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THE 
 
 Git OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 
 UNBELIEVERS ann BELIEVERS. 
 
 BY 
 Rev. GG) Re VAUGHAN, D. D., 
 
 OF THE SYNOD OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Richmond, Da. : 
 PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 
 1894. 
 
COPYRIGHTED 
 
 BY 
 JAS. K. HAZEN, Secretary of Publication, 
 1894. 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 WHITTET & SHEPPERSON, 
 
 RicHMonpD, Va. 
 
TO 
 
 ROBERT LEWIS DABNEY, D. D., LL. D., 
 
 THE EARNEST CHRISTIAN, 
 
 THE BRAVE AND FAITHFUL MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, THE PROFOUND 
 
 THEOLOGIAN, THE DEEP PHILOSOPHER, 
 THE VERSATILE THINKER, THE ACCOMPLISHED WRITER, 
 THE INCORRUPTIBLE PATRIOT, THE BELOVED FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 
 AND AGE, 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, 
 A FAINT BUT TRUE TESTIMONY OF ESTEEM AND 
 AFFECTION, 
 FROM THE AUTHOR. 
 
I] 
 
 A 
 
PIRI AC, LE, 
 
 N these days when the issues of the press are so numerous, 
 and the multitudes of readers are so greatly increased, it 
 might be a sufficient apology for a fresh publication, to 
 say it was a legitimate attempt to supply a possible pub- 
 lic want, justifiable under the law of supply and demand. 
 This vindication rests on the implied idea that for new 
 works on old subjects, and, possibly, on new ones, apol- 
 ogy is necessary. But this is absurd; it is an offence to 
 the undoubted rights of authors and readers alike, to con- 
 ceive that any legitimate attempt to supply any legitimate 
 want of the human intellect needs any apology. Lvery 
 man has a right to teach his views under his own responsi- 
 bility, and every man to seek the information he may desire 
 to possess on any legitimate subject of inquiry. This rule is 
 specially applicable to any endeavor to aid in the extension 
 of religious knowledge, or the increase of Christian activity, 
 or the development of Christian experience. This last is 
 the main object of the following treatise. It does not seek 
 to enlarge the boundaries of Christian knowledge, unless the 
 attempt to restate the old familiar truths of the gospel of 
 grace in the forms they have assumed in a re-thinking of 
 them under the current modes of thought in the passing era 
 can be so called. The object is wholly practical. There are 
 no new speculations here. The discussion only seeks to 
 extend the application of some of these venerable truths to 
 the practical experience of Christian peopte, and to restate 
 the terms on which the Christian hope may be obtained by 
 5 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 those not yet entitled to indulge it. That there is need for 
 some enlarged application of the glad tidings of great joy in 
 order to the increase of Christian comfort among the ser- 
 vants of Christ, has long been clear to the writer. It has 
 appeared in his intercourse with many Christians in the 
 course of his work as a pastor in many parts of the church 
 whose banner it has been his business and delight to carry 
 for many chequered years. One of the most marked defects 
 in the Christian character and experience of the present era 
 is the want of legitimate and obligatory Christian joy. The 
 standard of Christian activity is high, perhaps higher than 
 it has ever been, except in some two or three periods during 
 the nearly nineteen centuries of the Christian era. The 
 energy of Christian work and the liberality of contribution 
 to the revenues of the kingdom are commendably great in 
 -many directions. The work of missions at home and 
 abroad, the private and associated labors of individual 
 Christians, the formation of great voluntary societies, the 
 extended work of evangelists, the various objects of special 
 reforms, and the enormous activity of the Christian press, all 
 warrant the assertion of a superior energy in the forces of 
 the kingdom. This energy in work ought to be attended 
 with a corresponding increase and prevalence of Christian 
 comfort. In isolated instances it may be seen. But the re- 
 sult of years of observation directed to this very subject 
 makes it clear, in the judgment of the writer, that there is 
 grave defect in this regard in multitudes of modern believers, 
 in those in whom the title of Christian appears to be vin- 
 dicated by the fruits they bear in other directions. Itisa 
 sad deficiency. It not only saddens those whom the gra- 
 cious Lord has not saddened, but disobeys and defeats the 
 gracious will of him who has commanded his servants to 
 “rejoice in the Lord always,” and who has expressed his 
 own solicitude that this command should be obeyed, by the 
 emphatic reduplification of his order, “And again I say 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 rejoice.” It is a grave discount of that holy faith which 
 claims to be glad tidings of great joy, by showing how little 
 substantial and abiding comfort it actually develops. What 
 is more, this want of joy is want of strength; it brings not 
 only a want of enjoyment, but a want of usefulness ; for the 
 joy of the Lord is pointedly declared to be the strength of 
 his people. With the suitable development of this spirit of 
 joy, the energies now in exercise would not only be elevated 
 in tone, but redoubled in extent. Nothing would give such 
 power to a proclaimed gospel as the universal prevalence 
 of this deep and staunch spirit of real and habitual joy in 
 the Lord. Nothing would quench the spirit of infidelity like ; 
 this undeniable and priceless benefit to human happiness. 
 Infidels, just like other men, feel the pressure of the stern 
 conditions of human life. They are as eager for happiness 
 as other men; and if they could see the practical demonstra- 
 tion of the power of the Christian faith in producing those 
 effects on the human heart, on the scale of extent and degree 
 which the gospel itself challenges its servants to test and 
 realize, their attitude towards the gospel would be pro- 
 foundly modified. They would become as keen as other 
 men to share in a peace whose reality could no longer be 
 questioned, whose value could no longer be disputed. 
 
 The causes of this defect in the Christian character of the 
 age may not be far to seek, but it is now beside our purpose 
 to seek them. It is enough to note the fact, for proof of 
 which it is not unlikely the experience of the vast majority 
 of Christian people might be safely challenged. Even those 
 of whom it is least true will acknowledge that their highest 
 and most durable joys fall far below the warrant for joy in 
 the great Christian foundation for it. There can be no 
 doubt that there have been few to share in the exceeding 
 joyfulness of Paul, though the warrant of hope be the same, 
 and the field of lawful endeavor to obtain it is open to every 
 believer. 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 The object of this treatise, in the latter part of it especially, 
 is to help the beloved of the Lord in the direction of this 
 increase of the comfort of hope. But it does not seek to 
 develop the whole gospel basis of it. It confines itself to 
 the inward work of the Spirit. The great primary founda- 
 tion of Christian joy is laid in that work of the Saviour of 
 sinners which secures the actual justification of a sinning 
 soul. To introduce a discussion of the forensic side of the 
 great salvation would be to make a discussion designedly 
 limited to the work of the Spirit embrace a treatise on the 
 whole gospel. If the justification which is by faith is a real 
 justification; if it not only exactly reverses all the effects of 
 condemnation to which it is constantly opposed and con- 
 trasted in the Scriptures, but positively establishes the 
 opposite effects in legal standing, then, beyond a doubt, a 
 justified soul is a saved soul; a soul absolutely saved, so far 
 as a sure title guaranteed by the veracity and power of God, 
 in advance of a complete actual realization, can be said to 
 secure safety. This affords a foundation for hope which 
 cannot be equalled. Hope is the present expectation of a 
 future good, and a sure hope cannot possibly be vindicated 
 except on the basis of absolute certainty of the future good. 
 The relation of the Redeemer’s work to the joy of his people 
 becomes clear; and assuredly no effort of the human mind 
 to magnify the conception of the indebtedness of a guilty 
 race to his grace could possibly overstate the case. But the 
 realization of this and the other great results of the work of 
 the Redeemer in the heart and consciousness of the indi- 
 vidual is left to be wrought by the finger of the Holy Ghost. 
 It is his allotted part to take of the things of Christ and show 
 them unto us. It is his to unseal the full meaning of doc- 
 trine and promise, precept and prophecy. It is his to purge 
 the inward vision, to quicken the intuitions of the mind, to 
 soften and sweeten the affections that the heart may receive 
 the just impress of the truth, to give that faith which is the 
 
* 
 
 PREFACE. 9 
 
 substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not 
 seen, to restrain and eradicate the evil energies that obscure 
 the vision and prevent the natural effects of the glad tidings 
 of great joy. In a word, it is his office to give effect to the 
 whole wonderful revelation of the divine mercy to a sinful 
 race. Truth not rightly apprehended loses all its power. 
 The mind of the learner must be opened to receive it. 
 There must be a connection between the mind and its ob- 
 jects. All the power of the truth, whether to quicken, or 
 comfort, or purify, is dependent upon this open apprehen- 
 sion. It is the office of the Blessed Spirit to control this 
 essential communication by controlling the apprehensive 
 mind of the seeker after safety. He guides the understand- 
 ing; hé moulds the heart into this capacity of rightly ap- 
 prehending the truth. He does this in various ways ; ways 
 varied by the truth itself, by the relation of the individual 
 to the covenant of grace as a believer or unbeliever, and by 
 the object he may have it in hand to accomplish. Some 
 truths are designed and adapted to produce certain effects ; 
 other truths, other effects. The Spirit works accordingly ; this 
 is true in both departments of his work, in the conversion of 
 the unconverted, and in the sanctification of the converted. 
 The work is done by distinct influences, producing distinct 
 effects in both classes of persons, but in ways incomprehen- 
 sible by us. The object of this discussion is to illustrate 
 some of these influences, under the names appropriated to 
 them in the sacred record, on both classes of their sub- 
 jects. 
 
 Many years ago the mind of the writer was strongly drawn 
 to a more special study of the general and special acts of the 
 work of the Holy Spirit by a little treatise on the Love of 
 the Spirit, by the Rev. Robert Phillip, Incumbent of 
 Maberly Chapel, near the city of London. Mr. Phillip was 
 one of those lovely and deeply-instructed ministers of the 
 Lord Jesus who have illustrated the evangelical party in the 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 Church of England. His little book on the Love of the 
 Spirit was issued apparently about the year 1832. He was 
 also the author of several other treatises of an intensely 
 evangelical character, among which, [/is Guides to Devotion 
 have been reprinted in this country by the Carters, of New 
 York. The gem of his productions is the little treatise on 
 the grace of the Blessed Comforter; we would rather have 
 written that simple, but striking history of the dealings of 
 the Spirit than to have written Hamlet or Othello. The 
 work is now out of print; but it ought never to be allowed 
 to perish. Mr. Phillip illustrates the love of the Spirit in 
 his various broadly classified works in the soul, such as 
 awakening, conviction, conversion, and sanctification; and in 
 some of his special works in the soul of the believer, such as 
 sealing, unction, witness bearing, and calling to remem- 
 brance. Our own discussion follows closely in some particu- 
 lars the series of topics, because essential to the development 
 of the subject; but the treatment is different under each, and 
 quite divergent under some, while necessarily similar in 
 some respects. Acknowledging gratefully our obligation to 
 his deep spiritual discernment, and grateful for the personal 
 benefit derived from his work, our more pronounced adhe- 
 sion to the Calvinistic theology has compelled a more dis- 
 tinct tracery of the gifts of the Spirit to their fountain in the 
 distinguishing grace of the Father. Mr. Phillip was nota 
 Calvinist pronounced, but it is curious to see how his deep 
 spiritual intuitions and his rich experience of grace led him 
 to assert premises which he was not prepared to follow to 
 their conclusions. While the lines of thought in the two. 
 discussions necessarily run parallel in treating the same 
 truths, the treatment will be found so different as to show 
 that the relation of a pupil to his master may be honorably 
 sustained, without servile imitation on one side, or unlawful 
 and unconfessed appropriation on the other. The two dis- 
 cussions may be well handled together; and if the gracious 
 
PREFACE. AL 
 
 work of the English preacher is destined to see the light no 
 more, it will be a grateful reward to his Virginian follower 
 to hope that his less valuable work may partially take its 
 place, fora time, in helping the Master’s pilgrims on their 
 way to the Celestial City. Its highest aim is to be a vade 
 mecum with some of the marching host. 
 
 The original design was simply to illustrate the gifts of the 
 Spirit to believers. But on submitting the MSS. to one of 
 the loveliest Christians he has ever known, who unites in @ 
 high degree the capacities of a profound thinker with the 
 most attractive charms of popular eloquence, the suggestion 
 was made that the discussion be extended to the dimensions 
 of a treatise on the whole work of the Spirit. The sugges- 
 tion has been followed to a certain extent; and the discus- 
 sion on the gifts of the Spirit to unbelievers has been added. 
 Neither pretend to be exhaustive. His valued encourage- 
 ment to publish had been preceded by the requests of 
 others. If our personal sense of independent and unquali- 
 fied right to discharge the commission of a gospel teacher, 
 both with pen and tongue, needed any such support as the 
 desire of others, it might be justly claimed. Originally de- 
 livered as sermons in the ordinary discharge of pastoral 
 duty, they were often followed by the request of elders, pri- 
 vate Christians, and brother ministers of the sospel, to put 
 them in a shape in which they could be permanently handled. 
 So often and so earnestly was this done, it may have been a 
 possible call of a higher authority to do it. At all events, 
 these requests have created a boldness in attempting it which 
 might never have sprung from a simple conviction of a right 
 to do it. As the great desire of the writer was more com- 
 pletely to discharge his commission as a teacher of the gos- 
 pel, and in a shape to do it after his lips are cold, he has 
 sought to do it by honoring that blessed one to whose 
 patient and tender grace he owes so much, through all the 
 vicissitudes of a life not free from trial, both in his personal 
 
12 PREFACE. 
 
 experience and in his official work. The discussion itself will 
 show that the author has sought no praise for learning or 
 profundity of thought. If, by the favor of God, the work can 
 find its way to the hands of any class of inquiring sinners, 
 and, as he originally designed and hoped, it shall prove ever 
 so small an aid to the struggling saints of the Lord Jesus, 
 -by stimulating them to seek for larger and more abiding 
 measures of the joy of his salvation, his dearest wish will be 
 accomplished, and he will give hearty thanks to him who has 
 commissioned his ministers to comfort his people. 
 
 C. BR. V. 
 
COMNTMEINTUS: 
 
 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 PAGE, 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Restramr or Depravity anp Movutpine or tHE Mora Nature, Leh 
 CHAPTER II 
 AWAKENING INFLUENCE, = ; : é ; ; : Al 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Convictina INFLUENCE, : : : : - ; : 57 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 REPENTANCE, : : AQ. : : : . 73 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Fairs, a aw: : : : ; : OL 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Tue Necessiry oF REGENERATION, . : : : ' oo Ay 
 CHAPTER VIL. 
 Ture Nature oF REGENERATION, . : E ; : a eLb3 
 GHAGB ENERGY Lil 
 Tur Nature or REGENERATION—Continued, . : we, el 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Tur EvipEences OF REGENERATION, . ; é : : oo aki ak 
 
 13 
 
14 ConrTENTS. 
 
 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Tue Speciay Girt or THE Hoty Sprerr Himsetr to BELIEVERS, 
 
 CHAPTER II: 
 
 Girt oF A Pecutiar Knowiepcs or Inrurrion to BEeLievers, . 
 
 CHAPTER ITI. 
 
 Girt or KnowLepGre or Turee Parricutar Trurus to Br- 
 LIEVERS, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT, . 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Tae Uncrion or Tae Spi, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THe WIrtNEss OF THE SPIRIT, : : : - A 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THe Earnest oF THE Spirit, . 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Tue Lrapine oF THE Spirit, 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Tue Inrercession or THe Spirit, . 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Tue Comfort oF THE Spirit, 
 
 PaaH, 
 
 211 
 
 227 
 
 242 
 
 259 
 
 276 
 
 291 
 
 303 
 
 321 
 
 334 
 
 350 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Tur Sprrit as A REMINDER, 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Tur Love oF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Tue Sprait in Pustic WorsHIP, 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Tur PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT, 
 
 15 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 363 
 
 376 
 
 391 
 
 403 
 
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fs LO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 OpHeAS Pe eh haets 
 
 RHSTRAINT OF DEHPRAVITY AND MOULDING OF .THE 
 MORAL NATURE. 
 
 ‘‘ He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilely with his ser- 
 vants.”— David in Psalms. 
 
 ‘« And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.’—Moses in Haxodus. 
 
 “‘God gave them over to a reprobate mind.”—Pawl in Romans. 
 
 18 HE doctrine of the influence of the Holy Spirit on 
 the human heart is one of those doctrines of the 
 
 inspired books towards which the carnal mind has always 
 displayed the most uncompromising hostility. It has been 
 denied as false; it has been scorned as fanatical; it has 
 been assailed with positive hatred as an offence to the dig- 
 nity and virtue of man. No weapon of argument or invec- 
 tive has been spared in the assault upon it. No restraint 
 has been put on the virulent feeling it awakens in the open 
 enemies of evangelical religion; and in the case of many 
 who avow a general respect for the Christian faith there is 
 a secret and strong contempt for the doctrine itself, for those 
 who accept it, and especially for those who profess them- 
 selves to be actual subjects of this gracious influence. We 
 do not propose, in a brief discussion, whose object is con- 
 fined to the treatment of a single class of the influences of 
 the Spirit, to vindicate at length the truth of this doctrine. 
 We shall only briefly suggest one or two of the main points 
 in the evidence. The word of God asserts it in the most. 
 aif 
 
18 GIFTs TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 positive terms, and describes the various effects designed to 
 be accomplished by it. The action is described as a secret 
 touch on the soul, which does not interfere with the ordinary 
 laws which regulate mental action. Its immediate effects 
 are, therefore, not distinguishable usually from the usnal 
 manifestations of the operations of ordinary thought and 
 feeling, and the real nature of the influence could, perhaps, 
 never be known as a divine influence, except for the teach- 
 ings of the Scriptures. But those teachings do afford a test 
 of the truth of these operations, and of the source from 
 which they come, of a most searching character. Not only 
 the fact of the intervention of the Holy Ghost, but his 
 detailed operations are asserted, and drawn out in their vari- 
 ous consecutive and independent relations. This action and 
 that are described; this object and another are asseited. 
 This modification of thought and that manifestation of feel- 
 ing are exhibited. These effects are said to be produced by 
 the influence of the Spirit, and to be incapable of intro- 
 duction into the mind when that influence is withdrawn. 
 These effects are said to be exerted under certain condi- 
 tions, and, if they are true, they will certainly be registered 
 in human consciousness, and are consequently subject to 
 inspection and report, just as any other mental modifications 
 are subject to it. 
 
 The doctrine of the Spirit’s influence, resting primarily on 
 the testimony of God in his word, is thus brought secondarily 
 under the jurisdiction of human experience and human tes- 
 timony. As the record describes the consecutive mental 
 states and the conditions under which they will arise, and 
 under which alone they can arise, itis obvious that the com- 
 plication and interdependence of these processes of thought 
 and feeling will make up an experimental test of the doctrine 
 sufficient to satisfy every rational demand. Inasmuch as 
 many o: these effects are claimed to be profound and perma- 
 nent modifications of character, moral tastes, inclinations, 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. 19 
 
 feelings, affections, principles of action, and sources of joy 
 and grief, and through these of the whole line of conduct in 
 the entire lives of men, it is obvious that human experience, 
 in long-protracted and varied forms, can be brought to test 
 this doctrine of the Holy Scriptures. To say that this ex- 
 perience, revealed in the testimony of living men, is not to be 
 received on such a subject, is absurd. Why may not a 
 series of mental modifications on the subject of religion be 
 as truly observed and reported as a series of mental modifi- 
 cations on any other subject? Shall it be said that men are 
 so peculiarly liable to be deceived on this peculiar subject, 
 so open to the influences of enthusiasm, fanaticism, and the 
 misguidance of their own fancies, that their testimony is 
 worthless? Admitting the allegation would only impose tho 
 obligation to make the test sufficiently stringent and diver- 
 sified to sift the testimony to any reasonable extent. If 
 some men are easily liable to imposition, there are others 
 who can be trusted to report the facts in their own conscious- 
 ness, and the field of inquiry is so vast in this case as to 
 satisfy any demand possible to be made. Shall it be said 
 that the observation of mental phenomena and the tracing of 
 their mutual relations is a difficult thing for the disciplined 
 few, and an absolute impossibility for the untrained many? 
 The answer is obvious. The matter to be reported is a sim- 
 ple series of facts in consciousness, which does not require 
 profound capacities of mental analysis or trained habits of 
 mental introspection to report them. It would be intolerable 
 to impeach a plain man’s assertion that he had a memory, or 
 that he remembered certain thoughts, and the feelings they 
 awakened. His attempt to explain the phenomena, of 
 which his consciousness and memory are perfect—to elab- 
 orate the laws and distinguish the interdependence of his 
 mental states—might be reasonably impeached ; but his re- 
 port of simple facts lying in his consciousness is entirely 
 reliable. The human mind is no more liable to be deceived 
 
20 Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 in observing and reporting the current of conscious feeling 
 on the subject of religion than on any other subject. Nor 
 are the more recondite inter-relations and laws of religious 
 mental states any more incapable of just analysis by compe- 
 tent metaphysical talent than those of any other kind of 
 mental states. Suppose that one of these open enemies of 
 the Christian gospel were asked to state the real nature of 
 Lis feelings towards it. He would have no hesitation in say- 
 ing I dislike it; and no profound mental investigation or 
 analysis of his mental states would be at all necessary to 
 enable him to report his feelings reliably. If this was de- 
 manded of him as a condition to his being believed, he 
 would at once see the absurdity of it. The state of his feel- 
 ing would lie clear in his consciousness, and he would feel 
 himself seriously aggrieved if any one should doubt the truth 
 of his report. 
 
 Now, suppose a change should take place in this feeling, 
 and instead of dislike, he should learn to like the faith he 
 once despised. Would not this change be just as easily dis- 
 cerned in his consciousness, and be just as reliably reported, 
 as the original state of his feelings? No man can question 
 this; yet this simple and irresistible method of getting at 
 the facts of consciousness is the mode in which the testi- 
 mony of the millions of evangelical Christians to the facts 
 of Christian experience is given, and proves that testimony 
 to be absolutely trustworthy. Perhaps this changed enemy 
 of the gospel may be a disciplined metaphysical thinker, 
 capable not only of observing the facts, but of tracing the 
 relations and interdependence of the facts in the changes he 
 reports. There is room for the exertion of the highest men- 
 tal acumen in observing and discriminating the mental phe- 
 nomena developed by the work of grace. This species of 
 human testimony would have its own peculiar value; but it 
 would not at all discount the value of the testimony given 
 by the mass of evangelical people. The simple and direct 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. ya 
 
 testimony to the facts of consciousness may be even more 
 valuable to many an investigator, who might rely on the re- 
 port of the facts, and yet not altogether confide in the dis- 
 tinctions and relations between the facts as reported by the 
 philosophic observer. But in point of fact, both of these 
 classes of witnesses to the operations of the Holy Spirit are 
 available ; they can be found in every variety, from the high- 
 est and most profound metaphysical intellects, down along the 
 whole scale of gradation, among minds not metaphysically 
 trained, from the best of such minds to the humblest. They 
 can be found in the literature of successive generations of 
 Christians, in every age of the Christian era, and among 
 many nationalities of the human race. The testimony is not 
 merely sufficient, it is overwhelming, and the doctrine of the 
 Spirit’s influence stands impregnable; jirst, on the basis of a 
 positive divine testimony ; and second, on the basis of a hu- 
 man experience and testimony on a scale of magnitude and 
 worthiness of confidence unapproached on any other similar 
 subject in the annals of the world. 
 
 Tn plain truth, the doctrine of the Spirit’s influence is an 
 irresistible and not remote inference from the doctrine of the 
 divine existence. How any one who admits the existence of 
 a Deity at all can seriously balk at the doctrine of the possi- 
 ble contact of the Holy Ghost with the human soul, is one 
 of those anomalies of human thought which passes the 
 bounds of human comprehension. God exists; he is the 
 maker of all other beings or things that exist; he has made 
 them for a purpose; and to suppose an impassable barrier 
 between him and his creatures, shutting him off from all 
 communication with them adapted to their several na‘wes, 
 and thus abandoning the original end and purpose of their 
 creation to absolute uncertainty of accomplishment, is in- 
 consistent with the very notion of an intelligent and all- 
 powerful being. Such a being under such conditions of re- 
 straint is impossible. The notion is absurd. The necessity 
 
22 Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 of this ability to communicate with the creature grows more 
 obvious in proportion to the degree in which the creature 
 rises in the scale of being, and the ends to be accomplished 
 by him increase in importance. Man stands at the head of 
 the earthly scale; he is a being of endowments, absolutely 
 grand and awful in the sublimity of his nature and the pos- 
 sibilities of his career. To say that God cannot come into 
 contact and communion with such a being, to instruct and 
 cuide, to aid and defend, to control and mould him, so as to 
 accomplish the possibilities of good and avert the possibili- 
 ties of evil incident to his nature and the circumstances of 
 his position, is to assert a proposition as cruel as it is ab- 
 surd; as perilous in point of morals as it is foolish in point 
 of sense. 
 
 Tf, then, it cannot be rationally denied that the Creator 
 may come into effectual relations with his creatures, and em- 
 phatically with man, it is totally irrational to impeach the 
 credibility of the influence of the Holy Ghost. That doc- 
 trine is only the specific statement and explanation of the 
 mode in which this possible contact of God with man is re- 
 alized. It differs from the general conception of the divine 
 influence on this particular creature merely as the specific 
 differs from the general on all subjects which admit of the 
 distinction. The one proposition. asserts a fact; the other, 
 the mode of the fact. There is no inconsistency in saying a 
 mab traveled to a certain place, and in saying he traveled 
 there on horseback, or in a carriage. The statement of a 
 fact in general terms is not at all impeached or discredited 
 by the additional statement of the mode or method in which 
 it occurred. Everything that happens must happen in a 
 certain way. If God communicates with any creature he has 
 made, there must be a certain way in which he does it, and 
 this way will be adjusted according to the nature of the 
 creature. The power of God will be exerted in one way on 
 a vegetable, in another way on an irrational animal, in an- 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETO. 23 
 
 other and altogether different way on a rational and account- 
 able being. His intellect will be affected by some intelli- 
 gent method; his moral nature will be affected by some 
 moral influence; his faculties will all be appealed to by an 
 adjustment suitable to each one of them. There is no de- 
 nying the possible influence of the Holy Spirit but by deny- 
 ing the existence of God. To admit his existence is to ad- 
 mit the necessary attributes of his character; and to admit 
 both of these and to deny the possibility of his communica- 
 tion with any work of his hands, and especially with the 
 most important of them all, is an absolute contradiction. It 
 is to deny the possibility of religion altogether. It is to 
 render the unquenchable religious instincts of the human 
 being absolute anomalies; to predicate faculties without any 
 adjustments to them in the system of the universe. ‘The ex- 
 istence of these religious proclivities of human nature is as 
 absolutely unquestionable as the proclivities of his intellect 
 towards knowledge, or of his appetites towards physical 
 gratifications. The one may be as safely denied as the other. 
 But all the adjustments of nature are truly made, and the re- 
 ligious instincts of the human soul point resistlessly to the 
 existence of God and to his conversableness with man. If he 
 is conversable with man, the influence of the Spirit on the 
 human heart cannot be logically denied, since it is only the 
 mode in which this conversableness is realized. If logically 
 possible, the proof of the influence, as a matter of fact, may 
 be safely left to rest on the evidence in the case, as already 
 discussed, the testimony of God in the inspired books and 
 in the experience of his servants. 
 
 9. The reality and the actual nature of the gifts of the 
 Spirit to unbelieving men will be brought into view by con- 
 sidering the nature of sin and its inevitable natural tenden- 
 cies on the nature of the violator of law. All the creatures 
 of God are subjected to a law suitable to their natures; they 
 are conditioned to live; and the well-being of each is abso- 
 
24. GiFts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 lutely dependent on conformity to these conditions which 
 constitute the law of their being. The bird is conditioned 
 to live in the air, and the fish in the water. Let either of 
 them break these laws of their being; let the fish leave the 
 water and essay to live in the air; let the bird leave the air 
 and essay to live in the water, and the consequences will be 
 unavoidable. Suffering and death will ensue. If man vio- 
 lates the law of his being the same result will appear; his 
 nature will be injured; his strength and healthfulness will 
 be damaged; his comfort will be impaired; and as the final 
 effect death will emerge. If he violate the laws of his physi- 
 cal constitution, his physical nature will degenerate, and his 
 physical comfort will be destroyed. If he violate the law of 
 his intellectual nature, his intellectual power will be damaged, 
 and the operation of his faculties will be troublesome. If he 
 violate the law of his moral nature, the grandest and most 
 important department of his wonderful constitution, that 
 department of his nature will become morally corrupt, and 
 the peculiar distresses of such a disorder, coupled with the 
 peculiar sufferings of a guilty conscience, will follow. Sin 
 is the transgression of moral law; even the breach of a 
 positive divine statute is a breach of moral obligation to 
 obey God. The effects of sin inevitably appear more or less 
 directly in three directions—in the incurrence of guilt, in the 
 influx of depravity, and in the introduction of suffering. 
 
 Our attention is now drawn to the reaction of sin on the 
 nature of the transgressor. Sin is an energy of tremendous 
 power; it works towards all its natural effects with a swift, 
 relentless proclivity. Every sinful act recoils on the inward 
 nature of the actor, and stamps an indelible impression upon 
 it. Each act imprints its own likeness, and the varied forms 
 of sin develop a complicated and rapid picture of all evil on 
 the soul. Wicked men grow worse and worse. The law of 
 increase by exercise is all-powerful in things evil, as it is in 
 things good. There is also something contagious in moral 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. 25 
 
 evil, which makes it peculiarly subject to this law of increase 
 by indulgence. The great range of this influence of moral 
 depravity is another distinct element to be considered in 
 estimating the fearful character of its dominion. As the 
 moral law covers every energy of every department of human 
 nature, the moral energy of the soul which adjusts it to the 
 law is incessantly called into play, and its reactionary effect 
 on the moral nature is incessantly exerted. It affects the 
 powers of the understanding, colors its perceptions, affects 
 the judgment, pollutes the fancy, enfeebles the memory, 
 weakens the capacity of invention, corrupts the sense of wit 
 and humor, blunts the intuitions of right and wrong, and in 
 the extreme cases of its deadly influence inverts that master- 
 ful distinction, and appears to annihilate the ability to dis- 
 criminate it altogether. By its deadly reaction sin works 
 an enormous deterioration in all the energies of the human 
 heart, hardens the sensibilities, corrupts the affections, in- 
 flames the passions, distorts the positive volitions as well as 
 the transient impulses of the will, and kindles all the ener- 
 gies of the moral nature into more and more dangerous in- 
 struments of fresh and progressive mischief. It not only 
 perverts and deadens the intuitions of conscience, but 
 weakens and often destroys to all appearance the authority 
 and restraining power of conscience. Sin exerts a swift and 
 inflexible influence to deprave the whole man, and, by neces- 
 sary consequence, to affect his activities in every possible 
 relation he can sustain to all other beings. It renders him 
 more and more unfit to discharge the functions of every rela- 
 tion whatever. It makes him a worse father, husband, 
 neighbor, citizen, soldier, or civilian. As its evil energies 
 take effect and continually grow, he will become more unfit 
 for duty, more and more dangerous as a factor in society. 
 A certain degree of sensibility to the charms, and a certain 
 practical regara to the positive obligations of truth, justice, 
 kindness, and integrity, is essential to the very existence, to 
 
26 GIFTs To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 say nothing of the happy working, of society. The larger 
 measures of them are indispensable to the higher develop- 
 ments of a genuine civilization. The perception and prac- 
 tical acknowledgment of the binding force, the equity, the 
 wisdom, and the absolute necessity of the great moral con- 
 ceptions, is essential to the peace of families, to the welfare 
 of neighborhoods, to the safety of states, to the operations of 
 commerce, to the progress of learning—in a word, to all the 
 well-being of mankind... To the individual man a measure of 
 compliance with the demands of personal integrity is indis- 
 pensable to his safety and comfort. The unrestrained indul- 
 gence of his own passions will certainly and speedily work 
 out his destruction. From this swift, relentless, unpausing, 
 and universal tendency in sin to work out all its natural 
 effects, and especially this tendency to corrupt the very 
 nature and fountain of energy in the transgressor, the con- 
 clusion is irresistible, that unless some vast restraining 
 power is introduced to check and hold under a competent 
 restriction this enormous and deadly energy of sin, there 
 would be no possible prevention of all the complicated evil 
 consequences that would inevitably flow from it. 
 
 We are now at a point of view which will enable us to 
 form some idea of the grand influence which the Holy Spirit 
 of God exerts upon unbelieving and ungodly men for their 
 personal and associated well-being. He exerts that grand 
 restraining influence without which there can be no such 
 things as home, society, government, civilization, or indi- 
 vidual enjoyment anywhere among all the millions of the 
 sinning human race. He restrains both the sinful acts and 
 the natural tendencies of the acts within some tolerable 
 bounds. He prevents these evil tendencies from running 
 down into their extreme degrees, and thus secures all the 
 great advantages which are dependent on some effective 
 moral energies in the character and conduct of the individual 
 and the associated man. The nature of this influence can 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. 27 
 
 only be described in general terms. The method of its exer- 
 tion, like all the evangelic work of the Spirit, is wrapped in 
 impenetrable mystery. It is mainly a restraining influence 
 upon the evil energies it undertakes to combat. But there is 
 also, no doubt, a communication of positive good on a lesser 
 scale, a grant not of that saving grace which he gives under 
 the limitations of God’s eternal counsel where the gospel is 
 preached, but an effective aid in the culture of the moral vir- 
 tues in the pagan heroes, without which the natural effects of 
 unrestrained sin would have rendered impossible. But the 
 the main action is restraint upon sin. 
 
 Let us look at some of the features of this vast benefit to 
 an unholy world. By some few speculators, misinterpreting 
 certain expressions in the word of God, he has been sus- 
 pected of the gross dishonor of infusing moral evil by a posi- 
 tive communication into the hearts of those unhappy men 
 who have brought themselves under God’s judicial anger. It 
 is supposed to be capable of vindication because it is judi- 
 cially done, as the execution of a penal sentence. A few 
 still more desperate speculators have affirmed it, as not only 
 done, but sovereignly done, and apart from all judicial con- 
 siderations whatever. But whether the conception is based 
 on considerations of judgment or sovereignty, the idea of the 
 Holy God positively infusing depravity into a creature’s na- 
 ture is utterly false, as false as it is blasphemous. God is in 
 no sense the author of sin. It is an absurdity in itself; the 
 very notion involves impossibility, not merely from the moral 
 qualities of the divine nature, but in the nature of the thing 
 supposed. Moral depravity is lodged in the human wi// ; it 
 is a manifestation of will in man, and the very nature of the 
 case, as the manifestation of will in one being positively ex- 
 cludes it as founding in the will of all other beings. But, 
 more than this, the desperate theory is excluded by the ab- 
 solute superfluousness of the demand, even supposing it to 
 be possible. There is no necessity for God to infuse de- 
 
28 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 pravity, even as the execution of a judicial sentence. All he 
 need do is to withdraw restraint on the native impulse and 
 energy of sin. If there is any just occasion for the interpo- 
 sition of judicial wrath, and in the exercise of his sovereign 
 good pleasure in selecting the mode of executing the judicial 
 decree, he pleases to allow the transgressor to run into more 
 ruinous excesses, he has no need for any positive action. 
 All he would have to do would be to withhold his restraining 
 grace, which he is under no obligation to exert, and let loose 
 the sin which he has hitherto dammed back in the unholy 
 heart. This was the process by which he hardened Pha- 
 raoh’s heart, and gave all the heathen world over to a repro- 
 bate mind. These instances illustrate two distinct points: 
 First, the matter of fact of a removal of restraining grace in 
 judicial cases; and second, this removal demonstrates the 
 prior existence of the restraining grace before the parties 
 were given over to the free play of their own wickedness. 
 What was true of illustrative instances is true of the whole 
 illustrated class. This is proved by the relentless tendency 
 of sin towards its own natural effects—a proclivity to in- 
 crease and intensify in the soul indefinitely, just like a viru- | 
 lent disease in the body to run to its extreme results. Both 
 will inevitably, and with more or less rapidity, do this, unless 
 checked by some opposing force. ‘To cure in either case, an 
 influence, not merely to check, but to reverse the course of 
 the destructive tendencies, is indispensably necessary. 
 
 A brief citation of some of the gifts of the Spirit to ungodly 
 men in heathen as in Christian lands can now be made. 
 While the list shall be short, the blessings themselves are 
 immeasurably great. 
 
 _ 3. By his restraint on the growth of depravity in the 
 human heart, the Holy Ghost preserves the moral element 
 in human nature from running down into a complete paraly- 
 sis and incapacity of any degree of good moral energy. The 
 total depravity asserted in the Scriptures is a totality of ex- 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. 29 
 
 tent, not of degree. A single sin extinguishes spiritual life, 
 that holiness which is essential to the perfect integrity of 
 moral action, but does not bring to perfection that evil energy 
 which takes the place of the extinguished holiness. That 
 evil energy increases with every evil act to which it leads. 
 The loss of life is complete, but the corruption which ensues 
 may exist in a limitless variety of degrees. Total depravity 
 pervades all the powers of the soul; it excludes from the acts 
 of the soul, and the character or habit formed by those acts, 
 all absolute and perfect good; but it exists in a vast scale of 
 degrees, and is capable of an endless succession and assort- 
 ment of such varieties. An immortal being endlessly violat- 
 ing law will never reach a limit to his possible degradation. 
 He will grow worse and worse in his nature the more he 
 multiplies sin in his acts. He will grow worse and worse as 
 long as he acts, which will be forever. But even in this 
 world the moral nature in man is capable of a deterioration 
 fearful to comtemplate. The restraints of the Spirit are de- 
 signed merely to check, not to prevent, the growth of depravity. 
 Particular instances in the case of individual men are often 
 allowed to disclose the fearful results of a depraved will 
 from which the restraints have been partially removed; for 
 even in these instances the suspension of the blessed restraint 
 is only partial. Particular instances on a larger scale, show- 
 ing the effects on bodies of men, are sometimes disclosed in 
 what are called the barbarous tribes of the human family. 
 Among these degraded races the moral degradation proceeds 
 to such extreme lengths as to almost efface the traits of 
 human nature altogether, and develop a positive brute char- 
 acter, as much more dangerous than the fiercest of the original 
 brutes as the improved ingenuity of a rational intellect 
 exceeds the instincts of the mere animal being. Some are 
 degraded until the very existence of any rational capacity is 
 left disputable. Moral conceptions are found reduced to 
 the lowest apparently possible scale among these miserable 
 
30 GIFTs TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 creatures, and the results are seen in the wretchedness and 
 incessant perils which distinguish their ordinary lives. The 
 influences of the Spirit restraining the natural progress of 
 depravity leaves the moral energies, not indeed capable of 
 any activities really holy, but capable of an effective sense of 
 justice and benevolence, civil wisdom and prudence, and the 
 force of moral obligations generally. The moral intuitions 
 of the understanding are preserved in some effective and 
 useful degree. The sensibilities of the heart are left capable 
 of impressions of humanity. The affections remain capable 
 of domestic and social love, the sense of honor, the love of 
 country, literature and art, capable not only of sympathy 
 with noble ends and ideas, but of improvement on a vast 
 scale. These valuable traits can be carried to a noble de- 
 velopment by wise discipline and educational training, by 
 the restraints and the stimulants of civil society, public 
 opinion and private influence. The styptics of moral em- 
 balmment may long preserve the beauty of the dead from dis- 
 solving in the ultimate processes of corruption, though they 
 can no more restore spiritual life to the soul than physical 
 life to the body when either have departed. But that which 
 is preserved for effective service in the present life is of in- 
 estimable value; it constitutes the main source of human 
 happiness in this strange world. The debt of obligation to 
 the gracious Spirit of the Lord for securing this inestimable 
 benefit to unbelieving and disobedient men is supremely 
 sreat. All the good effects of this retained efficiency of the 
 moral energies are due to this gift of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 4, Among these good effects we may cite the preservation 
 of moral knowledge, the just conception, as far as it goes, of 
 the nature and authority of moral truth. Apart from the re- 
 vealed word of God, this knowledge is very imperfect, — 
 and, with the Scriptures, the moral conceptions of vast 
 multitudes are also gravely deficient. But still, the re- 
 traints of the Spirit on the growth of depravity, and per- 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. OL 
 
 haps some positive aid to the moral intuitions, have left 
 moral ideas to an effective influence of inestimable value. 
 In the restrained moral nature, moral ideas spring up; moral 
 obligation is felt in at least some measure of its authority; 
 moral rules are discovered; moral principles, as impelling 
 forces to action, are inculcated; moral speculations develop 
 theories and schools of moral philosophy. Moral notions, 
 regulating feeling, character, conduct, are felt to be the in- 
 dispensable cement of the social structure, without which it 
 could not exist. It comes to be seen, that without these 
 conceptions no human relations could be supported. They, 
 therefore, rise to a strong and invaluable ascendency, per- 
 vade every branch of advanced human society, and make pos- 
 sible all the sources of comfort, and all the noble enterprises 
 for which society provides. Jor this effective knowledge of 
 moral truth, even where the Christian records are unknown, 
 and for all the good effects that knowledge secures, men are 
 bound in gratitude to the Holy Spirit. 
 
 5. One more beneficial etfect of the restraining influences 
 of the Spirit on ungodly men, is the prevention of the dan- 
 _ gerous prevalence of abnormal wickedness in individual men, 
 and the prevention of particular crimes in men of the com- 
 mon standard of character, and less frequently, perhaps, 
 but with even wider benefit, in nations and smaller commu- 
 nities. Allusion has been made to the fact that moral mon- 
 sters are occasionally seen; any great prevalence of these 
 characters would be a momentous calamity. What are 
 called the vicious, or dangerous classes, are discoverable in 
 the great cities of states highly civilized, in greater or less 
 numbers, and in the regions occupied by half-civilized noma- 
 dic tribes. These classes are the terror of the communities 
 in which they are found, and to the regions opened to the 
 incursion of these lawless marauders. History samples both 
 in the No Popery riots in London during the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, and in the invasions of Attila and the Saracens. Un- 
 
32 GiFrTts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 less these ruthless classes can be held under the terrors of 
 the law, civil or military, no security for life or property can 
 be found. If the whole or the bulk of the population were 
 made up of such characters, all the ends of civil society 
 would be annihilated. Even an occasional specimen of these 
 extreme cases of moral lawlessness is enough to destroy the 
 security of a whole neighborhood. The occasional unloos- 
 ing of the restraints which occasion these dangerous mani- 
 festations illustrates the value of the restrictions which 
 only allow them to appear unfrequently. The more severe 
 operations of human law would be far oftener called into 
 action if it were not for the restraining agency of divine 
 power through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Often, too, 
 beyond a doubt, the exasperated passions of individual 
 men are turned into safer channels by his secret touch. 
 The rage of Esau was thus averted from Jacob. Often, too, 
 the violent counsels of national governments, or riotous 
 masses of seditious mobs, are turned aside. The depraved 
 condition of human nature affords a perilous basis for par- 
 ticular temptations. No one is exempt from the prudent 
 as well as holy obligation to pray, “lead us not into tempta- 
 tion, but deliver us from evil.” The sudden and violent in- 
 fluence of strong temptation has placed many a humane and 
 generous disposition on the verge of a criminal action which 
 would have darkened the whole future of life. The secret 
 restraints of the Holy Spirit in the critical moment have 
 often averted crime and its calamities, and when this is done, 
 a great mercy is bestowed. The counsels of nations are 
 sometimes as effectually modified. 
 
 6. To this grand restraining and modifying influence of 
 the Holy Spirit is due the development of civilization, the 
 safe accumulation of wealth, and all the vast benefits condi- 
 tioned upon it, and all the conditions which make learning 
 and scientific investigations possible. To it is it due that 
 there is such a thing as a respectable man in a depraved 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. 30 
 
 race. ‘To it is due the existence of that confidence which 
 makes trade and commerce possible. To it is due the pro- 
 tection of law, and the benefits of civil government. To it is 
 due the development of art in all its forms. To it is due the 
 existence of homes, and the refining and enjoyable influences 
 of refined society. In one word, all earthly good rests wpon 
 it as its ultimate bases; for the natural tendencies of sin in 
 the human heart, left without restraint, would soon render 
 society impossible, and overwhelm the very existence of the 
 human race under the violence of its own lawlessness. 
 
 7. Among the gifts of the Spirit to unbelievers are found 
 all those evangelical influences, of every kind and degree, 
 brought to bear, previous to conversion, on the views and 
 character of unconverted men. Besides those special influ- 
 ences of divine grace in the positive awakening and effective 
 natural conviction, which will receive a special treatment in 
 the progress of this discussion, there are special positive as 
 well as restraining influences of the Holy Ghost, which are 
 brought to bear on ungodly men living under Christian 
 institutions. Hffective religious education and training in 
 religious observances, the discipline of a Christian home, 
 the regular instructions of the pulpit, the example and direct 
 influence of pious friends, protection from dangerous asso- 
 ciations, restraint from committing particular sins and en- 
 tering scenes of special temptation, salutary impressions 
 from particular afflictions, are all brought to bear on multi- 
 tudes of men previous to conversion. These influences 
 often work profound and permanent modifications of char- 
 acter stopping short of conversion; but their effectiveness 
 is due to the influences of the Spirit restraining the coun- 
 teracting energies of evil which otherwise would have 
 defeated them. Apart from his grace no means would 
 prove capable of permanent or efficient results. Without it 
 the ominous birds would pick up all the carefully chosen 
 and scattered seed. Those gracious influences are not 
 
 3 
 
34 Girts Tro UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 merely restraining, they are also active im making and re- 
 straining the impression. There is nothing in the unmodi- 
 fied state of an unregenerate heart to welcome or give 
 healthy aid to evangelical truth. So far as such aid is 
 given and abiding impressions are made in forming the 
 conscience and moulding the judgment of Christian ideas, 
 it is due to the influence of the Spirit. As in the communi- 
 cation of his saving grace the influence of the truth employed 
 must be accompanied by his positive power, it is in accord 
 with this analogy to make all other moulding influences de- 
 pendent on lesser measures of the same power. There is 
 no room to question this from an evangelical point of view. 
 This positive influence exerted on unregenerate men under 
 gospel training renders it credible, to say the least, that, 
 even among the unchristian populations of the world at 
 large, the agency of the Spirit, while mainly restrictive, is 
 not altogether confined to that species of action. It becomes 
 credible, at least, that the moral ideas which became effec- 
 tive in shaping the private and public virtues of some pagan 
 heroes and other less distinguished individuals of pagan 
 society, were aided in producing their effects by some posi- 
 tive exertion of divine power and grace. It is evident that 
 the afflictions of the great Babylonian prince, Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, were so sanctified to him as to profoundly modify 
 his views of the God of Israel, if they did not lead to his 
 actual conversion. In the case of Cyrus the Great, a man 
 raised up to accomplish great special purposes under the 
 providence of God, it is most likely that his character was 
 moulded by special influences to those virtues which were to 
 be so necessary in accomplishing the work assigned him. 
 Undoubtedly it would be an error to discount all effective, 
 natural influences in the moral discipline of the heathen 
 mind. But it is certainly in keeping with the analogy of 
 Christian truth, and the necessity of the Spirit to give it 
 saving effect, to suppose some similar, though less effective 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. 35 
 
 influences of the same blessed agent to give effect to the 
 moral ideas which moulded the virtues of a pagan com- 
 munity. If this speculation is true, it is obvious that unbe- 
 levers do receive gifts of the Holy Spirit, stopping short of 
 regeneration, which are, nevertheless, of great value, and 
 that these gifts are something more than merely salutary 
 restraints. They are positive grants, which exert a com- 
 manding influence in the development and maintenance of 
 the virtues which secure the private happiness and the pub- 
 lic usefulness of a heathen community. 
 
 The notion that the zntedlectwal achievements of the great 
 pagan minds, the philosophy of Socrates, or the poetry of 
 Homer, are to be attributed, as much as their moral virtues, 
 to the secret influences of the Holy Spirit, is not so clear or 
 eredible. Doubtless these great intellectual works are indi- 
 rectly attributable to his restraining power; for had the 
 depravity in these great men, as in all other men, been 
 allowed to work out without restraint along the lines of sin’s 
 inevitable tendency, the great lights of their immortal genius 
 would never have shone out on the track of the advancing 
 ages. But that their great intellectual work was positively 
 due to any positive grants of the Spirit, is another and a less 
 credible thing. There is no evidence to prove it. It would, 
 in fact, be an injury to the doctrine of the obligations of an 
 ungodly world to the grace of the Holy Ghost to discount 
 all real and effective energy in the gifts of the Creator in the 
 sphere of nature. All gifts of body, mind, and heart are 
 from him, acting in the sphere of creation, and to him is due 
 the praise and gratitude for giving such valuable gifts; but 
 the praise is due to him as Creator, and to ascribe the 
 efficiency of these gifts to a secret divine influence in the 
 sphere of grace is to discount his glory in the sphere of 
 nature. ‘There is real intrinsic efficiency in the physical and 
 intellectual gifts bestowed by the Creator. But this is only 
 true of the physical and intellectual divisions of his creative 
 
36 Girrs to UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 work, and only true of them in part; for both of them have 
 been grievously injured by the moral decadence of human 
 nature. In the moral sphere it is different, for the obvious 
 reason that in the moral sphere man has destroyed his origi- 
 nal endowments for perfect moral action, and needs the in- 
 terposition of the power that gave them to restore them 
 again. But his physical and intellectual endowments, though 
 sreatly injured by the ruin of his moral and spiritual gifts, 
 have not been destroyed altogether, and may, therefore, be 
 fairly credited with the praise they may deserve. Homer, 
 as a great intellect, reflects praise on the being who created 
 him. Homer, as a transgressor of law, is indebted to the 
 grace of the Holy Spirit for so restraining the natural ten- 
 dencies of the sin that was in him as to give free play to his 
 glorious genius. 
 
 8. There is something inexpressibly grand and heart-mov- 
 ing in the conception of the work of the Spirit of God in 
 this strange world. It is a scene in which evil is everywhere 
 intermingled with good, and good with evil. This condition 
 of things is altogether anomalous, and indicates a very pecu- 
 liar operation in the causes that produce and account for it. 
 On the regular principles of moral government, the violation 
 of law is at once followed by the stroke of its penalties, and 
 the scene presented is a scene of unqualified misery. But 
 when actual good appears intermingled with evil in an ad- 
 mitted scene of violated law, it indicates the introduction of 
 another cause, and a peculiar modification of the regular ad- 
 ministration of a moral government. The Scriptures explain 
 it by the revelation of the wonderful purpose of God to save 
 sinners, to dispute the dominion of the fallen world with the 
 powers of darkness. To carry out this strange conception, 
 the scene of revolt has been placed under the regulation of 
 grace, as well as under the operation of law. Hence the 
 chequered scene of human existence. The evils which pre- 
 vail are due to the violation of law, and all the good that 
 
 ~ ee, ple 
 
J 
 
 RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. ot 
 
 prevails is due to the operation of grace. Hence the strange 
 anomalies of disease and health, death and life, joy and grief. 
 Hence the still stronger anomaly of pleasures in sin, and 
 sinners having more than heart can wish. Hence the para- 
 dox of joy in tribulation, of the righteous in trouble, the 
 faithful servants of the revealed will of God perplexed, but 
 not in despair, cast down, but not destroyed, persecuted, but 
 not forsaken. Hence many a blessing bestowed on those 
 who abuse them, long years of prosperity given to the un- 
 godly and the ungrateful. Hence the strangest anomaly of 
 all, of high but qualified private and public virtues, respect, 
 ability, and just claims to esteem, in beings whose hearts are 
 alienated from God, in whose natures the power of sin is en- 
 trenched with an energy which no force can dislodge except 
 the power of God himself. To support this conflict of the 
 ‘good against the evil is the purpose and work of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 As the dispute between the contending elements is literally 
 co-extensive with the race, and as the objects of the disputed 
 supremacy are literally every object of human pursuit, the 
 benignant influences of the blessed agent of the divine good- 
 ness extend literally over the whole extent of the human 
 race. He guards the happiness of families, and the peace 
 of communities. He keeps his hand on all the sources of 
 human well-being. In the cottages of the poor, in the halls 
 of the rich, in the tents of the wandering nomad, in the 
 homes of the refined, in the wigwam of the savage, in the 
 palaces of the great, wherever any measure or degree of 
 sood affections are found qualifying the universal intrusion 
 of evil, there the traces of his benignant restraints and posi- 
 tive helps to what is good are to be found. He thus quali- 
 fies the policies of governments in peace and war, according 
 to his own sovereign good pleasure, softening the rough 
 usages of military conflict with the gentle influences of 
 humanity, and throwing the regards of melting sympathy over 
 
38 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 the sufferings and deficiencies of the poor in peace. What- 
 ever advance in science and the arts of invention can be 
 turned to the good of the human family are more or less 
 directly due to his goodness. It is not unreasonable or un- 7 
 scriptural to suppose that in all the discoveries which have 
 increased the supplies of human food, in the enlarged trans- 
 portation which has made them available to millions of the 
 poor in distant quarters of the earth, in the discovery of 
 remedies for disease, in all the inventions that tend to elevate 
 and improve the condition of human life, that his hand has 
 been somewhere concerned. 
 
 It is altogether probable that the great supporter of the 
 good, in its conflict with the evil, will aid in everything 
 which can contribute to the increased power and the final 
 supremacy of the cause which he champions. Then under 
 the institutions of the gospel, through which his main work 
 is to be done, his mighty energies are incessantly employed. 
 He sustains and invigorates the spiritual life of every be- 
 jiever. He secures the kind of prayer that conditions the 
 life-giving power. He secures the right knowledge and 
 proclamation of the truth. He checks the spread of errors 
 in doctrine and practice in the church according to his own 
 wise will. He maintains the godly example of the saints, and 
 the spread of the kingdom over the earth. All this reveals 
 one vast department of his work. He applies the truth to 
 the hearts and consciences of the ungodly. He restrains 
 and overcomes the subtle influences that impede their return 
 to their allegiance. He regulates the views and feelings 
 which tend to lead to permanent reconciliation. He effect- 
 aally awakens the dull sleepers to their danger, and con- 
 vinces them sufficiently of their sin to make them seek with 
 all their heart for the way of salvation. He executes that 
 final crowning wonder, the raising of a dead soul to life, and 
 then takes up his abode within to complete the purification 
 he has begun. Here his gifts to the unbeliever cease, and 
 
RESTRAINT OF DEPRAVITY, ETC. ° og 
 
 his gifts to the believer begin. All this discloses another 
 grand department of his work. Brooding unceasingly over 
 the lost world, entering with more or less energy, with more 
 or less permanence into every lost soul, ruling the depraved 
 millions of its inhabitants, guiding its progress, concerned 
 about all that affects its well-being, this subject of the gifts 
 of the Holy Spirit to unbelieving and rebel men expands 
 our conceptions of the divine benignity, until we feel that 
 the enterprise is worthy of the infinite and loving character 
 of the Lord God Almighty. 
 
 This wonderful encounter of grace with sin is peculiar to 
 this world. The King is busy in hell, dealing with the felons 
 of the abyss; hopeless of good to them, he deals with their 
 sin only to execute justice. Busy in heaven in raising the 
 saved sinners along an endless scale of elevation, he has 
 there no sin to encounter. But on earth he is busy with sin 
 and misery to deliver from both; he is here working out an 
 enterprise which will crown the long series of his glorious 
 works with the most splendid of them all; an enterprise in 
 which grace, the sweetest modification of infinite love, shall 
 win the loftiest trophy of all his infinite excellences. What 
 are called the “common operations” of the Holy Ghost are 
 embraced in these incessant and universal movements to re- 
 strain the sin of the world, and to bring those sinners who 
 are favored with gospel ordinances to lay hold on eternal 
 life. These effects on the ungodly under gospel influences 
 are indicated by periods of thoughtfulness about the issues 
 of human existence, by restlessness of conscience, by sensi- 
 bility to the appeals of the truth and providences of God, by 
 half-formed resolutions to repent, and by the earlier motions 
 of the soul in awakening and conviction. The operations of 
 the Spirit, of which we have spoken as wrought over the 
 whole human race in the restraint of sin and in the develop- 
 ment of such relative good as may be found, are truly his 
 common operations. The value of them cannot be ade- 
 
40) GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 quately apprehended. If they were altogether suspended, 
 even for the briefest period of time, the consequences would 
 be fearful. All that is good in this life and earthly sphere, 
 and all that is promising of more immeasurable good in pre- 
 paring a lost immortal to receive the gospel and to become 
 an heir of everlasting life, is due to the vast, rich gifts of the 
 Holy Spirit to unbelieving and disobedient men. 
 
GHA Bia Ere bls 
 AWAKENING INFLUENCE. 
 
 ‘(WHEREFORE he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
 dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”— Paul to the Hphesians. 
 
 HE relations of the Holy Spirit to the unconverted, in 
 
 the administration of the covenant of grace, are of 
 inexpressible importance. It is his function to reprove 
 the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; and 
 until he does this work there is no prospect of salvation. 
 This preliminary work of grace is generally divided into two 
 classifications, which, although in some aspects of the case 
 interlocked with each other, present differences sufficiently 
 marked to justify the distinct classification employed in de- 
 lineating them. One of these embraces what are called the 
 awakening influences of the Holy Spirit, and the other, the 
 convicting influences of the same gracious agent. There are 
 two forms of conviction of sin, one previous to conversion, 
 and the other subsequent to it. With the first of these, 
 awakening is always and closely connected, so that it is not 
 easy to consider them apart, even in thought. Awakening 
 has its chief reference to the danger which sin has entailed; 
 but this cause of the danger necessarily comes under view in 
 considering the danger itself. The awakening, then, is really 
 an awakening to sin as well as to danger, although the refer- 
 ence to sin is secondary to the apprehension of the peril it 
 has induced. This apprehension of both may exist on a 
 wide scale of degree’, from mere uneasiness to a tragic in- 
 tensity of feeling; but in all its degrees it is the result of 
 those awakening and partially convictive influences of the 
 Holy Ghost which precede regeneration. Leaving any fur- 
 
 41 
 
42, Gifts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 ther attempt to draw the distinction between the apprehen- 
 sion of sin which does not lead to salvation and that which 
 does, at the present, we design to call attention to the state 
 of the human mind which makes an awakening necessary as 
 a preliminary process in the work of grace. 
 
 The Scripture accounts of the mental states of a soul born 
 under the existing conditions of human nature in this world 
 describe them in strange terms, as “asleep,” “blind,” “un- 
 conscious,” and in still stranger terms, as ‘‘ dead,” ‘ dead in 
 trespasses and sins,” and ‘needing to rise from the dead.” 
 Still more strangely, they are commanded and exhorted “to 
 rise from the dead,” and to awaken themselves in the very 
 srasp of their deadly sleep. The strangeness of these terms 
 is partly due to, and at the same time partly explained by, 
 the unquestionable fact that these dead and sleeping souls 
 are alive, intelligent, active, full of curiosity, full of strong 
 passions, energetic, resolute, and wide awake to all the de- 
 mands of the present life. In the face of such a fact, the 
 sleep and the deadness must have reference to some peculiar 
 insensibility and incapacity of action which is entirely con- 
 sistent because co-existent with this acknowledged activity 
 It must refer to a particular disability in a certain direction 
 and towards a particular object. Such a partial and particu- 
 lar mental disablement may be compatible with activity to- 
 wards certain other objects. This is a condition of things 
 not at all uncommon ‘There are many things which are 
 true, and known to be true, which excite the strongest in- 
 terest of some minds and never enter the thoughts nor 
 awaken the smallest concern in others. The common laborer 
 passes by a hundred weeds and wild flowers without any- 
 thing more than a bare recognition of their presence and 
 their obtrusive qualities, without any ethought of the won- 
 derful mysteries that are involved in them. To these he is 
 blind or dead. Everything that exists is full of hidden sig- 
 nificances which never excite a thought, and to which many 
 
AWAKENING INFLUENCE. 43 
 
 an active and energetic mind is as dead and insensible as if 
 there was no subject of discovery or thought involved. A 
 man may be color blind, and at the same time possess a very 
 active and intelligent understanding. But under that singu- 
 lar disability, with all his mental activity he is as completely 
 dead to all the glories of color as if no splendor of hue was 
 incorporated in the works of nature. These instances show 
 us that the paradox is, notwithstanding the appearance of 
 contradiction, true in fact; that the view may be perceptive 
 and yet insensible, and, therefore, it is altogether possible 
 for a man to be intellectually intelligent and yet spiritually 
 blind; that he may be active in some things yet dead in 
 others; that he may know many a fact, and yet be utterly 
 insensible to the real significance and force of the fact. If, 
 now, this insensibility is the result of moral causes, the pro- 
 duct of sin, the datum of a depraved state of the faculties 
 which condition responsibility, there is no escaping the con- 
 clusion that man is justly accountable for the spiritual death 
 that isin him. This is the general scope of the Scripture 
 doctrine about the s/eep and death of a sinful soul. It refers 
 to a certain insensibility which co-exists with every, even the 
 highest, degree of mental energy, and is found in every soul 
 of the human race without exception. It isa natural trait in 
 every fallen moral agent. It does not assert that man has 
 not and cannot have any idea of God at all, but that he has 
 no just conception of what he is. 
 
 In the higher grades of this corrupt and misguiding influ- 
 ence, the very idea of God may become obscured and oblit- 
 erated. Nay, the understanding, under a correct education, 
 may form the conceptions of the divine attributes intellec- 
 tually just, but no process of mere culture can unveil the real 
 quality of those attributes, and render them agreeable to the 
 affections of an unrenewed heart. A man may know that 
 God is just, and have a grave and deep conviction of the 
 essential value of such a quality in the Governor of the uni- 
 
44 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 verse; and yet that very quality may make him uneasy, and 
 excite his fears instead of his affections, under the conscious- 
 ness of his own sin. If he saw God as he is, he would de- 
 light in his glorious qualities; he would love him. But an 
 unholy heart perverts his discernment, and he remains blind 
 and dead to the real character of God. Nor does this doc- 
 trine of spiritual blindness mean that man has no ideas, and 
 even correct conceptions, as far as they go, of the law and 
 the government of God ;- but it means that feelings and affec- 
 tions, alienated from holiness, obscure to his view the real 
 quality and excellence of those two grand expressions of the 
 divine nature. If he was not blind to them, he would love 
 them. The Bible doctrine of the spiritual slumber and the 
 spiritual death of a fallen soul affirms a similar effect of in- 
 sensibility to the real force and significance of all the grand 
 facts and doctrines of man’s spiritual condition. Some of 
 these are discovered in the Bible; some of them lie in the 
 open sphere of experience and consciousness; yet all are 
 more or less oppressed and sunk out of view by the same 
 deadly state of the mind as colored by the carnal heart. 
 Take the melancholy conditions of human existence in this 
 world, death and the uncertain terure of life. No man is 
 more certain that he lives than he is that he will die. 
 Nothing is more sure than the uncertainty of life. Yet prac- 
 tically, these facts make little or no impression on the masses 
 of mankind; the mind is dead to them. In like manner, the 
 disquiet of conscience, and the consciousness of habitual 
 wrong-doing, are recognized and disabled of their genuine 
 weight and impressiveness. The sense of accountability is 
 similarly disabled and deadened. All the great doctrines of 
 the Christian faith are thus disabled in millions of minds 
 which have never had or harbored a doubt of their truth. 
 The facts in human nature and in human life, as well as the 
 doctrines of religion, are so apprehended that the mind re- 
 mains as insensible to their real force and meaning as if it 
 
AWAKENING INFLUENCE. 45 
 
 were rendered insensible by death or deep sleep. This in- 
 sensibility remains in the natural mind even when the recogni- 
 tion of them in their purely intellectual aspects may lead to 
 very active religious service, to the building of churches, to 
 the support of a costly religious ritual, and to the fierce pol- 
 emic defence of religious dogmas. The real difficulty is not 
 removed, the blindness and the deadness remain, until the 
 Holy Spirit begins his marvelous work. 
 
 2. The awakening of the Spirit is just the breaking up of 
 this insensibility to a certain extent. It is not regeneration, 
 which is the actual giving of life, a passing from death to 
 life. It is a restoration of sensibility within the bounds of 
 that natural energy of the intellect, heart, and conscience 
 which we have seen to co-exist with the spiritual death and 
 sleep induced by sin. It stops short of spiritual life. The 
 understanding is quickened to apprehend something more of 
 the facts than it ever did before, though not to the full com- 
 prehension of them. The conscience is quickened to feel 
 more of what is involved in the facts, yet under the same 
 limitation. The heart is correspondingly affected. No new 
 truth is revealed to the understanding, but new and more 
 just views of old ideas are introduced, though still short of 
 what is necessary to be known; and instead of the absolute 
 want, or of a totally insufficient degree of feeling suitable to 
 the facts, some approximately suitable feeling is awakened, 
 though not yet altogether suitable. Awakening and convic- 
 tion are generally treated together, and this is altogether 
 proper in reference to that species of conviction which pre- 
 cedes conversion, because there is a most intimate relation 
 between them, and they generally, in greater or less degree, 
 appear in the consciousness at the same time. But there is 
 a marked difference between awakening and that species of 
 conviction which accompanies, or, more accurately, flows 
 from conversion. Awakening, and the conviction which gen- 
 erally attends it, is not saving; many a soul has been awak- 
 
46 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 ened and made subject to mere natural convictions of guilt, 
 and thus aroused to intense anxiety and active effort to ob- 
 tain deliverance, and yet has again subsided into utter un- 
 concern. <A partial or imperfect, or, as we have called it, 
 natural conviction of guilt, differs from that full or perfect. 
 conviction of sin which always leads to genuine repentance, 
 and thus to safety. This difference will be more fully devel- 
 oped hereafter; for the present we note one or two of the 
 leading distinctions. 
 
 There is such a thing as a natural conviction of sin, and 
 although dependent more or less on the common operations _ 
 of the Spirit, appears frequently on the commission of the 
 higher crimes, especiaily in the early career of a criminal. A 
 detected thief or adulterer feels guilty. A murderer often 
 feels keenly the guilt of his bloody deed; conscience protests 
 with stern fidelity, and the sense of guilt provokes the feel- 
 ing of remorse, and often a bitter wish that the deed had not 
 been done. This conviction yields a species of repentance, 
 the sorrow of the world that worketh death. Its leading — 
 ear-marks are that it is altogether selfish; it is confined to | 
 one or two criminal actions; it is strongly qualified by the 
 fear of detection; it is greatly intensified: by detection; it is 
 disposed to self-defence or self-justification, and 1t only pro- 
 duces a limited reform of conduct when occasion allows. 
 True and full conviction stands opposed to mere natural 
 conviction on these and on several others. 
 
 Now, this natural conviction of sin is generally, though not 
 always, in the earlier stages of awakening, associated with 
 that state of the mind. Awakening is the break-up, in a 
 varying scale of degrees in the energy of the feeling, of that 
 stupor and insensibility to spiritual things which is one of 
 the distinguishing traits of the carnal mind, and its main 
 reference is ¢o the peril in which the discovery of those spir- 
 itual things has involved the soul. The justice of this expo- 
 sure to danger is not considered, or, if recognized at all, is so 
 
AWAKENING INFLUENCE. 47 
 
 faintly recognized as to be thrust far into the background. 
 The fact of exposure and the apprehension of danger consti- 
 tute the leading characteristics of the awakening of the Holy 
 Ghost. The mind becomes alive to the reality and solemnity 
 of death and the uncertain tenure of life; to the claims of 
 Almighty God, which have been hitherto neglected and for- 
 gotten ; to the accountability the soul is to meet, and to the 
 great doctrines of the word of God about the peril of unpar- 
 doned sin and the way of salvation. These facts begin to 
 reveal something of the power that isin them. They all hint 
 of danger. It is conceivable that this quickened sense of 
 spiritual realities might exist in the mind without any spe- 
 cial movement of the sense of personal guilt in natural con- 
 viction. It may exist for a time, a brief time, as a mere be- 
 coming sensible of this species of realities, without considera- 
 tion of personal guilt; and this fact will justify the distine- 
 tion between awakening and that natural conviction with 
 which it is always associated ultimately. The severance is 
 
 never long and not always apparent; the sense of danger 
 roused by awakening speedily connects itself with its cause ; 
 that appears in the consciousness of sin ; and thus awaken- 
 ing and natural conviction soon become merged in the con- 
 sciousness. Neither element in this joint apprehension of 
 spiritual realities and the consciousness of sin can lead to 
 any saving result by themselves. They breed remorse, but 
 stop short of repentance ; they breed the sorrow of the world 
 that worketh death, but not the godly sorrow that worketh 
 repentance unto life. The mere presentment of spiritual 
 facts in life-like, real form before the mind, and the sense of 
 personal peril, which are the distinctive features of mere 
 awakening, have no virtue in themselves; they are valuable 
 in view of that to which they lead. Mere natural conviction 
 of personal guilt lays no ground to warrant escape from it. 
 Consequently, all conviction of sin previous to conversion is 
 defective, and its results are defective. It is true as far as it 
 
48 GiIFrts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 goes, but it does not go far enough ; it discloses a part of the 
 case, but not the whole of it. If shows the danger and the 
 criminality of sin to a certain extent, but not enough to alter 
 the tastes and affections of the heart towards it, and there- 
 fore stops short of repentance and pardon. Natural convie- 
 tion, even as far as it recognizes the guilt of a sin, as in the 
 case of a detected liar or thief, looks mainly to the peril in- 
 volved ; and if the danger were removed, the consciousness 
 of the criminality would be greatly qualified, though not, in 
 all cases, entirely removed. It is strongly colored by the 
 datum of awakening, which is a sense of danger. This illus- 
 trates the propriety of treating awakening and natural con- 
 viction together ; they are not only generally found in prox- 
 imity in the consciousness, but are generally intermixed to- 
 gether. 
 
 As our attention is now limited to the study of awakening 
 by the Spirit, we remit all consideration of a full conviction 
 in its contrast with natural conviction, and for the present 
 look only to the characteristics of the awakening produced 
 by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 3. The first thing we note about this peculiar state of the 
 
 mind is, that it does not create, but only reveals, the perilous. 
 
 and painful facts in this strange world, and in the conditions 
 of existence in its strange denizen, man. The history of 
 every individual human being, comprehending the end with 
 the intervening hazards and events of his life, is a tragedy. 
 The aggregate history of the race needs a new term of terror 
 to express it. Born in an agony, man universally lives in 
 danger of a thousand perils, and finally sinks a victim to the 
 most terrible of them all. The passing joys that are inter- 
 spersed with these overshadowing evils, the pleasant days, 
 the delights of home and gratified affections, the triumphs 
 of human genius and energy, the sports of the field, the 
 delights of art, the profits of knowledge, the accumulations 
 and enjoyments of wealth, disguise to the thoughtless mind 
 
 ie 
 
AWAKENING INFLUENCE. 49 
 
 the never-shifting eternal cloud of woe and death that over- 
 hangs the awful scene. The pathos and terror of a world in 
 which evil reigns with such universal and tragic supremacy, 
 never seems to pierce the veil of hallucination which covers 
 the ordinary mind. A few grim thinkers have cut through 
 the shams; and the vision, unchecked by the palliations of 
 gospel hope, has withered them into lunatics or devils. Man 
 himself is the most awful and pathetic object on the accursed 
 planet. A body subject to disease, pain and death; a mind 
 enfeebled by ignorance and distorted by prejudice; a heart 
 full of depraved impulses, disordered affections, and ill-regu- 
 lated passions; his relations to others fountains of possible 
 evil as well as good, he stands a most pathetic and awful 
 figure. Then, as the lights of divine revelation are poured 
 upon them, the colors of the picture are immeasurably 
 heightened. Accountable for every breach of the divine law 
 which he is constantly violating; already condemned; the 
 slave of sin, led captive by a fearful hierarchy of fallen 
 angels; already under the penal claims of violated law; with 
 an essential immortality in his spirit holding him to an 
 endless duration of these conditions, he is emphatically a lost 
 soul! No wonder he shrinks from any open vision of such 
 a state! ‘To see it in its full force would bankrupt human 
 reason and fill the air all round the whole earth with threnes 
 of despair. God is merciful in holding back the vision of 
 the facts from its full impression. 
 
 But that utter forgetfulness and ignoring of all recognition 
 whatever of these awful realities, as they concern the indi- 
 vidual self, is fraught with the immeasurable woe of barring 
 all escape out of the terrible ruin, and subjecting the lost 
 transegressor to the greater ultimate hazards of his position. 
 Hence he needs to be awakened; he needs the awakening of 
 that Holy Spirit who is able to temper his cognition of the 
 awful ruin into safe conditions. He can show enough of it 
 fO rouse up a suitable and enduring effort to escape, and at 
 
 4 
 
50 Girrs To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 the same time prevent it from going into a dangerous excess. 
 There is a large class of minds which deprecates any lifting 
 of the veil which obscures the ruin and curse on the world. 
 They openly blame the religious system and its followers 
 which seeks wisely to disturb this fatal insensibility in order 
 to remedy it. This deprecation wonld be wise but for two 
 things: if there was no remedy, no escape for the individual 
 from under the curse; and if there was no necessity to break 
 up his slumber in order to secure this remedy, then it would 
 be both wise and kind not to disturb his insensibility. It 
 should be distinctly noted by these benevolent friends of 
 human peace, that the conditions which vacate their argu- 
 ment do exist. Let it also be distinctly apprehended that 
 the awakening influence, needful to rouse up the needful 
 effort to escape, does not create the evils which it reveals. 
 Those evils would remain exactly the same if no notice 
 should ever be taken of them. Death and sin, the perils of 
 life, and human accountability, do not depend for their 
 reality or their awfulness on talking about them. The talk 
 does not create them; they are facts in the life and nature of 
 man, grave and perilous realities, which cannot: be extin- 
 guished by shutting the eyes and refusing to recognize their 
 existence. As admitted, if no good could come out of an 
 awakening to the facts, then there would be no use and only 
 needless mischief in any breach of his dull peace. But if 
 there is good to be done by it; if deliverance is conditioned 
 upon it, then both the necessity and the kindness of rousing 
 the endangered sleeper is obvious enough. To refuse to at- 
 tempt to awaken him under these conditions would involve a 
 guilty participation in his coming destruction. The unbe- 
 liever who censures all attempts to rouse sinners to repent- 
 ance cannot justly lay blame on the servants of Christ as 
 creating needless anxieties and alarms The peril is in the 
 facts, and not in the talk about them, and the object of the 
 
 endeavor is to secure escape and compliance with the mex- 
 
 orable condition of making it. 
 
 i 
 fh 
 
AWAKENING INFLUENCE. 51 
 
 4, The next thing to be noted in this awakening is, that it 
 is due to the influence of the Holy Spirit. The tendency of 
 sin is always in one direction—to work out all its natural 
 effects. with a swift and cumulative effect. Any arrest on any 
 one of these tendencies shows the presence of a restraining 
 power. Any remnant of good moral energy, then, left in the 
 intuitions of the understanding or the feelings of the heart 
 shows the presence of this restraining power. Without this, 
 the blinding and hardening influence of sin would have long 
 ago worked out its natural results in the utter extinction of 
 all good moral energies of every sort in a fallen soul. This 
 effect has been seen in some of the extreme barbarous tribes 
 of the human race. ‘To inflict his judicial curse, then, on in- 
 corrigible offenders, God has only to withdraw this restrain- 
 ing influence, and sin will swiftly work out its natural effects. 
 It is by this process of withdrawal that God is said “to give 
 the spirit of slumber,” “‘to blind the eyes, and harden the 
 heart.” Any reversal of the spirit of slumber, then, must be 
 _ due to the reverse action of the same agent, the. Holy Spirit. 
 That he is the agent by whom the conviction of sin is wrought 
 is asserted in so many words; and as he is the universal 
 agent of all gracious effects on the soul, to him is to be at- 
 tributed all the effects of awakening and natural conviction. 
 This truth is illustrated in the experience of men. The spir- 
 itual realities of human life are indisputable facts. But 
 though sin, death, and moral accountability are facts con- 
 fessed, they are facts very imperfectly apprehended, and very 
 insufficiently allowed their legitimate influence in the con- 
 duct of life. They are admitted, but not realized; they are, 
 with studied intent, held in the background; they are re- 
 pelled when they intrude into the mind in their personal 
 bearings. So complete is the effect in many cases that death, 
 _ although one of the most unquestionable and universal inci- 
 dents of every human existence, is positively and completely 
 eliminated out of all the thoughts. It is not recognized at 
 
52 Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 all in these cases. An actual instance of the mysterious and 
 dreadful mischief in some one else, especially in one nearly 
 related, may excite a momentary remembrance of one’s own 
 mortality; but it soon passes, and the false lights of an as- 
 sumed exemption from the fatal law of human nature again 
 fall on the field of view. In the majority of cases this ex- 
 treme insensibility does not prevail, but a scarcely less fatal 
 degree of it is literally universal. 
 
 Death and sin are sometimes recognized, but they are at 
 once ordered to retire. Their legitimate and natural ten- 
 dency to turn the thoughts upon a serious canvas of any 
 possible remedy is so promptly and powerfully repelled that 
 they soon depart, and leave the soul to drift. No mere didac- 
 tic or personal influence can hope to contend with the 
 mighty impulse to silence consideration of these inevitable 
 and painful incidents. Unless some effectual foreign or out- 
 side influence can be brought to bear, the repulse will be 
 complete, and no thought, no feeling, no care would ever en- 
 ter the mind; and the man would live insensible, and die just 
 as if he were flung from a precipice a thousand feet into a 
 midnight sea, when locked fast in a natural or artificial sleep. 
 Besides this dread of death, sin is a species of evil which 
 involves positive criminality and guilt. Consequently, every 
 man flinches from the actual knowledge and realization of 
 sin as eagerly as he does from death itself. He would as 
 soon meet a sheeted ghost, fresh from the realms of shadows, 
 as confront his own sin, unveiled in the full awfulness of its 
 criminal nature. Conscience, roused up to do its office of 
 accuser, treads the trembling soul, like the angel with the 
 
 trumpet of the judgment treads the trembling skies. No 
 
 wonder the heart unacquainted with any other refuge cries 
 out to be allowed to forget, and seeks eagerly to sink into 
 sleep. He must exorcise these dreadful visions of sin and 
 guilt. In the same manner, and on the same broad ground 
 of conscious exposure, he shrinks from the thought of God, 
 
 f. 
 
 “, 
 = 
 
AWAKENING INFLUENCE. 53 
 
 from his revealed character, and from the essential and unal- 
 terable nature of his relations to all intelligent and respon- 
 sible creatures. The conception of a being infinitely holy, 
 inflexibly just, sitting on the place of universal dominion 
 administering law, with a perfect knowledge of the facts in 
 every individual case, with absolute integrity to uphold the 
 right and to condemn the wrong, hating all evil with infinite 
 intensity, such a conception is overpowering. Sleep and 
 utter insensibility are the chosen refuge of a soul conscious 
 of personal peril under such an administration. Yet further, 
 sin has a blinding and deadening influence on mind and 
 heart, and this natural effect, combined with the intense vol- 
 untary and personal effort to extinguish all sensibility to the 
 alarming facts, result in such a state of mind that no power 
 in the mind itself could overcome it. A power from without 
 must interfere; and the only power competent to control a 
 resistance so powerful is the power of God himself. 
 
 Hence the Scripture doctrine of the awakening influences 
 of the Holy Ghost. If he did not interpose, no motion. of 
 regard to its spiritual condition would ever cross the sur- 
 face of the sin-deadened soul. It would live on, keenly 
 alive to the transitory interests of this life, but dead as a 
 stone to ali the higher relations which bind an immortal 
 being, and point him to a state of existence beyond this 
 present scene. The absolute nature of the dependence on 
 the Spirit is demonstrated by the phenomena of his occa- 
 sional and intermittent interpositions. He sometimes works 
 in this way, he comes and goes. The movement of the 
 affected human spirit exactly corresponds. When the Spirit 
 strives, the soul wakes out of its deadly slumber. As he 
 quickens the apprehension of death and sin, God, and im- 
 mortality, the awakened soul fears and trembles. But, alas! 
 the inevitable combat with the Holy Ghost at once ensues, 
 and he yields the ground; he suspends his influence; he 
 takes his departure. Immediately the deep sleep returus, 
 
54 GIFTS To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 and the awakened soul is at ease once more. Again the 
 Spirit returns, and again the sinner awakes; again he retires, 
 and the sinner slumbers again. When, in his sovereign 
 good pleasure, the blessed giver of life resolves to win the 
 struggle, his influence is not remitted; it becomes steady, 
 constant, more and more powerful and pointed. The cor- 
 responding effects are seen in the soul; it awakes and keeps 
 awake; it yields more and more to the demands of the 
 Spirit; it conforms more and more to the leadings of his 
 influence, until the actual work of giving life is accomplished, 
 and the soul passes permanently out of the grasp of sleep 
 and death. The Holy Ghost alone can awaken any sinner 
 out of his fatal security. 
 
 5. Another peculiarity is to be found in the awakening of 
 the Spirit: there are various degrees in the energy of his 
 awakening influence. The range of these variations is wide, 
 extending through every grade of feeling, from a calm state 
 of sincere and settled sensibility to the grand facts in the 
 condition of an unpardoned soul, up to an unbearable mea- 
 sure of mental distress. It not unfrequently happens that 
 persons discount the reality and sufficiency of their mental 
 exercises, as being so completely out of proportion to the 
 evils of their condition. Their judgments tell them these 
 evils are very great, and that any suitable sensibility to 
 them must involve much stronger emotions than they are 
 conscious of feeling; and therefore they discount the suflici- 
 ency of their exercises of mind. But this is often a mistake 
 in experience; it is always erroneous in theory. It is 
 frequently the case that these calmer views are more effective, 
 and produce far more valuable results, than states of feeling 
 far more poignant and powerful. The question is, do these 
 calm states of feeling lead to action, to a calm but steadfast 
 effort to find the way of peace. The test of all degrees of 
 awakened sensibility is in the abiding results they produce. 
 
