then, do not expect the gospel to be the power of God unto salvation, they do not calculate on those bitten by the fiery serpents to be healed by Christ crucified; the gospel is something, that they do not expect us to believe; and that we should come to love the "altogether lovely" is to them an unlooked-for event." It is for the church that expects great things, that God will do great things. He has said much, and done much, to raise in his church great expectations, and he never said unto the seed of Jacob, "seek ye me in vain." Let us then awake to the daylight of the Son of Man. Expectations commensurate with the length and breadth of the promises of God cannot be visionary or fanatical; and to them that wait believingly and expectantly, he that tarrieth will surely come: "at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it, BECAUSE it will surely come, and will not tarry."

VIII. The church is supplied with proper tests, whereby it can ascertain whether or not these seasons are produced by the Holy Spirit.

The fourth chapter of the first epistle of John furnishes us with a good supply of tests for ascertaining the true influences of the Holy Spirit. It is clearly implied in these instructions that there are, in every period of the church, spirits which are influenced by God, and spirits which are not; and that Christians have the power to distinguish and discern those things that differ. As frequently as pretenders to immediate impulses and supernatural impressions have risen in the church, sober men of God have "tried the spirits," and distinguished the chaff from the wheat. The history of the Christian church shows that pretenders to Divine illuminations have appeared, only at the seasons when true Christians were themselves most abundantly favored with the genuine influences of the Holy Spirit. Their very presence is an evidence that good is in active operation; just as the makers of base money issue counterfeits of only the genuine coins that are in actual circulation.

On this cabinet of tests and criteria of a real work of the Holy Spirit, Dr. OWEN, and especially President EDWARDS, have written with much ability and point. EDWARDS employed them for the express purpose of ascertaining the character of the revivals of his day. From the whole passage (John iv. 1 - 13,) we learn, that if these seasons bring men publicly to confess Christ in the divinity of his person,

and the reality of his incarnation (iv. 2, 3-10) — if they lead Christians to be separate from the world, to live above the world, and to be spiritual in their conversation, (iv. 4, 5) if they bring men to hear the gospel and to obey the truth, (iv. 5, 6)—if they are consistent with the truth of the case between men and God, (iv. 6)—if they are productive of eminent love to God, and expanded benevolence to man, (iv. 7, 8, 10, 11) — these revival seasons ARE OF GOD. Now, observe the conclusion of the apostle: "Hereby," by these signs and tokens, " KNOW we that we dwell in him and he in us, BECAUSE he hath given us of his Spirit ;" and, I may add, hereby we ourselves can know that the influences of the Holy Spirit in the church were intended to be permanent and unceasing.

SECTION II.

On quenching the Spirit.

If the influences of the Holy Spirit be always present in the word and ordinances, and, by these means, always permanent in the church, such an incessant continuousness of his presence seems inconsistent with the solemn warning against quenching the Spirit, which implies the destruction and the loss of his influences. This strengthens a position which we have already taken, that this caution refers rather to the operation of the influences, than to the person, of the Holy Spirit for, it never entered the imagination of any sober Christian, that it could refer to a probable or a possible extinction of the personality and divinity of the Comforter himself. Even this passing notice of such an absurdity is sufficient to show the deliberate and severe caution, with which we should interpret symbolical imagery and figurative language when employed to illustrate the agency of the Spirit of God. Some have conjectured that the caution against quenching the Spirit refers only to the neglect or abuse of the exercise of miraculous gifts, and, consequently, has no bearings on any individuals not similarly endowed with the Christians of Thessalonica. The whole tenor of the New Testament supposes that miraculous gifts shall cease in the Christian church; therefore, as this serious admonition stands in the midst of a series of obligations, which are always binding on all men, it must refer to the ordinary influences of the Spirit. Neither the language of the scriptures, nor the

acknowledged facts of the case, would warrant the implication that, in quenching the Spirit, the sinner is able, by some intellectual and moral process in the interior of his own mind, so to sublimate the Word and the means of grace, as to cause the influences which are in them to evaporate, vanish, and become extinct. It is evident, therefore, that quenching the Spirit does not mean extinguishing and annihilating the influences themselves, but it means checking their tendencies, preventing their operations, and suppressing their phenomena, in a man's own character.

The character of these influences of the Holy Spirit is illustrated by that of fire for three reasons. First, The appearance of fire, or flame, was always, under the theocracy, regarded as a symbolical emblem and token of the Deity being present. As instances of this, we may enumerate the burning bush, the flames of Sinai, the fiery pillar, and the Shekinah. Where the hallowed fire of Divine influence is, there the Divine Spirit is present. Secondly, The first visible tokens of the influences of the Holy Spirit in the Christian church were “cloven tongues like as of fire." Therefore, to partake of these influences, is to be "baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Thirdly, The operations of Divine influences are analogous to the action of fire. Fire, as soon as elicited, is in powerful and incessant activity, radiating, pervading, permeating, enlivening, kindling, refining, warming and enlarging, every object within its range. Fire, therefore, abounds with elements of illustration to assist our conceptions of the agency of this Holy Agent.

