he exclaims, Blessed hope! and pleads the promise, by turning it into a prayer,—“ Take away the stony heart out of my flesh, and give me a heart of flesh." Let these promises be viewed only in their true position, and the difficulty will vanish. They are a part of the system of means, intended to meet and to relieve the exercises of a reflecting mind; and to this purpose they are wisely and admirably adapted.

Our conclusion therefore remains, that when God promises the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer, he assumes an attitude of rich grace, of illustrious mercy. We have only to add, that the benignity of this dispensation is universal and equal. We shall enter fully into the subject of election and discriminating grace in the following chapter, for which the reader's patience is requested but a moment; all that we here state is, that God will give his Holy Spirit to every one who asks it, without any discrimination at all. Such is his promise respecting all the blessings he has encouraged us to pray for, and this cannot be an exception. Every one that asketh receiveth." Imagine only a case so confoundingly strange as the contrary! Will it be said that any

man, seeking the Spirit of God, will be refused and repelled? It is incredible. The promises are expressed in language of general import; they exclude none. Whatever discrimination

God may exercise elsewhere, he uses none among the applicants at his throne of grace for the blessings of his salvation.

CHAP. II.

Of the ministration of the Spirit in his unsought

agency.

WE have already seen, that, while the blessed Spirit is promised to all men in answer to prayer, he is also sometimes sent into the heart unsought, to accomplish there the great work of his love and grace. The specific aspects of this ministration of the Spirit are now to be considered.

1. It is impossible not to observe immediately its pre-eminent grace. If it was kind to promise the Spirit when sought, it is much more so to impart his influence when it is not implored. In the former case, supplication expresses desire; but, in the latter, the attitude of enmity and opposition is still maintained. How passing strange is the fact, that the blessed Spirit, infinitely holy as he is, and burning for the divine glory, will enter such a breast, and wrest out of a sinner's hand the very weapon with which he is about both to defy his Maker,

worm.

THE SPIRIT'S MINISTRATION, &c. 333

and to destroy his own soul! This is going immeasurably beyond all that justice requires, and is the utmost length of kindness to a guilty God not only provides the blessedness, but gives the disposition to embrace it; herein giving what also he justly demands, and providing for the payment of that to himself, which is righteously due to him from his

creatures.

To this it must be added, that the gift of the Holy Spirit secures the attainment of the great and unspeakable blessings exhibited in the gospel. A sinner is then no longer left to trifle with salvation, and to reject the Saviour; but the hitherto prevailing enmity of his heart is overcome, and he is made willing in the day of divine power. He resists no more; but, led by the Spirit, humbly bows to the sceptre of redeeming mercy, and every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of faith. He thus becomes an actual partaker of salvation itself, and enters into the enjoyment of all its privileges; being justified by faith, he has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also he has access into the grace wherein he stands, and rejoices in hope of the glory of God, Rom. v. 1, 2. How pre-eminently

gracious must the work be, which leads to such immeasurable and eternal blessedness! Without the influence of the Spirit, a sinner would be a wretch undone, even in the midst of mercies; with it, he becomes unutterably and for ever blest.

2. Unlike the former mode of administering the Spirit, however, this is not universal, but peculiar. This is known by the fruits; since, wherever the Spirit is given, repentance and conversion are actually produced. From the very fact, therefore, even if there were no other evidence, from the very fact that only some persons are converted, the inference must necessarily be drawn, that only to some is the Spirit given. With this inevitable conclusion the declarations of holy writ fully agree; but it is important to show that the burden of its proof does not lie upon them. Those who dislike them, or their import, may conceive them to be blotted out of the book of God, if they please; we call upon them to read in another book the same lesson. The fact is before their eyes, and cannot be obliterated; why should they find fault with the mere words which record it?

What can be the cause of this peculiarity?