way of holiness. Rest not in low attainments : think nothing yet attained, whilst any thing remains to be attained. Keep your evidences clear : let them not be clouded by any unmor- tified lust, or secret neglect: and then shall you "hold fast the rejoicing of your hope firm unto the endy." This is the way to be both holy and happy : and, thus living, you may be well assured, that your " hope shall never make you ashamed2."]
y Heb. iii. 6. z Rom. v. 5.
THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN STRENGTHENING MEN FOR SUFFERING OR DUTY.
Rom. viii. 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we knoio not what we should pray for as ive ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groaning s which cannot be uttered.
A HOPE of eternal happiness is as an anchor to the troubled soul ; it enables a person to bear up under the heaviest afflictions ; but the mind of a believer would soon faint, if it were not strengthened from above. God therefore communicates his Spirit to his people under their trials. By his Spirit he enables them to go forward in the way of duty. St. Paul has been speaking of sufferings as the Chris- tian's portion herea. He has mentioned "hope" as a principal support to the soul under themb. He now specifies the Holy Spirit's agency as another mean of confirming and establishing the soul.
This agency of the Spirit we may consider,
I. In seasons of suffering —
Men are, in themselves, too weak to sustain many or severe trials —
[There is much impatience in the heart of every man. It too often discovers itself even in those who are, on the whole, pious. Sometimes it is called forth by small and trifling occa- sions. How passionately did Jonah resent the loss of his gourd c! How bitterly would the Disciples have revenged an act of unkindnessd! There is no trial so small but it would
a ver. 17, 18. " ver. 24. ■ Jonah iv. 8, 9.
d Luke ix. 54. \2