AWAKENING INFLUENCE. 55 
 
 € 
 
 The calmer apprehension often leads to obedience to the 
 drawings of the Holy Spirit, and to the full acceptance of the 
 gospel offers, while the keener feeling wears out and leaves 
 no permanent result behind it. A calm, steady apprehension 
 of the evils in the human lot, which leads to full compliance 
 with the terms on which God has promised to forgive, is 
 generally, in point of fact, the prevailing experience ; the more 
 intense realization is the exception rather than the rule. 
 The value of both is in the effects they cause. None need 
 depreciate the exercises of their minds because they are 
 moderate in degree and sensibly out of proportion to the 
 evils which occasion them. If they lead steadily forward to 
 the feet of the Saviour, they are serving their purpose, and 
 do not deserve to be depreciated as useless. 
 
 6. The resistance which is invariably made to the benevo- 
 lent and most merciful awakening of the Holy Ghost is un- 
 srateful and unwise to a degree which defies any adequate 
 description. It is natural enough for men to shrink from 
 _ what will give them pain, either of body or mind; but for all 
 that, it is often absolute madness for them to do it. The 
 operations of surgery give pain, but they are often necessary 
 to save life. If a skilled surgeon, in the kindness of his 
 heart, offers to do what is essential to life, it is ingratitude, 
 as well as folly, to shrink from the suffering and to refuse his 
 offer. There is no royal road to repentance ; sin is an evil, 
 and to know sin is to discern the evil that is in it. The 
 sreat enemy of God and man has a tremendous advantage in 
 this natural aversion to suffering, when he would persuade 
 sinners to sleep on now and take their ease. They have 
 only to do this to accomplish his ends. There is a startling 
 warning in the fact that God only can awaken sinners to any 
 effective purpose. All that he need do to bring them to the 
 retribution of their sin is just to let them alone; it is just to 
 co-operate with themselves in their own policy and effort to 
 
56 _ Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 ha 
 ' 
 
 sleep in peace. He need do nothing positive; he has only : 
 to restrain his effort to awaken them, only to allow them — 
 their own way. There is boundless mercy in his awakening 
 srace. This grace is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to 
 unbelievers, the value of which cannot be fully compa 
 
 hended. a 
 
@ Bese Pilea: 
 CONVICTING INFLUENCE. 
 
 ‘‘And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of right- 
 eousness, and of judgment.”—John in his Gospel. 
 
 vs HERE are shades of difference in the meaning of 
 the words used to express the idea of conviction of 
 
 sin, but the general notion conveyed by them is the same. 
 They all carry the idea of sin charged, proved, apprehended, 
 and acknowledged, at least in the secret thoughts of the 
 transgressor. To “reprove” is to charge a fault, and to 
 rebuke for it. To “convince” is to persuade and satisfy 
 touching the truth of a thing, whether good or bad. To 
 “convict” always implies that the thing charged and proved 
 igs a wrong thing. Applied to sin, to convince, or to convict of 
 sin mean exactly the same; but inasmuch as the word con- 
 vince may be applied to things good-as well as evil, it 1s 
 better to use the word convict in connection with sin, because 
 it carries the notion of something wrong or erroneous. To 
 convict of sin not only means that the fact is proved, but 
 that the wrong in the fact is also revealed, and the trans- 
 gressor is discovered. No one is convicted of sin unless he 
 is satisfied that the fact is true, that it involves wrong, and 
 that he himself is truly charged with it. This is equally, 
 though in different manners, true of natural and saving con- 
 viction of sin. A detected liar or thief recognizes that the 
 fact of his crime is true; that it involves guilt, and that he 
 has committed it. True and full conviction of sin involves 
 the recognition of each of these incidents, but with marked 
 differences in the method of the recognition, which can be 
 more effectively brought out by a detailed contrast than by 
 
 57 
 
58 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 a single definition. These intuitions are certified by che 
 feeling they produce. 
 
 2. The basis of all conviction of sin is the law of God. 
 “Sin is the transgression of the law,” and consequently “by 
 the law is the knowledge of sin.” It is only when we know 
 the law that it is possible to discover what is the violation of 
 it. We must know what the law actually prescribes or pro- 
 hibits, that we may tell what is a violation of law as a matter 
 of fact. We must understand the nature of the requirements 
 of the law, whether they are reasonable and right, or unrea- 
 sonable and wrong, before we can estimate the real nature of 
 a violation of it as right or wrong. We must understand the 
 extent of the law, as reaching only to the outward conduct, or 
 as embracing the thoughts, feelings, and motives of the 
 inward fountain of moral energy, before we can estimate the 
 extent of violations of it. If the law only prescribes duties 
 to man, sin can only be against man. If it prescribes duties 
 to God, sin will be discovered as against God. This makes 
 clear the saying, ‘by the law is the knowledge of sin.” 
 
 There is another feature in the law besides its prescriptions, 
 it is enforced by a penalty. Penalty is of the essence of all 
 law; without a power to enforce them, its precepts cease to be 
 daw and sink into advice. Authority is the right to give 
 law; but without power to enforce, authority is rendered en- 
 tirely nugatory. Penalty is essential to enforce law, to sus- 
 tain authority, and to preserve the very nature of law from 
 decay. It is very obvious that these two elements of law— 
 precept and penalty, prescription and power—give room 
 for two very different kinds of consideration in looking at 
 the law from the ground of a violation of it. The trans- 
 gressor cannot avoid some consideration of both of its essen- 
 tial elements, but they may be very differently regarded in 
 the view taken. If he looks mainly at the nature of the par- 
 ticular precept he has broken, he will be more impressed 
 with the nature of his sin, with the injustice involved in the 
 
ConvICTING INFLUENCE. 59 
 
 violation of a just requirement, or the unreasonableness of a 
 violation of a reasonable requirement. His reference to the 
 penalty will be subordinate to his reference to the precept he 
 has broken. On the contrary, if he has the penalty chiefly 
 before his eyes, he will be far more concerned for the risk 
 he has encountered than for the wrong he has done. He 
 must have a certain recognition of the precept in order to 
 feel any degree of guilt, such as the detected thief feels; but 
 as the penalty is his main concern, he will be far more sensi- 
 le of his danger than of his guilt. Itis obvious that the feel- 
 ings created by these two varying views of the law—the one 
 looking mainly to the precept, and the other to the penalty— 
 will have a very different moral value, and will exert very dif- 
 ferent effects. The one looks more to the nature of sin, the 
 other, toits risks. The one lays the basis for repentance, the 
 other, for remorse. The one opens the way for a true con- 
 viction of sin, the other, for a mere natural conviction of sin. 
 3. Conviction of sin under both of its modes has certain 
 generic qualities inhering in both. Both involve an action 
 in the understanding. Both produce feeling and affection in 
 the heart. Both produce effects on conduct. Both have a 
 regard to God as well as to self. Butin all these points they 
 are more or less strongly distinguished. They are more at 
 one in the nature of the mental energy evoked in producing 
 them than in any other point. All conviction of sin is an 
 intuitive action of the understanding. The mind simply 
 sees the evil opened up toits view. It is an act of the under- 
 standing, like that which is put forth when the mind discerns 
 colors and forms. When aman sees the green of the grass, 
 or the red of the rose, he sees them by a direct intuition or 
 act of sight. There is nothing between the mind and the 
 object to enable the discernment. Argument and illustration 
 may present the character of sin, but fail to enable the intui- 
 tion of it. If the mind is so corrupted by vice, it will fail to 
 see the wickedness of even a gross crime, and no explana- 
 
60 Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 tion of it will enable the perception of it. The mind has 
 been made to see certain things in themselves, and if this in- 
 tuitive power has been injured or entirely disabled, the power 
 must be restored, or no mere exposition will enable discern- 
 ment. Hence the need of the Spirit’s influence in the just 
 discernment of sin. In natural conviction the perception of 
 criminality in sin is imperfect, but the mental energy is the 
 same. In both it is an intuitive act of the understanding ; 
 but in the one the power of intuition is injured, and only in 
 part, if at all, aided by grace; in the other, the power is so 
 far influenced by the Spirit as to see with a degree of just- 
 ness and completeness of vision sufficient to work out the de- 
 sired effect. Conviction of sin is a simple seeing the guilti- 
 ness of sin; in natural conviction, partial and defective ; in 
 spiritual conviction, measurably just and full. The man in 
 both cases may not be able to tell you why the sin he sees is 
 evil, but he sees it to be so. This perception is immediately 
 followed by a strong belief that the thing is what the mind 
 sees it to be. A man who sees a tree, or the form and color 
 of a flower, cannot be persuaded that the tree and the flower 
 are not what he sees them to be. This belief and perception 
 are followed by a feeling suitable to the thing seen. If a 
 man sees a beautiful thing, his perception and belief in it 
 are instantly followed by a feeling of pleasure. If the thing 
 is evil, the perception will be followed by a feeling of fear or 
 dislike. In like manner the conviction of sin will be followed 
 by feelings determined by the kind of conviction which pro- 
 duces it. . 
 
 Sin has two elements of evil in it corresponding to the two 
 grand divisions of the law: the precept and the penalty; its 
 criminality and its danger; its intrinsic wrongfulness and its 
 mischievous effects. According as the mind of the criminal 
 is directed mainly to the one or the other of these will be 
 the feeling which will follow it. To see the danger mainly, 
 and the badness of sin only partially, is to have an imperfect 
 
CoNVICTING INFLUENCE. 61 
 
 view of sin, and the feeling that follows will partake of that 
 imperfection. To see both elements of the evil in sin in a 
 due proportion is to have a view of sin relatively per- 
 fect, and the feeling that follows will be qualified accord- 
 ingly. : | 
 Here, then, is the first point in which the contrast be- 
 tween natural and spiritual conviction begins, in the difference 
 of the view taken of the nature and the hazard of sin. Natural 
 conviction discerns the danger of sin as the chief object of 
 its concern, and is, therefore, true as far as it goes. It per- 
 ceives the peril of the soul, but has little or no sense of the 
 justice of the exposure to it. In this lies one of the leading 
 distinctions between it and a spiritual apprehension of sin. 
 It has a certain sense of criminality in it, although it looks 
 chiefly to the danger involved. But this sense ef criminality 
 is not based on a true judgment of the real excellence of the 
 law, and consequently is not based on a true discernment of 
 the evil nature of sin. It sees very imperfectly, if at all, the 
 criminality in the act itself. It sees that the act has been 
 prohibited by the law, under peril of consequences, but does 
 not see that the law ought to have prohibited it. Conse- 
 quently, when the act is committed, he knows he has violat- 
 ed the law, and is, therefore, criminal in the eye of the law. 
 He feels guilty to this extent. At the very same time he may 
 feel that the law was hard and unreasonable in prohibiting 
 the act. He is, therefore, disposed to carp at the law. In 
 doing this it is evident that he is disposed to defend the act, 
 and himself for doing it, in spite of his vague sense of crimi- 
 nality. His feeling of criminality is clearly a very limited 
 and imperfect thing. He does not see the propriety of the 
 law he has broken; on the contrary, he thinks it unreason- 
 able. He recognizes that he has broken it; he discerns the 
 risks he has encountered, and feels the qualified sense of 
 criminality growing out of the fact that he has voluntarily 
 broken it, and has brought on himself the hazards involved. 
 
62 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 Even in the case of the higher crimes, the criminal feels that 
 it would be hard to punish him; he is selfish even when con- 
 scious of guilt. Even in those rare cases where remorse 
 drives a criminal to surrender himself to the law, he is seek- 
 ing a selfish relief from a more intolerable evil by surrender- 
 ing himself to a lesser one. 
 
 On the contrary, a just and full conviction of sin sees the 
 evil in the act itself, as well as the danger it has involved. 
 It sees the justice of the peril in the evil of the act. It 
 looks to the precept of the law as well as to the penalty. It 
 sees the exact propriety and excellence of the violated pre- 
 cept. It sees the true personal blameworthiness of the 
 person who has voluntarily broken it. It sees the danger, 
 but also the badness of the act. It sees the danger is the 
 just consequent and the direct effect of this badness. Not 
 only the fact, but the righteousness of personal responsibility 
 for the criminal deed is clearly discerned. It sees the crimi- 
 nality in the act, and not merely in the inhibition of the law. 
 Guilt involves two distinct elements: one arising from the 
 precept of the law, marking desert of punishment; the other, 
 arising from the penalty of the law, marking liability to pun- 
 ishment. Genuine or spiritual conviction of sin is chiefly 
 concerned about the first; mere natural conviction about 
 the last. While a saving conviction of sin is thus chiefly 
 discriminated by this element of badness in the act, it must 
 not be forgotten that it also apprehends the danger of sin; 
 it sees the element of liability in its guilt, as well as the ill- 
 desert. It often happens that persons whose claim to the 
 character of Christians cannot be disputed are perplexed by 
 this distinction, and write hard things against themselves, 
 because they are very distinctly conscious of their sensibility 
 to the danger of sin, and not so distinctly conscious of their 
 discernment of the badness or wickedness of it. But such 
 persons ought to keep steadily in mind, that inasmuch as 
 true conviction embraces both elements of the evil of sin, it 
 
CONVICTING INFLUENCE. 63 
 
 embraces the fear of the consequences of sin; and, there- 
 fore, the mental exercises of no one are to be discounted as 
 fatally defective, because conscious of this fear; it is a part 
 of the mental state of which they are suspicious. The ques- 
 tion really turns on the matter of fact, whether, in addition 
 to this fear, there is also a real discernment of the intrinsic 
 badness of sin, no matter how feeble it may be in compari- 
 son with the vigor of the fear which is felt. How, then, are 
 we to know when we do really see the intrinsic evil of sin? 
 It will disclose itself in a variety of ways. 
 
 In the first place, it will be indicated by the absence of all 
 disposition or wish to excuse or defend ourselves against the 
 charge of sin, or to belittle or extenuate the fault. In true 
 conviction, as we have seen, there is an intuition of the in- 
 trinsic badness of sin. It recognizes this part of the evil in 
 sin, and knowing that it is rightfully charged against self, 
 the sense of personal culpability at once springs up, and 
 silences all pleas in abatement. The intrinsic nature of sin 
 is found in its wrongfulness ; it involves the essence of wrong. 
 The voluntary doing of wrong carries the notion of eulpa- 
 bility; the two notions always go together and are insepara- 
 ble. The distinction of right and wrong is founded in the 
 very nature of things; it is eternal and unchangeable; it 
 carries invariably a sense of obligation; it has the force of 
 an eternal and unchangeable law. _ Hach of these notions, 
 defined by this eternal distinction, carries its own inseparable 
 feeling: right, the feeling of approval when it is done, and 
 wrong, the feeling of condemnation. The notion of wrong, 
 and its inseparable correlated feeling of culpability or blame- 
 worthiness in the doer of it, necessarily exclude all justifica- 
 tion, extenuation, or excuse. If any part of it admits of 
 excuse or defence, that part of it is proved not to be wrong. 
 True and full conviction of siu is then ear-marked by this 
 peculiarity, that it extinguishes all disposition or thought of 
 self-excuse or self-defence. It lays the hand upon the 
 
64 Girrs To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 mouth, and the mouth in dust. On the contrary, there is a 
 consciousness that the sense of guilt in the mind is not ade- 
 quate to the evil which has been done, and consequently 
 there is a desire for deeper and clearer convictions, and for 
 amore profound feeling of self-condemnation. Instead of 
 hunting for excuses and extenuating circumstances, the 
 desire and the effort is to see more of the evil in order to a 
 deeper and more definite repentance. Any one who is con- 
 scious of this humility and condemnation of self, conscious 
 of no wish to excuse himself or to extenuate his sin, con- 
 svious of these habitual desires for a deeper and clearer 
 intuition of his own guilt and for a more profound repent- 
 ance, and who is conscious that this is a permanent and 
 abiding state of his mind, has no need to suspect the suflici- 
 ency of his own convictions of sin, just because he is. con- 
 scious that his dread of the consequences of sin is more 
 definitely clear in his consciousness than his intuitions of its 
 nature. The weakness, ignorance and spiritual disorder in 
 a soul in which the law of sin in the members is perpetually 
 struggling with the law of grace in the soul, is sufficient to 
 account for these disorders and disproportions in the exer- 
 cises of a regenerate heart. 
 
 Another mark of discrimination in our knowledge of sin, 
 disclosing the intuition of its intrinsic evil, closely allied to 
 this intuition of its culpability, is the laying of the blame on 
 self. This strongly discriminates it from a mere natural and 
 incompetent conviction, which is always selfish. The sin of 
 a man is fis sin, and not the imputable fault of any one else. 
 Where two or more persons are combined together in a 
 criminal deed, the share which each takes in it constitutes 
 his own sin, and cannot possibly be construed as the sin of 
 another. What belongs to each is altogether his own. True 
 conviction of sin distinctly recognizes sin not only to be sin, 
 and not a mere misfortune, but to be the fault of sel/, and 
 not of another. False conviction, or, more accurately, im- 
 
 « cs cm > ms igi >a ss = a Cae ee ss » tan. 
 
ConvVICTING INFLUENCE. 65 
 
 perfect conviction, for it is true as far as it goes, apprehend- 
 ing the danger but not the real evil of sin, will be disposed to 
 throw the blame on some thing or some person outside of 
 self. Hven when it is impossible to extricate self altogether, 
 it, will seek to share the responsibility with others, or to 
 qualify personal concern in the transaction by reference to 
 circumstances, as more highly answerable for misleading in- 
 fluences. This trait appeared when sin first entered the 
 world. Adam laid the blame on Eve, and Eve laid it on the 
 serpent. ‘Instead of seeing and feeling the excellency of the 
 law in the precept which has been broken, and consequently 
 the evil nature of the deed done, it is disposed to cavil at the 
 Jaw and to accuse it in some way. It will lay stress on un- 
 favorable providences; it will seek for alleviating circum- 
 stances in poverty, or health, or domestic troubles, or absorb- 
 ing occupations. It will recite the defects and shortcomings 
 of others, and in their sins, find an excuse, if not a justifica- 
 tion, of its own. Not seeing sin as it is, and self in its true 
 and exclusive relation to it, as something which is its own, it 
 seeks relief from the accusations of conscience, and the peril 
 incurred, by throwing accusations around in every direction, 
 and defending self. Saving conviction works in just the op- 
 posite way. It accuses self,and no one else. It sees sin in its 
 true relation to self, and has no one to accuse but self for 
 what has been done by self. It recognizes that no one is 
 called upon to repent of his neighbor’s sin, but to repent of 
 his own. It sees irresistibly that self only is involved in the 
 sins of self, and puts the blame where it ought to be—on self, 
 and self only. It sees the true responsibility of self, and 
 makes no effort to hide, alter, or unfairly qualify the exact 
 nature of what self has done. It calls a spade a spade, even 
 ifit is its own. The necessary consequence of this state of 
 mind is humility, not fawning obsequiousness ; repentance, 
 not mere remorse; and dependence on the gospel remedy 
 5 
 
66 Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 for sin, and not recourse to excuses, or extenuations, or false 
 constructions of sin, in order to find relief from it, 
 
 Another proof of a true conviction and knowledge of sin, 
 by which it is strongly distinguished from a mere natural 
 conviction, is the discovery of it as against God as well as 
 against one’s own soul or against one’s neighbor. Natural 
 conviction also has a reference to God, but of a very differ- 
 ent character. It recognizes God as the source of the 
 danger which it apprehends. It recognizes him as the 
 maker of the law which has been broken; as the executive 
 magistrate who is set to see after the execution of the law, 
 and therefore, as concerned, to inquire into all offences, and 
 deal with them as the law directs. It recognizes him, as an 
 arrested thief or murderer recognizes the magistracy of the 
 state, as the power which is to deal with his crime and him- 
 self. Such a criminal has no thought or care for the rights 
 or the interests of the government. He never dreams that 
 he has injured the sanctity of the great institute set for the 
 protection of the people by the administration of the public 
 law and justice of the commonwealth. Neither does the 
 natural conviction of sin dictate any regard for God, save as 
 the power which imperils his safety. God is the giver of the 
 whole law, and when that part of the law which prescribes 
 duties to others besides himself is violated, he is sinned 
 against, as well as those whom he has legislated to protect; 
 for it is his authority which is defied. So far as the law 
 defines duties to himself, the violation of the law sins more 
 immediately, but not more really, against him. All sin, then, 
 is against God. All sin involves, in some way and to some 
 degree, the element of wrong. All the qualities of the nature 
 of God, and all his claims, are essentially and infinitely right. 
 All sin, then, is in direct moral antagonism to the very nature 
 of God. It is the destruction of the quality of the good 
 that isin him. Injustice is in itself, and as far as it goes, 
 
CONVICTING INFLUENCE. 67 
 
 the absolute destruction of justice. Cruelty is the absolute 
 destruction of kindness. 
 
 Sin would kill every quality of moral excellence it can 
 reach. It would kill it in God if it could reach him. It 
 cannot do this, only because it is weak in its malignity; but 
 it is none the less malignant on that account. It is to be 
 judged by what it would do, if it could, and not merely by 
 what it accomplishes under the limitations and restraints 
 which, either in its own weakness or from other causes, put 
 bounds to its native destructiveness. Sin is against God 
 because it so completely antagonizes his very nature; it 
 would kill him if it could. Sin is against God as an uni- 
 versally opposing force to his nature, his law, his adminis- 
 tration, and his designs. It is an injury to his dominions, an 
 offence to his person, an insult to his majesty, an outrage on 
 his authority, a trespass on his rights, an opposition to his 
 character, a reflection on his qualities, an impeachment of 
 his law, and of himself as a law-giver, an interference with 
 his purposes in their primary design, a disgust to his tastes, 
 a contempt of his dignity, and an outrage on his feel- 
 ings. It has filled his fair domains with infinite pollution, 
 agony, and confusion. It has revolted against his control, 
 and set up the awful dominion of ungovernable evil in its 
 place. If it were only strong enough it would abolish him 
 as a nuisance in his own universe, and draw a winding-sheet 
 over the vacant throne of Jehovah. Spiritual conviction 
 sees something—often feebly and confusedly—but something 
 of sin as against God, and this leads to repentance towards 
 him, not less than on account of self. False conviction has 
 no idea of sin against God, except as the power to which the 
 transgressor is accountable. It has no conception of sin as 
 against God himself as distinguished from his law, or as subject 
 to any personal damage or offence from sin. It knows that 
 sin breaks no bones—inflicts no agony on the serene King 
 in his infinite elevation. It is fully satisfied that he would 
 
68 Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 take no harm if sin was allowed perfect impunity. It sees 
 no reason why a thing so agreeable to the natural heart in 
 man should not be allowed free range, or why the supreme 
 Power should be so jealous of it. If it is in some respects 
 an evil, it sees no reason why he should not good-humoredly 
 overlook it. It sees no ground for that awful dispensation 
 of atonement by the blood of God’s own Son. Sin only 
 endangers man; it cannot possibly hurt God; and, there- 
 fore, the only concern dictated by mere natural conviction is 
 for the safety of self, the sinner. Sin is against self; it im- 
 perils personal interests; and all the feeling kindled by this 
 species of conviction terminates on self. The remorse it 
 breeds is selfish; and if self could only be made secure, all 
 solicitude about sin would vanish. Natural conviction has 
 no care for God, or for his interests and concern in the mat- 
 ter of sin. 
 
 True conviction works opposite to this selfish resort against 
 sin at every point. It sees that sin is a true act of self 
 against God, as well as against self. It sees it antago- 
 nizing God along the whole line of the relations of the crea- 
 ture to him. It sees sin as a violation of just law, and a re- 
 bellion against just authority. It sees it as essentially and 
 necessarily warring on God’s rights and honor, making small 
 of his importance to his own creation. It sees sin as an 
 offence to his tastes, and absolutely antagonistic to his essen- 
 tial qualities. It consequently feels a keen desire that all of 
 its endangered interests should be fully protected in any 
 accommodation with sin, and bound up in a full and honor- 
 able satisfaction with its own safety. Sin must be atoned 
 for as well as repented of, and God honored, while the sinner 
 is saved. ‘True conviction is distinguished by this just re- 
 cognition of sin as an evil towards God not less than to- 
 wards man. 
 
 A final distinction between true and false conviction of sin 
 is found in a broad series of contrasts in their consequences. 
 
CoONVICTING INFLUENCE. 69 
 
 Their effects are strongly discriminated. They are distin- 
 guished in the point of permanence. As a general rule, in 
 countries where the pure gospel is preached, the effects of a 
 mere natural conviction of sin are generally evanescent; they 
 soon pass away, and leave no trace behind. In Popish 
 countries where the deadly travesties of Popery are the pre- 
 vailing views, false convictions of sin often have very power- 
 ful and abiding effects, sending the misguided, awakened sin- 
 ner into the long routine of penances, scourging of the body, 
 fasting, wearing of hair-cloth, and all manner of self-torture. 
 The people are taught to believe that this sort of penitence 
 is available to salvation, and hence the pertinacity with which 
 it is practiced. In gospel lands, too, many a deceived soul 
 lives quietly for years in the communion of the church, 
 thinking that the troubled exercises of their early religious 
 career were true repentance. But this class of persons gen- 
 erally pass their days in no trouble about their sins; for the 
 effects of their early convictions, not being sufficient to lead 
 to genuine repentance, have long ago worn out, and the 
 peace of insensibility is mistaken for the peace of pardon 
 But effects of a true conviction are known by their abid- 
 ing influence. Sin never loses its interest to those under its 
 control; they are as afraid of it, and as keen to overcome it 
 twenty or fifty years after the outset of their religious career 
 as they were at the beginning. The impression of this 
 species of conviction never wears out. It may lose something 
 of its liveliness ; it may be more keen sometimes than at others ; 
 but it exerts an habitual and controlling force on the heart, 
 and on the whole character and career. 
 
 The two species of conviction are also distinguished in 
 their purifying effects. Both lead to reformation and the 
 effort to get rid of sin. Natural conviction leads to a limited 
 reform—to the giving up of particular sins, the danger of 
 which it has learned to dread; but it confines its surrender 
 to certain specific sins, gives them up with something of 
 
70 Girrs To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 recret, and generally only for a time. There is a secret 
 regret at the necessity of having to do it, and this unchanged 
 preference for the sin itself, though given up to avoid its 
 perils, is almost sure to lead back to its indulgence. Even 
 when sound instruction informs the sinner that the thoughts 
 and feelings must be purified, the effort to control them is 
 confined to the specific evil thoughts which are accused, and 
 little care is taken for the unholy tastes and affections which 
 lie back of these specific mental manifestations and originate 
 them. On the other hand, true conviction leads to the will- 
 ing surrender of all sin as soon as it is recognized to be sin. 
 When sin is committed, it is committed with a greater or less 
 degree of conflict with the resisting forces implanted by 
 grace. It is committed with many a pang mixed up with the 
 unlawful indulgence, and is always followed, more or less 
 quickly, by an honest sorrow and regret leading to better 
 obedience in the future. The struggle of the true convict of 
 sin against the sins which rise up in the inward conscious- 
 ness is more determined, more indiscriminate, and more con- 
 stant than the struggle of the natural convict. Paul de- 
 scribes the effects of a true repentance following a just con- | 
 viction of sin: ‘‘ What carefulness it wrought in you; yea, 
 what purifying of yourselves ; yea, what indignation; yea, 
 what zeal; yea, what revenge.” Imperfect conviction never 
 works such results. 
 
 The difference between the two species of conviction is 
 strongly marked by the scope of the purifying and reforming 
 effects determined by each of them. The natural conviction 
 is confined almost entirely to outward actions, and these the 
 specific actions which it has come to dread for their danger- 
 ous consequences upon the interests of this life. It has no 
 reference to the great fountain head of sin, the unholy heart, 
 and the inward sinfulness determined by it. If it refers to 
 the heart at all, itis apt to do so more as an excuse or ex- 
 tenuation of outward sins than as the unholy source from 
 
CoNnvVICTING INFLUENCE. mek 
 
 which they spring and the aggravation of their guilt. But 
 under the light of an effective and full conviction of sin this 
 unholy heart, this depraved nature, this inward proclivity of 
 affection and will to sin, becomes in no long time the chief 
 object of solicitude. Outward sins are seen to be but the 
 expression of this inward sin. The outward act is soon done 
 and finished ; but an unholy heart is a perpetual fountain of 
 such acts. The cry of the truly and fully convicted sinner 
 is, ‘Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit 
 within me.” He learns to mistrust his own heart; ‘he has 
 no confidence in the flesh.” He watches the upspring of 
 evil thought and feeling in his soul, and not only becomes 
 prompt to repress, but carries his indignant and painful 
 effort at resistance down back of these troublesome thoughts 
 to the more troublesome heart that lies below them. This 
 permanent suspicion and discontent with his own heart leads 
 to steady efforts to overcome sin, not only in the secret 
 spring of thought and feeling, but in all its outward expres- 
 sion, in word or deed. No false conviction ever leads to such 
 reforms as these. 
 
 The two species of conviction produce also different spe- 
 cies of hwmility, and are thereby distinguished from each 
 other. Both produce a feeling of self-abasement. A de- 
 tected thief feels mean. This feeling may be so strong as to 
 produce an abject, fawning demeanor; but there is not an 
 atom of genuine humiliation in his feelings or his conduct. 
 True conviction breeds genuine humility; it produces a true 
 and honest self-abasement. False conviction often breeds 
 the bitterness of mortified pride, and awakens sullen and re- 
 sentful feelings. The one leads to self-defence; the other, to 
 self-accusation. The one leads to tenderness and the spirit 
 of forgiveness and forbearance; the other, to hardness of 
 heart. The one leads to great endurance; the other, to re- 
 taliation on others, and revenge on all accusers and punish- 
 ers of the criminal conduct. The one leads to general and 
 
he Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 particular confession; the other dreads detection, and is 
 greatly ageravated by detection. True conviction breeds an 
 invincible desire for the mercy of God, followed by a similar 
 unwearied effort to attain it. False conviction breeds de- 
 sires which are soon discouraged by difficulties, and pass 
 away. ‘The one justifies God in the condemnation of sin; 
 the other tends to charge him foolishly. False conviction 
 never leads of itself to the acceptance of offered grace; true 
 conviction always does.. The one leads to repentance; the 
 other, only to remorse. The one takes hold on the atone- 
 ment and the great High Priest; the other, on a thousand 
 refuges of lies. The loving, free forgiveness of gospel 
 grace enables true conviction to see with special energy of 
 intuitive insight the aggravated sin of unbelief, which re- 
 fuses to accept it, and always learns to cleave to Christ as 
 the sinner’s Saviour. False conviction never leads to faith, 
 and leaves the soul to perish at last, in spite of all the bitter 
 exercises of remorse and self-condemnation which may at- 
 tend its selfish and self-seeking motions in a guilty con- 
 science. 
 
C Hesse TS Bena. 
 
 RHPHNTANCE. 
 
 ‘‘Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and Saviour, 
 for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” —Lwke in Acts. 
 
 ‘For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented 
 of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”—Pawl to the Corinthians. 
 
 HE gift of conviction by the Holy Spirit is followed by 
 repentance. Every cognition of an evil is followed by 
 some answerable movement of feeling. Natural or false con- 
 viction will be followed by remorse in various degrees; true 
 conviction will be followed by true repentance. That there 
 are two kinds of sorrow for sin, leading to two different 
 kinds of repentance, is evident, not only from the two kinds 
 of conviction, but from the distinction taken by the sacred 
 writers between the godly sorrow, which worketh repentance 
 unto salvation, and the sorrow of the world, which worketh 
 death. Obviously, then, it is a matter of the most supreme 
 importance not to confound these two species of sorrow, and 
 the two species of repentance to which they lead, either in 
 our knowledge or in our practical experience. To confound 
 them isto die. To lead those who only sorrow for sin with the 
 sorrow of the world to call and construe themselves as pent- 
 tents, and as such entitled to eternal life, 1s to delude them to 
 their ruin. 
 
 The importance of this discrimination in knowledge and 
 in experience is due to the fact that a real repentance is 
 necessary to salvation. As we propose at present a compari- 
 son between the two kinds of repentance in their essential 
 nature, we shall state the main reasons which make genuine 
 repentance a necessity as briefly as possible. 
 
 73 
 
74 GiFrts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 In the first place, the evil nature of sin requires repent- 
 ance altogether apart from the question of its bearing on 
 the deliverance of the transgressor from the consequences of 
 his sin, even although it should have no effect whatever on 
 his relief he is bound to repent of his sin. Sin is essential 
 evil; it is condemnable in itself; to do justice to it is neces- 
 sarily to condemn and repudiate it. Hvery moral being is 
 bound to do justice; the sinner in any particular case is as 
 much bound to do justice as any one else—to do justice to 
 his own act, as to the act of any one else. He is conse- 
 quently bound to condemn and repudiate his own sin, or, in 
 other words, to repent. The obligation of justice is inde- 
 pendent of consequences. Tor a transgressor to refuse to 
 repent is to double his guilt; it is to endorse and stand by 
 the wrong he has done; and this deliberate reéndorsement of 
 an evil done is to redouble the guilt of the wrong doing. 
 
 In the second place, the necessity of repentance without 
 regard to its effects is created by the continued obligation of 
 the law. The breach of a law never works the abrogation of 
 a law ; it continues to bind the transgressor as fully after his 
 sin as it did before it. One violation leaves the law still de- 
 manding obedience. If that obedience is rendered, its ne- 
 cessary effect is to prevent a repetition of the wrong; it 
 creates resistance and cessation of sin. Repentance, which 
 is a turning away from sin, is manifestly the very thing which 
 the law requires, and which a return to obedience would pro- 
 duce. This obedience to the law leading to repentance is 
 obligatory, without regard to consequences, and repentance 
 is a moral necessity, irrespective of its bearing on the release 
 of the transgressor from the liabilities of his sin. 
 
 In the third place, on the supposition that the sinner is to 
 be saved, the necessity of repentance is still more conspic- 
 uously asserted. Salvation zn sin is a contradiction in terms. 
 It is as truly an impossibility in the nature of things as 
 health in disease, or ease in suffering, or reason in insanity. 
 
REPENTANCE. 15 
 
 Sin is in itself polluting, and, therefore, incompatible with 
 purity. It is a natural fountain of pain, and incompatible 
 with peace. One must give place to the other, and salvation 
 must be salvation from sin, or it is nothing. Many other 
 reasons support this conclusion, but these are sufficient to 
 prove, beyond all doubt, the necessity of repentance to the 
 salvation of a sinner, and the supreme importance of a real 
 repentance, for no other species of it can possibly avail to 
 accomplish that end. 
 
 The indispensable necessity of a true repentance having 
 been illustrated, it becomes a matter of the last importance 
 to understand what it is—what is the real nature of an effec- 
 tual repentance. Repentance for sin will be necessarily con- 
 trolled by the view taken of sin itself; true repentance will 
 be based on a true view of sin—that is, a view answering to 
 the real elements of evil in it. We have already seen that 
 there are two distinct elements of evil in sin determined by 
 the two grand divisions of the law of which sin is the viola- 
 tion, its precept and its penalty, the one yielding the intrinsic 
 evil in sin, the other its consequential evil ; the one its crim1- 
 nality, the other its danger. 
 
 The nature of the repentance following the cognition of 
 an evil will be controlled by the evil which is chiefly seen. 
 Tf the intrinsic evil in sin occupies the view, the repentance 
 that follows will be repentance for sin in itself. If the con- 
 sequential evil is chiefly apprehended, the repentance that 
 follows will be repentance for its consequences, and for sin 
 merely on account of its consequences. Calamity will excite 
 regret; pain will produce distress; prospective danger will 
 produce fear; but a sense of criminality and wrong-doing 
 alone can lead to repentance. Nay, only a sense of crimi- 
 nality based upon a just and approximately complete view 
 of sin can lead to a true as distinguished from a false repent- 
 ance. A man suffering under a fever is distressed ; but he 
 does not charge himself with criminality; he has no self- 
 
76 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 condemnation however much of regret he may have. But if 
 he is in trouble as the result of a criminal act, his grief is 
 modified by a sense of personal blame-worthiness and re- 
 sponsibility. But in all criminal acts there are always two 
 elements, the wrong and the danger, involved in the act; and 
 the grief occasioned by the act will be essentially modified 
 in its moral quality according as the one or the other of 
 these two elements occupy the attention. One view may 
 look mainly to the substance of the act, and another, to its 
 effects. The one may look mainly at the wrong done, and 
 only incidentally to the danger involved. The other may 
 look mainly to the danger, and only partially to the wrong. 
 In both there is a certain sense of criminality; but in the 
 one case the sense of criminality is altogether secondary 
 to the sense of danger, and terminates on self and the 
 interests of self. In the other case the sense of criminality 
 is far deeper, broader, and truer to the fact; it terminates on 
 the moral pollution and the condemnable nature of the 
 wrong done, as the chief object of solicitude, and secondarily, 
 on the peril incurred. The grief produced by the one view 
 is a just grief; the grief produced by the other is a selfish 
 grief. In the one case exemption from the danger would 
 annihilate the concern felt; in the other, exemption from the 
 danger by a gracious pardon will make the sorrow and self- 
 reproach for the wrong itself only the more intense and 
 lasting. ‘Then shalt thou remember and be ashamed for 
 all thine iniquities, when I am pacified towards thee, saith 
 the Lord.” 
 
 It is clear, then, that there is a foundation, in the nature of 
 the case, for the distinction drawn in the Scriptures between 
 a true and a false repentance. Yet a necessary distinction 
 must be made just here to prevent an unhappy misconstruc- 
 tion by some tender consciences. As sin involves danger, 
 a Just view of sin will recognize this fact, and consequently, 
 in true repentance there is a distinct modification of feeling 
 
REPENTANCE. . are 
 
 produced by this element in sin; and so far forth, there is 
 an element in genuine repentance of a sense of danger, and 
 terminating on self. Christians sometimes discount their pen- 
 itent exercises as insufficient and unreliable, because they 
 are distinctly conscious that they dread the results of sin. 
 This is evidently a mistake, because a complete view of sin, 
 as a danger as well as a wrong, must produce this dread of its 
 consequences. The question really is, whether this view of 
 sin is the only view of it, or the chief and controlling view 
 of it. If the other element of wrong, or essential criminality 
 in sin, is apprehended truly, and in addition to the appre- 
 hension of its danger, then it is manifest that the emotions 
 excited will be radically different from those excited by an 
 exclusive, or mainly apprehended, view of the danger of trans- 
 gression. As the danger solely concerns self, the emotions 
 created will be directed upon self, and will be morally un- 
 sound, or otherwise, according to circumstances. Self-love 
 is not necessarily selfishness. A certain regard to self-well- 
 being is altogether proper; it is nothing more nor less than 
 _ that desire of happiness which is essential to the constitu- 
 tion of every rational and moral being. Selfishness is the 
 corrupt excess of self-love. Many a vice is the mere excess 
 ofa virtue. Consequently, a regard to the well-being of one’s 
 own self may properly mingle with the repentance of sin, 
 and does not make it suspicious. False repentance is selfish, 
 regardful only of self, regardless of others, even of God him- 
 self and his rightful claims. True repentance involves a 
 just self-love, which is altogether consistent with the claims 
 of others, and of the offended sovereign especially. 
 
 Hence, we may deduce the distinctive natures of the two 
 species of repentance, and the marks which distinguish the 
 one from the other, and reveal which is colored by a just 
 self-regard, and which is animated by mere selfishness. The 
 one is selfish ; the other is just. The one terminates on self 
 alone; the other terminates on God as well as on self, and on 
 
78 Girrs To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 self within the limits of a lawful regard to self-well-being. 
 This regard to God and this lawful regard to self both con- 
 stitute the discriminating feature of a true, as distinguished 
 from a false, repentance, and shows itself in all the effects. 
 produced by them. Both species of repentance produce 
 general effects, which are similar in some respects, but with 
 vital differences yet involved. Both result in a sorrow for 
 sin, in a sense of shame, pollution, self-condemnation, hatred 
 to sin, self-abasement, and the abandonment of sin; yet the 
 radical elements of selfishness or godliness run through all 
 these effects, and radically modify the nature of each, de- 
 termining the one as morally evil, and the other as morally 
 good, as each is the result, respectively, of a selfish or a 
 godly repentance. The qualifying influence of selfishness, 
 or a just self-love, on all of these effects will enable any one 
 to decide whether his own repentance is true or false. 
 
 1. The leading emotion created by a sense of criminality 
 is shame. Sin is instinctively felt to be polluting and de- 
 basing. The sinner feels degraded. The thief feels that he 
 is mean, and especially so when detected. The man caught 
 in any vice is ashamed when discovered. He feels a certain 
 degree of shame on account of his conscious meanness, pre- 
 vious to any other person’s knowledge of his fault; but this 
 is comparatively feeble, and the capacity of feeling this se- 
 cret shame rapidly gives way under repeated acts of trans- 
 sression. It gains an immense accession of strength, how- 
 ever, from the discovery and contempt of other persons. So 
 long as his vice remains a secret of his own, his sense of 
 shame is bearable; but Jet it be disclosed, and the sense 
 of shame becomes poignant, and perhaps, for a time, 
 almost intolerable. It may awaken a high degree of the 
 sorrow of the world, which worketh death. _ But this sense 
 of shame for personal meanness and detected vice terminates 
 on self; it is altogether selfish. There is no sense of wrong 
 towards a pure law and the God who gave it. The criminal 
 
REPENTANCE. 79 
 
 feels that he has sacrificed himself. He has forfeited his 
 claim to self-respect and to the respect of others. Here the 
 difference between the shame of a false repentance and the 
 shame of a true repentance begins to appear. His pride and 
 self-conceit are wounded, and he is at once thrown into the 
 attitude and effort at self-defence or self-extenuation. Re- 
 sentment and the spirit of bitterness, and even of revenge, 
 towards those who are acquainted with his fault begin to 
 emerge. This shame is entirely compatible with a violent 
 and haughty self-assertion, and also with the opposite mani- 
 festation of an abject deprecation of censure and exposure 
 at the hands of others. This shame is entirely compatible — 
 with a heart unsubdued in its rebellion against moral law, 
 and with the continued practice of other vices, and even of 
 the very vice which produced it. The bitter consciousness 
 of personal degradation produced by it is a dreadful scourge 
 to a transgressor. But it is all selfish; it terminates wholly 
 on self, and always looks more to the effects than to the in- 
 trinsic wrongfulness of the transgression. 
 
 There is an element of shame in true repentance. There 
 -is:something degrading in sin, and when sin is discerned in 
 a just approximation to the whole evil that is in it, this 
 quality will produce its effect; and when the transgressor 
 sees that he has incorporated this debasing element in his 
 own responsible activities, it will be impossible for him to 
 escape a feeling of degradation and consequent shame. This 
 sentiment may often be less keen and powerful than the 
 shame of detected vice; but it is more complete in its insight 
 into the evil of sin, and more conscious of the evil done to 
 others—notably to God himself as well as to self. It is not 
 occupied solely with one act or a few associated acts of a 
 single vice, as is the case in a false repentance. It sees sin 
 more or less in all the acts of the life, as far as memory re- 
 calls them. More than this, it interprets these acts as they 
 really are, the fruits and the disclosures of the evil proclivi- 
 
80 Gurrs To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 ties in the soul itself, and its attention is mainly concentrated 
 upon this ever-flowing fountain of sinful energies. The 
 shame of true repentance springs mainly from this recogni- 
 tion of the sin in the soul, the evil heart, the permanent dis- 
 positions of the will to evil, the capability of all kinds of sin 
 in the soul itself. The shame of false repentance is confined 
 to one act of vice, or, if it looks back of the act at all, to one 
 recognized capability of one mean action. But the shame 
 of true repentance is based on the recognized moral defi- 
 ciency in all its acts, even its best, and on that universally 
 controlling element of evil in the heart itself from which the 
 universal defect in all its expressions comes. 
 
 Moreover, it is distinguished by the recognition of God 
 and his sacred claims. It is a shame for having so com- 
 pletely eliminated God out of all the thoughts and regards of 
 the soul. It sees sin as rebellion against an authority infi- 
 nitely entitled, not only to regard, but to reverence. It sees 
 sin as naturally and inveterately opposed to holiness, just as 
 injustice is in its very essence opposed to justice. It thus 
 recognizes its love for sin as opposition and discontent with 
 the very nature of God. It is ashamed of the degradation | 
 involved in this distaste for infinite excellence. It sees God, 
 as the lawful owner of his creatures, robbed of his property 
 and his right to control it. It sees a Father robbed of his 
 honor by the disobedience of his children; a lawful King 
 deprived of his right by the renunciation of the allegiance 
 due to him; a Benefactor requited by ingratitude. All this 
 is involved in sin as against God. When the human heart is 
 led to genuine repentance, and sees the intrinsic evil in sin, 
 it recognizes it as mainly against God in his nature, law, and 
 lawful claims, and it repents towards God. It is ashamed of 
 such a fixed discrepancy of moral traits and affections with 
 infinite purity. A feeling of universal defect and pollution 
 comes to the front, and breeds shame for all its actions as far 
 they are recognized, and especially for the polluted thoughts 
 
REPENTANCE. QT 
 
 and feelings which fill the consciousness, and still more espe- 
 celally from the polluted soul from which they spring. When 
 sin as against God is recognized, it cannot fail to produce a 
 feeling of meanness and criminality, which will create a sense 
 of shame just in proportion to the energy with which sin is 
 so revealed to the sanctified intuitions of the mind. All the 
 expressions of penitent feeling delineated in the Scriptures 
 are full of this sense of shame. ‘Thou shalt be ashamed and 
 confounded because of thy iniquities.” ‘“O Lord, righteous- 
 ness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as 
 at this day.” 
 
 2. This feeling of shame is followed by its natural conse- 
 quent, the feeling of se/f-abasement. This feeling, under 
 mere natural conviction of criminality, is a sense of degra- 
 dation purely selfish, and is strongly discriminated from the 
 self-abasement of a true and gracious sense of sinfulness. 
 The convict feels that he himself is degraded, but he does 
 not consent to it as a just consequent of his crime. He does 
 not abase himself; his abasement is something enforced on 
 him from without. It is attended by wounded pride, by irri- 
 
 tated temper, by the disposition to excuse or defend the 
  eriminal conduct, and by feelings of revenge towards all who 
 may know or allude to it. It will lead to self-assertion, or a 
 cringing abjectness of demeanor. ‘True conviction leads to 
 genuine humility ; the shame it produces leads to a just and 
 candid recognition of the degradation involved, and the man 
 abases himself; he consents to a feeling of degradation as 
 just. Instead of endeavoring to throw it off, he desires to 
 feel more of it, to be more and more humbled. He takes 
 the blame of his evil-doing, and looking back of his act sees 
 the evil disposition in himself from which it sprung. There 
 is no wounded pride, no irritation of temper, no wish to ex- 
 cuse or defend self, no disposition to revenge. Pride is 
 truly humbled, sin is honestly confessed ; he condemns him- 
 self, and feels that the censures of others, even when unchar- 
 6 
 
82 Girrs To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 itably rendered, are true to the facts, and instead of resis- 
 tance to their judgment, or revengeful feelings towards 
 themselves, feels that he is justly condemned. He condemns 
 himself; he is humbled; he abases himself, and he is not 
 excited to self-extenuation, or feelings of bitterness and re- 
 venge. 
 
 8. This feeling of self-abasement leads to sorrow for sin. 
 Natural conviction produces sorrow, frequently an intensely 
 bitter grief. There is verily a sorrow of the world that work- 
 eth death. It is regret for the criminal conduct which has 
 brought peril to himself, and, it may be, affliction to those 
 dear to him or to others whom he had no wish or intention 
 to harm. But even this partial sense of unselfishness is only 
 partial; it is at bottom selfish ; the criminal grieves because 
 the undesigned injury to others has only added to personal 
 responsibility. He laments the folly which has betrayed his 
 own interests. But the sorrow of spiritual conviction reaches 
 further than this, and its moral quality is totally different. 
 The true convict sorrows for the consequences of his sin, but 
 also for something else. He sees the evil he has done, and 
 grieves for it. He grieves for the criminal nature of his act. 
 He grieves for the evil condition of his own heart, from which 
 his positive evil ways have come. He grieves for the injury 
 done to the authority, the honor, and the gracious kindness 
 of God. He grieves for his disregard for the wise and right 
 requirements of the law. He grieves for his indefensible 
 treatment of the grace of the gospel. He grieves most when 
 the danger is past; the natural convict ceases to grieve when 
 he conceives the danger is past. The sorrow of the true 
 penitent is deepest and purest when God is pacified for sin 
 through the power of the atonement. The more the divine 
 mercy is realized, the more the sorrow for sin melts into 
 sweeter and more purifying emotions. “Then shalt thou re- 
 member and be ashamed for all thine iniquities, when I am 
 pacified towards thee, saith the Lord.” 
 
REPENTANCE. 83 
 
 4, This mingled sense of the shame, self-pollution and 
 sorrow-breeding force in sin unite to produce a hatred for 
 sin. Natural conviction produces often a real hatred for sin; 
 but it is confined to only the one sin, or a few sins, which 
 have produced losses to the sinner. The drunkard often 
 hates and dreads the particular crime of drunkenness, which 
 has overwhelmed him time after time with distress. The 
 gambler often hates the vice which has ruined his fortune. 
 This kind of hatred for sin is discriminated by its selfishness 
 and by its limited range of application; it is confined to the 
 special sins which have imperiled self. The hatred of sin 
 which springs from a true intuition of its evil nature is based 
 on a discernment of its essential criminality, its essential 
 wickedness against God, as a violation of a right law, as a 
 natural polluting influence, and as a fountain of universal de- 
 struction to the nature and the interests of the transeressor. 
 It is not limited to a few special sins; it is not confined to 
 the forms of transgression revealed as dangerous, and there- 
 fore hateful, to the alarmed selfishness of the heart by an 
 experimental realization of their power to distress. It recog- 
 nizes all sin as transgression of law, and as such, an offence 
 to the great Lawgiver. As such, it discerns it to be a crimi- 
 nal thing, no matter how pleasing; as a danger, no matter 
 how apparently harmless. It sees offence to God, and both 
 pollution and peril to self, wherever it sees sin at all. The 
 result is a disgust, a dread, and a hatred of all sin indiscrimi- 
 nately, although on a scale of degrees suitable to different 
 grades of the evil wherever it is fairly discerned. 
 
 0. This hatred and shame leads to self-abhorrence and self- 
 condemnation. “Now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I 
 abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” The distinct 
 and definite development of all the emotions leading to re- 
 pentance for sin is more or less gradual, as a general rule. 
 As the renewed man becomes more and more acquainted 
 with the intractable spiritual disorders of the heart; as he 
 
84 Girrs TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 realizes more and more its hardness, its proclivity to all evil, 
 its treachery to good, its readiness to sin, he grows steadily 
 in a profound disgust and distrust towards himself. As self- 
 abasement springs minly from the sense of positive criminal 
 energies, self-abhorrence springs mainly from the conscious- 
 ness of the permanent depraved states of the soul itself As 
 the stubborn wickedness of the heart is more fully disclosed, 
 he abhors this state of things; he abhors himself; he shrinks 
 from it with a mixture of terror and disgust. He is ready 
 to join Paul in the cry: ‘“‘O wretched man that I am! who 
 shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Under the 
 united views of his guilt and depravity, he condemns himself. 
 He realizes that God is just in condemning him. He sees 
 that any just judgment formed of himself or of his acts must 
 condemn both. He sees the justice of the censures of the 
 law so plainly that he is unable to see how the condemnation 
 of the law can be escaped, and there is no relief from this 
 difficulty until he can realize the redemption of grace. At 
 this point of contrast one of the leading distinctions between 
 a true and a false repentance emerges to view. The one 
 sees a single act, or a short series of specific criminal acts, 
 disclosing, it may be, a specific degrading tendency in the 
 character, which it often endeavors to offset by a claim to 
 virtues of act and character in other respects. The sense of 
 guilt, however keen, does not prevent the feeling that God 
 might overlook the fault if he just chose to do it. No atone- 
 ment is recognized as necessary to free his integrity from 
 the obligation to do justice. But true repentance distrusts 
 the perfect purity of its best actions; it sees defect in all its 
 manifested energies; it sees the taint on all the inward 
 powers of the soul. It sees its condemnation to be so just 
 and inevitable under the natural operation of the law, that 
 it realizes the necessity of an atonement, and a redemption, 
 if it be possible. Under this sense of guilt and depravity, 
 this soul feels itself to be vile, and abhors itself; it condemns 
 
 “of 
 
REPENTANCE. Q5 
 
 itself. It lays its hand upon its mouth, and its mouth in tie 
 dust. It cries, unclean! unclean! So masterful becomes this 
 consciousness of pollution, as time passes and the years 
 mature experience, that the mind comparatively ceases its 
 attention to the peril of sin, and even the sinfulness of 
 specific acts. | 
 
 The great source of constant anxiety is the felt conscious- 
 ness of a living spring of iniquity in the soul itself, that law 
 of sin in the members, whose tyranny made even the great 
 apostle compare it to a decaying dead body chained fast to 
 his living limbs. The most passionate and permanent desire 
 is for the cleansing of this unholy fountain of energy within, 
 knowing that such a purification is indispensable to purify 
 the life as well as the abiding elements of the personal na- 
 ture. The attention is fascinated by the working of this law 
 of sin. It watches the uprising of unholy thoughts, fancies 
 and wishes, evil feelings, desires, and stable affections, which, 
 like flocks of obscene and ominous birds, drift in dense, in- 
 cessantly moving masses out of the dark caverns of an un- 
 holy nature. It sighs for deliverance; and the few brief 
 periods of temporary victory, and the occasional brief su- 
 premacy of holy emotions which now and then temper the 
 stern struggle of the spiritual warfare, remain in the memory 
 of the comforted saint like the memories of spring-time, 
 sweet with scented air, the bloom of early flowers, and the 
 glad lyrics of joyful birds. The sweetest vision of heaven 
 itself is not the rose-embossed gold of its gorgeous avenues, 
 the white splendor of the palaces and colonnaded halls, 
 where the kings and priests of God forever dwell, nor the 
 waving trees on the banks of the broad river of life, but the 
 freedom of the soul from sin, the true and ready answer of a 
 holy heart to the beauty of the Lord God, the ordered har- 
 mony of thought, feeling and will with all the divine require- 
 ments, the rest, never again to be disturbed, from all evil. 
 The grand charm of heaven is Aoliness. This quality is to 
 
86 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 the soul what health is to the body—a mysterious, inde- 
 finable, all-pervading condition of strength, beauty, exhilara- 
 tion, and usefulness. Depravity is just the opposite quality, 
 and lays a necessary foundation for self-abhorrence, self- 
 condemnation, and all the conditions of repentance. 
 
 6. Finally, to this series of perceptions and emotions lead- 
 ing to godly repentance, one grand distinction between it and 
 the sorrow of the world is found in the realization of the 
 goodness of God. “Know ye not that the goodness of God 
 leadeth thee to repentance?” That goodness is only realized 
 in the forgiveness of sin, when God is pacified towards the 
 sinner. No such perception enters into the sorrow that 
 worketh death; that unfruitful remorse springs exclusively 
 from a sense of the justice of God and the terrors of his ad- 
 ministration. Release the natural convict from his danger, 
 and his care is extinguished. His mourning is all selfish. 
 Not so with him whom godly sorrow is leading to the re- 
 pentance which is unto life. The goodness of God has laid 
 its white hand upon him, and is leading him to an unselfish 
 and generous sorrow for his sin. The cross of the Redeemer 
 has revealed its infinite tender compassion and its power of 
 saving the lost; and as the lips drink eagerly the first deep 
 draught from the stream of forgiving love, the heart breaks 
 down into a sorrow for sinning against a being so gracious, 
 far deeper and more effectual in its abiding influences than 
 the bitterest emotions which spring from the view of sin 
 apart from the grace which takes it away. It is an unselfish 
 sorrow, and, mingled with its grief, there is a distinct ruling 
 element of sweetness, love and hope, which makes the sorrow 
 which leads to true repentance sweeter than many a joy of an 
 unpardoned soul. There is no such element of sweet emo- 
 tion qualifying the unmingled bitterness of a false repent- 
 ance. 
 
 7. These precedent perceptions and emotions, the just views 
 of the divine law and of sin, and the emotions which follow 
 
IRKEPENTANCE. S7 
 
 them—the shame, the self-abasement, the sorrow, the hatred, 
 the self-abhorrence, the self-condemnation, and the grateful 
 sense of the divine goodness, all unite to work the act of repent- 
 ance unto life. The emotions which lead to repentance are 
 often confounded with the act of repentance, and while they are 
 inseparably connected with it, they are not only distinguish- 
 able in thought, but are distinguished from it in so many words 
 of the Holy Ghost. Paul clearly discriminates between “the 
 godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation,” and 
 the repentance itself. The sorrow works the act: the one is 
 precedent, as cause, the other consequent, as effect. “ Re- 
 pentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of 
 a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of 
 God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn 
 from it unto God, with a full purpose of and endeavor after 
 new obedience.” The essence of repentance is in this act of 
 turning from sin. Luther defined repentance as ceasing to 
 sin. It is the act of the whole soul, mind and heart, taste 
 and volition, all consenting in a revolt from sin, with a fixed 
 purpose by the grace of God to do it no more with consent 
 and free acquiescence. It is the fruit of regeneration, the 
 issue of a change of heart. The word translated repentance 
 means, literally, change of mind; and it is contradictory to 
 predicate change of mind without change of mind. I re- 
 pentance takes effect on the heart as well as on the mind, itis 
 equally contradictory to predicate a change of heart without 
 a change of heart. Repentance implies a change of feeling 
 as well as a change of view. False repentance implies a 
 change of feeling towards a sin, or some sins, as identified 
 with its effects; but the very circumstance which distin- 
 guishes it from true repentance is that the latter implies a 
 real change of feeling and affection towards all sin, not 
 merely as identified with its dangerous consequences, but on 
 account of its intrinsic criminal nature. Such a change is 
 only another name for that change of heart which is involved 
 
88 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 in regeneration. Repentance is a right-about movement, re- 
 versing the direction in which the energies of the whole soul 
 are acting, not merely in the governing purpose, but in the 
 views of the understanding, in the affections of the heart, in 
 the supremacy of the conscience, in all the forces which 
 color and control character and conduct. It is an instant 
 act of revolt against all sin, growing out into ten thousand 
 repeated acts, and thus into a steady work and habit of re- 
 sistance to all sin, and-for the whole life. The emotions 
 leading to repentance may be at times more or less difficult 
 to discriminate from the similar emotions of false repentance; 
 but if the acts and habit of resisting sin are clear in the con- 
 sciousness, there can be little difficulty in deciding the ques- 
 tion. If the soul is conscious of this constant aversion and 
 dread towards sin ; if this fixed purpose and habit, and this 
 fixed but anxious and solicitous determination to overcome 
 it, is clear in experience, such a soul hath good reason to 
 believe that he who has been exalted as a Prince and a 
 Saviour to give repentance unto life and the forgiveness of 
 sins, hath already granted unto him repentanze and the 
 good hope it insures. 
 
 To sum up in a specific and detailed contrast between the 
 two species of repentance—one springing from the godly 
 sorrow that worketh salvation ; the other, from the sorrow of 
 the world that worketh death. The one is selfish, controlled 
 by selfishness; the other is prudent, ccntrolled by a lawful 
 regard to well-being. The one is confined to special sins; 
 the other extends to all sin, whenever recognized as such. 
 One is embittered; the other is humble. One is afraid of 
 detection; the other is free to confess. One is disposed to 
 extenuation and self-defence; the other is anxious to see 
 more of its own evil. The one is revengeful to others; the 
 other is revengeful towards itself. The one leads to a lim- 
 ited reform of faults in conduct, and to little or none in 
 heart; the other seeks an unlimited reform, and most eagerly 
 
 an 
 
REPENTANCE. 89 
 
 in the inward parts. The one refers to Ged, only as the 
 source of danger; the other to God as rightly offended. 
 The one produces effects not often permanent, even in their 
 limited range; the other does produce permanent effects of 
 general improvement. The effects of the one are not purify- 
 ing; the effects of the other are purifying, especially in the 
 heart. The effects of the one are not humility, but self- 
 assertion; the effect of the other is self-condemnation. The 
 desire of salvation produced by the one is soon discouraged ; 
 the desire of salvation produced by the other is permanent 
 and inextinguishable. The effort to escape produced by the 
 one soon ceases; the effort to escape produced by the other 
 never ceases. The one never leads to the acceptance of gos- 
 pel mercy; the other always does. The one sorrow leads to 
 remorse, and ends in death; the other leads to godly repent- 
 ance, and works out salvation. The one is the datum of 
 natural conscience restrained from the paralysis of its func- 
 tions by sin, and enabled to do its work by the restraining 
 and supporting influences of the Holy Spirit; the other is 
 the gift of Christ, the Prince and Saviour exalted to give 
 repentance and forgiveness of sins through the agency of the 
 Spirit, and is the exercise of a regenerate heart. 
 
 The fundamental notion of all repentance is change of 
 mind. If the repentance is a real repentance of the heart, 
 it is necessarily in itself a change of the heart towards sin. 
 All exercises of sorrow for sin, previous to a real change 
 of the heart from the love to the honest hatred of sin, are 
 selfish, and belong to the sorrow that worketh death, ‘This 
 selfish sorrow from awakening and natural conviction, under 
 gospel influences, is not useless, as it always precedes a gen- 
 uine repentance, and tends to lead to it; but it is dangerous 
 and misleading to speak of persons in this state of mind as 
 penitents ; they are more properly designated as “ mourners,” 
 or “seekers,” or ‘inquirers.” False repentance is not for 
 sin separated from its effects, and only seeks to comply with 
 
90 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 the terms of grace to escape destruction. True repentance 
 is repentance for sin, and wages war on it in all its known 
 forms, “to escape its pollution as well as its danger.” False 
 repentance may lead sometimes to the repair of wrongs and 
 the restitution of injuries, under stress of remorse, and as an 
 inducement to mercy ; but it is all selfish. True repentance 
 leads to restitution, because it is just, and because it has 
 learned to abhor the crime which has injured others. False 
 repentance seeks reform in the inward parts, whenever it does 
 seek it at all, merely as the recognized path away from peril. 
 True repentance leads to an habitual and eager universal 
 purification, because it is not only essential to safety, but be- 
 cause it has learned to abhor the law of sin in the members. 
 “What carefulness it wrought in you; yea, what zeal, yea, 
 what indignation, yea, what revenge,” is said of it. It leads to 
 an universal and permanent reform of heart and life. Not 
 discouraged by a thousand failures and falls, weeping and 
 ashamed of its want of fidelity in duty, the grace-supported 
 heart of a true penitent sends back evermore the heroic bat- 
 tle-cry of the weary but unconquered soldier of Christ, “Re- 
 joice not against me, O mine enemy; though I weep, I shall 
 rejoice; though I am weak, yet am I strong; though I sit in 
 darkness, the light shall arise unto me; though I fall, I shall 
 rise again ; though he slay me, yet will I trustin him.” True 
 repentance leads to life eternal. 
 
 OT ¥ 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 FAITH. 
 
 ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves ; 
 
 it is the gift of God.”—Pawl to the Hphesians. 
 
 N faith turns the issue of eternal life according to the 
 gospel of grace. It is of faith that it may be of grace. 
 To know what it is to believe is to know the way of life; to 
 exercise faith is to obtain it. Faith in itself is the simplest 
 of conceptions; but to describe it in the completeness of its 
 nature, its offices in the scheme of redemption, and its rela- 
 tions to other truths and graces, is not easy. The movement of 
 the arm is very simple, but to describe in full the movement of 
 every muscle, tendon, and nervous energy brought into play, 
 would not answer to the simplicity of the movement analyzed. 
 Every guide of an anxious inquirer knows how impossible it 
 is to convey any satisfactory notion of faith when the soul is 
 trying to exercise it. It becomes very clear that the saying 
 is true, faith is the gift of God, and he alone can enable it. 
 Yet the truth must be taught, for only through the truth 
 does God put forth his saving power, and there are so many 
 difficulties, not pertaining to the real cause of the seeker’s 
 disability, which are made occasions of resistance, and which 
 may be quelled by instruction, to render it hopeless of effect 
 to teach the real nature of saving faith in the Saviour and 
 his truth. 
 
 All faith in its generic nature is the same; it is belief of 
 testimony; it is the credit of evidence. To believe a thing 
 is to accept it as true. But this generic nature of faith may 
 be so qualified by both intellectual and moral qualities as to 
 make it entirely different, and thus to create different kinds 
 
 91 
 
92, GIF?S TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 _ of faith, more or less entitled to respect. To accept a thing 
 as true on insufficient or unjustifiable evidence is credulity, 
 or rash confidence. To construe the evidence and thus 
 accept as true, under the coloring influence of pride, preju- 
 dice, perverted moral tastes, or false rules of Judgment, is to 
 create a faith intellectually mistaken and morally corrupt. 
 The nature of all faith is strongly qualified as judicious or 
 injudicious, by the intellectual qualities that enter into it, 
 and equally qualified as morally censurable or otherwise by 
 the moral qualities that color it. This is the great principle 
 by which all kinds of faith are to be judged and their real 
 nature discovered, by the qualities, intellectual and moral, that 
 enter into their composition. The rule rests, as its basis, on 
 the great fact of human nature, that its moral energies are 
 called into play in the formation of its views; and the particu- 
 lar kind of moral feeling or energy which is controlling in 
 that formation, or which enters into it, although not sufficient 
 to be controlling, will modify the final result. Ignorance, 
 carelessness in dealing with the evidence, prejudice in con- 
 struing it, perverted habits, affections, or tastes perverting 
 the final conclusion, taint the faith which accepts, mars the 
 conclusion itself, and irresistibly discloses the responsibility 
 of the actor for his accepted belief. 
 
 It is not, therefore, at all strange that the Scriptures describe 
 at least four species of faith: hestorical faith, temporary faith, 
 the faith of devils, and the faith which saves. Each of these 
 is an acceptance of something as true, modified by the pre- 
 sence of evil qualities which ought not to have entered into 
 the faith which is exercised, or by the absence or the presence 
 of some good quality which ought to have entered into it. 
 With this clue, we may form some approximately just notion 
 of each of them. 
 
 1. Historical faith is the faith of the masses of the people 
 generally in all Christian countries. It stands discriminated 
 from all kinds of infidelity, on the one side, and from saving 
 
 a 
 
Fatru. 93 
 
 faith in the gospel, on the other. It is the settled intellect- 
 ual conviction of the truth of the whole Christian system, 
 and thus stands opposed to infidelity, which rejects it. It 
 not only believes in the existence of God and in his govern- 
 ment in the world, but in Christianity as a divinely revealed 
 and supernatural system, in the Bible as inspired, and in 
 Christ as a Saviour. It is a real, honest, calm, intellectual 
 conviction; but it is not incorporated with the feelings of 
 the heart to any great extent, and those feelings are not the 
 right and justly due feelings which ought to enter into such 
 a conviction. It enlists strong feeling as to the necessity of 
 religion as a political and social restraint. It may be asso- 
 ciated with family ties and hereditary honors. But it does 
 not take hold of individual affections, except to a certain 
 extent, or excite the anxieties of the mind, and certainly fails 
 to awaken the pleasing affections and to establish a law of 
 habitual personal conduct, steadfastly authoritative over the 
 conscience and delightful to the heart. In this grave defect 
 it stands opposed to saving faith. It is a real and honest 
 faith, but entirely wanting in those moral qualities essential to 
 do justice to the truth as a whole. It, therefore, cannot save. 
 This sad result is proved by the sadder fact that many such 
 believers are not saved—a result conclusively shown by the 
 ungodly tenor of their lives. Historical faith, so far as it 
 goes, does justice to the truth, and to the evidence which 
 supports it; but it does justice to the truth only in part, and 
 its exclusively intellectual character makes no room for those 
 exercises of the heart which give the complexion of moral 
 or spiritual excellence to the faith which is indulged. 
 
 2. Temporary faith, or an acceptance of a certain class of 
 truths—the joyful truths of revealed mercy—for a time, is 
 portrayed in the stony-ground hearers of the parable of the 
 seed-sower. ‘They are said to have received the word with 
 joy, but not having sufficient depth of earth, they fell away 
 when the time of persecution and affliction came. This 
 
94 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 faith is supposed by some to be saving, because a certain 
 degree of joyful feeling was mixed up with it. It is thus 
 construed to be the saving faith of the heart. That it was 
 not saving is proved by the strongest of all proof, it did not 
 save them. That it excited some feeling does not necessa- 
 rily show that it was the right feeling—the feeling and affec- 
 tion of the whole heart, the feeling necessary to qualify a 
 faith as it ought, and is required, to be. It has just been 
 seen that the real nature of any species of faith is regulated 
 by the kind of moral and intellectual feeling that enters into 
 it. It is not enough to show that some feeling enters into it, 
 but also what kind of feeling. There is a certain kind of 
 feeling, often strong and decisive, a feeling of political im- 
 portance, or hereditary or social pride, that is mixed up with 
 historical faith. The faith of devils 1s mixed with strong 
 feelings. But that does not make those species of faith 
 saving. What, then, is the nature of this feeling in the 
 stony-ground hearers? It is evident, in the first place, that 
 it was a joyful feeling; it is not said to be attended by any 
 other kind of feeling. It was based on the joyful truths of 
 the Saviour’s teaching, and on that only. It was conse- 
 quently based on an incomplete foundation. It was a faith 
 without repentance. It was the joy which springs up on the 
 presentment of a hopeful prospect without paying just 
 regard to the conditions and preliminary steps to secure it. 
 Moreover, and most conclusively, it was a movement in a 
 part of the heart only, in the desire of well-being, but not in 
 its moral tastes and affections. It was the dread of danger, 
 breeding hope of escape on the presentment of pleasing 
 truths; but not the revolt of the whole heart, affections, 
 tastes, desires, and fixed purposes, against sin, leading to the 
 assured hope of escape on the presentment of the gospel 
 remedies. Any heart, no matter how thoroughly ungodly, 
 would rejoice under a strong, no matter how delusive, if yet 
 an actual, hope of everlasting well-being. But the joyful 
 
FaIru. 95 
 
 feeling in such a heart would by no means prove it to be a 
 right heart, and its cheerful emotions, though strongly quali- 
 fying his faith, would by no means guarantee his faith. The 
 feelings of the heart which determine the nature of true 
 faith, and the absence of which disqualify any faith, are the 
 real moral tastes, inclinations, and affections of the heart, 
 and not any merely passing sensibilities of hope or joy bred 
 by a prospect of advantage without any sound or reliable 
 foundation. This joy of the stony-ground hearers was like 
 the joy of a child at the prospect of a new gift; it excites a 
 temporary influence; but it soon passes away, and makes no 
 abiding impression on the tastes and desires of the heart. 
 The ground on which it sprang up was still stony; there 
 was no depth of earth to receive the seed; the plough had 
 not passed over it. The law must do its work to prepare the 
 heart for the reception of the gospel; carnal security must 
 be broken up; the awakening and convicting influences of 
 the Holy Spirit must bring the sinner to see he is actually. 
 lost before he can appreciate truly the glad tidings of great 
 joy. There may be religious joy before this takes place, 
 from some mistaken apprehension of the good news; but 
 this is the joy of the stony-ground hearer, which soon passes 
 away. 
 
 There are many exercises about religion which are not 
 truly religious. Every false religion the world has ever seen 
 has its exhilarating considerations, which, when realized by 
 the devotee, produce a kind of joy, but it is none the less delu- 
 sive and ruinous. Faith must be qualified by feelings and 
 affections far deeper than mere selfish appetencies awakened 
 by mistaken views of partial truth, and soon passing away. 
 
 8. The classification of the faith of devils is justified by 
 the Scripture declaration, “the devils also believe and trem- 
 ble.” The lost angels have no room for skepticism of God’s 
 existence, or his government, or the truth of his promises. 
 Their own knowledge acquaints them with his existence and 
 
96 Girrs To UNBELIEVEBRS. 
 
 his character. Their own awful experience, past and pre- 
 sent, acquaints them with his government and law. - Their 
 own experience and knowledge combined acquaints them 
 with the certain overthrow of their usurped dominion on 
 earth, and of their own final segregation from the possibility 
 of re-establishing it, and of their own final subjection to the 
 full penalty of their crimes. They believe these things, and 
 they tremble under the assurance. Their faith 1s no cold 
 and impassive historical faith. It is a faith which reaches 
 their hearts, not in the sense of a loving and joyful assent 
 and consent to the things believed, but in the sense of a bit- 
 ter, malignant, and terrified repulsion and discontent with 
 the things believed. It is substantially identical with the 
 remorse which sometimes seizes a human criminal and 
 awakes the assured conviction within him that the retribu- 
 tion of his crime is unavoidable. The expression, believing 
 with the heart, needs to be discriminated to express the 
 saving faith of the elect of God. There is a faith of the 
 heart which is not saving—a faith which receives the truth 
 and hates it; accepts it, because it cannot disbelieve it, but 
 accepts it unwillingly, with the revolt of feeling, with mtense 
 opposition of will. This is often seen in men; it 1s identical 
 with the faith of devils, and seems to indicate that the faith 
 
 of devils is not altogether confined to the hierarchs of the | 
 
 abyss. There are phases of human unbelief which have no 
 place in the infernal regions. There are no atheists there to 
 deny the existence of God. There are no skeptics to doubt, 
 no agnostics to be ignorant of, the realities of the divine ad- 
 ministration. There are no pantheists among the devils to 
 construe themselves as parts of God, and not personal and 
 distinct existencies in their own wicked and miserable selves. 
 There are no cool and unmoved historical believers among 
 them, honestly accepting the revelation of the divine will, and 
 not caring a bawbee about it. They believe and they hate ; 
 they believe with intense and unrestricted convictions, and 
 
 0 ee es 
 
FAITH. Si 
 
 they tremble with awful foreboding of the sure wrath which 
 is to come. There is no peace, hope, or salvation in the 
 faith of devils; it breeds in them, and perhaps in certain 
 classes of men, “a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery 
 indignation which shall consume the adversaries.” 
 
 4. Saving faith is the last discrimination of faith to which 
 we shall allude, and the most important. The generic nature 
 of all faith is the same; it is the avceptance of anything as 
 true; but the entry of different intellectual and moral ele- 
 ments into its generic nature result in producing different 
 kinds of faith of vastly differing moral and intellectual values, 
 and, as such, exerting answerable differences in the effects 
 they produce. Saving faith is qualified by certain intellec- 
 tual and spiritual affections which constitute its peculiar 
 character, and under the arrangements of the covenant of 
 grace enable it to secure that immeasurable result, the salva- 
 tion of the lost soul. But inasmuch as this species of faith 
 in its generic nature possesses some features in common with 
 all other species of faith, and the consideration of these fea- 
 tures will tend powerfully to vindicate the faith that saves 
 from some assaults that have been made upon it, it will be 
 advisable to discuss these generic features of all belief before 
 entering on the detail of the special and distinguishing pecu- 
 liarities of this belief which is the instrument of salvation in 
 the Christian system. 
 
 1. All kinds of faith have certain generic or general fea- 
 tures in common. Faith, under all kinds, is the acceptance 
 of a thing as true. Whenever anything is believed, it is 
 meant that that thing is received as true. But in order to 
 the reception of a thing as true, there must be something ¢o 
 show that it is true; that is, there must be evidence or testi- 
 mony to the thing in order to its being accepted as true. 
 Belief, then, is a confidence in testimony. But the dealing 
 with the evidence at once calls into play the active powers of 
 the mind; this calls into play the energies of the will, and 
 
 7 
 
98 Girrs TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 throws open the sphere of feeling, passion, and prejudice, 
 and this at once draws the authority of moral law over 
 the scene of action, and determines responsibility for the 
 final resulting belief. As moral law and the voluntary and 
 moral powers of the human spirit are thus inevitably in- 
 yolved in the genesis of belief, the right formation and exer- 
 cise of belief may be properly required and commanded. 
 There are features in the Christian doctrine of faith which 
 have excited opposition to it, but they are the generic fea- 
 tures of all faiths recognized by the common-sense judg- 
 ments of all mankind, and it is, therefore, altogether nuga- 
 tory to cite them as objections to the gospel doctrine of say- 
 ing faith. Test these several generic features of faith by the 
 universal requirements and usages of mankind, and the fact 
 will undoubtedly appear, that in the teachings of the gospel 
 about faith, it has displayed no subtlety of its own, exclu- 
 sively, but has proceeded on grounds common to all forms of 
 belief recognized among men. These universal grounds vin- 
 dicate its generic features, and its special peculiarities are 
 vindicated by their own special evidence. 
 
 (1.) As to the first generic feature of all beliefs there will be 
 no dispute. Faith or belief is the simple acceptance of a 
 thing as true. Accepting as true is the very nature of the 
 thing and the very meaning of the word belief. This 1s the 
 primary and essential conception of faith. About this there 
 will be no dispute. However true or false the thing believed 
 may be, if believed, it is taken to be true. 
 
 (2.) But to the acceptance of a thing as true there must be 
 something to show it to be true; otherwise its truth cannot 
 be conceived either as probable or known, and, therefore, 
 cannot be properly asserted to be or believed to be. To 
 assert a thing to be true, without any sufficient reason, or 
 any reason at all to believe it to be true, is to assert a false- 
 hood; it isa breach of the law of veracity. Let any man do 
 this about any secular matter, and the common-sense judg- 
 
 Amey oles Fp. ie a: 
 
FAIra. 99 
 
 ments of men at once hold him responsible and condemn 
 him as wanting in integrity. If he accepts any statement 
 on insufficient, or extravagant, or superstitious, or incompe- 
 tent evidence of any sort, the same inexorable common-sense 
 judgment ascertains his responsibility, and sets him down 
 as credulous, or superstitious, or rash, or foolish in -his 
 belief. On the contrary, if the evidence is clear and pow- 
 erful, and yet it is refused, and the thing proved is rejected 
 as false, the very same common-sense judgment will ascer- 
 tain responsibility, and ascribe the refusal to see and recog- 
 nize the truth to passion, prejudice, ignorance, or to some 
 cause resting in the will and feelings of the man. Without 
 competent evidence no man can be required to believe any- 
 thing. To deny this is to say that a man can be required to 
 believe or accept a thing as true in the absence of every- 
 thing that could show it to be true; in other words, to affirm 
 as true what he has no reason to believe is true, which is 
 only another way of saying he is bound to tell a lie. Evi- 
 dence is the only rational basis of belief. It is not only the 
 basis, but for that very reason the measure, of assent. Tf the 
 evidence is decisive, belief ought to be decisive. If the evi- 
 dence is only probable, the assent of the mind ought to be 
 graduated accordingly. The degree of assent ought to be 
 determined by the degree of the evidence. The relation of 
 evidence to faith is all-important. 
 
 From this relation between evidence and belief two of the 
 greatest thinkers of the age drew the conclusion that there 
 was no responsibility for belief. If the evidence was clear, 
 it compelled assent; and if the evidence was incomplete, no 
 one could be required to believe. In this they have been 
 followed by the great bulk of the scientific world, the infidel 
 section of which, especially, are eager to repel all responsi- 
 bility for their rejection of the Christian faith, and hold all 
 the censures of the Christian world as the unjust expressions 
 of ignorance and bigotry. They regard the commands of 
 
100 Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 "the gospel to believe, and its grave censures of unbelief, as 
 absurd; evidence controls belief, and to command belief and 
 to censure the want of it is as unjust and ridiculous as to 
 command a man chilled with cold to be warm without fire, 
 and to censure him for continuing to be cold. But the com- 
 mon-sense judgments of mankind coincide with the teachings 
 of the gospel in rejecting this view, and in holding men re- 
 sponsible for their beliefs. They require unprejudiced and 
 just judgments of men and things of each other in the ordi- 
 nary transactions of life; they require them of judges on the 
 bench, of statesmen in council, of all who are endowed with 
 trust powers. The reason is plain: The view of Sir James 
 McIntosh and Lord Brougham proceeded on the supposi- 
 tion that belief was the product of one factor alone; that 1s, 
 the evidence in the case. But the common-sense judg- 
 ments of mankind are grounded on the clear perception that 
 belief is the product of two factors instead of one; that is, 
 evidence, and the action of human faculties upon it. ‘The 
 presentation of the evidence at once calls the human facul- 
 ties into action. This calls into play the energies of the will, 
 throws open the space for the activity of the moral feelings 
 of fairness or unfairness in judging of the evidence, and thus 
 imposes the authority of moral law over the formation of the 
 judgment. Consequently, obedience to moral law may be 
 justly required in the treatment of the evidence, and in the 
 consequent genesis of faith. The common sense of mankind 
 does not disable the effect, or dislocate the relation, of evi- 
 dence to belief, but it does at the same time rightly construe 
 the influence of the will, and rightly estimate the influence 
 of pride, passion, prejudice, and of all the moral feelings, 
 good or bad, in construing the evidence. It sees clearly the 
 coloring influence of the will and of all its affections in the 
 genesis of all kinds of faith, and hence does not hesitate to 
 hold all men responsible for their beliefs on all subjects 
 whatever. To subject the Christian religion to contemptu- 
 
Fatra. 101 
 
 ous censure because it does the very same thing, censures 
 men for unbelief, and commands them to believe the gospel, 
 is silly. The Christian faith and the common-sense judg- 
 ments of mankind proceed on the same great underlying 
 principles, and coincide in these five great generic features 
 of all just and true beliefs. They construe all belief as the 
 acceptance of truth; they demand evidence as the basis and 
 measure of faith; they recognize the inevitable concern of 
 the weld and its affections in the construction and estimate of 
 the evidence, and in the genesis of belief; they recognize the 
 supremacy of moral law over this genesis or production, and 
 the obligation to form just judgments on the impartial con- 
 sideration of all the evidence on both sides; and they unite 
 in holding men responsible for their beliefs on all sub- 
 jects whatever. 
 
