ment of prophecy. Some of the prophecies were foretold several thousand years before they were accomplished; and their fulfilment depended upon the actions of millions and millions of human beings, and thousands and thousands of contingencies beyond the control of man. These prophecies were fulfilled in the course of human events, as all other events occur. We are, therefore, led to the conclusion, that the providence of God is carried forward by the exercise of an all-pervading energy, and that nothing occurs under the whole heaven, only by the direction or permission of the Supreme Ruler of the universe.

But this doctrine is fully established by the Holy Scriptures. It was affirmed by Christ himself, that the Comforter, by which we understand the Spirit of God, should reprove the world of sin. It is by the law that we have the knowledge of sin. By the law we understand the written word, that was engraven upon the tables of stone, and given to man as a rule of life, every deviation from which is a moral offence. This law extends not only to outward actions, but to every inordinate desire. The Spirit, in reproving the world of sin, reveals to the mind the spirituality of the law, by which sin is made to abound; or, in other words, by this act of the Spirit, the understanding is enabled to see our sins in a clearer and stronger light. By this act of the Spirit, also, we discover the strength and vehemence of our sinful passions and appetites. This is what St. Paul meant, when he said, Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Thus, by the operation of the Spirit, we see, in a strong and clear light, the corruption of the human heart, the number and aggravation of our offences; and are led to regard sin as exceedingly sinful. The Spirit, then, in reproving world of sin, gives to the mind a more deep and vivid impression of these great truths, than it could possibly have, if no such energy had been imparted by God. It is under the influence of this conviction, the soul cries out: Wo is me! I am undone: behold, I am vile; I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashes. Under these impressions, the Spirit becomes broken and contrite, and such a spirit God will not despise.

Our Lord, in conversation with Nicodemus, affirmed," Unless a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The phrase, born of the Spirit, can mean nothing less than a special, though not a miraculous effect; produced by an influence proceeding from God, as its cause, and operating through the religion of his Son, as the means. That saving change which wrought in the mind, when a man is brought from sin to holiness, and passes from death to life, here denoted by the phrase, born of God, is always ascribed to the Spirit as the efficient cause. The apostle, speaking of this, says: And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. The washing, sanctification, and justification here spoken of, is ascribed to

the agency of the Spirit. Again, the apostle says: We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. And again, He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God; who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. By this saving change, which is wrought by the Holy Spirit, the man is made a partaker of a divine nature, and is altogether a new creature.

If the Holy Spirit is not the agent in producing and carrying on the new life, why is he styled a life-giving Spirit? Seeing all vital operations issue from a Spirit acting in us, why are we said to live in the Spirit, and to walk in the Spirit, and to be led by the Spirit? For, as in natural and moral actions, we cannot be said to live or walk, without an inward principle of life and motion, or to be led or guided in those actions by the light of reason: So neither can we properly be said to live and walk in the Spirit, or to be guided by him if he imparts no inward light to guide us in the way of piety, no inward motions to excite us to walk in them, no inward strength or vital efficacy for the performance of them. And were it otherwise, why are all those inward habits and dispositions which adorn the soul, and make it meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light, styled the fruits, not of the preaching of the word, or of our own considerations, but of the Holy Spirit? For how are they his fruits, if they are not produced by him?

Christians are said to be the habitation of God through the Spirit ; and he is further to operate in us effectually for all the ends and purposes of our salvation, producing in us all the fruits of goodness, and righteousness, and truth. His motions may not unfitly be compared with the operation of the soul in the human body. Without the soul, the body cannot perform any vital function whatever: but when that spiritual inhabitant is present with, and discharges its proper offices, we show, by the various exercises of our mind and body, that it really dwells in us. Now, the spirit of God performs in the soul an office somewhat analogous to this. The soul, by itself, has respect only to things visible and temporal; but when filled by the spirit of God, it occupies itself about things invisible and eternal. And precisely as the body needs the presence and operation of the soul for the discharge of the offices in relation to this world, so does the soul need the influences of the Holy Spirit for the discharge of its duties in reference to the world to come. This exactly corresponds with what St. Paul says: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." And again he says, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Hence, true religion, as said an eminent minister of the gospel, is the life of God in the soul.

Hence, God is said to put his fear and his law in our hearts, and his Spirit within us, to create in us a clean heart, and to renew in us a right spirit, to give us a new heart, to circumcise and convert the heart. By this language we are to understand, that God by

his Spirit creates and excites emotions or ideas in us, which dispose us to fear him, and, by proper attention to these influences, convert the heart, and purify the soul from the defilements of sin; and these metaphors imply that by these influences he gives us inward illuminations, by attending to which we may discern the wondrous things of his law. God having thus put his Spirit within us, we are said to be strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inward man to do his will, and to be enabled, through the Spirit, to mortify the deeds of the flesh; and his Spirit is said to help our infirmities, to purify our heart, to become a Spirit of sanctification, the Comforter, the Spirit of power, love, and of a sound mind. Now, seeing consolation arises only from the inward testimony of the conscience; seeing sanctification in the renewing of the inward man, has the soul for its subject; seeing the heart is purified by an inward change and temper, which renders it averse from sin, and sets the affections, desires, and inclinations against it; seeing the deeds of the flesh are only mortified by such a renovation of the mind as makes us to perceive the pernicious effects and dreadful consequences of living still according to our fleshly appetites, and so creates in us a dread and hatred of them, a resolution to forsake them, and ardent desire to be freed from them, a sincere endeavor to resist the motions of the flesh, and a watchfulness that we do not for the future yield obedience to it in its corrupt appetites; all of which imply that a renovation is wrought in us by the Spirit, that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are the sons of God, and that the operations of the Spirit are displayed by an energy exerted upon the mind, the affections, and the will.

