Spirit of promise ^" When applied to the soul by him, they have, if I may so speak, a buoyancy, bearing up the soul to high and heavenly things. We know that we, by filling a capacious vessel with air of a lighter species, can cause it to rise by its own buoyancy, and to soar above the clouds : how much more then shall we, when " filled with the Spirit," and borne up upon the wings of promise, rise in our hearts and minds to the highest heavens ! We are aware that this illus- tration is not to be pressed too far ; but neither is it to be discarded altogether as fanciful, since our blessed Lord himself has said, that " his Holy Spirit in us shall be within us a well of water springing up unto everlasting lifey." Here the hea- venly tendency of the principle within us is plainly asserted : and, whatever be the word which first begets us to the heavenly life, it is the word of promise which brings the soul to its full maturity of Christian perfection^. It was the abundant in- dwelling of the promises in the Apostle's soul that filled him with " the love of Christ, and constrained him" to live unto his God and Saviour in a way that no other man ever did, and caused his " conversation to be continually in heaven^." And in proportion as they are realized in our souls, will be the sanctifying effects produced by them.]
Address —
1. Those who are seeking holiness as their end, without using the promises as the means —
[This is common both in those who are altogether igno- rant of the Gospel, and in those whose views of it are yet dim and clouded : in the one, it springs from self-righteous pride ; in the others, from mistaken and misplaced humility : but in both it is a fatal evil.
As for the self-righteous formalist, he would reverse the Apostle's exhortation, and, instead of saying, " Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves," they would say. Having cleansed ourselves, let us expect a fulfilment of all the pro- mises. But no man shall ever attain salvation in such a way as that. No man can ever attain such holiness as God re- quires, but by the promises : nor, if he could, would such attainments ever purchase him an interest in the promises. They must be received as freely as they are given : they are given to us as sinners, as " ungodly," as having no works what- ever to bring to God*": and, if we will not embrace them under this character, renouncing all dependence on our own
-^ Eph. i. 13. y John iv. 14.
z Jam. i. 18. 1 Pet. i. 23. Eph. v. 26, 27.
^ 2 Cor. v. 14. Phil. iii. 20. i^ Rom. iv. 4—6.