 There is another point falling as a subdivision of one of 
 the five great generic features of belief, in which the general 
 judgments of mankind and the demands of the Christian 
 system coincide. Both require evidence as the basis and 
 measure of assent, and both admit the full claims of legiti- 
 mate personal testimony as one species of lawful evidence. 
 Both admit that the testimony of a reliable personal witness 
 is entitled to be believed. Both admit the right and the 
 obligation to test his trustworthiness to any extent that may 
 be necessary. Both recognize the lawful limits and quali- 
 fications which rationally guard the reception of such testi- 
 mony, and either reduce or enhance its claims to credit. <A 
 just and honorable man feels that he is entitled to confidence, 
 and that as he speaks the truth he is entitled to be believed. 
 He recognizes the right of full inquiry into his trustworthi- 
 ness in general and in every particular case. But injustice 
 is done when the veracity of a true man is impeached; in- 
 justice is a breach of moral law; men are universally bound 
 to do justice; and consequently the rejection of personal 
 testimony when really trustworthy is a wrong. Preliminary 
 
102 Gtirts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 investigation as to integrity, soundness of mind, opportunity 
 of knowing, and all other elements of credibility is not only 
 allowable, but obligatory. But when trustworthiness is 
 ascertained, the common-sense judgments of mankind and 
 the teachings of the word of God unite in affirming that 
 personal testimony carries all the weight of any other evi- 
 dence in creating an obligation to believe. 
 
 We may now proceed to investigate the Scripture account 
 of the faith which saves the soul. The account given in the 
 Scriptures of the nature and offices of faith is drawn out into 
 a great variety of particulars, which can only be alluded to, 
 and not fully discussed, in a limited treatise. The offices 
 assigned it in the economy of redemption are manifold. It 
 is absolutely necessary to give effect to the great redemption 
 for the benefit of any individual soul. It is the principle 
 that unites to Christ and secures his functions as a Saviour. 
 It is the instrument by which all grace is received. It 1s 
 the instrument of justification. It develops the power of the 
 truth by giving evidence to things unseen, and thus makes it 
 the instrument of sanctification. It animates all the graces 
 of the renewed soul. It is the principle which regulates the 
 visible walk and conversation. It gives power to prayer; it 
 inspires zeal; it develops comfort; 1t overcomes the world; 
 it triumphs over death; it crowns with full accomplishment 
 that promise of salvation which it sealed the first moment of 
 its exercise. 
 
 The teaching of the Scriptures touching the nature of sav- 
 ing faith is equally elaborate, and in some of its features 
 apparently strange and paradoxical. Faith in its generic 
 form is the acceptance of anything as true on a sufficient 
 evidence; it is belief of testimony. Saving faith is the ac- 
 ceptance of all the truth revealed in his word on the testi- 
 mony of God himself. It is confined to the holy Serip- 
 tures alone as containing the testimony. It is confined to 
 God alone as the witness. It is described as morally obliga- 
 
 _— 
 
Farrn. 103 
 
 tory, and is, therefore, required of all persons to whom the 
 testimony comes. It is grounded on evidence sufficient to 
 create a just moral obligation to believe. It is also described 
 as a datum of ¢he will, an exercise of the heart in man, and 
 not merely the issue of activity in the intellectual powers. 
 It is described, with an apparent paradox, as a gift of God as 
 fully as it is affirmed to be a duty in man. It is described 
 as a belief of truth mediated through tastes, inclinations, 
 and affections in sympathy with the truth. It is also em- 
 phatically described as a trust, which is always an exercise 
 of the will—a trust zn @ person, in his truth and faithfulness, 
 in his love and power. It is a trust in the words and in the 
 works of this person. Another paradoxical feature is, that 
 while this faith is morally obligatory, and, therefore, required 
 under peril of guilty accountability, it is plainly and 
 positively pronounced to be beyond the native personal 
 ability of those required to exercise it. It is said to be the 
 great regulating force over the character and life of the 
 Christian. It is described as the acceptance merely of an 
 offered gift, a drink of freely-given and refreshing’ water, a 
 gift to one asking, as well as the reception of a gift from one 
 giving it. Finally, it is described as a moral and intellectual 
 energy in a soul peculiarly energized, and with all the won- 
 derful effects it has been organized or appointed to accom- 
 plish, possessing no special merit in itself. All its power is 
 not in itself, but in something else to which it is related ; it is 
 simply the correlated adjustment of grace, to which all the 
 power of faith is due. “It is of faith that it might be of 
 grace,” and, therefore, faith is only considerable as the in- 
 strument of effective grace. These are the leading charac- 
 teristic marks which distinguish the nature of saving faith. 
 All these marks have been more or less perverted in the 
 endless vagaries of human speculation. A brief expansion 
 of them on their scriptural foundation will expose some of 
 the more important of these misconstructions, and put us 
 
104 GiFrts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 in possession of a truth which no man can afford to mis- 
 take. 
 
 1. Saving faith is the acceptance of the truth on the testi- 
 mony of God in his word. This exclusive sphere and war- 
 ranty of saving faith as found in the testimony of God in his 
 word is clearly set forth in the word itself. ‘“ Abraham be- 
 lieved God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 
 “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” 
 
 “ Blessed are they that keep his testimonies.” “Thy word — 
 
 have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.” 
 ‘‘ He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar, because 
 he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” The 
 whole Bible is full of admonitions to trust in God, and of 
 warnings against trust in any other being. In the Old Tes- 
 tament the requisition is to trust in Jehovah our righteous- 
 ness as the God of the covenant; in the New Testament, to 
 trust only in Jesus; and unless two radically different reli- 
 gions are taught in the two parts of the inspired record, the 
 Jehovah of the Old and the Jesus of the New Testament are 
 one and the same person. The testimony of God is found in 
 the record he has made, and nowhere else. Consequently, 
 saving faith in his testimony is confined to that record exclu- 
 sively ; it cannot be required to extend its confidence beyond 
 that record, while it is required to give full confidence to all 
 that isin it. This truth is full of important consequences. 
 It not only rebukes the dangerous resort to tradition outside 
 of the record, or to deliverances of the church not based 
 upon the record, but discounts many an error based on the 
 misguided experiences of his professed people. Yet further, 
 this peculiar character of saving faith rests all its confidence 
 in the testimony on the divine witness himself. All the con- 
 fidence it gives to the secondary grounds of confidence in the 
 testimony of men, miracle, prophecy, or the wonderful accu- 
 racy and concatenation of the statements of the record, runs 
 back into this confidence in God himself. True_believers 
 
 £ 
 
FaIra. 105 
 
 onfide in inspired men because _God has inspired them ; in 
 miracles, because God was the worker of them ; in_prophecy, 
 because God has spoken it; in_the unity and harmony of 
 
 ipture, b he mind of God was the source of the 
 _revelation. Men may honestly believe in these secondary 
 
 grounds of confidence, but their faith is not saving ; itis the 
 honest but ineffectual historic faith which does not save. 
 
 They do not see the divine witness back of the mere » proofs, 
 and trust in him. It is belief ina communication from him, 
 but_not a trust _in himself, nor in the words he has spoken. 
 The insufficiency of this faith will be more fully illustrated 
 hereafter. Real faith in God, the divine witness, is not only 
 a trust in his promises, but_a trust in himself. That faith is 
 “a fruit of the Spirit,” and when exercised_ specifically on the 
 record as his word, it alone can convey the full impression 
 that it is indeed the very word of God.* 
 This mark of saving faith, its confinement to the inspired 
 record, exposes some practical and some theoretical errors 
 _ which obtain even among evangelical believers. It exposes 
 an error of practice among some who overstrain or abuse 
 the duty of self-examination. These are, for the most 
 part, perhaps altogether, the true children of God, anxious 
 to be clear in their professed claim to the character they pro- 
 fess, and who, obedient to the command to examine them- 
 selves, seek the proof of their faith in the records of their own 
 consciousness and experience. To a certain extent, this is a 
 legitimate proceeding, but it is easily abused. Faith is exer- 
 cised on things out of us, not on things within us. Its objects 
 are the record and the being who has made it, the promises, 
 and the Saviour. Faith is required in the testimony and in 
 the testifier. The traveler who comes to a bridge on the high- 
 way, does not pause at the bridge-head and turn his thoughts 
 inward on his own mind to see if he has faith.in the bridge; 
 he never thinks of his own mental states; he looks outward 
 
 * Larger Catechism, Question 4. 
 
106 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 at the bridge, and as he discovers the strength of its timbers, 
 confidence in the roadway over it insensibly springs up. So 
 long as faith is sought owt of the testimony, and apart from 
 the glorious witness; so long as it is sought merely in ex- 
 perience and consciousness, just so long will doubt and per- 
 plexity ensue. Experience is often complicated and_per- 
 plexed, consciousness is often difficult to decipher, and if it 
 actually yields confidence, it is primarily confidence in our- 
 selves, in what grace has given us, in our own piety, but it 
 is only secondarily faith in the testimony. While trust in 
 our own graces as disclosed in experience will often be doubt- 
 ful, trust in the great legitimate and primary basis of saving 
 faith, in the word of God and in the Saviour it presents, may 
 always be clear and absolute. “The word of faith is nigh 
 thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart.” To believe it is 
 to trust the word and him who spoke it. It is not to trust in 
 self, or in what has been given to self. Saving faith is not 
 an inference from experience. It may be certified and con- 
 firmed by experience after faith has done its work and dis- 
 played its fruits. The confidence in the reality and sound- 
 ness of tested faith is, morally valued, only the same with the 
 confidence bred by the satisfactory proof of anything else 
 which is esteemed to be valuable. But the saving faith itself is 
 confidence in the testimony and in the witness, not confidence 
 in itself, no matter how sound it may be. This faith is not 
 yielded by experience, but by the word under the illumina- 
 tion of the Spirit. Faith precedes and introduces experience, 
 Manifestly, then, the original acts of faith are grounded on 
 something else than experience, and all the acts of faith 
 through the whole Christian life, down to the end, are 
 grounded on the original basis upon which they began. 
 They are based all along on the testimony of God in his 
 word, Resting always on that alone, the experience of his 
 servants will be freed from many a harassing perplexity 
 which will and ought to grow out of the change, however 
 
Fatru. 107 
 
 unconsciously effected, of the basis of confidence from the 
 sure word of the testimony to the complications of experience. 
 
 This principle of saving faith being grounded only on the 
 word of the testimony corrects another dangerous miscon- 
 ception of faith. It is supposed that saving faith is simply 
 a persuasion of ourselves that we are saved—a conviction of 
 our own minds that things are, or will be, as we wish them 
 to be. This misconception of faith springs from a misap- 
 prehension of the words of Jesus, “what things soever ye 
 desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye 
 shall have them.” It is very clear that these words convey 
 the common doctrine of the New Testament touching the 
 relation of faith to the blessings of grace. They mean 
 believe in order that you may receive. It is the doctrine of 
 James, “let him ask in faith, nothing wavering: for he that 
 wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and 
 tossed; let not that man think that he shall receive anything 
 of the Lord.” The error in question may be construed in 
 two ways, one referring to time present, and the other to 
 time future. In the first, it teaches that if a person per- 
 suades himself that he actually possesses the grace he 
 desires, he will actually possess it in fact. In the second, it 
 teaches that, if he can persuade himself that he will possess 
 the desired grace, he will assuredly come into possession of it. 
 Tn reference to the first, it is obvious to see that to persuade 
 one’s self that he is in actual present possession in order that 
 he may come into possession, involves either a persuasion of 
 what is not true or of what is superfluous. In reference to 
 the second, it is also obvious to be seen that the belief that the 
 erace will be given, unless based on a promise previously 
 made, is a mere presumption, without a warrant for the conf- 
 dence. If the expectation is grounded on a promise, this is 
 faith in the testimony and in the testifier. It is obvious that 
 faith in a promise is one thing, and confidence in something 
 not in the record is another. All men are bound to give 
 
108 GIFTs TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 credit to every declaration God has made in his word; but 
 no man has a right to persuade himself of anything not in 
 the record. It is a dangerous delusion to teach men to per- 
 suade themselves that things will be just, because they may 
 successfully delude themselves into the belief that they ‘will 
 be. Saving faith is not a presumptuous assurance concern- 
 ing any unrevealed thing, such as the time, place, and cir- 
 cumstance in the fulfilment of prophecy, in which such inci- 
 dents are not foretold; or personal salvation, or the salvation 
 of particular persons, or the final triumph of any particular 
 creed or system. The discriminating feature of true faith is 
 rest on the word, and on God who has given his testimony 
 in it and nowhere else. Self-persuasion is bottomed on 
 something discovered, or which is supposed will be discov- 
 ered, in self as its main basis. 
 
 This feature of saving faith discounts a variety of errors 
 of different sorts. It shows the folly of some anxious and 
 tender consciences which refuse to be comforted because 
 they can see no allusion which they can construe to be per- 
 sonal to themselves in the divine record. But even if their 
 very names were in it the circumstance would only enhance 
 the anxiety to be assured that another person of the same 
 hame was not mentioned. The assurance of hope, which is 
 the assurance of personal salvation, is altogether practicable 
 under the record just as it stands. Belief of that record will 
 soon warrant the conclusion of personal safety, for the pro- 
 mise is to the believer. Faith raised to the clegree warranted 
 by the mighty ground on which it is invited to rest, would 
 soon disclose itself and all that it warranted to hope. The 
 error of interpreting visions, voices, dreams, and peculiar 
 experiences as assurances of salvation is cut up by the 
 roots by this quality of saving faith as grounded and meas- 
 ured only on the testimony of God in his word. 
 
 A more dangerous and common error is equally annihilated 
 by it, the error of trust in church connections and sacraments, 
 
Fatru. 109 
 
 in the merits of other beside the only name given under heaven 
 whereby we can be saved, in personal virtues, and in other 
 kinds of faith. Trust in these is not trust in the only 
 Saviour, and want of trust in him is want of trust in the re- 
 corded testimony which God has given of his Son. ‘This 
 essential quality of saving faith, trust in the testimony of 
 God, and the trust in God himself as the witness, stands like 
 a granite light-house throwing back the waves of all possible 
 error that assail it on every side, or may ever assail it. 
 
 2. The Scriptures teach concerning the faith that saves 
 that 2¢ 2s morally obligatory in the highest possible degree on 
 all to whom the testimony comes. This teaching assumes as 
 its basis several considerations of the greatest importance, 
 each of which is essential to a just moral obligation to 
 believe. 
 
 (1.) First, it assumes and asserts that the claim rests on 
 a mass of evidence all-sufficient to sustain the truth of it, 
 and thus to create an obligation to receive it as true. This 
 evidence falls under two classifications generally contem- 
 plated: first, the proof that God has testified; and secondly, 
 the proof of the truth of what he has said. The first is op- 
 posed by that species of unbelief which is called infidelity 
 in its various forms; the second, by the species of unbelief 
 which is characteristic of those who admit the historical 
 verity of the gospel system, and yet reject its offers, and re- 
 fuse to come under its bonds of obedience. An old, yet simple 
 and effective, illustration will bring out the distinctions in 
 these kinds of faith with clearness and precision Suppose a 
 man to be in prison for a debt which he is utterly unable to 
 pay. He receives a note from a friend offering to pay the 
 debt and to release him from imprisonment. He is at once 
 called upon to deal with the proposition. It is a free pro- 
 posal, and must be simply accepted or rejected. The impri- 
 soned debtor may deal with it in one or two modes, both of 
 which carry the rejection of, or refusal to accept, the offer. He 
 
110 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 may question whether his friend is the author of the writing 
 containing the proposal, and may refuse to accept it as a reli- 
 able expression of his friend’s views and purposes. This will 
 be the species of unbelief called infidelity. This is the proced- 
 ure of all kinds of infidelity in dealing with the testimony of 
 God. It does not primarily, in its own consciousness and 
 intent, deny what God has said, but only that he has said 
 anything. But let it be noted, that this species of unbelief 
 effectually disposes of the offer made, and leaves the prisoner 
 in the full stress of his unfortunate circumstances. But he 
 may also deal with the proposition in a different way, yet 
 with the same effect of no relief from his trouble. He may 
 be fully convinced that his friend did write the note; he re- 
 cognizes the handwriting, the signature, and the seal, and is 
 satisfied that the offer was made by the person from whom 
 it purports to come. This is the ordinary historical faith of 
 the people of Christian countries: they accept the gospel as 
 a divinely-given religion. But now the prisoner begins to 
 question and doubt in his own thoughts. He may question 
 whether his friend is really able to pay his debt; or, holding 
 him perfectly able, from his known resources, to pay, doubts 
 whether he is really welding to do what he offers to do. This 
 is the modification of unbelief which coéxists with historical _ 
 faith in the record, yet rejects the proposals it contains. It 
 is a refusal to trust in the person who presents himself in the 
 testimony of the note. On the other hand, the imprisoned 
 debtor may deal with the note sent him in a way to secure 
 the benefit offered to his acceptance. He not only accepts 
 the note as genuine, but, believing his friend to be fully able 
 and willing to do what he offers to do, immediately closes 
 with the proposal; he accepts the offer. His faith is not 
 merely a belief in the note, but a trust in a person. The ef- 
 fect is an immediate relief to his mental anxieties; he will 
 not wait to have the debt actually paid, and to walk out of — 
 the prison walls, before he will rejoice. His mind will be 
 
FAIruH. PE 
 
 instantly filled with the joy of an assured, anticipated relief, 
 before it is realized in the fact. His faith in the note and in 
 the person who wrote its generous proposals will give him 
 immediate peace. This trust or faith is the saving faith of 
 the glad tidings of great joy. 
 
 Now suppose this letter to the debtor in prison comes 
 from a stranger to himself, every consideration of candor 
 and prudence would warrant him in demanding evidence 
 that the paper containing such generous offers should be 
 proved to be authentic, and the person proposing in the 
 offer should be proved to be absolutely trustworthy. Sup- 
 pose that a sufficient number of personal witnesses tho- 
 roughly acquainted with the handwriting, signature and 
 seal of the writer, gives him full assurance that the note is 
 authentic. Suppose an equally trustworthy set of witnesses 
 should assure him of the great resources of the generous 
 offerer, and of many a similar act of kindness done for many 
 prisoners in the same harassing circumstances. What would 
 be the obligation created by this posture of affairs? Obvi- 
 ously, in advance of all testimony to the reliability of the 
 note and its contained offer, the prisoner would not be justi- 
 fied in at once and finally repudiating the whole matter as a 
 piece of incredible nonsense. A degree of skepticism in the 
 outset that so unusual a proposal could be authentic might 
 be justified so far as to make the prisoner at least raise the 
 inquiry. But as soon as the testimony began to accumu- 
 late, vindicating the proposal as probably true, the obligation 
 to inquire would rapidly increase in force; and as the evi- 
 dence grew into irresistible demonstration this obligation 
 would merge into the full obligation to accept the testimony 
 and to close with the offered kindness. Any imprisoned 
 debtor dealing otherwise with such an offer would be held 
 responsible by every sound understanding as guilty of reck- 
 less disregard of his own interests, and of gross ingratitude, 
 in questioning the veracity and in refusing the kindness of 
 
TL, Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 an unmerited benefactor. No doubt of the evidence would 
 excuse his course; he has had full liberty to inquire; plenty 
 of evidence has been offered him; yet because some feeling 
 has been roused up in his heart, some pride in not accepting 
 a gratuitous relief, his mind is so biased that the testimony 
 loses all its weight in his judgment. He is dependent on the 
 witnesses, for the writer of the note is a stranger to himself; 
 and the testimony of these witnesses is conclusive; yet, from 
 a secret disgust at the substance of the offer, he refuses to 
 accept the testimony and persists in construing the offer as 
 a mere nullity. Is he not morally responsible and morally 
 euilty for doing it? It is clear that he has violated an obli- 
 gation to believe the testimony of the witnesses on one side, 
 and an obligation of gratitude and confidence in a generous 
 benefactor on the other. His right to test both the witnesses 
 and the trustworthiness of the maker of the offer has been 
 abused in the interests of his own pride or disgusted feelings, 
 to the sacrifice of the interests of his freedom from imprison- 
 ment and his freedom from indebtedness. 
 
 The application of this parable to both species of unbe- 
 lief—infidelity, and rejection of the offered mercy of God 
 in the gospel—is obvious. So far as the first species 1s 
 concerned—the proof of the note—the evidence of the 
 divine authority of the Christian records is abundant and 
 complete. The steady progress and the wide and ever-in- 
 creasing prevalence of a system so severe in its construction 
 of human character, and so hostile to the indulgence of the 
 cherished inclinations of the human heart, over the most en- 
 lightened portions of the human race, in the face of the most 
 determined opposition of the strongest influences that can 
 operate on human opinion, is proof demonstrative of a force 
 in the supports of the system of the most extraordinary 
 character. The evidences of Christianity constitute by 
 themselves a branch of knowledge which, in width, variety, 
 and valuable qualities, will compare favorably with any 
 
FAIrTH. 113 
 
 other. No records of the past have come down from so 
 venerable a remoteness of history, so interlocked with the 
 legislation and the annals of nations, and so sustained by 
 proofs of authenticity, as the records known as the Scrip- 
 tures. Prophecies extending over thousands of years, over 
 the affairs of many different nationalities and the histories of 
 individuals, appeal boldly to events to justify their claims to 
 a true foreknowledge. Miracles, showing the finger of God 
 along a long line of messengers charged with his commission, 
 have defied the resistance of the most consummate abilities 
 at various stages of its progress, and commanded the confi- 
 dence of the highest minds of every age. The traces of a 
 super-human insight into the principles of the divine admin- 
 istration, the facts of the universe, the nature of God, the 
 conditions of human existence, and the relief of human ne- 
 cessities, are to be found in the wonderful writings which 
 bear the name and the signature of the infinite God. Per- 
 sonai testimony, of a species irresistible by any unbiased un- 
 derstanding, affirms them as no other records are affirmed. 
 The delineation of the chief figure in its great galleries of 
 _ historic characters is by itself a vindication of its subordinate 
 official witnesses. These men, judged by the fair application 
 of all the rules for testing the trustworthiness of personal 
 witnesses, are vindicated as entitled to the absolute confi- 
 dence of mankind. But apart from all consideration of their 
 claim from character, their work in the record itself demon- 
 strates the truth of their narrative. The delineation of the 
 character and history of Jesus of Nazareth is as real a work 
 of literary art as any character of Shakespeare, or a descrip- 
 tion of a great medizeval church by John Ruskin. It was as 
 impossible to several unlettered Jewish peasants as the de- 
 lineation of Hamlet by a village idiot, or the description of 
 St. Marks by a child in his primer. 
 
 The sketch of the Christ is true, because it was impossible 
 unless it was true. The only way in which such men as the 
 
 8 
 
114 Girts tro UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 authors of the Gospels could have drawn a character so sim- 
 ple, so grand, so beautiful, so absolutely unique in human 
 history, is that they simply told what they had seen a liv- 
 
 ing person do, and what they had heard him say. ‘This — 
 
 wonderful person has been endorsed as no other being ever 
 was or ever will be. Not only the millions who have risked 
 their eternal future upon his words and works, but great 
 statesmen, soldiers, philosophers, and even the great infidel 
 leaders of the opposition to his system, have endorsed him as 
 no other member of the human race has ever been. Napo- 
 leon, the greatest genius for action the world has probably ever 
 produced, has given the most remarkable testimony of mod- 
 ern times. A king and the founder of a kingdom alone can 
 fully appreciate a king and the founder of a kingdom. The 
 great emperor, comparing himself, Cvsar, Alexander, and 
 Charlemagne, as founders of empires, with Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, is amazed at the brief standing of the most remarkable 
 kingdoms founded upon force, compared with the long dura- 
 tion and the ever-increasing vitality of a kingdom founded 
 upon love. The judgment was just. Already the kingdom 
 of Messiah has lasted more than six hundred and fifty years 
 longer than the most stable of all earthly states, the old Ro- 
 man republic and empire. Not one penny now flows into 
 the treasury of the Cesars; ever-increasing millions flow into 
 the treasury of the Nazarene every year. Not one human 
 being now stretches a limb to obey the orders of a prince 
 whose word would once have set in motion a hundred mil- 
 lions of men, from the border of Scotland to the Euphrates in 
 Asia. Thousands of faithful men, and gentle women too, go 
 out over all the seas and tempt the rage of all barbarous 
 tribes, in obedience to the words, ‘Go ye into all the world 
 and preach the gospel to every creature.” No wonder Napo- 
 leon said to his suite in St. Helena, “I know men, and I 
 
 ( 
 | fe.’ 
 
 4. 
 
 tell you, Jesus is not aman.” If any one ever knew what — 
 
 man can do, it was the man who had done perhaps more than 
 
FaIrn. 1D 
 
 any one man had ever done before, and this was his judg- 
 ment of the Messiah of the kingdom. But more striking still 
 is the endorsement of the great infidel leaders of our own 
 day. Strauss, the leader of the modern infidels, speaks of 
 him “as the highest object we can possibly imagine with re- 
 spect to religion, the being without whose presence in the 
 mind perfect piety is impossible.” Hegel sees in him “the 
 union between the human and divine.” At an earlier day, 
 Spinoza sees in him “the best and truest symbol of Romer, 
 wisdom.” Kant discovers in him “ideal perfection.” Rous- 
 seau strains his wonderful eloquence to exalt him. Even the 
 sneering spirit of Voltaire is awed in his presence. His 
 worst enemies fall upon their knees as they gaze at him. 
 This is the great personal witness of the gospel. The notion 
 that the only personal witnesses of the facts lying at the base 
 of the Christian system are the apostles, is wholly mistaken. 
 They are worthy of the highest confidence, but they are not 
 the only witnesses. The Christ himself, this grand embodi- 
 ment of all purity and truth, testifies to his own gospel: “I 
 tell you the truth.” Endorsed more highly by the infidels 
 themselves than any other witness was ever endorsed, his 
 clear and positive testimony creates an obligation to believe, 
 than which no similar obligation can be conceived to be 
 higher. If unimpeachable evidence can create such a bond, 
 the evidence of the Christian faith creates it in its highest 
 form. The common-sense intuitions of all men pronounce 
 that competent proof creates obligation to believe, which no 
 man can refuse to obey without guilt. The gospel only con- 
 firms that decision. 
 
 (2.) A second element of obvious responsibility in saving 
 faith is the fact that it is a datum of will; it is an issue of the 
 heart in man. “ With the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
 ness.’ Unbelief is the outcome of “an evil heart of unbe- 
 hef.” This assertion is resented by the infidels of the day, 
 who pride themselves on the philosophic candor of their 
 
116 Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 judgments, and their rigorous obedience to the laws of 
 scientific investigation. That they are consciously so, we 
 have no disposition to deny of any; we are sure of the truth 
 of this claim on the part of many of them. But we are also 
 sure that there is such athing as honest self-deception. We 
 are even more certain that these speculators are not emanci- 
 pated from the universal law, recognized by the common- 
 sense judgments of men as well as by the Scriptures, which 
 binds the Auman will in an unchangeable relation to evi- 
 dence on all subjects whatever. It cannot be expected, then, 
 that any fair analyst of the genesis of beliefs should exempt 
 them from responsibility for the implication of their volun- 
 tary faculties in their opinions and from the obligation of 
 that grand moral law called into play whenever the volun- 
 tary and moral energies of the human spirit are exerted, and 
 preside over the formation of the resulting judgments. It is 
 vain to attempt to obscure, much less to destroy, the relation 
 of fuith to evidence, the relation of evidence to will, the rela- 
 tion of moral law to will Gealing with the evidence, and the 
 consequent responsibility for belief. If men are responsible 
 for their beliefs on all subjects whatever, these skeptical and 
 infidel thinkers are not just in claiming an exemption from 
 full responsibility for their accepted conclusions. 
 
 That the saving faith of the gospel is to a grave extent 
 a datum of the will-or heart in*‘man is shown by more than 
 one proof. It has been shown already that the action 
 of the will in the formation of beliefs is recognized as 
 universally true of all judgments whatever by the common- 
 sense of mankind. It is not strange that the saving faith 
 of the gospel should be qualified by an element recognized 
 as universally prevalent; it would be strange if it were not. 
 Every one of the three species of faith in the Christian sys- 
 tem already described as historical, temporary, and the faith 
 of devils, is strongly colored by the influence of the volun- 
 tary and moral powers; it would be an unaccountable anom- 
 
 » Seer Opal 6 ary 
 
FatItTu. a DEY; 
 
 aly if the fourth species of saving faith were not similarly 
 qualified. 
 
 But more than this, the moral tastes, affections, emotions 
 and permanent dispositions, which are all characteristic de- 
 terminations of the voluntary powers of the soul, are directly 
 concerned in the genesis of the unbelief and the saving. faith 
 which determine the issues of the Christian gospel for good 
 or ill. This inevitably determines obligation and responsi- 
 bility at every step of the processes of both these opposite 
 conclusions, unbelief and faith. A brief detail of those pro- 
 cesses, showing the coloring influence of the prevailing tastes 
 and inclinations of the will, will make this plain. 
 
 Faith is the belief of testimony; unbelief is the refusal to 
 believe it. The testimony may be either personal or imper- 
 sonal. Impersonal testimony may be the force of reasoning, 
 the power in facts, the concurrence of circumstances, or the 
 adhesion of a system. If either of these species of proof 
 are clearly and powerfully developed, they create an obliga- 
 tion to believe, proportionate to their own conclusiveness, 
 which cannot be resisted without a corresponding responsi- 
 bility. Personal testimony is the declaration of a person, 
 and. both of these classes allow the strong influence of the 
 voluntary and moral energies in the production of the con- 
 clusions reached. A person testifies concerning the char- 
 acter of another person, and declares that he is a wise and 
 good man. Suppose, now, this testimony is fully believed, 
 what is the effect? In the first place it approves the witness ; 
 it relies upon him as at once competent in intelligence to 
 discern, and morally trustworthy to report character in men. 
 In the second place, belief in the testimony not only 
 approves the witness, but approves the subject-matter of the 
 testimony, and accepts the person referred to as a wise and 
 good man. But suppose, now, there are strong and fixed feel- 
 ings of hostility in the heart of him to whom the testimony is 
 given, against the person referred to, the opposite conclusions 
 
118 Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 would be reached, and would be altogether due to the hostile 
 feelings which qualified the testimony of the witness. The 
 witness himself would be impeached, either as mistaken or 
 false, and the subject-matter of the testimony, instead of 
 being approved as wise and good, would be assailed by the 
 unbelief of the testimony as neither wise nor good. Unbe- 
 lief not only impeaches the witness, but strikes directly at 
 the subject of the testimony. To say we do not believe one 
 to be wise is the same thing as to say he is foolish. To say 
 we do not believe him to be good or honest is to say he is 
 bad or dishonest. This is a sample of personal testimony. 
 Take one of impersonal testimony. The Scriptures and the 
 just intuitions of the human understanding assert that sin 1s 
 a hateful, and holiness a lovely and lovable thing. To believe 
 that asseveration to be true is to approve the testimony 
 which asserts it, and to endorse the subject-matter of the 
 testimony as being actually what the testimony asserts it to 
 be, to really accept sin as hateful and holiness as lovely. 
 But now suppose the heart is in love with sin and sees it as 
 agreeable; suppose the heart is opposed to holiness and 
 sees it as a needless puritanical precision, what would be 
 the effect? Certainly the testimony would be rejected; and 
 
 the unbelief generated directly by the state of the depraved. 
 
 affections would leave the mind fully possessed with the 
 conviction that sin was not hateful but pleasing, that holiness 
 was not lovely but disagreeable. The direct cause of this 
 fatal unbelief is the state of the heart. The sample illus- 
 trates the whole. The conclusion is resistless that, Inasmuch 
 as the tastes and inclinations of the voluntary powers of the 
 soul do enter so greatly and control so powerfully the gene- 
 sis of faith, that grace is properly brought under the obliga- 
 tion of moral law, and men are lawfully commanded to obey 
 it when it requires men to believe aright. 
 
 The analysis also discloses the awful sinfulness of unbelief 
 when applied to the testimony of God in his word. It as- 
 
FAITH. 119 
 
 sails the divine witness in the first instance. It 1s in vain 
 for the infidel to protest that he does not assail God, but 
 only the witnesses who have pretended to impart his testi- 
 mony. They assail the testimony; if that testimony is only 
 the testimony of Paul and John, then truly only Paul and 
 John are assailed; but if they really did speak as moved by 
 the Holy Ghost, and as the mere mouth-pieces of Almighty 
 God, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that they 
 assail the divine witness and make hima liar. Yet further, 
 as unbelief not only assails the witness, but strikes, through 
 the dishonored testimony, at the matter it contains, unbelief 
 of the records which God has given is really one sublime 
 energy of wickedness assailing all the matter contained in 
 the testimony. That testimony contains all the grand prin- 
 ciples of his moral administration in nature and in grace. 
 It asserts the rightful authority, the wisdom, and the equity 
 of his laws. It asserts all the grand excellences of his per- 
 sonal character. It affirms the beauty and blessedness of 
 his service. It asserts the wonders of his love in the re- 
 demption of grace. It declares the existence of heaven and 
 hell; it offers the one; it warns against the other. It un- 
 covers the history of the past; it foretells of the future. It 
 warns and entreats; it threatens and pleads. To all this 
 unbelief gives a negative. It denies all, and by this denial 
 not only assails the witness, but assails the whole subject- 
 matter of his testimony. It assails the authority and excel- 
 lence of the law. It assails the character of God. It as- 
 sails his grace and renounces his redemption. It denies 
 heaven; it denies hell. It will have nothing as God would 
 have it. It would reverse all the matter of the testimony 7/ 
 its power could realize its tendencies. It is weak in its ma- 
 lignity, but it is none the less malignant for that. It is to be 
 judged by what it would do if it could. This effect, however, 
 it does accomplish. While unbelief in the excellence of the 
 divine law, for example, does not make that law a bad law, 
 
120 GIFTS To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 it does make it a bad law ¢o him who indulges this unbelief. 
 While powerless in its malignant tendencies on all the truth 
 it assails, outwardly considered, it does succeed in trans- 
 muting all the truth it denies to the mind of the individual 
 who disbelieves. To him the law of God is a harsh and un- 
 reasonable bond; the character of God only an occasion of 
 hate and fear; his grace is a dream, and his wrath a bug-bear. 
 It reverses every item in the matter of the testimony, 
 denies and assails all, and fills him who indulges the wicked 
 and destructive principle with an immeasurable and most 
 guilty responsibility. To prohibit such a principle, and to 
 command men to yield to the principle opposed to it, and to 
 believe the testimony of God, is too conspicuously right to 
 admit of any rational denial. To command men to believe 
 the gospel, with the usual notions of moral responsibility for 
 obedience to the command, appears an incomprehensible 
 piece of folly to the skeptics of the day. This is due to the 
 fact that they are accustomed to regard belief as the deter- 
 mination of the intellect alone, unaffected by any energy of 
 the will, as a result of evidence alone, which they are accus- 
 tomed to consider omnipotent over belief. The notion is 
 absurd and impossible, contradicted by the universal com- 
 mon-sense judgments of mankind, and repudiated in all the 
 scenes of intellectual activity among men. The influence of 
 the will, and the moral tastes and dispositions grounded in 
 the will, in the genesis of faith of every kind, imposes the 
 authority of moral law over the whole process, and requires 
 just judgments to be formed. It thus becomes absolutely 
 proper to command men to believe, and to hold them answer- 
 able for their beliefs. 
 
 (3.) Another element in the obligatory and responsible 
 character of saving faith is that it is a ¢rust, and a trust in a 
 person. A trust is an act of the will, which always carries re- 
 sponsibility. It is an act of committal to an agent to act for 
 us, the choice of a person to whom grave interests are com- 
 
Fara. 121 
 
 mitted to be administered. It is an act of choice. It is an 
 act of confidence which must be vindicated in order to jus- 
 tify the trust. If events show the confidence was misplaced, 
 the chooser and maker of the trust will stand responsible for his 
 choice as truly as if he had had no agent, and had acted for 
 himself. The degrees of this responsibility admit of wide 
 variations, from mere misfortune to positive criminality in risk- 
 ing grave concerns without due caution. But responsibility 
 is involved in the very nature of a trust-responsibility on 
 both parties to it—on him who makes it and on him who un- 
 dertakes it. 
 
 In our initial illustration, bringing out distinctly the differ- 
 ence between belief in a record and faith in a person, this 
 notion of a trust was clearly involved. In the Scripture les- 
 sons about saving faith, this notion of a trust is often ex- 
 pressed and always implied. “Trust ye in the Lord forever,” 
 “who first trusted in Christ,” are specimen instances from 
 both of the Testaments. To believe in a person is, in gene- 
 ral form, to confide in him, which is only another name for 
 trusting in him. This species of trust may exist where no- 
 thing is expected of the trusted person. It is another and a 
 more pointed form of a trust, when, confiding in his integrity, 
 some valued interest is committed to his charge. In our 
 parallel of the imprisoned debtor, supposing him resolved to 
 accept the generous offer of his friend, it is plain that the 
 second act of his faith was a trust in his fiend as a person. 
 The first act was to accept the note containing the offer as 
 truly a communication from his friend. But while believing 
 this, he was not satisfied at first of the ability of his friend 
 to pay his debt, or, satisfied of his ability, felt suspicious of 
 his willingness to do an action of such transcendent gener- 
 osity. This state of mind indicated belief in the authen- 
 ticity of the letter, and a want of confidence in the person. 
 But now supposing this want of confidence to give way, and 
 a thorough conviction of both the ability and willingness 
 
ay GIFTS To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 of his friend to do what he offered to do, this new state of 
 mind indicates more than one change. It reveals not only 
 belief in the authenticity of the letter, but confidence in the 
 words it contains; not only confidence in the words spoken, 
 but a confidence in the person who spoke them; and not only 
 a confidence in the person, but a consent to his proposal, an 
 acceptance of his offer, and a ¢rust in the person to do what 
 he offered to do. This trust is an act of the will, a motion 
 of the heart, committing freely to his friend the doing of all 
 the acts necessary to be done in order to free him from his 
 debt, and to deliver him from the prison. This trust in a 
 person is a trust in his own words, and also in his works, in 
 his veracity as well asin his kindness, in his ability as well as 
 in his good will. It is immediately followed by peace of 
 mind, and this is the peace of saving faith; it is due only to 
 this trust in a person. Then, when all is done, the debt paid, 
 the necessary papers of the prison authorities signed, and 
 the prisoner, leaving his cell, begins to pass along the prison 
 corridors to liberty at the gate, his exultation is renewed ; and 
 this is the joy of experience which follows the saving faith in 
 the person of the Redeemer. This is the peace of the whole 
 Christian life in part, until the gate is opened and the trust- 
 ing soul is admitted into the full liberty of the state of glory. 
 In part, the peace of that period of progress towards the 
 completed deliverance rests still on the offer, the promise, 
 the kindness, ability, and faithfulness of the glorious person 
 who has undertaken to deliver. A mere persuasion that 
 Christ will save, without a distinct acceptance of his offer, 
 without definite reference to his own words, and confidence 
 in them, and without a definite trust in himself and a definite 
 committal of the work of saving into his hands, is a traves- 
 ity of this saving faith, which is dangerous. The trust and 
 acceptance logically precede the persuasion that he will save, 
 and the two are not to be confounded. 
 
 It is obvious that this trust in the person of the offered 
 
FArru. 123 
 
 deliverer was obligatory on the imprisoned debtor. He would 
 have been guilty in a high degree to have failed to confide 
 in his generous friend, to accept his offer, and to trust in his 
 person, his words, his ability and willingness to redeem his 
 pledge, and his pledged activity in doing all the work neces- 
 sary to redeem it. Every conceivable obligation of gratitude, 
 love, and confidence bound the act of trust and demanded it. 
 The prisoner might have been properly exhorted and com- 
 manded to do it. An appeal to will, grounded upon such 
 srave obligatory considerations created a profound obliga- 
 tion to believe and live. Such is saving faith as directed 
 upon the Saviour as a person. It is a trust in himself as a 
 person, as a living Saviour now administering his grace on 
 the throne of heaven. It also implies a trust in his works, 
 already finished, as well as in his work yet to be done in 
 carrying out his pledge to save. It is a trust in his work as 
 a dying Saviour—in the efficacy of his atonement. It is a 
 trust in his word as already spoken; for they contain the 
 offer of his grace, the promise of his saving intervention, 
 and all the grand truths he proposes to the faith of his 
 people for their comfort in their pilgrimage. It is a trust in 
 his works as a living Saviour working out the everlasting 
 righteousness which grounds all his positive gifts to his 
 saints. This was done during his earthly life, and is found 
 among the things which he triumphantly proclaimed com- 
 plete on the cross. Saving faith is not only a belief that 
 these works were done, and that these gracious words were 
 spoken, but a trust in both words and works themselves. 
 
 (4.) Saving faith, as directed not only on the Saviour as a 
 person, but upon all the truths which God has been pleased 
 to reveal in his word, is a double energy of moral and intel- 
 lectual qualities, and yet has no special merit in itself con- 
 sidered. et us endeavor to understand each of these three 
 predications concerning faith. 
 
 Faith contains definite moral qualities, as must result from 
 
124 Girrs To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 its being a product of the heart and will, obedient to the 
 moral laws imposed upon the process of its production. It 
 works by love; it purifies the heart; it overcomes the world. 
 The exposition of faith as a product of the will and the moral 
 expressions of the will, has shown how the heart is con- 
 cerned in the genesis, and modifies the nature of faith. It 
 has been seen how hostile feelings towards the person re- 
 ferred to would mar the testimony to his wisdom and good- 
 ness. It has been seen how love to sin and aversion to 
 holiness would balk the testimony to the hatefulness of the 
 one, and the loveliness of the other. All moral and religious 
 truth is subject to the same hostile and transfiguring 
 influence of an unholy heart. The character of God, the 
 nature of his law, the sovereignty, the freedom, and infinite 
 magnanimity and tenderness of his grace; every statement of 
 fact, every exposition of doctrine, every truth, whatever he 
 has declared, has been distorted from their true significance 
 by this deadly energy of depraved feeling. The field of 
 view in the intellect has been discolored by this disturb- 
 ing influence, and all that is seen through it is not seen as it 
 is. As the green leaves of a tree seen through the deep 
 crimson surface of a colored glass will be seen in foreign 
 and not in its own real hues, so all moral and religious 
 truths will be more or less warped out of its real meaning by 
 the influence of the unholy heart. The seer will see, but 
 not perceive; he will be as blind to the true significance of 
 the truth as if he could not see at all. This is what is meant 
 by the spiritual blindness of the mind, which is represented 
 by the Scriptures as coéxisting and entirely compatible with 
 any amount of intellectual energy. When the record asserts 
 the beauty of holiness, the unbelief of the depraved heart 
 will deny it and assert the contrary. When it asserts any 
 truth which crosses the inclinations and tastes of a perverted 
 will, unbelief, determined by the depraved affections, will im- 
 peach the conclusion. 
 
FAITH. ; 125 
 
 It is manifest, then, that to enable faith really to accept 
 the whole testimony of God in his word, the depraved heart 
 must be changed. Until this is done the misguiding crimson 
 in the glass will make the leaves of the tree appear in similar 
 colors, and the seer will never believe the leaves are green 
 or anything but what he sees them to be. Does he not see 
 they are crimson and not green? Is he not perfectly honest 
 in so seeing, and in so saying? He is entirely unconscious 
 that he is looking through a perverted medium of depraved 
 feeling, and until he is awakened to the discernment of his sin, 
 he will see no error in his views. But if his heart can be 
 changed, then he will be able to see and believe aright, and ac- 
 cording to the real nature of thetruth. Saving faith, then, is 
 strongly qualified by the right moral apprehensions of a 
 heart rightly qualified by the grace of regeneration, and 
 without this qualification of this particular grace it can never 
 exist in a human soul. “With the heart man believeth unto 
 righteousness,” and this faith works by love. If the princi- 
 ple by which it works is love, it can only exist in a carnal 
 heart by the precedent implanting of the force which moves 
 it. Unbelief is the datum of an unholy heart, and saving 
 faith is the datum of a regenerate and holy heart. 
 
 Saving faith is also qualified by the intellectual qualities 
 which enter into all faiths; but in this species of faith these 
 intellectual qualities are given by a mind peculiarly energized. 
 All faiths are in part the issues of mental activity. Faith is 
 the belief of testimony and the acceptance of ‘things as true. 
 This implies the action of the understanding in judging the 
 testimony and in apprehending the thing to be believed. 
 There is no dispute about this point. Incompetent mental 
 action will result in credulity and in error, and men are not 
 slow to see and censure the intellectual work which falls 
 short of a rational standard. But the intellectual energies 
 which enter into saving faith spring from a mind itself under 
 peculiar influences. This is evident from what has already 
 
126 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 been said touching the influence of the perverted will on the 
 views of the understanding, and the necessity of a change of 
 heart in order to justness of view and rightness of belief. 
 This effect on the mind is called in the Scriptures “ enlight- 
 ening the eyes,” and “opening the eyes of the blind.” That 
 extraordinary effect which moral evil has produced on the 
 discernment of the understanding, by which it sees, yet does 
 not perceive, presents one of the most extraordinary of all 
 the phenomena of mind. There is no doubt in any human 
 intellect, for example, of the certainty of the fact, and the un- 
 certainty of the period, of that strange mystery of death. 
 Men walk perpetually under a liability of the most strange 
 and striking character; they know it absolutely; yet practi- 
 cally it is apprehended only as a distant possibility, and 
 under colors which disguise the grandeur and pathos of the 
 situation. It is seen, yet not perceived. Sin is intellectu- 
 ally apprehended as an evil, yet is felt to be agreeable, and 
 the evil is not discerned. This disablement of the power of 
 perception by the influence of the depraved will can only be 
 removed by a peculiar power exerted upon the disordered 
 faculty which produces the disability in question; and when 
 this is done, the power of perception is restored to the un- 
 derstanding, and. the eyes of the blind are opened. The in- 
 fluence of this restored energy of the intellect in the produc- 
 tion of saving faith will then be felt. 
 
 Saving faith, however, in spite of the moral and intellec- 
 tual qualities in it, and although it is “the fruit of the Spirit,” 
 has no special merit or excellence in itself. It performs high 
 offices in the scheme of redemption: we are justified by 
 faith, we walk by faith, faith gives power to prayer, and leads 
 into the comforts of hope; yet it does all this merely as an 
 instrument, and not by any virtue of its own. Faith is pow- 
 erful only because it mediates the grace by which all the 
 wonders of faith are accomplished. There is a righteousness 
 of faith, not because faith constitutes or creates it, but 
 
Fatru. 127 
 
 because it conveys it. Faith works by Jove, but is distinct 
 from the love that impels it. Faith is distinctly pronounced 
 to be less than charity. Faith believes God and trusts in 
 him; but while the refusal to do this would involve great 
 guilt, doing it is only compliance with strong obligation, and 
 involves no special merit. Faith, in a word, has been ap- 
 pointed as the mere instrument for the action of grace; it is 
 of faith that it might be of grace; and all the triumphs of 
 faith are due to the grace it conveys, and not to itself. It 
 appeals to power outside of itself, and thus confesses its own 
 weakness. It appeals to the righteousness of Christ, and 
 thus confesses the want of it in itself. It appeals for all 
 things to an outward source, and thus confesses its own bar- 
 renness. It is merely the empty hand stretched out to re- 
 ceive all the gifts needed to save an impoverished soul. It 
 is not without a measure of spiritual excellence, for no gift 
 of the Spirit is utterly wanting in it; but it is mainly consid- 
 erable from the values it conveys, not in its own. As the 
 main instrument of grace, it ranks in value chief of the graces; 
 as an intrinsic value, it is below love, and in the same rank 
 
 _ with hope, joy, gentleness, and other fruits of the Spirit. 
 
 (5.) Saving faith is described in the Scriptures as a principle 
 by means of which the power of different kinds of truth is 
 drawn out, and thus becomes an instrument of sanctification 
 of the second remove, and a regulating force over character 
 and action. The grace of the Spirit is the efficient of sanc- 
 titication ; the truth is the instrument nearest to the effect; 
 and faith, which elicits the force of the truth, is the second 
 instrumentality in producing it. Faith is defined as “the 
 substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not 
 seen.” If a man is informed that his house has been burned 
 and his family destroyed, if lhe did not believe it, he would 
 feel no distress, even though the report might be true. On 
 the other hand, if he did believe it, he would be overwhelmed 
 with grief, even though the report might be false. Faith in 
 
128 GiFrrs To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 the one case would give substance and reality to what is false ; 
 in the other, unbelief would strip truth of its power. It is 
 evident that such a principle is full of power in. this direc- 
 tion, however undistinguished for moral merit. This capac- 
 ity of realizing truth and bringing out its force will operate 
 different effects, according to the nature of the truth thus 
 realized by faith. Threatening truth thus apprehended will 
 produce fear; hopeful truth will produce joy; promises will 
 yield expectation ; commands will produce obedience. Faith 
 thus will cause offers to be accepted, a person to be trusted, sins 
 to be surrendered, and warnings to be taken. Faith will 
 energize and produce all the various passions of the heart. 
 Noah was moved by fear to the building of the ark. Abra- 
 ham, by hope to seek a city without foundations. Joseph 
 made his bones the seal of a promise of deliverance to his 
 people. It is powerful to mould character and animate 
 activity ; to breed hope, and throw wide open the realities of 
 the eternal state revealed in the record. Faith thus becomes 
 the instrument of all Christian comfort, as well as of all 
 progress in the conformity of character to the divine image, 
 and of conduct to the divine will. 
 
 (6.) This saving faith is represented under some aspects so 
 apparently paradoxical as to create a feeling of perplexity 
 and sometimes of irritation in constraining it. But the 
 paradox is only in appearance, and the consistency with 
 truth and justice can easily be made to appear. It has 
 already been seen that the absurdity, as it appears to many, 
 of a command and requirement to believe in spite of the 
 strong dependence of faith upon evidence, is vindicated from 
 the charge, and shown to be exactly appropriate from the 
 relation of the will to evidence, and from the relation of moral 
 law to will. The paradox is only apparent, not real. In like 
 manner, this faith is declared to be beyond the capacity of 
 the soul in its natural condition, and yet it is justly required 
 to be exercised. This statement appears, not only to be 
 
FaAtru. 129 
 
 paradoxical, but unjust. The vindication is very simple. 
 There are two kinds of inability to action, one of which does 
 exempt from responsibility, and the other actually increases 
 it. The one is the inability of a paralytic to walk; the other 
 is the inability of a drunkard to keep sober. The one in- 
 ability lies outside of the will, and is not subject to its con- 
 trol, or to the jurisdiction of moral law, to command or pro- 
 hibition. The other lies in the will, and consists in its 
 depravity, and is, therefore, under the jurisdiction of law, and 
 subject to command. One man may not be able to attend to 
 his business because he is sick, and another because he is 
 drunk. The common-sense of mankind adjudges one to be 
 blameless, and the other to be blameworthy; it sees the in- 
 capacity of one is the proper object of pity, the incapacity of 
 the other the just object of censure. The incapacity of the 
 carnal mind to exercise faith is of the latter kind; it lies in 
 the will, and not out of it; it consists in the strength of the 
 perverted affections of the will, which disable the streneth of 
 the evidence and the power of the truth. The stronger the 
 evidence, the more censurable the perversity of feeling 
 
 _ which disables it. Since it has been abundantly shown that 
 
 the will is deeply involved in the genesis of faith, according 
 to the common judgments of mankind as well as of Scripture, 
 it is perfectly useless to impeach the decision, that when faith 
 is disabled by the power of perverted affections in the 
 will, responsibility is properly imputed for unbelief or mis- 
 belief. 
 
 When this aversion of the will is so strong as to defy con- 
 trol, the notion of responsibility increases in proportion to 
 the strength of this aversion, and cannot possibly be dimin- 
 ished, much less destroyed by it. When that aversion is so 
 powerful as to defy the control of the man himself, and no 
 power but the power of God himself can govern it, and that, 
 too, in some of the highest acts of almighty power,. the 
 notion of responsibility is carried to the highest conceivable 
 
 9 
 
130 Girrs TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 point, instead of being destroyed. The obligation of duty 
 remains unimpaired by the disability of a perverted will to 
 obey it. This apparent paradoxy may receive another ex- 
 pression. Faith is the gift of God, and yet the duty of man. 
 It is the gift of God because he alone can break down the 
 resistance of the perverted will. It is the duty of man be- 
 cause no moral obligation is broken down by any amount of 
 vigor in the aversion to discharge it. Faith being an issue 
 of will, and under just obligation of moral propriety, cannot 
 possibly be discharged ‘from full responsibility, because of 
 aversion in the will to accept the truth, that is, to delzeve, 
 The more powerful that aversion, the more complete the ina- 
 bility it creates and constitutes, the higher the responsibility 
 is carried, instead of being weakened, and much less of be- 
 ing destroyed. The two teachings of the Christ are both 
 true, both consistent, and one true because the other is true; 
 “ye will not come unto me that ye might have life ;” and ‘‘no 
 man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent 
 me draw him.” He alone can ‘‘make us willing in the day 
 of his power.” 
 
 (7.) Saving faith is represented under a variety of forms in ~ 
 the testimony of God. It is called a looking. “ Look 
 unto me all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved, saith 
 the Lord; for I am God, and there is none else.” lLook- 
 ing is a common expression of reliance or trust; a ser- 
 vant looks to his master, a soldier to his commander, a pa- 
 tient to his physician, a client to his counsel. ‘look to you 
 to do it,” is an ordinary expression of holding to responsi- 
 bility for a trust committed. It 1s called a coming. “Come 
 unto me all ye who are weary and are heavy laden.” ‘The 
 same notion of applying for help and going for assistance, 
 appealing to the power and good-will of another, is expressed 
 by this phrase. Faith is called acceptance, the receiving of 
 a gift: “take the water of life freely.” It is spoken of as the 
 giving of a gift: “my son, give my thy heart.” Confidence 
 
FAIru. 131 
 
 is often spoken of as something given. It is described as 
 eating, as drinking, as going, as resting, as learning, all of 
 which carry the notion of resorting to something apart from 
 self for strength and comfort. Saving faith is the act of the 
 whole human soul accepting all the truths contained in the 
 testimony of God, with a realizing sense of their truth, and 
 trusting in that glorious person who is the grand centre of 
 all the truth thus revealed. It is the fruit of the Spirit, the 
 gift of God in the exercise of his sovereign and distinguish- 
 ing grace, the greatest of all his inward gifts to a lost sinner. 
 
 It is the gift of eternal life.“ He that believeth shall be 
 saved.” 
 
CHAP DE RAYS 
 THE NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 
 
 ‘Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.” —Jesus of 
 Nazareth. 
 
 ite HESE words introduce us to one of the great 
 peculiar doctrines of the Christian faith. They 
 were spoken by the great founder of that faith, and carry all 
 the weight of his character and authority in the establish- 
 ment of the doctrine taught. Nicodemus, an officer of high 
 rank in the religious orders of the temple system, had been 
 profoundly impressed by the wonderful works done by the — 
 Nazarene prophet. His intellectual convictions had been 
 determined by them, that Jesus was a teacher sent from 
 God, He became eager to inquire more fully into. the nature 
 of the message which had been sent by him to the people of 
 Israel. But knowing the intense prejudice, which even at # 
 that early stage of the prophet’s ministry had taken posses- — 
 sion of the religious leaders of the nation, and not yet haying 
 come under the power of the truth, he sought a secret inter- — 
 view with the great teacher. This secrecy indicated the — 
 imperfection of his faith; his coming at all showed the 
 strength and sincerity of his convictions. His introductory 
 words reveal no hesitation or doubt in the judgment he had 
 formed on the evidence of the miracles. “Rabbi, we know 
 that thou art a teacher come from God: for no ‘man can 
 do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.” | 
 The intellectual conviction was absolute; it was actual know- | 
 Jedge, not any inferior grade of belief. The reasoning which 
 led to this conviction. was both sound and _ irresistible; j 
 miracle was demonstration of a divine commission. The reply — 
 182 
 
Tor NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. Loo 
 
 of Jesus, on a first inspection, seems to be somewhat irrele- 
 vant, or its relevancy is not immediately apparent. “Verily, 
 verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he can- 
 not see the kingdom of God.” But in point of fact the reply 
 was not only to the point, but happily led forward into a 
 further development of the ideas involved in his mission, 
 and opened the way to settle the principal purpose which 
 the Jewish ruler had in view. 
 
 At that time the Jewish mind was in a feverish ferment 
 about the coming of Messiah, and the kingdom which he 
 was about to establish. The time indicated in the prophe- 
 cies was universally understood to be at hand; and to find 
 out what this demonstrated messenger of God had to say in 
 relation to these intensely exciting facts was the end sought 
 by Nicodemus. ~The reply of Messiah was, then, substan- 
 tially this: your conclusion is rightly drawn; the wonderful 
 exhibition of divine power does prove me to be a teacher 
 come from God; but a similar exhibition of the same power 
 is necessary to enable any man to understand the nature, or 
 perceive the advent, of the kingdom he is about to set up. 
 Nicodemus was astounded; in common with all other Jews 
 he expected a kingdom as cognizable by the unaided natural 
 faculties of men as the kingdom of David had been in the 
 life-time of the royal soldier and poet, who was the pride of 
 Israel. He was confounded to have his unspoken inquiry 
 about the kingdom of Messiah answered by an assertion 
 that made a miraculous or similar exertion of divine power 
 necessary to see it when it came, or to enter into its privi- 
 leges. He rejoined in vague confusion, “‘ How can a man be 
 born when he is old?” His conceptions were altogether 
 below the plane on which Jesus was leading him up. Jesus 
 went on to explain, prefacing his explanation and defence 
 with an expression of wonder on his own part, that one who 
 held the high official position of the master or chief of the 
 ruling teachers of Israel should be utterly unacquainted with 
 
ito Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 the spiritual nature of that kingdom of God whose neces- 
 sary first foundation and form was to be laid in the very 
 soul—in the thoughts and affections of man. Nicodemus 
 had suggested the intolerable mystery of the doctrine in- 
 volved in the impossibility of the case. Messiah at once 
 replied, it is indeed mysterious, but not impossible ; mystery 
 attaches to many a thing which is nevertheless real; the 
 wind is an example; but although no man can tell the spot 
 where it rises in the vast sea of the surrounding air, nor the 
 line where it stops, no man ever questions its reality. He 
 then goes on to explain that the kingdom of God laid its 
 foundations in the inward nature of man; no one could be a 
 true servant and subject of the King who did not serve him 
 with the heart, and, therefore, the evil heart must be changed 
 if it ever sees the nature of the kingdom, or becomes a true 
 servant of the King Messiah. The alleged impossibility 1s 
 set aside by a reiteration of the fact, and the positive asser- 
 tion of the absolute necessity for it. 
 
 9. This teaching of our Lord sets at rest all rational doubt 
 about this wonderful doctrine of Christianity. The astonish- 
 ment of Nicodemus, and the firm assent of Christ to the 
 
 fact, both demonstrate the assertion of something marvelous _ 
 
 as necessary to the true apprehension of the kingdom. No 
 attempt is made to disguise the fact, and all human attempts 
 to obscure the teaching will be in vain. It plainly affirms an 
 effect must be exerted on the soul, which can only be ade- 
 quately described as a new birth, a being born again. It is 
 elsewhere described as a new creation, and as a resurrection 
 from the dead. It is positively assigned as the exclusive et- 
 fect of divine will and power ; it is a being born, not of man, 
 nor of the will of man, but of God. Tt is ascribed solely to 
 the energy of the Holy Ghost. The very term, born of the 
 Spirit, points clearly both to the agent of the change and the 
 radical nature of his work. As the word born, descriptive of 
 the mode of man’s creation and introduction to the condi- 
 
* 
 
 Tor NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 135 
 
 tions of his existence in the present life, is used to describe 
 the effect, something equally radical in its nature and effects 
 must be involved in the analogous change. The natural 
 birth puts the human being into the full possession of his na- 
 ture as such a being. If not born, all the preliminary con- 
 stituents of his being are nullified, and his nature is not only 
 not completed and put into his possession in order to serve 
 its purposes, but it is absolutely prohibited and destroyed. 
 The new birth also involves the creation and the grant of a 
 new nature adjusted to its own uses and ends. Natural 
 birth introduces to new conditions of life, new laws of action, _ 
 new responsibilities, new associations, new possibilities of 
 both pleasure and pain, new powers of action, and new capa- 
 bilities of influence. It makesanew man. It not only makes 
 a new being, but introduces him into the adjustments for its 
 action. In lke manner, the effects of the new birth are 
 equally radical and pervading, giving a new nature, making 
 a& new man, as an apostle calls it, and introducing this new 
 nature into a new life adjusted to it, to new views, new feel- 
 ings, new affections and desires, new hopes, new fears, new 
 energies, new rules of conduct, new objects of endeavor, 
 and new results of the new action determined by this great 
 change. 
 
 It is obvious from these positive and most peculiar state- 
 ments that all attempts to construe the Christian doctrine of 
 regeneration out of all its high mysterious and spiritual sig- 
 nificance must be altogether incompetent interpretations of 
 the language used to describe it in the sacred record. To 
 construe it as nothing more than the modifying influence 
 exerted upon thought and feeling by the written words of 
 the Scriptures, identical in nature with the influence exerted 
 by the written words of any other author, is not only inade- 
 quate as an explanation of the terms used, but is positively 
 repeated by the assertion that the gospel must come, not in 
 word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost. To say it 
 
136 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 is only the change in the external relations affected by a ~ 
 visible rite, which not only can be administered by man, but 
 
 which in point of fact can be administered by no one 
 but man, is not only absolutely in contravention of the posi- 
 tive ascription of the effect exclusively to the will and power 
 of God, but it is to convict the terms used in Scripture to 
 define it of a want of candor or of clearness in making the 
 definition. All attempts to identify this change with the 
 mere ordinance of baptism, or with the mere modifications 
 of thought and feeling produced by the influence of written 
 words, are useless. All attempts to construe it as a mere 
 change in any outward or merely legal relations of a man 
 are failures, complete in abortiveness. It is a change in- 
 ward, not outward, a change of nature, not of relations. It 
 is not a change of mere state, defined by relations to an 
 outward order or law of action. Even when contemplated as 
 an inward change, it is not merely a change of Aabdzts, or 
 even of some modifications of character, for these may be 
 affected by human energies and associations, by human 
 will and moral culture. It goes deeper than any such influ- 
 ences can reach. It is a profound movement on that inner 
 moral energy which determines thought and feeling—which 
 forms character, which dictates action, and thus creates 
 habits. It goes to the bottom of the deep radical disorder 
 of the human heart. | 
 
 To define the nature of anything is not easy, because it is 
 one of those primitive conceptions given by the intuitive 
 energy of the mind, easily enough apprehended as existing, 
 but not comprehensible to define. We readily understand 
 that it is the nature of a fruit tree which determines the 
 kind of fruit it produces. From this it is easy to discern 
 that it is due to difference in the nature of the trees that one 
 produces one kind of fruit, and the other another kind. But 
 what the nature in each of the trees actually is, or what con- 
 
 stitutes the difference in their nature, no wit has ever dis-. 
 
 a aS ee a, 
 
 * 
 Z 
 _ 
 
 7 
 
THe NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. LOC 
 
 sovered or will ever discover. The fact is known; the 
 method or the causative quality called the nature of the tree 
 is beyond analysis and definition. All we know is, that the 
 nature of a fruit tree is an indefinable force in the tree, 
 which results in the production of a certain fruit. The na- 
 ture of an animal is a certain characteristic force or disposi- 
 tion which dictates certain modes of action peculiar to the 
 animal. Nature is a force which grounds and regulates en- 
 ergy. There is thus a nature in man which determines cer- 
 tain results, variously modified as that nature itself is modi- 
 fied. Man has a physical nature which determines certain 
 physical functions in his life. He has an intellectual nature 
 which determines certain intellectual functions and activities. 
 He has as the chief distinction and the master principle of 
 his whole being, a moraé nature, which yields moral results. 
 To control the manifestations of his nature, physical, mental, 
 or moral, that nature in its characteristic marks must be 
 controlled. The stream of energy must be regulated by regu- 
 lating the fountain from which it flows. The grand doctrine 
 of Christ, then, touching the regeneration of man’s moral 
 nature, is in strict accordance with the laws and analogies of 
 nature, in all its various departments. There is nothing 
 strange or eccentric in it. 
 
 3. The incompetence of any other view of the real mean- 
 ing of regeneration will be still more clearly demonstrated 
 by an examination into the nature of the evil to be re- 
 moved. This will prove the absolute necessity of a pro- 
 found change in the moral condition of the human soul. 
 The declaration of our Lord is, Ye must be born again. This 
 affirms a necessity absolutely uncompromising. A view of 
 the difficulty which grounds this necessity will vindicate his 
 words, and show the utter folly of any conception of regene- 
 ration less radical than a total change in the very nature of 
 a sinning being in order to his salvation. 
 
 The first fact which illustrates the nature of the evil to be 
 
138 GiIFrts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 removed before man can be saved is, that every creature or 
 form of existence in the universe must conform to the law 
 of its being in order to meet the ends and offices of its being. 
 In non-sensitive existence, non-conformity to the law of its 
 nature must produce disorder and confusion. In sensitive 
 beings, non-conformity must produce disease and suffering. 
 A fish in the air, or a bird in the water must suffer and ulti- 
 mately die. In beings conditioned to conform to the moral 
 distinction, non-conformity must result in moral corruption 
 as well as in suffering. ~The law is universal. Man as a 
 moral being has been adjusted to moral law, just as an intel- 
 lectual being he has been adjusted to the laws of mind, and as 
 a physical being he has been adjusted to physical law. The 
 moral law which has been established over the moral crea- 
 ture, man, is not merely confined to his positive transient 
 actions, but extends its jurisdiction over all the interior and 
 seminal energies from which his actions flow: It extends 
 over all feelings, motives, passions, purposes, affections, and 
 desires, and over all the permanent states of moral feeling 
 which constitute what is called character, and which, as per- 
 manent expressions of the will, involve moral responsibility 
 as truly and justly as a determined purpose or any other 
 
 transient act of the voluntary faculty. In order that man, 
 
 then, should conform to the law of his being, it is not merely 
 necessary he should conform to it in his outward actions, 
 but that he should conform to it in his whole interior nature, 
 in the ground of all those interior energies of his spirit which 
 are embraced in the requisitions of the law, and are capa- 
 ble of a moral complexion, either good or bad. There is no 
 such thing as securing the well-being of man unless he is 
 brought up to conformity with the grand law which asserts 
 its supremacy over him in every particular in which that law 
 claims his conformity, whether in his acts or in his nature. 
 The law requires him to be good as well as to do right; its 
 jurisdiction is over his nature in all that constitutes it, as 
 
 —— se oe ee ee 
 
 ‘ 
 ——~ Tre rr. 
 
Tur NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 139 
 
 well as over his actions; and if his nature has become mor- 
 ally corrupt it must be purified. 
 
 The next proof of the necessity of regeneration is found in 
 the actual condition of his moral nature. Man has sinned ; 
 he sins continually. That is to say, he has transgressed the 
 erand law of his being, and lives in the constant transgres- 
 sion of it with the disastrous effects that might have been 
 expected. One of the most disastrous of these effects is the 
 actual result produced on his own moral nature. This result 
 is a fact in human nature, proceeding under the operation of 
 a regular law of cause and effect, and admits of no more 
 doubt than any other fact observed and ascertained in the 
 nature of the human being. It is one of the old and long 
 established facts in the nature of man, that criminal action 
 of every species exerts a reactionary influence on the nature 
 of the criminal actor himself, corrupting his feelings and 
 rendering him more liable to repeat the criminal act than he 
 was before its commission. He grows worse and worse the 
 more his criminal acts are multiplied, the particular kind of 
 criminal act increasing the inward criminal tendency to that 
 species of evil. Sin in act breeds sin in the soul, and a de- 
 praving influence on the moral nature within keeps step 
 with all the active uses of the depraved impulses of the un- 
 holy will. This peculiarity of human nature is a datum, not 
 merely of the word of God, but of ordinary observation and 
 experience, which can no more be questioned or denied 
 than that a man will be burnt if he applies fire to his flesh, 
 or be fouled if he falls into a cess-pool. The teachings of 
 Scripture are identical with the teachings of experience, as 
 far as the latter are able to go. The difference lies in the 
 fact that the Scriptures go farther in the explanation of the 
 evil, analyze it-‘more deeply, and point out more fully the ex- 
 tent, nature, and final results of those effects which criminal 
 action has upon the moral nature of the criminal actor. The 
 lesson of experience is enough of itself to disclose the abso- 
 
140 Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 lute necessity for a vital change of some sort in the depraved 
 moral nature. The teaching of the Scriptures only makes 
 that necessity reveal itself in a still more impressive form. 
 The moral element in human nature pervades the whole in- 
 tellectual structure of man, just as color pervades the trans- 
 parency of glass or a pure fluid, and thus regulates its 
 quality and the view of all that is seen through it. This all- 
 pervading moral energy is that which adjusts man to that 
 eternal distinction of right and wrong which determines the 
 great moral law under which he is bound. That distinction 
 inhering in his acts makes them good or bad; inhering in 
 his inward moral energies makes them and him either good 
 or bad. This judgment, that the actor himself must be either 
 good or bad, is one of those universal common-sense judg- 
 ments which men always form of each other from the mani- 
 festations of their conduct. Men always go back of a moral 
 act, whether good or bad, and look at the disposition, tem- 
 per, and moral character which gave origin to the act. The 
 act is attributed to a moral energy within, and is accepted as 
 a revelation of the energy from which it springs. An ex- 
 plosion of temper is taken to reveal a permanent character- 
 istic in the nature of the man, and he is judged to be a hot- 
 tempered man. All acts are judged in the same way; they 
 are held to disclose a trait or capacity in the fixed moral 
 energies, answerable in moral quality to the moral quality of 
 the act that springs from them. The law holds of all acts or 
 energies whatever; it is equally true of good and evil acts; 
 all are held to be the expression of an answerable quality in 
 the permanent characteristics of the man. Nowif this in- 
 tuitive judgment of a moral nature in man, lying back of his 
 acts, and regulating their moral complexion as true expres- 
 sions of itself, is a true diagnosis of human nature, the infer- 
 ence is irresistible, that any effectual reform of man as an evil- 
 doer necessarily requires the reform and purification of the 
 permanent moral energies which determine the character of — 
 
THe NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 141 
 
 his outward conduct. This is the invincible decision of logic 
 and common sense. To purify the stream the fountain must 
 be purified; the stream can never be effectually cleansed as 
 long as a polluted head-spring is perpetually pouring pol- 
 luted water into the channel. The teachings of Messiah coin- 
 cide with this conclusion of reason and experience. Man 
 cannot gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. It is 
 vain to purify a cup or a platter unless the inside, as well as 
 the outside, is cleansed. 
 
 But the Scriptures go deeper in their discernment of tke 
 effects of sin on the nature of the sinner. They speak of a 
 spiritual life. Wife is a capacity to exert certain energies, 
 distinctive of the kind of life in view. Spiritual life is a 
 capability of moral energies, embracing the whole sphere of 
 moral obligations; not merely the moral obligations which 
 embrace the present life, and all the relations of man to his 
 fellow-man, but moral obligations as they embrace every de- 
 gree and possibility of moral energy, and man’s relations to 
 God as well as to his fellow-creatures. This implies a far 
 broader and higher form and degree of moral energy than is 
 disclosed by the lower system of relations limited to the 
 creature. /Zoliness is but another name for this spiritual life. 
 Morality, or the moral quality, in common parlance is usually 
 confined to the relations between creatures. Holiness in the 
 same usage of language is applied to the relations between 
 God and the creature. Holiness is, in fact, moral excellence 
 in its completed form, developed by a right state of all the 
 relations and affections of the creature to God, and flowing 
 over from this right state towards God upon all the relations 
 and affections towards all other beings, raising the moral 
 quality determined by those relations into a higher and 
 purer form. This state of relation and feeling towards God 
 is the supreme controlling moral force over all the moral 
 states and feelings of the creature. It is the key-stone of the 
 arch which holds all other moral states in their proper place. 
 
142 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 It is the controlling light which alone gives the proper color- 
 ing and complexion to all other states, feelings, and determi- 
 nations of the moral element of the human soul. Without 
 holiness all moral quality is more or less depraved. All the 
 cultured moral virtues of the moral element in human nature 
 are fatally defective without this all-important coloring of 
 genuine holiness. Holiness is the principle of real life, 
 beauty and power in all moral quality. Abolish holiness 
 and the arch is broken, the beautifying light is withdrawn, 
 the principle of life is destroyed, and a spiritual death, the 
 ruin of the capacity to energize purely, at once ensues. 
 There may be a certain grade or degree of moral excellence 
 in human character, determined by culture in his relations 
 to his fellow-men; but it is wretchedly incomplete in its best 
 development, and wanting in that element which is essential 
 to its completeness. It is somewhat like what painting 
 would be if the red ray in the coloring was annihilated; its 
 perfection as a thing of beauty would be gone. This is the 
 character of all moral excellence in the natural man; it is 
 divorced from that element which alone gives life and per- 
 fection to moral energy. A figure may be moulded in wax 
 or carved in marble to a degree of ideal excellence, superior 
 in charm to any living being; but it wants life; and a living 
 dog is better than a dead lion. Such is the diagnosis of the 
 moral nature, and the laws that regulate it, as given in the 
 Scriptures. They teach the absolute essentiality of holiness 
 to all true and sound moral energy. 
 
 They follow up this teaching bya necessary corollary; 
 they teach that the effect of one single criminal act is to 
 destroy this principle of spiritual life. This does not mean 
 that the moral energy in the soul is destroyed, but depraved. 
 It. does not mean that man becomes incapable of any moral 
 act, incapable of any moral perceptions, or feelings, or voli- 
 tions, or deeds, but it does mean that he becomes incapable 
 of any moral view, feeling, or action which is not defective 
 
 ; 
 
 i 
 ~ 
 
 : 
 
Tur NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 143 
 
 in some degree. The vital element of holiness is eliminated, 
 and that ingredient being wanting, even the very highest 
 form of natural virtue is essentially defective in obligatory 
 moral excellence, and is, therefore, a species of actual sin. 
 That lofty element which springs from the right state of the 
 relations and feelings towards God-holiness necessarily dies 
 under the reaction of one criminal act. The reason of it is, 
 that even one sin, as a breach of divine law, casts off his 
 authority, insults his sacred claim to obedience and respect, 
 and necessarily arms his justice to uphold them all. One 
 sin breaks all kindly relations between God and the offender; 
 both parties are thrown apart; the transgressor is alienated 
 from God, and God is angry with the wicked doer. The 
 necessary and inevitable result is the loss of holiness, the 
 distinction of the spiritual life, which, as we have seen, is 
 the determination of right relations and feelings of the crea- 
 ture towards God. ‘This is the only element which can give 
 real and complete moral excellence to any basis of moral 
 quality, whether thought, word, deed, or inward moral 
 faculty. The only capability of moral act which is left in 
 the transgressor is of an inferior degree, from which the 
 necessary ingredient of all true and complete moral excel- 
 lence has passed away, without the possibility of its restora- 
 tion by any means within the reach of man’s own competency. 
 Hence it is that the loss of holiness, which results even from 
 a single criminal act, is called spiritual death ; it is the loss of 
 spiritual life, the capacity of spiritual energies which condi- 
 tions all the moral. powers of the soul in the same way in 
 which other kinds of life condition the energies peculiar to 
 each of those kinds of life. Moral depravity in its higher 
 degrees results from repeated criminal acts. Holiness is at 
 once destroyed by a single criminal act. 
 
 _ The relation between holiness or spiritual life and mo- 
 rality, and the dependence of both on right relations to God, 
 may be illustrated by the relation between the principle of 
 
144 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 life and the substance of vegetable existence. Take a tree, 
 for example, as it stands growing on its stock, it has two dis- 
 tinct elements in it, the substance of its matter, and a certain 
 mysterious principle in it which we call its “fe. This life in 
 the wood is dependent on its connection with the living roots 
 and stock in the ground. All life, whether in a vegetable or 
 animal, is an impenetrable mystery. It seems to be an in- 
 comprehensible force which creates certain capabilities which 
 are entirely dependent upon it. So long as its mystic life 
 abides in it it is capable-of growth and of putting forth the 
 leaves and fruits peculiar to its nature as a tree. Cut it 
 away from its stock, and the wood becomes dead. It ceases 
 to be capable of growth or bearing, and at once becomes 
 subject to a reverse law which will bring it through many a 
 state of change down to decay and final ruin. For a time its 
 usefulness is not destroyed; it can be used as fuel, or wrought 
 into many useful and beautiful forms, for a time. But only 
 for atime. The principle of decay was introduced the very 
 moment when its life was destroyed by severance from its 
 vital stock, and it can only end in final destruction. In like 
 manner holiness is the life principle of all moral excellence, 
 and this principle has its vital connection in God. If that 
 connection is severed, it dies instantly, and can never recover 
 it, any more than the mass of noble matter in some great 
 leaf and nut-bearing tree can recover itself after the axe has 
 passed between it and the vital stock on which it grew. It 
 may exist for a time in noble and beautiful shapes; it may 
 be made useful to an extent absolutely inestimable in the 
 domestic and mechanical uses of earthly society. But it is 
 dead; its noblest manifestations are “dead works.” Morality 
 without holiness has lost the principle of its peculiar life. 
 Tt has no longer the vital energy which made it capable of 
 spontaneous growth; it can only develop at all under 
 patient and protracted culture. It is still capable of use, 
 change into happy modifications, great polish and cultured 
 
 a 
 
Tur NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 145 
 
 beauty, like the dead wood of its analogue; but it is dead; 
 it is under the law of decay from the moment when its pecu- 
 liar life departed by its severance from God; and however it 
 may be saved to its uses by careful processes for its protec- 
 tion, it will go to decay at last. Mere morality is developed 
 out of the relations between the creatures; it seeks for justice 
 and well-being for them; but makes no provision to secure 
 justice for God. All regard for him and his interests is left 
 out, and thus the very life and saving element of its peculiar 
 nature is destroyed. The noblest exhibit of unsanctified 
 virtues is fatally defective for this reason. A son is com- 
 manded by a noble father to go do some noble work; he 
 does the work; but deliberately repudiates all regard to his 
 father’s authority in doing it, and does it from the mere 
 sense of his own dignity. All cultured human sentiment 
 will pronounce the noble work marred by selfishness, pride, 
 and repudiation of just authority. Morality without holiness 
 is morality without perfection, and this perfection is depend- 
 ent wholly on right relations to God, the source of all life. 
 Thus the invincible necessity for regeneration; a profound 
 moral and spiritual change in the very nature of man as a 
 moral and spiritual being is revealed. Holiness must be re- 
 stored to his nature ; the principle which is essential to give es- 
 sential and perfect excellence to every basis of the moral quality 
 in him must be restored, or he can never be delivered from the 
 power of moral evil. Not only must the moral depravity of his 
 moral nature, as it is disclosed to observation and experience, 
 be removed, but in order to this deliverance, and also on 
 account of its own intrinsic value and necessity, holiness must 
 be restored. If sinning man is ever to be saved, he must 
 be saved from all the effects of his sin, not only from its 
 effects on his relations to the law, but its inward effects on 
 his own soul. Salvation without regeneration is a contra- 
 diction in terms. To talk of saving a sinner, and yet leay- 
 ing the depraved fountain of his moral energies, a spring 
 10 
 
146 Girrs to UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 which must necessarily control the whole current of his 
 energies as long as it exists, unregenerated and unpurified, is 
 to talk of doing that which is absurd and impossible. Ve 
 must be born again. The declaration of Christ rests on im- 
 pregnable grounds. 
 
 A second line of investigation will more broadly illustrate 
 this necessity. A more specific inspection of the particular 
 effects of this depraved moral condition of the moral element 
 in human nature will confirm the doctrine of this necessity 
 beyond all rational doubt. This moral element, pervading, 
 as it does, the whole mental structure, will, as a matter of 
 course, exert its influence, jirst, on the views of the mind; 
 second, on the affections and desires of the heart; ¢hzrd, on 
 the determinations of the will; fourth, on the perceptions 
 and power of the conscience; fifth, on the action of all 
 the faculties of the mind, on the imagination and the 
 fancy, on the sense of wit and humor, on the processes of 
 reason and judgment; and siath, on the positive actions 
 of the conduct. In a word, it will regulate all the activities 
 of human nature, and color them with its own complexion 
 to a greater or less degree. A depraved moral nature 
 will more or less pollute the views of the mind and the 
 affections of the heart on all kinds of subjects, even on 
 those considered remote from morals and religion. It will 
 taint the sense of wit and humor, the play of fancy, the 
 action of memory, the perceptions and authority of con- 
 science, the positive determinations of the will, and the 
 actions of the life. A pure moral nature will exert the oppo- 
 site effects on all these various faculties and energies of the 
 soul. 
 
