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How much more fhall your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask him!

IN the beginning of this chapter, our Lord prefcribed to his difciples a pattern of prayer. Не discovered the Deity to them under the tender name of a Father; and he taught them to approach the throne of Grace with the affection and the confidence of children. To encourage them ftill more to practice this duty, he affures them of fuccefs upon their perfeverance in devotion; and to impress his inftructions in the strongest manner upon their minds, he delivers a parable to them, which he concludes with thefe words: "Afk, and it fhall be giv"en you ; feek, and ye fhall find; knock, and it "fhall be opened unto you. For every one that "asketh, receiveth; and he that feeketh, findeth ; "and to him that knocketh, it fhall be opened. If a "fon fhall ask bread of any of you that is a father, "will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fifh, will "he for a fish give him a ferpent? or if he shall ask "an egg, will he offer him a fcorpion? If ye then, "being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your "children, how much more fhall your heavenly Fa"ther give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" As if he had faid, "I have told you that God is your Father; that his ear is ever open to your

ર cry, and that his hand is ever ftretched out in ' your behalf. You that are fathers can judge of "the paternal affection. If you fee a child in dif"trefs, will your bowels of compaffion be fhut a

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gainst him? When he utters the voice of forrow, "will you turn a deaf ear to his complaint? Will દુઃ you refuse to stretch out the hand to fave him "from the pit, and instead of relieving him, pufh " him down into deftruction? There is no father fo "barbarous, and no heart fo cruel. If you, then, "evil and corrupted as you are; if, clothed as you "are with human frailties and infirmities, you know "how to give good gifts unto your children; if the workings of nature, and the yearnings of paternal "affection, prompt you to perform good offices, how "much more will the infinite benevolence of the Deity prompt him to bless all his offspring, and open "his bountiful hand to the whole family of heaven "and earth! As the Most High God who inhabit"eth eternity, excells his meanest creature, the be"ing of a day, fo far doth the infinite benignity and "everlasting love of your Father in heaven exceed "the fondest affection of an earthly parent.'

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In further difcourfing to you upon this fubject, I shall explain what is meant by giving the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps these words may refer to the extraordinary effufion of the Holy Ghoft upon the Apoftles on the day of Pentecoft, when they received the gift of tongues, and were endued with the power of working miracles. Though these words may include this meaning, yet they chiefly refer to the ordinary influ ence of the Divine Spirit, which extends to every

generation; which is the principle of the fpiritual life within us, and continues with the faithful in all ages. Reason and revelation concur in affuring us, that the great Creator hath never withdrawn himfelf from his works. Above us, around us, and within us, God is feen, God is felt. The vaft univerfe is one great temple which he fills with his prefence. As he is ever prefent in the world, he is ever employed. The hand that at firft ftretched out the heavens, ftill fupports the pillars of the firmament. The breath which kindled the vital heat of nature, ftill keeps the flame alive and glowing; God ftill acts through all his works, preferving and upholding the whole fyftem of things, and carrying for. ward the designs of infinite wisdom and goodness. His providence is a continued exertion of creating power. As he is employed in the material, he acts alfo upon the moral world. The Father of fpirits communicates himself to holy men, enlightens their understandings with divine knowledge; by fecret ways, at once ftrengthens and ravishes the mind, and fills them with a confcious fenfe of his own prefence. Hence the wifest among the heathens, guided only by the light of nature, acknowledged the neceffity of fupernatural aids, and taught that nothing great or good could be performed without the influence of a divine Spirit. But as this doctrine hath been by fome denied altogether, and by others involved in myfticism and abfurdity, it will be proper to give you that juft and rational account of it which the Scripture authorises.

There is hardly any one thing of which mankind be made more fenfible from their own experi

may

ence, than the neceflity of divine aids. For alas! the balance in human nature, between reafon and appetite, between the powers of the mind, and the inclinations arifing from the body, is in a great degree loft. There may be, and there once was, a more harmonious temperament in the human frame. The rational part of our nature was better enlightened and more vigorous; the paffions and appetites of the animal part moved under its control. But that state of innocence is no more. Our nature is now degenerated; we find a law in the members warring against the law of the mind. This diforder of our frame is more and more increased by thofe falfe notions of happiness which we are apt to imbibe, and by the many bad examples among which we pafs our early years, infomuch, that by the time that we are grown up to the full power and exercise of reason, we find ourselves brought under the dominion of fenfual and wicked inclinations. How then fhall we recover our liberty? How fhall we regain the original rectitude of our nature, and obtain a victory over the vices which war against the foul? Is nature, fuch as it now is, sufficient for these things? Is reafon alone an equal match for the paffions and de fires of the heart, broke loofe from all their restraints, authorised by custom, and inflamed by example? Can we ceafe to do evil and learn to do well, purely of ourfelves, and be able to turn the stream of our af fections from fenfible and earthly things, to objects worthy of the choice and purfuit of a reasonable nature? Can we, in fhort, convert ourfelves by our own strength, and turn from the power of Satan un

to the living God? Are we fufficient for these things?

We are not. When we would do good evil is present with us; the fenfual part of our nature obtains dominion over the rational; we are chained down to the earth, while we attempt to foar to the heavens. Here, therefore, God hath graciously interpofed for our recovery. As he fent his Son into the world to redeem us from the guilt of fin and the curse of the law, he gives us his Holy Spirit to deliver us from the dominion of fin, and to translate us from the bondage of Satan into the family of Heaven, and the glorious liberty of the children of God. Hence he is faid to work in us both to will and to do that which is his good pleasure. We are faid to receive the Spirit, and our bodies are styled the temples of the Holy Ghost.

Concerning this Spirit given to thofe that afk him, I observe, in the first place, that his influence is confiftent with the freedom of a reasonable being. The affiftance which we receive from above, both in our first converfion from fin, and through the whole courfe of a religious life, are entirely rational, and have only a perfuafive and moral influence. They do not resemble the infpiration of the prophets of old, which was fudden and violent, and overpowered the mind; which fuperfeded the use of reason, and fufpended for a while the exercife of the natural faculties. The prophets were but the inftruments of the fpirit, but we work together with God. The grace of Heaven does not take away the powers of the mind, but exalts them. It does not deftroy the natural liberty of the mind, it makes us free indeed. If a man lofes

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