him, that he may be brought back to God ; and the gift of the Holy Spirit is necessary for him, in order that he may come to Christ aright, and find accept- ance with God through Christ. This need of the Spirit's influence is the part of my subject which I am now called to unfold ; and I pray God, that, whilst I address myself to it with all Christian fidelity, " the word may come to every soul amongst you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance d.
Let me however first, in few words, repeat what we mean, when we say, that men must " have" the Spirit of Christ: for, unless we have definite ideas upon that subject, we can never fully comprehend the point which we are endeavouring to set before you.
It is obvious that the possession of the Spirit, which is here spoken of, must be somewhat very different from any natural or acquired endowment, since we may possess every thing which constitutes us rational and accountable beings, and yet not be Christ's ; whilst, on the other hand, however defective we may, in other respects, be, the possession of it will infallibly prove us to belong to Christ. If it be asked, What does this possession of the Spirit import ? I answer, It is, as I shewed in my last, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our souls, as his temple, and his operating in us, as a quickening and influential principle of life.
That point being determined, we shall proceed, agreeably to the plan before laid down, to shew,
II. Why the possession of that Spirit is necessary to our being Christ's accepted followers. For the elucidation of this, there are three points to be esta- blished ; namely '.—first, That all our faculties are impaired by sin ; next, That, without an entire reno- vation of them, Christ can never accept or acknow- ledge us as his ; and, lastly, That none but the Spirit of Christ can ever accomplish in us this necessary work. These points being established, the reason- ableness, no less than the certainty, of God's declara- tion in my text, will appear, to the conviction of every
d 1 Thess. i. 5.