 Take the first of these specifications—the perverting influ- 
 ence exerted on the views of the undertsanding by an unholy 
 moral nature, and then inquire how such perverted views are 
 compatible with the idea of salvation. Under such a deadly 
 influence the character of God is necessarily misconceived ; 
 
THE NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 147 
 
 it appears to be an object of dread and dislike. His holiness 
 seems to be oppressive; his justice, severity. His law is dis- 
 torted to view, and instead ot appearing, as it is, the consum- 
 mate expression of all wisdom, purity and goodness—the 
 embodiment of the broad and fruitful distinction of right—it 
 seems to be the harsh and hateful expression of an almighty 
 tyranny and injustice. To this perverted understanding, the 
 grace of the gospel, the love of the great Messiah, the infi- 
 nite patience and benignity of the Holy Ghost, and the rich 
 provisions of the covenant of redemption, seem to be the fan- 
 tastic creations of a dreamy fanaticism—utterly without at- 
 traction toa rational understanding. All the grand evidences 
 which support this fabric of revealed religion are utterly 
 empty of force to such a mind, and all the peculiarities of 
 doctrine and prescribed service are construed as legitimate 
 objects of unsparing scorn. The feverish temper of the hate 
 with which the whole system is regarded is clear in the con- 
 sciousness of every such sin-misguided intellect. How can 
 such a system be embraced by a genuine and hearty accept- 
 ance? How can the character of God awaken love in a 
 mind so perverted? How can salvation—which in part signi- 
 fies communion and friendship with God, and in part, con- 
 formity to his law—be a possible thing without a change, a 
 radical change, in such views, and in the perverted moral 
 qualities of the soul which originates and learns such 
 views? It is simply impossible. 
 
 Take, again, the influence of a perverted moral nature upon 
 the affections of the heart. They are all more or less de- 
 praved, and just so far forth are disabled from performing 
 their true functions and working out their true ends. They 
 become eccentric, exaggerated, and unsafe to indulge. They 
 love what they ought not to love; they hate what they ought 
 not to hate. They thus come under the rebuke of conscience, 
 and that indulgence results only in mischief, in enhancing the 
 moral corruption from which they spring, and in producing 
 
14.000 Girrs to UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 a misery which is the natural outcome of perverted nature 
 and violated law. A corrupt heart is the greatest source of 
 evil in the universe of God. The heart is omnipotent over 
 conduct, character and happiness. It dictates action. It 
 controls character. It determines happiness or misery. As 
 a man loves, so will he act in seeking the gratification of his 
 desires. As a man loves so is he; his character is deter- 
 mined by his affections. HH he loves war, his character is 
 construed as warlike; if he loves money, his character is con- 
 strued as avaricious; if he loves pleasure or idleness, his 
 character is construed as frivolous. The influence of the 
 heart is all-powerful over happiness. If all he likes is re- 
 moved out of his reach, his misery is secured. If he is able 
 to indulge his attachments, his satisfaction 1s secured. With 
 a heart opposed to the character of God and the employments 
 of his service it would be impossible to be happy, even in 
 heaven and in the beatific vision of God and his glory. To 
 make heaven itself endurable to a sinful soul is an absolute 
 impossibility ; hell itself would be more tolerable. The bold 
 French infidel who said he had rather spend eternity in hell 
 than in eternal sing-song in heaven, was true in the expres- 
 sion of the necessary demands of an unholy heart. Nothing 
 could illustrate the necessity of a change of heart with more 
 irresistible energy of demonstration than the fact that the 
 almightiness of God himself could not contrive to make even 
 heaven endurable to a sinful soul. Even infinite power can- 
 not control an essential impossibility. 
 
 The same line of investigation pursued through all the ap- 
 plications of a depraved moral nature, to the reasoning pow- 
 ers, the judgment, the fancy, the sense of humor, the per- 
 ceptions of conscience, and the positive volitions and actions 
 of aman, would bring out the same result. To rescue all the 
 powers of human nature from perverted uses, it is indispens- 
 able that the great ruling cause of their perverted action 
 should be removed by regenerating grace. Salvation is a 
 
 ~~ a ee ee “ in 
 
 ee a 
 
THE NECESSITY oF REGENERATION. 149 
 
 contradictory predicate to a conscience perverted, a mind 
 blinded, a heart depraved, a will debauched, and a life full of 
 those activities which are necessarily determined by a pol- 
 luted moral nature. It is as perfectly a contradiction to talk 
 of salvation in sin as to talk of ease to one in agony, or 
 breath to one in the very fever of a deadly disease. All the 
 evidence procurable from the nature of man, and the laws 
 that regulate it, proves the absolute truth of the declaration 
 of our Lord, ye must be born again. 
 
 4. The necessity of the thorough purification of the de- 
 praved moral nature of man, by a real regeneration, is de- 
 monstrated by another line of proofs, separate altogether 
 from man himself. It is shown by the essential implication 
 of the interests and peace of other beings beside himself. 
 The Scriptures reveal to us the existence of a holy and most 
 noble race of creatures who dwell in the presence of God, 
 and do their faultless service before his throne. It is neces- 
 sary to the safety and interests of this grand race of angelic 
 intelligences that man should be purified, if he is to be ad- 
 mitted into their society when the mystery of death is accom- 
 plished upon him. The same great law of moral and social 
 influence which makes man here so powerful in moulding 
 the character of his fellow, seems to pervade the universe. 
 The angels are subject to this law; they are naturally liable 
 to fall, as we know from the fatal history of the fallen mem- 
 bers of that great fraternity. Their safety would be im- 
 periled by unholy associations in their regular existence. 
 Their happiness, too, like ours, is strongly dependent upon 
 their social relations. The character of their companions 
 must be congenial, or their peace would be disturbed. If 
 no regeneration could be gained, and if man with his low in- 
 stincts, polluted passions, and tendencies ever reaching down- 
 ward, should be introduced into their holy society, disgust 
 and horror would soon banish every sentiment of satisfac- 
 tion. The music of the rejoicing host would be marred by 
 
150 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 the discords of the unholy rabble. The feelings of the 
 stately seraphim would be kindled into horror by the rude 
 ereeting of some debauched and distempered villain reeling 
 along the streets of the celestial city. If God cares aught 
 for the integrity and comfort of that brilliant and holy host, 
 who have served him for ages, without fault or flaw in their 
 service, it will be absolutely necessary to do one of two 
 things: either to keep unholy souls out of their company, or 
 else to purify their polluted natures, and thus fit them for 
 this glorious society. The very sight of a depraved being 
 there would be a signal of distress, and silence would reign 
 in every celestial group until the unclean spirit had gone by 
 and disappeared. It is not wonderful that the Lord of 
 heaven said to the sinners on the earth, ye must be born 
 again. 
 
 5. If anything more were wanting to vindicate the declar- 
 ation of the text, it will be found in the culminating fact 
 that not only the honor of God himself as a holy moral 
 being, and the interests of his moral government, but his 
 own personal blessedness and peace, are involved in this 
 issue of the purification of man as the essential condition of 
 his salvation. In every conceivable way God has given ex- 
 pression to his intense abhorrence of all moral evil. Sin is 
 the abominable thing which he hates. Now suppose him to 
 receive into his presence and unalterable favor a creature 
 covered with this unendurable pollution. What would be 
 the judgment formed of a holiness which, after all its mani- 
 festations of invincible aversion to sin, could still receive an 
 uncleansed sinner into abiding favor? What would be 
 thought of his veracity in declaring that aversion? The 
 very integrity of infinite perfection stands as the guarantee 
 and pledge of the necessity of regeneration. One grand aim 
 of the divine administration is, the restraint and punishment 
 of moral evil. Consequently salvation, without regeneration 
 of an unholy nature would overthrow the fundamental prin- 
 
THe NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 151 
 
 ciples and purposes of the government of God. Not only 
 his personal integrity, but the essential principles of his 
 administration, affirm the necessity of regeneration. But 
 further still, if any additional assurance could be given, it 
 ean be found in the fact that the very peace and personal 
 blessedness of the infinite God are dependent on the puri- 
 fication of a sinful soul, on the supposition that it is saved. 
 He is infinitely holy, and his joy is grounded on the free and 
 unembarrassed action of his own personal qualities and affec- 
 tions.” The presence of sin is an offence in his eyes; and the 
 only circumstance which makes sin endurable in his presence 
 is his liberty to deal with it as it deserves. Sin is in his 
 presence here in this world, and in the regions of the lost; 
 but in both places he is dealing with it in consistency with 
 his own character and his own claims. He is not fettered or 
 embarrassed by it; his own nature has free play in his rela- 
 tions to the evil. But for sin to exist and run riot in his 
 presence under a perpetual guarantee of immunity, and God 
 himself be placed under the necessity of eternally curbing 
 the natural and free action of his own character in dealing 
 with it, would ruin his peace forevermore. What more do 
 we need to impress the awful, inexorable necessity of regen- 
 eration, than the conception that without it the serene and 
 unassailable peace of the infinite Lord must give way, and 
 he, the anthor of all good, must become blasted with misery. 
 The alternatives are, the misery of the sin-fettered soul, or the 
 misery of God, or the reconciliation of the contending issues 
 by regeneration. Ye must be born again. 
 
 6. From this view of the absolute necessity of the new 
 birth, how inexpressibly dangerous are any mistaken views 
 of the nature of regeneration! In view of the intrinsic and 
 all-comprehensive necessity of a real and fundamental change 
 in the moral element of human nature, how fearful is the 
 error and the peril of any mistake on a matter so vital! To 
 make regeneration synonymous with baptism, or as depend- 
 
152 GIFTs to UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 ent only on this visible ordinance; to construe it as a mere 
 change of relations, and not of intrinsic moral character; to 
 make it a mere modification of thought and feeling, produced 
 by the words of Scripture, after a manner exactly analogous 
 to the influence of any other written composition, 1s to err 
 in a vital point. To object to the doctrine as visionary, or 
 fanatical, or enthusiastic, or absurd, is to cut the very ground 
 away on which all rational or scriptural hope of eternal life 
 rests. In the progress of this discussion we hope to make 
 satisfactory explanation of every objection to the doctrine of 
 regeneration, and to vindicate the solid ground of hope in 
 the gospel assurances of the possibility and actual reality of 
 a true and effective spiritual regeneration. But inasmuch as 
 the main purpose of this little treatise is not so much the 
 euidance of the opinions as the movement of the heart to 
 practical action, let us, in the meanwhile, search our own 
 hearts, test our Own experiences, sound the depths of our 
 own hopes, affections, and fears. Let us seek by humble and 
 fervent prayer the blessing of God in the gift of his Spirit. 
 It is very certain that if any of us can gain what Paul re- 
 joiced had been given to him, the real illumination of the 
 Holy Ghost, there will be no room to question the reality of 
 his control over the thoughts and feelings of the soul, and 
 his consequent demonstrated power to produce the change, 
 the necessity of which is asserted by our Lord in terms so 
 clear and solemn, and demonstrated by considerations too 
 obvious to be denied, and too powerful to be rationally re- 
 sisted. 
 
(Gis te Wie inion) AY lel 
 THE NATURE OF REGENERATION. 
 
 ‘“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are 
 passed away; behold, all things are become new.”—Paui to the Corinthians. 
 
 HE nature of the change, called the new birth, the new 
 | creation, regeneration, conversion, and the spiritual 
 resurrection from the dead, may be inferred in general terms 
 from the nature of the mischief which makes it a necessity. 
 The necessity of the change is grounded in the depraved 
 condition of the moral nature of a sinning being. Generally 
 defined, the nature of regeneration is a change of this de- 
 praved condition into an opposite or holy condition of this 
 moral nature in sinning man. The specific consideration of 
 the itemized features and distinctions of the change will 
 furnish us with a special definition, or, at least, a more exact 
 and comprehensive knowledge of what is involved in it. 
 The teachings of the word of God are full and clear on the 
 subject; they describe its nature, specify its precedent 
 changes, delineate its effects, explain its evidences, and defi- 
 nitely affirm the agent by whose power it is effected. In 
 the progressive development of these teachings, the various 
 misconceptions which exist touching this vital point of the 
 Christian faith may be corrected. These misconceptions 
 vary in different, and even opposite, directions, from a purely 
 rationalistic to a ritualistic, and to a fanatical construction 
 of the doctrine; all of which will stand exposed by the dis- 
 play of the real doctrine of the Scriptures. The radical 
 nature of the change is logically involved in the radical 
 nature of the evil to be removed; and salvation to a sinner 
 is a contradiction in terms, unless all the effects of his sin 
 
 153 
 
154 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 are remeved. ‘To save him from one, and leave him to the 
 unchanged operation of another, is to still leave him to de- 
 struction. To qualify the legal effects of his violation of 
 law, and rescue him from its penalty, and yet leave him to the 
 unchecked effect of sin on his own soul, is not to save, but to 
 insure his ruin. The redemption work of Christ is designed 
 to control the one; the offices and work of the Holy Spirit to 
 control the other. 
 
 To enable us to form a clear notion of the nature of re- 
 generation, we must first attempt to form a clear notion of 
 the real nature of the mischief it is intended to cure. The 
 general conception of moral depravity, and its effects on the 
 different faculties of the soul, must be reduced to its actual 
 contents before ajust notion of it can be formed. 
 
 There is a distinction in the nature of things, called true 
 and fatse, which is irresistibly recognized by the intuitive 
 energy of the human understanding. When the distinction 
 of true is discerned in a thing, it is accepted as a reality, a 
 something that is. When the distinction of false is dis- 
 cerned, it is accepted as something that is not. There is a 
 distinction in things, which is named right and wrong, which 
 is also intuitively discerned. This distinction is apprehended 
 differently from the distinction between true and false. The 
 distinction between right and wrong, which we call the moral 
 distinction, is felt to be obligatory; it has the force of law. 
 If it is disregarded, the notion of criminality at once springs 
 up. If it is not disregarded, but obeyed, the notion of right- 
 ness in conduct emerges, and a sentiment of approval. The 
 nature of man is adjusted to these distinctions. His nature 
 is threefold: it has a physical, an intellectual, and a moral 
 department. By his physical nature he is adjusted to the ma- 
 terial condition of his existence. By his intellectual nature 
 he is adjusted to the grand distinction of trwe and false ; when 
 he sees a thing to be true he is furnished guod hoc with 
 
THe NATURE OF REGENERATION. 155 
 
 knowledge; when he sees a thing to be false he knows that 
 that thing is no subject or matter of knowledge. The vast 
 powers and attainments of understanding are all adjusted to 
 the distinction between the true and the false. By his moral na- 
 ture he is adjusted to the great fundamental and all-powerful 
 distinction between right and wrong. He is able to see it, 
 to feel its obligatory force, to impress it on his own active 
 energies of every sort, and what is still more startling, on 
 the fixed elements of his own nature. When he impresses 
 the distinction of right, he feels asentiment of complacency and 
 approval. But when he impresses the distinction of wrong, 
 a feeling of disapproval and criminality irresistibly emerges. 
 This judgment of criminality is always the datum of wrong. 
 No matter to what basis it may attach, a wrong word, a wrong 
 act, a wrong desire, or a wrong permanent disposition is al- 
 ways a criminal word, a criminal act, a criminal desire, a 
 criminal disposition. No other judgment of wrong is possi- 
 ble but a judgment of criminality. Sin is moral wrong, and 
 always involves criminality. The ground of regeneration is 
 then disclosed in its true nature. A depraved moral nature 
 is that essential and permanent moral energy in man which 
 adjusts him to the great moral distinction infected with wrong, 
 and therefore essentially criminal, and making the man @ 
 criminal being. Regeneration is the alteration of this wrong- 
 tainted moral nature, making it 7/g/t, changing its essentially 
 criminal quality into a quality commanding approval, inspir- 
 ing holiness into it in the place of san. 
 
 Regeneration takes effect on the very nature of the man, 
 on the permanent moral energy that is in him. The ascrip- 
 tion of sin, or corrupt moral quality, to the nature of man is 
 disputed as an impossible predication by some. ‘These the- 
 orists restrict sin to positive acts, on the zround that the will 
 must be concerned in sin, and that the volitions of the vol- 
 untary faculty can only be implicated in action. This view 
 is repudiated by the intuitions of the understanding, and by 
 
156 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 the universal experience and judgments of mankind. The 
 theory assumes that there is no action of the will except the 
 positive determined purposes which precede action. But 
 the intuitions of the mind discern a scale of actions in the 
 will, rising from mere impulse to desires and to more stable 
 affections, and then to determined volitions, or positive pur- 
 poses to act. ‘To each of these expressions of will responsi- 
 bility attaches on a variable scale of degrees. An unholy 
 desire may never be followed by the positive determination 
 to gratify it, but it involves moral responsibility, because it 
 is an expression of will-desiring wrong. This judgment, 
 ascribing moral quality to acts of will other than positive 
 
 actions, is alike the doctrine of Scripture and the doctrine of 
 
 common sense. 
 The denial of moral quality, carrying the notion of respon- 
 
 sibility to the fixed moral elements in the nature of man, is 
 
 equally repudiated by these two great authorities. The will 
 conditions moral quality in an agent; but all forms of volun- 
 tary energy do it, and the moral element in human nature is 
 the will in its fixed quality and stable disposition. That 
 there are such permanent states or habits of the will is af- 
 firmed by the word of God, and by the experience and the 
 consciousness of mankind; and because they are true ener- 
 gies of the will, the fixed complexion of those energies, even 
 when in repose, the universal judgments of mankind confirm 
 the award of the Scriptures in attaching a true moral responsi- 
 bility to them. Men are pronounced to be “by nature chil- 
 dren of wrath.” “The heart is said to be deceitful above 
 all things, and desperately wicked.” Such is the judgment 
 of God in the case. The testimony of the human intellect 
 on it can be evoked by an inspection of the fact that men 
 do ascribe permanent moral characteristics to each other, and 
 .of the method by which they discover what they call these 
 permanent traits of character in their fellows. 
 
 It is a simple fact of common experience that men do con- 
 
 paddies: ene \ 
 
THe NATURE OF REGENERATION. TT 
 
 strue each other according to the moral distinction of right 
 and wrong—as being good or bad men; not merely as doing 
 good or bad acts, but as being themselves good or bad—as 
 having good or bad characters; by which they mean perma- 
 nent traits of disposition and feeling. The mode of expres- 
 sion shows that they regard the imputed traits as modifica- 
 tions of the will, and therefore they do not hesitate to hold 
 men responsible for their characters—for these permanent 
 traits of their dispositions. Men reach the conception of 
 these fixed and stable traits of the personal nature of their 
 fellows by an inspection of acts or other visible expressions 
 of the spirit within. They go back of the act, or other out- 
 ward expression of thought and feeling, and judge the moral 
 complexion of the energy from which that act or expression 
 flowed. An exhibit of hot or malicious temper is held to 
 reveal a hot or malicious temper in the man, and he is 
 judged to be such a man even in his unexcited moments. 
 The evil energy is known to be in him, even when not in ex- 
 ercise. A dishonest man is so construed even when he is 
 dealing fairly; men know that the disposition to take advan- 
 tage when he can is a permanent quality in him, even though 
 in a given case he may be acting honestly. The confidence 
 in character is always demanded in confiding trusts, because 
 men well know that the permanent traits of the disposition 
 are constant sources of corresponding actions. The judg- 
 ment of mankind is a matter of common experience, that men 
 are good or bad in themselves, as well as that they do good 
 or bad things—good or bad in character—in the fixed quali- 
 ties of their disposition as well as in their acts. This judg- 
 ment of character is in fact the most important thing in 
 forming our moral estimates of men. Acts are of use in one 
 main line of their utility as disclosures and proofs of the 
 permanent traits. The full significance of acts is not always 
 immediate ; they are sometimes studiously disguised to con- 
 ceal the real character. They sometimes depend upon char- 
 
158 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 acter previously disclosed for their full significance. An 
 act regarded as springing from a sudden temptation, or an 
 unusual impulse, is never so seriously condemned, or graded 
 so high in guilt, as an act which is regarded as the product 
 of a fixed quality in the actor. This superior regard to char- 
 acter rather than to acts is rightly felt; for an act done is a 
 thing of the past; it can never be repeated; but a perma- 
 nent disposition to such acts is a perpetual fountain of them. 
 This fixed moral quality in the nature of man, lying back of 
 his acts and determining their complexion, is the object of 
 regeneration. This depraved moral nature in which that evil 
 quality inheres is the substratum on which the regenerating 
 energy of divine grace is exerted. To save a bad man—bad 
 in his nature as well as in his acts, he must be purified in 
 his inward being, in order that all his energies may be rightly 
 ordered. 
 
 This moral element in human nature pervades every part 
 of his spiritual and intellectual being, just as a coloring per- 
 vades the transparency of glass or a pure fluid. Take a 
 simple illustration, which may give some conception of the 
 interaction created, and of the mode in which regeneration 
 will affect all the powers that are implicated. A vase of 
 clear glass filled with pure water may be taken as an ana- 
 logue of the intellectual and moral elements of human nature ~ 
 in their mutual relations to each other. The light passes 
 through the untainted medium unaltered in its native hue; 
 its flavor is pure and sweet; it is at once healthful and plea- 
 sant to drink. The transparency represents the intellectual 
 part of human nature. The bright uncolored sheen of the 
 pure fluid represents the moral element pervading the intel- 
 lectual in all its parts, in a state of sinless purity. But now 
 infuse a coloring matter into the water. The crimson stain 
 pervades the entire mass of the fluid; it has become totally 
 depraved ; not that the color has become as deep in its shade 
 as it can be; but that it pervades every part of the altered 
 
THe NATURE oF REGENERATION. | 159 
 
 element, and changes all its qualities. The nature of the 
 water as a fluid is still the same; it remains a fluid; but its 
 nature as a wholesome and untainted fluid is altered, and its 
 utilities have altered with it. The light still passes through 
 it; its transparency is still in it; objects can still be seen 
 through it; but under different aspects from before. The light 
 as it passes through the transparency has caught the hue of the 
 coloring which pervades the medium, and all the objects 
 seen through it are covered with these altered colors. The 
 value and uses of the fluid have changed; its taste is no 
 longer sweet; it is no longer safe to drink; it has become 
 bitter and poisonous. Now, to restore that water what would 
 be necessary? Simply to withdraw the coloring matter which 
 has depraved it, if that be possible. That being done, the 
 stainless brightness returns to the fluid; its sweetness is re- 
 stored; its healthful qualities are renewed, and recover it to 
 all its uses; the light passes through it in its natural hues; all 
 objects are seen through it in their natural colors; the water 
 is regenerated. 
 
 Now, we may conceive something of the intellectual and 
 moral elements in human nature, in their relation to each 
 other. ‘The moral pervades the whole intellectual structure 
 and modifies it in every faculty and in all its energies, just 
 as the pure colorless sheen or the depraved crimson coloring 
 pervades the transparency of glass or water, and controls 
 all that is seen through it. This pervading moral force not 
 only controls absolutely the powers of conscience and the 
 will, but qualifies strongly memory, judgment, imagination, 
 fancy, the powers of intuition and reasoning, and the sense 
 of wit and humor. It pervades the whole mind, and quali- 
 fies the activity and the uses of every part of it. So long as 
 this moral element remains sinlessly holy, and measurably 
 as it does not descend into the graver degrees of depravity, 
 the light of truth passes clear and straight through-the un- 
 derstanding. The heart is pure; its affections are rightly 
 
160 Girrs TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 ordered; it loves only what it onght to love; it hates only 
 what it ought to hate. All the energies of the will, from 
 simple desire to determined purpose, are rightly ordered and 
 guided. The conscience performs its functions perfectly. The 
 memory is as tenacious of moral and religious notions as of 
 any other notions. The judgment and the powers of reason- 
 ing are not disturbed by any misguided intuitions, nor en- 
 feebled by any depraving habits. The play of the fancy, and 
 the sense of humor are all instinctively pure. The whole ener- 
 gies of the man are regulated into holy action by the influence 
 of this all-pervading moral element in a state of sinless purity. 
 
 But now suppose that pervasive moral element is become 
 depraved. Its relation to the intellectual element remains, 
 and its influence is still controlling over allits energies. The 
 only difference is, that it was once pure in itself, determining 
 purity in its effects; now, it is bad, determining badness in its 
 effects. Just according to its own degree of badness it will 
 determine an answerable degree of badness in its effects on 
 all things subject to its influence. Just as an added strength 
 or degree in the colcring matter which pervaded the water 
 in our illustration will increase its power over the light that 
 passes through it, over the bitterness of its taste, and the 
 virulence of its poison, so will increased degrees of depravity 
 in the moral nature of man control more strongly the whole 
 intellectual and active powers of the soul. The perception 
 of truth, especially of moral and religious truth, will be quali- 
 fied by it. All the functions of conscience will be affected 
 by it. The memory of moral and religious concepts will be 
 enfeebled by it. The sense of wit and humor will be modi- 
 fied by it; a low debased type of man will see wit and humor 
 
 in relations the coarseness of which would nullify all sense — 
 
 of these pleasing suggestions in a higher type of moral char- 
 acter. ‘Che affections of the heart, in a word, all the degrees 
 
 and manifestations of the will, are more directly qualified by | 
 
 moral evil, and all the positive external actions of the con- 
 
 ns eee a | 
 
 — =. 
 
 a ee Ee ee 
 
Tue NATURE OF REGENERATION. 161 
 
 duct are determined in sin by the depraved quality of this 
 regulating moral element of human nature. That element 
 must be purified, or all hope of purifying the man himself or 
 the course of his career must be abandoned. Upon this de- 
 praved condition of the moral nature the energies of divine 
 grace, as revealed in the offices of the Holy Ghost, are 
 exerted. Regeneration is simply the change of quality in 
 this ruling moral nature of the soul; it is the renewal of the 
 will; it is the change of the heart; it is the new creation of 
 the nature of a sinning creature. If there is no such thing 
 as a regeneration of just this sort, man is hopelessly lost. 
 One of the grandest and most disastrous effects of his sin 1s, 
 on this theory, irredeemable. The light thrown by this stern 
 fact in the very nature of man, upon all other theories of 
 regeneration than that of a new creation by the power of 
 God, is overwhelming. Any scheme of religion, looking to 
 the salvation of the soul, which does not provide for the real 
 purification of the depraved moral nature is worse than 
 worthless; it is destructive. 
 
 It will be seen at once from this view of the evil to be re- 
 moved, that some change as radical as that which the Bible 
 declares to be necessary must be accomplished. How shall 
 it be done? But that same word of God which declares the 
 necessity of the change provides for it. It points out the 
 change as it is actually wrought, and the great agent by 
 which it is accomplished. It tells us there is such a thing 
 as being “born of the Spirit,” as being “created anew in 
 Christ Jesus,” as being “made alive from the dead.” It de- 
 lineates the wonderful transformation, lays down its condi- 
 tions, describes its effects on the consciousness and on the 
 character, marks out its evidences, and portrays its influence 
 on the peace and comfort of its subject. We propose to fol- 
 low up the teachings of the Scriptures, and the correspond- 
 ing testimonies of Christian experience, on some of the lead- 
 ing features of this great gospel doctrine of regeneration. 
 
 11 
 
162 Girrs TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 We shall endeavor to illustrate it, first, as a moral, not a 
 physical change; second, as a real, and not a supposititious 
 or imaginary change; third, as a supernatural effect by the 
 power of the Holy Ghost, and not a natural change by the 
 mere force of ideas, or a mere ritual change by the force of 
 observed rights, administered by official men ; fourth, not a 
 change of faculties themselves, but a change of capabilities 
 in faculties already existing; and ji/th, as an unwersal change, 
 affecting the views of the understanding, the affections of the 
 heart, the energies of the conscience, the activities of the 
 will, the imagination, judgment, the sense of humor, memory, 
 and the powers of reasoning; in a word, affecting the whole 
 man, and every expression of the energies in him, in accord- 
 ance with the declarations in the sacred record, “old things 
 are passed away; behold, all things have become new. This 
 wide result is produced by affecting the quality of that radi- 
 cal moral force which pervades the whole mental structure, 
 
 and determines its energies for good or evil, just as it is 
 
 itself holy or depraved. This moral force, seated as at 2s in 
 the will, in the permanent, yet responsible, states of tts affec- 
 tions, shows how thoroughly responsibility for this status of 
 the heart is grounded in the very nature of the case. When 
 this moral element is depraved, this universality of its supre- 
 macy disclosed the range, and explains the meaning of the 
 
 terms total depravity, which are used to describe it. They do 
 
 not mean that man is as bad as he can be, for no limit to the 
 possible degree of moral corruption has or can ever be de- 
 fined in words, or reached in fact; they mean that, under in- 
 finite varieties of degree in the coloring, the whole moral 
 element in human nature is depraved, producing an answer- 
 able influence on every faculty and energy of the soul in 
 variant measures. 
 
 First, in illustration of the nature of regeneration asa moral, 
 not a physical change, we need not spend time after what has 
 
 been said in explanation already. The evil to be removed is. 
 
Tar NATURE oF REGENERATION. 163 
 
 moral; the change effecting that removal must be necessarily 
 also moral. The coloring in the transparency is to be altered, 
 not the transparency itself. The understanding remains the 
 same, only the disturbing elements in it are removed. The 
 capacity of affection remains in the heart, only the nature of 
 its capacity is altered, so that it now loves what once it hated, 
 and hates what it once loved. The testimony of the Scrip- 
 tures is uniform, that the purpose. of the inward applica- 
 tion of grace to the human soul is to purify the evils found 
 in it. It is the washing of regeneration; it is the renewal of 
 the Holy Ghost; it is the creation of a new heart; it is the 
 destroying of the dominion of sin. If reference is had in 
 the reproach of regeneration as a change wrought by phys?- 
 cal power on the part of God, it is only necessary to say, we 
 cannot comprehend the methods of God’s power in any of its 
 exercises; but we do know that he did originally create man 
 upright and pure, and there does not appear any reason to 
 impeach the exercise of the same power to create man anew 
 unto holiness. The same power may be exerted again, no 
 matter what name you may give it, for the same purpose. 
 The one case is as conceivable as the other, and if there 
 was no impossibility in the one, there can be none in the 
 other. The notion that it is impossible to create holiness is 
 a foolish confusion of the exercises of a holy nature with 
 that nature itself. God does not directly produce the intel- 
 lectual exercises of an intellect created by him; but that does 
 not impeach his ability to create the intellect itself. In the 
 same manner he can create a soul with a holy nature, 
 with a capacity of holy exercises, with a holy principle in it, 
 capable of energizing in holiness; and this is all that is neces- 
 sary in the regeneration of the soul. In the regeneration, or 
 new creation, he uses a secondary instrument—the truth— 
 the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Deal- 
 ing with a nature already existent, he respects its fundamen- 
 tal constitution; but while using the truth, he exerts a power 
 
164 GiFrts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 which is described in the strongest terms as the exceeding 
 ereatness of his power towards those who believe. Perhaps 
 to create anew, without jar or trespass on the existing powers 
 of the creature, may be even a higher energy of power than 
 an original creation conferring powers. At all events they 
 are equal; the power employed is creative power; and that 
 is fully competent to God, call it physical power or what not, 
 and may be equally employed in an old or new creation. In 
 what manner he puts the new spiritual life into the soul 
 dead in trespasses and sins, none can possibly tell. The 
 manner in which he creates a holy nature is as mysterious as 
 the manner in which he creates any kind of nature, whether 
 animal or vegetable, but not one whit more so. It is enough 
 for the human soul, anxious to know how to get rid of the 
 deadly stain upon the moral nature, to know that God can 
 create him anew in Christ Jesus, and restore the lost image of 
 his own glory. As to the manner in which the grace of God 
 will do this, the receiver of its wonderful deliverance 1s con- 
 tent to be ignorant; he is content with the fact; and he is 
 fully satisfied to leave the mode of the fact to him who pro- 
 bably alone can comprehend it. It is the grandest and most 
 joyous of all thoughts, to a mind conscious of the nature and 
 the awful energy of its own inward sinfulness, to know that 
 in Christ, the Saviour of sinners, the almighty power of God 
 is actually available as an agency of human purification and 
 as the guarantee of human integrity. 
 
 The second point which we wish to illustrate is, that regen- 
 eration is a real, and not a supposititious or imaginary change. 
 The value of this wonderful work of divine grace is condi- 
 tioned absolutely on its reality; and that reality, if demon- 
 strable, possesses another value additional to its value as a 
 ground of hope to the individual soul sighing under its con- 
 scious defects—in its force as a perpetual demonstration of 
 the truth of the whole system of Christianity. This is a 
 species of evidence, distinct from prophecy and visible miracle, 
 
THe NATURE OF REGENERATION. 165 
 
 reproduced in innumerable instances in every successive 
 generation of men. The gospel claims to be not only a 
 system to be believed, but a power to be felt, and as such it 
 is a power to be manifested. It claims to produce certain 
 effects. These effects are described; the conditions on which 
 they occur are stated ; and the effects, their antecedent con- 
 ditions, and their subsequent manifestations, constitute a 
 strong test of the claim which is asserted. Suppose it had 
 asserted that a certain physical effect, visible to the eye, 
 should be exerted on the body of every one who accepted 
 its terms—say that a golden glory should illuminate the face, 
 or play as an aureole of lambent fire around the head of 
 every one who experienced its power. Such a claim would 
 be an irresistible test of its truth. If it were true, we should 
 see the golden glory in the face, or the pale splendor of the 
 aureole encircling the head. Ifa single instance were seen, 
 it would not only prove the individual to be a Christian, but 
 it would demonstrate the whole claim of the gospel. If 
 those instances were multiplied into thousands and millions, 
 they would only intensify the demonstration. Now it is un- 
 questionable that mental phenomena are as real and as 
 capable of proof on their own peculiar evidence as any 
 material phenomena whatever ; the facts of consciousness are 
 as true and as demonstrable as any other facts. The fact 
 that man has a memory is as true and as capable of proof as 
 the fact that he has a nose or a mouth. The fact that man 
 suffers or enjoys, that he likes and dislikes, is as true and 
 provable as that he has hands and feet, and is capable of 
 using them. The existence and the connections of mental 
 facts, their conditions and laws of existence and succession, 
 are as capable of observation and description as the condi- 
 tions and regulating laws of any other facts. 
 
 Bearing this in mind, let us remember that the gospel does 
 distinctly claim to exert a profound influence on the human 
 spirit—to produce a radical and permanent change on its 
 
166 Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 controlling forces. It not only describes the nature of this 
 change, but the conditions under which it will arise, and 
 under which alone it will arise. It describes its antecedent 
 and consequent peculiarities. It discriminates its character- 
 istic features, points out its effects in a variety of ways, and 
 details its evidences. Now, if there is any truth in this claim 
 of power to produce these results in this order and connec- 
 tion, under these terms and conditions, it is certainly 
 capable of demonstration. If there is no truth in the claim, 
 that, too, can be demonstrated. Here is a bold and auda- 
 cious claim of power, of living and practical power, on the 
 minds and radical energies of living men, which challenges 
 investigation and proof. The case affords the fairest of 
 opportunities to test its reality that any reasonable inquirer 
 can desire. There is the record of Scripture, specifying its 
 claim, with all its connected terms and the characteristic 
 marks of its asserted work. The Christian claimants to an 
 experience of this power are to be found by thousands every- 
 where the gospel has been preached. The seal and its im- 
 pressions can be coérdinated and compared without difficulty. 
 Let the inquirer take up the investigation and search for the 
 verification or non-verification of the claim in the facts of 
 human experience. It has been justly considered a triumph 
 of skilled scientific knowledge, when an astronomer affirmed 
 that a planet, hitherto unseen and unsuspected, must be 
 found in a certain quarter of the heavens, and when search 
 was made it was found. In this case the fact verified the 
 record. A like challenge is made in regard to this claim of 
 the great Christian faith. The witnesses can be found of 
 every character, in every Christian nation, in every gen- 
 eration, of every rank, age, and sex, of every degree of intel- 
 lect, from the humblest to the highest grade of talent—from 
 the plainest observers of facts in their own minds to the 
 highest and most profoundly disciplined metaphysical intel- 
 lects which ever scrutinized the phenomena of the mind. 
 
THe NATURE OF REGENERATION. 167 
 
 Many skeptical minds deride this grand doctrine of spiritual 
 regeneration as a mere delusion. But surely they must 
 admit that a Christian is just as competent as any one else 
 to notice the changes in his own consciousness, to observe 
 the movements of his own thoughts and feelings, and to 
 report his observations. It is certainly difficult to imagine 
 why observations cannot be as accurately made, and as truly 
 reported, upon religious feelings as on any other feelings. If 
 one of these objectors should candidly confess that his feel- 
 ings were opposed to these peculiarities of the gospel, he 
 would take it hard if any one should refuse to believe his 
 report upon the states of his own mind. Now, supposing 
 that an entire change should take place in his feelings, 
 and instead of disliking he should learn to love and ad- 
 mire these peculiarities, why should not his report of 
 his feelings in this case be as reliable as his report in the 
 other? If this be so, why may he not take the reports of 
 others to be as reliable as his own? The change is registered 
 more or less clearly and distinctly in the consciousness; why 
 cannot a Christian reliably report it? If he can accept as true 
 the statement of the facts, and the formulation of the laws of 
 the association of ideas, or of the more recondite phenomena of 
 mental action from a metaphysical philosopher, why not the 
 observation and statement of the facts and laws of religious 
 feeling by such Christian philosophers as Baxter, and John 
 Howe, Archbishop Leighton, and Charles Simeon, Jonathan 
 Edwards, Luther, and Archibald Alexander? If he would 
 accept the facts, not an explanation of the facts, of their 
 parental affections from plain men and women, why not take 
 the facts of their religious affections with equal credit as 
 true to their felt consciousness and experience? The fact 
 of a thorough change of thought, feeling, desire, and affec- 
 tion, hope and fear, motive and rule of action, can be relia- 
 bly attested by any plain mind, as well as by minds of a higher 
 grade, and there are millions of all grades to attest the reality 
 
168 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 of regeneration on the terms specified to condition it. The 
 formulation of the phenomena, the coérdination of the facts, 
 the evolution of the order, connections, and conditions of the 
 facts, have been made over and over again by many of the 
 highest minds of the human species. The demonstration of 
 the reality of a true regeneration of the human heart on the 
 terms and conditions of the gospel cannot admit of a ques- 
 tion in the face of the experience of the church of God, 
 multiplied to the contentment of any possible conditions 
 of human inquiry. The claim of power in the gospel is de- 
 monstrated to the highest degree by the proof of cts exercise, 
 according to its own specified conditions. Regeneration, ac- 
 cording to those conditions, is a real, and not an imaginary, 
 change. 
 
 The third point to be illustrated is, that it is a supernatural 
 change effected by the power of the Holy Ghost. The method 
 of proof will be the combination of the evidence as given in 
 the Christian experience with that given in the Scriptures. 
 The experience of Christians shows that the change is effected 
 by a power from without, and the Scriptures inform us what 
 agent exerts it. We think it can undoubtedly be shown that 
 the results reported in consciousness, and certified by the 
 appointed tests, are wrought by some agency independent of 
 the mind itself; and if this independent agency can be shown 
 to act, it will be easy to accept the testimony of the sacred 
 record that this agency is the Spirit of God. The phenom- 
 ena occurring according to the recorded account of the Spirit’s 
 procedure will definitely prove, not only the externality of 
 the agent, but who he is. We affirm this supernatural ori- 
 gin of regeneration, jirst, as against the theory of it as a 
 mere natural change wrought by the force of mere religious 
 ideas, just as other written or spoken thoughts modify char- 
 acter, on the one side, and on the other, as against the theory 
 of it as a mere ritual change wrought by the sacraments ad- 
 ministered by human agents 1n an official character. 
 
Tart NaTuRE oF REGENERATION. 169: 
 
 The testimony of the Scriptures is clear and positive that 
 it is not wrought by the will of the flesh, or the will of man, 
 but of God. As against the theory of a mere natural change 
 produced by the modifying power of the mere truth revealed 
 in the word of God, the testimony is clear and positive that 
 the gospel must come, not in word only, but in demonstra- 
 tion of the Spirit and of power. As against the theory of 
 this grace as given by the sacraments, it is clear that, so far 
 as adults are concerned, neither of the two sacraments can 
 be lawfully administered until this change has already taken 
 place—until repentance and faith, the fruit and proof of 
 regenerating grace, have been credibly evinced. The sacra- 
 ments, then, cannot be credited with producing the change. 
 The declaration that our Lord made to Nicodemus, that we 
 must be born of water and of the Spirit, clearly settles a dis- 
 tinction between what is effected by the water and what is 
 effected by the Spirit; in the birth as determined by the 
 one, and the birth as determined by the other. There are 
 various constructions put upon the word water as used in 
 this remarkable passage. Some construe it as referring to 
 the sacrament of baptism; others, as referring to the word or 
 truth which is the instrument employed by the Holy Ghost 
 in sanctification of the soul. This last is borne out to a 
 certain reliable degree by the phrase “washing with water 
 by the word,” and by Jewish usage. That baptism is re- 
 ferred to is also sustained to a certain probable degree by its 
 recognized relation to the visible. church as the ordinance of 
 admission to its privileges. But neither of these construc- 
 tions give any support to the theory of regeneration by the 
 sacraments carrying grace as fire carries heat or ice carries 
 cold. ‘That the truth in itself, and by itself, carries no effec- 
 tual saving influence is definitely settled by the decisive 
 statement, “the gospel must come, not in word only.” The 
 truth is the instrument in the hand of the Spirit, who ordi- 
 narily never acts without the word; and hence we are said to 
 
170 Girts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 be born of the word of God which liveth and abideth for- 
 ever. Hence the word is all-important to the regeneration 
 of the soul, not because the word carries the power, but because 
 the power never acts without the word. Hence it is very 
 probable that the word was alluded to under the metaphor of 
 water in the words of Messiah to the Jewish ruler. There is, 
 however, no insuperable difficulty in supposing an allusion 
 in the phrase to both the truth of the word and the sacra- 
 ment of baptism. But if so, this does not by any means 
 link the effective power of saving grace to the sacrament, for 
 the decisive reason already given, that the lawful adminis- 
 tration of the sacrament to any one capable of faith pre- 
 supposes the grace of regeneration already bestowed. Faith 
 precedes baptism according to the well-recognized law of the 
 gospel in relation to all capable of faith; and regeneration 
 precedes faith by the necessity of the existence of any kind 
 of life to precede the acts of such life. Baptism is, then, 
 certainly not designed to carry the grace of regeneration. 
 But its relation to the visible church is imperative; and no 
 one can see the inside of that visible kingdom, or share its 
 privileges, until admitted by the rite of baptism. This appli- 
 cation of water is necessary to the grand change of visible 
 relations between the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of 
 Messiah. This change, according to the old Jewish modes 
 of thought, may be called a new birth; but to confound thi, 
 with the new birth by the power of the Holy Ghost is 
 absurd. The difference is clearly discriminated by the two, 
 or rather several, fold nature of Messiah’s kingdom. Asa 
 visible organization it can only be entered by baptism, a met- 
 aphorical birth by water. Asa kingdom within you, it can 
 only be entered by a conversion of a rebellious will into true 
 obedience to the King; this kingdom can only be seen, 
 known, or entered by an effectual new birth of the Holy 
 Spirit. It is thus literally true, “except a man be born 
 of water and of the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of 
 
Tort NATURE OF REGENERATION. LE 
 
 heaven.” This is also true of that form of the glorious 
 kingdom called heaven. 
 
 This setting aside of the dangerous and fascinating theory 
 of regeneration by the sacraments will be “more effectively 
 demolished by the presentation of the positive proof from 
 Christian experience of the independent, external, or super- 
 natural origin of the manifested phases of regeneration. The 
 digression on sacramental grace was too important to be 
 omitted, and the facts and phenomena of Christian experi- 
 ence demonstrate the falsity of the perilous theory. Let 
 us see. 
 
 Religious experience is nothing more nor less than the 
 answer and accord of our consciousness to the teachings of 
 the word of God. The relation between them is the relation 
 between a seal and its impression. One of the most striking 
 parts of the diagnosis of human nature in the Scriptures is, 
 that it is spiritually blind. This is a conception hard for the 
 natural mind to form with any precision or distinctness. 
 Conscious of mental vigor, the power of perception, and the 
 functions of understanding generally, it cannot take in the 
 charge of a spiritual blindness, an incompetence of spiritual 
 intuition. But as soon as it begins to deal practically with 
 the terms of the gospel, and seeks to comply with them, it 
 soon becomes aware that these terms as rules of action, 
 spiritual action, are of all things the most mysterious. Faith 
 is simple enough; it is simplicity itself, as a mere idea or 
 speculative thought; but when the man ¢ries to do it—to em- 
 body it in an energy of the heart, it becomes incomprehensible; 
 and the mind may struggle for days and months together in 
 the vain attempt to comprehend faith as an actual movement 
 of the soul. He learns at length that he is blind, and that 
 the Bible told him the truth about himself when it told him 
 he was blind. Another statement the Bible makes in its 
 itemized description of the spiritual condition of the soul is, 
 that the heart is hard, harder than the nether mill-stone— 
 
V2 GiFts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 hardened by sin. This, too, is mysterious, especially incom- 
 prehensible by persons of a gentle and compassionate nature. 
 But the charge is on all men, on the sympathetic as well as 
 on the visibly hard and unfeeling. One of these gentler 
 spirits is particularly puzzled to comprehend the imputation ; 
 but when he begins to try and repent, he soon finds he can- 
 not feel as he knows he ought to feel, as he wishes to feel, and 
 as he tries to feel. The most advanced Christian never 
 outgrows all of this conscious hardness of heart; the more 
 his views of the evil of sin expand, the more incompetent 
 his feelings towards it appear to himself. The seeker for 
 grace suddenly awakes to the consciousness that the Bible 
 told him the truth about himself when it told him his heart 
 was hard. 
 
 Another statement the Scriptures make about the spiritual 
 condition of a sinner is that he is altogether helpless, un- 
 able to do anything effectual to extricate himself, and that 
 relief will only come when he ceases the impossible effort at 
 self-deliverance, and relies on another, trusts in Christ to 
 save him. The awakened sinner always, at first, struggles 
 resolutely to comply with the terms of the gospel, repentance: 
 and faith; but as he proceeds with the effort to save himself, 
 the blindness and hardness prove too much for him, and at. 
 last he realizes it is true as the Bible said, he is a helpless 
 sinner. He now realizes, what the same deep-searching 
 witness declared, that he is a lost sinner. All his efforts at. 
 self-help have failed; the terrible peril of his state presses 
 keenly ; and he feeds that he is really a lost sinner. He has. 
 been now brought to the point where he can appreciate the - 
 need of a Saviour; and now, as by the further proceeding of 
 sovereign grace, his mind opens to the conception of Christ 
 as a sinner’s Saviour, his present helper in his time of need, 
 the old familiar notion opens with the force of a new revela- 
 tion.. He at once ceases the effort to serve himself; he 
 accepts the offer of Christ to save him; he trusts in him to 
 
Tort NATURE OF REGENERATION. Vis 
 
 do it; his only appeal is to this outside resource; and at 
 once he is at peace. Relief has come to'him. Now note the 
 bearing of all this on the supernatural origin of regeneration. 
 Put the facts together: the experimental and well-tried con- 
 viction of his blindness, hardness, and helplessness, which 
 has come to him in his struggle to save himself; his con- 
 scious inability to break his bonds; his distinct cessation of 
 the effort to do it; his appeal to the power of another; and 
 then the fact that relief comes. The inference is irresistible, 
 that he has been helped to this relief by some external and 
 independent agency. Where did it come from except from 
 without? He is fully conscious of his helplessness; he ceases 
 his exertions, not in the use of means, but as endeavoring to 
 save himself; he trusts in another to do it for him, and he 
 gets what he wanted. The conclusion is irresistible, that he 
 has been helped to it, and is in full accord with the great 
 gospel doctrine that we are saved by a “faith in Christ,” 
 which is “the fruit of the Spirit.” The facts disclose a 
 power external to the soul as the origin of its spiritual life in 
 regeneration; the Bible tells who the agent putting forth 
 this power really is; and the two lines of testimony converge 
 on the same conclusion. Christ saves through the agency 
 of the Holy Spirit quickening the spiritually dead into spirit- 
 ual life, regenerating the unholy and rebellious heart, and 
 through this marvelous achievement implanting the germ of 
 all the fruits of the Spirit. We must be born again by the 
 awful energy of the Holy Ghost, or perish / 
 
ChebeWig dbo pes MERE 
 THE NATURE OF REGENERATION. 
 
 ‘‘Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things 
 are passed away; behold, -all things are become new.”—Pawi to the Cor. 
 inthians. 
 
 T is probably expedient to throw the discussion of the 
 | nature of regeneration into two sections, not to weary by 
 too great a protraction of a single exposition. We resume at 
 the point under treatment at the close of the last chapter, 
 and proceed to vindicate the position taken from some possi- 
 ble exceptions toit. That position was, that the facts of con- 
 sciousness in Christian experience plainly disclosed the re- 
 lief of the struggling soul in some external agency. It may 
 be excepted to this testimony of the facts of the Christian 
 consciousness, that perhaps this realization of helplessness 
 was a mistake, that the man possessed more power than he 
 supposed, that he failed at first to relieve himself because 
 his powers were not in a propitious condition for exertion, 
 and that, as In many other cases, a renewed effort, under 
 more favorable conditions, secured success, and consequently 
 that a new exertion of his own abilities, at a happier moment, 
 was the real cause of the change in his consciousness. It is 
 obvious that this exception proceeds on the supposition that 
 the consciousness of helplessness was a mistake. But if it 
 is true in point of fact, the relief finally experienced points 
 directly to some independent agency. Proof of the reality 
 of this spiritual disability, then, will establish the argument 
 and the conclusion. Now, there are two lines of evidence 
 which prove the reality of this disablement. The Scriptures 
 are plain and positive in the assertion of it as one of the in- 
 
 variable effects of transgression. “Dead in sin” is one mode 
 174 
 
Tue NATURE oF REGENERATION. Hey 
 
 of assertion in reference to it, and death excludes the notion 
 of life and energy. ‘“ Without me, ye can do nothing” Says 
 Christ in another mode of assertion, conclusive on the sub- 
 ject. No stream can of itself ascend higher than its source; 
 no nature can transcend itself in the manifestation of its 
 energies, and if man is really dead in trespasses and sins, he 
 can put forth no energy containing in it the element of real 
 holiness, or true spiritual life. But the testimony of con- 
 sciousness is also resistless on the point, and cannot be over- 
 borne by any imputation of delusion. Since Christian ex- 
 perience is nothing but the answer of our consciousness to 
 the teaching of the Scriptures, any true discovery of his own 
 spiritual state will lead to the discovery and distinct con- 
 sciousness of this helplessness in the soul. In every truly 
 awakened sinner this consciousness does become clear; he 
 feels, as the result of many an abortive effort, that he is un- 
 able to extricate himself from the difficulties which surround 
 him, and is really lost if help cannot be gained. The inabil- 
 ity is true in itself; it is asserted in the sacred record; it is 
 distinctly recognized in the consciousness. Its reality cannot 
 be denied. When, therefore, the relief comes, this inability 
 to achieve it points NT to some independent agency for 
 its origin. 
 
 But even if it should be admitted that this conscious sense 
 of spiritual weakness was a delusion or a mistake, this will 
 not bar the inference of the independent origin of the expe- 
 rienced relief. It is certain that the sinner never experiences 
 this relief until he ceases to exert himself, and relies upon 
 the assistance of another; and it comes to the same thing to 
 have no power, or not to exert it. This is the invariable 
 law of those peculiar operations of the mind which we call 
 religious experience ; they only manifest themselves through 
 a trust in Christ. Now, if we admit that this consciousness 
 of utter helplessness is a delusion, if yet the relief never 
 comes until the person ceases to exert himself and trusts in 
 
176 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 another power altogether, the conclusion will still be irresis- 
 tible, that this relief comes from some independent agency ; 
 because it amounts to the same thing in the production of an 
 effect, to say that the alleged cause had no power to produce 
 it, or that it did not exert what power it had. In this case 
 both warranties of the inference are true; the sinner is both 
 unable to effect the result, and ceases to attempt it. He 
 relies upon another to do it; and the actual gain of the relief 
 points to an independent origin of it, under a warrant under 
 either of these compulsions to the inference, sufficient under 
 one and resistless under both. 
 
 It may also be objected, that this asserted relief may be 
 only the quiet and repose of the soul following a period of 
 exertion, aS a necessary consequence of the cessation of its 
 efforts. This, however, is fully refuted by the fact demon- 
 strated by too many instances to admit of any question, that 
 the consequences flowing from that conscious relief of felt 
 difficulties in the soul are not merely negative, but positive ; 
 they are something more than a mere change from agitation 
 to repose. They affect character; they take bold on the 
 deepest and most effective impelling forces in the inner man. 
 The immediate effects on the consciousness are often very 
 striking ; they are sometimes gradual, almost imperceptible 
 in their growth. The immediate emotions excited are very 
 animated in some cases; they are very quiet in others. In 
 some instances the notion of faith, which was wrapped in 
 impenetrable mystery, becomes so clear in its utter sim- 
 plicity that the mind is amazed that it was unable to catch a 
 conception so plain and easy. In other instances the growth — 
 of this intuition of faith is slow and progressive, just as the 
 Scriptures describe it in the figure of the early dawn with its 
 indefinite shades, growing more and more unto the perfect 
 day. But independent of these immediate effects on the 
 consciousness, varying in degree and proportion in every 
 case, the relief that 1s experienced is not merely a change in 
 
THe NATURE oF REGENERATION. LG 
 
 the immediate consciousness, but develops profound and 
 permanent modifications of character, disposition, feeling, 
 affections, views, principles, and outward conduct. It pro- 
 duces effects at once too broad, too powerful, and too per- 
 manent to result from a mere cessation of mental struggle. 
 The result is not merely repose of mind, but profound and 
 far-reaching modifications of character. The inference is 
 irresistible from the facts, not only that the change is real 
 and very profound in its force, but also that it originates in 
 an independent agency. That agency is defined for us in 
 the Bible as the Spirit of God. The effect is ascribed to an 
 origin not only supernatural, but divine. The facts of con- 
 sciousness clearly reveal an independent origin without the 
 soul, and distinct from its own energies, but can give no 
 account of the nature of the power whose benefits it experi- 
 ences as divine, or distinguished from divine. The Scrip- 
 tures alone settle that; but the facts of consciousness warrant 
 the acceptance of its testimony; perhaps, more deeply inves- 
 tigated, may confirm the description of the power as divine. 
 Not only does the word of God assert this power to be 
 _ divine, but it is singularly emphatic in the assertion that 
 the regeneration of the human heart is the result of a very 
 peculiar manifestation of divine power. It strains the 
 energies of one of the richest and most powerful of human 
 languages to carry the assertion that it is by the exceeding 
 greatness of his power that men believe. It is reckoned to be 
 an exercise of divine power fully equal to that by which he 
 raised Christ from the dead.* No outward sign of it is 
 given; all proceeds in the silence of the soul. All its laws 
 are respected; none of its faculties are jostled out of place. 
 The power exerted is supreme omnipotence. All exercises 
 of infinite power are, by the very perfection of the energy 
 employed, free from the signs and throes of exertion. The 
 movement is noiseless; there is no convulsion or open dis- 
 12 
 
178 GIFTS To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 turbance; the effect is displayed without any other sign of 
 the energy employed than the effect itself. The regenera- 
 tion of a human soul, though it involves possibly one of the 
 highest exertions of infinite power, occurs without any violent 
 shock or disturbance of human consciousness. The effect is 
 plainly registered in the consciousness, and developed in its 
 profound influences on the character and life, on the thoughts 
 and feelings; but no sign of the energy employed, different 
 either from the ordinary workings of human thought and 
 feeling, or the regular. characteristics of the working of in- 
 finite power, is displayed. It is only inferior power, strug- 
 ling with difficulties which tax its energies to the uttermost, 
 which yields the signs of its exertion in violent throes and — 
 convulsions of effort. Occasionally reports are made of ex- 
 traordinary convulsive movements on the consciousness, 
 producing similar disturbances in the body, in connection 
 with the work of grace. But wherever this occurs it 1s not 
 due to the power of the Holy Ghost, which works with swift 
 and silent energy, and always in accord with the written law, 
 let all things be done decently and in order. These strong 
 displays of mental disturbance are due to the infirmities of 
 human nature itself; they may exist in connection with the 
 smooth, swift energy with which the competent power of the 
 Holy Ghost does its regenerating work; but they are not 
 due to it. 
 
 The fourth point which we made in the enumerated list of 
 the peculiar characteristics of regeneration was, that 1t was | 
 not a fundamental change in the faculties of the soul them- 
 selves, but in some of the capabilities of those faculties, such 
 capabilities as are effected by the pervading moral element of 
 human nature. This discrimination is made in order to meet 
 an objection to the Scripture doctrine, as involving a positive 
 alteration of the physical constitution of the soul itself. We 
 have already met one part of this objection in attributing the 
 change to the physical power of God, by showing that we 
 
THE NATURE oF REGENERATION. 179 
 
 cannot discern the nature of the divine power in any of 
 its workings, and that whether the power employed in origi- 
 nally creating man holy was designated physical power or 
 not, the same power might be employed in a new creation of 
 a depraved nature unto holiness, without giving any leciti- 
 mate ground for complaint. We shall now attempt to show 
 that the change itself as wrought by this power is nota change 
 in the natural constitution of any human faculty, but only in 
 the moral complexion of that constitution, superinduced by 
 sin, and ingrained into tho moral energies of the soul. As 
 we have repeatedly stated, the moral element of the soul, 
 
 _ seated in the will or heart, which is the subject of regenerat- 
 
 ing grace, pervades the whole mental structure in a manner 
 analogous to that in which a color pervades the transpar- 
 ency of glass or a fluid. It consequently modifies everything 
 seen through it. A man looking at a landscape through a 
 crimson glass will see every object in it, every house, tree, 
 hill, and meadow, just as if they were seen through a clear, 
 uncolored glass, only with this plain difference: in one case, 
 the objects will be seen in their own natural colors; in the 
 
 a other, they will be seen covered with crimson hues, yielded. 
 
 by the medium through which they are observed. In a sim- 
 ilar way the moral elements in the soul, considered as pure 
 or depraved, will control the view of the very same truths 
 when brought under inspection. It is too well known to be 
 disputed, that the affections of the will, the passions, atfec- 
 tions, and prejudices, which are all the direct expressions of 
 the will or heart in man, do control the views of the under- 
 
 _ standing, and create the responsibility which is universally 
 
 attached to all the effects of prejudice and passion. To ex- 
 tract and remove the influence of such feelings will inevit- 
 ably modify the judgments of the understanding and the feel- 
 Ings growing out of them. 
 
 We may now understand what was meant by the expres- 
 sion, that regeneration effected a change, not in faculties, but 
 
180 Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 in certain capabilities of faculty. The removal of a preju- 
 dice disabling correct views in the understanding is not the 
 creation of that understanding, but the mere restoration of a 
 capability of a correct view which had been destroyed by 
 the modifying prejudice. We are also enabled to conceive 
 a little more clearly what is meant by spiritual blindness. It 
 is not a destruction of the intellect, but the destruction of a 
 certain capability in the intellect produced by sin, by the 
 coloring influence of moral depravity. Just as we see the 
 objects in a landscape. under the colors yielded by the col- 
 ored medium through which we look, and do not see the 
 natural and real colors of those objects, we are as truly band 
 to those colors as if we did not see them at all. The leaves 
 on a tree in summer are green, but seen through a crimson 
 glass they appear red, and we are as incapable of seeing the 
 real colors, we are as truly blind to them, as if we did not see 
 them at all. We see, but do not perceive. Just so the mind, 
 blinded by sin, can in one sense see the truths of the gospel, 
 and yet, in another, be utterly ddind to their true significance. 
 This is the explanation of the gospel paradox, “seeing they 
 shall see and not perceive.” The illustration and the fact 
 illustrated show the worthlessness of the cavil, that there is 
 a hopeless paradox, if not a positive contradiction, in the gos- 
 pel, when it speaks of an understanding perceptive and yet 
 insensible. There are other facts which show the same thing. 
 It is proved under the analogous case of color blindness, or 
 the want of musical perception, or the want of the artistic 
 sense of the beautiful in art or nature, that there is such a 
 thing as a mind perceptive and yet blind. Color blindness is 
 a singular incompetence to discern colors, which is sometimes 
 found in particular individuals. It is not want of eyesight; 
 these persons can see, but they are not able to see colors, or 
 to distinguish one from another. Some individuals of the 
 class can see some difference between a thing colored and a 
 thing uncolored, but they are utterly blind to the actual hues 
 
THe NATURE OF REGENERATION. 181 
 
 and to the distinctions between them. Here is an instance 
 of a mind perceptive and yet blind. We frequently hear 
 that one has no ear for music. There are two senses in 
 which this is true, but in neither does it mean that the per- 
 son is deaf. But in one of the senses it means that the per- 
 son has no capacity to make music himself, although he may 
 hear and enjoy it. In the other of the two senses it means 
 that the person has no capacity to perceive the melody and 
 charm of music; music is often positively disagreeable to 
 him. In this case we have a striking instance of a mind see- 
 ing and yet blind, perceptive yet insensible. Such a person 
 is not deaf; every note in a strain of music comes clearly to 
 the ear; but he has no perception of the melody and charm 
 in it. -A man totally wanting in the artistic sense of the 
 beautiful in nature and in art may stand before a glorious 
 landscape or a beautiful painting; he may see every object in 
 the one, and every form, color, and combination in the other, 
 and yet be totally blind to the beauty in both. In view of 
 these facts, why should any one question the fact that the 
 mind may be intellectually perceptive of religious truth, and 
 _ yet spiritually blind to its real significance. 
 
 In the spiritual blindness which the word of God attributes 
 to the fallen human soul the same general characteristics 
 prevail. The understanding is able to see the truth con- 
 cerning God, the law, and the gospel, by an intellectual 
 operation, just as it sees other truths; but inasmuch as the 
 field of vision in the intellect is transfused with the influence 
 of a depraved moral nature, it fails to see the true signifi- 
 cance—the real color of these truths. Hence the character 
 of God is misjudged, his law is misapprehended; the excel- 
 lence of both is discounted ; his grace is misconstrued; and 
 all his glorious claims to affection present an aspect of 
 offence instead of attraction. 
 
 When, then, we take in the full meaning of the fact that 
 this miseuiding element in the mental vision is mora/—that 
 
182 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 it is seated in the will, and all its miseuiding power is an ex- 
 pression of the will—that this moral element is morally bad, 
 not only as it is the result of sin, and as such involves 
 responsibility, but as it is in itself a bad or depraved moral 
 energy, necessarily determining both responsibility and con- 
 demnation, we can understand why the Scriptures hold 
 men accountable, not merely in spite of their spiritual blind- 
 ness, but on account of it. The incapacity to see the truth 
 is directly due to the badness, the moral evil, which is in the 
 moral nature of the man. To the color in the glass is due 
 the blindness to the real nature of the objects seen. The 
 responsibility for spiritual blindness is absolutely demon- 
 strated when we remember that the seat of the incapacity is 
 in the will itself—in the permanent states and disposition of 
 the very faculty which chiefly conditions responsibility. 
 Regeneration acting directly on this depraved moral ele- 
 ment in the heart, changing it from the morally bad to the 
 morally good, altering the crimson color which regulates all 
 the activities of the mental structure, will necessarily affect 
 the views of the understanding. But it is not a change of 
 faculty; it is only a change in the capability of a faculty. 
 The color does not confer the transparency on the glass 
 through which objects are seen; it only modifies it. The 
 grace of regeneration does not create an understanding; it 
 only purges an existing power of perception into a capacity 
 to see aright. This view of the function of grace in regen- 
 eration also corrects a fanatical misapprehension of it, as 
 involving the revelation of new facts to the mind. The blind- 
 ness itis designed to remove is not an ignorance of facts, 
 but merely an insensibility to the true significance of facts 
 already known. We are sure, therefore, that all who claim 
 to have a new revelation from God, and appeal to the illumi- 
 nating office of the Holy Ghost in proof of the assertion, are 
 altogether mistaken, simply because the revelation of new 
 truth is not the object of that illumination. The effect of 
 
 Poe bg 
 
Tor NATURE OF REGENERATION. 183 
 
 regeneration on the understanding is to enable it to see 
 moral and religious truth, with more or less completeness, in 
 its true colors. The character of God, instead of appearing 
 offensive, begins to reveal its intrinsic beauty. The law of God, 
 instead of appearing harsh, overstrained, an object of dis- 
 sust and terror, begins to appear as the venerable bond of 
 all justice, wisdom, and goodness. The nature of sin is -e- 
 vealed as only evil, and worthy of universal condemnation 
 and resistance. The nature of holiness is revealed as worthy 
 of all reverence and love, and conformity to its dictates, the 
 eternal obligation of all wisdom and righteousness. The 
 erace and glory of the gospel begin to reveal their real 
 aspects. This is what is meant by opening the eyes of the 
 understanding to see wonders in the law of the Lord. 
 
 In the fifth and last place, the change involved in regen- 
 eration does not stop with its effects on the perceptive 
 powers of the understanding ; it is wniversal in its influence. 
 Such is the positive assertion of the apostle: old things are 
 passed away; behold, all things are become new. It affects 
 the heart as well as the understanding. The man still loves 
 and hates; but the things he once loved now lose their at- 
 traction, and the things he once hated put on an attraction 
 they never had before. The heart has been changed; its 
 moral tastes have been altered. Sin, instead of being an 
 object of delight, now excites disgust, anxiety, and distress. 
 The idea of God and Christ, instead of exciting fear and dis- 
 like, now becomes welcome to the thoughts, the objects of 
 an affectionate consideration, more or less powerful in de- 
 gree. The law of God is approved as wise, just, and good. 
 The soul discovers a pleasure in prayer, and delights in its 
 exercise. The Bible becomes precious, and there is a sensi- 
 ble satisfaction in reading it, and in meditation on the high 
 things of religion and the future life. As the aversion of the 
 heart once banished such reflections, the change of the heart 
 invites them. The whole moral tone of the soul is purified 
 
184 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 and elevated. It can no longer find the delight it once did in 
 books, companionships, and pleasures in which sinful ele- 
 ments constituted the controlling complexion. There is an 
 elevation and refinement of the whole moral energy of the 
 soul in true regeneration. The heart is brought into sympa- 
 thy with good men and good things. The spirit and temper 
 of the whole heart is purified and refined to a degree meas- 
 ured accurately by the degree of the grace given and the 
 definiteness with which the work of regeneration is accom- 
 plished and revealed in the consciousness. It creates new 
 fears and new hopes, new desires and new aversions. The 
 old dread of religious ideas, and of sensibility to the meaning 
 of them, gives way to the dread of a want of them. The 
 influence of the Holy Ghost, once resisted, is now invited 
 and cherished. The hope of being left to sin in peace is 
 now exchanged for the fear of being left to sin in peace. 
 The society of Christians, once dreaded, is now welcomed, 
 and that, too, in proportion to the vigor of their spiritual 
 character as affording both pleasure and help to one’s own reli- 
 gious life by the association. Temptations are no longer sought 
 for or welcomed, but are dreaded and shunned; restraint 
 from wrong-doing is eagerly desired instead of being resisted. 
 
 The grace of regeneration affects all the energies of the 
 man. It will regulate the whole series of the distinct ener- 
 gies of the will, from mere impulse to positive volitions, the 
 determined purposes which have passed from desire and 
 stable affections to settled resolves. It draws the authority 
 of the divine law over all these manifestations of will, and 
 gives effect to that authority. It controls the positive voli- 
 tions as they pass on further and go over into actions, the 
 last and highest expression of the moral energy. It regu- 
 lates the use of language, and teaches a man to refine his 
 vocabulary, and clear it of all impure or unholy words in 
 epithet or argument. It affects his whole conduct, making him 
 regardful of the rights and interests of others. It establishes 
 
THe NATURE OF REGENERATION. 185 
 
 the supreme obligation of justice, candor, integrity, and 
 kindness over all his positive acts. It controls his habits as 
 well as his feelings; his passions as well as his acts. It per- 
 vades every relation he sustains; it makes him a better hus- 
 band and father, a better child or servant, a better citizen and 
 friend. It makes him more vigilant and careful to be what 
 he ought to be in every relation and office of human hfe. It 
 controls a man’s whole view of this earthly scene of existence, 
 gives evidence to the unseen things of the life to come, and 
 substance to the things of hope in the revelations of the 
 Scriptures. It gives him practical estimates of the relative 
 value of the things that are seen and the things that are un- 
 seen, which exert a powerful control over his endeavor to 
 secure them. 
 
 The grace of regeneration exerts a profound influence on 
 the human memory, keeping it awake to the truths which 
 concern the higher interests of the soul. The memory has 
 become seriously affected in its hold upon moral and re- 
 
 ligious ideas. Under the undisturbed influence of the de- 
 “pravity of the heart, the faculty has become singularly 
 treacherous to the impression of these truths. This impres- 
 sion is hard to make, and easy to erase. This is due to the 
 secret reluctance of the will to entertain these ideas, and the 
 secret repulsion thus given to their presence in the mind. 
 The impression is described by a prophet to be as evanes- 
 cent as the morning cloud or the early dew. The influence 
 of even a thorough religious training is frequently very faint 
 to all appearances. The memory of God, sin, death, and 
 responsibility, unsupported by the grace of the Holy Spirit, 
 will be unwelcome, swift in passing out of the mind, resisted 
 and soon obliterated altogether. There is nothing more im- 
 portant fora sinner, if he only knew it, than intense and 
 constant prayer that God would keep alive the recollection 
 of his spiritual relations in the deadly atmosphere of an un- 
 holy moral nature. Regeneration corrects this fatal tendency 
 
186 GiIFts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 in memory to let go its hold on these all-important thoughts. 
 These ideas become welcome ; they are no longer repelled, 
 but cherished; they return easily; they remain more con- 
 stantly. God, instead of “not being in all their thoughts,” is 
 now in daily remembrance, and in many cases is literally in 
 all their thoughts. The mind learns to cleave to these 
 spiritual ideas as the very strength and solace of life. The 
 deadly paralysis of memory on its spiritual side is overcome 
 by the grace of regeneration. 
 
 It also profoundly affects that wonderful faculty called 
 conscience. It purifies and intensifies its intuitions of right and 
 wrong. It becomes more delicate and refined in its percep- 
 tions. This is the reason why Christians often see impro- 
 prieties in things in which the less delicate intuitions of a 
 merely cultivated conscience can see none. It also gives 
 more authority to conscience, making its requirements more 
 effective. It sets up conscience, guided by the word of God, 
 the master principle of action, as distinguished from expedi- 
 ency, especially in cases where there is no bond of civil law 
 or effective public opinion which can be brought to bear to 
 secure right action. This master principle, the vice-royalty 
 of God in the soul, is endued by regenerating grace with a 
 higher fitness for its great functions, and established in a 
 wider and stronger, as well as a more constant, exercise of its 
 peculiar dominion. 
 
 Regeneration also affects the play of the fancy and the ener- 
 gies of the cmaginative faculty. It trains the imagination by 
 constant reference to the unseen realities of the future state, 
 and leads it to higher conceptions, and thus imparts a more 
 _ vivid force to the apprehension of the grand truths revealed 
 to faith. It tends to quell those licentious combinations of 
 images which are so pleasing to an unholy heart, and which 
 throng on the unregenerate fancy without any suspicion of 
 their degrading and ruinous effects on the purity and dignity 
 of the character. It restrains the less odious, yet dangerous, 
 
Tor NATURE OF REGENERATION. 187 
 
 indulgence of unchastened desires and hopes, the useless 
 dreams of impossible self-exaltation. It brings every imagi- 
 nation of the thoughts of the heart under the obedience of 
 Christ. It sets a force to watch and resist the entry and en- 
 tertainment of all polluting visions and all misguiding fancies, 
 and will finally quench them altogether. 
 
 ‘It affects also the sense of wit and humor. These charming 
 faculties have felt deeply the influence of the depravity in 
 the moral nature. They have been led to the discernment of 
 the witty and humorous relations, peculiar to their own na- 
 ture, in things foul and wicked, and have thus been betrayed 
 into becoming ministers of iniquitous influence, often to such 
 an extent asto make some good men more sensitive to wrong 
 than competent in judgment, suspicious of the lawfulness of 
 these faculties themselves. It is certain that these faculties 
 in a low type of moral character often obliterate their own 
 uses, and destroy their own charm, by the coarseness to which 
 they are determined by the low type of the ruling moral ele- 
 ment which breeds it. It is also certain they are often used 
 to destroy reverence for sacred things, and to discredit the 
 truth and service of God. The purgation of that corrupt 
 element which distorts them would not destroy these fascinat- 
 ing faculties, but would emancipate them to a legitimate use, 
 bring them under the influence of holiness, and make them 
 the ministers of its ends. They assuredly have a legitimate 
 use; they are parts of the human understanding as God has 
 made it, and to discount them as essentially wrong would be 
 to charge him foolishly. Indeed, the question has been 
 raised, whether there will be any place in heaven for the use 
 of these brilliant powers of the soul. Without pretending 
 to dogmatize on the subject, we, at least, have no hesitation 
 in expressing the opinion that there will be. These facul- 
 ties belong to the actual constitution of the soul, as much as 
 reason or memory. The Scriptures nowhere intimate that 
 any essential faculty of the mind will be obliterated by the 
 
188 Gifts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 full redemption of heaven. The redeemed man will be a man. 
 
 still, unshorn of any essential power of his intellectual na- 
 
 ture; and if these faculties of wit and humor should remain, 
 
 we can conceive no reason why the faculties should be re- 
 
 tained, and their employment should be forbidden. It adds. 
 
 a new zest to the conception of the higher and more sacred 
 employments of that region of serene and holy peace, to con- 
 celve its intervals of relaxation enlivened by the joyous mer- 
 riment of its holy and happy inhabitants rejoicing in each 
 
 other’s society. There are no tears in heaven; it is nowhere: 
 
 said there is no laughter. 
 It would be interesting and perhaps profitable to trace the 
 
 infiuence of moral depravity, and the counter-influence of 
 
 divine grace, on those more recondite parts of the soul 
 
 which are not usually considered in discussions of this ereat. 
 
 doctrine. The study of the human spirit, both on its intel- 
 
 lectual and ethical side, must be more or less complete as. 
 
 the states of the mind and heart, as affected by sin and by 
 
 regenerating grace, are more or less perfectly apprehended. 
 
 But we must pass this inquiry by. 
 
 We may now form some conception of that great change 
 which must be wrought in us before we can see either that. 
 
 kingdom of God which is within the soul, or that kingdom 
 
 where God unseals his full glory to the view of his rejoicing 
 creatures. It is a profound and radical change in the whole: 
 existing moral nature of the man. It makes him a new 
 
 creature in Christ; it renews his nature; it re-colors his 
 character; it transforms his will; it re-moulds his whole 
 system of thinking, feeling, and acting. It gives him new 
 
 objects to live for; new rules to live by; new principles to: 
 
 impel to action; and new sensibilities to success or failure in 
 the progress and development of that new life. Regenera- 
 
 tion works through that faith which gives evidence to things. 
 _ unseen, and substance to things of hope. It thus gives re- 
 ality to all the grand doctrines and facts of the gospel reve- 
 
Tor NATURE OF REGENERATION. 189 
 
 Jation. It gives substance to heaven and hell, to God and 
 angels, to the perils of the pilgrimage through this world, 
 and to the grand guarantees of safety to the child of God in 
 the covenant of his grace. It will tear open the crystal 
 vault of the sky, with its studded stars, and display to the 
 eye of faith, above and beyond the visible creation, a crystal 
 city, more glorious than the most splendid creation of Grecian 
 genius, overspread by a serener sky and more glorious stars, 
 crowded and piled high with the gemmed walls and columns 
 of the palaces and temples of the kings and priests unto 
 God. Yea, this mighty change will draw down over this 
 visible creation all the realities of eternity; they will settle 
 down upon it, pervading, but not disturbing it, as a cloud 
 comes down with its light veil upon a mountain. It will 
 develop a grand existence even in this world for any soul 
 which is bold enough to develop the full force of that faith 
 which gives evidence and force to invisible things. We are 
 all walking in a state closely allied to somnambulism under 
 the grand things of this life and of the life to come, under 
 the effects of sin and revealed grace, under the realities of an 
 immortal state. But we are moving as a man walks under 
 the columns and arches of some mighty temple with a veil 
 upon his face or a dimness in his eyes. Regeneration will 
 break that deadly stupor. Faith, as the organ of the new 
 regenerate nature, tears off the veil and lets in the grandeur 
 and glory of the surrounding and the overhanging truth. 
 Faith seldom leads to its more pronounced and _ positive 
 effects, simply because it is so feebly developed. But to 
 every bold, meek seeker after attainable grace, the warrant 
 of great boldness in the faith is given; and to every such an 
 one regeneration and the living faith, which is the fruit of the 
 Spirit, will open fountains, not only of holy joy and energy, 
 but visions of glory, even in this life, more beautiful than the 
 curly clouds which swing in amber and gold on the western 
 arch at evening. It is possible for a regenerate soul, even 
 
190 GIFTs TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 here on the dusty and hot highway of the pilgrimage, even 
 here in the very heat and grapple of heady conflict, to rejoice in 
 the Lord—yes, to rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and 
 full of glory. Thanks be unto the Father for the grace of 
 the Spirit, not less than for the gift of the Son. 
 
CePA D Eerie ae 1X 
 THE EVIDENCES OF REGHNERATION. 
 
 ‘‘Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath 
 given us of his Spirit.”—John in his Epistles. 
 
 HE discussion of regeneration will be made sufficiently 
 complete for the purposes of this little treatise by an 
 exposition of its evidences. The reality of the change can- 
 not be disputed, either as a doctrine of the Scriptures or as a 
 matter of experience. But the reality and soundness of any 
 particular instance of professed conversion is an issue which 
 is to be proved, and hence the importance of a clear under- 
 standing of the scriptural evidences which prove it. The 
 necessity of this proof arises from the fact that the nature of 
 the change is a question of inference and not of conscious- 
 ness. The fact of a change of some sort is a matter of con- 
 sciousness, but the real nature of that conscious change is 
 necessarily a question of inference by a comparison of the 
 marks of a genuine conversion as laid down in the word of 
 God, and the facts as reported by self-examination into the 
 conscious experiences of the soul. It is a favorite doctrine 
 with some, that as the testimony of consciousness is direct, 
 it must. be clear and correct; that consequently a man always 
 knows when he is converted; that any doubt is only a form 
 of unbelief; and that every true Christian is necessarily in a 
 state of assurance. Hence the boldest and most confident 
 language is used; all modesty and caution in the estimate of 
 one’s spiritual standing is discounted, all necessity for the 
 warning, *‘ be not high-minded, but fear,” for self-distrust, and 
 self-examination to see if we be in the faith, is set aside ; and 
 the absolute assurance that we have passed from death unto 
 
 191 
 
192 Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 life is accepted on the bare consciousness of a change in the 
 feelings—a consciousness assuredly reliable as to a change 
 of some sort, but by no means giving assurance that the 
 change is regeneration. The mind may undergo many 
 changes on the subject of religion, each one of which may 
 be reliably certified by consciousness; but whether the con- 
 scious and certified change is the saving change of the heart, 
 the real nature of the change is still to be ascertained; and 
 this is to be done by comparing the altered mental phe- 
 nomena with the Scripture marks of conversion, and the con- 
 clusion inferred from their agreement. 
 
 It is a question of znference, not of mere consciousness ; an 
 inference to be cautiously and deliberately drawn, and not 
 hurried to a conclusion. As the facts in the consciousness 
 which constitute one premise from which the conclusion is 
 drawn, are, in many cases, not so strongly and definitely de- 
 veloped as to warrant an instant judgment of their real na- 
 ture, the need for caution is obvious. The facts may and do 
 reveal themselves with varying degrees of distinctness; and 
 while, in some cases, a quick and confident decision upon 
 them may be warranted, yet, in many others, a wide scale of 
 modest judgments is not only warranted, but demanded. 
 The stony-ground hearers in the parable teach us that 
 there is such a thing as receiving the word with joy, yet 
 soon giving way to a withered condition of experience and 
 hope. They bring the blade, but no grain; leaves, but no 
 fruit; and by their fruits they are known. Satan has made 
 a counterfeit of every coin in the currency of the kingdom. 
 There is a false faith and a false joy. That deceitfulness of 
 the heart, which is pronounced more deceitful than anything 
 else, gives space for a vast series of spurious religious affec- 
 tions. There is often, especially in high and wide-spread 
 scenes of religious excitement, an honest, but mistaken, con- 
 viction in many minds that they do comply with the terms 
 of salvation; this breeds the equally honest, but equally 
 
S 
 
 THE EVIDENCES OF REGENERATION. 193 
 
 mistaken, conviction that they have passed from death unto 
 life; this, again, persuades them that they are saved; and 
 this, again, produces a feeling of joy and sympathy with 
 holy men and things. But it soon passes away, and the con- 
 viction of being deceived takes permanent possession of the 
 mind. All this possibility of deception, the existence of false 
 affections, the deceitfulness of sin, the art and cunning of the 
 adversary, lift a warning finger, and emphasize the command 
 of Paul, “Examine yourselves,” “Prove your own selves.” 
 