As the Supreme Cause and Dispenser of these influences, the Holy Spirit is the Author of holy emotions and devout affections in the heart of man. The Holy Spirit excites and produces these emotions by means of truth conveyed to the mind. It is only by such means, that we are able to excite emotions in the minds of each other. It is in our power to agitate the whole soul, and many souls, with emotions, by using words; and the emotions will be according to our words. If our words be friendly and kind, we can make a heart burn with the emotion of love; if they be rude and malignant, we can make the mind to rage with the emotion of anger. We do not know how our words have such an influence, or how the acquired influence affects the minds of others. All we know about the affair is, that it is a fact. The powerful influence which we exert, is not in the words

themselves, but in the grouping and collocation of them. The words used by us, as they occupy their respective places in a vocabulary or a lexicon, have no such influences, and would produce no such results. With deliberation and selection, yet without knowing the mode, we put words together in certain combination, and cement them with our own mind, will, and character; and when we present them to another man, we agitate him with a tumult of turbulent emotions. We have, in such instances, fused thoughts into words that burn, and we light in the bosom a fire, that can be quenched only by gross inaptitude, heedlessness, contempt, or violent resistance, in the person addressed.

If we can put forth our own agency, and exercise our own influences, in a manner which we do not understand, how possible, and how probable and truly real is it that "the way of the Spirit" may be far beyond the reach of our penetration. The manner in which the words of life convey the "kindling powers" of the Spirit is to us incomprehensible. In nature we have the same difficulty. Rays of light are perfectly distinct from the heat which they convey: how they convey and bear along with them the heat- how they can be continued or refracted, and their heat stopped and quenched, are every-day circumstances that utterly baffle our speculations. And if we could ascertain this, the problem what heat itself is, would still remain. As we cannot distinguish the heat from the physical operations of the rays, so we cannot separate between the influences of the Spirit, and the ordinary exercise of our own faculties, and of the powers of natural conscience. We only know that if there were no Holy Spirit, our own energies would neither conceive nor accomplish such effects. We only know of heat in the ray by the effects which nothing but heat could produce; and we are sure of the presence of Divine influences by results which nothing but the Holy Spirit could accomplish. It is not the emotion in the mind, but the effects and results of the emotion on the soul, that prove it to be the operation of the Holy Spirit. The cautions, and warnings, therefore, against quenching the Spirit teach us, neither to quell these emotions in our minds, nor to suppress their results on our temper and character.

The powerful influences which produce these emotions are always supposed to be under the control of man. Like the hallowed flame on the altar, this fire is first enkindled from

heaven, but it is fed, perpetuated, stirred up, and increased, or quenched, by the agency of man.

I. The emotions produced by the influences of the Holy Spirit are quenched, by neglecting or slighting the means calculated to cherish and foster them.

The influences of the Spirit are in the word and in the means of grace. When we neglect attendance on the word; when we do not read it in the spirit in which it was written; when we do not study it for the ends which it was given to accomplish, we suppress the developements of Divine influences, as we would extinguish a lamp by withholding the supply of oil, or quench a fire by not furnishing the necessary fuel. When we separate prayer from the use of means, or sever docility from prayer; when we withdraw our profound regard and veneration from the truths and ordinances of the gospel; and when we shrink from the suspicion of our being affected by impressions from God, we as effectually stifle the emotions of the Spirit, as we put out a fire by scattering asunder burning coals, or withdrawing the aliments already heaped on it for its continuance.

There are certain states of mind, or frames of heart, which invariably and inevitably tend to a neglect of Divine influences, and an extinction of holy and devout feelings. Against these, every man and every church concerned for the religion of her members, should guard with all watchfulness and foresight, as against the symptoms and portents of death. A dislike of the inconvenience and uneasiness produced in the conscience by the presence of fervid emotions, and of the operations of glowing influences, has occasioned many to retire to a distance from the source and seat of the burning energies, and to desire very heartily that the heated temperature should be lessened and lowered, for they feel warm and comfortable enough without it. Religion permeates every dormant faculty, enkindles every element of sensibility, and makes every power to live, to glow, to burn, and to act: lovers of ease, therefore, dislike its quickening activity, they deem themselves religious and seraphic enough already, and consequently, they neglect to cherish it. They greatly admire the text, "Let your moderation be known among all men." The Spirit intended this text to direct us in the government of our appetites and inclinations, but these men employ it against his own influences. They talk of "moderation," only in loving God, in serving Christ, and in minding the things of