light which they did not derive from himc. Call upon him in a state of great dejection ; and he will be your Comforter d. Beg of him to reveal to you the Father's love, and the grace of Christ; and he will inflame your soul with love and grati- tude6. Submit your stony heart to his powerful operations; and he will break it in pieces, as he did in the days of old f, and will melt it to contrition g. Carry your corruptions to him to be subdued ; and he will purify your soul from their power and defilement11. Let him exert his full influence upon you ; and he will assimilate you to himself, and transform you into the very image of your God1.]
Such being the operations of the Spirit,, we shall,
II. Shew in what way we may " quench" themk —
We may quench the Spirit in a variety of ways :
1. By resisting his operations —
[There is not any one, on whom the Spirit has not fre- quently exerted his influence, to bring him to repentance. But how have his motions been regarded? Have they not in many instances been resisted ? Have we not plunged our- selves into business or pleasure, perhaps too into revelling and intoxication, in order to drown his voice, and silence the remonstrances of our conscience ?
This then is one way in which many quench the Spirit. God has warned us, that " his Spirit shall not always strive with man1:" and has told us how he dealt with his people of old ; that " because they hearkened not to his voice and would none of him, he gave them up to their own hearts' lusts™." And a similar resistance on our part will bring the same judg- ment upon us11.]
c 1 Cor. ii. 12. d John xiv. 16, 17, 26. 2 Cor. vii. 6.
e John xvi. 14. Rom. v. 5. and xv. 13. f Acts ii. 37.
s Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. h Ezek. xxxvi. 25. and 1 Cor. vi. 11.
i 2 Cor. hi. 18.
k There are passages of Scripture which seem to militate against this doctrine : see John iv. 14. and 1 John hi. 9. But give them all the force you please, they do not prove, that sin will not quench the Spirit ; or, that they who live and die in sin shall not perish. And to bring them forward on such an occasion, is to weaken (and, in refe- rence to many, to destroy) the force of the Apostle's admonition. The caution is addressed to all Christians without distinction ; and therefore ought to be enforced in that extent. The very giving of the caution sufficiently shews the possibility and danger of quench- ing the Spirit ; and therefore we should all attend to it with fear and trembling.
1 Gen. vi. 3. in Ps. lxxxi. 11, 12. " Prov. i. 24—26.