 In making the test, one premise of the inference is always 
 clear, that is, the scriptural signs and evidences of conver- 
 sion; but the other premise, the facts in the consciousness, 
 are often far from clear. In all these cases the conclusion 
 cannot be rationally and scripturally drawn with clearness 
 and decision. Upon this state of facts rest the apostolic in- 
 junctions to cautious self-inspection. In those cases where 
 the personal experiences of grace are exceptionally definite 
 and distinct, a more decisive and rapid inference is alto- 
 gether warrantable; but it is very certain that, even in these 
 - eases, in the long conflict of the spiritual warfare which is 
 before them if life is prolonged, these more fortunate chil- 
 dren of grace will find a plentiful occasion for the wise cau- 
 tion of the sacred writers. The test of regeneration is found 
 in the conformity of the facts in consciousness with the marks 
 which discriminate the saving work of the Spirit, and not 
 merely or only in the consciousness of a change of some 
 kind. It is all-important, then, to ascertain these discrim1- 
 nating marks as they are delineated in the word of God. 
 
 1. One testimony in reference to these tests tells us, “here- 
 by know we that we dwell in him and he in us, because he 
 hath given us of his Spirit”; and eA, , 
 us of his Spirit by one infallible test, “ the. oie ee fie Spirit? a 
 in us. These fruits of the Spirit are clearly defined for us ; 
 they are “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, Abii 
 ness, faith, meekness, temperance.” The presence of these 
 
 13 
 
194 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 affections and qualities in the mind is proof of the saving 
 energy of the Holy Ghost in regenerating the human goul; 
 the absence of them proves the want of it. The feeble and 
 doubtful development of these graces, throwing the existence 
 of them into question, makes the saving grant of the Spirit 
 in regeneration a matter of doubt. The prevalence of these 
 qualities, clear and unquestionable in the consciousness, 
 leaves the question of regeneration settled beyond a doubt. 
 The presence of the opposite qualities, “hatred, misery, rest- 
 lessness, impatience under trial and provocation, badness, 
 roughness, unbelief, pride, and perpetual self-assertion, and 
 the want of restraint upon unholy and selfish impulses and 
 passions,” indicates the want of the Spirit in his saving power. 
 A steady resistance of these evil qualities, a sincere aversion 
 to their presence, a persistent grief for their intrusion, while - 
 a proof that they do exist in the heart, is also a proof that 
 the Holy Ghost is there also, animating and sustaining an 
 irreconcilable conflict with them, which will surely issue in 
 full victory over them in the end. Let us follow the series 
 of the fruits of the Spirit in the order in which they are de- 
 seribed. 
 
 4. The series begins with love. It has been explained at 
 length how the ruling moral element in the human spirit, like 
 the crimson or golden coloring in glass or a transparent 
 fiuid, regulates or modifies every power of the understanding 
 and every feeling of the heart, to a greater or less degree. 
 When this moral energy is holy, it determines every power 
 which it influences in holiness; when depraved, it determines 
 them 7 sin, or in the effects of sin. When we segregate in 
 thought, and consider the influence exerted on the heart, we 
 see a powerful control exerted over all the affections. When 
 the modifying element is depraved, we see its manifestations 
 in depraved affections. The carnal mind is seen to be at en- 
 mity against God; his character is disliked; his law is dis- 
 tasteful; his claims are resisted; his service is discounted as 
 
THe EVIDENCES OF REGENERATION. 195 
 
 unpleasant; all his asserted relations to man are regarded. with 
 invincible aversion. But when the pervading moral energy 
 which conditions these dreadful results is purified by regenerat- 
 ing grace, a change, corresponding in the energy of its manifes- 
 tations to the degree of the purifying grace given, at once ap- 
 pears in the affections towards God, and towards all the reve- 
 lations and expressions of his will, character, and supremacy 
 in the universe. Leading up to the manifestation of the change 
 in the heart is a preliminary and corresponding change in the 
 views of the understanding. Asthe depraved moral element, 
 whose seat is in the will or heart itself, determines warped and 
 distorted views of God, and all his manifested will, so the puri- 
 fication of this modifying force determines a change in the 
 views of the understanding, giving it just views of God and his 
 manifested will. The regeneration of the heart secures this 
 change in the views of the mind, and this change in the mind 
 leads directly to the manifestations of change in the heart 
 itself. The revolution begins in the seat of the mischief, and 
 thence transmits its altering force over the whole circle of the 
 energies subject to its influence. Without dwelling on the 
 relation between the heart and the understanding in this mu- 
 tual interaction in regeneration, let us trace out the practical 
 modifications in the governing love of the soul as delineated 
 in the Scriptures. 
 
 The first change we notice is towards Christ as the Saviour 
 of sinners. “To you which believe he is precious.” “ We are 
 the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and 
 rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” 
 To every natural mind, capable of understanding and appre- 
 ciating the unique and unparalleled personal character of 
 Jesus of Nazareth, there appears such an assemblage of per- 
 sonal excellences as to extort the tribute of unbounded ad- 
 miration, even from infidels and errorists of every class. 
 This species of natural good feeling towards him is the 
 travesty of genuine love to him, the counterfeit of the saving 
 
196 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 affection of love to him; and in those who rely upon the 
 mere culture of the religious nature may be easily mistaken 
 for it. But when he is presented and pressed upon the con- 
 science in his grand comprehensive character and function 
 as the Saviour of sinners, these lovers turn away in aversion, 
 and no trace of love to him is discoverable. The implication 
 of their own character, as senners—the very terms of his de- 
 liverance—/free grace, deepening and adding intensity to the 
 implied charge of guilt and helplessness, is more than they 
 can stand. Consequently all men at first, and always, unless 
 moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit, turn away from 
 Christ as a sinner’s free and gracious Saviour with fixed 
 aversion. Yet this office of Christ is the chief glory of his 
 character, personal and official; it is the very object of his 
 advent on earth; it is the very thing which constitutes his 
 priceless value to the human race, and this is the very thing 
 which discriminates the love to him which is the fruit of the 
 Spirit in regeneration, and distinguishes it from all the 
 merely natural affection towards him, bred in the natural 
 mind by the unique perfection of his personal character. 
 The freedom of his grace is the very crown and summit of 
 his value to a race of lost and helpless sinners. It is this 
 office and this grace which adjusts him to the miseries, the 
 sins, the fears, and the yearning hopes of the human soul. 
 It is this which adjusts him to the felt wants of every indi- 
 vidual who becomes acquainted with his own spiritual con- 
 dition. It is the discovery of him in this character as a 
 sinners Saviour which awakens the love of such a soul. 
 Just as soon as grace triumphs in regeneration, ¢hzs insight 
 into Christ comes to the front, and that very notion of him 
 as a Saviour of sinners, saving them by free grace, which was 
 once the chief occasion of offence in him, becomes the chief 
 cause of all the joy and peace of the regenerated and saved 
 sinner. There is no more striking and reliable proof of re- 
 generation than this change of feeling and affection towards 
 
THE EVIDENCES oF REGENERATION. 197 
 
 Christ as a sinner’s Saviour. Hence the test as laid down 
 by the apostle: “To you which believe he is precious.” That 
 love to Christ as the friend and deliverer of sinners is de- 
 monstration of regenerating grace. 
 
 This dove implanted by the Spirit manifests itself suitably 
 on occasion towards every revelation of the nature and wil 
 of God. It is love towards the Father as well as to the 
 Son ; it brings to view that glorious fatherhood restored to his 
 reconciled rebel by the grace of redemption. It is love to the 
 Holy Spirit, the sweet, benignant dweller in the unholy heart, 
 to develop the regenerate life he has given, and unfold all 
 the comfort and glory of the covenant of grace and the things 
 of Christ. As that enmity to God which marked and distin- 
 suished the carnal mind showed itself in the judgments and 
 feelings excited by every display of his will, whether in his 
 word, law, ordinances, and the events of his providence, the 
 change of this enmity into genuine love towards himself will 
 exert a corresponding change in the views and feelings /o- 
 wards his will, however disclosed. 
 
 The second manifestation in the altered love of the heart, 
 which we note, is the affection which springs up towards the 
 followers of Christ. “We know that we have passed from 
 death unto life, because we love the brethren.” One of the 
 most remarkable traits of the true Christian nature is the 
 sympathy created for all men indiscriminately as lost souls, 
 and the peculiar sympathy and affection for all who love and 
 trust the Saviour. One of the earliest impulses of the re- 
 newed soul is to bring others to share in forgiving mercy. The 
 same principle in which this feeling is rooted determines a 
 strong sympathy for all who do share in it. The desire that 
 the gracious giver of hopes so sweet should be suitably loved 
 and honored is delighted when it finds those who do so love 
 and honor him. Often in some darkened mood, when his own 
 love to his Saviour appears to his own jealous heart to be 
 doubtful, there is a sensible satisfaction in the thought that 
 
198 Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 others do love and do him justice. This sympathy leads to 
 delight in the society of Christians, to the desire to talk with 
 them, to open the heart to them, to learn of their experiences, 
 to a sense of joy and safety in such communion with them. 
 As the carnal mind found no pleasure in the society of be- 
 levers as such, the regenerate mind does find a real delight 
 in the communion of saints. 
 
 Another expression of this altered love of the soul is 
 towards the law of God. “Oh, how love I thy law; it is my 
 meditation all the day.” The law of God may be consid- 
 ered under the specific notion of the moral law, or under 
 the notion of his positive and statutory legislation, or under 
 the more general notion of the Holy Scriptures at large, in 
 which all his revealed will is set forth. Under each of these 
 notions the love of the regenerate heart is elicited. It no | 
 longer finds discontent in the pure and lofty spiritual holi- 
 ness embodied in the moral law and required in the obedi- 
 ence of every creature. It sees in the moral law only the 
 formal articulation into definite requirements of that eternal 
 distinction of right which is felt to be essentially obligatory. 
 Holiness has become sweet to the taste of the regenerate 
 heart, and it exults in the law which requires, and, when 
 obeyed, develops it. The law which once seemed the harsh 
 bond of an impracticable purity has become the embodi- 
 ment of all justice, wisdom, purity, and goodness, the noble 
 standard to define and stimulate every attainment in excel- 
 lence. It is the universal bond of right. Its very penalty 
 is felt to be the indispensable sanction of a law for creatures 
 who are to exist forever, and its execution the necessary and 
 natural, and altogether righteous, consequence of law eter- 
 nally violated. Under its positive aspects it regards the 
 statutes of the Lord as always right and wise, adapted to 
 the conditions of mankind, when ordered to be observed, 
 and to the purposes of the divine Lawgiver in making them. 
 But under its broader aspect as the word of God, the regen- 
 
Tar EVIDENCES OF REGENERATION. 199 
 
 erate heart finds an inexhaustible fountain of strength and 
 comfort in its grand doctrines of covenanted grace; in its 
 promises, which animate faith and obedience to ardent en- 
 ergy; in its assurances of divine love, which fill the soul with 
 grateful joy; and in its prophecies of the triumph and com- 
 ing glory of the kingdom, which fill hope with exultant 
 visions of glory, honor, and immortality. In its lessons of 
 covenanted grace, in its histories of the kingdom, in its 
 biographies of the saints, in its wise and faithful warnings, 
 in its firm pledges of all the grace needful for every emer- 
 gency of the Christian career, the renewed heart finds an 
 abundance of priceless truth; and the word of God becomes 
 inexpressibly dear. It is the daily counsellor and com- 
 panion, the guide in all activity, the solace in every afflic- 
 tion, of the Christian soul. Nothing could be in stronger 
 contrast to the feelings of the unregenerate heart towards 
 the word of God. 
 
 Another_striking expression of this changed affection is_ 
 towards the ordinance of prayer. The renewed soul delights 
 to_pray ; it feels a necessity for prayer so imperious that the 
 command and broad warrant to pray seems not so much to 
 define a duty as to secure and exalt an immeasurable privi- 
 lege, The old carnal reluctance and disgust at prayer has 
 given way to a delighted appreciation of a boundless fran- 
 chise, which makes its employment at once the necessity and 
 joy of daily existence. There is now no need to drive him, 
 as before, to a reluctant and joyless observance. He has 
 learned to love to pray, and he delights to draw near to the 
 throne where grace is reigning through righteousness unto 
 eternal life. 
 
 Yet another manifestation of this new love in the heart is 
 a similar valuation and delight in all the ordinances of the 
 house of God. The regenerated man has learned to love the 
 church of Christ, not only in its worship, but in its work; 
 not only in its ordinances, but in its organization. The 
 
2.00 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 preaching of the gospel, the sacraments, the songs of praise, 
 the whole appointed service of the sanctuary, the Sabbath, 
 and all the active demands of the Christian sacrifice and 
 service, now give him a noble satisfaction. The growth and 
 extension of the organized church, all that involves its honor, 
 purity, and successful accomplishment of its grand ends in 
 the spread of the gospel, and its establishment in the whole 
 world, concern him; he takes a share and a delight in it all. 
 
 Yet another display of this new affection is the delight it 
 
 creates 7n meditation on the things of grace. Love delights 
 
 in thoughts and reveries about the object loved. To the un- 
 
 holy heart the thought of God is unpleasing; it remembers 
 him, and is troubled, as a guilty conscience even in a be- 
 
 liever will be. The remembrance of him is banished as soon 
 
 as may be; God is not in all his thoughts; often for long 
 
 periods literally forgotten, and always unwelcome when the 
 recollection returns. This form of atheism is the direct re- 
 sult of that carnal mind which is enmity against God; but 
 
 when that unnatural feeling is subdued by regenerating 
 
 grace, he lives in the thoughts of the purified soul—often, 
 literally, in all his thoughts—because the meditation of him, 
 
 bitter to hatred, has become sweet to love. It also embraces. 
 Christ as the Saviour, the Spirit as the Paraclete, and all the 
 
 truth in which his grace has revealed itself to human hope. 
 The same renewed affection shows its noble regenerate 
 energy in its disposition and dealings with the will of God, 
 as manifested in the orderings of his providence. Tt shows 
 itself in contentment with the orderings of his allotments in 
 
 life. It shows itself in patient and trustful endurance of 
 
 sorrow and afiliction. It animates the heart by an unfalter- 
 ing confidence in Christ, and in the pledges of his grace; in 
 the love of the Spirit and in his fidelity to his trust; in the 
 
 fatherhood of God, and in the assurances of his protection. 
 
 When the storm of providential trial is so sore as apparently 
 
 to sweep the breaking heart from the rock of its salvation, it 
 
a 
 
 THE EVIDENCES OF REGENERATION. 201 
 
 will still patiently struggle to regain its foothold, and will 
 always blame its own weakness and unbelief rather than to | 
 charge God foolishly. The renewed heart clings to God in 
 Christ as its only safety and hope. It spoke out in Job’s 
 grand confession and vow of faithfulness, “though he slay 
 me, yet will I trust in him.” 
 
 This same renewed affection determines also a new set of 
 dislikes as well as likes, and in this, too, its reality and its 
 true nature appears. It determines an honest hatred to sin. 
 It dreads temptation. It shrinks from the fascinations of an 
 unholy world. It dreads everything that may obscure its. 
 view of Christ and the plan of salvation. It hates its own 
 unbelief, its own hardness of heart, its own pride, selfish- 
 ness, and self-righteousness, its own ingratitude and coldness 
 of affection. It abhors its own sinful tendencies and its own 
 imperfect efforts at obedience. It is full of self-distrust. It 
 determines repentance for sin. The regenerate heart is the 
 contrite and broken heart. Such are some of the leading 
 manifestations and proofs of that fruit of the Spirit the 
 apostle designates as love. 
 
 3. The second member of the fruits of the Spirit as given in 
 the Scriptures is yoy. The gospel is glad tidings of great 
 joy. When the gospel is realized by that faith which is the 
 substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not 
 seen, the necessary effect of its intrinsic gladness is to pro- 
 duce joy. The absence of joy at any time in a Christian 
 soul is due solely to the fact that his faith for the time being, 
 and during all that _ time of paralyzed comfort, is not doing 
 
 justice to the truth of the glad gospel of infinite grace. The 
 - command is, “rejoice in the Lord,” notin one’s self, not in what 
 
 has been given and made ours, either by nature or grace, 
 but in the Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always,” and with 
 emphatic reduplication, “again I say unto you, rejoice.” 
 _Rejoice in the Lord; for all safety and_comfort are in him. 
 Rejoice in him at all times; for at no time does his grace fail, 
 
 re rae ont Ae re me 
 
a 
 
 202 GiFts To UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 Rejoice in times of sorrow; for the presence of the good 
 Physician is a comfort even in sickness. Rejoice in times of 
 trial; for trouble does not grow out of the ground, and he 
 presides over all the remedial afflictions which he sends. 
 Rejoice in him at all times; for he is never absent, never 
 forgetful, never indifferent, and always bound by his gracious 
 promise to make all things work together for good to them 
 that love God and are the called according to his purpose. 
 The absence of joy at any time ought to set every regenerate 
 soul to diligent endeavor to bring back this dear fruit of the 
 Spirit. Why should a regenerate soul go mourning all the 
 ‘day long? 
 
 4. The next of the series is peace, ‘Being justified by 
 faith, we have peace with God.” The cause of controversy 
 between him and man is sin; that necessarily produces the 
 condemnation of the King, and the hazard of the law. Peace 
 can only come by taking away sin. The atonement of Christ 
 is the only thing that can take sin away; and the necessary 
 effect of the application of his blood is peace with God. 
 This peace, based on the absolute extinction of all threaten- 
 ing claims, reflects itself on the mind of the forgiven sinner, 
 and there is peace within him as well as without him, peace 
 of conscience as well as peace in law. Fresh transgression 
 may disturb this peace, but the way is always open to restore 
 it; fresh repentance and fresh application to the atoning 
 blood will yield fresh peace. As transgression will disturb 
 obedience wili increase, this peace, and_as it is the function 
 of regenerating grace to secure obedience, that grace has 
 more than one channel through which it brings: peace. ~All 
 regenerate souls should seek for the habitual presence of this 
 fruit of the Spirit. Peace and joy are not merely to be 
 prized as pleasant companions to our thoughts; but because 
 they do to a most important extent condition our ability, 
 zeal, and faithfulness in our service. “The joy of the Lord 
 is our strength.” 
 
Y 
 
 THE EVIDENCES OF REGENERATION. 203 
 
 5. The next fruit of the Spirit in the test of the apostle zs 
 dong-suffering. There is abundant occasion for this grace in 
 any world like this. Selfishness reigns in it; injustice and 
 open violence are the fruits of selfishness. Breaches of 
 faith, treachery and fraud, insolence and unjust aggression, 
 aunkindness_ and want of sympathy justly due, make many a 
 demand on the resentful passions. The natural heart yields 
 
 freely to these impulses, and all the more freely because it 
 commonly feels justified in doing it. But such yielding gene- 
 rally makes matters worse, instead of healing them. The re- 
 generate heart, whenever grace is allowed a fair chance to 
 assert its real quality, is full of sensibility to its own faults 
 and infirmities, and is, therefore, more forbearing towards the 
 faults and infirmities of others. As by the tender love of 
 God its own sins are forgiven, it is all the more ready to for- 
 give. The spirit of forbearance is this spirit of forgiveness 
 in_a_certain relation to offences; it refuses to retaliate; and 
 its presence, ruling the instincts of resentment and revenge, 
 
 is_a fruit of regenerating grace, and a noble. proof. of. its 
 _ power_and beauty. Coming into open conflict, as it does, 
 
 with the pride and pugnacious instincts of an unholy nature, 
 this grace of long-suffering under injury and insult is often 
 misjudged and subjected to opprobrious names in the pas- 
 sionate and blind judgments of men; but it is, nevertheless, 
 a noble sample and proof of the regenerating grace of God. 
 The indulgence of the opposite spirit will bring protracted 
 and bitter sorrow into any Christian life. The high estimate 
 put on this noble self-control in the word of God is the 
 standard by which to judge it. 
 
 6. The next specification of the series is genéleness, One 
 of the most prominent and dangerous developments pro- 
 duced by the depraving of the moral nature in man is found 
 in the corruption and dangerous exasperation of a sensibility 
 natural to every moral as well as to every animal being—the 
 natural provision to secure self-protection and to repel un- 
 
ye 
 
 A 
 
 Aye 
 
 204 GIFTS TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 lawful aggression upon vested rights. Anger is not essen- 
 tially and necessarily a wicked feeling. Christ was said to 
 be angry on two occasions in his sinless life. But as affected 
 by the corrupt condition of the human heart, superinduced 
 by sin, it has become one of the most dangerous energies in 
 human nature. Gentleness stands opposed to all sinful 
 manifestations of anger in word or in deed, or in the secret 
 motions of the silent soul. It prevents all hasty and unjust. 
 uprising of angry feelings; it controls speech into mildness 
 and courtesy; it restrains the hand from violence. It breeds 
 the spirit of kindness in lieu of the spirit of harshness; it. 
 breeds patience instead of irritability. It throws the sweet, 
 subduing power of love and kindness over the provocations, 
 even the just provocations, of life. It reduces anger to its 
 proper place, and only allows it in the defence of just rights, 
 the repulse of unlawful aggression, and when the honor of 
 God demands it. .No ornament of character is more beauti- 
 tiful than that fruit of the Spirit and_that_ proof of regener- 
 ating grace, the gentleness of an humble and good_ heart, 
 ruling all the stormy impulses of the soul, refining the man-. 
 ners, and coloring with its noble beauty the words, acts, and 
 character of a regenerate man, When combined with cour- 
 
 age, fortitude, and_strength of will, it presents the noblest. 
 combination possible to human nature. 
 
 7. Yet another fruit of the Spirit and evidence of regen- 
 eration is goodness. Sin mars the sympathies natural to 
 the common nature and brotherhood of the human kind. 
 Amid the wreck and ruin wrought on the moral nature of 
 fallen man, enough of the quality of his original make has 
 survived in a damaged condition to make even the culture 
 of natural means effective in developing the virtues of 
 benevolence, humanity, and kindness. Even this is indi- 
 rectly due to the influence of the Holy Spirit in holding 
 back the natural tendency of moral evil to rush steadily 
 along the line of perpetual declension from one degree of 
 
THE EVIDENCES oF REGENERATION. 205 
 
 evil to another. Hence the possibility of civilization and 
 the ties of society among the heathen and the ungodly 
 masses of Christian lands. These virtues of humanity, 
 wherever found, show a marvelous beauty to the admiring 
 eye. But regenerating grace develops them into nobler forms 
 than moral culture can ever do. It leads to, and yet beyond, 
 those occasions for their exercise which are found in the 
 evils of this present life, and which limit benevolence in its 
 mere natural and cultivated form. It carries the unselfish 
 and generous sympathies to the relief of the higher spiritual 
 evils which threaten a far deeper disaster than any mere 
 earthly calamities. It produces not only the asylums and 
 other contrivances for the care of the orphan and the suffer- 
 ing poor, in which mere humanity may take a part, but all 
 the grand works of Christian enterprise for the salvation of 
 the world, in which mere humanity, however cultured, takes 
 
 no general interest. This goodness, which is the fruit of 
 
 irit lifie nole character; it sweetens the 
 Sympathies ;_it refines the manners; it makes charitable the. 
 
 social judgments, and chastens the social relations of men 
 into sources of safety and comfort. It tends to make men 
 good in every relation of life—good fathers and mothers, 
 good husbands and wives, good friends and neighbors. It 
 
 throws the sweet sympathies of a purified heart over all the 
 connections and events of this strange world. If any man 
 
 hopes and believes that the regenerating erace of God has. 
 displayed_its power upon his soul, without making him a 
 better man, more honest, more just, more pure, more kind, 
 ._more obedient to God, more useful to man, he may subject 
 his_hope and confidence of grace to very serious discount. 
 
 Grace breeds goodness in all its forms; the fruit of the 
 Spirit carries always a betterment to man, both in himself, 
 and in all his relations. This is its necessary effect. 
 
 8. The next fruit of the Spirit in the enumeration of the 
 
 apostle is faith. Saving faith is everywhere described in 
 
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 206 Girts TO UNBELIEVERS. 
 
 the Scriptures as “the fruit of the Spirit,” and the “ gift of 
 God.” It manifests itself in renouncing absolutely all other 
 
 rounds of hope towards God but the merits and grace of 
 Christ. It is conspicuously faith in Christ, a personal | trust 
 in_his redeeming work, in his personal love, power, and faith- 
 fulness, in his promises, in all the statements of fact_and 
 doctrine he has made. It_accepts the whole word of God; 
 it_admits the laws it prescribes; and obeys because it. ‘he- 
 _lieves. It_relies upon the pledged word and promise of, 
 grace, and expects the fulfilment of every pledge. It trusts in 
 
 his administration of events, and, no matter how dark and 
 mysterious his providences may seem, relies unshaken on 
 his wisdom, love, and faithfulness. It gives evidence to 
 things unseen, and substance to things of hope, and thus 
 sees the gleam of heaven far in the dim clouds of the mystic 
 
 future. It brings peace and hope; it renews strength; it 
 animates patience; it impels obedience; it saves the soul. 
 Wherever faith is seen in its effects, 11 demonstrates a re- 
 generate heart. 
 
 9. The next item in the series is meekness. This opposes 
 the pride _and_self-righteousness of the unrenewed_soul. 
 Pride_is undue_self-esteem; self-righteousness; a_claim to 
 integrity of life and character. [When the spiritual illum- 
 ination of regeneration takes effect, both of these feel- 
 ings perish in the awful consciousness of inward pollution 
 and personal guilt, and meekness and humility take their 
 place.] 
 
 10. The last specification is temperance. This does not 
 mean merely sobriety; it is a far broader term; it means 7e- 
 
 _ straint, and covers all the passions and evil impulses of the 
 
 soul. Regeneration does not at once make the regenerate 
 soul completely holy; but _it does fill it, not only with posi- 
 tive impelling forces towards holiness, but with powerful 
 principles of restraint upon all the evil still left within the 
 soul—upon the workings of the law of sin in the members. 
 
THE EVIDENCES OF REGENERATION. 207 
 
 A enaracter and life which claims to be regenerate must 
 show a restraint on evil impulses, generally effective, or the 
 claim is nothing worth. 
 
 11. We must rapidly condense the remaining tests of re- 
 generation; but as these have already been substantially 
 discussed in the exposition of the nature of this wonderful 
 work of divine grace, this brevity will not be unfaithfulness. 
 to the truth. As the ruling moral element, when depraved, 
 affected the memory, conscience, judgment, and all the 
 actions of the outward conduct, so will the same moral 
 element when purified by regenerating grace. Conscience 
 will become more clear-sighted, more delicate in its discrimi- 
 nations, and more masterful in its authority. Memory will 
 become more tenacious of moral and religious ideas. The 
 judgment will become more accurate in its discernment of 
 moral and religious truth. The sense of wit and humor 
 will be purified. All the powers of the human spirit will feel 
 more or less directly the effect of grace in the heart. The 
 whole external life will feel its controlling energy, and all 
 will testify to the reality and the power of this great spiritual 
 movement. ‘Old things will pass away; behold, all things 
 will become new.” 
 
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GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THH SPHCIAL GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT HIMSELF TO 
 BELIHVERS. 
 
 ‘‘ Wherefore J also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and 
 love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of 
 you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, 
 may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of 
 him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know 
 what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his in- 
 heritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power 
 to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.” — 
 Paul to the Ephesians. 
 
 ti. HESE words of the apostle carry the statement of 
 
 a ereat gospel truth which has suffered something 
 
 of an eclipse in the apprehension of the church of our day, 
 a truth, the absence of which is sorely felt in the experience, 
 in the diminished comfort and efficiency of believers. That 
 truth is the gift of the Holy Spirit to believers as such. It 
 is not to be confounded with the gift of the Spirit in regen- 
 eration, and in the grant of that saving faith which 1s em- 
 phatically said to be “the fruit of the Spirit” and “the gilt 
 of God.” Paul gives thanks for the faith and love to all the 
 saints which he had heard was in these Ephesian Christians. 
 He fully recognized them as already believers, as already 
 animated with that love of the brethren which is one of the 
 proofs of a regenerate heart.* He then goes on to tell them 
 how he prayed unceasingly that the God and Father of the 
 
 *1 John iii. 14._. 
 O11 
 
Al eee GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 Lord Jesus would give to them another gift, special influences 
 of the Holy Spirit, who was already dwelling in them, by 
 which another measure of spiritual illumination would be 
 imparted to them, and by which they might be led unto 
 higher and sweeter views of the hope of their calling, of the 
 inheritance of the Father in them, and of the greatness of 
 power pledged to their salvation. There can be no doubt of 
 the peculiarity of the gift to which he alludes. It is not re- 
 generation ; for it is to be given to the regenerate. It is not 
 faith; for it is sought for those who already believe. It is 
 not one of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit peculiar to 
 the apostolic age; for it was sought for those who are recog- 
 nized simply by their faith and love to the brethren. Nor is 
 it the gift of inspiration peculiar to the apostles and certain 
 apostolic men; for it is sought in the prayers of Paul for the 
 whole body of the Ephesian Christians, merely as Christians. 
 The effects ascribed to it, the increased vigor of spiritual en- 
 lightenment, and the consequent improved apprehension of 
 the truths of the gospel, clearly indicate that the gift was not 
 miraculous, or confined to any special class of Christians, 
 but was designed to minister to the spiritual graces of all 
 who believe. Nor is it to be confounded with the indwelling 
 of the Spirit, which is already begun in every believer. Yet 
 it is called a gift of the Spirit to believers. The Spirit in one 
 sense being already given and already dwelling in the be- 
 liever, this gift must refer to some special manifestation of 
 the Spirit’s power, which may be properly designated as a 
 distinct gift of the Spirit himself. This suggests the last 
 negative distinction of this peculiar gift of the Spirit to be- 
 lievers: it is not to be confounded with the process of sanc- 
 tification. It is rather a means of sanctification than the 
 result in sanctification, though the result always follows it, 
 and is the ultimate end sought in granting the gift. Itseems 
 to be designed to keep the attention of the body of believers 
 fixed on their dependence, their incessant dependence, on 
 
Tur SprectaAL GIFT oF THE Hony SPIRIT. aS 
 
 fresh energies of the indwelling Spirit, constantly put forth 
 and repeated to secure the sanctification of the soul. It is 
 in the apprehension of the necessity for these ever-fresh and 
 renewed manifestations of the Spirit’s grace that the eclipse 
 in the apprehension of the truth to which we alluded takes 
 place. There is no decay in the full recognition of the neces- 
 sity and nature of sanctification ; the faith that every believ- 
 ing soul will ultimately be perfectly purified is intact. But 
 the defect lies here: sanctification is rather expected than 
 worked for; rather anticipated as the necessary growth of the 
 germ implanted in regeneration than a development de- 
 pendent on positive cultivation on the part of man, and on 
 positive energies distinctly and designedly put forth on the 
 part of the great efficient agent, the Holy Ghost. More dan- 
 gerous still, even when sought in the active use of appointed 
 means and service, sanctification is looked for as a result to 
 be expected as the consequence of a certain steadiness and 
 fidelity in this use of means, rather than as a work to be ac- 
 complished really by the Holy Ghost, and by as distinct and 
 definite a series of actions in accomplishing the work of sanc- 
 tification as is necessary in doing every sustained and con- 
 stant work. The work of the Spirit is to be accomplished 
 by the acts of the Spirit, and while the steady use of means 
 is rigorcusly demanded by the divine rule, the mind is with 
 equal imperativeness required not to rest at all in these means, 
 but always to look beyond them for the effective power. There 
 is an intense force and precision in the gospel doctrine that 
 sanctification is by the Spirit. It is his work, to be accom- 
 plished by his special acts. These special actions of the 
 indwelling Spirit are his gifts to believers, and being depend- 
 ent on special energies manifested by the Spirit, are war- 
 rantably described as the gift of the Spirit himself to believers. 
 The prayer of Paul for the Christians of Ephesus instructs 
 us that we must look to a definite gift of the Holy Ghost, and 
 to definite acts of that gracious giver, as well as gifts, to work 
 
214 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 out our deliverance from the inward power of sin, and our 
 inward endowment with the power of holiness. The apostle 
 here teaches what is abundantly taught in other Scriptures, 
 the inexpressibly cheering and comforting doctrine that there 
 is a special gift of the Holy Ghost as the Comforter, or, more 
 exactly, the Paraclete, provided for the saint in the covenant 
 of God’s wonderful grace, a gift different from regenerating 
 grace, yet working to the same end, and designed to make 
 him acquainted with all the strength, the moral beauty, and 
 the glorious comfort of the true believer in the Son of 
 God. | 
 
 2. These special acts of the Holy Spirit in carrying out 
 the work of sanctification are manifold: he seals, he anoznts, 
 he bears witness, he gives assurance as an earnest, he leads, 
 he intercedes, he comforts, he brings to mind, he expresses a 
 peculiar affection, and he animates the private and public 
 worship of the believer in all its acts,—in the songs of praise, 
 in reading the Scriptures, in listening to the preaching of 
 the word, in the offering of gifts, and in the use of the sacra- 
 ments. ‘The inexpressible grace and value of these gifts of 
 the Holy Spirit will appear in the exposition of them, and 
 emphatically through the prior consideration of the neces- 
 sity for them, as it appears in the defects of the Christian 
 experience of believers in our day. That experience, in 
 spite of many advantages peculiar to the present age, and of 
 many trials well suited to improve the graces of a regenerate 
 heart, does not seem to differ advantageously from that of 
 other times in many important respects. In some respects 
 the Christian activity of this age is greatly in advance of the 
 activity of most of the previous ages of the Christian era, 
 and no doubt the immediate agents in this improved activity 
 do enjoy an answerable degree of inward grace and comfort, 
 certainly a large percentage of them. Yet, considering the 
 
 bulk of the members of the Christian church, it will not be 
 
 unwarranted to say that they do not exhibit an experience 
 
Tur SprecraL Girt oF tHE Hony SPIRIT. 215 
 
 in keeping with the recognized character and privileges of a 
 Christian as these are delineated and authorized in the 
 Scriptures. So far as a long pastoral experience has un- 
 veiled the facts in typical instances, it is unquestionable that 
 the bulk of modern Christians are living far below the grade 
 of both character and comfort to which they are not only 
 authorized, but required, to aspire and attain. The prevail- 
 ing measure of activity in Christian work is not attended 
 with an answerable measure of Christian joy,—a state of 
 things which discloses a defect in the work as well as in the 
 comfort. Look at the elements involved in the case. Every 
 Christian is rightly recognized, according to the positive 
 statements of the Christian gospel, as a sinner actually 
 saved. An actual salvation is positively pledged to the ex- 
 ercise of faith. By the supposition that he is a Christian, 
 he has complied with the terms on which the promise of de- 
 liverance binds, and he is, therefore, secured by the integrity 
 of a God whose faithfulness is like the great mountains. His 
 state has changed from one of infinite disaster to one of 
 infinite advantage. His sins are pardoned; he is delivered 
 from the hazards of violated law. A positive righteousness 
 has been imputed to him, which carries a sure title to eter- 
 nal life. He has been adopted into the family of God, and 
 has become his child. The Holy Ghost has taken up his 
 abode in his soul to secure his integrity, and to make good 
 the promise to faith, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” 
 His salvation is assured; it is already begun; its progress 
 and ultimate completion are guaranteed by the pledge that 
 he who has begun the good work will complete it. The en- 
 gagement to faith is absolute. The truth and power of the 
 infinite and infallible God stand guard over his hope. He 
 has the promise of the life that now is as well as of that 
 which is to come. Grace sufficient for him is positively cov- 
 -enanted. He is by position the most fortunate and _ blest. 
 of mortals; a true Christian can look down from an infinite 
 
216 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 elevation on the most favored station of mere earthly ad- 
 vantage. He that believeth, hath eternal life. This is his 
 actual state by grace and covenant. Unquestionably he 
 ought to be zn feeling what he is in law and in fact, the hap- 
 piest of mortals. But what is he in reality, so far as the 
 states of his mind are concerned? As a rule, he is a prey to 
 anxiety; he goes in bondage to fear. The idea of death is 
 full of pain. Sin is a constant menace to his peace. The 
 way of life through the mediation of Christ lies confused 
 and cloudy in his thoughts. His graces are so incompe- 
 tently developed that he hardly knows how to construe them, 
 whether as sound or unsound. Now a grace will seem hope- 
 ful, and then it changes into an appearance which is untrust- 
 worthy. He knows not how far to confide in his faith, or 
 hope, or love, or any part of his experience. He clings to 
 his hope, but has little comfort in it. He shrinks from trials, 
 though he knows that they come as proofs of divine love and 
 fidelity. His obedience is steadily rendered, for the most 
 part, but without conscious joy or sweetness in rendering it. 
 He has often more dread of God than hope and affection to 
 him. His religion, honestly judged, is more a source of 
 trouble than of satisfaction. He is timid and uncertain in 
 claiming the character of Christian, which, nevertheless, he 
 would not give up for his life; and he frequently thinks it a 
 commendable humility not to aspire to the joy and comfort 
 of the Christian’s hope, professing himself content to be 
 without these if he can only be satisfied that he is a true 
 Christian, although not happy. He fails to appreciate the 
 suspicion thrown on the claim to the Christian character by 
 the absence of the Christian comfort. He is actually draw- 
 ing consolation from the defects and diseases of his spirit. 
 The contrast between his state under the covenant and the 
 state of his consciousness is wonderful, and as criminal as it 
 is amazing. 
 
 3. The causes of this unhappy condition of things are 
 
THE SPECIAL GIFTS OF THE Hoty SPptIrir. OAT 
 
 many and various. It springs in chief part from wunbe- 
 lief; from a want of confidence in Christ—in his teachings, 
 in his promises, in the real power of his blood and right- 
 eousness. This lack of confidence is a defect in the degree 
 and a weakness in the exercise of faith—not a total want of 
 the principle of faith; for the existence of the germ of faith 
 and spiritual life is presupposed in the character of Christian. 
 When our Lord upbraided the twelve for their unbelief and 
 hardness of heart he brought to light the paradox which 
 appears in the experience of all his saints: of faith and un- 
 belief co-existing and contending in the same heart. It is 
 but one manifestation of the perpetual conflict between the 
 law of grace in the mind and the law of sin in the members. 
 When the faith is weak unbelief is strong, and when unbe- 
 lief prevails, the whole arrangement of the covenant loses its 
 consolatory energy; the power of the atonement ceases to 
 control the bitterness of sin; the ordinances lose their power 
 to awaken hope; and the trials of faith, which are real strains 
 upon its strength, often appear to have destroyed it altogether. 
 Prayer has been so often disappointed that a general suspi- 
 cion of its efficacy is bred, and then prayer continues to be 
 offered more from a sense of duty, or a vague dread of 
 neglecting it, than from any lively sense of its power or real 
 value. Expectation of answers to it is thus blunted, and the 
 ordinance is effectually nullified. What is true of prayer is 
 true of all the rest of the ordinances, and the whole series is 
 dishonored by this undisguised triumph of unbelief and the 
 law of sin in the members. 
 
 Another cause of the prevalent anxiety is carelessness in 
 living; sin indulged in many forms; acting from selfish im- 
 pulses instead of regard to the will of God; transgressions 
 srowing out of heedlessness ; absorption in business; en- 
 eagement in improper pleasures ; languor of spiritual desire ; 
 unsteadiness and the want of engaged and earnest feeling 
 in using the means of grace. Such things are sufficient to 
 
918 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 account for defeated prayer and poverty of comfort. David 
 knew that if he regarded iniquity in his heart the Lord 
 would not hear him. 
 
 Another cause is found in ignorance, or at least in incom- 
 petent conceptions of the great gospel grounds of hope. The 
 range of this cause of defects in Christian experience is so 
 wide and varied that it will be impossible to expound it in its 
 full extent. There is one of constant prevalence, the often 
 unconscious substitution of the legal spirit of obedience for 
 the free and gracious spirit of evangelical service. Zhe spirit 
 of obedience to the law of works is applied to the terms of 
 gospel grace. 'The maxim of legal obedience is, do and Live, 
 comply with the demands of the established law, and then 
 hope for life. The maxim of evangelical service is, believe 
 and then do, accept the free gifts of a gracious salvation, and 
 then go on to obey. The spirit of these two rules of action 
 is widely different by the necessity of the case. The spirit 
 of the law necessarily breeds dependence on seif; something 
 is to be done, and we are to doit. The spirit of free service 
 breeds dependence on a basis of hope out of self, and the 
 energy it creates looks for its support to that foundation out 
 of self. The spirit of legal obedience unavoidably breeds 
 endless anxiety, through fear of failure in complying with 
 the conditions prescribed. The spirit of evangelical obedi- 
 ence accepts a full salvation as the free gift of infinite grace; 
 anxieties are thus forestalled by faith; and the obedience 
 secured by it is unselfish, free, affectionate, and hopeful. 
 But there is such a thing as applying in our ignorance the 
 spirit of legal obedience to the terms of grace, and where 
 this is done the terms of grace will yield the same anxieties 
 and the same appeals to self-help with the conditions of law. 
 Faith is the instrument by which salvation is secured, the 
 eye that sees the Saviour, the hand that takes hold of him, 
 and it is, therefore, easily construed as a strict legal condi- 
 tion precedent of salvation. Under this view of it the whole 
 
Tus SpectAL GIFT OF THE HoLy SPIRIT. 919 
 
 effort will be directed to comply with it in exactly the same 
 spirit as would be developed by a real legal antecedent to 
 the blessing. Instead of looking outward to the Saviour and 
 to his great work, the mind is turned inward on what is going 
 on within itself. Instead of fixing attention on the free full 
 offer of the gift of eternal life, and construing faith as the 
 simple acceptance of that offer, faith is looked upon as be- 
 coming a part of the offer itself, and as so conditioning and 
 qualifying it that the condition must be complied with before 
 it can be accepted. This is to say, it must be accepted 
 before it is accepted. Instead of looking out to the proposal 
 of infinite love, the attention is turned inward to scrutinize 
 the faith of the soul itself, and until that faith is certified all 
 the uncertainties and anxieties of the legal spirit are turned 
 loose inthe heart. Itis as absurd as it would be for a traveler 
 to stop at the head of a bridge and turn his thoughts inward 
 on his own mind to see if he had confidence in the bridge, 
 instead of looking outward at the bridge itself to see if it was 
 worthy cf his confidence. This grave folly in construing the 
 plan of salvation accounts for a large measure of the anxie- 
 ties of Christian people. They have unconsciously passed 
 from a trust in the Saviour to a trust in their own faith. No 
 wonder they are troubled. The gift of the Holy Spirit to 
 guide them away from such an error, and to keep the way of 
 life clear in their thoughts, is an invaluable blessing. 
 Another cause of Christian anxieties is in the incompetent 
 views of the breadth and power of the redemptive work of 
 Christ the Saviour of sinners. It is a marked feature in the 
 administration of grace, that while it pledges an absolute 
 salvation to every believer, from his sin as well as from its 
 effects, it does not undertake to do this completely and at 
 once. The promise which takes effect at the beginning of 
 the exercise of faith is, “‘sin shall not have dominion over 
 you.” That means that sin shall not be the ruling or master 
 principle in the regenerate soul. But the promise also im- 
 
22.0) GIFTs TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 plies that sin shall have a standing, and exert a certain measure 
 of influence in every such soul. This is universally admitted 
 of the great mass of average Christians, at least by all classes 
 of Christian interpreters. Saints are therefore not sinless; 
 they continually come short of their real duties; the law of 
 sin in the members is in constant conflict with the law of 
 grace in their minds. Now sin is a natural and necessary 
 fountain of suffering, and when the believer sins he may 
 expect to suffer. The consolations of a good hope of final 
 deliverance, while they will powerfully modify the suffering 
 of sin, will not absolutely extinguish it. But as a matter of 
 fact, his suffering is needlessly intensified and prolonged by 
 his ignorance and incompetent views of the redemption 
 wrought out for him. 
 
 There are two distinct elements of evil in sin: its essential 
 evil, and the danger it provokes. The one calls for repent- 
 ance; the other is to be met by the energy of the atonement. 
 It is healthful to the soul to repent, and the suffering which 
 is involved in repentance may be so qualified by grace that 
 the exercises of a contrite heart may have an element of 
 positive delight intermingled with its grief. In this appears 
 one form of the gospel paradox, or apparent contradiction 
 in terms, “rejoicing in tribulation,” and this ought to be the 
 regular and permanent state of feeling in a Christian soul in 
 view of his sin. But in reference to the other element of 
 sin—the danger it involves—however he may suffer from 
 certain effects of his faults, he is entitled to peace, because 
 _ his sin has been forgiven him, and the salvation which has 
 been pledged to him gives him assurance of deliverance, both 
 from sin and its dangers. By the very supposition that he 
 is a Christian, he is a sinner justified by grace, “justified 
 from all things,” as it is stated; and being justified by faith, 
 through the blood and righteousness of Christ, he has peace 
 with God. If this blood and righteousness are really imbued 
 with a power to give real peace, beyond all question the 
 
THE SPECIAL GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 291 
 
 want of peace is proof beyond a doubt that that power is in- 
 competently apprehended. The anxiety of the Christian 
 heart would always be quelled by a competent view of this 
 great gospel ground of hope. The anxiety of believers, grow- 
 ing out of their many infirmities and faults, is chiefly on two 
 accounts: they fear either that their sin demonstrates the 
 unsoundness of their claim to the character of a Christian, 
 or that it exposes them to the judgments of God. The 
 acknowledged fact that a saint is not sinless is of itself prooi 
 that all sin is not a proof of radical unsoundness. The 
 power of the atonement made by the great High Priest 
 is utterly discounted if it cannot arrest the judicial expres- 
 sions of divine wrath. The presumptuous sin of a believer 
 will be sure of chastisement. The disciplinary cure of all 
 his sins, whether distinctively presumptuous or not, will call 
 for chastening, but this will be done all in love. The power 
 of the blood of Christ is complete. 
 
 To suppose his blood competent to take away sins that are 
 past, and to suspend its efficacy over sins subsequent to the 
 original period of justification, is to discount its value 
 altogether. If it saves a man only from the sins of the past, 
 and leaves him to perish under the sins of the future, it can- 
 not be said to save him at all. In that case there can be no 
 such thing as Christian hope. Hope is the effect of things. 
 surely promised, yet not actually given into possession, and 
 it is intended for the present comfort of the future possessor. 
 But if there is no assurance, covering the future, in the pro- 
 mise given, the expectation of possession would be presump- 
 tion, but not a basis of rational hope. The legal spirit of the 
 carnal mind, and the self-righteous spirit of the unenlighted 
 natural heart, will say that this assurance of forgiveness to 
 future sin will breed presumption and carelessness in living. 
 This has always been the cavil of the carnal mind against 
 the redemption of grace; but it utterly forgets or disregards 
 the fact that the grace which freely forgives, at the same 
 
DA, GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 time renews and purifies the heart; and the justified sinner 
 so decisively revolts against sin, that nothing delights him 
 so much as to be delivered from it. In becoming alive unto 
 holiness he becomes dead to sin; and as Paul puts it, “how 
 can he that is dead to sin live any longer therein?” The 
 objection also disregards the fact that the Holy Ghost dwells 
 in every justified sinner for the very purpose of making good 
 the promise, ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you.” The 
 sinner, then, who is justified by faith, is commanded to go 
 boldly to the throne of grace, that he may find mercy, and 
 obtain grace to help in time of need. 
 
 Whenever, therefore, he is overtaken in a fault, he ought 
 not to discount the power of the atonement, nor discredit the 
 sure promise of God; but always go at once and confess it 
 to the great High Priest and sue out his pardon afresh. 
 Trusting in Jesus he can be sure of pardon. The great mis- 
 take of Christians when overtaken in a fault is, that they 
 think it necessary to keep away from the great loving Priest 
 of the covenant until they have gone through some self- 
 righteous series of duties, or some penance, or self-punish- 
 ment, until they have suffered something of the pain they 
 know they have deserved to suffer. By these self-saving 
 expedients their distress is needlessly prolonged; and in their 
 complacent sense of self-righteous behavior they discount 
 the power of the saving blood and the tender pity of a 
 sinner’s Saviour. No wonder they suffer; no wonder they 
 suffer more than was originally necessary. He who has any 
 adequate spiritual discernment of the real power and scope 
 of the great redemption will feel abundant encouragement 
 to go at once with the heartfelt confession of his sins, and 
 will speedily return realizing the blessed paradox of sorrow 
 for his sin and peace in his Redeemer. No sin, however 
 truly and rightfully it may give occasion to repentance, can 
 long overpower the peace and hope of him who, adequately 
 conceiving the power of the great redemption, humbly trusts 
 
THE SpreciaL Girr or tHe Hoty Sprrrr. 2S 
 
 in the mediation of the great High Priest. Inadequate con- 
 ceptions of his work and his grace will leave the heart a 
 prey to fear, and accounts in large degree for the anxicties of - 
 Christians. 
 
 Another cause of the prevailing want of settled peace and 
 liberty in the experience of believers is found in their incom- 
 petent views of the gospel doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The 
 sadness of the believer is greatly due to the conscious failure 
 of his struggle against sin. In a true Christian soul there is 
 maintained from the beginning of his spiritual life a conflict 
 with the indwelling sin of his heart, to which his experience 
 of grace has made him keenly sensitive. The flesh lusteth 
 against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. The law 
 of grace in the mind warreth against the law of sin in the mem- 
 bers. The two are essentially contrary, che one to the other. 
 Now the one, and now the other, gains the ascendency. In 
 this unceasing and bitter conflict his peace departs, and his 
 heart becomes a prey to anxiety; his feelings are expressed 
 by one suffering from the same cause: “O wretched man 
 that Iam! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” 
 The power of the gospel provisions of grace to cheer and 
 comfort in the midst of this experience is discovered in the 
 expiession of joyous thankfulness which immediately follows 
 that sad complaint: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord.” These two contrasted expressions bring to light 
 again the paradox of the Christian joy in the midst of the 
 Christian suffering. The realization of the stubborn strength 
 of his inward sin is a perpetual source of anxiety, but the 
 realization of the gracious provisions of the covenant, and 
 the assurance of complete ultimate victory, is equally full of 
 power to conquer fear and to inspire the cheerfulness of 
 assured hope. 
 
 One of those great provisions is revealed in the gospel 
 doctrine of the Holy Spirit. His work in the human heart 
 is so delineated in the record as to provide amply for the 
 
4 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 joy, and peace of the believing sinner, no matter how much 
 he may be troubled by the consciousness of his own infirmity 
 and his habitual sinfulness. The Holy Spirit is represented 
 as “dwelling” in every regenerate soul. He undertakes to 
 sanctify it. All its state is fully known to him before he 
 undertakes this work. He is fully acquainted from the be- 
 ginning with all its weakness, and with all its wickedness. His 
 omniscient eye has foreseen all the future sins which will 
 emerge out of this inward pollution. He completely appre- 
 clates each and all of these things, all of this habitual ten- 
 dency to sin, at their full significance. No future expression 
 of its evil will ever take him by surprise, or show him an 
 element of provocation which is new or strange to him. Yet, 
 in full view of all this mass of pollution fully foreseen and 
 fully appreciated, he nevertheless deliberately enters into 
 that unholy soul as into his own home and workshop. He 
 is not a mere transient visitor, ‘a traveler that turneth aside 
 to tarry but a night.” He enters, too, for the very purpose 
 of subduing the evils into which he goes. He enters under 
 a covenant pledge to make good the promise to the believing 
 sinner, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” 
 
 He is bound by high treaty obligations to do this work—a 
 work which he fully understands to be the conquest of the 
 very sins which breed the misery of the saintly soul. He 
 knows, too, that under the mysterious, but wise, appointment 
 of the divine Saviour his work will not be completed until 
 the close of the natural life. He is, therefore, not discour- 
 aged by the protracted struggle of the law of sin. That slow 
 progress in overcoming the evil in the heart, which brings 
 such pain and discouragement to the believer himself, 
 does not move or disturb him. Calm and unmoved he 
 keeps place in the very citadel of the soul, and, not dis- 
 couraged by the perpetual turmoil and insurrection of sin, by 
 the unholy thoughts, the turbulent passions, the ungodly im- 
 pulses, which are forever warring against his holy control, 
 
THE SPECIAL GIFT OF THE Hoty Sptrir. 225 
 
 he works even according to his own wise and loving will 
 at his appointed task. Yet further: the Holy Spirit is 
 not only under the bond of the covenant of grace to make 
 good the promise to the faith of the believer himself, but 
 he well knows how the honor of the whole Godhead is in- 
 volved in the full, firm, and successful discharge of his func- 
 tion as the sanctifier of the saints. All the persons of the 
 Trinity are pledged to this work’ Jesus, the Son, by his very 
 name is pledged to be a Saviour from sin. He is no Saviour 
 at all unless he does save from sin. Salvation in sin is a 
 contradiction in terms. To save from sin was the very end 
 and purpose for which he came—for which he died. Tf this 
 end is defeated, all his work comes to nothing. The eternal 
 counsel of the Father was to do this very thing, and if it is 
 not done, his counsel is brought to nought. His highest 
 and most cherished plans, his greatest glory, would be de- 
 molished. 
 
 But further still: the hope of believers is encouraged, and 
 their anxieties legitimately subdued, by the fact that the Holy 
 Spirit 1s represented in the doctrine of the Scriptures as ani- 
 mated, not merely by an intense fidelity to his trust, but by 
 an infinite delight in his work. The love of the Spirit is em- 
 phatically asserted, and what he loves he delights todo. He 
 loves to help a soul oppressed with sin. He is prompt to 
 answer every appeal. He rejoices to win battles against 
 Satan. His title as the Comforter proves his joy in doing all 
 his glorious work. Such are some of the leading features in 
 the Scripture doctrine of the Spirit. 
 
 Now, it is obvious that the antidote to the discouragement, 
 anxieties, and fears of the believer, growing out of the con- 
 sciousness of the strength and stubbornness, the incessant 
 presence, and the perpetual activity, of his own inward sin, 
 is here plainly revealed in this doctrine of the grace of the 
 Holy Ghost. When, pained and terrified by the incessant 
 and stubborn outgrowth of his remaining depravity, he dreads 
 
 15 
 
226 GIrts TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 the departure of the Holy Spirit, leaving him to himself, let 
 him take hold on the truth taught him in this doctrine of the 
 Spirit. The Spirit never leaves him. He may hide his pre- 
 sence, under provocation, but never abandons his work. The 
 Spirit never grows indifferent. The Spirit never loses pati- 
 ence. The Spirit never forfeits his covenant fidelity, or his 
 zeal for the honor of God. He never ceases to delight in his 
 work. He is always the Paraclete of the saints, and always 
 comes when called; no honest sigh for his presence, no 
 earnest cry to him, is eyer unheeded. If such are the func- 
 tions of the Holy Ghost in the economy of redemption, that 
 provision which secures a special grant and special gifts of the 
 Spirit to every believer is a blessing absolutely inestimable. 
 
CHARTER Lf. 
 
 GIPT OF A: PHCULIAR KNOWLEHDGH OR INTUITION TO 
 BELIEVERS. 
 
 ‘“That the God of our Lord Jesus Ohrist, the Father of glory, may give 
 unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 
 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.”—Paui to the Ephesians. 
 
 HE passage of which these words are a part settles the 
 
 fact that there is a special gift of the Holy Spirit to 
 believers subsequent to their faith and the initial processes 
 of their salvation. The defects in the Christian experience, 
 the anxieties, the weaknesses, the fluctuations of hope, the 
 sins, and the trials of believers, illustrate strongly the need 
 of this gift, and the value of it when given. To secure the 
 benefits of the grant it must be known, suitably esteemed, 
 and put to use. So long as Christians are either ignorant 
 of it, or fail to value and turn it to account in their syste- 
 matic experimental employment of it, it will not produce its 
 effects, and the old chronic state of crippled hope and im- 
 perfect comfort will prevail. This sort of imperfection is 
 positively contrary to God’s explicit will; he commands his 
 servants to “rejoice in the Lord always.” It is no compli- 
 ment to the grace he has provided and revealed to their 
 faith, that they should go all their lifetime subject to bond- 
 age. He requires them to enter and “stand fast in the 
 liberty with which Christ has made them free.” That lib- 
 erty is something more than freedom from the yoke of that 
 cumbersome and costly ceremonial ritual which Peter de- 
 clared neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. It 
 is freedom from the condemnation and the liabilities of 
 sin; from its power and pollution in the soul; from the 
 fear of death. From all these evils they are delivered by 
 
 227 
 
928 Girts TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 the redemption which is in Christ. Those, then, on whom 
 that redemption has taken effect—which is only another de- 
 scription of all who believe—are required to do justice to 
 the grace which has wrought such inexpressible benefits for 
 them, and to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ‘The 
 joy of the Lord” is said to be “their strength”; and if the 
 want of strength in his servants is an injury to his cause and 
 a discount to his glory, then strength is their duty as well as 
 their personal privilege; and if joy is their strength, it is as 
 much their duty and privilege to be joyful as it is to be 
 strong. Assuredly, if all Christians were as happy as it is 
 their duty to be, there would be no resisting the spread of a 
 faith so visibly rich in power and blessing. To secure this 
 joy and energy, and to break down the anxieties and dis- 
 couragements to which they are opposed, is the object of 
 this special gift of the Holy Spirit, and the special gifts 
 which he brings to believers. To aid us in turning this 
 wonder of benignant grace to account, let us scrutinize the 
 value of this great gift, and the gifts which follow and flow 
 from it: 
 
 1. The value of the gift is conspicuously displayed in the 
 nature of the gift: it 7s the Holy Ghost himself. The dis- 
 tinction is rooted, in the nature of the case, between the gift 
 of the Spirit and the gifts which he bestows when given; we 
 must, therefore, consider them separately and in succession. 
 Obviously, the great Author of all the special gifts is himself 
 the greatest of them all. It is the Holy Spirit, a person, not 
 an influence, a being capable of sympathy, capable of ap- 
 proach and appeal, capable of assuming the responsibilities 
 of a covenant, and the execution of a task. It is very won- 
 derful to observe how, in this whole matter of redemption, 
 the infinite God puts himself forward as the only agent, as 
 well as the final object, of that deliverance for lost men which 
 he has undertaken. The original purpose was his; the exe- 
 cution was his; the effectual application of it to individual 
 
GIFT OF A PECULIAR KNOWLEDGE, ETC. 229 
 
 souls was his, and hisonly. Nothing entering into the effec- 
 tive work to be done is delegated to any inferior being. 
 _ Angels are employed, but only as ministering spirits; men 
 are employed, but as mere instrumental and secondary 
 agents; ordinances are employed, but their effectual influ- 
 ence is due only to the concurrence of divine energy. The 
 whole tenor of the gospel teaching is, that “salvation is of 
 the Lord,” and all trust in any other person or thing is rig- 
 orously inhibited. This grand conception of dealing only 
 with God in all that concerns an effective hope in matters 
 spiritual, is due not merely to the natural impossibility of 
 salvation being achieved by any other means or power, but 
 to a design to meet a particular fact in the condition of a 
 sinning soul. It is designed to restore man to his natural 
 relations to God, to train him from the start to replace the 
 divine being in his proper relations to his creature. ‘Those 
 relations were dislocated by the apostasy of mankind. Man 
 crew to be without God in the world; he remembered God 
 and was troubled; and as the result of his studied attempts 
 to get rid of the oppressive conception, it resulted that 
 God was not in all his thoughts. The very idea of a 
 Deity became a nuisance to be abated. The consequence 
 was the practical extinction of the concept; no attention 
 was paid to the exiled King; no use was seen for him; 
 no appeal was made to him, recognizing the original lov- 
 ing and friendly relations between the parties. Now, the 
 great gospel system of restoration begins its restorative 
 processes at this point, and never ceases to work at the 
 reconstruction of the direct relation between God and man. 
 Hence, all the thoughts of the returning sinner are trained 
 immediately upon God as the only Saviour and source of 
 hope. All that enters into the matter of salvation is to be 
 looked and sought for from him. Back of all human instru- 
 mentalities, beyond all the ordinances, though appointed by 
 divine authority, the eye is taught to look for God himself. 
 
230 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 So far as the efficient energy is concerned, God is always in 
 the forefront, nay, above and apart from means. Means are 
 appointed to serve inferior ends, and can never be safely 
 abandoned, but salvation is of the Lord himself. He, and 
 he alone, is the Saviour. What is to be done, he does; what 
 is to be given, he gives, whether pardon, or life, or guidance, 
 or comfort; all is to be sought from him. Most wonderful 
 of all, he makes himself the great gift which he bestows on 
 his returning rebel. Nothing less is deemed worthy of his 
 divine dignity to bestow, or suitable to the grand nature and 
 the ineffable necessities of his redeemed creature. He knows 
 that nothing less than something infinite can satisfy a nature 
 ever reaching beyond all present good, however good it may 
 be; ever insatiable in the headlong stretch of its immortal 
 aspirations. Made to be satisfied in God only, the very 
 structure of an immortal, ever-progressive being determines 
 the only satisfaction for it in the illiimitable resources of the 
 Infinite. The gracious Lord also knows that in the awful 
 stress and straitness into which sin has brought his unhappy 
 creature, no power less than divine can save him. Therefore 
 it is that in every phase and part of the great redemption 
 God gives himself to the work. 
 
 Hence, God the Son came into the world to pay down the 
 needful ransom on the cross. Hence, God the Father gives 
 himself as the Father and the everlasting, satisfying portion of 
 his redeemed people. Hence, the Holy Ghost is given to 
 encounter all the inward mischief which sin has wrought in 
 the soul itself, to regenerate the unregenerate sinner and 
 make him in this regard a child of God, and when so 
 quickened into genuine spiritual life, to take up his abode in 
 him, and by special gifts of himself and from himself, to con- 
 duct the work he has begun until he triumphantly presents 
 the rescued sinning soul, without spot or blemish or any such 
 thing, in the presence of the Father’s glory. No human 
 conception or words can begin to adequately express the 
 
GIFT OF A PECULIAR KNOWLEDGE, ETC. 231 
 
 intrinsic worth of this gift of the Holy Spirit. Having given 
 the Son to redeem the lost, and himself to be the Father and 
 the satisfying portion of saved sinners, the rich Lord of the 
 universe had only one more gift of equal value to bestow, and 
 he gives this when he gives the Holy Ghost. Heaven's gor- 
 geous treasure-house has nothing like it to give. The Spirit 
 is a person, a living, intelligent, and powerful being, not a 
 mere influence, however valuable, but a person exerting an 
 influence, capable of action, varied according to the necessi- 
 ties of the soul with which, and in which, he dwells, capa- 
 ble of loving affections, able to receive appeals, able to hear 
 and answer the calls made to him. His work is unceasing; 
 it is not a brief but transcendent enterprise, like the Son’s in 
 bearing the sins of the world in his own body on the tree, 
 but the constant work of an indweller in the soul and in the 
 church, ending only with the completed purification of the 
 one, and the final triumph of the other. He is the Paraclete, 
 which means, “the one called to our help,” always ready to 
 aid, always on the watch, always effective in his interference. 
 To one engaged in any enterprise of difficulty or danger, no- 
 thing could be more of a comfort or encouragement than to 
 have and to know that he has always an assistance ready 
 and powerful which he can call to his side at any moment, 
 and can rely upon as all-sufficient for every emergency. Such 
 is the gift of the Holy Spirit to every believer—a person 
 capable of all personal sensibilities and acts; a divine per- 
 son infinite in loving-kindness, in wisdom, and in power. 
 No adequate conception can be formed of its value. 
 
 9. The value of the gift of the Holy Ghost is illustrated dy 
 the manner in which he is given. The marvelous doctrine of 
 the indwelling of the Holy Ghost is a plain assertion of the 
 word of God. The Messiah thus asserts it: “And I will 
 pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter,” 
 (Paraclete), “that he may abide with you forever: even the 
 Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it 
 
G39, GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him: for 
 he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” According to 
 these clear words he is a person, designated by the terms 
 of personality, but a person who shall not only dwell 
 with the disciple as a companion in his home, but as an oc- 
 cupant dwelling in himself. To many this wonderful state- 
 ment is as utter foolishness as it was to the Greeks. But if 
 the omnipresence of God is true, as it must be of all neces- 
 sary being, and assures us of his pervading all things in 
 space as well as all space itself without taint or stain, there 
 is nothing more credible than his special presence in a 
 human soul as the preservative power which is to secure its 
 integrity and its peace. On the contrary, the want of his 
 presence would present the real difficulty. Pervading all 
 things to preserve their being, he pervades the regenerate 
 soul to preserve its regenerate life. The only difference is, 
 not in the fact of his presence, but in the purpose to be ac- 
 complished, and in the mode of its manifestation. Myste- 
 rious as the fact of the indwelling of the Spirit may be, if 
 the word of God assures it, it is nothing but repudiation of 
 that record as the word of God to deny the fact or cavil at 
 its credibility. In this wonderful doctrine the Christian sees 
 the guarantee of his safety. If a strong man keeps his 
 house, it cannot be plundered unless a stronger than he shall 
 bind the guardian who keeps it. Who is stronger than God, 
 the Holy Spirit? In every hour of bitter temptation and 
 conscious personal weakness, the Christian may remember 
 the indwelling of the Spirit, and take courage. All fear is 
 legitimately and logically conquered when faith realizes who 
 is on guard. Into every Christian soul he enters to abide, 
 and when bulwarked by his infinite love, pity, patience, 
 faithfulness, and power, every such soul is entitled to rejoice 
 in hope. | 
 
 3. The value of the gift of the Holy Spirit to believers is 
 shown in his taking up his indwelling in the regenerate heart 
 
GIFT oF A PECULIAR KNOWLEDGE, ETC. 253 
 
 under a positive covenant engagement to accomplish its com- 
 plete deliverance from the power and stain of sin. He en- 
 ters to make good the promise to faith, “He that believeth 
 shall be saved”; ‘‘sin shall not have dominion over you.” 
 There is no salvation except a salvation from sin. The ob- 
 ject of the Spirit is identical with that desire which is the 
 most constant and intense in the regenerate heart, deliver- 
 ance from sin. Without this inward cleansing the whole 
 work of redemption would be nullified. The pledge of the 
 Spirit is to make it good. Solemn covenant engagements 
 bind strongly on all good and honorable human minds; what 
 can be conceived more powerful, or as affording a stronger 
 ground of confidence and hope, than the covenant pledge of 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? 
 
 4, The value of the gift of the Holy Spirit is illustrated 
 by the objects for which he is given. In general terms, his de- 
 sign is to subdue the sin in the soul—that energy of evil 
 which is its shame, its peril, its disease, and its death—and 
 to infuse holiness—that energy of goodness which is its glory, 
 its safety, its health, and its life. He works on all powers 
 and principles of the human spirit, on every energy of the 
 intellect, and every affection of the heart. He seals, anoints, 
 cuards, comforts, certifies, upholds, and edifies the favored 
 soul into which he enters. But in the passage at the head 
 of this chapter the apostle singles out one function of the 
 Holy Spirit, and makes it the special object of his prayer for 
 the Christians of Ephesus, and afterwards specifies three 
 objects on which he desired the exertion of this function. 
 As this special function and these objects of its exercise en- 
 ter largely into the conquest of the anxieties and imperfec- 
 tions of Christian experience, the particular consideration of 
 them will advance the object which we have in view. 
 
 The special function of the Holy Spirit alluded to is his 
 illuminating influence on the understanding. By this gift the 
 believer is enabled to comprehend more and more fully the 
 
oon GIFTs To BELIEVERS. 
 
 great truths of the gospel. He is called “the Spirit of wis- 
 dom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” The personal 
 pronoun points to the person of the sacred Trinity just 
 mentioned before, “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ.” ‘This fact presents us with the first noticeable point 
 in the declaration made, and that is, that it is the knowledge 
 of the Father, as distinguished from the knowledge of the 
 Son, which the apostle prays that the Ephesians might re- 
 ceive. The knowledge of the Son is all-important, and is 
 equally to be sought at the hands of the Spirit; it is ex- 
 pressly stated, ‘He will take of the things of Christ and will 
 show them unto us.” But in this prayer of Paul, it is the 
 knowledge of the Father and of his relations to the saints 
 which is sought as an object of the guidance of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 The second noticeable point is the kind of knowledge of 
 the Father which is sought for the Ephesian saints. It is 
 not simply the information concerning the Father given in 
 the Scriptures inspired by the Holy Ghost. The church at 
 Ephesus already had that knowldege, if not yet in the 
 written New Testament complete, yet certainly in the in- 
 structions of the apostles. Paul’s prayer was not that they 
 might have the word of God. Neither was he praying that 
 they might be enspzred in the sense in which he was inspired; 
 it was a knowledge to be given to them simply as saints, as 
 those who had believed, and in whose heart the love of the 
 brethren demonstrated a regeneration already accomplished. 
 This knowledge, then, was distinct and different, both from 
 the knowledge given in the Scriptures and from the inspira- 
 tion of the apostles. It is said in one place in the sacred 
 record, that the natural man perceiveth not the things of the 
 Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are 
 spiritually discerned. This spiritual apprehension is repudi- 
 ated by many as a mystery incomprehensible and incredible, 
 a mere dream of fanaticism unworthy of rational aeceptance. 
 
GFT oF A PEcULIAR KNOWLEDGE, ETC. 235 
 
 But so far from this being true it is only an example in the 
 spiritual sphere of what is true in every sphere of nature, 
 and in every line of human employment. There are two 
 kinds of knowledge which every human understanding may 
 have of things. There are two kinds of discernment, one 
 depending merely on the untrained energies of the natural 
 organs of perception, the other, on a previous training and 
 discipline of faculty, and the mental quality and capacity 
 conveyed by that training. Of this latter class take an in- 
 stance in the sphere of music: two persons may hear with 
 equal chances a piece executed by a great master; both may 
 discern and enjoy the general impression of the melody, but 
 only one of them has the musical training which will enable 
 the discernment of the actual skill and genius involved in 
 the performance; for these can be only musically discerned. 
 There is a quality in the mind of the one which is not in the 
 other. Two men may investigate a line of policy adopted 
 by a civil legislature; one, a merchant or manufacturer, may 
 see the effects on the productions and trade of the country, 
 for they discern all things commercially; the other, a states- 
 man of deeper and broader views, may see in addition to its 
 effects on trade and production its effects on the well-being 
 of the consuming classes, on their moral character, on their 
 personal happiness, and on their patriotic affections. These 
 things are only discernible through the high and just civil 
 wisdom of a true statesman ; they are politically discerned. 
 It is notorious in human experience that the view of men 
 and things is governed by the feelings of the heart towards 
 them—love producing one judgment and dislike another. 
 
 Of the first class of instances, the two radically different 
 kinds of knowledge of the same identical thing, the enumera- 
 tion could be easily extended to the degree of tediousness. 
 We do assuredly know that the reason why one tree bears 
 peaches, and another apples is in the nature of the trees, 
 but what that nature in either of them is, or what is the 
 
236 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 difference in that nature, no one can tell. But suppose one 
 could penetrate that secret, and clearly comprehend the 
 exact nature of the trees, he would only know what all knew 
 before, that the nature of the trees was different. He would 
 know the same thing, but his knowledge would be different 
 from the, knowledge of other men. A man may know that 
 an orange is a delightful fruit before he tastes it; but when 
 he tastes it he knows the very same fact, but his knowledge 
 would be very different. The knowledge that fire will burn 
 may be certain without touching it, but the same fact may be 
 known, but with a kind of knowledge very different, by touch- 
 ing it. Is it needful to multiply instances? In the line of 
 these analogies why should any one doubt that there should 
 be an intellectual knowledge of religious truth, and a different 
 kind of spiritual knowledge of the very same truth, the one 
 knowledge making him acquainted with the fact that there 
 is such truth, and with its intellectual limitations and rela- 
 tions; the other, with its deep and true significance—its 
 moral weight—its profound appeal to the whole affections of 
 the soul. It is absolutely certain as a matter of fact in a. 
 human experience, without assignable bounds to its extent, 
 that there is such a difference in the apprehension of the 
 gospel of the Lord Jesus in all the distinct truths embraced 
 in the system. One man may know and honestly believe 
 the fact that God so loved the world as to send his Son to 
 redeem it, and that now salvation is offered to all men 
 through him, yet he sees nothing in these ideas to move 
 his feelings or to induce him to action. His knowledge of 
 the glad tidings of great joy brings no joy to him; he remains. 
 unmoved and uncheered by it. His knowledge does not 
 place before his mind the real nature and significance of the 
 grand ideas he so coolly contemplates. He has had no ade- 
 quate previous sense of his own need of the remedies of infinite 
 grace, and there is no quality conferred by this previous 
 discipline on his understanding to enable him to appreciate 
 
GIFT OF A PECULIAR KNOWLEDGE, ETC. 237 
 
 them. But another man, who apprehends his personal need 
 of an effectual relief, may so see into the real nature and 
 significance of the gospel remedies that he catches the joy 
 that is in them; he realizes that his sin may be forgiven 
 him; his knowledge now acquaints him with the power that 
 is in these glorious conceptions. It is this kind of knowledge 
 which Paul prays may be given by the spirit of wisdom and 
 revelation to the Ephesian Christians; not the inspiration of 
 an apostle to give a fresh measure of truth; not the truth 
 already given in the Scriptures; but a true intuition of the 
 truth already given. It was a knowledge through feeling, 
 and producing higher measures of it. 
 
 Yet a further discrimination must be made. These saints 
 at Ephesus already had a degree of this kind of knowledge; 
 they had been led by it to the faith which had saved them; 
 it had developed in them a distinctive mark of the re- 
 generate heart—the love of the brethren. But Paul knew 
 that further measures of the grace which had first led them 
 to taste the sweetness and power of the gospel was neces- 
 sary to lead them through the whole course of their saintly 
 career into larger and ever-progressive realizations of this 
 rich experience of gospel grace. He knew the trials before 
 them; he knew the anxieties and sorrows they had to encoun- 
 ter, and the constant consequent need of the illumination which 
 first led them to peace. He knew, too, there was a vast scale 
 of degrees and possible progress in that glorious species of 
 knowledge of which they had already partaken in a certain 
 precious measure. They might not know, or at least effec- 
 tively apprehend, that the covenant provided a gift of the Holy 
 Spirit for believers, to bestow rich degrees of this same kind 
 of knowledge, leading them steadily into deeper and higher 
 views of the same old glorious truths. He reveals and em- 
 phasizes this wonderful truth and prays that the saints of 
 Ephesus may receive this gift, and illustrates its use in deal- 
 ing with all gospel truth by seeking its application to three 
 
238 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 truths which he specifies as entering far into the comfort of 
 all believers. It is fit for us in these modern days of the 
 kingdom to accept decisively the consolatory fact involved in 
 this history. If this precious gift was practicable for the 
 Ephesian Christians, it is practicable for all believers, it is 
 available for us. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to 
 every one who believes that he may profit withal. To take 
 of the things of Christ and show them unto us, to open our 
 understandings that we may truly understand the Scriptures, 
 to enable us to spiritually discern the things which can only 
 be spiritually discerned is the very function of the Spirit to 
 which Paul refers as the spirit of wisdom and revelation in 
 the knowledge of God given to believers. Not only is there 
 no presumption in all saints hoping, and like Paul praying, 
 for this gift for ourselves and others, but there will be a 
 grave delinquency in not doing it. 
 
 It may be well to recur to the first of the two points which 
 are conspicuous in the passage heading this chapter, for some 
 explanation of its meaning. Why does Paul lay emphasis on 
 the knowledge of the Father as distinguished from the know- 
 ledge of the Son, and especially desire it for the Christians 
 of Ephesus? To the natural apprehensions of the human 
 heart God appears only as the Creator, the sovereign Lord, 
 Lawgiver, and Judge of all the earth. The consciousness of 
 sin enforces these overawing conceptions. Consequently he 
 only appears in the form and attitudes of one to be feared to 
 the degree of dread. There is a solid foundation for these 
 views; they are confirmed by the Scriptures. Out of Christ 
 he is unequivocally said to be a consuming fire. He is angry 
 with the wicked every day. He loves his law, because it is 
 the eternal dictate of all rightness; and his law is univers- 
 ally violated. He hates evil, and evil is eagerly pursued by 
 the perverted human heart as the choice road to enjoyment. 
 He loves holiness and all righteousness, and both are repu- 
 diated in the practices of the natural man. He has made no 
 
GIFT oF A PECULIAR KNOWLEDGE, ETC. 239 
 
 secret of his requirements; he has revealed his law in con- 
 science and in his word; he has thoroughly engaged his au- 
 thority to restrain, and his veracity to punish, sin: but all in 
 vain: his authority is repudiated, his menaces are despised. 
 His necessary attitude under such a state of things, unquali- 
 fied by any provisions of grace, must be that of righteous 
 anger, and resolution to punish. It is, in fact, precisely the 
 very attitude ascribed to him by the conscious guilt and fears 
 of a conscious transgressor. To know God in these unquali- 
 fied natural relations, as determined by the sin of the crea- 
 ture, is to have a knowledge which ean only carry terror and 
 despair. Any knowledge of him. which is attractive must 
 proceed on an entire change in these threatening relations. 
 It is the very essence of the gladness of the gospel tidings 
 that this change has been effected. It was the very change 
 wrought by the redemption work of the Son. He undertook 
 to pay the claims of the law and justice of the Father, repre-. 
 senting in that wonderful covenant the dignity of the whole 
 Godhead. He undertook to remove every obstacle out of 
 the way to the free exercise of the Father’s grace. Conceiv- 
 ing this done, obviously the whole state of the case as be- 
 tween the sinner and the insulted majesty of the divine gov- 
 ernment is altered. Conceiving a real redemption accom- 
 plished, the necessary result would be, frst, that all penalties 
 would be remitted, and all danger removed; and second, that 
 all the favor needful to secure the purchased blessings and 
 to insure the welfare of the redeemed would be made abso- 
 lutely certain. The effects of transgression would be re- 
 moved, some, instantly; all, in the progress and issue of 
 events. That effect of sin which shad procured the just 
 displeasure of Almighty God, and placed him in the attitude 
 of a Judge certain to condemn, is among those which are 
 instantly qualified. The other effect, which had been to 
 alienate the feelings of the offending creature, and to fill the 
 heart with apprehension and terror, is also instantly removed, 
 
240 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 In the same class of speedy and accomplished effects are 
 many which affect the relations and feelings of God as well 
 as the redeemed creature. God is reconciled to man, as well 
 as man to God. The relation of a Judge is changed to the 
 relation of a Father. Righteous anger gives place to infinite 
 kindness. The resolve to punish gives way to the resolve to 
 save. The obligation to inflict evil for evil gives way to the 
 obligation to do justice to the Redeemer by showing favor to 
 the ungodly for whom he has intervened. The whole atti- 
 tude of God in the person of the Father has been so com- 
 pletely and so benignantly altered, that to know him in these 
 new relations has become a source of boundless peace and 
 joy. It is not at all difficult now to understand why Paul 
 desired the believers at Ephesus to know with an intense 
 realizing discernment the God and Father of their Saviour 
 Christ. For he was now their Father also. He had ceased 
 to be their angry law-giver; he had been reconciled to them. 
 He was no longer their Judge; he had committed all judg- 
 ment to the Son—their own loved Saviour—their own elder 
 brother. They are his Son’s by adoption, as well as by re- 
 generating grace. Instead of anger in his holy heart towards 
 them, he is giving way to the impulses of his own infinite 
 loving nature—moving like the great tides of the sea. This 
 mighty change in the relations of God the Father rests on a 
 basis which secures all its blessed effects unalterable forever ; 
 it is wholly grounded on the accomplished work of the Son 
 of God. If it rested on human will or works it would be 
 constantly liable to be overthrown; the relations of God 
 would fluctuate between their old and their new character; 
 and no comfortable assurance could be connected with them. 
 Where there is no certainty in the future, hope is annihi- 
 lated; for rational hope is the expectation of a future good 
 surely given but not yet possessed. All else is vague pre- 
 sumption or expectation without a warrant. 
 
 We have seen* that in the distribution of the work of sal- 
 
 * Page 230 
 
 tie pelt: 
 
GIFT oF A PECULIAR KNOWLEDGE, ETC. 241 
 
 vation among the persons of the Trinity, the Father gives 
 himself not only to be the Father, but the satisfying portion 
 of the soul. Nothing else can satisfy it. Heaven as a mere 
 locality, glorious in its gold and pearl and matchless splendor, 
 can never do it, although the well-being of man is seriously 
 conditioned on his local circumstances. The conversation 
 and society of angels, and the spirits of the just made per- 
 fect, will be ennobling and delightful, but they cannot satisfy 
 a soul, although the satisfaction of a human heart is largely 
 dependent on his companionships. The human spirit was 
 made to find rest in God; it cannot find it in anything else. 
 It crowns the wonderful benignity of the grace revealed to us, 
 and completes the perfection of the basis for the hope and 
 comfort of the believer, to be assured that God the Father, in 
 all the infinite resources of his infinite being and excellence, 
 is revealed and assured as the ultimate portion and satisfac- 
 tion of every redeemed soul. These two grand endowments, 
 the Fatherhood and apportionment of God, constituted the 
 chief reasons why Paul wanted the saints at Ephesus to be- 
 - come acquainted with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ To know him as such, to know him in all the rela- 
 tions in which the redemption of Christ has placed him, ig 
 everlasting life; for this is eternal life, to know him and Jesus 
 Christ whom he has sent. This true realizing knowledge of 
 God is not merely to know, but to love him with a supreme 
 affection, to obey him. with loving regard to all his command- 
 ments, and to rejoice in him always. Thus to know the 
 Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is to rise superior 
 to all fear and sorrow at all times, for it discloses the Chris- 
 tian basis for the hope which is full of immortality. 
 
 16 
 
GH ALP hy Ee 
 
 GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE OF THREE PARTICULAR TRUTHS 
 TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 ‘“That ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches 
 of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding 
 greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of 
 his mighty power.”—Paul to-the Hphesians. 
 
