gives us both the will and the power; for it is he who worketh in us both to will and to do. It is the Spirit of God within us, who causes us to walk in his statutes, and to keep his judgments, and do them. And thus the prophet has taught us of what benefit the holy Spirit is to man during his journey through this life. We cannot so much as set out upon our journey to heaven, until he cleanse all the faculties, by removing the blindness of the understanding, and the depravity of the will and affections. It is his office to to give us a new heart and a new spirit, disposed to receive impressions of the divine law, and then to endue it with power to walk in the statutes of God, and to keep his judgments, and to do them; so that every step we take from the first moment we set out, until we happily arrive at the end of our journey, is directed and supported by the holy Spirit of God. This is the prophet's doctrine, which I come Secondly, To apply to your spiritual use and benefit. And if we make a right use of it, we must not only endeavour to be convinced of its truth, but also to find the power of it operating upon our lives and conversations; for it would be to no purpose to believe, that the holy Spirit is the author and finisher of the whole work of grace, if this belief should rest unoperative in the head, and never dispose us to seek the experience of it in the heart, and in the rest of the faculties. Since his grace is to cleanse us from all the pollutions of sin, and to create in us a new heart, and to renew a right spirit within us, and to give us power to walk in the way of God's commandments, let us not hear these truths as mere speculative points, but let us suffer the conviction of them to operate in our lives, and to carry us to seek our own interest in them. And I hope the blessed Spirit will render profitable to these good purposes what I have to offer concerning the usefulness of his guidance throughout the journey of life. Sin polluted the whole man, and made every part and power unclean and abominable altogether, and the prophet ascribes to the holy Spirit the whole work of cleansing the soul. His grace is necessary to purify every faculty. He begins with removing the darkness of the understanding, and enlightening it with all-saving truth, of which by nature we are ignorant. Sin rendered us incapable of seeing spiritual objects. It did not entirely destroy the organ of sight, but it entirely stopped all communion between it, and the fountain of light, and brought the soul into such a state as the body would be in, if the sun was blotted out of heaven, and the moon and stars were no more to reflect their enlivening rays upon the earth. This would be a most uncomfortable and heavy night, in which, although the bodily organ of sight remained, yet these outward objects would be as invisible, as if the organ was quite destroyed. And sin produced the same effects in the spiritual world. Every son of Adam is in darkness and the shadow of death, until the holy Spirit of God enlighten the eyes of the understanding. St. Paul's account of the Gentiles is this, (Eph. iv. 18).they had the understanding darkened, being "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance "that is in them, because of the blindness of their "heart." Sin darkened the understanding and alienated them from the life of God, by separating them from that divine light, which is the principle of their spiritual life, and therefore they lived no longer unto God, but were cut off from all intercourse and communion with him. In this state of darkness and blindness we all continue, entirely ignorant of the things of God, until his good Spirit manifest them unto us. The natural understanding in its highest refinement cannot discover them; "for the natural man receiveth not the things "of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto "him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) The natural man cannot receive spiritual things. God must reveal them unto him by his Spirit, before he can have the least discernment of them, even what is revealed con J cerning them in scripture cannot be discerned, until the holy Spirit open the eyes to behold it. And under the sense of this truth the prophet thus intreats God, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wond"rous things out of thy law," Psalm cxix. 18. to open the eyes to behold them was the work of God. And again he prays, "Give me understanding," (it was the gift of God)" that I may learn thy commandments. "I am thy servant, give me understanding, that I may "know thy testimonies," Psalm cxix. 73, 125. And to the same effect St. Paul prays for his Ephesians, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give unto them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, "that the eyes "of their understanding might be enlightened." This was the work of God. He was to give unto them the Spirit, and the Spirit was to give them wisdom, and to reveal the knowledge of God to them, by which means the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened. This is the doctrine of scripture; and I may confirm it from an authority, which I esteem next to the word of God, and that is the sense of our church upon this point. In the collect for the 5th Sunday after Easter she teaches us to pray, " O Lord, from whom all good "things do come; grant to us thy humble servants, "that by thy holy inspiration we may think those "things that be good," &c. We cannot so much as think a good thought, unless we have the holy inspiration of God: and again on the 9th Sunday after Trinity we pray, "Grant to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be right"ful, that we who cannot do any thing that is good "without thee, may by thee be enabled to live accord"ing to thy will, through Jesus Christ our Lord." To the same purpose we read in the third part of the homily for Rogation week, "Let us meekly call upon "the bountiful Spirit, the Holy Ghost, to inspire us with "his presence, that we may be able to hear the goodness "of God to our salvation. For without his lively in 66 ❝spiration, can we not so much as speak the name of "the mediator. No man can say, that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Much less should we "be able to understand these great mysteries, that be "opened to us by Christ. For we have received, saith "St. Paul, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit "which is of God, for this purpose, that we may know "the things which are freely given to us of God. In "the power of the Holy Ghost resteth all ability to "know God and to please him. It is he that purifi"eth the mind by his secret working. He enlighten"eth the heart to conceive worthy thoughts of Almighty God." These authorities are clear. They expressly declare, that we cannot think such things as be rightful without the holy inspiration of the Spirit of God. These are the sentiments of scripture, and of the church of England, concerning the first step we are to take in our Christian course. 66 By removing the darkness of the natural understanding, and by enlightening it with all saving truth, the holy Spirit enables us to see the way to heaven, the next step is to dispose the will to walk in it: for after we see the right way, yet we have no desire to walk in it, until he renew the heart. It is the work of his grace to incline the will, and to dispose it aright, that it may consent to the will of God: for our wills are by nature corrupt. The will of the flesh is opposite to the will of God; and our affections are so depraved, that they choose only evil, and continually. "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great "in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Gen. vi. 5. And this continually evil heart is also obdurately evil. It is stony and rocky, harder than adamant. All the powers in nature cannot soften it. Sin has rendered it incapable of any good impression, unless it be made by an almighty arm. He alone who created the heart can make it relent before him. To soften an hardened heart is as great a work as to create 66 a world, and therefore the prophet prays, "create in 66 This is the language of our church. On Christmas day we use these words, "Almighty God-grant that "we being regenerate, and made thy children by adop"tion and grace, may daily be renewed by thy holy 66 Spirit," &c. And again on the 19th Sunday after Trinity we pray, "O God, forasmuch as without thee "e are not able to please thee; mercifully grant, that thy holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our "hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord." We are taught the reason for offering up these petitions in the 10th article of free-will. |