And now, will any one say that these blessings were peculiar to the apostolic age, and are not to be expected by us ? What then is the meaning of that interrogation, which St. Paul addressed to the whole Corinthian Church, " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you*?" And, again, "Know ye not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be repro- bates^" Hence it is evident, that this is a truth, of
b 1 Thess. i. 6. c 2 Cor. i. 5. d Rom. xiv. 17.
e 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. f 2 Cor. xiii. 5.
which we must not only have the actual experience, but a consciousness also, that it is realized in us : and the man who questions it as a matter of Christian experience, has yet to learn the very first principles of the Christian faith : for even to the murderers of our Lord did St. Peter on the day of Pentecost an- nounce, that this blessing should be theirs ; and that too even to their latest posterity : " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost : for the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall calK" In fact, this is the promise which was originally made to Abraham for himself and all his believing posterity, whether of the Jewish or Gentile world, even " the promise of the Spirit through faith\"
This objection therefore being set aside, I con- fidently ask whether I have carried any one of these matters to excess, either requiring more than the Scriptures require, or promising more than the Scrip- tures promise ? I can truly say, that I have exercised all possible caution on this head. I know and lament, that there are crude and enthusiastic conceits enter- tained by some, who would have us believe that they are actuated by certain divine impulses, irrespective of the word as the medium of conveying them, and in despite of the vanity and folly which they them- selves betray as their invariable result. But I trust, that not one word that I have spoken can be thought to have countenanced any such conceits as these. The written word is the medium by which the Spirit works, and the standard by which his agency must be tried : and, if his operations do not produce holiness, as well as light and comfort, they are no better than a delusion, a desperate and a fatal delusion. The offices of the Holy Spirit cannot be separated from each other. He is a Teacher, a Sanctifier, and a Com- forter : and I advisedly place the office of a Sanctifier between the other two, because it is equally connected
e Acts ii. 38, 39. h Gal. iii. 14.
1866.] THE spirit's work in believers. 263
both with that which precedes, and with that which follows ; — with that which precedes, as the end for which divine teaching is administered, and with that which follows, as that without which no true comfort can possibly exist. I entreat, then, that you will all look for the gift of the Holy Spirit, to impart to you these blessings : and, I declare before God, that no one of you will ever behold the face of God in peace, if you do not both desire and obtain the Holy Spirit for these ends. The word of God is immutable ; " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
If any be disposed to deride the sacred influences of the Spirit, imputing to Satan, as it were, what is wrought by the Holy Ghost, let them beware of the sin against the Holy Ghost ; for they tread close upon it, if they do not actually commit it. I would have them remember, that, in proportion to the light against which they offend, and the malignity with which they litter their scoffs, they approach this fatal sin: and, if once they do commit it, our blessed Lord declares, that " they shall never have forgiveness, either in this world, or in the world to come ; and that they are therefore in danger of eternal damnation1."