 HE apostle specifies three distinct forms of truth on 
 which he prayed that that gift of the Holy Spirit, that 
 realizing and intimate knowledge, might be employed, about 
 which we spoke in the preceding chapter. He prays that 
 the Christians of Ephesus might know, as a man knows the 
 sweetness of a fruit when he actually tastes it—jirst, the real 
 nature of the hope which sprang out of their calling; 
 second, the glorious riches of God’s inheritance in them; and 
 third, the greatness of that divine power which stood guard — 
 over their security. The two last of this triplicate of truths 
 bear a logical relation to the first, and all three are thus | 
 bound up together. The inheritance of God in his saints, 
 and the might of his power, are the guarantees of the hope of 
 their calling. Their calling is his act; the ownership of 
 them is in him; and the power is his own which secures his 
 possession. Let us endeavor to get fair hold, of each of 
 these truths into which the gift of the Spirit may guide us. 
 1. What is the hope of the calling which God claims as 
 his own? 'The first thing to be settled is, the nature of this 
 calling. It is evidently a calling which has an effectual and 
 essential connection with the hope of believers, with the in- 
 heritance of God in them, and with the power which secures 
 the safety of those who are his property. It is something 
 different from that general invitation and call to repentance 
 242 
 
GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE TO BELIEVERS. 2438 
 
 and faith which is made indiscriminately to all persons to 
 whom the proclamation can be made. That call often fails 
 in effect. But this is a calling altogether distinct from that 
 ineffectual invitation ; it is an effectual and saving call. Such 
 a call is plainly asserted in such words as these: “ Not many 
 wise men, not many mighty, not many noble are called”; 
 and “whom he called, them he also justified.” All the 
 mighty and noble are called in the universal invitation; not 
 many of them are called with the other species of calling. 
 All who are called by the one are justified; none who are 
 only called with the other are justified. The one call only 
 makes known the will of God; the calling which he specially 
 claims as Ais secures obedience to it. The distinction, though 
 sometimes confounded, is radical and all-important. 
 
 The hope of this calling is the hope produced and assured 
 by this calling. This hope may be considered under two 
 aspects: it may be considered with reference to its objects, 
 the things which are hoped for; or with reference to the 
 nature, the period, and the effects of the hope itself. It is 
 evident, however, that the latter aspect of it is the one which 
 was in the mind of the apostle at this time; for it is viewed 
 in its immediate connection with the calling in which it origi- 
 nates, and as an immediate outgrowth of it. The objects of 
 this hope are, for the most part at least, distant, unseen, 
 glorious beyond measure, but not realized on the instant; all 
 the objects of true hope are in some part of the future. It 
 is certainly, then, the nature and immediate effects of hope 
 which are brought up for consideration in connection with 
 that calling and its legal consequences, which takes imme- 
 diate effect. It follows, then, that there is in this hope a 
 present and immediately available antidote to the present 
 cares and anxieties of believers. As such it is repeatedly 
 explained and recommended in the Scriptures; and as such 
 we shall, seek to develop it now, in the eager desire to see 
 the life of at least some of God’s children in these days of 
 
244 GIFTs TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 trial brightened with more comfort, and their strength in- 
 creased by more joy in the Lord. 
 
 One noticeable thing in the teaching of the Scriptures 
 about Christian hope is that it is positively required of the 
 people of God. “Let Israel hope in the Lord.” “ Why art 
 thou cast down, O my soul; and why art thou disquieted in 
 me? hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for the 
 help of his countenance.” These are specimens of the Old 
 Testament requirements. Paul gives an instance of the requt- 
 sitions of the New Testament, when he says, ‘“‘ we desire that 
 every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full as- 
 surance of hope unto the end.” If the Lord has bound him- 
 self by two immutable things—his promise and his oath to 
 perform it—in which it was impossible for him to lie, in 
 order that those might have strong consolation who have fled 
 for refuge to the hope set before them, it certainly cannot be a 
 matter of indifference to him whether that consolation is 
 realized or not in the actual experience of his servants. 
 They are commanded to “rejoice in the Lord always.” It is 
 in fact a gross injustice to the salvation of God to hold it as 
 practically incompetent to cheer and comfort the heart in 
 which his grace is reigning. Hope is therefore required of 
 every one of them. 
 
 Another peculiarity of Christian hope is that it 2s designed 
 to be exercised, and therefore it is practically available now, 
 in the present life of the believer. It is intended to dis- 
 tribute its comforting influences where they are most needed. 
 To remit its exercise and the strength and comfort which it 
 brings to the future life, is really to destroy it altogether as 
 hope; for hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man 
 seeth, why doth he yet hope for it? In the future, the 
 objects of hope are already in possession, and the functions 
 of hope are so far forth brought to an end. Hope is the 
 effect of things which are surely given, but not yet obtained, 
 and is intended for the present comfort of the future pos- 
 
GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE TO BELIEVERS. 2.45 
 
 sessor. If there is no certainty in the future possession—no 
 assurance in the gift given—no reliability in the promise and 
 the maker of the promise, no real hope can exist; nothing 
 but vague and uncertain expectation can emerge. But if 
 the grant and title are sure, hope is warranted and requirable, 
 and when exercised will throw its comforts strongly all along 
 the progress from the pledge to the possession. Every 
 Christian therefore is required to hope and rejoice always; 
 it is not the choice privilege of a few, but the duty and privi- 
 lege of all believers. A Christian without hope, then, is not 
 only living below his privilege, but in violation of his duty; 
 and on both of these accounts is grieving the great loving 
 heart of his God and Saviour. 
 
 Another point about this hope of God’s calling refers to 
 the basis on which it rests, not its primary basis, which is the 
 work of the Redeemer, but the secondary basis, which con- 
 nects it with the jirst. This secondary or instrumental foun- 
 dation of hope is two-fold—faith and experience. Tf one 
 gives a promise of some future gift to another, faith in that 
 promise, and in him who makes it, will be instantly followed 
 by the hope of obtaining what is promised. If the faith is 
 strong, the hope will be strong; if the faith is weak, the hope 
 will be weak; if the faith vacillates between strength and 
 weakness, the hope will vacillate. /a7th, therefore, is clearly, 
 in part at least, the foundation and instrumental cause of 
 hope. But now, suppose the promise is actually fulfilled in 
 part, and a part is still left to be fulfilled, the partial fulfil- 
 ment will create an additional confidence and hope of receiv- 
 ing the remainder. In this case experience worketh hope; it 
 thus becomes a part of the basis of hope by strengthening 
 faith, by adding the assurance of fact to the assurance of 
 truth in the promise and the promiser. It vindicates and 
 strengthens faith by the fulfilment of promise, and so breeds 
 hope. As faith is the natural and obligatory demand of all 
 truth and of all trustworthy invitations to confidence, hope is 
 
246 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 equally demanded, because it is the natural and logical con- 
 sequent of the faith which is rightfully required. 
 
 In addition to these secondary foundations of hope, it rests 
 on a great primary basis, which gives all its force to the se- 
 condary bases of faith and experience. If faith has no solid 
 cround to rest upon, it is incapable of creating confidence, 
 and so incapable of producing hope. If the solid ground 
 exists, and there is no faith in it, it will produce no hope. 
 On the contrary, if there is no solid basis, the faith in it will 
 be spurioys, and the hope-produced by it will be illusive. The 
 two must co-exist, the solid ground and the real faith in it, 
 in order to secure a reliable hope. If one make a promise 
 of a future gift to another, faith in the promise will yield 
 hope, but only on the condition, not only that the maker of 
 the promise is reliable in his integrity, but is unquestionably 
 able to do as he has promised. The basis of hope, then, is 
 not merely faith as the secondary ground of it, but the integ- 
 rity, willingness, and ability of the promiser as the original 
 basis of the faith which produces hope. This primary basis 
 is that which justifies faith, and thus vindicates the hope it 
 produces. The grand primary foundation of Christian hope, 
 then, is the whole official work of Christ as the Redeemer of 
 lost men, and the pledge of the divine veracity that it not 
 only is effective to save, but that whosoever accepts and 
 relies upon it, shall be saved. To this great ground of con- 
 fidence and hope it is that faith looks; it is this which creates 
 confidence; it is this which originates experience. | It is this 
 to which the whole attention of a soul seeking safety and 
 peace should be dirested. To turn the thoughts within to 
 see if there is faith in the heart, to ransack consciousness and 
 memory to discover an experience which may warrant hope, 
 is to divert attention from the primary basis that grounds 
 both faith and hope, to the secondary basis which merely me- 
 diates and conveys the virtue of the only real ground of 
 both. Such an investigation begins its search at an interme- 
 
> 
 
 GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE To BELIEVERS. Af 
 
 diate point, and to withdraw the attention from what lies back 
 of faith, and warrants and mediately produces it. In this 
 overlooked ground of faith and hope the work and personal 
 power of the Saviour himself are either of them to be found. 
 
 Just here we discover the great practical mistake of be- 
 lievers which produces that chronic state of uneasiness and 
 anxiety which is the shame and the peril of the heirs of 
 grace. They look only to their faith and experience for 
 comfort; the aim of their self-examination is solely to certify 
 faith and experience, and until satisfied with these they 
 refuse to be comforted, or to indulge any hope. The desire 
 to certify faith and hope is altogether right; self-examination 
 is an undoubted duty. But the exception lies against the 
 mode in which the scrutiny is made. ‘To know that we con- 
 fide in a thing, the natural order of thought which ough‘ to 
 regulate the inquiry is, to fix attention on the thing first, and 
 then to look at the mental exercises about it. A traveler on 
 a public highway comes to a bridge; he does not pause at 
 the bridge-head and turn his thoughts inward on his own 
 mind to study whether he has confidence in the bridge; he 
 looks outward to the bridge itself; he knows that confidence 
 in the bridge is to be bred by the bridge itself. As he in- 
 spects the bridge and finds it strongly built, his faith in the 
 structure comes without notice into his feelings. Common 
 sense will tell every man that such is the method by which 
 confidence of safe advance on his journey is to be elicited, 
 and not by a curious inward search of his own mind to see 
 if he has faith in the bridge. No wonder a similar method 
 of self-examination results in disappointment to the believer. 
 No wonder hope eludes their search; for they ignore the 
 very thing which breeds faith and hope, and yet expect both 
 apart from the ground on which they grow. The procedure 
 is as unequivocally foolish as for a man to look for a crop 
 without looking for it on the soil on which it grows. It 1s as 
 silly as to look for intellectual results apart from any intelli- 
 
248 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 gence, or for sensations of health apart from a sound condi- 
 tion of the bodily organs. et us learn this lesson of Chris- 
 tian faith and hope, and look for them in the order in which 
 grace has ordained them to come. We are saved by faith in 
 the Son of God, and not by faith in our faith. Let us under- 
 stand that the faith and the experience of grace we so eagerly 
 seek to certify are to be found not in themselves or in any 
 isolated position in our minds, but in connection with that 
 great truth which is the primary basis of faith, experience, and 
 the hope they yield—that Jesus is the Son of God, mighty to 
 save. Let us correct this blunder in our Christian life and 
 accept with a clear apprehension the great gospel doctrine 
 that faith comes by hearing, and thus knowing, the truth as it 
 is in Jesus. Faith is all-important, but only because it 
 brings to Christ, in whom alone the power to save is found. 
 There is no scriptural warrant for putting faith in the place 
 of that redemption and that Redeemer in whom we are re- 
 quired to trust. Our faith at its best is too feeble, too fluc- 
 tuating, too easily shaken, to form the primary basis of a 
 stable and robust hope. It is indispensable to all rational 
 hope, and eminently to a hope full of assurance—at once 
 staunch and full of comfort—that it be founded on something 
 more effective and more durable than any human faith, no 
 matter how true and noble it may be. 
 
 Another, and a better, ground of both faith and hope, is 
 furnished in the gospel of the grace of God. It is the fin- 
 ished work of the Saviour himself. It needs no addition to 
 complete its virtue; it is already complete. . It meets every 
 conceivable or possible emergency in the condition of a sin- 
 ner, past, present, or to come. That extinction of hope that 
 follows sin in the believer is a gross discount of the power of 
 the atoning blood. If every sin of the believer is properly 
 followed by the extinction of hope, no hope is possible to 
 him; for he is continually coming short in his obedience. 
 Only presumptuous sinning is entitled to overcloud his hope, 
 
GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE TO BELIEVERS. 249 
 
 and that no longer than repentance won by a fresh resort to 
 the cleansing blood is exercised. The true attitude of the 
 Christian when he sins is to go instantly to the throne of 
 grace with a prompt confession of his sin, and an instant 
 and fresh appeal to the power of the atonement and the 
 grace of the great High Priest. Who can estimate ade- 
 quately the power of that remedy which we are assured takes 
 away all sm? Who can guage the power of divine blood? 
 Who can exhaust the reach of a righteousness which God 
 has wrought out? The whole salvation is the salvation of 
 God. The torment of sin in the conscience is that God 
 is rightfully offended; but if God himself is revealed as 
 the deliverer from sin, who is entitled to gainsay it, or refuse 
 to apply to him in his character as a Saviour? If God 
 be for us, who can be against us? If we are commanded 
 to hope in God as a Saviour from sin, where is the warrant 
 for losing hope just because we have sinned? It is said 
 that we encourage sin by this freedom of grace in forgive- 
 ness. Cannot God’s own deliverance from sin be relied 
 upon, not only to secure pardon but to secure repentance? 
 Cannot he freely forgive, and yet govern; pardon, and yet 
 purify; relax penalty, and yet secure obedience? All that 
 is provided for in the covenant of grace. All who believe 
 are kept by the power of God through faith unto eternal 
 life. The integrity of the weakest is secured; for it is ex- 
 plicitly declared that God is able to make him stand. As 
 already said, every emergency is provided for in a way to war- 
 rant the positive pledge, he that believeth shall be saved. 
 
 As the whole length and breadth and depth and height 
 of the Christian ground of hope is more perfectly appre- 
 hended, the more fully is it seen to warrant a hope that is 
 unspeakable and full of glory. Is it not a shame to mistrust 
 in any direction a salvation by God himself? The blood of 
 Christ secures pardon for all sin; his indwelling Spirit se- 
 cures deliverance from its dominion; his righteousness, an 
 
250 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 assured title to eternal life. No greatness of human guilt can 
 overcome the power of the atonement; no strength of per- 
 sonal wickedness can defy the control of his life-giving 
 power. All the provisions needful to a full deliverance from 
 sin are embraced in the covenant executed by the Son, and 
 have been ratified by the veracity of the Father. They are 
 guarded by his power; they are supported by his whole cir- 
 cle of moral attributes; they are executed by his Spirit; they 
 are bound up with his glory. They are as reliable as his 
 throne. They are guaranteed by his very life, for he Says, 
 “Because I live, ye shall live also.” He won the power to 
 save by the sacrifice of his life once; he has pawned it a 
 second time to insure its application to every believing soul. 
 It is impossible to give an exhaustive statement of the guar- 
 antees of the great Christian ground of hope. The infinite 
 love of the Father, the dying love of the Son, the indwelling 
 love of the Spirit, and the infinite power of the Triune God, 
 ali enter into them. If any basis for hope, a hope full of 
 immortality, can be conceived by any stretch of human 
 thought, it is overpassed by the actual securities of the gOs- 
 pel covenant. With such a basis for hope there is no excuse 
 for any sinning soul to go burdened with fear,—no sinner to 
 remain in his sin,—no believer to live without rejoicing in 
 the Lord always. 
 
 The last characteristic of the hope of God’s calling which 
 we cite is its capacity for coéxisting with all the changes in 
 the Christian career. With whatever change of circumstance, 
 with whatever trial, with whatever condition of life, with 
 whatever form of death, this hope may exist. Every believer 
 may rejoice in the Lord always. It is not necessary that he 
 should escape trouble in any form; he may rejoice in spite 
 of all. Age may not yield its infirmities; bereavement may 
 not receive back its dead; poverty may not relax its se- 
 verities; death may refuse to turn back the head of his 
 pale horse, or to blunt the point of his fatal dart: yet the 
 
GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE TO BELIEVERS. 251 
 
 hope of the calling of God may coéxist with all, and triumph 
 over all. It can cheer the common roadway of ordinary life, 
 _ animate the labors of men, sweeten the charms of domestic 
 life, color the beauty of nature with new delight, and over 
 all the ills that flesh is heir to can exert a subduing influence. 
 Its practical value is inestimable. Such is the hope of God’s 
 calling. 
 
 2. The second of these truths on which Paul desired the 
 improved spiritual discernment of the Ephesian Christians 
 should be exerted, is the inheritance of God in the saints. 
 This truth and the one associated with it are cited from 
 their bearing on the hope of the calling of God. Both logi- 
 cally bear on it and confirm it. 
 
 It is to be noted that this inheritance is not the inheritance 
 of the saints in God, but his inheritance in the saints. They 
 also do have an inheritance in God, for they are joint heirs 
 with Christ in an inheritance which is described in noble 
 words as incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 
 This inheritance is sometimes confounded with the one here 
 mentioned; but this is the inheritance of God in the saints. 
 The terms used in description of this inheritance are cumu- 
 lative and very powerful in expression; it is called “the 
 riches of the glory of his inheritance,” that is, the glorious 
 riches or wealth of this inheritance, a form of expression 
 which carries, with all the power of the rich Greek tongue, 
 the idea of the infinite worth of God’s inheritance in the 
 saints. The expression itself, inheritance of God, is very 
 peculiar. An inheritance isa possession not originally one’s 
 own, derived to him by the death of another. The singu- 
 larity of God’s inheriting a possession is grounded on the 
 fact that, as the creator of all things, he had an original pro- 
 prietary right in all things. His inheriting anything implies 
 a change in his original relations to it. Such, in point of 
 fact, was the state of the case with his creature man. Man 
 as his creature, was his by absolute right; but man had re- 
 
252 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 belled, renounced his claims, thrown off his authority and 
 yielded himself to another master. The effect of this was 
 that man had become lost to God. The penal claims of vio- - 
 lated law had taken possession of him, and while the right 
 of God in his creature had not been abolished, the claims of 
 justice had rendered it no longer possible for God to show 
 him favor, apart from the consideration of an adequate re- 
 demption from the demands of his insulted government. If 
 such a policy was practicable and permissible, then his right 
 to bless his lost creature and regain his lost property in him 
 was possible. It is the very essence of the gospel that the 
 Son of God did undertake this wonderful enterprise of re- 
 deeming the lost human race, and by actually accomplishing 
 it, restored the practical ownership of the Father in his lost 
 creature. Once lost, but now redeemed by the Son, the 
 restored right of the Father possesses that distinctive feature 
 of an inheritance which consists in something not one’s own, 
 derived and bestowed by another. Inasmuch as the Son of 
 God had to accomplish the redemption by the sacrifice of 
 his life, the other element of an inheritance, derivation 
 through death, appears in God’s inheritance in the saints, 
 and his restored right becomes an inheritance in the strictest 
 sense of the term. 
 
 The value, the peculiar and surprising value, which this 
 inherited possession has in the eyes of the Father is strik- 
 ingly presented in the strong cumulative terms in which it is 
 described. It is “a glory” of an inheritance. It is a veri- 
 table wealth of glory as an inheritance. The language carries 
 the notion of estimated worth to its highest expression; it 
 describes the most valued of all his possessions. God is 
 rich; he owns all things; the wide universe is all his own. 
 The stars and suns, all the riches of inventive wisdom and 
 power infinite in degree, are his; the splendor of heaven and 
 the rainbow-circled throne are his; the glorious angels, with 
 their princely dominions and personal gifts, are all his; but 
 
Gurr or KNowWLEDGE TO BELIEVERS. AGES 
 
 the real wealth of the glory of his vast possession is this in- 
 heritance obtained by the unparalleled work and out-poured 
 blood of his Son. This is the great reason why the posses- 
 sion is so precious: it was bought for him by the death of 
 his only-begotten and well-beloved Son. The saints are 
 identified with this infinitely beloved being; they are his 
 friends; they are Azs brethren; they are Azs loved ones; they 
 are the purchase of Ads priceless blood, the acquisition of Azs 
 mighty and victorious struggle with the awful conditions of 
 human redemption. That contention is the wonder of the 
 universe, the unequaled and splendid mystery of all the 
 counsels of God. Is it wonderful that God should value an 
 acquisition obtained by such mysterious humiliation, agony, 
 and death on the part of his own Son? A band of ma- 
 rauders swoop down on the flocks and herds of a great 
 pastoral chief; his gallant son pursues the robbers, and. by 
 wonderful displays of valor and conduct rescues the pro- 
 perty and restores it to his father; and as the restored flock 
 is driven back on the paternal meadows, the heroic youth is 
 borne back to his father’s house pale with many a gaping 
 wound. Is it at all wonderful that the father should seta 
 higher value on the rescued herd than ever before? So with 
 the inheritance of God in his saints; there is a blood-mark 
 on every one of them; that mark is the blood of his Son, 
 and wherever he sees it he counts it richer than all the 
 jewels of his crown. The parallel only conveys a faint 
 shadow of the real case; for the inheritance of God was won 
 by a far more desperate adventure than a combat with rob- 
 bers of the desert, and by a far more trying sacrifice of his 
 glorious Son. All of God’s other works were accomplished 
 by the word of his power. A long preparation, amazing 
 transformations, years of effort, and awful agonies of strained 
 almightiness were necessary to accomplish this. No wonder 
 he values its results. 
 
 Another reason of the extraordinary value placed on the 
 
254 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 inheritance of God is, the relation it sustains to his Son’s 
 glory. That glory is indissolubly bound up with these 
 saints; if they are not saved, all his wonderful redemptive 
 work is an absolute failure. What the Almighty wills, sim- 
 ply resolves to accomplish, will be accomplished. Who can 
 stay his hand? What he executes by any formal and delib- 
 erate preparation to accomplish, gives to us a higher impres- 
 sion of the certainty of its production. But what had to be 
 done by such preliminary conditions as those involved in the 
 redemption of sinners: the descent of the eternal Son from 
 his throne; the assumption of human nature; the humilia- 
 tion; the want; the suffering; the implacable hostility; the 
 shame; the scourging; the spitting; the agony of crucifixion ; 
 the death—all these give us an assurance, which beggars all 
 human or creature conception, that what all this was done 
 for will surely be accomplished. Failure after all this is in- 
 conceivable. But if it could happen it would extinguish the 
 glory of the beloved Son; it would nullify his heroic en- 
 deavor ; it would render his infinite zeal of love abortive; it 
 would extinguish the awful virtue of his blood, and turn the 
 highest counsels of the only wise and omnipotent God into 
 foolishness. If the hope of the believer in Jesus is so bound 
 up with the glory of the Son, no higher guarantee of the as- 
 surance of that hope could possibly be given. The actual 
 measure of the value of God’s inheritance in the saints is the 
 length and breadth and depth and heighth of the glory of 
 the eternal Son and the esteem which the eternal Father 
 feels for it. 
 
 The value of the saints in the Father’s eyes is also en- 
 hanced by their relation to the glory of the Holy Ghost. He 
 undertakes to deliver them from the power and the inward 
 stain of their sin. He gives them the germ of the eternal 
 life in the beginning; he takes up his abode in them for a 
 period avowedly perpetual; he guides the whole process of 
 their purification; he guards their integrity. If all this 
 
GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE TO BELIEVERS. 255 
 
 should be baffled ana defeated, the glory of the Spirit would 
 be extinguished. The glory of the Father would be equally 
 shattered. The whole scheme of redemption was his; its 
 execution involved to him the cost of his Son’s humiliation, 
 and the contact of his Spirit for ages with the pollutions of 
 the hearts he purifies. Besides these awful considerations, 
 his character is illustrated in this wonderful enterprise as it is 
 in no other work of his hands. In every other work he has 
 ‘done, his attributes of wisdom, power, holiness, justice, and 
 truth are displayed in their normal forms and along the 
 natural lines of their exercise; they are manifested singly or 
 in combinations lmited by the object in view. But in the 
 plan of redemption they are exhibited in a combination and 
 degree without a parallel in the history of the universe 
 But more than this: in this grand enterprise alone, among all 
 the multiplied works of his hands, is there any disclosure of 
 that sweetest and most marvelous attribute of his nature, 
 the existence of which was unknown to the most profound 
 student of his glorious character among the angels of 
 his presence, that attribute which is worn to tatters in man’s 
 ungrateful ears—/is grace—his free and boundless love for 
 unholy creatures. But all the counsel of God, all his sacri- 
 fice in giving up his Son to redeem and his Spirit to sanc- 
 tify, all the marvels of his wisdom, holiness, goodness, jus- 
 tice and power would be nullified, if the subjects of the whole 
 erand endeavor should fail to receive any effectual benefit 
 from it. Nay, grace, the newly discovered attribute, will ap- 
 pear to be powerless of all abiding good effects. The issue 
 would be the ruin of the glory of the Spirit and the glory of 
 the Father, equally with that of the glory of the Son. Can 
 we wonder that an inheritance, which effectually forestalls, 
 and which only can forestall, such inestimable mischiefs as 
 these, should be esteemed and valued beyond all things else ? 
 
 But there are other less imposing, but yet powerful, con- 
 siderations that enter and enhance the value of God’s 
 
256 GIFts TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 inheritance in the saints. They are valued from their at- 
 tachment to the Son of his love. That Christ is precious to 
 the hearts of his saints is one of the infallible marks of 
 genuine saintship. They are valued by the Father for this 
 affection to his Son, and for all it leads them to endure and 
 do for the Son’s sake. Their glorious struggles to obey him, 
 their resistance to his enemies, their devotion to his great 
 cause, their self-denial, their suffering, their tears, their trust 
 in him, their weary but patient waiting, all because of their 
 fidelity and love to him, intensify the Father’s value for 
 them. This value is also enhanced by the great ends God 
 designs to accomplish by them. He has matched these frail 
 and faulty creatures against the enormous numbers and the 
 mighty combination and strength of the powers of darkness. 
 He sends them out as his shepherd with a sling to confront 
 the armed giant of the infernal hierarchy. By their weak 
 hands he intends to save the lost world of guilty immortals, 
 to pull down and grind to powder the mighty ramparts of 
 the satanic kingdom, and to establish on an unchanging 
 basis the splendor of his Son’s triumphant kingdom. They 
 are to judge the world as the assessors of the royal Judge at 
 the last day. They are probably to be the occasion by 
 which the spread of sin in the future is to be stayed in the 
 universe of God. They are the joint heirs with his Son, and 
 will reign with him forever and ever. If these grand ends in 
 the counsel of God can be defeated, then may the hope of 
 the saints be confounded. This is the value in the Father’s 
 eyes of his inheritance in the saints. Now the inference 
 may be fairly drawn from this inheritance, in its bearing on 
 the hope of his people, if God has actually such an inheri- 
 tance in them, are they not entitled to hope? The founda- 
 tion of it is stronger than the mountains. Is not therefore 
 the absence of hope in the heart of a saint a reproach as 
 well as a calamity, a mystery of weakness towards them- 
 selves, a miracle of injustice towards God? 
 
GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE TO BELIEVERS. DAS | 
 
 3. The sure hope of those who have been called of God is 
 confirmed, even beyond these enormous guarantees, by a con- 
 sideration of similar power. The third truth on which the 
 apostle desired the improved spiritual intuitions of the 
 Ephesian Christians to be exercised was “the exceeding great- 
 ness of his power to us-ward who believe.” The discernment 
 of this power would develop and confirm the hope of their 
 calling, because it was the second guarantee of this hope. 
 The power of the Almighty God could surely certify anything 
 it undertook to do. Such is the apostle’s reasoning. The 
 full energy of accumulated expression is used to convey an 
 idea of this awful force. It is described as “the exceeding 
 greatness of his power.” The original Greek words are even 
 more expressive: they speak of it as “the might of the en- 
 ergy of his power,” or, in other phrase, “the energy of his 
 power in its might, in the uttermost of its strength.” The 
 words express the full energy of the power that is in the 
 Almighty God. They carry the notion that all the power 
 that is in the Infinite God is pledged to guarantee the hope 
 of every believer. The full weight of this expression cannot 
 be brought out until we compare it with a fact, and that is, 
 that in all the works of God he has never put forth more 
 than a part of his power. The grandest exertion of it has 
 been made in the several departments of the work of re- 
 demption, but his full energy has never been taxed to the 
 uttermost of infinite power. Already, in every believer a 
 single instance of his peculiar and distinctive divine energy 
 has been displayed in their new creation by the power of 
 the Holy Spirit. Similar exercises of it attend the devel- 
 opment of this germ of eternal life to its final perfection, and 
 is all-sufficient to effect both. It is said to be the same 
 power employed in raising our Lord from the dead. It was 
 not exhausted in either of these marvelous works, the raising 
 of a dead soul to spiritual life, and of a dead Christ to the 
 resurrection life; it still abides undiminished and undimin- 
 
 17 
 
258 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 ishable. This one part or portion of the almighty power is 
 sufficient to give an unimpeachable guarantee to the hope of 
 God’s calling and the expectation of his saints; it has been 
 already exemplified and demonstrated. Yet the strong phrases 
 of the inspired apostle assure us that, beyond this actually 
 exerted and sufficient power, the whole residuary mass of 
 power in the boundless energies of the Almighty God is 
 pledged to secure the hope of his calling and the integrity 
 of his inheritance. If all the power inherent in a Being 
 whose every quality is stamped with the impress of absolute 
 infinity, can secure a hope, then the hope of his calling 1s as- 
 sured. Assurance can rise no higher. The great inheritance 
 of God through the death of his Son and the limitless great- 
 ness of his power are the two great buttresses of the Chris- 
 tian hope. What can undermine it? If such is the safety 
 of every believer, and such the real security of his hope, 
 even of the weakest who has received the explicit assurance 
 that “God is able to make him stand,” what ought to be the 
 hope even of the weakest? Hope has no sphere except in 
 the future; it deals only with the future; and if the future is 
 assured, what can lawfully interfere with the hope and the 
 present comfort of his saints? If their hope is defective, it 
 does injustice to the ground on which it is based; it ought 
 to be commensurate with it. Let us hearken to the gracious 
 command, Give all diligence to reach the full assurance of 
 hope to the end. The hope in the heart ought always to be 
 adjusted to the ground of hope in the covenant. , 
 
CHAP THR: IV: 
 THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ‘‘In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Hol 
 Spirit of promise.”— Paul to the Ephesians. 
 
 ANG continuous work must be performed by a succession 
 of special acts. The work of the Holy Spirit in the 
 purification of believers is accomplished by such a succes- 
 sion. Abiding always in the regenerate soul, he discharges 
 his covenant engagements by repeated exertions of his 
 power, in a series of acts differing each from the other, 
 though all are connected as parts of a whole, and each is 
 productive of progressive effect on the grand purpose of 
 them all. ‘These special acts of the Spirit are sampled in 
 the witness of the Spirit, in the anointing of the Spirit, and 
 in the action alluded to in the passage at the head of this 
 chapter, the sealing of the Spirit. Each of these actions has 
 a general and a special significance, as will be illustrated 
 hereafter. A seal is a symbol of expression, an inarticulate 
 sign to which a certain meaning, or a certain number of 
 meanings, has been attached by a conventional or arbitrary 
 appointment. The use of the seal has been a custom among 
 all nations of any advancement in civilization, and among 
 barbarous or semi-civilized tribes. The signet, or seal, was 
 in use from an early period, at least as early as the time of 
 Judah the son of Jacob. It was common among the kings 
 as well as the private persons of the oriental nations, and 
 has descended to modern nations in the usages of law and 
 commerce, and as the personal signatures of individual men. 
 Among the ancients the seal was often worn also as a per- 
 sonal ornament as well as an instrument of business, generally 
 259 
 
2.60 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 as a ring upon the finger, and sometimes as a bracelet upon 
 the arm. This use of the seal also continues in modern 
 times. No special form was essential to the uses of a seal; 
 it might be of any form and with any device graven upon it. 
 The actual purpose of the symbol might be different, being 
 more or less extensive as determined by custom, by the 
 law of the land, or by the determination of individual will. 
 A seal of extreme simplicity of form might be made to 
 carry almost any wealth of meaning. The connection be- 
 tween the sign and the thing signified being purely con- 
 ventional, or a matter of voluntary arrangement, it is ob- 
 vious that either one or any number of meanings might 
 be attached to it. The seal was often rich in significance. 
 It was used to grant authority, to give a commission, to 
 delegate power. Thus Ahasuerus, the Persian king, took 
 his ring from his finger and gave it to Haman, the son of 
 Hammedatha, when he authorized the destruction of the 
 captive Jews. It was used to attest instrwments of writing, 
 commissions, covenants, and contracts, as in the case of Jere- 
 miah the prophet, when he bought the field in Anathoth, of 
 Hanameel, his uncle’s son. It was used for the purpose of 
 confirming and giving assurance, as when Abraham received 
 the sign of circumcision, as a seal of the righteousness 
 of the faith which he had, being yet uncircumcised. It was 
 used as a mediwm of proof, or a testimony, as when Paul 
 appealed to the converts under his preaching as the seal 
 of his apostleship. It was used as a certificate of trustworthi- 
 ness in a ground of confidence and a pledge of safety to those 
 who relied upon it, as when the foundation of God is said 
 to stand sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that 
 are his; and when Satan is cast into the bottomless pit, and a 
 seal is set upon him for a thousand years. Finally, it was used 
 to secure secrecy, as when John in Patmos saw a book sealed 
 with seven seals. While there is no definite room to assert 
 that the seal of the Spirit is designed to carry all these 
 
THE SEALING OF THE Sptrtr. 261 
 
 meanings, yet certainly the use of the word seal, to describe 
 a sanctifying act of the Holy Ghost, would be altogether 
 - misleading, if it was not to be construed as carrying some of 
 the most important of them at least. In one place the seal- 
 ing of the Spirit is indicated in general terms as the con- 
 firmation of the hope of believers, as when we are told not 
 to grieve the Holy Spirit, whereby we are sealed unto the 
 day of redemption. In more than one place the sealing of 
 the Spirit is identified with the earnest of the Spirit, as a 
 general pledge of safety to the believer. This is, then, the 
 general significance of the seal of the Holy Ghost. But there 
 is a special significance, as we shall see, not absolutely iden- 
 tical with the earnest, but going somewhat beyond it, not so 
 much designed to give assurance of safety as to keep our 
 minds in the love of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. 
 _It is this special influence in giving stability to all the mental 
 exercises of the believer which has so important and pow- 
 erful a bearing on the hope and peace of the saint in this 
 present life. It is to this special energy of grace, then, that we 
 wish to turn attention. What does the sealing of the Spirit 
 under this aspect signify ? 
 
 ‘1. We remark, then, as preliminary, that it is a work of the 
 Spirit peculiar to souls already in the faith. Some of his 
 gracious work is done in unbelievers in order to lead them to 
 the exercise of faith; but this sealing work is not; it is dis- 
 tinctly said that the sealing with the Holy Spirit of promise 
 took place “after ye believed.” 
 
 2. Neither is it to be confounded with regeneration. Re- 
 generation is done in the unregenerate soul, and in order to 
 regenerate and change the heart. The prayer of Paul for 
 the increase of grace in the Ephesians proceeded on the 
 previous recognition of their faith in Jesus, and their love to 
 all the saints. This faith and love to the brethren are recog- 
 nized marks of a soul already regenerate. The sealing of 
 the Spirit, then, was to be done in the regenerate soul. This 
 
262 Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 also indicates a distinction between the seal and the earnest 
 of the Holy Ghost: the earnest is given in regeneration, the 
 sealing, in its special significance, after it. | 
 
 3. Nor is the sealing of the Spirit to be confounded with 
 sanctification in general. Sanctification is a term that en- 
 braces the whole progressive work of subduing the inward 
 energy of sin in the soul, and inbreeding the graces of holi- 
 ness in the place of it. The sealing is one of many special 
 acts of gracious energy by which this long, progressive work 
 is accomplished. It is no more to be confounded with the 
 general work it is designed to accomplish, than the witness of 
 the Spirit, or the intercession of ihe Spirit, or the bringing to 
 mind of the Spirit. All of them are special acts by which 
 the general work is accomplished—specific and separate 
 manifestations of the Spirit’s influence by which he carries 
 out his great covenanted work, but are to be distinguished 
 from it, although connected with it. What, then, is the nature 
 of the special significance of the sealing of the Holy Ghost? 
 
 4. This question may be answered in the light of a testi- 
 mony of Scripture, and of a Christian experience common to 
 every believer, and really not unknown to some unregenerate 
 persons, who have been to a certain extent under the influence 
 of the Holy Ghost, and who have found out, by what may 
 prove a fatal experience, how frail and evanescent are spiritual 
 impressions in an unholy soul. The Bible recognizes this 
 tendency to fade out in both classes, the regenerate and the 
 unregenerate. It speaks of a goodness which is like the 
 morning clouds and the early dew. It exhorts believers to 
 stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made them 
 free, and to keep themselves in the love of God. The uni- 
 versal experience of Christians illustrates the need of these 
 exhortations, and for the sealing of the Spirit. They know 
 how frail are their richest spiritual apprehensions of the 
 truth, their warmest and most comfortable frames of feeling, | 
 their most ardent aspirations, their firmest resolves. They 
 
 = 
 
THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT. 26a 
 
 know how easily the spirit of prayer dies out, how quickly 
 clear and joyful apprehensions of the doctrines of grace, and 
 the promises of the covenant, die away, how soon the most 
 spiritual frames of feeling perish. All this they know by an 
 experience too definite to be mistaken, too sorrowful to be de- 
 nied. They tremble under it; they thus learn to mistrust 
 their hope; they are often led by it to discount all their 
 claims to Christian character, and they are thus emptied of 
 comfort. It is obvious that the relief for this would be an 
 influence to counteract this evanescent character of spiritual 
 apprehensions, and to give stability to the various exercises 
 of the Christian feelings which delight so much by their 
 presence, and grieve so much by their fleeting and unstable 
 hold on the heart. The old hymn which has voiced the 
 experience of so many modern followers of Christ repre- 
 sents exactly the felt want and the recognized relief :* 
 
 ‘*Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it: 
 Prone to leave the God I love: 
 Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it; 
 Seal it from thy courts above.” 
 
 As the need is for some more stable and abiding form to 
 the experiences of grace, the cure is to be found zn the seal- 
 ing of the Spirit. The nature of this sealing, then, in its 
 special significance, is plain enough: it is an act of the 
 Spirit’s influence, giving stability and strength to all the exer- 
 cises of the renewed goul, and thus adding clearness to the 
 evidences of regeneration, giving force and definiteness to 
 the doctrines and precepts of the word, infusing vigor into 
 hope, multiplying comfort, and bestowing firmness and 
 endurance on the zeal of the soul, and on all the energies of 
 conduct. It is an action of the Holy Spirit assuring and 
 adding vigor to all his work in the heart, giving more definite, 
 stable, and abiding form to all the graces, the germ of which 
 
 * Philip of Maberley’s ‘‘ Love of the Spirit.” 
 
264 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 he has implanted in regeneration. It is done in pursuance 
 of his covenant engagements, with a view to the more effec- 
 tive advancement of his work of sanctifying the believer. 
 The sealing of the Spirit is an all-important part of his official 
 action. It is not only, in one sense at least, essential to the 
 discharge of the functions assigned to him in the covenant of 
 grace, but it is indispensable to the comfort and the highest 
 usefulness of the souls he has undertaken to purify. The 
 joy of the Lord is their strength. This will appear under 
 the following statements. 
 
 5. The Spirit seals and gives permanence to the desire of the 
 regenerate soul for the salvation of God. He originally creates 
 this desire in the unconverted heart, awakens the conscience, 
 alarms the fears, overcomes the mad resistance which always 
 meets it and avimates it, until the sinner has been made 
 willing in the day of his power. But for this gracious action 
 of the Spirit on the will, the sinning soul would surely ac- 
 complish its own ruin. In this treatment of the unconverted 
 soul we have an image of the sealing power of the Spirit 
 dealing with the will of the saint. - The resemblance is main- 
 tained along the line of a general direction; but a difference 
 is obvious. He acts on the will of both classes of men—in 
 the one to implant a desire, in the other to stimulate and 
 confirm a desire already implanted; in the one it is an act 
 of pure grace sovereignly exerted, in the other it is an act of 
 grace under covenant, sovereignly determining time and 
 measure of relief, yet faithful to covenant obligations freely 
 and sovereignly assumed. A seal is a symbol confirmatory 
 of all the pledges in the covenant or contract sealed. To 
 the unconverted God has not come under any covenant 
 pledge, and may, therefore, at any time previous to the exer- 
 cise of faith withdraw the Spirit, and give the resisting sin- 
 ner up to his own devices. But as soon as he believes, the 
 whole case is changed. God has graciously pledged himself 
 to save the sinner who believes, and as soon as he believes 
 
Ee. PGA PTY 25, 
 
 THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT. 265 
 
 God comes under covenant; he is bound by his own gracious 
 pledge. He now undertakes to absolutely save ; but he under- 
 takes to do it without violating the nature of the being he 
 has taken in hand. He rigorously respects all the laws of his 
 being. As manisacreature of reason and will, God saves him 
 in full recognition of both. He saves, not against his will, but 
 through it; he makes the sinner willing; he awakens his de- 
 sires, and then complies with them. This desire has to be 
 kept alive in the heart, and made to lead in the whole pro- 
 gress of the sanctifying work down to its triumphant conclu- 
 sion. As is the desire of the regenerate soul, so is the pro- 
 gress of his purification. Around this central point in the 
 mighty struggle the whole contention between the powers oi 
 darkness and the powers of grace is concentrated. To ex- 
 tinguish the desire of spiritual good, all the agencies hostile 
 to the salvation of the soul are directed; to sustain and in- 
 crease it is the aim of all the agencies friendly to that grand 
 purpose. It is the pivotal point of the whole case. Satan 
 knows that he cannot coérce a soul contrary to its own will, 
 and his whole strength is put forth to misguide the will, and 
 to make him the voluntary agent of his own destruction. God 
 equally respects the freedom of the creature, and grace 
 seeks to save him through his own will. That awful faculty 
 of free will, at once the glory and the peril of a moral agent, 
 is the vital centre of the whole mighty battle. It is, there- 
 fore, always surrounded with dangerous influences. The re- 
 maining depravity in a regenerate soul, that law of sin in the 
 members which is always contending with the new law of 
 grace in the mind, is always subtly eating at the desire of 
 the soul. The world and all its seductions are perpetually 
 adjusted to awaken other desires to supersede the desire of 
 grace. The mighty art and craft of the tempter and his 
 trained legions of seducers are all converged about this 
 one point. Here, too, the contending forces of the glorious 
 covenant concentrate their strength, and in no particular is the 
 
2.66 GIFTs To BELIEVERS. 
 
 wonderful energy of divine grace more wonderfully displayed 
 than in keeping the desire of eternal life burning, unextin- 
 guished by all the tremendous forces brought to bear on its ex- 
 tinction. Ah! itis ..o0t like the love-light of the Hindoo maiden 
 set afloat as the dusk settles down on the smooth waters 
 of the sacred Ganges and under the still air of an Indian 
 summer evening. It is a point of slender flame, no bigger 
 than the blaze of a candle, set afloat on the wild waves of 
 the tempest-ridden seas. The mad waters are lashing at it; 
 the winds are blowing .a hurricane upon it; it is amazing 
 that it lives fora moment. But, strange to see and strange 
 to say, clear, shining through the darkness and the storm; 
 now riding on the crest of the billows; now buried in the 
 belly of the deep, that slender flame floats unharmed. It 
 has been sealed by the Holy Ghost, and in that impervious 
 casing of covenanted grace it will ride out the tempest, safe 
 and inextinguishable. Christians are sometimes tempted to 
 hard thoughts of God because he does not respond more 
 promptly to their desires after grace; but that desire itself is 
 proof of the living energy of grace within them; this alone 
 ought to comfort them. Those in whose breasts the desire 
 for God’s salvation lives steadily, even though somewhat 
 feebly, as the years pass, know something at least of the 
 sealing of the Spirit. The stronger and more eager, the 
 more constant and abiding in its eagerness, this desire is, 
 the more clear becomes the evidence of the sealing of the 
 Spirit. Without his perpetual touch the desire would have 
 perished in the heart of an apostle. Often fluctuating, often 
 feeble, sometimes apparently extinct, it is nevertheless inde- 
 structible, because it has been sealed by the Holy Ghost. 
 This living desire, sealed thus by the energy of the Spirit, will 
 always lead to the higher energy of volition corresponding 
 with it, the sealed purpose and determination to seek 
 actively for the favor of God. Often, under discouragements 
 and serious trials of faith, failures to realize specifie hopes, 
 
THE SEALING OF THE,.SPIRIT. 267 
 
 or to attain the measure of comfort we desire, there is strong 
 temptation to construe ourselves as altogether mistaken in 
 our confidence and hope, and thus to abandon hope and 
 effort altogether. If our hearts were not sealed by the Spirit 
 that hour of trial would be apt to prevail; but when, in spite 
 of discouragement, the desire still breeds and animates the 
 purpose to seek on, and if need be perish seeking for mercy, 
 it shows the sealing of the Spirit. Believers have ample 
 reason to thank God for this gift of his grace to his chil- 
 dren. 
 
 6. The Spirit also seals our sense and feeling of our spir- 
 itual necessities. The intuitions of sin and the sense of 
 guiltiness and personal pollution, which spring up under the 
 convicting energies of the Holy Ghost, are always painful; 
 the mingled feeling of dread and shame is well-nigh unbear- 
 able. Nature shrinks under it, and an effort to throw it off 
 is inevitable. Even in the experience of the Christian, who 
 has desired and prayed for these deepened intuitions of his 
 personal sin, there is need for caution and self-restraint 
 when his prayer is answered, and this quickened sense of 
 his criminality is upon him. He needs to have his desire 
 for them, and his faith in their value to him, sealed by the 
 Spirit. Under the impulse of natural reluctance to suffer, and 
 under the constant, secret repulsion of the law of sin remaining 
 in him, a silent resistance will be set up which needs con- 
 stant watchfulness and a steady effort to overcome. Other- 
 wise, the painful but wholesome apprehensions will begin to 
 fade out, and the Christian soul returns to a certain normal 
 condition of feeling, partially sensible of the criminal nature 
 of his sin, yet so imperfectly apprehensive of it as to leave 
 room for many a grave and haunting fear lest these needful 
 intuitions of sin should be fatally defective. It is obvious 
 how these clear and strong apprehensions of spiritual neces- 
 sities would exert a profound modifying influence upon 
 character and on all the gracious experiences of the soul, if 
 
268 | Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 they were sealed and made stable in the heart. They would 
 lead to a deeper repentance; to a more profound humility; 
 to a more eager clinging to Christ as the Saviour; to a richer 
 ultimate development of all the graces of a purified heart. It 
 is very sure, that if the Holy Spirit did not seal the percep- 
 tion and feeling of spiritual want, they would speedily die 
 out altogether. All who have this abiding and prevalent, 
 even though fluctvating and feeble, apprehension of their 
 spiritual wants, are not entirely without some evidence of 
 the sealing of the Spirit in their hearts. 
 
 7. The sealing work of the [Holy Ghost also embraces the 
 great doctrines of the covenant, and so affects the sense and 
 spiritual discernment of their real significance as to bring 
 out their intrinsic power to impress the human heart. No- 
 thing is more unintelligible to a certain class of minds than the 
 esteem placed by others on the doctrines of the gospel. To 
 them they are mere intellectual combinations of certain mys- 
 terious and unpractical ideas, in no way different from mere 
 metaphysical or speculative theories; both are assigned to 
 the same class of intellectual productions to which all such 
 theories are asserted to belong. ‘To them the zeal for doc- 
 trinal accuracy is nothing more than zeal for precision in 
 idea where it is of no particular importance whether accu- 
 racy or inaccuracy prevails. ‘The conception is wholly erro- 
 neous. A Christian doctrine is no mere combination of mere 
 ideas; it is a verbal description of a great fact. Accuracy 
 and completeness in the conception of facts is recognized as 
 a matter of supreme importance in these days of scientific 
 investigation, and the verbal description of a fact is recog- 
 nized as only relatively important to the fact it describes. 
 The verbal description of a great work of engineering is en- 
 tirely subordinate to the thing which is described. The doc- 
 trinal statements and expositions of the Christian teachers 
 are mere descriptions of great things, some accomplished al- 
 ready, and some yet to be accomplished. The doctrine of 
 
THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT. 269 
 
 the resurrection is a mere verbal statement of a great fact in 
 the future history of the human race. The doctrine of the 
 atonement is the verbal account of a grand enterprise accom- 
 plished in order to bear on the sins of mankind. The doc- 
 trine of the kingdom of Christ is a mere verbal delineation 
 of the force and ascendency of a kingdom now and yet to be 
 as completely a matter of fact in the history of the world as 
 the kingdom of England or the empire of Germany. The 
 blunder in the conception of doctrine is gross and inexcus- 
 able. The explanation shows that there is an immeasurable 
 power in the Christian doctrine. The doctrine of.a divine 
 Saviour and the redeeming energy of his blood is the only 
 possible source of a sound hope and comfort to a mind re- 
 ally awake to just conceptions of sin. But as soon as the 
 notion of an effectual atonement takes hold of the heart 
 pierced and pained by a sense of guilt, it will at once reveal 
 its antidotal power. Peace will spread its white wings over 
 the disturbed soul, and it will rejoice in God the Saviour. 
 This instance samples the influence of the Christian doc- 
 trine when apprehended by the intimate knowledge Paul 
 desired for the Ephesians. But, alas, how soon the sweet 
 vision passes! The Saviour found is far too often like the 
 Saviour seen after the resurrection, at the supper-table in 
 Emmaus—revealed in the breaking of bread, and satisfying 
 one spell of hunger, and then vanishing away. How glorious 
 would be the blessing of a sealed and stable vision of a 
 divine Saviour! How sweet are even these passing appre- 
 hensions of the unsearchable riches, the freedom, the com- 
 pleteness, the exact adjustments to human need of the great 
 salvation. Fleeting as they are they abide in memory like a 
 sweet spring morning, and often exert a commanding infiu- 
 ence for a half-century of time. But, alas, they commonly 
 vanish soon, like a sunset glory of crimson and gold sinking 
 into the grey dusk of twilight, and often into the darkness of 
 night. How happy if they could only be sealed by the 
 
tb” 
 
 AAU) GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 Spirit into some stable dwelling in the rejoicing soul! That 
 effect is possible to every believer, to enable him to obey 
 the command to rejoice in the Lord always; for the Spirit 
 does seal the vision of a Saviour and his great salvation; and 
 if more sought as a sealing power he would do more of his 
 sealing work. In like manner, he seals the view of the plan 
 of salvation. How clear and simple, how complete and 
 satisfactory, the way of life seemed in the first hour of a 
 living faith! How easy it was to believe! How simple faith 
 appeared to be! How completely it lost sight of itself, and 
 how fully it was satisfied with Christ! It wanted no other 
 ground of trust; he was enough! Yet how quickly this 
 happy mood passed away! How mysterious faith grew to 
 be! What struggles, vain struggles, to get back to the same 
 state of mind! What a blessing it would be to have that 
 view of Christ, faith, and the plan of salvation sealed and 
 stamped with a more stable hold in the heart! Do we not 
 begin to see how precious is the sealing of the Holy Ghost? 
 
 8. This will appear still more forcibly when we consider 
 him as the sealer of the promises. These promises are in 
 themselves both great and precious. _When faith takes. 
 
 proper hold upon them they lift the burden of all earthly 
 care; they soothe sorrow; they quell regrets; they open 
 
 boundless prospects of permanent and invaluable possessions 
 to the heirs of God. Yet how poor is the effect they gener- 
 
 ally have! Any trial of faith in them, any apparent failure 
 to realize them according to our own notions of what the 
 fulfilment ought to be—in the time, place, or substance of 
 that fulfilment—seems to empty them of all meaning, and 
 turn them into mockeries of our misery instead of stable ele- 
 ments of our comfort. Nay, in trials of faith which are really 
 severe, when the providences of God seem to deny his words, 
 how precious then would be the sealing of the promises in 
 our hearts, and the enablement of faith to stand steadfast on 
 the bare word of the Lord, coupled with a full trust 7n him 
 
 Se ee eS 
 
 a 
 
 ! 
 a 
 
Te 
 
 THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT. yaa 
 
 as well as in Ais promises. The promises are often fulfilled 
 when they seem fora time to be denied. Qur Lord prayed 
 to be delivered, and was delivered from what he feared; yet 
 through all the needful trial he had to go. His faith did 
 not fail, though the cup did not pass. Deliverance may 
 come after an_evil happens; it may be arrested_as well as 
 prevented. The denial of a petition is often the prelude to. 
 its answer, or the grant of a better equivalent. God does does 
 not engage to answer all prayers of his people according to 
 the literal tenor of their petitions, for their prayers are often. 
 
 diametrically opposed, and this would introduce utter confu- 
 sion. Unlimited answers to all human petitions would make 
 the discretion of man, and not the wisdom of God, the ruling — 
 
 power in the administration of the universe. He will not 
 give a stone for bread, and Christians may be often asking 
 for a scorpion, when they think they are asking for an egg. 
 
 He wants them to trust himself as well as his words. On 
 the other hand, he does not wish us to construe his pro- 
 
 mises as empty of all meaning and encouragement t to pray 
 
 because he reserves the discretion of _answering s some peti- 
 
 Nera eh scetetmim nt pe 
 
 | tions in his own _ in his own hands. “No, “after all deductions are re made. 
 ' the promises the promises stand ; they are great and precious ; they _war- 
 
 rant steadfast and ‘unflinching prayer; they Saseeat unfailing — 
 
 expectations xpectations of a certain class of blessings ; they encourage - 
 _hope for many others. Livery prayer of faith offered accord- \ 
 
 ing to the written will of God is sure of some answer, in 
 some manner. There will be a large percentage of literal 
 answers to bold and patient, ardent and submissive pleading 
 of the promises. No doubt one reason why Christians are 
 timid in pleading the promises is that their insight 1s too 
 feeble to disclose the real meaning of the promises. It is 
 certain that we are commanded to come boldly to the throne 
 of grace. It is certain that great boldness of faith is com- 
 mended. The promises are like checks written in invisible 
 ink, plain when brought under the warmth of quickened 
 
ie, Gifts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 affections, but unseen in the common light and heat of day. 
 When they open their sense to the healthy spiritual mind, 
 they are full of power and great consolation. If they were 
 only opened and sealed in the heart by the Holy Ghost, 
 there would be no impediment to their free effects on the 
 soul; no trial would shake our confidence in them; no mis- 
 conception of them would empty them of their enormous 
 power to stimulate energy in obedience, and to fill the heart 
 with the sunrise splendor of an immortal hope. 
 
 9. Lhe Spirit seals the spirit of prayer. As God has ap- 
 pointed prayer and promised to answer it, it is necessary 
 that man should be adjusted to the work. There must be a 
 spirit or frame of mind suitable to the priceless ordinance, 
 This spirit of prayer embodies a lively confidence in the in- 
 strumentality adjusted to the real force that is in it. As it 
 is not for God’s honor to appoint an ordinance, and then 
 turn it to shame by making it powerless, so the true spirit of 
 prayer will be adjusted to this reliability in it. When the 
 spirit of prayer fills the soul, it will become eager, ardent, 
 intense in desire, resolute in action, patient in supplication, 
 and steadfast in faith. With this spirit there will be, not 
 only power in prayer, but confident and unpresuming expec- 
 tations of answers to prayer. The gift of such a spirit, and 
 itis one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to believers, is an 
 absolutely priceless grant. Yet how seldom it emerges in the 
 experience of the Christian! How few of them are ac- 
 quainted with the rapture of the exalted frame born of 
 strong desire and confident expectation! How few ever 
 realize the sense of power with a faithful God which grows 
 out of this spirit of prayer exalted to some of its higher de- 
 grees! Yet this is not exclusively the privilege of a few 
 favored saints; it is warranted in the covenant to any who 
 will seek for it, however it may be confined in fact to the 
 few who turn the privilege to account. It is not unfre- 
 quently given, but it is not cherished and preserved, and 
 
 —™, 
 ‘ - ad 
 - |, 
 
 LS as Ee eB apd Sar As PES By ea eke eps 
 
 | 
 — 
 , 
 
fo 
 
 bP 
 
 THE SEALING OF THE Sprit. 273 
 
 generally proves to be only a passing mood, leaving often 
 unutterable sense of loss, and yearning for its return. But 
 it does not come, for it is not sealed by the Spirit. He is 
 neglected in his sealing office, and the soul is left enfeebled 
 and desolate. But he can stereotype the spirit of prayer in 
 the heart, and is more ready to do all his gracious offices 
 in the Christian soul than earthly parents are to give good 
 gifts to their children. This sealing blessing is one of the 
 Spirit’s gifts to believers. 
 
 10._/n like manner the Spirit seals the evidences of conver- 
 ston in the renewed heart. Wow often do these appear dim 
 and doubtful even in a heart truly regenerate! At _At some rare 
 times they are clear and full of comfort; it is frequently the ly the 
 case that the soul has to look back from a period of c¢ confu- 
 sion to a clearer manifestation in the distant past. Just as 
 ‘David once did when his soul was cast down within him : 
 his only resource was to look back and recall the deliverance 
 and the joy that came to him when he was in the land of 
 Jordan and of the Hermonites, in the hill Mizar. This 
 policy is never long satisfactory, nor is it always safe. The 
 comfort of the believer ought always to be sought directly in 
 Christ the Lord, and only subordinately in anything else, no 
 matter how lawful. It would often be well for the believer, 
 instead of worrying over the effort to spell out the meaning 
 of signs which have lost color and definite outline, to go at 
 once, as at the first, to the feet of Jesus, and appeal to the 
 help of the Paraclete for sin, and to the Paraclete for the 
 inward struggle. The atoning blood of the one will always 
 give peace. (The other can bear witness with our spirits that 
 we are children of God, quicken the evidences in us and add 
 his testimony to them, and then seal the witness of both in 
 the heart. 
 
 11. The Spirit, in a word, seals all the energies of grace 
 of every kind, the affections, emotions, principles, and all the 
 other vital driving forces of the regenerate soul. Zeal and 
 
 18 
 
Wa 
 274 , Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 real energy, real joy, and a living delight in all the service of 
 God, appear sometimes in the experience of the average be- 
 liever, and then there is always life in his work, and happy 
 feelings even in hard and self-denying labor. But when 
 it passes off it leaves a spirit behind it which makes every 
 duty a burden, every sacrifice a grief, and every energy an 
 exhausted force. But a steady and ardent energy can be in- 
 fused into all the graces of the new man by the sealing of the 
 Spirit. All the principles of obedience can be made staunch 
 and resolute; every impulse can be turned to useful account, 
 and every affection be drawn out into pure and high devel- 
 opment by this gift to believers. 
 
 12. Lastly, the Spirit seals the hope of heaven in_the regen- 
 erate heart; and can so quicken and seal it in its improved 
 condition as to make it produce its legitimate effects on the 
 hope and the happiness of the Christian in this life. The 
 hope of heaven is in every saint, but it exerts an influence so 
 maimed and impoverished as to be even grotesquely out of 
 proportion to the intrinsic power of the object on which it is 
 exercised. [Heaven expresses the very highest embodiment 
 of glory, honor, and eternal life. A real and well-founded 
 hope of entering into such supreme conditions of blessedness. 
 has a natural tendency to breed not merely comfort, but joy 
 and exultation in the highest possible degree. But this ten- 
 dency is generally disabled of its effects in the experience of 
 the great bulk of regenerate men. Hven when the character 
 of Christian is fairly claimed, and although it is confessed 
 that every Christian soul will assuredly go into the mansions. 
 of the blessed dead, yet as soon as such a soul is challenged 
 to actually rise to the height of its great and acknowledged 
 expectations, it falters and trembles, and often passes over 
 into the contrary mood of actual despondency. In this state 
 of mind, even heaven becomes a depressing thought, and the 
 pilgrim of grace, on his way straight into the golden gates, 
 goes forward with his head wrapped in mourning weeds, his. 
 
 ee eS ee 
 
 d 
 is 
 
 a ae ~ 
 
THe SEALING OF THE’ SPIRIT. 275 
 
 eyes wet with tears, and his heart full of pain. His whole 
 mental state is in a false condition, unworthy of his hopes, 
 cruel to himself, and dishonoring to his Saviour. [I the 
 blessed sealing influence of the Holy Spirit could be brought 
 to bear on the hope of heaven, all this would be changed. 
 The transition into glory would never so alter its natural 
 effect as to become a depressing influence; all earthly cares 
 would be transfigured, and heaven, as the covenanted and 
 sealed home of the soul, would throw down upon the shad- 
 ows and the dark places of the earthly pilgrimage the sweet 
 and mellow splendor of the Paradise of God. To enjoy 
 habitually the hope of heaven, it is necessary to seek for the 
 sealing of the Spirit. It is a gift to believers beyond con- 
 ception in value. 
 
 It is plain that all Christians of every age, at all times 
 and under all circumstances, need the sealing office of the 
 Holy Ghost. The tendency of all the Christian frames and 
 exercises, under the present conditions of existence, is to 
 fade out; they need always to be confirmed and strength- 
 ened. The convictions or intuitive apprehension and sense 
 of sin; the discernment of the grace of God in its un- 
 searchable riches; the fatherhood of God; the love of the 
 Spirit; the grace of the Son; suitable views of doctrinal 
 truth ; resolutions of more fidelity in service; the perception 
 of need in ourselves and others; the communion of saints; 
 interest in the souls of particular persons and in the conver- 
 sion of the world; desires after holiness and efficiency in 
 service—all these are subject to this tendency to fade out, 
 and need the sealing of the Spirit. It is specially needed 
 by the aged Christian as the world goes more and more to 
 decay for him, and the realities of eternity bulk larger on 
 his vision. It is specially needed by all in times of afflic- 
 tion. It is one of the most precious of the gifts of the 
 Spirit to believers. 
 
COHPAS a gays 
 THE UNOTION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ‘But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” 
 —John. 
 
 HESE words describe another of the series of special 
 acts by which the Holy Spirit carries out his general 
 work of purifying the covenanted soul. Hach of these acts, 
 or certainly some of the more prominent members of the 
 series, seem to have a general and a special significance. 
 The Holy Ghost is given as a general seal, pledge, or security 
 that the promises to faith will be redeemed; and in this view 
 of it it is identical with the earnest of the Spirit; yet there is 
 a special sealing which is designed to give stability to the 
 various exercises of the renewed heart. The witness of the 
 Spirit has a general significance, because the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost in regeneration is a proof of saving grace in the 
 soul; yet this is different from that special testimony which 
 is borne concurrently with the testimony of the believer's 
 own spirit in proving his sonship. It is equally true in 
 reference to the action called the wnction of the Spirit; it, 
 too, has a general and special significance. The general 
 grant of the Holy Spivit to renew the heart is spoken of as 
 an outpouring of the Spirit, and an anointing of the Spirit. 
 The expression is a figurative one, drawn from the practice 
 of pouring oil on the head of one chosen to an office, or con- 
 secrated to a particular service. Oil was thus used as the 
 official sign of setting apart to the office of king, priest, 
 prophet, and captain of the host among the ancient Jews. 
 It was thus figuratively transferred to the vocabulary of the 
 gospel system in order to express different impressions made 
 by the grant and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The general 
 276 
 
THE UNCTION OF THE SPIRIT. ee 
 
 significance of the unction of the Spirit was this general set- 
 ting apart or consecration to the service of God. But the 
 act of anointing with oil did not only carry a certain signifi- 
 cance in meaning, but made a certain impression. The mean- 
 ing of the act was one thing, the impression of the act was 
 another, and the act itself was different from both. Nor will 
 we be able to gain a full conception of the action as a whole 
 unless we distinguish between the mere act which was transi- 
 tory, and the more abiding intention of the act and the more 
 abiding impression which it made. In the physical anoint- 
 ing with oil there was included the pouring out of the mate- 
 rial, the purpose to be served by it, and the effect on the 
 person of the individual anointed. In the anointing of the 
 Spirit there is the agency applied, which is the Spirit him- 
 self; the purpose to be gained—consecration to the general 
 or some special service of God; and the impression made on ~ 
 the heart and spirit of the anointed man to fit him for that 
 service. This enward impression is the special significance in 
 the unction of the Holy Ghost. In the sealing action of the 
 sanctifier there is a similar distinction between the seal and 
 the impression which it makes on one side, and the pur- 
 _ pose to be secured on the other. As, then, the sealing of 
 the Spirit is more than a general confirmatory grant or earn- 
 est, and implies also a special inward influence, giving sta- 
 bility to the frames and exercises of the Christian experi- 
 ence; as the witness of the Spirit is more than a general 
 proof or testimony from the work of the Holy Ghost, but is 
 also a special testimony about that work, giving assurance of 
 personal salvation, so the unction of the Spirit is a special, 
 consecrating influence, not only for the purpose of setting 
 apart for service, but for conveying a special personal fitness 
 to do the work or endure the trial. 
 
 Yet a further discrimination must be made. This unction 
 is said to be attended with a peculiar effect on the powers of 
 spiritual discernment: ‘Ye have an unction from the Holy 
 
278 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 One, and ye know all things.” A similar effect 1s exerted on 
 the power of spiritual intuition in regeneration. Is, then, 
 this peculiar unction of the Spirit to be identified with re- 
 generation, or, if not, in what does its power on the energies 
 of spiritual discernment differ from that of regenerating 
 grace? That the unction of the Spirit is not to be con- 
 founded with regeneration’ may be inferred from a number 
 of circumstances. It is inferable from the fact that regen- 
 eration, with its effect on the spiritual vision, can occur but 
 once, and its effect on the vision is to create the power to see, 
 where no such power existed before; but the oil of joy for 
 mourning may be repeatedly applied, and its effect on the 
 vision is simply to heal disorders which have impeded a 
 vision already existing, but diseased and disordered. It is 
 inferable from the fact that this unction is always attended 
 with strong and rejoicing spiritual apprehensions, ‘ye know 
 all things”; whereas in regeneration only a percentage of its 
 subjects see very clearly at the period of regeneration, and 
 frequently ‘“‘see men as trees walking.” It is inferable from 
 the fact disclosed in the experience of Christians universally, 
 that after the grant of spiritual vision in regeneration there 
 is many a spell of distressing darkness, showing disorder in 
 the granted vision, and the need of subsequent healing influ- 
 ences from the same loving and healing Spirit. The eyes of 
 the saint have to be anointed with eye-salve that they may 
 see many a time after the power of vision has been conferred 
 upon them. It may be inferred from the allusions of John 
 in the context of the passage at the head of this chapter; he 
 evidently teaches that the unction, with its greatly improved 
 powers of spiritual knowledge, was in those who possessed 
 the grace of regeneration; they were already saints, and this 
 abiding condition of advanced intuition was superinduced 
 upon previous gifts. Moreover, the exhortation of this same 
 John, in Revelation, to the church of Laodicea, to “ anoint 
 their eyes with eye-salve that they may see,” implies the 
 
THE UNCTION oF THE SPIRIT. 279 
 
 Same distinction. The church was in a state of extraordi- 
 nary declension; they are described as neither cold nor hot; 
 not warm with vigorous spiritual life, nor yet cold in spiritual 
 death. They were in utter spiritual darkness; but it was the 
 difference between eyes entirely blind and eyes diseased, 
 bandaged closely, and confined in a darkened room. They 
 could see no more than if they were actually without eye- 
 sight, and they needed an eye-salve which was never used to 
 give sight to the blind, but only to heal disorders which 
 prevented the use of a sight which was actually in posses- 
 sion. It is not warrantable to confound the unction of the 
 Spirit, and its effect on the organs of spiritual perception, 
 with regeneration and its effect on the same organ when 
 merely diseased. Regeneration creates the power of vision 
 in eyes totally blind; the unction heals its diseases when 
 given, and enables it to see clearly. This discrimination 
 has not been uselessly made. It brings before the troubled 
 Christian, tried by long spells of imperfect spiritual discern- 
 ment, the knowledge of a remedy not confined to the instant 
 and unrepeatable act of regeneration, whose effects his own 
 experience shows are not able to keep him in rejoicing views 
 of the truth, but a remedy capable of repeated and continuous 
 operation. 'The saints of God would be in a bad condition 
 indeed, if no steady sanctifying grace was provided for them, 
 and they were only left to the one impulse given in regen- 
 eration. 
 
 But this is not all that is important to be said in order to 
 lead up to a clear conception of this precious influence of the 
 Holy Spirit. The unction is not to be confounded with sanc- 
 tification in general any more than with regeneration. It is 
 one of the actions of the Spirit by which he carries forward 
 the work of sanctification, but is not to be identified abso- 
 lutely with it. It is always connected with it and designed 
 to promote it, but is yet to be distinguished from it. There 
 is a practical use for the distinction, inasmuch as the peculiar 
 
280 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 nature of the unction is so attractive, while its effects are so 
 purifying that it invites activity in seeking, more than some 
 other means of sanctification which may be equally effective, 
 yet not so pleasing. The graces and gifts of sanctification 
 may grow in darkness and pain; they always grow with con- 
 scious joy and freedom in their growth under the unction of 
 the Spirit. Trial and suffering, though commonly the con- 
 ditions of growth in grace, and to be welcomed as such, are, 
 nevertheless, not the only conditions of it. This will be ap- 
 parent as soon as we conceive the real nature of the unction 
 or inward impression made by the special anointing of the 
 Holy Ghost. This unction may be thus described: it is a 
 special act of gracious energy on the part of the indwelling 
 Spirit, by which he so softens and clears up the heart of the 
 saint that all the exercises of his graces, faith, hope, penitence, 
 long-suffering, joy, and gentleness—in a word, all the ener- 
 gies determined in him by regenerating grace—become free, 
 sweet, definite, clear, and full of a delightful energy. The im- 
 pression is analogous to the softening and soothing influence 
 of a perfumed oil on the skin. The progress in sanctifica- 
 tion is always delightful under the unction of the Spirit, be- 
 cause it always brings clearness to vision, warmth and sweet- 
 ness to the affections, fervency and great tenderness to 
 prayer, great submission and great boldness to faith, great 
 ardor to hope, great keenness and pitying softness to zeal— 
 in a word, this wonderful grace of the Holy One infuses 
 fresh degrees of happy influence into all the energies of the 
 regenerate soul, and causes all its graces to grow with a de- 
 
 lightful freedom. Under this action a certain fervor of 
 
 saintly consecration appears in the character; a certain holy 
 ardor and tenderness in the prayers, a certain eagerness and 
 tender solicitude in the zeal; a certain loving energy in the 
 conduct ; a certain loving and spiritual elevation in the whole 
 manifested spirit of the anointed man. Many a truly regen- 
 erate and painfully sanctified child of God never reaches,— 
 
THE UNCTION OF THE SPIRIT. 281 
 
 apparently, at least,—the sweet blessing of the Spirit’s unc- 
 tion. Yet it is a blessing which, however distinct from the 
 common experience of average Christians, is within reach of 
 them all. With this conception of what is meant by this 
 unction from the Holy One, let us consider some of its char- 
 acteristic signs and some of its significant effects. 
 
 1. The first detail in reference to this gift which we en- 
 counter in the teaching of the Scriptures about it, 1s 7s effect 
 on the spiritual vision of the regenerate soul. ‘Ye have an 
 unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” We 
 have already seen that this is not the original creation of 
 this capacity of spiritual vision; this is given in regenera- 
 tion. It is the improvement of a power of vision already 
 given, healing its diseases and giving vigor to its perceptions. 
 The Holy Spirit was promised to those who were already 
 his disciples, after the death of our Lord, ‘that he might take 
 of the things of Christ and show them unto them.” This 
 was not designed to furnish them with the inspiration pecu- 
 liar to the twelve, but to lead their dull apprehensions into 
 the full apprehension of the truths they already knew, and 
 of those which should afterwards be taught them. The gift 
 of’ inspiration was only necessary to them officially; the gift 
 of understanding was equally essential to all other Chris- 
 tians. It is the uniform teaching of the word of God, that 
 the necessary effect of sin is to destroy spiritual life and all 
 its particular manifestations—the power of spiritual percep- 
 tion among others. The natural man knoweth not the 
 things of the Spirit of God, for they are spiritually dis- 
 cerned. Consequently a certain measure of the Spirit’s in- 
 fluence is indispensable to enable a man to see enough of 
 these things of the Spirit to be saved at all. But he may be 
 enabled to see enough of his sin to repent, and enough of 
 Christ to trust in him, and yet be far from “knowing all 
 things.” 
 
 His spiritual life may be real and yet feeble; his spiritual 
 
282 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 life may be restored, and yet be weak in degree, and vacil- 
 lating in exercise. It is a possible and an intensely desir- 
 able thing to have this real, yet feeble, power of discernment 
 made strong, clear, and stable in its energy. A high degree 
 of this improved condition is what is meant by the expres- 
 sion “knowing all things.” It certainly does not mean what 
 it literally says; it does not confer omniscience, and make 
 the ‘man a god; it is only to be construed as conferring a 
 greatly improved capacity of spiritual intuition. Only this, 
 but what an inexpressibly sweet and glorious blessing is this 
 only gift! What a blessing is the power of physical vision, that 
 glorious energy which unseals to us all the vast riches of the 
 visible creation and their innumerable relations to the safety 
 and comfort of life! None can appreciate it like the blind, 
 who walk in one long-continued midnight, or the old, whose 
 decay of sight, and whose memory of better days only 
 brings out the more pathetically the losses involved in the 
 decline of nature. But even more sorrowful, for greater 
 losses are involved, is that spiritual blindness which shuts 
 out entirely the revelations which lead to eternal life, or that 
 incompetent discernment of these truths, which excludes their 
 full power to lift the soul to the level of its promised expec- 
 tations, and cheer it with all the riches of the heirship of 
 God. The believer is measurably aware of this loss to him. 
 What grief comes to him from imperfect vision! He sees 
 dimly, but he sees enough to know the treasure which 
 remains unseen in its full glory. He sees enough of his faith 
 to hope it is the true fruit of the Spirit, but not enough to 
 be unpresumptuously certain. He hardly knows whether he 
 sees sin aright, or the plan of salvation, or the nature of re- 
 pentance, or faith, or love, or hope. From this state of mind 
 come all the anxieties of an unassured hope. He sees plainly 
 that there are great defects in his views, and he knows not 
 but what they may be fatal defects. He longs for clearness 
 of vision. He knows that the Saviour of sinners is entitled 
 
THE UNCTION OF THE SPIRIT. 283 
 
 to his best affections ; he longs so to love him; he is grieved 
 and pained that he cannot love him as he ought to love him, 
 and as he longs to love him. But, alas! his vision is so 
 imperfect, he does not know whether he sees Christ as he 
 wants to see him, or loves him as he desires to love him. 
 It is a piteous case. How piteous is the condition of a 
 blind husband and father, longing to see the dear faces of 
 wife and children, yet cannot see them! He loves them, and 
 the love in his heart is the very thing which gives poignancy 
 to the sorrow of his disabled vision. Assuredly the heart 
 that grieves because it cannot see Jesus, and do justice to 
 his claims on the affections, does love him to a certain 
 degree; but this dim and feeble eyesight in the lovers of the 
 Lord robs them of infinite riches. They are surrounded by 
 the unsearchable treasures of grace divine. An atonement 
 full of power to give peace to conscience is before his eyes; 
 but he cannot see it, or sees it so dimly that its power to remove 
 his burden is shorn away, and he walks on bearing the 
 intolerable load. Grace sufficient to secure him a sure en- 
 trance into eternal life is pledged to him, but he sees it too 
 imperfectly to receive it into his weary heart. The intinite 
 love of God, the rich and full provisions of the covenant, 
 the great and precious promises, the glorious doctrines, and 
 the entrancing prospects of the gospel stand round him like 
 radiant angels fresh from the empyrean heavens, but his dim 
 eyes grope over the splendid company. A traveler with im- 
 perfect vision is passing through a landscape, charming with 
 forest and field; bright glancing streams are gliding through 
 orchards and meadows, sweet with bloom and verdure; fair 
 human homes are here and there dotting the landscape, and 
 the cattle are browsing knee-deep in the lush grass; but the 
 dim-eyed traveler sees nothing, and his heart receives no 
 pleasure from all this wealth of beauty. He sees a little im- 
 mediately about him, and in this he is better off than one 
 who comes behind him totally sightless and dog-led through 
 
284 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 an endless night. But worse—far worse than either—is the 
 soul, whether altogether blind or seeing but dimly, which 
 passes through the sweet landscape of covenanted grace and 
 sees nothing, or nothing clearly. That unction of the Spirit 
 which would enable the weak-eyed saint to see the things of 
 Christ as they really are would be an inestimable blessing. 
 In this precious function of the Holy One there is a real 
 remedy for this robbery by blindness and diseased vision of 
 the peace and joy which are the rightful heritage of every 
 believer. 
 
 2. ‘Taking up the clue furnished by the metaphor of the 
 text, we can advance further in the conception of the sig- 
 nificance and value of the unction of the Holy Spirit. Z¢ 
 brings comfort. It has long been a favorite luxury of the 
 Eastern people to qualify the effects of their hot and exhaust- 
 ing climate by the use of oil as a cosmetic and lubricant of 
 the skin. The surface of the body, parched and dried by 
 the appalling heat, could find no comfort equal to that pro- 
 duced by the cooling and softening influence of friction with 
 a soft and perfumed oil. The unction of the Spirit produces 
 an analogous effect. Let it be borne in mind that it is an 
 influence peculiar to the regenerate soul. In one stage of 
 its experiences every such soul learns something, be it more 
 or less, but something of the comfort of forgiven sin, some- 
 thing of the peace of a yielding and subdued will. But a 
 change is always impending, and when it comes, and the 
 long struggle of the spiritual warfare with unbelief and the 
 law of sin in the members takes the place of the former ex- 
 periences of faith and submission, the contrast is specially 
 painful. As the struggle goes on, the heat and weariness 
 seem to grow more and more unbearable. If, now, in this 
 crisis, a restorative could be applied to the fainting spirit of 
 the faithful soldier ; if the sweet vision of the rest and peace 
 of the past, and in a higher and more enduring measure 
 
THE UNCTION OF THE SPIRIT. 285 
 
 could be restored, it is easy to understand the comfort which 
 the unction of the Spirit will bring. 
 
 The gospel is intrinsically full of joy; it is glad tidings of 
 great joy; it is a flowing and full fountain of peace and 
 hope. It only fails to reveal this priceless energy because 
 the eyes are too dim to see it. This gladness of the gospel 
 is powerful enough to assert its glorious energy in triumph 
 over any form or degree of human grief, if only suitably com- 
 prehended. But the eyes of the believer are so often weak 
 with watching, or dim with long and bitter weeping, that they 
 cannot see it. When the eve-salve of the Holy Spirit 
 touches these injured organs they begin to know the things 
 of Christ, and as the gracious influence strengthens the 
 vision more and yet more, they begin to “know all things.” 
 When guilt tortures conscience, the discernment of the real 
 meaning and power of the great atonement will bring com- 
 fort. When the consciousness of the real evil of a sinful 
 heart afflicts, the vision of God’s strong and firmly covenanted 
 grace will give comfort. When a sense of personal weak- 
 ness comes along with a quickened apprehension of the 
 awful weight of the issues to be determined, the vision of 
 the Saviour’s absolute ability to save to the uttermost will 
 bring comfort. The unction of the Spirit, giving clearness 
 to the eyesight and softening the stony habit of the heart, 
 cannot fail to flood the rejoicing soul with a current of joy 
 and peace. No soul so lifted into spiritual elevation of 
 pious affections can ever be unhappy. Zo be spiritually 
 minded is life and peace. 
 
 3. Another effect of the physical unction with the rich, 
 perfumed oils of the East was a restoration of strength, vigor, 
 and efficiency for any kind of work. The tired and heat- 
 baked muscles were relaxed; the sinews were suppled; the 
 oil sank to the bones, and lubricated the joints. A sense of 
 renewed vigor floated through the nerves, and the refreshed 
 and reinvigorated man was again ready for work or travel, 
 
286 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 for the toils of the field or the camp, or the more desperate 
 exertions of pitched battle. Even so the unction of the 
 Spirit renews the energy of the saints of God, for “the joy 
 of the Lord is their strength,”—their strength to do and to 
 
 suffer his will. Paralysis of Christian energy often comes. 
 
 with the decay of Christian joy,—certainly and always dam- 
 age to the best exertions of Christian energy. A stern fidelity 
 may keep up a steady endeavor in a time of darkness and 
 the eclipse of hope, and it is a noble display of faith and 
 firmness when it does; but, nevertheless, the joy of the Lord 
 is the best equipment of his servants to serve him. A Chris- 
 tian soul, clear and bright with the unction of the Spirit, will 
 undertake any allotted work with a vigor of joyous energy 
 which will cower before no difficulty or peril. It will endure 
 any trial without rebellion, or fainting in patience or in hope. 
 
