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his free agency he ceafes to be a man. He is a machine, and is acted upon. In oppofition to this, God is faid in Scripture, to draw us with the cords of love, and with the bands of a man: that is, in such a manner as is moft confiftent with freedom of choice, and agreeable to the conftitution of a reasonable nature. Reafon being the nobleft faculty of the human frame, it first partakes the influence of the divine Spirit. Its views are enlarged to take in the fyftem of divine truth, and its power is increafed to govern the whole man. Thefe divine aids extend to the heart and the affections, place them on proper objects, and give them their nobleft joys. In fhort, they take in the whole of the Christian life. They infpire good refolutions and purposes of new obedience; they carry us on, and encourage us in the ways. of righteousness; they render the practice of our duty eafy and delightful, and bring us at laft to the enjoyment of uninterrupted and everlasting happiness.

Thus you fee, that the influence of the divine Spirit is in a way agreeable to the frame of human nature, gentle and perfuafive; not controlling or obftructing the use of reason, but by the use of reafon influencing the will, moderating the affections, and regulating the whole converfation. It is no argument against the reality of fuch divine aids, that they are not distinguishable from the operation of our own minds, and that we feel them not in a fenfible and friking manner. How difficult is it in our own character to diftinguifh what is natural from what is acquired; to diftinguish between the natural treafures of the mind, and, thofe foreign ftores which fhe imports from education. The Spirit of God acts in fuch a manner as is moft agreeable

to the faculties of the mind. It is in this manner alfo, that God acts in the material world. Whatever is done in the heavens, or in the earth, or in the fea, is brought about by Divine Providence. Yet all that chain of caufes and effects, from the lowest up to the throne of God, we call by the name of the course of nature. But what is this? The course of nature is the energy of God.

In the fecond place, I obferve, concerning the influence of the Spirit, that its reality is only known by its operation and effect upon our lives. "Mar"vel not," said our Lord to Nicodemus, "that I "faid unto you, Thou must be born again. The "wind bloweth where it lifteth, and thou hearest the "found thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, "and whither it goeth. So is every one that is "born of the Spirit." That is, as if he had faid, the influences of the fpirit are indeed imperceptible to fenfe, and cannot be diftinguifhed in the precife moment of their operation, but they are vifible and certain in their effects, and in the fruits which they produce. A life of obedience and holiness, therefore, is the proof, and the only proof, that the Spirit dwells in us. The fruit of the Spirit, fay the Scriptures, is goodness and righteoufnefs and truth. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-fuffering, gentlenefs, meeknefs and temperance. The life then, my friends, the life is the criterion and teft by which we fhall know if we are born of the Spirit. There are indeed other marks, easier at tained, which some people have found out to themfelves. A light within, a call from heaven, a fecret voice, and an extraordinary impulfe, thefe are often M M

the effects not of a divine favour, but of a weak understanding, and a wild imagination, and often of fomething worse, even of arrant hypocrify and' un blushing impudence. Thefe indeed are the marks of a spirit which hath often appeared in the world, but which is very different from the Spirit of God. These are the symptoms of that intolerant and perfecuting Spirit, the offspring of darkness and of de mons, which, excepting a few favourites, pursues the human race with unrelenting hatred in this world, and configns them over to eternal pains in the next. This is a spirit which hath flain its thousands. Fire and fword mark its approach; its fteps are in the blood of the juft, and it shakes the rod of extermination over the affrighted earth. But the Spirit of

God is the Spirit of love. It fills us with affection and benevolence towards all our brethren of mankind. For he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in him.

This doctrine of the Spirit dwelling in us, and af fifting us to perform good works, furnisheth a strong argument for humility. Why boafteft thou, O man? What haft thou which thou haft not received? From God defcendeth every good and every perfect gift. We can do nothing of ourselves, not even fo much as to think a good thought. It is by the grace of God that we are what we are. He graciously accepts of our fincere endeavours to please him; and at laft rewards thofe fervices, which by his grace he enables us to perform. Let us therefore be sensible of our own imperfections, and give all the praise to him. Let this ftir us up to activity in our Chriftian courfe. The proper ufe and improvement of this

doctrine is not to fit ftill and take our reft, because God gives us his Holy Spirit, but relying on the affistance of his fpirit to move forwards in our Chriftian race. Seeing God worketh in you, therefore work out your falvation. Up therefore and be doing, feeing the Lord is with you. You not only ac with the force of Providence on your fide; you have not only the Captain of Salvation fighting with you; but you have alfo his Spirit within you, leading you on to victory.

In the last place, Let us exprefs our gratitude and praise to this divine Guest, who vouchsafes to be our guide and our comforter; let us be careful not to grieve and offend him by wicked actions, left he withdraw himself from us; and let us always remember, that he who is a pure and holy Spirit, cannot dwell in polluted hearts, and in temples that are not his own.

SERMON

ISAIAH XXVI. 20.

XXII.

Come my people, enter thou into thy Chambers, and fhut thy doors about thee.

WITHOUT viewing these ́words in

connection with what goes before or follows after, I fhall confider them as containing an exhortation to religious retirement. Man was intended by his Creator for fociety. All the powers of his frame, the faculties of his mind, and the qualities of his heart, lead him to the focial ftate as the state of his nature. But although man was made for action, he was also intended for contemplation. There is a time when folitude has a charm for the foul; when weary of the world, its follies and its cares, we love to be alone, to enter into our chamber, to fhut the door about us, and in filence to commune with our heart. Such a retirement, when devoted to pious purposes, is highly useful to man, and moft acceptable to God. Hence the holy men are represented in Scripture as giving themselves to meditation ; hence Jefus Chrift himself is defcribed as fending the multitude away, and going apart to the mountain.

An opinion once prevailed in the world, and in many parts of it ftill prevails, that all virtue confifted in such a retreat; that the perfection of the Chriftian life confifted in retiring from the world altogether, in withdrawing from human converse, in

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