom we do not know ? Or how can his love be shed abroad in our hearts but
1 1 Cor. ii. 14. m Matt. xi. 27. n Gal. v. 16.
0 Rom, viii. 13. p Phil. i. 19. i Gal. v. 5.
r Gal. v. 22, 23. » Jude, ver. 19. * Phil. ii. 13.