Secondly, as the Comforter.

The natural man is conscious of deriving some consolation from natural objects, and so is the spiritual man from the Holy Ghost. He knows by his own experience that the Spirit of God is the Comforter in his soul. He feels such support under trials, and peaceof mind as the world cannot give. Christ had comforted his disciples by his bodily presence, but when about to depart he said, the Father "shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." When this promise is fulfilled to any child of the Most High, he finds peace in believing in the Lord Jesus, and joy in the communion of the good God, who occupies his humble breast. He converses with the Sanctifier within him: and therefore in pronouncing the Apostolical benediction, we say, "the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all." 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Hence Paul conjured the Philippians to obedience, by the "fellowship of the Spirit," as well as the comfort which they had in Christ. Philip. ii. 1. Stand aside, alluring world; be absent my hearers, for a moment: cease, the preacher; and let me commune with the Everlasting Jehovah, that now within me moves to holy intercourse!

"Wilt thou dwell within this bosom, O my God?"

"Canst thou doubt it? Lo, I dwell with every one that is of a humble and contrite heart."

"If thou hast made a temple of this body, O thou Holy One, who inhabitest eternity, I beseech thee, show me thy glory."

“I will cause all my goodness to pass before thee; for I am the Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in compassion."

"Now I know of a truth, that thou art my God, for thou hast caused me to see, and trust thee. Whom have I, O God, in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth I desire in comparison with thee."

Lo, I see heaven open, and the Son of God. descends to earth. He clothes himself with human nature; he obeys in the form of a servant, and, accursed for my sins, dies. I believe in him; he promises to save me, and I know that flesh and blood have not revealed this, but the Spirit of Jesus. Sweet communion! Blessed Spirit! never forsake me.

And he will not, for all Christians find the Holy Ghost dwelling within them,

Thirdly, as the Spirit of Union.

By taking possession of our hearts to give us the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, the Holy Ghost effects our union to the Lord Jesus. Christ, the Head, and to all believers, the mystical body of the Redeemer. It is the Spirit who brings us into such a covenant relation to Jesus for salvation as is ever accompanied with feelings of union to him and his. cause. Of these feelings we may be conscious,

and the Bible assures us that they are some of the fruits of the Spirit. Christ is the vine; believers are the branches; and if I may extend the figure, the Holy Spirit is the vital fluid which connects the whole. The branch could not be connected with the vine, nor live in this union, without the prevalence of the fluid which God has rendered essential to the existence of vegetable life: neither could we be one with Christ, so that we should live in him, and he in us, without the all-prevalent efficacy of the Spirit of truth and consolation. Without Christ we should be dead; and without the Holy Ghost we should be destitute of union to him. The same Spirit teaches us, that the saints are our brethren, and causes us to love them for Christ's sake, so that we have fellowship with them, and enjoy comfort in their society. Hence John says, (1 John iv. 11.) "beloved, if God so loved us, we ought "If we love one also to love one another." another, God dwelleth in us." Of this love to God and his people Christians may be as conscious as of their natural affection for their partners, or children, or parents; and hence they may be convinced of the inhabitation of God the Spirit of truth, comfort, and union. Finally, the people of God are sensible that the Spirit dwells in them,

Fourthly, as the Spirit of Sanctification.

To make any one hate sin is the work of the Holy Ghost; but the disciples of Jesus

feel an utter abhorrence of transgression. They lament the past alienation of their lives from God, and therefore seek to live near him in future. They feel an unconquerable enmity against those lusts which they once cherished; and who is he that destroyeth sin in us, and enables us to overcome the world, but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of purity? It is he who casts out the foul spirit from the madman among the tombs, and induces him to pursue holiness in the fear of God. It is he who casts out slavish fear from the bosom of a sinner, and makes him a good soldier of Jesus Christ. In short, when we have evidence of possessing the graces of the Spirit, we have proof that he has taken up his abode in our hearts. You cannot see his operations, neither can you see the motions of the fluids in the vine, but you have evidence, in the fruits produced, of both. Let any one pluck a cluster of grapes, and he will say, the branch

from which I took them was connected with the vine, and partook of the juice and fatness of the root. In like manner, let any one discover the illumination, the hope, the fear, the love, the penitence, the courage, the progressive sanctification, the good works of the Gospel, and he may affirm, that the person who bears these fruits is savingly united to Christ, by the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost. We are persuaded, my hearers, that the Holy God

B

does as truly dwell in the saints, as he did in the temple at Jerusalem, between the cherubim, or as he now does in heaven. Yes, believer, the Spirit of God as certainly dwells in you, as your souls inhabit your bodies. He is in each child, who is led by him in the paths of purity, as evidently as the speaker and his hearers are within this church; and I cherish the opinion, that I have proved the fact, to the conviction of your minds.

Our attention is now required by THE SE

COND PROPOSITION,

That every act of saving faith must be ultimitely ascribed to this inhabitation of the Holy Ghost. I qualify this statement by the word ultimately, because in the first place faith is ascribed to the believer himself. Faith is HIS act. Once, however, the same person who now believes, did not believe. While he was a natural man he never performed one mental operation which could be called faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, nor had he any such discernment as is requisite to faith; "for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the the things of the Spirit."*" The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know then, because they are spiritually discerned." Without the spiritual discern

* Rom, viii. 5.

+1 Cor. i. 14.