PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

In sending forth a new impression of the present work — with an additional chapter on a subject of deep interest—it is with feelings of devout and fervent gratitude the Author acknowledges the Divine blessing which has followed its circulation. The Holy Spirit has owned it, and to Ilim shall be given the glory. To those Christian friends, whose faces he has not seen in the flesh, but who have cheered his heart and strengthened his hands by the testimonies which they have borne to the instruction and comfort it has conveyed to their minds, the only return he can make for this kind expression of their "love in the Spirit" is to "pray for them, and to desire that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."

March, 1846.

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE GODHEAD AND PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT ..................... PAGE 13

THE INBEING AND OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT IN CHRIST..

......... 280

THE

INQUIRER DIRECTED.

CHAPTER I.

THE GODHEAD AND PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

THE NATURE AND NECESSITY OF EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION.

"Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-Matt. xxviii. 19.

It is essential to a proper and just exhibition of the work of the Holy Spirit, that, in the outset of the discussion, the basis of that work be deeply and broadly laid. He is not " a wise master builder," who, in rearing the great structure of Divine truth, commences not with a clear and scriptural exposition of the foundation. While every portion of God's word, whether it be a doctrine, a precept, or a promise, must be regarded as bearing upon the salvation, sanctification, and consolation of the believer, there are yet doctrines, which have ever been holden and maintained, as forming the ground-work, essential to the very existence, security, and harmony of the entire system of revealed truth. For example, the self-existent being of God, forms the foundation doctrine of revelation-the basis of all revealed truth. This re