Now, to apply all these passages to the extraordinary and miraculous displays of the Holy Spirit, and to maintain that these effects have ceased since the extraordinary operations of the Spirit have been withdrawn, is to affirm that no man is now quickened, sanctified, comforted, or even enabled to purify his heart, or to mortify the deeds of the flesh, to live or walk in the Spirit; and, consequently, no man can now become a son of God, united to Jesus Christ, or have any of the fruits of the Spirit wrought within him. And since all who were regenerated are said to be born of the Spirit, if by this new birth of the Spirit we are to understand his extraordinary operations, then no man is now regenerated or born again, as these extraordinary operations have ceased; why, then, do we still administer the institution of baptism, and especially into the name of the Holy Ghost? For baptism is but the outward sign of an inward fact; but if no inward fact now occurs, then why not dispense with the outward sign?

If there are no ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit at the present time, upon the hearts and consciences of men, it seems impossible, according to this hypothesis, to explain how, or to what end the Holy Spirit is so often said to dwell, or to abide within us ; how we are made the temples of God through the Holy Ghost

which is given unto us, or united to Christ by the Spirit, or to what end the Holy Ghost thus dwells or takes up his abode in us, where he excites no emotions, produces no fruits, and imparts no inward life, light, or strength. And yet this abode of the Spirit with us is represented in the Scriptures, not only as the highest privilege, but as the inestimable advantage of all Christians. By this promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Christ encourages his disciples to demonstrate their love to him by keeping his commandments; then, says he, the Father will love them, and we will come and take up our abode with them. By this, says the apostle, God becomes our God, and we are his people; he our Father, and we his sons and daughters. And from our union by this spirit to our head Christ Jesus, such an inward working is said to be diffused through every part of his mystical body as causeth the whole body to increase, and edify itself in love. Now, what explanation. can be given to these passages, without maintaining some inward operation of the Holy Spirit, as the consequence of this spiritual union with Christ Jesus, and this inward habitation of the Holy Spirit in us? Indeed, of what advantage is all this class of promises, I will put my Spirit in you, or pour him upon you, if we receive no influx, no gracious influences, from him thus put into our hearts? What is it for the Holy Spirit to depart, or to be taken from us? Or what can be the dreadful misery and wo, denounced upon us when God withdraws his Holy Spirit? For if he did nothing in us whilst he continued to be with us, what can we lose by his departure? Or why did David so importunately beg God that he would not take his Holy Spirit from him.

To maintain that there are no ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit abiding with the church, since his extraordinary influences have ceased, is not only to contradict the tenor of the Scriptures, which declare that all Christ's living members are thus united by the Spirit to their Head, and that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him, he is none of his; he cannot be a son of God, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God; he has no right to call God Father, for ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby ye cry, Abba, Father; he has no interest in the adoption and inheritance of sons, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; but it also enervates the efficacy of the promises of Christ, and diminished the consolation of Christians of all succeeding ages under their sufferings for the sake of Christ; in fact, it is an attempt to nullify the peculiar excellency of the gospel dispensation, as distinguished from the Mosaic economy; the one being styled by the apostle the ministration of the letter only, while he calls the other the ministration of the Spirit. Now, if the gospel dispensation was the ministration of the Spirit, merely while it was attended by its miraculous efficacy, when this efficacy was withdrawn, then it ceased to be the

ministration of the Spirit, becoming merely the ministration of the letter, whence its glory and excellency departed.

Besides, a denial of the doctrine of divine influence upon the hearts of men, destroys the energy of prayer in general, and the efficacy of prayer for the Holy Spirit in particular; and thus disposes us to neglect the duty of prayer altogether. If, indeed, we should occasionally offer up prayer to God, it can be but cold and formal, altogether destitute of that faith and fervor which constitute the very soul of prayer, and which render it acceptable to God. For who can reconcile a denial of this doctrine with those expressions, in which holy men of God so often begged him to incline their hearts unto him, as this cannot be done without some operations upon their hearts; that he would draw them, that they might run after him; that he would open their eyes, and give them understanding to discern his law; that he would lead them in the right way, in the way everlasting, and guide them by his eye. For if God, by his Spirit, exerts no influence upon neither the heart nor the soul of man, how does he incline or draw him? If none upon the understanding, how does he enlighten or instruct him? If this is done merely by the word which is read, preached, and pondered in the heart, we may as well apply ourselves to that work without prayer as with it, unless we pray for some new external revelations, or for some motives not contained in the Holy Scriptures.

A denial of the doctrine of divine influence, furthermore, seems to render it both fruitless and absurd to pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, or even to expect any aid from him. Hence, such directions and promises as the following: Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. For if evil parents give good gifts to their children, how much more will your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him-must be of no use to us. The aid offered in these passages is the assistance of the Holy Spirit; but if no such assistance is afforded us, why should we pray for it?

To confine this passage to the apostolic age, is highly unreasonable, for it was delivered in the sermon on the mount, which was certainly spoken in the audience of the multitude. The language is also too general for a special application; for every one that asketh, receiveth. Besides, those spiritual influences and ordinary effects for which the Holy Spirit was given, are as necessary and as useful for Christians now, as they were in the apostolic age. The Holy Spirit was then given to strengthen the servants of Christ in the inward man to do his will, to comfort them in tribulations, to support them under fiery trials, and to preserve them from the subtleties of Satan, and from the temptations of this wicked world; and Christians stand in the same need of his assistance