 4. As the result of this strengthening influence, the unction 
 of the Spirit will not only increase usefulness, but it will add 
 to the enjoyment and right use of other lawful and pleasing 
 things. The regenerate soul is pronounced by the Master 
 himself to be the salt of the earth. By prayer, by instruct- 
 ing in the knowledge of the truth, by holy example, and by 
 faithful use of appointed means, its useful and preservative 
 influence goes out for the benefit of the world. This in- 
 fluence will be healthful and effective in proportion to the 
 degree of the grace that is in him. When the regenerate 
 soul itself is suffering under any kind of spiritual impediment, 
 its power for good is proportionably limited. But when the 
 freedom and clearness which spring from the special unc- 
 tion of the Spirit are infusing its joyous health and vigor 
 through all the powers and graces of the regenerate nature, 
 its influence for good is redoubled. When the prayers it 
 offers are full of the unction of intense desire and ardent 
 filial confidence in the promises and in the Saviour, they 
 will have more power to prevail with God. When zeal is 
 full of fervor, tempered with reverence towards God, and 
 
 q 
 ; 
 f 
 f 
 Q 
 
THE UNCTION OF THE SprIrir. 287 
 
 with the tenderness of a real sympathy for sinners, the per- 
 suasions employed will have a pathos and a melting force 
 which cannot come from a regenerate soul not under this 
 unction from on high. In every species of effort for the 
 spread of the kingdom, the improved conditions of personal 
 efficiency springing from the unction of the Spirit will tell - 
 wonderfully on the usefulness of the servant of Christ. Yet 
 another effect will follow: this joyous sunshine in the soul 
 will shed an additional brightness of enjoyment over every 
 other lawful source of delight. The days will be brighter; 
 the rest of sleep will be sweeter; the flowers will bloom with 
 more beauty; every joyous thing will be more joyous. Sweet 
 prospects, sweet birds, and sweet flowers, instead of losing, 
 will yield a richer sweetness to the anointed and rejoicing 
 soul. 7 
 
 5. The unction of the Spirit also exerts a beautifying in- 
 fluence. The friction of the perfumed oil on the toil and 
 heat-disfigured countenance restored its charms, not less 
 than its energy and strength, when applied to the whole 
 body. There is nothing ever seen on this strange world so 
 beautiful as a human spirit full of the gracious cheerfulness 
 and the tender sympathies of a regenerate heart under the 
 unction of the Holy Ghost. Unregenerate men are often 
 unattracted, nay, frequently, positively repelled, by the mani- 
 festations of Christian character. The type of piety is so 
 low as not to furnish a steady control of the conduct—not 
 to govern the temper, or to master the selfishness, or to ani- 
 mate the benevolent sympathies sufficiently to give a pleasing 
 impression of real goodness. But under the unction from 
 the Holy One there is an irresistible attraction developed in 
 the character. The disposition grows so sweet and sunny, 
 the temper so placid under provocation, the sympathies so 
 quick and strong towards joy or sorrow, the judgments so 
 charitable, the integrity so irresistibly trustworthy, the hand 
 so generous, the heart so good, as to create a subduing charm 
 
288 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 even on ungodly men, and they will often say of such an 
 anointed soul, “Would God I could be just such another!” 
 But in the eyes of the saints, in the view of the angels, in 
 the sight of a redeeming God rejoicing in the rich results of 
 his redeeming grace, the loveliness of such a soul is sweeter 
 than the flowers of Hden—more beautiful than the splendors 
 of a morning in Paradise. It is, in truth, a miniature image 
 of God’s own beauty. The grant of such grace on the part 
 _ of the loving Lord of the covenant is, in one of its aspects, 
 like Mary’s act when she broke the alabaster box of oint- 
 ment on the head of Jesus—the token of a love stronger 
 than death. 
 
 6. The design and consequent effect of this unction of the 
 Spirit is somewhat varied, but under every variation exhibits 
 the one uniform and high value to be attached to all of its 
 effects. In some cases it follows the example of the sister of 
 Lazarus just mentioned: it is an anointment for burial. This 
 rich gift of the Spirit to believers is sometimes the prelude 
 to the added blessing—admission to heaven. It betokens in 
 such cases a death of unutterable triumph. Happy is he 
 who is anointed for his burial by the unction of the Spirit. 
 But in many other cases, perhaps in the most of them, it 
 follows more closely the analogy of the physical unction with 
 the consecrated oil, from which its name is taken. Instead 
 of an anointing for burial, it is an unction consecrating to 
 some office to be actively discharged in this world. When 
 the sacred oil was poured out on the head of one man, it set 
 him apart as king over Israel; when poured on the head of 
 another, it consecrated him as a priest of the sanctuary; on 
 the head of another, it made him captain of the Lord’s host; 
 and when poured on the head of another, it separated him 
 as a prophet to proclaim the message of Jehovah to the 
 princes and people of his covenant. No doubt it is now 
 given sometimes to call and qualify particular persons to do 
 a particular work of exemplary importance; but wherever it 
 
THe UNCTION OF THE Sprtrir. 289 
 
 is given, it is only giving in those cases full, practical effect 
 to a consecration which is really common and obligatory on 
 all believers without exception. The saints are all conse- 
 crated souls; they are all appointed to be prophets, priests, 
 and kings unto God. They may fail to realize their appoint- 
 ment to these grand functions, but they are nevertheless go 
 appointed. The failure to develop functions so assigned, or 
 the development of them on a scale so low as to obscure 
 their real dignity and importance, cannot possibly abolish 
 the functions assigned, or abate the obligation worthily to 
 discharge them. They bind, although not recognized; they 
 bind on every believer, under all possible changes of cir- 
 cumstance. Livery regenerate soul is bound to be a prophet 
 for God, to declare his will and make known his truth. He 
 is bound to be a priest unto the Lord, consecrated to his 
 service, offering sacrifices of holy self-denial, and making 
 perpetual intercessions that his kingdom may come. He is 
 bound to be a king unto God, ruling his own soul into obedi- 
 ence and submission to all the divine will; and fighting unto 
 the death, if need be, against his enemies, the world, the 
 flesh, and the devil. This is the duty of all believers: but 
 they who receive the unction of the Spirit, alone, to any 
 practical or proper extent, comply with it. But when the 
 consecrating oil of the anointing Spirit falls on the soul, 
 filling it with the clearness, warmth, ardor, and joyous ten- 
 derness of the unction of the Holy Ghost, then the prophets 
 do begin to declare the will of the Lord ; the priests to make 
 sacrifices, and to offer prevailing intercessions; the kings to 
 combat his enemies, and the captains of the host to lead 
 forth his armies to conquer the world. Then his priests are 
 more glorious in the graces of the Spirit than Aaron in his 
 snow-white linen robes and his breast-plate glowing with 
 jewels. Then his prophets are greater in the truths they 
 teach, and in the influence they wield, than the long-haired 
 prophet on the banks of Jordan; or Isaiah, as he outvied 
 19 
 
290 GIFTs TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 Homer in his magnificent poetry; or Elijah, when he con- 
 fronted the apostate king and his apostate people on the 
 slopes of Carmel. Then his kings are more glorious than 
 David in his armor on the field of Helam, or Solomon 
 blazing in silk and gold on the throne of peacocks and lions. 
 The unction of the Spirit carries a dignity and a grace, a 
 power and a comfort, a beauty and a universal blessedness, 
 which can be gained from no other source, and can be 
 matched in worth by no other value. It fills the mind with 
 clear light, because it. purges the visual energy with a 
 “euphrasy and rue” of nobler virtue than the gardens of 
 earth ever grew. It fills the heart with holy and rejoicing 
 affections toward God and man. It kindles hope, until it 
 rises like a column on which the sacred fires burn in imper- 
 ishable brightness. It nerves the will with a heroic ardor. 
 It fills the soul with intense desires, and with staunch and 
 unpresumptuous confidence of their fulfilment. It breathes 
 out in prayers full of tenderness and pathetic solicitude ; full 
 of faith and trustful love. It guides the conduct with a pure 
 zeal into all the mazes of a full and loving obedience. It 
 moulds the whole character of the anointed man into a 
 beautiful combination of serious pathos and exulting joy. 
 It paints God on the soul. 
 
CHAPTER VIL 
 THH WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the chil- 
 dren of God.”—Paui to the Romans. 
 
 HE witness of the Spirit, like the sealing and the unction 
 
 of the Spirit, has a general and a special significance. 
 
 Like them, too, the most marked interest of this action lies 
 in its special manifestation. In its general sense, it refers to 
 what the Spirit has done; in its special sense, it refers to a 
 certain testimony borne by the Spirit to what he has done. 
 The one refers to a work; the other, to a certificate or deposi- 
 tion concerning it. The work of the Holy Spirit, in regen- 
 eration and sanctification, is that which inwardly makes a 
 child of God, and is, therefore, a testimony or proof of son- 
 ship. But inasmuch as there is an essential difference 
 between a thing and a testimony in reference to it, there is 
 a difference between the regenerating and sanctifying influ- 
 ences of the Spirit, on the one side, and the witness of the 
 Spirit on the other. The witness of the Spirit, as described 
 in the text of the chapter, is evidently a testimony to some- 
 thing already done, and consequently cannot be confounded 
 with it. The Spirit testifies to sonship, and this implies the 
 previous existence of it. The sonship of the believer is two- 
 fold: the legal relation created by adoption, and the per- 
 sonal change created by regeneration. The act of adoption 
 changes the legal status of a servant into the legal status of 
 ason. Regeneration makes the personal change, which the 
 change of the legal status has rendered necessary, and alters 
 the affections and feelings of a rebellious servant into those 
 of a son in full affection and friendship with a father. This 
 
 is the correlation between regeneration and adoption, in 
 291 
 
292, GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 making sinners into sons or children of God. But the wit- 
 ness of the Spirit is something which comes after the grace 
 of regeneration and the grace of adoption have done their 
 work, and certifies it. We are, then, to understand by the 
 witness of the Spirit a certain peculiar influence of the Holy 
 Ghost, subsequent to his first saving work in the soul, giving 
 assurance of its reality, and thus of all the glorious results 
 which accompany and flow from it. 'The subject suggests for 
 inquiry these particulars: what is the nature of this peculiar 
 testimony ; on what conditions it is given in the soul; on what 
 features of sonship it is exercised; and what are the effects 
 produced by wt ? 
 
 1. What, then, is the nature of this witness of the Holy 
 Spirit? As distinct and different from regenerating grace, 
 and, by consequence, from all the antecedent and successive 
 manifestations connected with it, and as it is a testimony to 
 sonship, the following discriminations may lead us forward 
 to some conception of what it means. The teaching of the 
 Scriptures in reference to it seems to settle these points. ret, 
 It is a proving or certifying influence altogether. Second, It 
 is said to be with our spirits. This implies that it is a testi- 
 mony borne within the mind, not communicated to the mind 
 from without. It is not an audible or visible sign transmitted 
 from some external source, like those voices and visions, 
 which, in the old prophetic periods, signalized and proved a 
 communication from God. Third, This further suggests, 
 that the direct or immediate object of this witness is that 
 form of sonship which is registered in the mind; that is, to 
 sonship as determined by regeneration. ourth, The ex- 
 pression with our spirits implies something more than a 
 simple internal operation; it implies an energy put forth in 
 connection with another energy acting at the same time. It is 
 an energy of the Holy Ghost, codperating with a certain 
 co-existent and concurrent energy of our own spirits. The 
 co-existent testimony of two witnesses upon the same point 
 
THE WITNESS OF THE SprTrir. 293 
 
 to be proved implies activity in both; the exercise of two 
 distinct energies, either directly or indirectly proceeding from 
 intelligence and will. These four points furnish the guiding 
 lines to the nature and operation of the witness of the 
 Spirit. It is a testimony to sonship, a testimony within the 
 mind, and consequently directly to that inward or subjective 
 sonship wrought by regeneration, and indirectly to the legal 
 sonship determined by adoption. It is a testimony of the 
 Holy Ghost, and a testimony of our own spirits at the same 
 time. The witness of the Spirit, then, may be defined as a 
 certain clear and enlivening influence of the Holy Ghost, 
 shining on the effects and evidences of regeneration as they 
 appear in the exercise of these graces in a Christian heart, so 
 as to make them clear and certain in the consciousness. 
 
 The fact that the witness of the Spirit is not borne sepa- 
 rately from the operations of the mind, bearing witness to 
 the same point and at the same time, is‘a material item in 
 the consideration of this subject. The witness of the Spirit 
 rests upon the witness of our spirits as its basis. As the 
 witness of the Spirit is to the effects and evidences of regen- 
 eration, those effects and evidences must not only exist, but 
 their existence must be disclosed by some degree of activity. 
 The testimony of the Holy Ghost could not be given to 
 things not existent or not discoverable. An illustration may 
 be found in the connection of the text. The verse imme- 
 diately preceding it is a description of the filial feeling in a 
 regenerate human heart: “For ye have not received the 
 spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the 
 Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Then 
 follows the assertion: “The Spirit beareth witness with our 
 spirit, that we are the children of God.” It is evident that 
 the existence of this filial spirit is the basis on which the 
 witness of the Spirit to sonship is founded. His sweet and 
 exhilarating testimony comes at the same time, and in con- 
 current movement with the activity of the filial feeling. This 
 
294. GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 is a sample of the whole operation of the Spirit as a witness. 
 He gives the graces, and excites them to activity, and then 
 so illumines them as to give a joyful assurance of a true son- 
 ship. The witness of the Spirit is, therefore, in the order 
 of things, dependent on the activity of our spiritual graces. 
 His witness to faith implies the existence and activity of 
 faith. His witness to love implies the existence and activity 
 of love. He witnesses the worth and value of obedience 
 when obedience is rendered. It becomes very clear, then, 
 that the witness of the Spirit is not to be expected in a care- 
 less course of Christian living, or in a stupefied condition of 
 the Christian graces. It is clear, that when Christians de- 
 sire and pray for this wonderful grace, the witness of the 
 infallible Spirit of God to the reality of their spiritual graces, 
 they need not expect it when those graces are paralyzed. 
 Our spirits must also testify; his witness is borne along 
 with the witness of our own spirits, and not without or inde- 
 pendent of them. 
 
 It may be said, if the testimony of our spirits, the evi- 
 dence of our own exercised graces, is present in the mind, we 
 may infer the fact of our sonship from the facts in our con- 
 sciousness, and will therefore need no special additional 
 testimony from the Holy Ghost. But this ungrateful infer- 
 ence is barred by several decisive considerations. The sacred 
 record evidently implies the truth of both the codrdinated 
 testimonies; it does not discount the truth or value of the 
 witness of our spirits; but while it yields that testimony both 
 true and valuable, it still asserts the inexpressible worth of 
 the codrdinate testimony of the Holy Spirit. That value is 
 vindicated by the following several facts : 
 
 First, Tt is vindicated by the unquestionable fact in the 
 history of the human mind, that feeling will not always obey 
 the dictates of the understanding. A conclusion may be 
 calmly reached by a process of reasoning, and yet no special 
 exhilaration of feeling may follow it. It is possible, then, 
 
THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 295 
 
 that even in cases where the evidences of regeneration are 
 definite enough to warrant a strong inference as to the reality 
 of the regenerate sonship, it will not follow by any means 
 that the inference can be drawn with any special or notice- 
 able measure of comfort. This is by no means an uncom- 
 mon case. Old and experienced Christians are well aware, 
 that while their judgments are reasonably content with the 
 evidences of their hope, the feeling of decisive comfort in 
 viewing those evidences is not always by any means pro- 
 portionate to the strength of the convictions of their under- 
 standing. They know they are as dependent on the influ- 
 ences of the Holy Ghost for the ability to draw the inference 
 comfortably to themselves, as they are for the appearance of 
 the evidence in their consciousness. They may have a calm, 
 rational, and scriptural conviction from the proof they see in 
 themselves, and yet be far from finding any special joy or 
 comfort, either in the facts or in the inference which they 
 warrant. Their own spirits are testifying in such a case, 
 but the Holy Ghost is not testifying with them. The value 
 of his testimony under such circumstances is obvious 
 enough. 
 
 Second, It is also vindicated by the fact, that oftentimes 
 the testimony of our own spirits to the reality of our regen- 
 erate sonship, even when intrinsically very strong in proving 
 power, is of such a sort as to bring obscurity upon the very 
 fact which they prove. Strong intuitions of sin, though de- 
 monstrative of gracious influence in saving measure, are 
 almost sure for a time to obscure hope, and, it may be, break 
 it down altogether. Afflictions, which are often proofs of 
 sonship according to Paul in Hebrews, sometimes have the 
 same effect. If in such cases the witness of the Spirit, 
 shining clear on the submissive exercises of a tried regen- 
 erate soul, and aiding the apprehension of the evidences of 
 the nature of the trial, should codperate with the struggling 
 heart, all this added sorrow from darkness and _ self-sus- 
 
296 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 picion would pass away. The value of his testimony is un- 
 doubted. 
 
 Third, The value of the Spirit’s testimony is vindicated 
 also in all that large class of cases in which the evidences of 
 regeneration are not very definitely outlined in the con- 
 sciousness. We have hitherto proceeded on the supposition 
 that these evidences were clear and strong, and endeavored 
 to show the value of the Spirit’s witness, even where the 
 testimony of our own spirits was clear or powerful. But in 
 the majority of cases this is not true. The bulk of mankind 
 are not very efficient students and judges of mental phe- 
 nomena, and the perplexity of many Christians in judging 
 the significance of their own exercises is not at all wonderful. 
 Tf, now, these feeble and obscurely outlined evidences are 
 yet exercised under the concurrent testimony of the Holy 
 Ghost, their true significance will be brought to view. The 
 witness of the Spirit is not dependent on the existence and 
 exertion of strongly marked graces; it is dependent on the 
 existence and exertion of the graces whether strong or weak. 
 It is even more needed where the graces are weak, and when 
 these are rightly brought into play it may be as truly ex- 
 pected as where the witness of our spirits is more definitely 
 given. The value of the Spirit’s witness in this class of 
 cases, which probably includes the bulk of believers, is very 
 clear. Its value in all its applications does not admit of a 
 doubt. 
 
 2. From this connection between the testimonial exercise 
 of the graces in our own spirits and the witness of the Holy 
 Ghost, we may infer the answer to the question, on what con- 
 ditions this rejoicing testimony may be expected to rise in 
 the soul? As it is dependent on the gracious activities of 
 our own spirits, the conditions of its appearance are just the 
 conditions which invite any other special favor of God. 
 Intense desire, resolute purpose, patient and persevering 
 prayer, careful living, unselfish zeal and devotion in God’s 
 
THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 297 
 
 service, resistance to temptation and the overcoming of all 
 evil impulses of thought or feeling, cultivation of every 
 Christian sensibility, steadfast and trustful use of the means 
 of grace—these are the conditions of success in secking 
 special manifestation of divine favor, and for the witness of 
 the Spirit among others. When these conditions are brought 
 into play, they will necessarily place the activities of our 
 own spirits in the state to receive the concurrent energies of 
 the Holy Ghost bearing his witness that we are the children 
 of God. Pain is as good a proof of life as pleasure, though 
 not so agreeable a demonstration; and consequently the 
 motions of our spirits in spiritual suffering may lay the 
 foundation for his testimony just as truly as the more 
 agreeable motions created by activity in obedience, or the 
 happier conditions of the pleasure-giving graces. To the 
 question, on what conditions the witness of the Spirit may 
 be expected? we answer, it may be expected when the activity 
 of our own spirits in the exercise of any Christian grace or 
 sraces—egraces of action or suffering—is brought into exer- 
 cise. To have the witness of the Spirit to our faith or love, . 
 our faith and love must be in exercise. To have the witness 
 of the Spirit to our patience and submission, our patience 
 and submission must be in exercise. It is only with our 
 spirits that his testimony is borne. To expect this gracious 
 certifying influence to bear on any one grace, or on the 
 reality of our piety as a whole, when our granted gifts are 
 lying dormant, is unscriptural and not to be expected. Only 
 on those general and special conditions on which any 
 special favor, or any general advancement in the divine life 
 may be looked for, is the witness of the Spirit to be antici- 
 pated. 
 
 It is a compulsory conclusion from this view of the subject, 
 that this doctrine of the special witness of the Holy Spirit to 
 the regenerate sonship of the believer lays no foundation 
 for any fanatical or enthusiastic claims to special testimonies 
 
298 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 of acceptance with God, apart from godly obedience, and 
 the personal experience of the ordinary sanctifying influ- 
 ences and gifts of the Holy Ghost. The test, ‘by their fruits 
 ye shall know them,” is to be applied to every enthusiast 
 laying claim to special communications with God, as well 
 as to every claimant of the Christian character. I the life 
 and conduct are not such as to show the energy of sanctify- 
 ing grace, operating on the springs of action within, no claims 
 to the special testimonials of the Spirit can possibly assert 
 themselves, simply because the witness of the Spirit is no- 
 thing more than his certificate of graces existing and active 
 in the human spirit. It is also clear that this priceless gift 
 of the indwelling Spirit to the believer, like all other ex- 
 pressions of divine favor, is not so placed as to give en- 
 couragement to idleness, presumption, or personal indiffer- 
 ence about the gift, but just the contrary. This peculiar 
 certifying or demonstrative influence, bringing out into clear 
 and definite shape the graces of the renewed heart, graces 
 which are often, even when substantially sound, so obscurely 
 outlined in the consciousness as to create an anxious un- 
 certainty, is obviously a blessing of inexpressible value. 
 
 3. It will not be difficult now to answer the third question 
 touching the witness of the Spirit, on what points or charac- 
 teristic features of sonship it is exerted in giving its delightful 
 solution of spiritual difficulties? It may be noted that its 
 bearing on the legal sonship created by adopting grace is 
 altogether indirect, but no less important on that account. 
 
 The sonship of the believer is created by two distinct fac- 
 tors : the legal sonship determined by adoption into the family 
 of God, affecting the relation of the believer to the law, and 
 raising him from the position of a servant to the position of 
 a son; and the personal sonship determined by regeneration, 
 affecting the personal character and consciousness of the 
 believer, and altering the affections and principles of his 
 nature from those of a rebellious and hostile servant to 
 
THe WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 299 
 
 those of an obedient and affectionate son. The proof of the 
 legal sonship depends upon the prior manifestations of the 
 regenerate sonship, and consequently the witness of the 
 Spirit to the legal sonship is indirect, being mediated 
 through his witness to the personal sonship. The witness 
 of the Spirit, being within us, is directly concerned only with 
 the evidences of regenerate sonship as they appear in the 
 cifts and graces of regenerating grace. The answer to the 
 question, on what features of sonship the testimony of the 
 Spirit is employed is, that it is employed on every factor 
 entering into sonship, indirectly on the sonship of adoption, 
 and directly on every characteristic feeling and distinctive 
 mark of a regenerate heart. It illuminates and brings out 
 clearly the true nature of every feeling and affection, every 
 hope and fear, every joy and sorrow, every fruit of the 
 Spirit, every characteristic pain or pleasure, desire or aver- 
 sion, of the regenerate nature. It illuminates the love of 
 Christ, which is a mark of the renewed heart, and enables us 
 to discriminate the mere veneration of a heroic example 
 from the love which in a sin-stricken soul springs from ap- 
 prehending him as the Lamb of God whose blood cleanseth 
 from all sin. It illuminates the word of God, and discrimi- 
 nates the love of the Scripture on account of its high intel- 
 lectual merits, and the love of it for the truth which sanctifies 
 unto eternal life. It illuminates the love of the kingdom, and 
 discriminates the affections of a mere partisan from the 
 affections which see in the church the chosen instrument 
 for the deliverance of a dying world. 
 
 The method of seeking the gracious testimony of the 
 Spirit to the sonship of any individual soul is, to bring the 
 particular graces into earnest, practical use, and seek in the 
 use of the appointed ways for the influence of the Spirit to test 
 their real character. There is a percentage of the feelings 
 created by regenerating grace, and consequently demonstra- 
 tive of a saving work, which are prevailingly painful. Saving 
 
300 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 intuitions of sin in the life, and sin in the heart are always 
 distressing. The witness of the Spirit is so generally and 
 truly regarded as a source of joy and comfort, that it is 
 seldom thought of in connection with these painful experi- 
 ences; his aid is not sought to enable a just discrimination 
 of them; his testimony to penitence and the characteristic 
 sorrows of the regenerate nature is not delivered; and this is 
 probably one reason why the strange and touching paradox 
 of Paul is so infrequently realized—rejoicing in tribulation— 
 why there is so much suffering without any concurrent com- 
 fort among Christians. These sufferings are often in them- 
 selves the highest proofs of sonship; the nature of the af- 
 fliction, as when we groan under the tyrannies of an unholy 
 heart, and share in the spiritual trials of Christian souls, is 
 full of testimonial power. In addition to this, not only the 
 nature of the affliction sometimes, but the mental and spirit- 
 ual exercises determined by any kind of affliction are fre- 
 quently of clear testimony to the reality of sonship. If we 
 endure chastening, God dealeth with us as sons. The sub- 
 mission, patience, and unfaltering confidence in God’s wisdom 
 and goodness, awakened by the touch of some deep and 
 irreparable sorrow, are demonstrative proofs of regenerate 
 sonship. Nay, more, the very feelings of resistance and 
 rebellion against the chastening will of God may carry proof 
 of the same grace ; they carry it, when they excite the disgust 
 and horror of the heart, and rouse up a weeping and 
 agonized, but resolute and persistent resistance to such im- 
 peachments of the divine administration. But it is not easy, 
 it is often impossible, for a Christian soul, under the strain 
 and stress of this species of trial, to interpret them aright. 
 Their spirits are bearing witness, but so bearing it, yielding 
 testimony in such a shape, as to obscure its own significance 
 and the real conclusion which it warrants and requires. 
 Like a lighthouse on a stormy night, so covered by the 
 rushing sea that all is dark although the light is burning. 
 
THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 301 
 
 But if now the Spirit could be found bearing witness with 
 their spirits, and interpreting the true nature of the testi- 
 mony whose very vigor has marred their hope, all this would 
 be changed. The light burning under the water-covered 
 lamp would be seen and known to be truly kindled, though 
 its beams are arrested for atime. The subjects of the wit- 
 ness of the Spirit, being all the elements of sonship, afford a 
 wide field for the employment of this illuminating grace, and 
 the sonship of particular individuals may be demonstrated 
 on many varying points. Any Christian perplexed to under- 
 stand the complicated expression of his own religious state 
 can have all his puzzles brought to a restful conclusion by 
 seeking in the right way the witness of the Spirit. 
 
 4, The last question raised touching the results of the wit- 
 ness of the Spirit is easily answered. The object of the 
 testimony is to prove sonship, and this object is always 
 cvained. The assurance of hope is always a happy issue. 
 As the witness of the Spirit works out its general demonstra- 
 tion by testifying to a variety of particular graces which 
 establish it, the resulting effects will present a great variety 
 in their appearance. The Spirit may shine upon the graces 
 bred by affliction, and prove his point with a peculiar com- 
 bination of grief and comfort as the result. He may shine 
 upon the perceptions and emotions leading to repentance, 
 and prove his point by a similar combination of mixed emo- 
 tions growing out of sin, analogous to those growing out of 
 afflictions. He may shine upon a manifested exercise of love 
 and holy consecration, and prove his point through a wonder- 
 ful evolution of holy and rejoicing affections brought out into 
 strong relief. The witness of the Spirit may thus produce 
 widely varying appearances in the experience of different 
 saints, but they all tend to one grand and joyful conclusion— 
 proving them all to be the sons of God by the unimpeachable 
 witness of the Holy Ghost. To each, no matter how dif- 
 ferent may have been the special basis of the demonstration 
 
302 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 in the activities of his own spirit, that demonstration brings. 
 the inexpressibly precious assurance of eternal life. The 
 witness of the Spirit is to be relied upon absolutely. He 
 does not deceive; he certifies no grace which is not true; 
 he creates no hope which can be disappointed. A modest 
 construction of his hope is wise, when a man’s own spirit is 
 alone bearing testimony. The causes of a possible mis- 
 guidance are so many and so powerful; the just discrimina- 
 tion of consciousness is so difficult, even to very keen and 
 practiced students of mental phenomena, and the bulk of 
 mankind is so incompetent to judge; the experience of the 
 vast majority of average Christians is so defective in sharp- 
 ness and precision of outline,—it is by no means easy for our 
 spirits to bear effective testimony. But where the witness of 
 the Holy Spirit is borne along with a testimony intrinsically 
 defective, where the sonship is yet real, all hesitation is out 
 of place, and instead of a dictate of prudence, becomes a folly 
 and asin. The witness of the Spirit yields absolute assur- 
 ance; his testimony to his own work, to the graces implanted 
 by his own hand, is resistless by the most self-mistrustful 
 and self-jealous of timid souls. The faith of the heart, certi- 
 fied by the witness of the Spirit, will become like the purged 
 vision of the proto-martyr Stephen, and amid the confusion 
 of the spiritual warfare will be able to see clearly into the 
 very throne-room of heaven. Hope will spring high into the 
 future, as the eagle strains his grand flight upward. Assur- 
 ance of eternal life, peace of conscience, unfailing faith, and 
 joy in the Holy Ghost are the results of the witness of the 
 Spirit. 
 
CoH At ely Rie Velel 
 THE HARNEST OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ‘“Who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.”—Paul to the 
 Corinthians. 
 
 N “earnest” was a part of a thing promised or pledged 
 
 by contract, given at the present time as an assurance, 
 pledge, or security, that the whole would be transferred at 
 some period in the future. The design of the earnest was to 
 secure the future, and thus to lay a reliable foundation for 
 hope and confidence. The earnest given was also the pledge 
 that the future balance to be paid should be of the very same 
 kind with the earnest given. An earnest in a handful of the 
 soil was the pledge that a land sale was assured of comple- 
 tion; an earnest paid in money was a pledge of the balance 
 in money; an earnest of silk or jewels, a pledge of a fuller 
 payment in the same materials. Thus the earnest served 
 two purposes: it guaranteed the debt, and defined the 
 material in which it was to be paid. Thus a contract to pay 
 a certain sum of money was unalterably ratified and con- 
 firmed by the gift or transfer of a sum of it, large or small, 
 in the presence of witnesses. This immediate payment was 
 called an earnest of the debt. When land was sold, the 
 seller took a handful of the soil and gave it to the buyer as 
 an earnest of the sale, and after this action nothing could 
 bar the right of the purchaser; he had received his “ earnest.” 
 A striking sample of an earnest was found in the offering of 
 the jirst-fruits, as they were called, on one of the three grand 
 yearly feasts among the ancient Jews—the feast of Pente- 
 cost. It occurred just at the time when the harvest was 
 ready to be gathered. All Israel was collected in Jerusalem 
 
 for a whole week of rejoicing and festive worship. On an 
 303 
 
304 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 appointed day, a delegation of priests, followed by multi- 
 tudes of people, rejoicing with song and shout and attitudes 
 of delight, went out of the city to the nearest grain-fields, 
 cut down a few sheaves of the crop, and brought them to the 
 temple amid the wildest demonstrations of public joy. The 
 sheaves were then solemnly offered in grateful worship to the 
 Lord of the harvest. They were the earnest of the harvest, 
 a pledge of bread again given to Israel for another year. 
 The grain was then threshed from the offered sheaves, im- 
 mediately ground into flour, baked into bread, and in this form 
 re-offered before the altar and consumed in the sacred fires. 
 Until the first-fruits of the harvest were thus presented before 
 the great Giver of all, no one in all Israel could reap his 
 grain, or turn it into bread. This unloosing of the restric- 
 tions of the law was another cause of joy added to the 
 general assurance of bread, which made the presentation of 
 the first-fruits the occasion of the exhibition of the public 
 joy so strikingly exhibited at the feast of Pentecost. These 
 first-fruits gave occasion to a noble use of a metaphor by 
 Paul to illustrate the introduction of believers into the church 
 of God, from the example of the patriarchs, and the resur- 
 rection of Christ as the proof and assurance of the resurrec- 
 tion of the human race at large. “If the first-fruit be holy, 
 the lump is also holy.” That is, the faith of the patriarchs, 
 and their introduction by means of it into the covenant and 
 kingdom of God, was the pledge and assurance of the same 
 privileges to their descendants on the same conditions. 
 “‘ Now is Christ risen ... and become the first-fruits of them 
 that slept.” ‘Christ the first-fruits ; afterward they that are 
 Christ’s at his coming.” In both cases the idea is the same, 
 assurance for many in the future from the example of a few 
 or of one in the present or the past. The reception of the 
 patriarchs into covenant relations on account of their faith 
 was the earnest of the acceptance of their posterity where 
 they should believe. The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth 
 
THE EARNEST OF THE Sprrtr. 305 
 
 is the earnest of the resurrection of the whole human 
 family. 
 
 The Holy Spirit considered as an earnest presents us with 
 the inquiries: what is the particular work of the Spirit which 
 constitutes him an earnest, and gives the pledge of the future 
 involved in an earnest; what is the full significance of this 
 earnest of the Spirit; what are the things of which the Spirit 
 is an earnest; and what are the logical and practical results 
 of this earnest of the Spirit when given ? 
 
 1. The first inquiry to be settled is, what is that work o yf 
 the Holy Spirit which makes him an earnest, and carries with 
 it that precious pledge and assurance of the future which it 
 is the very nature and design of an earnest to convey? 
 Much of the preliminary work of the Spirit in the human 
 heart carries no pledge of any future work to be done by 
 him. All the exercises of the heart, awakened by his deal- 
 ings with an unconverted soul, are of this description. He 
 awakens, and to a certain degree, convinces of sin before con- 
 version ; but only too many lamentable instances prove that 
 he is free to yield, if he pleases, to the resistance he invari- 
 ably encounters. But the unqualified promise of salvation 
 to faith introduces a new condition of things when faith is 
 exercised. Then the soul enters into the covenant of the 
 Lord; the pledge of actual salvation into which he has 
 entered takes full effect. Faith is the fruit of the Spirit, and 
 the gift of faith is the work of the Holy Ghost, which consti- 
 tutes him an earnest with all its glorious assurances of the 
 future. The gift of faith is only an expression of a broader 
 gift which enables its exercise, and reveals the mode in 
 which it is given, the impartation of the germ of spiritual 
 life, and of all the particular spiritual graces, faith, hope, 
 love, contrition, and others which grow out of this germ. 
 Life must exist before the acts of life can be put forth ; but, 
 inasmuch as regeneration is that energy of the Holy Ghost 
 which gives this life, and makes a sinner personally a son 
 
 20 
 
306 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 or child of God, it is in itself a demonstration of sonship, 
 an earnest and a full pledge of eternal life, a perfect as- 
 surance of the future. Regeneration and the faith which 
 it enables close the covenant of infinite love, and assure its 
 fulfilment. Previous to the work of the Spirit in granting 
 faith and repentance—both the expressions of the new 
 heart; one towards the Saviour, the other towards sin, his 
 work in the heart carries no pledge and gives no security. 
 
 But repentance and faith are the terms on which the pledge _ 
 
 of salvation to the uttermost takes effect, and therefore re- 
 generation, which inevitably grounds and issues in these 
 terms, carries with it the earnest and pledge of eternal life. 
 All those special acts of the Spirit subsequent to regeneration, 
 the special forms of the grace of sealing, unction, and witness, 
 constitute special manifestations of the earnest of the Spirit, 
 and bring out its power of assurance into stronger lights. But 
 he who has received the gift of regenerating grace, although 
 he may never have enjoyed the favor and comfort of the 
 higher and more marked forms of sealing, unction, and wit- 
 ness, has, nevertheless, received the Spirit as an earnest. All 
 the special acts of the Holy Ghost subsequent to regeneration, 
 and designed to carry out the progressive work of sanctifica- 
 tion, only renew the impression, embellish, illuminate, and 
 develop the power to comfort in the earnest given in regen- 
 eration, but the earnest itself is irrevocably given in regen- 
 
 eration itself. Consequently, every regenerate soul, however 
 
 unacquainted with the subsequent peculiar favors of the 
 
 Comforter, does, nevertheless, possess the Spirit as an earnest. 
 
 of eternal life. However feebly, if yet truly developed in 
 the soul, repentance and faith are proofs of a regenerate heart, 
 and a regenerate heart is proof of the earnest of the purchased 
 possession. ‘T'he simple evidences of changed affections 
 towards God and his manifested will, even though never 
 followed by the higher and more inspiring special gifts of 
 
 the blessed Paraclete, do, nevertheless, reveal him in propor- 
 
 ————— CO ee eee eee 
 
THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT. 307 
 
 tion to their own clearness as the earnest and sure pledge 
 of all the grand ultimate glory of eternal life. 
 
 2. To appreciate the real value of the earnest of the Spirit 
 as given to every regenerate soul, let us look at the second 
 question suggested: What is the full significance of this 
 earnest? It is all that any earnest ever was on any subject. 
 The earnest given in payment of a debt guaranteed its 
 payment. It was a full confession and acceptance of the 
 obligation to pay the whole amount. No question as to the 
 binding force of the unpaid part of the debt could ever be 
 raised when the grant or payment of the earnest money had 
 passed. No plea in any court could set aside a claim based 
 upon an earnest. No dispute about a land-title could ever 
 be raised when the actual gift of a handful of the soil from 
 the seller to the buyer could be proved. No doubt could 
 remain that the fields stood covered with the vegetable gold 
 of the ripened harvest, when the officials of the temple, in 
 their snowy robes, bore the first-fruit sheaves, lifted high to 
 view, along the crowded streets of Jerusalem, and up into 
 the courts of the Lord’s house. There was no room left for 
 doubt. The earnest was given; it was palpable to the eyes 
 of all, and none could hesitate to accept the assurance of 
 the earnest; all knew that bread for the coming year was 
 already given to Israel, already waved on the harvest 
 fields. | 
 
 As in matters of trade the earnest money avowed beyond 
 recall the obligation to pay the debt, so does the earnest of 
 the Spirit; God under covenant is in debt to his own honor 
 to save the soul that has accepted his own terms. The gift 
 of the Spirit in regeneration is the earnest of that debt, the 
 beginning of its payment, the certain pledge of its ultimate 
 redemption. The golden sheaf of faith is pledge that the 
 whole golden harvest of saving grace is already provided. 
 
 An earnest was a proof as well asa security. It settled the 
 point for which it was given. It settled the obligation of debt, 
 
308 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 the title to land, and the assurance of harvest. The earnest 
 the Spirit in like manner settles the question of personal salve 
 tion; it is salvation already begun—salvation in part accom- 
 plished. It is demonstrative proof of sonship, that personal 
 sonship which carries and certifies the legal sonship. No mat- 
 ter if a heart weary with struggle, and sick with doubt and hope 
 deferred, can take no comfort in evidences of grace which 
 satisfy others touching his state—evidences that would sat- 
 isfy himself about the state of others—yet, if those evidences 
 appear in the tests given in the Scriptures, the proof is 
 demonstrative. Such evidences of conversion do not create 
 mere presumptions, or establish a mere scale of probabili- 
 ties; they create an absolute certainty ; they prove that an 
 earnest has been given. That dread of sin, that grief for its 
 prevalent power over the heart and life, that yearning after 
 purity, that longing for Christ, that perpetual and welcome 
 presence of God in all the thoughts, that delight and com- 
 fort in the ordinances, cannot be mistaken; they prove the 
 earnest of the Spirit, and the earnest of the Spirit proves the 
 actual beginning and the certain title to eternal life. 
 
 But, further, an earnest was a part of an indivisible whole, 
 and he who possesses it has that assurance of ultimately 
 possessing the whole which springs from actually possessing 
 a part. The angler who has drawn the head of a fish above 
 water knows that he also possesses the remainder of its 
 body, although unseen as yet in the water. The rich man 
 who is lifting a bag of gold out of his treasury, and already 
 sees the top of it, knows he is drawing up the whole as well 
 as the part which is in sight. The miner who is drawing up 
 a chain from the dark depths of a mine knows he is lifting 
 the unseen parts of the chain as well as the parts which are 
 seen. So he who has the earnest of the Spirit need not 
 simply or merely hope without assurance; he need not com- 
 fort himself with mere probabilities, which may be truly 
 called high and reasonable, but are only probabilities after 
 
THE EARNEST OF THE SPreit. 309 
 
 ll. If he has an earnest, he is in an actual though partial 
 sossession; a possession actual and real, although only in 
 part. He has the earnest money in his hands, and although 
 the coins may look worn, battered and unsightly, they are 
 true money of the realm, and bind the payment of the rich 
 balance in the end. He grasps the handful of the sacred 
 soul, which carries the title to the land. He waves the 
 golden sheaves cut from the field thick with the wide-spread- 
 ing crop—an actual part of the priceless harvest. He who 
 has an earnest has an actual possession. 
 
 Yet, further, an earnest is not only an actual part of the 
 whole in actual possession, but this part is given as a pledge, 
 a legally designed and effective security of the as yet unpos- 
 sessed remainder. It is easy to conceive a part given 
 without any reference to any other portion of the thing 
 given ; the granted part standing simply for itself. But sup- 
 posing the law connected the part with the whole, and 
 required the part to be given for the express purpose of 
 securing the whole, then the law would secure the whole by 
 the grant of the part. This was the intent and the effect of 
 an earnest under the law or binding custom of the old Jews. 
 The earnest, then, not only secured the right and title to the 
 thing conveyed, but secured a provision to make it good. It 
 provided security for the unpaid balance. It is easy to 
 conceive a part of a promised sum as actually paid, yet 
 carrying no assurance of the payment of the balance. The 
 balance and main part of the debt may therefore fail from 
 the bankruptcy or fraud of the debtor. But if the law re- 
 quired that when the earnest money was paid, the remaining 
 part of the debt should be absolutely provided for by a 
 sufficient security, then the earnest would not only carry the 
 title, but provide for securing it. The earnest would carry 
 assurance for the future. The handful of soil may be con- 
 ceived as given, and yet the seller as afterwards regretting 
 the sale, and endeavoring to prevent the transfer; but if the 
 
310 Girts TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 law of the land had definitely decreed that the earnest 
 handful should carry an unrepealable and actual conveyance ; 
 although immediate possession be not given, the sale stands 
 beyond impeachment. The whole is as certain as the part; 
 for that is the designed and legal effect of the part actually 
 given. The whole public power of the Commonwealth 
 guarantees the final possession to the purchaser. The 
 earnest carries all with it, conveying not only title, but se- 
 curity for the future payment; it is a positive and universal 
 pledge covering all contingences, giving absolute assurance, 
 forestalling all resistance and extinguishing all doubt. 
 
 But this is not all the effect of the earnest in accomplish- 
 ing that part of its design which consists in the guarantee of 
 a debt. As a positive pledge and seal of assurance, ex- 
 pressed by a thing given at the present time, is designed 
 chiefly to affect the future, and by securing the future to 
 extinguish fear, to enkindle hope strong and ardent, and 
 thus not merely to secure the property of the receiver of the 
 assurance, but his peace of mind. This view of the gracious 
 design of the earnest of the Spirit is of inexpressible im- 
 portance to the believer. Zhe grand aim of the earnest was 
 to secure the future. The grand source of anxiety to the 
 saint is for the future. However measurably content with 
 the present, his fears for the future are the main causes of 
 his anxieties now. He dreads the facts in the future, temp- 
 tation, sin, his own weakness, death, judgment, the pre- 
 sence of the scenery of the life to come, the face of the — 
 angels, the unveiled glory of God’s almightiness. Lhe future 
 is the sphere of the grand passions, hope and fear in the 
 human heart. Both seem to be indelible instincts of a na- 
 ture conditioned inexorably to emerge into the future. They 
 are apparently imperishable indexes of immortality; signs 
 fixed in the inextinguishable consciousness of a being es- 
 sentially conditioned to live forever; buoys floating in cease- 
 less agitation, yet fixed and stable on the tumultuous 
 
THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT. rea 
 
 motions of a deathless nature. The domination of the 
 future is supreme. No matter what may be the conditions 
 of existence at present, whether prosperous or adverse, the 
 eyes of the human spirit are always bent upon the future. 
 lf the future is uncertain or menacing, even a prosperous 
 present is marred of its enjoyment. If the future can be 
 assured as fortunate, even a trying present is lightened of 
 its burden, and a happy present is doubled of its blessed- 
 ness. The future is equally powerful over the past; the 
 only thing which will heal the wounds of an unhappy past is 
 the assurance of a happy future. To secure the future, then, 
 is the grand demand of the human soul. But to do this with 
 its full effects the future must be assured, absolutely assured. 
 To create mere possibilities of good in the future; to create 
 mere probabilities, however high and rational, will only an- 
 swer a qualified purpose; will only qualify fear and kindle 
 hope to a certain extent. Even this partial establishment 
 of hope is valuable to a certain degree; but it cannot bring 
 solid peace. The human heart, oppressed by its experiences 
 in the past and its fears for the future, will cling to any 
 fragment of hope, even when insecurely based, and in the 
 words of the suffering Idumean possibly, “be confounded 
 because it had hoped.” To induce a real, restful, and en- 
 during hope the future must be assured, absolutely assured, 
 on a basis which cannot be shaken or mistrusted. To give 
 such an assurance of the future is the very end and purpose 
 of an earnest in every various kind of business in which it 
 is used. The earnest of the Spirit gives this assurance of 
 the future in all that enters into the matter of salvation. 
 He who is in possession of an earnest is not only in pos- 
 session of a present and actual part of a value, but 1s also 
 in possession of an assurance of the future. He who is 
 in possession of the earnest of the Holy Ghost is in posses- 
 sion of a sealed security of all the privileges of the sons of 
 God, not only for the present, but for all the future. That 
 
Ble GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 future is eternal; it is pregnant with countless and illimita- 
 ble changes; but in all the vast scale there is one thing 
 which defies the power of change—the sonship guaranteed 
 by the earnest of the Spirit. This lays a sure and unpre- 
 sumptuous foundation for a genuine Christian hope. With- 
 out it there is no sure basis for hope, and hope can only be 
 a vague, vacillating, unassured, unconsolatory presumption. 
 But upon it hope can kindle its beacon fires until they rise 
 high in the vaulted skies, amid the thickest darkness of this 
 earthly scene. 
 
 3. To enable us to appreciate still more fully the value of 
 the Spirit as an earnest of the purchased possession, we 
 must find an answer to the third suggested question: what 
 are the things or blessings of which the Spirit is an earnest ? 
 To this the reply must be made in the most comprehensive 
 terms, the earnest of the Spirit guarantees all the blessings 
 of redeeming grace. But to follow the suggestions of Scrip- 
 ture in their specializing of these blessings, we may first 
 notice that the earnest gives assurance of a positive period of 
 a full redemption. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, 
 whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” ‘Now 
 he which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath 
 anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the 
 earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” “In whom also, after 
 that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of 
 promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the 
 redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of 
 his glory.” The seal of the Spirit, as we have seen, has its 
 general as well as its special significance. Under its special 
 significance it refers to a special influence of the Spirit, 
 giving a special degree of stability and staunchness to the 
 exercises of the regenerate soul. In this sense it implies re- 
 generation, and is distinct from it. In its general sense it 
 carries the general significance of confirmation or security, 
 and in this sense it is coincident with one of the chief sig- 
 
THe HARNEST OF THE SPIRIT. Bile 
 
 nifications of the earnest of the Spirit. For this reason it is 
 sometimes employed in the sacred record as identical, or at 
 least a term interchangeable with earnest. It is so used in 
 one of the passages just quoted. One glorious thing which 
 is sealed and assured by the earnest of the Spirit is a fixed and 
 certain day or period of complete redemption. A lost soul is 
 sealed to a day of perdition, that is, it is assuredly bound 
 over to certain destruction when the time arrives. A saved 
 soul is bound over ¢o a day, or as that day is fixed for one 
 part of that redemption, to-wit, the resurrection of the body 
 to the day of redemption. Redemption is a purchased de- 
 liverance; the term carries both notions, deliverance and 
 deliverance by purchase, which grounds it in moral right, 
 and thus adds to its certainty. Redemption from sin is such 
 a deliverance from sin and all its deadly issues, from its 
 power and its pollution, its hazards and its pains. This in- 
 cludes the whole man, soul and body; sin has involved both, 
 and both are involved in the redemption from sin. This re- 
 demption is only begun in the forgiveness of sin, which 
 removes the danger of its penalties, and in regeneration, 
 which partially breaks its power and initiates the purgation 
 of its pollution. But the redeemed soul is still left, for a. 
 time, to the conflict with the remainders of evil in the heart, 
 and to the disciplinary sufferings necessary to the process of 
 purification. But the day of redemption will put an end to 
 all this conflict and all this distress. It will put an end both 
 to sin and suffering. In other words, the day of redemption 
 means the day of deliverance to the soul from all the evils 
 which are peculiar to the soul as distinguished from the 
 body. But as sin has involved the body and subjected it to 
 disease, deformity, and death, to all the evils of physical 
 nature, the day of redemption is the day of deliverance also to 
 the body. It involves deliverance from all the evils possible 
 to the body itself, and from all the evils in the world to 
 which man is related through his body. It implies a total 
 
314 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 change in the existing conditions of human life. The day of | 
 redemption is the period of full release from all the ills to 
 which flesh is heir. It is the period of serene and sinless 
 peace for soul and body. It is the time of release from all 
 care, all fear, all pain, all sickness, as well as from all pangs 
 of conscience and from all sin. Nay, as sin has brought 
 death into the world, and the body dies, or is dead because of 
 sin, the day of redemption is the day of resurrection to the 
 body. It is the time when the awful and apparently com- 
 plete and unreversible victory of death shall be reversed, 
 when the graves shall give back their dead, and the rejoicing 
 heavens shall be filled with the rescued victims of sin and 
 death. The day of redemption means a changed earth, a sin- 
 less and happy human family, souls and bodies redeemed from 
 the power of the curse, and fixed in eternal freedom from all 
 evil, and from all fear or hazard of it. Such is the day of 
 redemption of which the Spirit is the earnest, and as such 
 the absolute seal and assurance. When given as an earnest 
 in the gift of regeneration and faith, the Spirit breaks the 
 power of sin and delivers from it in part, and this part 
 given is the assurance of the grant of a deliverance which is 
 complete, embracing soul and body, and enduring forever- 
 more. 
 
 In the second place, the earnest of the Spirit assures 
 another thing inexpressibly glorious: 7¢¢ assures heaven to the 
 regenerate soul. This is one consummate end and object of 
 the earnest given. The record testifies that the earnest of 
 the inheritance is given to serve until the actual redemption 
 of the purchased possession. There must needs be an out- 
 come, both in locality and character, to the forces and process 
 of redemption. Man as a being of limited and localized ~ 
 nature must have some particular place in which to exist. 
 He cannot be in two places at once, and must therefore have 
 some one place to be. The redemption from sin and suffer- 
 ing necessitates a place where the conditions of sinless and 
 
Tor HARNEST OF THE SPIRIT. 315 
 
 unsuffering existence are established. The Holy Scriptures 
 reveal such a place as the final habitation of the just made 
 perfect, and while designating it under various forms and 
 names, principally describe it under the name heaven. 
 Heaven then, in part at least, is a locality. But the earnest 
 of the Spirit which is given in regeneration is designed to 
 affect personal character, to create a holy nature, and thus 
 to transform and perfect finally a moral change of an unholy 
 nature. As an earnest of heaven, then, as a part of an 
 answerable whole, the earnest of the Spirit proves that 
 heaven is a character as well as a locality, and discloses the 
 striking fact that the characteristic spirit of heaven is to be 
 found, and is only to be found in the spirit, temper, and 
 affections developed in regeneration. Under both of these 
 aspects of locality and character, heaven is represented in 
 the word of God as a place and state of existence inexpres- 
 sibly glorious. Under its delineations of it as a local habita- 
 tion, it represents it under the figure of a city, on the banks 
 of a river, bordered with parks of noble fruit-bearing trees, 
 built of jewels and gold, crowded with the mansions of 
 the saints, within whose mighty walls no temple is seen 
 thrusting its steeples and towers over the masses of its build- 
 ings, because the whole place is one consecrated scene of 
 holy service, over whose glowing structures no sunlight falls, 
 on whose streets no pale moonbeam ever gleams on the 
 thick-trodden gold, ‘‘embossed and ingrained with celestial 
 roses,” where no night ever lets down its raven curtains to 
 wrap the splendor in a passing gloom, where no sickness 
 ever disturbs any home, no tears ever moisten any cheek, no 
 species of evil ever darkens the serene and cloudless peace 
 of the blest inhabitants. It has never entered into the heart 
 of man to conceive the splendor of heaven as a place; its 
 local coloring beggars description. 
 
 Still more powerless is human thought to conceive the 
 higher range of the spiritual and mental blessedness which 
 
316 GIFTs To BELIEVERS. 
 
 God has prepared for those that love him. We only know 
 that the same essential principles of obedience; the same 
 feelings of love, gratitude, reverence, and delighted com- 
 munion; the same confidence in the love of the Father, Son, 
 and Spirit; the same delight in prayer and praise, in the 
 word and worship of God; the same love to all who love 
 him and bear his image, in a word, all the graces which are 
 planted in germ in the regenerate soul by regenerating grace, 
 which is the earnest of the Spirit, will be seen in heaven. 
 These graces when exercised here, not only reveal the moral 
 beauty of spiritual holinéss, but fill the heart with joy and 
 peace. They also work another noble effect: they add fresh 
 strength to the holy habit of mind from which they spring. 
 All these results of spiritual graces, happiness, and growing 
 strength, will be seen in heaven, and constitute its highest 
 blessedness. The only difference will be a difference of 
 degree, not of essential nature. Here the graces are weak, 
 and often intermit their exercise, and the necessary result is. 
 that their happy effects are proportionally weak and infrequent. 
 There the graces are strong and perfect; they never intermit. 
 their energy; and the happy effects are answerable in power 
 and permanence. Oh! blessed object assured by the earnest 
 of the Spirit—heaven—the home of an endless and perfected 
 peace; the eternal dwelling-place of joy inexpressible and 
 full of glory ; the immovable kingdom of holiness which is the: 
 health of the immortal mind! 
 
 Yet more, the earnest of the Spirit insures another bless- 
 ing inexpressibly important from its instrumental bearing on 
 all the high, ultimate issues of the promised redemption ; it 
 insures all the intermediate gifts of grace which are neces- 
 sary to secure the glorious result. An issue may be made 
 contingent on any number of procuring causes. As a matter 
 of course, to guarantee absolutely the attainment of the end, 
 it will be indispensable to guarantee the successful procure- 
 ment of each procuring cause. If this can be done, the end,, 
 
THe EARNEST OF THE SPtrit. Shy 
 
 though conditioned and contingent, may be absolutely assured. 
 Many procuring secondary causes are linked with the grand 
 end certified by the earnest of the Holy Ghost. Faith, re- 
 pentance, holy service of many kinds, prayer, self-denial, 
 and consecrated devotion all bear upon the end, and without 
 them the end cannot be gained. But when the earnest of 
 the Spirit guarantees the end, it guarantees the means; the 
 assurance of the end is the assurance of the means. No 
 end dependent upon procuring agencies can be guaranteed 
 except by the guarantee of the agencies with which it has 
 been linked by the law. But grace all-sufficient is irre- 
 vocably pledged in giving the earnest of the Spirit; the 
 grand executive guarantee is given in that wonderful gift. 
 The Father becomes the covenanted and treaty-bound Father 
 of his adopted and regenerated sons. The Son rejoices to 
 be the covenanted and treaty-bound Saviour of his trustful 
 children. The Spirit becomes the covenanted and treaty- 
 bound Paraclete of every saint whose sanctity he undertakes 
 to achieve. Grace all-sufficient is pledged by the earnest of 
 the Spirit. The declaration is positive concerning even the 
 weak of the covenanted host: “He shall be holden up, for 
 God is able to make him stand.” 
 
 4, The answer to the fourth question, touching the effects of 
 the earnest of the Spirit when developed in the consciousness, 
 will complete our view of the value of this gift. 
 
 In the first place, the earnest of the Spirit reveals to us 
 the nature of heaven, as it had already done the fact of such a 
 place and state. It discloses its characteristic spirit, its 
 fundamental quality in the great controlling trait of spiritual | 
 holiness. It thus reveals the insufficiency of all religious quali- 
 fications for entry into that glorious citizenship, except those 
 which are rooted in a regenerate nature. In the earnest a 
 part is always given as a sample of the whole. In regenera- 
 tion the germ of holiness is implanted, and all the graces, 
 which are “the fruits of the Spirit,” are the outgrowths of 
 
318 ~ Gtrers To BELIEVERS. 
 
 this germ, the results of the earnest. These fruits are the 
 characteristic marks of the earnest part, and are, therefore, 
 the characteristic marks of the guaranteed whole. Heaven 
 is thus revealed to us in its essential nature as love, joy, 
 peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
 temperance. Every manifestation, then, of these graces is a 
 proof of participation in the spirit of heaven, and conse- 
 quently of a fitness for it. All the affections, all the works, 
 all the characteristic exercises of a regenerate heart are as- 
 surances of heaven. They prove a tele to it by proving a 
 fitness for it; for the earnest is a pledge as well as a sample. 
 No proof could be more irresistible of the absolute necessity 
 of a regenerate and holy heart; heaven will be no heaven 
 without it. As a locality it would be of all places the most 
 oppressive, without the spirit which is congenial to it. How 
 sweet is the assurance of heaven given to the humble be- 
 liever by the earnest of the Spirit! It assures him that his 
 humble graces, however feebly developed, carry the guaran- 
 tees of his personal part in the heaven of the just; they are 
 the earnest of that glorious whole, a part, a pledge, a sam- 
 ple, a proof, a certificate which is made by the law of the 
 institution to carry absolute assurance of that of which it is 
 established as an earnest. 
 
 Another effect designed to be the issue of an earnest, and 
 effected by it in proportion to the clearness of its own real- 
 ization, is hope. It will yield hope by its mastery of the 
 future on a scale of degrees rising in combination with the 
 witness of the Spirit to full and abiding assurance of per- 
 sonal salvation. The earnest always carries the assurance 
 in fact, butis not always suitably apprehended in the mind, and 
 therefore does not always yield the effect of the truth which 
 it certifies. But when no obstruction in the mind impedes 
 its power, it will create in the consciousness the assurance 
 which it carries in itself. The earnest unimpeded will breed 
 a hope full of immortality. Another effect is comfort and 
 
THE EaRNEST OF THE SPrRrIr. 319 
 
 peace of mind, assurance of the future logically grounds 
 comfort, and when truly apprehended inevitably breeds it. 
 Another effect is strength—strength to do and to suffer; to 
 exert activity; to develop patience; to deny self, and to 
 serve others; to overcome evil, and to walk worthy of the 
 Lord in all pleasing. It creates absolute safety. 
 
 5. The crowning blessing in the earnest of the Spirit zs 
 the earnest given, which is the loving and most Holy Spirit 
 himself. It was noted in the beginning of this exposition 
 that an earnest accomplished two purposes: it secured a 
 debt, and defined the material in which it was to be paid. 
 The earnest as a part of a whole was a specimen of the 
 whole, a sample of that which was promised. An earnest 
 paid in a handful of soil indicated a payment in land; an 
 earnest paid in gold pledged a full payment in gold; an 
 earnest in silk or jewels, a larger transfer of the same rich 
 materials. But an earnest given of the Holy Spirit of God 
 is positively the highest of all gifts. It is the richest of all 
 the blessings in the hands of the rich Lord of the universe. 
 Having given his Son to redeem, and himself to be the 
 Father and Portion of his people, he had only one more oft 
 of equal value to bestow. When this was given it com- 
 pleted the grand gift of his whole self to his redeemed crea- 
 ture. In point of actual fact, the gift of the Spirit as an 
 earnest carries with it the gift of the Son as a Saviour, and 
 the gift of the Father in all the blessedness of his glorious 
 restored fatherhood. But the gift of the Spirit as an earnest, 
 a part as a sample and pledge of a whole, raises our hopes | 
 and conceptions into a region where they are confused and 
 lost in the immeasurable prospect of glory, honor, and im- 
 mortal life. Even as a mere earnest, a mere fragment of the 
 good to come, the grace of the ever-blessed Spirit is literally 
 infinite. He is given in all his infinite power and wisdom 
 and goodness; the riches, the freedom, and the tenderness of 
 his patient and pitying love, as he dwells in the human 
 
320 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 heart, and struggles to subdue its evils, are positively unsearch- 
 able. Even as a mere earnest, he is the richest gift in the 
 treasury of heaven. What the whole is, of which such a gilt 
 is only a part, no tongue can tell. It suggests gifts of the 
 Spirit in the long sweep of a blest eternity granted endlessly, 
 in forms no mortal mind can conceive, no mortal tongue can 
 even begin to describe. The Spirit as an earnest of the 
 purchased possession guarantees eternal life to all to whom 
 he is so given. 
 
CEA BIE Ra Var ie, 
 THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ‘“‘For aS many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of 
 God.”—Pawul to the Romans. 
 
 LL parts of the work of grace in the human heart are 
 adjusted to all those destructive effects of sin which it 
 
 is designed to remove, and, at the same time, it is adjusted to 
 _the essential nature of the being in whom the gracious en- 
 ergy is to be exerted. Man is essentially an active being; 
 active in all the processes of his intellectual nature, in all 
 the affections of his will, and in all the actions of his con- 
 duct. This activity is essential and unalterable; it abides, 
 no matter what changes take place in the moral complexion 
 of his energies; he is active in holiness, if his moral quality 
 is holy ; he is active in evil, if his moral nature is evil; he 
 is active in both good and evil, if his moral nature is under a 
 progressive and unfinished process of redemption from sin. 
 All his active energies have been affected by moral evil, and 
 the enterprise of redeeming him from sin necessarily requires 
 the delivering influence to be exerted upon them all. This 
 influence must be exerted in accordance with the essential 
 nature of each one of the energies he undertakes to purify 
 and govern; he exerts no compulsory power in the sense of 
 actual force; he does not overbear or oppress any energy 
 with which he deals; he does not interfere with the native 
 and essential quality of any one of them all. Asin the witness 
 of the Spirit, it is a testimony borne with an influence con- 
 currently exerted along with a similar testimonial activity of 
 the human spirit, to prove sonship to God. In the inaspira- 
 tion of the Scriptures, the influence of the Spirit is so ex- 
 
 21 d21 
 
322 GiFts TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 erted along with the activity of the human spirit employed, 
 that the peculiar mental quality of the instrument is im- 
 pressed upon the message delivered, as well as the higher 
 stamp of the higher intelligence engaged. This rule is re- 
 garded in all the dealings of grace with the unregenerate 
 and regenerate soul. This influence, thus limited when ex- 
 erted on the positive activities of the human energies, is 
 . what is meant by the leading of the Spirit. As these ener- 
 gies are deadened by the influence of sin, they need a stimu- 
 lating influence of saving grace. As they are enfeebled, 
 they need a communication of vigor, sufficient to bring them 
 up to their appointed work. As they are affected both by 
 ignorance and blindness, they need an enlightening and a 
 guiding influence. As in themselves active, this guidance, 
 instruction, and quickening is to be exerted in the way of 
 leading them in the search, and not by way of force or com- 
 pulsion. Leading implies a corresponding and cotempora- 
 neous motion. The leading of a little child implies some 
 movement on the part of the child; the guidance of a blind 
 man implies movement on his part. In the leading of the 
 Spirit, as in all the motions of delivering grace, the essential 
 nature of man is respected, and while grace is always effica- 
 cious to accomplish its purposes, it always works in accord ~ 
 with the law of the nature it deals with. The leading of the 
 Spirit, then, we understand to be the influence which he exerts 
 in guiding all the active powers of the man to the right dis- 
 charge of all his appointed functions. | 
 
 Leading may be accomplished in several ways. It may 
 be accomplished by going before and showing the way, as 
 where a guide is employed to lead an army through an un- 
 known country, or a stranger along unknown paths. It may 
 be accomplished by taking hold of the hand of a little child, 
 or by supporting the strength of a blind or feeble person 
 unable to go safely without the aid of positive contact with 
 more available strength and vision. It may be accomplished. 
 
THe LEADING oF THE SPIRIT. 323 
 
 by a glance of the eye, or a gesture of the hand, when the 
 needed direction is more properly given by a silent sign than 
 by open command. It may be accomplished, finally, as the 
 commander of an army leads his forces by determining and 
 commanding all their movements. These differing forms or 
 degrees of leadership are determined in part by the nature 
 of that which is to be guided, or by the greater or legs 
 degree of the necessity for guidance. In like manner the 
 leading of the Spirit may take a variety of forms, according 
 to the varying necessities of those whom he leads. A shep- 
 herd will carry the lambs in his bosom, and gently lead those 
 which are with young, but he will walk before an adult flock 
 with more unhesitating and less restrained decision. As 
 when training untrained sheep, he will keep closer and more 
 constantly with them, and use more decisive measures to 
 train them, he will guide the flock when trained, by mere 
 gestures or calls from a distance, and with less, because 
 now unnecessary, painstaking and solicitous management. 
 Just so with the leadership of the Spirit. He will guide the 
 young, the feeble, the weary, and the sorrowful with more 
 direct and tender communications of his grace. He will 
 guide the wayward, untrained, and disobedient with severity 
 if needful. He will guide the experienced and veteran sub- 
 jects of his grace with the glance of his eye, and find it 
 sufficient. These are the general characteristics of the lead- 
 ing of the Spirit. But to become more specific: 
 
 1. As the Spirit leads all the activities of the human soul, 
 the intellect, the will, and the outward conduct, he leads the 
 understanding into the knowledge of the truth as God has 
 revealed it. He does this not merely as having given the 
 revelation of the Scriptures, but when that record is given, 
 he is equally necessary to guide into the knowledge of the 
 truth revealed in it. This he does in two ways, yielding 
 each a different kind of knowledge: one giving a more or less 
 accurate intellectual discernment of the truth revealed, and 
 
B24 Gurts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 necessary to soundness and orthodoxy of religious opinion, 
 the other giving that spiritual apprehension of the true sig- 
 nificance of truths already known and avowed, which is 
 necessary to personal salvation. 
 
 Touching the first of these two kinds of knowledge, the 
 right intellectual apprehension of the truth in the Bible, the 
 leading of the Spirit is always necessary, and can never be 
 ignored or neglected without a serious hazard of departing 
 from the faith. The truths of the Bible are like the truths 
 of any broad system, somewhat subject to accident. Lord 
 Bacon says: “There is something accidental in the knowing 
 of all truth.” A dozen men may look at a field, or a house, | 
 or a tree, and each one will see something in it which the - 
 others do not see. That which leads each one to see what_ 
 he sees and.the others do not see is what Bacon means by 
 the accidental in knowledge. A hundred thinkers before 
 his day had seen and appreciated the principle of induction 
 from observed facts, which that great thinker established as 
 the basis of that grand philosophy of fruit, as he called it, 
 which has resulted in all the wonderful discoveries and in- 
 ventions of modern times. In fact, every human being from 
 the age of infancy to maturity of years and reason has acted 
 consciously or unconsciously upon the principle. But Bacon 
 saw something in it which no one else had ever seen in it 
 before, and hence the wonderfully controlling and fruitful 
 use which he made of it. His insight of it is a sample of 
 his maxim touching the accidental in thought. It is so with 
 the truth of the Bible. One interpreter will be absorbed by 
 one truth as he sees it, and fails to see how it is qualified by 
 another truth as seen by another interpreter. Hence he 
 disputes the existence of the truth he does not see, or appre- 
 hends it as inconsistent with the truth he does see. This is 
 one mode in which men of equal abilities and equal good- 
 ness will be found holding different creeds, all based upon 
 the Scriptures. There is yet another cause involving more 
 
Tue LEADING OF THE SprrRIit. 325 
 
 of moral responsibility than the one just illustrated, which 
 results in this same division of sentiment. The human heart 
 affected by sin has a profound influence on the views of the 
 understanding; the transparent glass, colored with red or 
 gold, will give its own colors to whatever is seen through 
 it. From these two causes we may see the necessity for the 
 leadership of the Spirit as a euide even to the intellectual 
 knowledge of the truth. His guidance is all-important to 
 control that accidental quality in knowing which leads one 
 to apprehend a force of truth in an idea which another does 
 not see in it. His guidance is all-important in controlling 
 those regulating colors which are transfused through the 
 whole field of the intellect by the moral tastes and affections 
 which fill the heart. No body of Christians in any branch 
 of the church are ever safe from the danger of departing 
 from their creed, when they cease to recognize the perpetual 
 necessity of the leading of the Spirit. The great Protestant 
 formula asserted against the assumption of power in the 
 Roman Catholic Church to decide all issues of Christian 
 truth by authority—the Bible alone is the religion of Pro- 
 testants—is true in one sense and not true in another. It is 
 true in affirming that all revealed truth is contained in the 
 Bible, and that it is to be found nowhere else; it is true in 
 asserting the right of all men to search the Scriptures, 
 because they are one of the means of grace appointed of 
 God to lead to salvation. But it is not true, if taken to 
 exclude the necessity of the Spirit to lead the individual 
 mind in the search of the Scriptures. The great principle 
 of evangelical Protestant Christianity is two-fold in form: 
 the Bible, alone, as the text-book of faith, and the leadership 
 of the Spirit as the principal teacher. The wreck of the 
 Presbyterian creed in Geneva a century ago, and in Holland 
 at the present time, resulting in the shameless expulsion of 
 all real adherents to that creed which has been accepted by 
 all the agents in this cruel tergiversation, is a striking proof 
 
SUG Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 of the perpetual need of the leading of the Spirit in retain- 
 ing even the intellectual knowledge and. hold of the truth. 
 This leadership is all the more necessary to that other 
 species of the knowledge of the truth which alone yields its 
 saving benefit. This form of apprehending the truth is that 
 which is alluded to by Paul, when he speaks of it as “ spirit- 
 ually discerned.” The natural man cannot so discern it. 
 This species of intuition is a gift of the Holy Ghost, and to 
 gain it his leadership is indispensable. The assertion of 
 this form of knowledge is considered mystical by some, and 
 positively fanatical by others, but it is as purely rational and 
 common-sense a distinction as the difference which exists in 
 the knowledge that fire will burn in one who is actually feel- 
 ing it burn, and one who is not feeling it, but simply knows 
 that it will burn. It is the simple difference between the 
 knowledge which is lodged in the understanding and mem- 
 ory, and that knowledge which exists in a felt experience or 
 in an existing consciousness. In the one, the knowledge is 
 the simple apprehension of a truth; in the other, it is a liv- 
 ing intuition of the real force and meaning of it. Sin ap- 
 prehended in the one form of knowledge may be fully 
 received as a theoretical evil of enormous magnitude; but 
 this apprehension of it will lead to no personal concern on 
 account of it. Sin apprehended in the other form of know- 
 ledge will be felt as a personal implication in guilt and dan- 
 ger, and will lead at once to intense personal solicitude on 
 account of it. Christ apprehended under the one form of 
 knowledge may be truly accepted as a Saviour of men, as a 
 mere truth of history; apprehended under the other form of 
 knowledge he will be received as a Saviour, personally ac- 
 cepted and trusted. One may know that the view from the 
 top of a mountain is surpassingly beautiful; one who ac- 
 tually stands upon its summit actually sees what the other 
 merely knows, but does not see. The difference in the two 
 forms of knowledge is neither mystical nor fanatical. Itis 
 
 ————e 
 
THe LEADING OF THE SPIRIt. ; ie 
 
 the office of the Holy Spirit to take of the things of Christ 
 and show them unto us. Under this species of living intui- 
 tion all that grand grace which makes the gospel glad tidings 
 of great joy can only be apprehended under his leading of 
 our powers of perception. David prayed, “Lead me in thy 
 truth, and teach me”; and if any man ever hopes to be 
 furnished with that intuitive insight into the truth, which is 
 the saving knowledge of Christ, he must make the same 
 prayer in all earnestness and patient waiting upon God. If 
 any Christian ever hopes to reach any high or joyous views 
 of the greatness and perfect adaptation of gospel grace to his 
 own and the souls of others, he must seek the special leading 
 of the Spirit. Let it be remembered that leading implies 
 activity and movement on the part of the led, as well as on 
 the part of the leader. He who seeks to rise into these high 
 and exhilarating views of the gladness of the gospel must 
 give himself to the effort to comprehend them, while he 
 appeals at the same time to the leadership of the Spirit to 
 guide him into adequate conceptions. When the Spirit is 
 leading the intellectual activities of the soul, whether in the 
 intellectual or spiritual apprehension of the truth, he re- 
 quires the concurrent activity of the intellectual and spiritual 
 intuitions of the soul. He leads, but does not carry; he 
 stimulates, aids, gives needful help, and demands the reso- 
 lute forth-putting of all our powers, and the active use of all 
 his previous gifts. He rewards no indifference; he warrants 
 no idleness; he pays no premium on spiritual laziness. The 
 rewards of clear and steadfast vision, the real apprehension 
 of what he leads us to see of the greatness of the glad gospel 
 of grace, will be an infinite recompense of all the labor and 
 self-denial which conducts us up on this spiritual Pisgah, and 
 opens to our view the wide, rich landscape over which it looks. 
 
 The Spirit also leads the energies of affection in the re- 
 generate heart, as well as the activities of the intellect, and 
 thus proves sonship. All those affections are his gift; they 
 
328 Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 are implanted in regeneration. They are established then 
 in germ; in an infant, but indestructible form; they are the 
 bulb-roots of an eternal life. But they are dependent on the 
 same gracious agent who implanted them to lead them into 
 light on the surface, and to guide the spreading of their ever- 
 increasing stem and branches. This familiar truth, the con- 
 stant and never intermitted dependence of the regenerate 
 soul on the living grace of God for the health and growth of 
 its graces, is not apprehended as it should be. It ought to 
 be used with a sharp and definite application every day of 
 the Christian’s sojourn in this scene of preparation. In the 
 sad consciousness of feeble, it may be of invisible, growth in 
 any grace of faith, hope, patience, gentleness, fervor of sym- 
 pathy, gratitude ‘or zeal, the first step to be taken is an 
 instant appeal to and for the leadership of the Spirit; he is 
 always ready; the Father is always ready; more ready to 
 give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him, than earthly 
 parents are to give good gifts unto their children. The 
 Saviour, the great High Priest, never abdicates his loving 
 priestly function, and is always ready to intercede for the 
 grant of the Spirit. Nor shall we ever grasp the real 
 strength of the case until we are able to do justice to the 
 Spirit himself; until our conceptions of the love of the Spirit, 
 his delight in his work, the unsearchable depth of the free- 
 ness and fullness of his grace, are suitably enlarged. He 
 solicits our appeal to him; he is ready to lead us forward; 
 he is waiting to be gracious. He delights to stir up the soul 
 to a genuine hunger after spiritual blessings. He delights 
 in kindling the spirit of intense desire in the heart—that 
 spirit of prayer which will ery day and night at the throne 
 of grace. He likes to strengthen faith, to develope love, to 
 make staunch the spirit of obedience, to put down selfish- 
 ness, to waken those wide sympathies for lost men which lead 
 to self-denial and ardent efforts to save them. He delights to 
 spread joy and peace in the soul, and to fill it with the bright~- 
 
THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT. 329 
 
 ness of the sweet spring morning of a revived and animated 
 piety. But he calls upon us to let him lead us. He calls 
 upon us to show our desires for these rich spiritual bless- 
 ings, and he works at the death-like torpor of our worldliness 
 that he may lead us forward to the needful activities of 
 spiritual desire, in order that through these activities he 
 may lead us further still into richer and more abundant 
 erace. 
 
 There is nothing in our relation to the leading of the 
 Spirit to make us think, when we are in a state of conscious 
 spiritual torpor that we must wait for a special motion on 
 his part before we begin to call upon him. The written law 
 is a perpetual prescription and definition of our duty; any 
 desire, however feeble, to come up to the discharge of it shows 
 the first tender leading touch of the Holy Spirit on our 
 hearts. All affections which are led out in the heart by the 
 Holy Spirit will conform to the characteristics of true spirit- 
 ual affections laid down in the word of God. All false or 
 fanatical religious affections; fierce and uncharitable zeal; 
 the disposition to coerce; the eagerness which overruns pru- 
 dence and breaks conformity to prescribed duty; all disregard 
 of decency and order in the worship of God, are not led out 
 by the Spirit of God. They consequently do not prove son- 
 ship, while those which are led by the Spirit are unquestion- 
 able proofs of it. If, then, there is any motion of desire for 
 the improvement of any one or all the affections of a regen- 
 erate heart, let us remember and resort to the leadership of 
 the Holy Ghost. No matter how feeble, and consequently 
 how doubtful, the affection itself, or the impulse to better it 
 may be, apply to the Spirit to guide it right and lead it for- 
 ward. As the shepherd led gently the feeble ones of the 
 flock, so the Spirit of all grace will not despise the weakest 
 of motions towards himself, and the ends he is working to 
 gain. He will not quench the smoking flax; nor break the 
 bruised reed. He will lead if the Christian soul will follow. 
 
330 Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 The impulse to follow is itself from him, and he will not 
 despise his own gift or mar the purpose for which he gives 
 it. We may appeal to him to give us the impulse, to lead it 
 forward through every degree of desire to fixed purpose, to 
 replenish all: the energies he excites, and ever steadily to 
 lead onward from resolve to attainment, and from one attain- 
 ment to another, until thus growing in grace we arrive at the 
 stature of full-grown men in Christ Jesus. We are never 
 straitened in his offices any more than we are in the grace of 
 the Son, or in the infinite fatherly affections of the Father. 
 Tf we are straitened at all, we are straitened only in our own 
 souls. If any Christian heart is oppressed with the state of 
 his own graces, and longs for better things, that longing is 
 proof that the Spirit is leading—drawing him by the hand, 
 and pointing to the sunshine on the distant hills, and saying, 
 Come, let us go out of these dark, chilly spots on the narrow 
 way, into a higher and more cheering place. Let him lead 
 you; it is always safe to go wherever he shows the way. 
 
 3. The leading of the Spirit extends to the actions of the 
 regenerate child of God also. Action is the final and irre-— 
 versible expression of all moral energy, good or bad. It 
 begins with desire; it ripens into positive volition or deter- 
 mined purpose; and at every stage of manifested will before it 
 passes over into action, it is capable of change; its direction 
 may be altered. But when it passes into action it is fixed for- 
 ever; and the responsibility which has accompanied every 
 previous expression of will is carried to its highest expres- 
 sion by rearching its final and unalterable form. For these 
 two reasons, the fixation of the fact, and the development of 
 responsibility into its highest and immutable shape by the 
 actual doing of an act, it becomes of the last importance that 
 all positive actions should be well guided and determined. 
 Actions in the course of coming into being often need good 
 and effectual aid and guidance, in order to secure their being 
 so performed as to meet and accomplish the end for which 
 
Tur LEADING OF THE SPIRIT. SOL 
 
 they are done. The leading of the Spirit, then, as made 
 available in all our conduct, is a blessing inexpressibly great 
 and valuable. It may be looked and asked for in everything 
 which may rightfully be done. In all the duties of life, no 
 matter how purely secular the matter of the duty may be, we 
 may seek for it; for duty is only another name for the will 
 and law of God. We have no right to do anything which 
 we cannot ask God to help us do, and to bless us in doing. 
 Where the Spirit leads we may safely go, and where we may 
 go the Spirit may lead. All that we may lawfully omit or 
 refuse to do, we may seek the leading of the Spirit in so 
 refusing ; and if we cannot ask him to lead and sanction our 
 negative action, we have no right to refuse to act. No omis- 
 sion of any duty, no evasion of any just obligation, can 
 possibly be led by the Holy Ghost. All acts, of whatever 
 kind, in which he may lead, will be wisely done, and will 
 bear the scrutiny of the final Judge. 
 
 All such acts will determine a responsibility which may 
 be safely encountered. All the results and consequences . 
 legitimately attributable to such acts will be sound and 
 wholesome in themselves and need not be dreaded. To any 
 mind suitably impressed with the awfulness of accomplished 
 facts, with the unchangeableness of the facts themselves, 
 with the uncontrollableness of their influences, with the in- 
 delible nature of the responsibility they create, this cove- 
 nanted provision of the Holy Spirit as an available leader in 
 action constitutes one of the richest provisions made in the 
 covenant of grace. As such we may seek his guidance in 
 every stage of the action, in the original contemplation of it, 
 in the determinate purpose to attempt it, in devising the 
 means to effect it, in the execution of the act itself, and in 
 securing the happy consequences that flow from it. Itisa 
 glorious privilege to have such a guide and helper. We only 
 forfeit our right to seek and expect his leading when the 
 action is faulty in itself, in the motives which actuate it, or 
 
Sou GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 in the unhappy consequences which inevitably flow out of 
 the act itself, or may be perverted out of it by the weak in 
 faith when needlessly done. We have no right to seek or 
 expect his guidance in any weak or foolish action, the test 
 of which as such is to be found in the principles or precepts 
 of the written word, and not in the mere prejudices or pas- 
 sions of the natural mind. These remarks define the leader- 
 ship of the Spirit in the personal actions of individual 
 men; but it is equally available and equally necessary to 
 safety in the public actions of organized bodies, and espe- 
 cially of the church of God. Statesmen and legislators, the 
 rulers and counsellors of all organic bodies of every sort, are 
 not independent of divine counsel, nor released from the obli- 
 gation to seek it. This is always recognized earnestly in times. 
 of public calamity. A celebrated Swedish statesman once 
 sent his son on a tour of travel through various countries 
 and courts of Europe, not merely for the purpose of giving a 
 liberal finish to his education, but especially that he might. 
 see with what a small amount of wisdom the world was gov- 
 erned. The need of divine guidance in this dearth of fore- 
 sight is obvious. The very same defect is to be seen in the 
 courts and councils of the church. These courts are com- 
 posed of men with all the deficiencies which attach to the 
 wisest, and those which more seriously attach to those who. 
 are not the wisest; and while consultation and the compari- 
 son of views will be pretty sure to raise the counsel taken 
 higher than the wisdom of the average individual member, 
 it will not naturally rise above the level of the controlling 
 minds. 
 
 The history of the church in its best development is full 
 of proofs of the necessity for a perpetual and wise leading 
 influence within and over its best human counsels. It is an 
 inexpressible blessing that the leading of the Spirit is avail- 
 able to the courts and parliaments of the kingdom. This 
 guiding influence is a totally different thing from that claim 
 
THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT. ooo 
 
 to infallible guidance which is the distinction and disgrace 
 of the great Roman apostasy. It is analogous in character 
 with his leadership of individual men, with no more and no 
 less of infallibility in it, effective to.secure salvation, yet 
 giving no guarantee of universal doctrinal correctness of 
 religious opinion. There may be true Christians, yet hold- 
 ing different views of points not essential to personal salva- 
 tion. The pledge to them is guidance into the truth 
 necessary to save them, not into absolute completeness and 
 inerrancy in the knowledge of all the truth revealed. In 
 like manner there may be safe guidance in the counsels and 
 testimonies of the organized church, without absolute and 
 universal infallibility. In all the parliaments of the church 
 human energies are in motion as well as the leading of the 
 Spirit, and will stand accountable for the mistakes that may 
 be mingled with conclusions on the whole sound and salu- 
 tary. Though not securing infallible accuracy and wisdom, 
 the influences of the Spirit are available for invaluable 
 results in the councils of the kingdom. Every combined 
 effort of any particular congregation, or of any part of it, 
 ought to recognize, with earnest and patient application for 
 his aid, the leadership of the Spirit. Otherwise, such a 
 practical declaration of independence of his assistance will 
 be apt to result in disappointment or absolute failure. His 
 leading in anything, whether of individual or organized ac- 
 tion, gives the best securities possible; it shows he is taking 
 part init. With such a leader, and justin proportion to the 
 fulness of his intervention, there will be comfortable assur- 
 ance of right and safe guidance, and of an answerable suc- 
 cess. 
 
OF 1-1 nad Ml a I @ 
 THH INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ‘‘ Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what 
 we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession 
 for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”—Pawl to the Romans. 
 
 [tae or uae is a leading element in prayer, and often 
 stands for the whole of it. Strictly construed, it is that 
 part of prayer in which he who prays offers petitions for 
 others than himself. It is an interposition, a mediation or 
 going-between, in which one asks'favor for persons or inter- 
 ests distinct from himself, or his own immediate concerns. 
 It is a part of the duty of prayer as it is defined for us in 
 the word of God; while permitted and commanded to pray 
 for ourselves we are required to pray for others. Interces- 
 sion is not only a part of ordinary prayer, but one of the 
 grand functions of an official priesthood; and one of the 
 sweetest and most encouraging aspects in which our Lord 
 is presented to our confidence, is that in which he is repre- 
 sented as praying for us at the Father’s throne. Christ ig 
 commonly recognized as a being to be prayed to, but is not 
 so fully recognized as a praying being himself, praying for 
 us. This priestly intercession of the great High Priest is the 
 combination in his prayers of a plea of his own official work, 
 with a petition grounded upon it, that the favor of the Father 
 may be bestowed on those for whom he prays. The Holy 
 Spirit is also an intercessor for us; but his intercession 
 differs from both the intercession of the great Priest of the 
 covenant, and the ordinary prayers of the human petitioner. 
 Originating in the same grace as the intervention of the 
 Mediator, and aiming at the same gracious’end, it is not a 
 
 plea based upon what he has done for us, but a present work 
 3384 
 
 a ag 
 
THE INTERCESSION OF THE Spretrr. $85. 
 
 done in us. Unlike the priest in the heavenly sanctuary, 
 and unlike the human petitioner, who both present their 
 personal petitions in their own persons, he does not offer his 
 own petitions in his own person, nor appear directly before 
 the throne. His intercession is indirect; he exerts an in- 
 fluence upon us to enable us to pray aright, to show us our 
 need, to kindle our desires, and to enable us to pray in faith. 
 His influence is thus all-powerful in securing answers to 
 prayer. His intervention in prayer is all-important; without 
 it we not only pray without effect, but our prayers become 
 fresh forms of offence, and constitute a new reason why they 
 should not be ahswered. We must “pray in the Spirit.” 
 The teaching of the apostle is very plain; he unequivocally 
 says: “We know not what to pray for as we ought”; and it 
 ison“ that very account, and to prevent the disappointment 
 which would grow out of misguided and incompetent prayers, 
 that the Spirit is given to help our infirmities, and to make 
 intercession for us “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” 
 He is consequently called the Spirit of grace and supplica- 
 tions. ‘This control over the prayers of men is one of the 
 chief functions assigned him in the economy of redemption. 
 One passage assigns to him the control over the matter of all 
 acceptable prayer. The manner of acceptable prayer, the 
 earnestness, the reverence, the patience, and the confiding 
 spirit, is equally dependent upon him; for we know not how 
 we should pray, any more than we know what we should 
 pray for as we ought. Christ taught, saying: “After this 
 manner, therefore, pray ye”; but the influence of the Spirit 
 is necessary, after we are intellectually instructed by the 
 lessons and examples set forth in the Scriptures touching 
 the manner of prayer, to enable us actually to pray after this 
 manner. We are equally taught by the word of God what 
 we should pray for; we are then informed of the real neces- 
 sities of our souls; yet we are dependent on the Holy Spirit 
 to enable us to see and realize these wants in our own con- 
 
336 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 sciousness and as a part of our own personal states before 
 we can really feel the need, and so really pray for the supply 
 of the want. The Father must be worshipped in spirit and 
 in truth. Prayer must embody genuine activities of our 
 whole spiritual being, genuine mental apprehensions of our 
 real case, and genuine desires of our hearts for the relief 
 that is needful. To enable us to offer true and heartfelt 
 petitions from sin and danger, it is not enough to know the 
 bare fact of our being sinners, and therefore in peril of vio- 
 lated law, because it has been stated to us; we must know it 
 in our consciousness. The awakening and convicting infiu- 
 ences of the Holy Ghost are indispensable to give this con- 
 scious, personal knowledge. He must open the understanding 
 to see, and touch the heart that we may feel, or else we shall 
 never be able to pray as we ought. This is the general 
 ground on which our dependence on the Spirit as the Spirit of 
 grace and supplication is rested in the Scriptures. But to 
 be more specific, let us look first, at the mutter of prayer as 
 the Spirit controls it, and then at the manner of it as de- 
 veloped by him. 
 
 1. The matter of all prayer suitable to fallen beings is 
 defined for us in the word of God. All our necessities are 
 there explained, all our privileges and warranted hopes are 
 there described. The whole state of case of a moral and re- 
 sponsible agent who has sinned against God is expounded. 
 The effect of sin in determining guilt, depravity, and danger 
 is explained. His exposure to temptation; his peril under 
 it; his weakness to resist it; his utter inability to deliver 
 himself from his sin; his subtle and invincible aversion to be 
 really saved and separated from the sin he loves so well—all 
 these are exposed to view. The way of relief provided for 
 him, and all its exquisite adjustments to his condition, are 
 made known to him. His privileges under the covenant, his 
 duties, and the provisions made to enable him to discharge 
 them, are revealed. Under such instruction developed in 
 
THE INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT. TG 31) 
 
 the Scriptures, and in the preaching of the gospel, it is alto- 
 gether possible for a man to have a general and well-defined 
 intellectual knowledge of his spiritual condition on the same 
 terms and in the same way in which he may gain any other 
 kind of knowledge on any other subject, and without any 
 special influence of the Spirit. But this knowledge, remain- 
 ing in this form will do him no good; it will awaken no sen- 
 sibility, kindle no desire, determine no purpose, excite to no 
 action. It will lie in the mind as mere knowledge, and, remain- 
 ing so, will only heighten the danger by increasing responsi- 
 bility without doing any saving good whatever. It will not 
 lead to prayer at all; the mind will not recognize the need of 
 prayer, because it does not personally recognize any want 
 nor feel any desire to supply it. These items of knowledge 
 touching the spiritual condition détermined in every trans- 
 eressor by his sin must pass into consciousness; they must 
 be known to be true in the realized experience of personal 
 standing as well asin the Bible. They must be recognized 
 as facts as well as mere zdeas, as personal qualities as well 
 as general characteristics of human nature, or prayer, gen- 
 uine prayer, is impossible. Here, then, is the first necessity 
 for the influences of the Spirit; and the change of mere ab- 
 stract intellectual knowledge into personal convictions is the 
 first preliminary work of the Spirit as entercessor. He be- 
 gins to teach man the secret of prayer by opening his eyes 
 to see his real wants. He is in danger, but he does not see 
 it; all looks safe and full of hope; and he goes on careless 
 and gay-spirited, as one who treads a flower-strewed, but 
 rotten bridge over some awful chasm, unnoticed and dis- 
 regarded in view of the apparently safe and beautiful pass- 
 age-way over it. When the Spirit begins his work as inter- 
 cessor he reveals the danger; and this is called the awaken- 
 ing of the Spirit. But the transgressor is not merely in 
 danger; he is guilty; he has sinned, and sin necessarily 
 involves criminality as well as danger; but the sinner is as 
 22 
 
338 GIFTS TO: BELIEVERS. © 
 
 blind to this feature of his condition as he was to the other. 
 Consequently, although allowing in a general way, as a mere 
 abstract, but by no means pressing or poignant personal 
 truth, that he is a sinner, he is not moved by it. He is 
 conscious of much rectitude; his motives are good; his im- 
 pulses are generous; his principles are honorable; his sym- 
 pathies are kindly; his tastes are refined; his personal and 
 social affections are amiable; and he feels that on the whole 
 he is a good man. His ways are cleanin his own eyes. He 
 does not see any sin, but a good deal of righteousness in his 
 whole character. God is to him a mere idea, true, indeed, 
 and important in its bearings on the laws and interests of 
 society, but a mere abstraction, not a living person with 
 claims to personal affections, to gratitude for kindness, to 
 love for his personal excellencies, to reverence for his in- 
 finite greatness, and to obedience on account of his sacred 
 right to command. He is conscious of some uneasiness 
 and fear towards God at times; but as a rule God is not 
 in all his thoughts; he lives without him and feels no need 
 of him or his favor. Death and the transit into another 
 life seem to be immeasurably far off, and are never real- 
 ized as certain events in the personal future. No real 
 prayer can come from a soul in such a state; the only 
 prayer possible to it is a mere formal offering, a duty 
 done under some sentimental view of a social propriety, or 
 possibly of a general and ill-defined personal relation, whose 
 claims can be fully satisfied by a formal and occasional re- 
 cognition of them. But when the Spirit begins his work 
 as intercessor he opens the mind to the consciousness of 
 sin to a greater or less degree; he convinces of sin and 
 righteousness and judgment to come; and this office is 
 called the conviction of the Spirit. This conviction may exist 
 on a scale of degrees running up from a low and feeble 
 intuition of personal criminality to the most awful and tragi- 
 cal apprehensions of personal guiltiness. But whatever may 
 
THE INVERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT. 309 
 be the degree of this conviction, when it comes to such a 
 soul as we have just described, as clean in his own eyes, all 
 is now changed. His easy self-complacence is now gone; 
 he has become conscious of sin. His feeling of self-right- 
 eousness, though not exterminated altogether, has received a 
 deadly wound, and leaves the field of consciousness to be 
 occupied by strange apprehensions of personal criminality 
 walking hand in hand with menacing apprehensions of per- 
 sonal danger. The feelings are now roused in proportion to 
 the energies of the awakening and convictive influences 
 exerted ; fears begin to fly abroad; anxieties as to the future 
 begin to emerge. Then a different kind of prayer from that 
 easy formal offering. just alluded to will begin to stir in the 
 soul. A cry, selfish, and as such impure, but startling in its 
 earnestness, will begin to rise in the silence of the heart. 
 Remorse, or a selfish repentance, what the apostle calls 
 the sorrow of the world that worketh death, begins to work, 
 and effectually disposes of the easy and complacent state 
 of the unawakened and self-righteous heart. The praying 
 now done is often even tragically eager and importunate. 
 But this sorrow of the world is not the genuine repentance 
 which brings pardon and safety. Flashes of self-righteous 
 feeling will now and then break out of the cloud of convic- 
 tion and remorse—a feeling that God ought to show mercy, 
 and is either unjust, unkind, or unfaithful to his word, if he 
 does not show it. Bitter, rebellious, hard, and blaspheming 
 thoughts now come thronging to the front, and aggravate 
 well-nigh to madness the partial consciousness of sin, and 
 the more effective sense of danger which exasperate the 
 struggle of the stricken heart. Prayer will then come in 
 good earnest; the last trace of indifference vanishes; and a 
 cry comes up as out of the belly of hell. But it is not yet 
 the prayer that the prayer of a guilty soul, seeking the mercy 
 and grace of an offended God, ought to be; it will still be 
 fierce, complaining, bitterly anxious, yet bitterly rebellious. 
 
340 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 Then the Spirit leads forward, and if he never does this, all 
 is lost. Up to this point, we see only the effects of the 
 awakening and conviction that precede regeneration and 
 true repentance. The repentance so far developed, although 
 it may rise to even a tragical degree of remorse, though often 
 fatally misconstrued as the repentance which is unto life, is, 
 nevertheless, all selfish, mere remorse and sorrow of the 
 world which is unto death. All may stop here, and short of 
 eternal life; the remorseful soul may go back to receive a 
 double damnation in the end. But if the Holy Spirit in his 
 work as intercessor leads forward, and begins to teach how 
 to pray as we ought, he will give a deeper and truer view of 
 sin than that which breeds this passionate but unavailing 
 kind of’ remorseful praying. He opens the eyes to see how 
 wicked this state of feeling, and this kind of praying really 
 are. He makes us see more fully what sin really is—a thing 
 that justly forfeits the favor of God—that justly exposes to 
 his wrath. He fills the heart with the feeling that it deserves to 
 be. rejected, that it hangs suspended simply on the grace, the 
 sovereign and distinguishing grace of God, that it can neither 
 by its own strength comply with the terms on which pardon is 
 _ promised, nor compel God to enable the soul to comply with 
 it. Then the proud heart becomes humbled; it is content 
 to submit to God; it becomes willing for God to determine 
 the case; and as the Spirit leads still forward it begins to 
 trust God to determine it safely for him. Then comes the 
 broad and joyful apprehension that salvation is really the 
 free cift of God; that faith and repentance, “true belief 
 and true repentance, every grace that brings us nigh,” are 
 all his free and gracious gifts. In this altered and most 
 happy mood, the prayer that comes from this advanced work 
 of the Spirit as intercessor is wholly altered; it becomes 
 humble and hopeful supplication: sin is confessed; God is 
 felt to be injured by it; the plea for mercy looks away from 
 self and all that self has been trying to do to obtain mercy, 
 
THE INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT. 341 
 
 and joyfully apprehends that mercy is free; that grace is all- 
 sufficient; that Jehovah, Jesus, is himself the Saviour of 
 sinners. The Holy Spirit has at last taught the soul what 
 to pray for, and how to pray as it ought. The way in which 
 he does it is by a successive and progressive opening of the 
 eyes to see the real condition and necessities of the soul. 
 
 2. The Spirit maketh intercession for us and teaches us to 
 pray as we ought, by enkindling and controlling the desires of 
 the heart. Prayer is the offering up of our desires unto God, 
 and the nature and the force of the prayer will be deter- 
 mined by the nature and the energy of the desires embodied 
 init. Ifthe desires are selfish, the prayer will be selfish; if 
 the desires are holy, the prayer will be holy; if the desires are 
 feeble, the prayer will be feeble; and if the desires are strong 
 and intense, the prayer will wear the same characteristics. 
 It is obvious, then, that the desires must be coutrolled, if the 
 prayer is to be regulated. Nothing can more powerfully 
 illustrate the necessity for the Spirit as an intercessor to in- 
 dite our petitions for us than this essential fact in the nature 
 of prayer. The human heart is full of evil; its affections 
 have been corrupted by sin; and no true or honest desire 
 after a holy salvation can spring up in it unless the Holy 
 Spirit gives it. There needs no special influence of the 
 Spirit to make men wiliing to escape the penal consequences 
 of sin, except, perhaps, in cases of extraordinary depravity ; 
 the natural principles of hope and fear will ensure that result. 
 Selfishness will determine desire in all matters in which self 
 is concerned, whether in view of danger or the bitter power 
 in sin itself to create sorrow. A man may be terribly op- 
 pressed by a sin, by the power of a destructive, sinful habit, 
 or by the strength of an evil impulse, and yet be purely 
 selfish in it. He is oppressed because he feels he is in- 
 jured by it; yet that feeling of dread towards his sin may 
 have no more moral merit in it than a man’s anxiety to be 
 rid of toothache or neuralgia. 
 
342 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 A man may selfishly desire to be holy, not because he 
 likes it, for if he likes it he himself is holy and not selfish ;_ 
 but because holiness conditions heaven, and he knows that 
 without it he cannot see God. This fact is enough to make 
 us all pause and ponder with intense self-scrutiny the state 
 of our hearts; even the most mature and veteran of regen- 
 erate souls may well be startled into watchfulness when the 
 deceitfulness of the heart is brought into remembrance. Are 
 our desires after the salvation of God what they ought to be? 
 Are our prayers, after all, only embodiments of selfishness? 
 If not altogether so, may there not be an element of selfish- 
 ness in them, which may possibly account, in part at least, 
 for so many defeats in prayer? May not our very desire for 
 the salvation of sinners be tainted with selfishness, as when 
 we desire it to gratify a partisan attachment to our own 
 church, and outshine a sister denomination? If our desires 
 are substantially sound, are they truly regulated in degree? 
 Are they strong enough to overcome our reluctance, our 
 laziness, our love of money, our pride, our resentments, our 
 love of ease and self-indulgence? These questions may 
 make us set more value on the Spirit as an intercessor; for 
 che can remove all defects in our desires, and thus elevate the 
 character and increase the power of our prayers. It is right 
 that we should seek with all earnestness our own salvation ; 
 the desire to escape the penalty of sin is a desire altogether 
 legitimate, and the distinct consciousness of such a desire 
 does by no means per se discount the integrity of our wish to 
 be saved. But is this the only reason why we seek for 
 grace? Is there not something in the very essence of sin, a 
 criminality in its nature, that, independent of its penal 
 hazards, would make every right heart revolt at it, and rejoice 
 to be delivered from it? But surely, however trying may 
 be the perplexity created by the effort to discriminate justly 
 the mixture of motive in our religious experience, it is a 
 matter of infinite comfort to know that the Spirit in his in- 
 
THE INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT. 343 
 
 tercessory work takes charge of the desires of his own people, 
 and insures so much of a pure element in them as to make 
 their prayers effective. He regulates the degrees as well as 
 the nature of these desires; and those groanings which can- 
 not be uttered are simply the strong yearnings of a regen- 
 erate soul after spiritual advancements, for which it longs 
 intensely, although unable to give adequate expression to the 
 desire, or adequate description to the blessings desired. 
 
 3. The Spirit makes intercession for the saints, and thus 
 teaches them to pray as they ought by regulating the motives 
 with which they pray. These often hinder the answer of 
 prayer; we ask and receive not, because we ask amiss, that 
 we may consume it upon our lusts, that is to say, in a gen- 
 eralized form of expression, that we may serve selfish ends; 
 for example, when we pray for the salvation of sinners that 
 we may get credit, that our church may be praised, that our 
 anxieties for particular persons may be eased. Also when 
 we pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit that we may be 
 assured of our personal salvation merely to have less trouble. 
 Also when we ask for this blessing or that, that we may be 
 spared some trial, or may gratify some prejudice, or win some 
 advantage. All these motives terminate on self, and damage 
 the efficiency of prayer. Yet a certain regard to self well- 
 being is right, and the subtle mixture of allowable and un- 
 allowable self-regard is hard for us to discriminate or 
 manage, and makes the intercessory function of the blessed 
 Spirit in regulating the motives and spirit of our prayers all 
 the more precious. To him we ought incessantly to refer 
 all our motives and desires, that he may control them. A 
 jealous watch upon our apparently most holy and religious 
 acts is wise; for without his gracious influence we cannot 
 think a thought or indulge a desire which is not in some 
 way more or less tainted by the unholy mind and the unholy 
 heart from which they spring. He makes intercession for 
 us according to the will of God. Our guide in prayer is the 
 
344 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 written word, and whatever object is warranted by the pre- 
 cepts, examples, or general instruction of the word, we may 
 pray for boldly under the guidance of the Spirit of grace 
 and supplications. 
 
 4. The Spirit teaches us to pray by opening the way of 
 acceptance to our understandings, and enabling the exercise 
 of faith. Faith is his gift, and, when given, its exercise ought 
 always to be under his guidance. We always need his 
 illumination on the plan of salvation. Now it is so plain and 
 clear, and Christ as a Saviour seems so completely sufficient, 
 we are filled with peace. “Then a cloud sweeps over all, and 
 the whole way of salvation becomes as mysterious as it 
 seemed when we were first struggling to understand and 
 embrace it. Sometimes the promises do so flush with a 
 hidden glory of priceless value, and seem so great and 
 precious, we feel as if we had come into possession of a 
 talisman richer than the magic formula in the Eastern story, 
 which unlocked the chambers of the earth’s hidden wealth, 
 and laid the vast masses of ruby and diamond open to the 
 eye. Then the inner glory of them seems to die out, and we 
 gaze on them as on blank orders for an infinite treasure, and 
 they become empty of all power to strengthen or comfort us. 
 It is expressly said, if we pray not in faith, let no man expect 
 anything of God. Those words often sound like a knell of 
 hope; yet they invite us to trust in a living love and power 
 back of the promises, and as worthy of our confidence as the 
 promises themselves, though they do challenge our trust on 
 a basis stronger than the pillowed firmament—the truth of 
 the stainless and infinite God. How sweet to know that the 
 Spirit, as the Spirit of grace and supplication, is also the 
 giver of faith. How sweet to know when we are perplexed 
 how to handle the promises; how to confide in them; how 
 far to expect and when to look for their fulfilment; for what 
 objects to plead them; how to be kept from any abuse of 
 them, in the way of presumption on the one side, or of too 
 
THE INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRit. 345 
 
 little expectation on the other; how sweet to know that the 
 Spirit may guide our petitions, as well as give the faith which 
 lays bold on the sure words of promise. He opens to us the 
 significance of the priesthood of Christ, and unseals that 
 glorious refuge of a sinful and sin-oppressed soul, the sacri- 
 fice and the interceding prayers which give assurance of 
 forgiveness! The intercessions of the Spirit carry. the gift 
 of faith in the Saviour, and secure all the pledges of the 
 covenant. 
 
 5. The Spirit teaches us what to pray for by opening up 
 to us the significance and the mighty power of the pleas by 
 which we may urge our petitions. We often feel as if we 
 would give anything for a plea so powerful as to secure what 
 we ask. The pleas which are given us are the most power- 
 ful which even the vast power of the infinite God could give. 
 They are pleas whose acceptance is pledged to our faith 
 beforehand. They are never pleaded in vain. If they fail 
 in securing the very thing we asf, it is due to some misuse 
 upon our own part, and the security against that misuse is. 
 the intercession of the Spirit. They never fail in securing 
 the very thing which we need. He always intercedes accord- 
 ing to the will of God; and every petition which he creates 
 in the soul goes into the censer of the great High Priest, 
 and is offered with his endorsement before the throne, and 
 him the Father heareth always. Look at some of the pleas 
 which are given us to plead in prayer. The plea of the 
 blood of Jesus; who can estimate its power? It has shaken 
 the kingdom of darkness until its vast foundation stones are 
 split wide open, and the awful structure is tottering to its 
 fall. It has quenched the wrath of God against a sinning 
 world. It has redeemed millions upon millions of immortal 
 sinning souls. It has loosened the bonds of law and justice 
 which bound the arm of God’s almightiness, and set it free to 
 work for the redemption of the world. It has impoverished 
 hell; it has enriched heaven a thousand-fold ; it moves the: 
 
346 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 Father’s heart as no other power ever has or can move it’ 
 it has moved his just wrath out of the way and given place 
 to the free movement of his infinite grace to sinners; it will 
 ground a sure hope of pardon and eternal life, more fully than 
 the solid earth would ground the gossamer weight of a bee’s 
 wing. Then take the plea of the love of God—the fatherhood 
 of the Father, the love of the Son, and the grace of the Holy 
 Spirit—what a plea is this! Unexhausted by all that it has 
 done for the salvation of man, that wonderful love which 
 originated, executed, and now applies the wonderful provi- 
 sions of the covenant, still stands back of all this executed 
 wealth of mercy, as mighty, as free, as solicitous to bless, as 
 before its glorious achievement was done, undiminished and 
 undiminishable! The appeal to a loving human heart is 
 always full of power; yet it may fail. An appeal to the love 
 of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is measured in its 
 strength by the infinite tenderness to which it appeals. 
 Who can estimate the power of the plea in the love of God! 
 There is yet another plea to support our petitions, in the 
 glory of God. Once only possible of manifestation in the 
 upholding of righteous law and in the punishment of evil 
 doers, his wisdom has worked with such infinite reach of 
 skilful contrivance, that now both his personal glory, and 
 the honor of his law, can be actually magnified in the eternal 
 salvation of sinning creatures. If there was any demand 
 involved in the plea for pardon, for any eclipse of the glory of 
 God, there conld not be and there ought not to be any power 
 in the plea; but so far from this, his glory, which is nothing 
 but the display of his infinite excellence, is great in the salva- | 
 tion of sinners; made greater than in any display of it ever 
 made, or that can ever be made. We ask no sacrifice of 
 feeling or right on the part of God, when we plead for par- 
 don now; on the contrary, we ask God to magnify his glory, 
 to do athing which carries with it the achievement of another 
 result in which the whole Godhood finds an infinite and most 
 
THE INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT. 347 
 
 worthy delight. When the Spirit, interceding in us, opens 
 up the power of the great gospel pleas, the vilest of sinners 
 may well feel bold in coming to the throne of grace, as he is 
 commanded and exhorted to do. Covered with the spotless 
 robe of the Lord’s own righteousness, he can venture 
 nearer to the intolerable splendor of the throne of God 
 than the most favored angel in the ranks of the heavenly 
 hierarchy. 
 
 6. The Spirit as an intercessor in us gives stability to our 
 desires, patience to our waiting, assurance to our petitions, 
 and joy to our anticipations of sure answers to our prayers. 
 The indulgence of strong and ardent desires for any length- 
 ened period of time is wearisome to human weakness, and if 
 left to our own protection and support, unaided by grace, 
 would certainly soon wear out. There is infinite comfort in 
 the thought that he who gives these needful elements of pre- 
 vailing prayer can sustain them in our weak hearts. Our 
 patience in waiting for answers to prayer is apt to weary and 
 pass over into fretfulness and unbelief; he can make us rest 
 in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Left to ourselves 
 to pray unaided, our prayers could give no assurance except 
 of failure; his petitions kindled in us, the Son will assuredly 
 endorse, the Father will assuredly answer. His intercession 
 is a fountain of joy as well as of strength in the offering of 
 prayers. 
 
 7. This control of the matter of our prayers will also con- 
 trol the manner of them, They will become reverent, child- 
 like in humility and freedom, intensely solicitous, yet full of 
 submission, persistent in spite of discouragements designed 
 to test faith, patience, and sincerity of desire, full of confi- 
 dence without presumption, full of joy, full of hope. Prayers 
 are often offered in a manner which unerringly indicates that 
 the interceding Spirit has nothing, or but little, to do with 
 them. Coldness and formality, studied rhetoric, pride of 
 elegance and grace, censorious reflections, impudent famil- 
 
348 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 : iarity, often mistaken for child-like simplicity, any atom of 
 the Pharasaic spirit, absence of avowed dependence on the 
 Mediator, the presence of avowed dependence on Virgin or 
 saint, or store of churchly merit, all give token of the absence 
 of the Spirit in his office as an intercessor. LHvery prayer 
 in which he has no share is sure of rejection, not only as a 
 failure to pray aright, but as a fresh offence in an agera- 
 vated form. It is, perhaps, safer to sin in sin’s own livery 
 than to assume the livery of the King to do dishonor to his 
 crown. 
 
 8. It will be a fit close tothis attempt to delineate a precious 
 function of the Holy Spirit, to lay emphasis on the free, loving 
 disposition and the never-failing readiness of our gracious 
 Intercessor to help our infirmities. He delights in his work; 
 he is always in reach; the freedom of our access to his loving 
 presence and to his gracious influences is absolute. The 
 merits of our Saviour are not more constantly and freely 
 open to our acceptance than the influences of the Spirit. 
 The Father is more willing to give the Holy Ghost to them 
 that ask him, than earthly parents are to give good gifts 
 unto their children. The Spirit is just as ready to be given 
 as the Father is to give him. His infinite loving-kindness, 
 his tender pity for lost souls, his delight in executing the 
 great covenant of mercy, all utter a welcome of surpassing 
 tenderness to all who would seek his aid. 
 
 One more remark, and we are done. The absolute de- 
 pendence of a lost soul and of a saved soul during the 
 process of its inward deliverance may be, and often is, felt as a 
 discouragement; but never except under an entire misappre- 
 hension of both its design and its appropriate effects. So 
 far from any legitimate discouragement, even to an uncove- 
 nanted and an unsaved sinner, it is just the opposite; for it 
 gives him the only possible chance for him to be saved. 
 Whenever this feeling of discouragement springs up in view 
 of our dependence on this gracious helper, we may be sure 
 
THE INTERCESSION OF THE SPIRIT. 349 
 
 it is an illegitimate view, to be repudiated at once. His 
 purpose in all his dealings with the saints is to help their 
 infirmities, to prevent the failure of their hopes, to secure 
 the answer to their prayers, to prosper their work, and to 
 assure their reward. His boundless tender love and his 
 official functions are so full,so free of access, so glowing in 
 the welcome that they offer to every soul in search of help 
 and healing, that as no thought can compass the excelling 
 mystery of his grace, no word can tell it. 
 
CoHGAS a LE b ene 
 THH COMFORT OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ‘‘And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, 
 that he may abide with you foreyer; even the Spirit of truth; whom the 
 world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither nowt him; but 
 ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and ghall be in you.”—John in his 
 Gospel. 
 
 HESE words of Jesus were spoken to the disciples in 
 that wonderful talk he made the night he was betrayed. 
 
 He had at last made them understand what they had hitherto 
 been so reluctant to believe, that his plainest statements seem 
 to have no effect whatever. But now they did comprehend 
 that he was to die, and they were overwhelmed with despond- 
 ency. Their notions of the Messiah of Israel, at first in no 
 way different from the universal notions of their countrymen, 
 had been greatly modified by the Master’s teaching, but were 
 still full of error and confusion. The idea that Messiah was 
 to die had never entered their minds, and having accepted 
 Jesus as the Prince of Israel, the conception of his death 
 seemed to be a mental impossibility. They had learned to 
 rely upon his protection with such absolute confidence in his 
 astonishing power; they had looked so confidently to be in- 
 demnified for the prejudice and loss of caste they had en- 
 countered by adhering to him, by high preferment in the 
 kingdom they expected him to set up, that now the assurance 
 of his death threw down their castles in the air and filled 
 them with confusion. They had felt so secure, so completely 
 emancipated from the fear of death, sickness, and bodily 
 want, that ungovernable sorrow now filled their hearts. All 
 their hopes were crushed by this unexpected blow. The 
 words of the Messiah in this last pathetic and powerful 
 
 300 
 
THE COMFORT OF THE SPIRIT. 351 
 
 address—the most remarkable dying address ever delivered — 
 were all directed to qualify this state of feeling, and the 
 principal ground of comfort he unveiled before them was the 
 promised gift of that Comforter who was to take his place as 
 the guide, the strength, the universal helper in all the neces- 
 sities of those who had looked hitherto to his visible pre- 
 sence for all they needed. He was to be emphatically the 
 Paraclete, which is the literal translation of the. word ren- 
 dered Comforter in our English Bible. The name Paraclete 
 is composed of two words, which literally mean “the one 
 called to,” expressing the notion of one called to our side 
 for help in every emergency. No greater comfort can be 
 given to one engaged in any difficult or dangerous enter- 
 prise than to have a reliable assistant who can always be 
 called upon for efficient assistance at all times. The name 
 Comforter, then, given to the great Paraclete of the Chris- 
 tian covenant, is not altogether inappropriate; yet it is 
 defective in that it seems to confine his function to the 
 one specific service of giving consolation, whereas the 
 comfort really comes from. the far broader sense of the 
 title as the universal helper of the saint in all the emer- 
 gencies of his life and work. Inasmuch, however, as 
 the specific service of a comfort-giver is a true function of 
 the Spirit as a Paraclete, it will be entirely allowable to give 
 special consideration to that part of his work, more especially 
 as attention has been and will be still further during our 
 discussion, called to other specific modes in which the blessed 
 Paraclete discharges his glorious and many-sided office. He 
 was designated in connection with his promised consolation 
 as “the Spirit of truth.” This title intimates, what is also 
 expressly stated, that he would do his work as a Comforter 
 by “leading them into the truth.” He was to be a specially 
 valuable helper, because, unlike the visible Saviour with 
 whom they had lived only for a time, he was “to abide with 
 them forever.” He was to prove an assured reliance for 
 
352 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 them, not because he would be always accessible to them at 
 some one place where they might not always find it con- 
 venient to resort to him; but, far higher and more effective 
 privilege than that, he should “ dwell with them,” and better 
 still, he should “be in them.” These are the three general 
 and yet discriminated modes in which his work as the Com- 
 forter should be done. 
 
 1. The word comfort carries the notion of a peculiar 
 modification of enjoyment. It does not convey the concep- 
 tion of enjoyment in as high a degree as the terms happiness 
 or pleasure; but it does carry the notion of more stability 
 and substantial endurance than the word pleasure, and an 
 equal measure of this more lasting property with the word 
 happiness. But the principal differentiating feature which 
 distinguishes comfort from other forms of enjoyment is its 
 antithesis and relation to evil or pain. A holy angel may be 
 said to be happy or to enjoy special seasons of pleasure, but 
 he can hardly be said to be comfortable, because he is never 
 subject to pain or distress. Comfort is a form of enjoyment 
 which emerges when pain or distress is qualified by some 
 concurrent alleviation, or is followed by relief, or when an 
 impending or possible evil is effectively qualified in its stroke 
 or absolutely prevented. Comfort, therefore, is on this 
 account the more adapted and the more practicable to the 
 conditions of existence in this world, because evil in ten 
 thousand forms is perpetually threatening or actually prey- 
 ing upon human peace. 70 comfort, then, is to infuse a 
 certain substantial element of enjoyment into a heart and life 
 assailed, and constantly assailable with evil. The end and 
 purpose of the Spirit as a comforter is not directly a purpose 
 to purify, but to promote enjoyment. His ultimate purpose 
 in all his special acts is to carry out the pledge to the 
 believer to deliver him from sin; to purify the heart and 
 infuse holiness into the whole nature of the man. But all 
 his special acts of sealing, unction, witness, leading, and 
 
THEr CoMFORT OF THE SPIRIT. 353 
 
 interceding have a special end directly in view, while all lead 
 indirectly and ultimately to the general end of sanctification. 
 The special direct end of the comfort of the Spirit is to com- 
 fort a sufferer. God is love, and he delighteth in enjoyment 
 for its own sake, as one of the ends which his benevolent 
 nature delights to accomplish. The Spirit delights in all his 
 work, and he delights in comforting. The very purpose is 
 to comfort, to infuse an element of peace into the regenerate 
 soul, either as actually suffering, or as threatened with some 
 coming sorrow, a form of future trial which will, of course, 
 afflict in advance of its actual advent. The office of the 
 Spirit as a comforter is not only a distinct part of his work, 
 but from its very nature, from the very end and purpose it 
 has in view, is specially adapted to our conditions of exist- 
 ence. As a distinct aim and function of his office, and as an 
 important and distinguished branch of it, so much so as to give 
 him a distinctive title as the Comforter, he may be applied 
 to as such; comfort as such may be sought for ; and his con- 
 solations expected, in compliance with the terms on which 
 all his gracious acts are promised. An unhappy Christian, 
 though truly a child of the covenant, is not only living below 
 his privileges, but in a breach of his duty. God has pro- 
 vided to comfort him, and commanded him to rejoice in the 
 Lord always. Such a Christian is doing scant justice to the 
 benignant Spirit whose official business is to comfort him, 
 and who takes infinite delight in doing it. 
 
 2. The sources of comfort employed by the Holy Ghost 
 are varied by the evils which it is designed to qualify. To 
 comfort one who is blind he must be enabled to see, or be 
 furnished with aids which may, partially at least, make up 
 for the trying deficiency. To comfort one who is weak, he 
 must be strengthened, or help must be found for him. To 
 comfort one who is afraid, his fears must be qualified or re- 
 moved. ‘To comfort one in distress, some source of ease- 
 ment must be found. Comfort must be adjusted to the evil 
 
 23 
 
354 Gifts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 it confronts. The great comprehensive sources of comfort 
 to creatures conditioned as men are universally in this world, 
 or as the regenerate soul is in this scene of his progressive 
 sanctification, may be, not exhaustively, classified in the fol- 
 lowing forms: Deliverance from present evil, or a guarantee 
 against its worst results. Security from evil yet to come; 
 from it altogether, or from its worst results. The effects of 
 past evil prevented of its worst or its most lasting conse- 
 - quences. Present evil accompanied by compensating agen- 
 cies. Sure grounds of confidence and hope furnished. Rich 
 resources supplied, and available help in every emergency, 
 and assurance of their continuance. Certain and valuable 
 future advantages as the reward of fidelity, and the assur- 
 ance of their continuance when gained. The reliable pledge 
 of a final, full, and unalterable deliverance out of the state 
 and possibility of all evil whatever, and the assurance of 
 all good attainable for all eternity. These are among the 
 sources of comfort which are employed by the Spirit in 
 doing his blest work of cheering the saints in the trials of 
 their earthly pilgrimage. He unfolds some of these com- 
 forts by what he teaches; some by what he does; some by what 
 he imparts, and some by what he guarantees to their hopes. 
 
 3. The Comforter whom Jesus promised to send is imme- 
 diately distinguished as ‘the Spirit of truth.” This desig- 
 nation at once leads us to the conception that his work as a 
 comforter is to be done by his teaching us the truth. This 
 is more clearly set forth than in a mere inference from a 
 distinctive name. In an after part of his discourse our Lord 
 distinctly says: “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, 
 whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you 
 all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, what- 
 soever I have said unto you.” ‘This teaching as it applies 
 to the apostles, and other apostolic men, secured their in- 
 spiration in preparing the great standards of the Christian 
 faith. As it applies to believers generally, it refers to that 
 
THE COMFORT OF THE SPIRIT. 355 
 
 influence exerted on the individual mind by which it is en- 
 abled to understand and realize the true force and meaning 
 of the truth set forth in the inspired record. As the nature 
 of this distinctive kind of knowledge has already been set 
 forth in its contrast to a mere intellectual knowledge, it is 
 needless to repeat it here. It then appeared to be a species 
 of insight of the truth due entirely to the influence of the 
 Spirit, by which the real sense and force of the truth was 
 brought out, with an effect upon the feelings as well as on 
 the intelligence—an effect suitable to the kind of truth thus 
 apprehended. Alarming truth is thus made to really awaken 
 alarm, and cheering truth to awaken joy. It is in this way 
 the Spirit comforts by his teaching: he opens the sense and 
 power of the glorious, glad, and comforting truths of the 
 gospel, and through a lively faith in them unlooses their 
 gladdening influences on the comforted soul. The gospel is 
 in itself, in its essential nature, “glad tidings of great joy.” 
 It proclaims peace on earth and good-will to men. All its 
 grand doctrines are full of delight. It filled heaven with re- 
 joicing in anticipation of its enterprise, and sent some vast 
 cohort of the heavenly host down upon the plains of Bethle- 
 hem on the night of the Saviour’s birth, and in their unmas- 
 tered exultation caused them to break through the veil which 
 shuts out the sights and sounds of the upper sphere from 
 the dwellers on the earth. No human soul has ever caught 
 its real meaning without experiencing some degree of the 
 joy and comfort which it carries in its bosom. It brings to 
 view the grand truth that sin can now be pardoned through 
 the work of the Redeemer; and whenever a human heart, 
 oppressed with the consciousness of its sin, can grasp this 
 one truth in its full meaning 7z¢ well be comforted. 
 
 As comfort stands related to an evil in the qualification or 
 conquest of which this form of enjoyment emerges, the Spirit 
 comforts under the pressure of sin by unveiling the signifi- 
 cance and the power of the atoning blood. Until he does 
 
356 Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 unveil it, the poor, trembling soul, sick with its guilt and 
 mortal fears, will stand gazing on the glorious redemption 
 price without a solitary conception of its power to help him 
 out of his troubles. It will seem as empty of significance as 
 the cold, confused outlines of the figures stamped upon a 
 porcelain lamp-shade, even although the strongest rays of 
 the sunlight are poured upon them on the outside. That 
 poor, sin-stricken heart will weary itself pitifully in the en- 
 deavor to see what others tell him there is of power in the 
 remedy to subdue his pain. But now let the Holy Spirit 
 assume his work as a comforter by his teaching, and then, 
 like the lamp-shade when the lamp is kindled within and the 
 flame brings out the hidden forms which lay ina confused 
 and indiscriminate mass under the strongest sunlight, so, 
 under the secret teaching of the Comforter, the gladness of 
 the gospel to a lost sinner reveals itself, and the soul is filled 
 with comfort. The promised Spirit has taken that one thing 
 of Christ and showed it unto him. What is true of the soul 
 in its earlier experiences is measurably true of regenerate 
 souls to the end of their pilgrimage. Often to them the 
 blood of Christ seems to lose its significance, and lay down 
 its power. The cause of this appearance is the same, and 
 the remedy is the same; the cause is dimness of eye-sight; 
 the remedy is the teaching of the Comforter. What 1s true 
 of this one grand truth, the blood of atonement, is equally 
 true of all the glorious truths of the covenant. They are all 
 inconceivably rich in meaning, and in their assurance of ad- 
 vantage to the sinners of the human race. But their power 
 to cheer the human heart depends upon the teaching of the 
 Spirit of truth in his work as a comforter. God designs to 
 bring back his wandering creatures to direct intercourse with 
 himself, and even the system of truth revealed for human re- 
 demption is not allowed to interfere with their dependence 
 on him. They are sent first to the truth, and then back of 
 it to a living Saviour to reveal its saving power. The great 
 
THE COMFORT OF THE SPTRIT. Stig | 
 
 and precious promises without this shining of the Spirit 
 within them, are like checks drawn for countless wealth, 
 filled out plainly, but the vital signature written in invisible 
 ink; they disclose no meaning; they exhibit no power to 
 give content until the vitalizing heat of the Holy Spirit is 
 brought to bear upon them, and then the draft and signature 
 of a faithful God become visible. : 
 
 The promises of the covenant cover all the emergencies in 
 the career of a saint. There are pledges of grace for life and 
 for death; for the time of joy and the time of sorrow; for 
 - supplies suited to the day; for guidance; for control; for 
 needed aid; for every contingency. But they are all empty 
 of power ; they are changed into mockeries of felt necessity, 
 unless the Spirit shine within them. Tempted believers, in 
 the season of hot battle with some great trial of faith and 
 patience, are often sorely vexed with the promises; they are 
 so different apparently from what they seemed to be, and 
 prove so powerless when they are most needed, the tempta- 
 tion is suggested strongly to throw them away as practically 
 useless. To do this would be a fearful sin; it would be 
 to charge God with folly and unfaithfulness; it would be to 
 make him a liar; it would be to charge him with trifling with 
 the hopes he has raised. The difficulty is in ourselves, not 
 in him; in our unbelief, not in his unfaithfulness; in our 
 want of insight, not in his truth. What is needed is the in- 
 ward illumination of the Comforter teaching us to see the 
 truth as it is and as we ought to receive it. In all such trials 
 of faith it is well to meet the temptation at the threshold ; to 
 say what is true, the fault is in ourselves, and to make up 
 the issue squarely in our mind; these promises are true; 
 they do mean something; they are full of a great and pre- 
 cious significance. The reason why they seem otherwise is 
 in me and in my sin, and I will not yield one inch to the 
 suggestion that God is either false or trifling. I will trust 
 thy words, O spotless Christ! Help thou mine unbelief, 
 
358 Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 O Comforter of thy people! Then in the happy moment 
 when the gracious Spirit of truth assumes his office of com- 
 forter, and shines in our hearts, and fills the darkened pro- 
 mises with his holy light, we shall be able to see as well as to 
 know that the fault was in us, and that the promises were all 
 the time full of a significance which deserved our confidence, 
 and were inexpressibly rich in comfort. 
 
 So likewise the Spirit comforts by unveiling the love of the 
 Son; that infinite and unwasting fountain of tender pity 
 which led him to go through all the fearful conditions of re- 
 demption, and which still flows in infinite and undiminishable 
 strength and fervor in the heart of the great High Priest. 
 We are apt to regard the love of Christ as having done its 
 work when he passed out of sight into the blue vault over 
 Olivet, having made a wonderful display on a brief theatre 
 which closed up with its closing scenes. But that same great 
 love which led him from the manger to the cross 1s still beating 
 inhis bosom. It is as keen in the administration as it was in 
 the achievement of redemption. The appeal of the living sin- 
 ner is not merely to a great by-gone and finished work of a dead 
 Redeemer, but also to a living love and a living power ina 
 living Saviour; to a love as much more tender and vehement 
 than the warmest of mere human and Christian sympathies as 
 his infinite heart is more capacious of the generous affection. 
 When the Spirit teaches from within the truth concerning 
 the love of Jesus our priest, as he ever lives to intercede for 
 us, it will bring all the comfort involved in a true priesthood 
 to a sinful soul, and all that is involved in the love of a friend 
 at court, and that friend the King’s own Son. 
 
 In like manner the Spirit governs our apprehensions of 
 the love of the Father. In our ignorance and narrowness of 
 view the Father even when reconciled to us in the Son still 
 seems to stand in the background, still the representative of 
 the rights of the crown imperial, the offended majesty of 
 heaven, to be adored at a distance and feared; but he does 
 
THE COMFORT OF THE SPIRIT. ° 359 
 
 not receive credit for the infinite and brooding love of a 
 Father’s heart. Yet that is his name, his chosen designa- 
 tion. In his loving kindness the whole scheme of redemp- 
 tion took its rise. He had to require the satisfaction which 
 the Son rendered; but it was his proposal that it should be 
 done in order to secure the end in view. Now that it has 
 been done, no restrictive regard to law and justice dams 
 back the rushing tides of a Father’s infinite love. He is all 
 a Father now, yearning over his rebellious and unhappy 
 creatures, yearning to draw them back to a Father's tender- 
 ness and protecting care. Ah! when the Spirit teaches us 
 the glorious truth of the Fatherhood of God, no words can 
 portray its comfort. All our dark and troubled apprehen- 
 sions of him as the offended King and Lawgiver and Dis- 
 poser of events, give way to the loving confidence of the 
 filial feeling, and we are able to say, Abba, Father, with in- 
 expressible peace. 
 
 In like manner the Spirit, when he would comfort us, 
 teaches in the same way of realized spiritual apprehension 
 the truth concerning himself and his love for souls. When 1t 
 is said, “He shall not speak of himself,” it is not meant that 
 he would say nothing about himself. It means that he 
 would not speak merely by his own authority or teach truths 
 given by himself alone. He was to take of the things of 
 Christ, things said and done by the Son, and, therefore, 
 marked out beforehand for the narration of the Spirit. While 
 the Holy Ghost does not speak much concerning his own 
 share in the work of salvation, relatively to what he says of 
 the work of the Son, yet he does speak enough of most pre- 
 cious revelations concerning his own work and offices to carry 
 infinite comfort to a heart truly apprehending what he de- 
 clares. One mighty element of this consoling truth is what 
 he reveals concerning the love of the Spirit. We are ready * 
 enough to give him credit for his faithfulness and his power 
 
 *Phillip’s Preface. 
 
360 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 in doing his official work, but are slow to recognize his loy- 
 ing delight in it. It is easy to see and admire that some- 
 what stern fidelity, as it seems to some, and the masterful 
 strength with which he dwells amid the awful corruptions, 
 the serpents, the devils, and the unclean birds of an unholy 
 heart, and keeps the stronghold against the strong man, 
 Satan. But in this view of his faithfulness and power we 
 are apt to lose sight of his infinite and tender love, his de- 
 light in his work, his infinite sweet complacency in holding 
 the fort, and with incessant and tender touch deadening and 
 wearing out the dread evils which he finds in his dreadful 
 habitation. He delights to be trusted ; he delights to be ap- 
 pealed to; he delights to put forth his mighty hand when the 
 ery of the tried soul comes up to him for help; he delights to 
 infuse his might into the weak human arm and enable it to 
 drive the dread archangel back. Who can measure the un- 
 searchable riches of the love of the Spirit? As he unveils 
 this love to the rejoicing apprehension of the saint, comfort, 
 deep and rich, will flow into the trembling heart, and it will 
 be comforted in its Almighty Guardian. 
 
 4. But the Spirit comforts not only by what he teaches, 
 but by what he does, by a positive exertion of his power, by 
 a positive indulgence of his gracious kindness in positive 
 actions. All his inward teaching is done through a prelimi- 
 nary act on the soul. The heart stands face to face with the 
 glorious facts of redemption, but it does not see them. Asa 
 blind man turns his sightless eyeballs up toward the starry 
 vault, and rolls them in vain to see the splendor of the 
 siderial fires, so the sinner seeks in vain to see the glory of 
 redeeming grace. To give that blind man even a glimpse, 
 still more a steady vision of the glory of the night sky, some 
 power of vision must be infused into his piteous, defective 
 eyes. An act of power must precede the vision, and the joy 
 and comfort which it brings. It is so with the energy of the 
 Spirit in the soul. One of the modes of the Comforter 
 
Tur CoMFORT OF THE SPIRIT. 361 
 
 pointed out by the Saviour at the table of the Passover and 
 his newly appointed supper, was the dwelling of the Spirit 
 with the saint. He is in the house with him always. His 
 dwelling there is no idle occupancy of a chimney corner; 
 he is no old and helpless incumbent of a space by the house- 
 hold fire and in the household life. He is an active member 
 of the family ; he is a leader in its business; he acts contin- 
 ually in its interest.. He guides; he governs; he stimulates 
 to action; he rebukes; he rouses to vigilance; and he com- 
 forts and cheers the garrison of the hell-beleaguered heart. 
 He is a soldier; the word of God is his sword, and he fights 
 in the fore-front of every assaul§ upon the walls. His active 
 presence is an inexpressible comfort to the weary and often 
 fear-stricken soldier of the cross. When he can realize who 
 it is that is animating and guiding the strife he is comforted, 
 his strength and courage are renewed. Like the knight in 
 the romance when fighting with unparalleled skill and cour- 
 age against three redoubtable champions at once, and felt 
 that in spite of all his matchless valor he must go down, he 
 suddenly heard the batile-cry of the lion-hearted king rush- 
 ing to the rescue, and felt the assurance of victory return to 
 his sinking heart, so. the Christian soul renews its hopes 
 under the active exertions of the Holy Spirit. It is a glori- 
 ous encouragement to know that the blessed Comforter is 
 able to infuse his consolations by the positive exercise of his 
 infinite energies for that very purpose. 
 
 5. Yet another mode in which the Comforter imparts his 
 comfort, as Jesus pointed out, arises from his positive in- 
 dwelling in the very soul of the individual saint: ‘“ Le shall 
 be in you.” Not only shall he dwell in the same household 
 and take part in its activities; not only shall he occupy the 
 same fortress and take part in its defence; but, best security 
 of all, he shall actually be in every sonl that believes, and 
 thus be even a nearer and a more effective help and security 
 than as a member of the household dwelling with them. He 
 
5 
 362 GIFTs TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 is in them thus for a double purpose, not only to impart to 
 them all they need of wisdom, holiness, love, strength, and 
 watchful energy, but also to guarantee the safety of the house 
 and fortress even when men sleep. He is the strong man 
 keeping his goods; a stronger than he must bind him before 
 his goods can be spoiled. He is in them on no idle or fruit- 
 less errand; he is there to carry out the pledge of the Re- 
 deemer to the believing soul, stn shall not have dominion over 
 you. He is there to impart holiness, to give grace according 
 to the day, to bestow wisdom, patience, and courage, to 
 sanctify and comfort in affliction, to erase the image of Satan, 
 to impress the image of God, to conquer the unholy pas- 
 sions, and to fill the soul with all the fruits of the Spirit. His 
 intimate indwelling is the guarantee of safety to the saint. 
 Satan is mighty, but he cannot overcome and lead captive 
 out of a rescued and regenerate human soul the Spirit of the 
 living God, the Comforter, Guide, and Protector of all his 
 people. 
 
 6. The Holy Spirit as a comforter is a power practically 
 available and in reach of every Christian. He may be 
 sought as such; but he must be sought with all prayer and 
 supplication, with watchful diligence in all duty, and in 
 avoidance of all sin, if we hope to realize his influence in 
 this sweet branch of his official work. The Father is more 
 ready to give the Holy Spirit to do all his gracious work to 
 them that ask him, than earthly parents are to give good 
 gifts to their children. To give comfort is one great branch 
 of his office under the covenant; he delights to do it, and 
 consequently there is no excuse for an unhappy Christian. 
 Let him seek the Comforter. 
 
Che Ae bw tere Tie eXe le 
 THE SPIRIT AS A REMINDER. 
 
 ‘‘ And bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto 
 you.”—John in his Gospel. 
 
 Ae HESE words instruct us touching another function 
 and. special action of the Holy Spirit which is of 
 inestimable service to a fallen being, his influence on the 
 memory in keeping the man alive to the great interests of his 
 spiritual concerns. The reactionary effect of all positive sin 
 on all the affections of the heart and all the powers of the 
 mind constitutes, perhaps, the most remarkable, and cer- 
 tainly one of the most lamentable, of all the results of sin. 
 Each sinful transient act leaves a permanent record and me- 
 morial of itself on the nature of the sinning agent. It 
 deepens the inward depravity of the moral nature. It pol- 
 lutes the fountain of moral energy more and more, and ren- 
 ders it more capable and certain of producing other transient 
 acts of sin, each of which reacts in deepening the stain upon 
 the soul. Thus there is an incessant mutual action and re- 
 action going on between sin and depravity, leading to an 
 endless increase of both. There is an awful reality in the 
 phrase which describes every sinner as lost. 
 
 The effect of this depraved condition of the moral nature 
 is displayed upon every faculty of the intellectual nature, 
 not less than upon the moral department of the soul itself. 
 The affections of the heart exert an influence directly upon 
 the perceptive faculties, and regulate the judgments which 
 they form. This is the great source of errors in religion; 
 they are always rooted in the disorders of the will, affecting 
 the views of the understanding. The effect is not only mis- 
 
 leading, but enfeebling on the general energy of the intellect, 
 363 
 
364 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 by affecting the justness of perception in each of its particu- 
 lar faculties. The very fact of its being misled shows the 
 injury to its strength and its capacity of just discernment. 
 That wide-spread ignorance and blindness of understanding 
 which appears in the shocking and almost incredible degra- 
 dation of barbarous tribes of the human race is the outcome 
 of long periods of unrestrained moral iniquities. The whole 
 structure of the mental nature in man has suffered and will 
 always suffer from the effects of sin. 
 
 The faculty of memory has not escaped this desolating in- 
 fluence. It has shared conspicuously in it; it has become 
 treacherous in receiving and holding the principles of duty 
 and truth; it has become slackened and limp in its grasp 
 upon religious ideas and impressions. It is easy to forget 
 God. Impressions made by the truth are like the morning 
 cloud and the early dew. Thoughts of eternity, responsi- 
 bility, sin, and the awful issues of transgression are soon for- 
 gotten. This is just as true of memories, strong and vigor- 
 ous, as it is of feebler specimens of the faculty. The same 
 cause operates the same effect. That is directly due in all 
 cases to the feelings of the heart. The feelings are op- 
 posed, intensely opposed, to the entertainment of these con- 
 ceptions. Men remember God and are troubled, and in 
 seeking relief from the trouble, the only relief which seems. 
 practicable, at least the only one which seems agreeable, is. 
 to make war on memory and to endeavor to forget. This 
 state of reluctance in the will to entertain thoughts made un- 
 pleasing by the conciousness of guilt works out its relief and 
 also its retribution upon this all-important faculty of the 
 mind. Memory not only yields up its unpleasant present- 
 ments, but becomes less and less capable of making them; it 
 grows incompetent on its spiritual side; it becomes feeble 
 and treacherous of spiritual impressions. Hence line upon 
 line, and precept upon precept is necessary to give truth a 
 chance to do its work; and when much resistance is made, 
 
THE SPIRIT AS A REMINDER. 365 
 
 and the soul becomes skilful from long practice in evading 
 the influence and in erasing the impressions of the truth, 
 neither the line upon line nor the most vivid and powerful 
 representations will make any more impression than writing 
 on water, or wounding the invisible air with the stroke of a 
 sabre. The final stage is when Ephraim is let alone alto- 
 gether; the memory becomes utterly incompetent to retain 
 any impression. of religious ideas, and the great gospel of 
 erace is as completely blotted out, so far as that unhappy 
 mind is concerned, as if every page of the Bible had become 
 blank, and God had recalled the offers of his mercy. , Such 
 a soul has by an elaborate and diligently sustained effort 
 made itself a heathen; the most barbarous idolater in all 
 heathendom is not more completely without the gospel of 
 erace. 
 
 The awful danger of these effects of sin upon the memory 
 springs from the fact that the truth is the necessary instru- 
 ment both in the conversion of the sinner and in the sancti- 
 fication of the saint. The one is begotten to spiritual life 
 by the gospel; the other is sanctified by the truth. Conse- 
 quently, whoever neglects the truth discounts his own hope 
 of salvation. Whatever Christian seeks for growth and com- 
 fort, and neglects to keep his mind busy and imbued with 
 the truth, is following a visionary hope. He who diligently 
 endeavors to erase the impression of the truth from his mind 
 is striving with special energy to blot out his own hope of 
 salvation. He is like the lunatic drawing a keen razor across 
 the jugular vein to see how close he can cut and not kill. 
 Memory as the faculty by which truth is received from the 
 understanding to serve all the high purposes of truth, carries 
 heaven and hell in its grasp. It carries all the influences of 
 the glorious gospel; all the chances of salvation to a sinner; 
 all the opportunities of growth and comfort to a Christian ; 
 all the benefits of the work of Christ and the offices of the 
 Holy Spirit; all the interests of the church; all the usefulness- 
 
366 Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 of life; all the consolations of death; all the experiences of 
 grace; all the comfort of affliction ; all success in the spiritual 
 warfare; all the issues of the endless state beyond the grave; 
 memory carries all these immeasurable interests because it 
 carries or refuses to carry the truth which conditions and 
 controls them. It is a lesson which can never be learned 
 too soon, or fixed in a conviction too powerful, that while we 
 are dependent on the efficacious grace of God in the whole 
 matter of salvation, we are equally dependent on the active 
 and constant handling of the truth, because the Spirit does 
 his work through the truth as his instrument. Our energy 
 and fidelity are provided for and called into play at every 
 step and in every process of the redemption of grace, from 
 the beginning to the triumphant conclusion within the gates 
 of heaven, as well as the grace which alone can make that 
 energy effectual. 
 
 The necessity and the value of the Holy Spirit in the office 
 set forth in the text of this chapter is manifest. His relation 
 to the sin-weakened memory is here brought to view, and 
 suggests to our investigation the modes in which his healing 
 influence on the injured faculty is exerted, and the inexpres- 
 sible benefits determined by it. 
 
 1. The first great benefit which the Holy Spirit achieved 
 for the church and the world, both for the regenerate and 
 unregenerate human soul, by his work on the human memory, 
 was displayed in the construction of the Scriptures. No 
 doubt the words of the text had primary reference to the re- 
 call of all that Jesus had spoken and taught in the presence 
 of the twelve apostles. But for his supernatural control of 
 their memories much that Jesus had said would never have 
 been reported at all; much would have been misrepresented 
 with a perfect integrity of purpose; much would have been 
 colored and changed by unconscious prepossessions ; and all 
 would have been defective, not only in certainty, but in au- 
 thority. But it was too wisely ordered for such hazards to 
 
 ik on a>) S*  aeee e 
 
THE SPIRIT AS A REMINDER. 367 
 
 _be encountered. The Holy Spirit was put in charge of the 
 memories of those commissioned to record the teachings of 
 the Nazarene, and thus to furnish so much of the great per- 
 manent standards of the Christian system as the human 
 memory was to be concerned in supplying. They wrote as 
 they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and the church has the 
 assurance in this part of the relation of the Spirit to the 
 human memory that all of our Lord’s personal history, in- 
 structions, and works, which were needful to the salvation of 
 the world, have been wisely selected and reliably transmitted. 
 He brought to memory in the chosen writers all that infinite 
 wisdom selected to be recorded; he gave a perfect guarantee 
 against error in misapprehension and misstatement; he 
 stamped the whole with the divine authority by his own 
 relation to the record. One grand department of his work 
 of inspiration was in his influence upon memory; and if there 
 is any value in the Scriptures; any guidance for the sinner; 
 any gracious effect on the heart of the saint; any consolation 
 in the glad tidings of great joy, it is due in an important 
 measure to the relation of the Holy Spirit to the faculty of 
 memory. As we know that these things were written that 
 men might believe in Jesus, and believing, have life through 
 his name, we can see in this one effect of the Spirit’s power 
 over memory a benefit absolutely beyond any adequate 
 esteem. 
 
 2. But this relation of the Spirit to human memory comes 
 nearer to the person of every man, and exerts a more direct 
 and personal influence for his benefit. To this it is due that 
 the sinner is kept at all awake to his spiritual relations and in- 
 terests. To this it is due that the moral nature of the heathen 
 is kept sufficiently alive to allow of the influence of the 
 moral conceptions necessary to the constitution of civil so- 
 ciety, and the discharge of its functions. It is due to this 
 that any thought or concern for his own personal relations 
 to God, for the forgiveness of his sins, or for his interest in 
 
368 GiIFTs To BELIEVERS. 
 
 the great salvation, ever makes any impression on any sin- 
 ner under the preaching of the gospel, or ever abides for 
 ever so transient a period in his mind. The thoughts are 
 absorbed by the scenes and interests of this life. Any re- 
 cognition of the fact of another life, or of the principles 
 which will control well-being to man in passing into it, is 
 the result of some act of memory, or some suggestion to the 
 understanding from without. For the most part, so far as 
 these ideas are concerned, in the vast bulk of mankind 
 
 memory is practically paralyzed. Perhaps the most extra-" 
 
 ordinary manifestation of* this strange scene of human ex- 
 istence here in the world, as it appears to the intelligences 
 of the sphere of existence beyond it, is the amazing insensi- 
 bility of the teeming and energetic masses of mankind to 
 what is before them. There is a wonderful force and preci- 
 sion in the Scripture teaching which represents men as 
 asleep ; the ordinary states of consciousness very strongly 
 resemble the physical condition of somnambulism. To the 
 angels of God, and especially to the disembodied spirits of 
 men who have themselves passed from under the shadows 
 and the stupor into the clear light beyond, this state of the 
 memory is the wonder of wonders. For this insensibility is 
 in a great degree due to the state of the memory, although 
 that is itself due to other influences below it. The facts of 
 the case are all admitted; death is fully recognized as the 
 separation of soul and body, and a transfer into another 
 state of conscious existence; but there is a prevailing insen- 
 sibility to the facts; they do not abide in the mind, or dis- 
 close the power that is in them. If this state of things is 
 not broken up it will, of course, continue to the end, and 
 
 induce all the fatal consequences attached to the folly. Men 
 are truly in a deep sleep so far as these great interests are 
 
 concerned. Rouse them up by ever so eager and passionate 
 a remonstrance, and they sink back at once into the same 
 stupor. Nay, rouse them to a degree that will make them 
 
 . 
 
 Se ee —— ee af 
 
 a 
 
THE SPIRIT AS A REMINDER. 369 
 
 solicitous and lead them to some good measure of activity, 
 and unless the same gracious Spirit who first broke their 
 slumber shall continue to maintain the impression, it will 
 only require a very brief contact with the living interests of 
 this world to sweep it away, and the great interests of the 
 future will again fade out of sight. No lesson is more im- 
 portant to be learned by the sin-sick and stupefied souls of 
 men than this: that all their impressions of spiritual things, 
 no matter how vivid and stimulating to hope, fear and ac- 
 tivity they may be, are absolutely dependent on the influ- 
 ences of the Holy Spirit to keep them alive and operative in 
 the mind. What is true in this respect of the sinner before 
 regeneration is in its measure true of the soul after regen- 
 eration. The Holy Paraclete must keep his watchful hand 
 on the springs of memory at every stage of the process of 
 sanctification through the truth, or the memory will lapse 
 and discharge its precious freight, on a scale of complete- 
 ness measured exactly by the energy of the Spirit’s influ- 
 ence on the faculty. No human wit or watchfulness can, 
 in its own strength, resist the evasive influences whieh are 
 brought to bear to rob the soul of the truth which leads to 
 life. 
 
 3. These original movements in the series of acts by which 
 the Holy Spirit leads from spiritual death to spiritual life, 
 are mediated through that part of the truth called the law. 
 He takes of that part of the things of Christ and shows the 
 sinner his danger. He has been before instructed as to the 
 peril which his sin has superinduced. He does not question 
 the fact; for he is aware that God in nature, as well as in 
 Scripture, imposes penalties for violated law; but he is in a 
 condition of entire forgetfulness of a part of the fact which 
 he theoretically admits, and that is the urgency of the 
 admitted peril. When the Spirit brings that to mind it be- 
 comes impossible for him to remain in the same state of 
 cheerful indifference. His sleep is broken; he is awakened, 
 
 24 
 
370 Girts TO BELIEVERS. 
 to use the technical term employed to describe this rousing of 
 the perceptions and memory, to the full significance of a fact 
 which was both known and acknowledged before. Then the 
 value of the Spirit’s influence on the meniory gives another 
 proof of its worth. The soul had been fully instructed that 
 sin not only involved the sinner in danger, but in criminality, 
 and made him guilty in the sense of blameworthiness as well 
 as of exposure. But this sort of knowledge of the iniquity 
 of sin made no impression; he did not see or care for it. 
 Nay, it is possible, and frequently the case in point of fact, 
 that the sense of danger may exist, and produce only feelings 
 of rage against God, because there is no concurrent sense of 
 deserving to be in danger. The memory of this part of the 
 truth is in abeyance. But as the Spirit quickens the mem- 
 ory to recall, and the understanding to grasp, this feature of 
 the case, a new modification of feeling comes into play. The 
 Spirit takes of the penalties of the law to awaken to danger; 
 he takes of the precept, the excellent substance and matter 
 of the law, to produce intuitions of the nature of sin. The 
 worth of the lesson in both cannot be fully conceived. For- 
 getfulness of the divine law will be followed in both saint 
 and sinner by consequences eminently disastrous. It leads 
 to the obscuring, and thus to the neglect of duty; it leads to 
 false moral ideas touching both right and wrong; it leads to 
 false principles impelling to action, and to false rules for 
 suiding it; it leads to incompetent and false views of sin, 
 and thus to false repentance, or prevents it altogether; 
 it leads to false conceptions of the divine authority, and 
 obscures the supreme nature of all his claims Forgetfulness 
 of obligation leads to every species of transgression. An 
 influence on the memory which will keep it at all alive to the 
 significance and the claims of the divine law is inmeasurably 
 valuable to a being whose mental states tend perpetually to- 
 wards insensibility and stupor. 
 
 4. This same tendency continues to exist to a greater or 
 
 7 i i A a em a pil i i 
 
 SS eS Se 
 
 Se a ee ee ae 
 
 a, 
 
THE SPIRIT AS A REMINDER. OL 
 
 less degree in the regenerate soul. It is one of the effects of 
 sin, and sin, though its power is broken by regenerating 
 grace, still abides in the soul, and exerts a degree of all its 
 tendencies as before. There is a conflict at once begun, 
 which never ceases until the final triumph of the law of grace 
 over the law of sin. From the deadly influence of this re- 
 mainder of indwelling sin upon the memory of the Christian 
 soul, springs a large proportion of his spiritual trials and his 
 spiritual disasters. From the Spirit’s influence on the 
 memory springs a large proportion of his spiritual comforts 
 and his spiritual usefulness. As the Holy Ghost leads the 
 awakened and convicted sinner forward, he takes of the say- 
 ing offices, work, and love of Christ, and shows them to the 
 agitated soul. Then he receives and rests upon the Saviour 
 for salvation. He is full of peace; Christ is at last under- 
 stood and trusted; joy animates the discharge of duty, and 
 nerves the struggle with sin. The plan of salvation shines 
 glorious in its simplicity and complete adaptations. Faith 
 appears so easy and so effective. This happy frame con- 
 tinues for a time; but, alas! it soon passes; and now the whole 
 scene is changed. All becomes obscure and difficult. Faith 
 becomes as much of a mystery as before it revealed its 
 power in the heart. The tried soul wonders what has be- 
 come of all its sweet views, and its blest contentment. In 
 vain the effort to recall them; but in that dear shape in 
 which it once appeared no struggle can bring it back. 
 What peaceful hours I once enjoyed ; 
 How sweet their memory still; 
 
 But they have left an aching void 
 The world can never fill. 
 
 But now let the Holy Spirit touch the springs of memory 
 with an effective touch, and these blessed things of Christ 
 are restored again. They had vanished through some dis- 
 astrous change in the affections; from some neglect from 
 some positive faultiness; and the return comes through the 
 
au i GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 Spirit’s touch, memory, and the powers allied with it; or 
 sometimes this process may be reversed, and the heart 
 quickened by new views of the truth as it is in Jesus; new in 
 some aspects, though familiar in others. The touch of the 
 Spirit on the memory often brings back melting and re- 
 joicing views of the great High Priest, the Prophet, and 
 King of the covenant. When the real significance of the 
 priesthood of Christ is opened up by the clear shining of the 
 Holy Ghost on some clear exposition of the power of his 
 blood, the efficacy of his priestly prayers, and the subduing 
 charm of his priestly tenderness towards sinners, then the 
 way of escape unseals its sufficiency so as to banish every 
 fear, and fill the heart with joy. The very memory of such 
 an apprehension of the truth is sweet and full of comfort 
 long after it has passed away in the smoke and strife of 
 many a succeeding battle. David remembered the hill 
 Mizar as the scene of some such rich experience. But the 
 actual restoration of them to the full experience of the heart 
 and memory is unsurpassed in consoling power. It is no 
 small enhancement of the Spirit’s value to the Christian soul 
 that he can at will retouch these memories of a favored past, 
 and cause them to renew in a favored present the joy of by- 
 gone grace. He can take of all the gracious things of Christ 
 and show them unto us, either by giving us new views of the 
 old glory, or by bringing them back upon the memory in all 
 the charm of their original delight. He thus sometimes 
 brings back in a time of conflict or deep distress some par- 
 ticular truth, some promise, some warning, some passage of 
 Scripture just suited to the emergency. The word of God is 
 the sword of the Spirit; the weapon by which he makes war 
 on all kinds of spiritual evil. A memory stored with the 
 words of Holy Writ is an arsenal well stocked with the arms 
 of the holy warfare. While it would be presumption to 
 expect the Holy Ghost to give any new revelation for the 
 benefit of any one of his saints, however beloved, it is not 
 
THE SPIRIT AS A REMINDER. 373 
 
 presumption, but imperative duty, to expect and seek him to 
 quicken memory, and bring up out of its mysterious depths 
 some truth of the word he has already given, suited to an 
 emergency of sorrow or temptation. He may be appealed 
 to to rouse the memory of sweet promises, when the shades 
 of death are thickening over a dying saint, or when a dread 
 emergency is lifting its horrid head across the pathway of a 
 living saint. The offices of the Spirit himself are very 
 gracious and very powerful; these, too, are subject to his 
 quickening influences on our dull apprehensions. When he 
 said that he would not speak of himself, we have already 
 seen he did not mean to declare he would not teach anything 
 at all of himself, either in the Scriptures or in the hearts of 
 his people. He has said enough of his own loving spirit and 
 eracious offices to awaken intense gratitude in those who 
 apprehend his grace. The very riches and vehement glory 
 of that grace are enough to oppress our feeble powers of 
 conceiving and retaining them. But he can show us his 
 glory in proportions suited to our capacity ; and we all might 
 be far wealthier than we are in these rich apprehensions of 
 the love of the Spirit if we would set ourselves to seek his 
 sifts more freely. He can take of his own glorious grace, as 
 well as of the unsearchable riches of Christ and the father- 
 hood of the eternal Father, and show unto us many a hidden 
 mine of infinite grace in each and all of them. 
 
 The spirit of prayer is also powerfully controlled by the 
 influence of the Spirit upon the memory. It is often amaz- 
 ing to see how quickly our own apprehensions of our own 
 abiding spiritual necessities fade out from our minds. A 
 keen state of eager yearning will sometimes seem to vanish 
 in an hour. Deep feeling of spiritual destitution will quickly 
 give way to a sort of despairing hardness. Ardent solicitude 
 for others, longings for the well-being of the church, and for 
 the salvation of sinners, will give way like the fast-changing 
 colors of a sunset. The feeling of obligation, as well as the 
 
Sit GiFTs TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 desire to pray for others, for the spread of the kingdom, for 
 the revival of religion in a particular community, or the sal- 
 vation of particular persons, is subject to this rapid and por- 
 tentous vicissitude. Our forgetfulness of such things would 
 soon become dangerously complete if it were not for the 
 work of the Spirit as a reminder. He keeps the regenerate 
 soul alive to its own necessities and its duties, far enough as 
 to secure something like habitual solicitude to be at peace 
 with God, the habitual use of the means of grace, and the 
 reputable discharge of appointed duties. The point in which 
 his gracious influence upon memory allows of great advance- 
 ment, subject largely to the saint’s own desires and faithful 
 efforts, is in this relation between his sympathies and the 
 wants of others. He can quicken this habitual, but low- 
 toned and comparatively inactive recollection of the spiritual 
 wants of others into a spirit of keen appreciation, leading 
 to intense desire and to energy of action. Such an influence 
 would be an incalculable blessing to the regenerate soul 
 itself, and to all the interests which can be affected by his 
 faith, his prayers, and his active labor—a blessing which 
 would strongly illustrate the value of the Spirit as a re- 
 minder. Without it no sinner would ever know the saving 
 force of the truth he has learned, never appreciate danger or 
 remedy, never be able to form a just judgment of the value 
 of the life that now is compared with the value of that which 
 is to come; never comprehend his position under the law 
 and government of God, nor under his grace. Without it 
 the Christian, though once acquainted with his necessities, 
 would soon lose sight of them. Though once made to re- 
 joice in the apprehension of Christ as a Saviour, he would 
 soon lose the sweetness and joy of that glorious vision. The 
 whole gospel would die out of the apprehension of the 
 church; the very intellectual knowledge of Christian truth 
 would perish, as more than one grand melancholy example in 
 its history has proved. The doctrines of the covenant would 
 
 | 
 ; 
 
THE SPIRIT AS A REMINDER. O19 
 
 lose their priceless meaning; prayer would vanish into a 
 thin, unreal observance; God himself would pass into a mere 
 abstraction; the promises would become blank checks in 
 invisible writing, which no flame of fire, no cunning of artful 
 science, could restore to vision. The glorious gospel would 
 be turned into a legendary tale, and the golden gates of the 
 eternal city, far-shining in the distant clouds, would die be- 
 fore the longing eyes of the saints, under the rushing dark- 
 ness of despairing hope, like the rubied clouds on the vault 
 of evening perish under the gray shadows of the fast-coming 
 night. 
 
 But the truth stands; it will not perish from the view of a 
 dying world. The Spirit will keep all the precious words of 
 the Redeemer in remembrance. This gracious pledge was 
 not fulfilled and then antiquated and thrown out of service 
 when the writers of the sacred books had, under the hand of 
 the Holy Ghost, recalled the words and acts of the Messiah, 
 and fixed them in an imperishable record. That pledge is 
 still a working truth for the encouragement of every sinner 
 and for the comfort of every saint. To the one he can still 
 bring back the healthful knowledge of his sin in order that 
 he may repent, and still bestow the healthful knowledge oi 
 the way of life that he may believe. To the other he can 
 renew all their past experiences of grace, and lead them 
 forward to still richer and higher realizations of the great 
 salvation. He can restore and vivify the spirit of faith and 
 the spirit of prayer. He can illumine the promises until 
 they glow with a richer wealth than a king’s ransom. He 
 can make and keep the watchful soul of a believer all alive 
 to its duties and its dangers, its wants ana its resources, its 
 privileges and its endless glory. He can do a mighty work 
 for a lost world and a struggling church by bringing into a 
 living remembrance all the words the great Giver of eternal 
 
 life has spoken, and all the great deeds he has done. 
 
Cer alee tyeex sit 
 THE LOVE OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ‘‘Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for 
 the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to 
 God for me.”— Paul to the Romans. 
 
 HE absolute dependence of a sinner for regeneration, 
 and of the regenerate soul for the exercise, the com- 
 
 fort, and the availability of his regenerate gifts, on the influ- 
 ences of the Holy Ghost, will be taken as something of a 
 discouragement unless guarded from misapprehension of the 
 real truth involved in the case. The sinner frequently makes 
 it an excuse for his idleness, and his refusal to use the means 
 of grace. It is often cited by the enemies of the evangelical 
 faith of Christians, as an argument against the doctrine of 
 grace, that it cuts the nerves of energy and logically dis- 
 counts the value of all human effort. But this objection in 
 the mouth of a sinner only lies in his mind so long as his 
 
 view of his own necessities is dull and incompetent. Just 
 eon ceo, 
 
 let his mind wake up to the » real nature of the facts in the 
 ‘case; let him realize the - peril « of his position; and he will 
 no aaa make his dependence on the Spirit an excuse for 
 inaction. Nay, more, just in proportion as his own efforts 
 fail to give him relief, and he feels his need of help, he will 
 only be all the more solicitous to gain any help he can find. 
 He then finds out that his dependence on the Spirit, so far 
 from warranting his inactivity, was the very thing to rouse him 
 to action by placing help in his reach when his own exer- 
 tions had failed. The difference in the matter is, that in the 
 first case he did not understand his dependence, nor realize 
 his own infirmity, and in the advanced portion of his experi- 
 ence he did fully comprehend both. The objection in the 
 376 
 
 ee 
 
 — ee oe ee ee 
 
 rate 
 
THE Love oF THE Sprrit. SHE 
 
 lips of a speculative opponent of the doctrine of grace springs 
 from the same root—the ignorance of the real necessities of 
 a sinful soul. When he denies the dependence of such a 
 soul on the influences of the Spirit. he consistently denies 
 the actual ruin of a fallen moral nature. As long as this is 
 done, no matter by whom or on what pretext, there is no 
 prospect of a gospel salvation. 
 
 The same feeling is sometimes found measurably discount 
 aging the Christian. Whenever it does, it is due to careless 
 living, and the consequent darkening of the gospel ideas 
 before eyes dimmed by sin. The influence of the Spirit is 
 the very provision made in the covenant to give success to 
 prayer, to develope the whole series of the regenerate graces, 
 and to unseal the gladness and comfort of the gospel; and, 
 therefore, instead of being a discouragement to the feeble or 
 back-slidden Christian, is the very thing which warrants him 
 to hope, and animates him to energy in seeking for the re- 
 storation of his peace. It is equally advantageous to the 
 eager and watchful Christian, yearning after stronger graces 
 and more assured hope; for if the Spirit was not available 
 for his help in seeking these ends, it would be vain to desire 
 or expect them. To break down all this feeling of discour- 
 agement, and to replace it by the feeling properly excited by 
 the offices of the Holy Ghost, we design to open one single 
 consideration, which in itself alone is sufficient to accomplish 
 this purpose, and to lead both the regenerate and the unre- 
 generate soul to find encouragement instead of discourage- 
 ment in their dependence on the Holy Ghost. We pass by 
 the consideration of the official work assigned to him in the. 
 economy of redemption, and his zeal for the glory of the 
 Godhead ; we pass all references to his power or his faithful- 
 ness, although all these are powerful inducements to confide 
 in him. We simply fix attention on the love of the Spirit; 
 his infinite and tender personal affections towards the sin- 
 ners of the human race; his great pity and compassion to- 
 
378 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 wards the victims of their sin; his delight in his work of 
 bringing them to pardon, to peace, to the rest of heaven, and 
 to the whole manifestation of the unsearchable riches, the 
 freedom, and the resolute tenacity of his grace towards them. 
 
 1. Love is the emphatic attribute of God; it is that qual- 
 ity in his character which under one of its manifestations 
 leads him to distribute good, not for any increase to his own 
 blessedness, already perfect, but simply to widen the range of 
 happiness in other beings beside himself. This attribute is 
 so masterly an element in his infinitely complete being 
 that it defines his nature and gives him his name, “ God is 
 love.” It was this which prompted him to create; it was, at 
 least, one of his ends; it is this that regulates his whole plan 
 of creation, his whole policy of administration. Like all his 
 other attributes, it is literally infinite in its strength, in its 
 tenderness, in its patience, in its bounteous fertility, in its 
 eagerness to bless. The large-hearted spirit of a benevolent 
 man is a noble quality. The love in the heart of a great 
 angel is a still higher form of the sweet and magnanimous 
 feeling. As you rise in the conception of intellectual and 
 moral being, this quality, an essential constituent of moral 
 excellence, expands proportionally on the view. But in God 
 it exists in the highest degree it can possibly reach; love 
 cannot exist, nor any other conceivable excellence, in a higher 
 or more perfect form than it exists in God; in him it is liter- 
 ally infinite, This lovely quality in him overpasses every 
 conceivable or possible modification of it in any other being, 
 actual or possible, as far as the infinite passes beyond the 
 finite. God is love, and the Spirit is God; and our first step 
 in the effort to form some notion of the love of the Spirit 
 places us face to face with the fact that love in its illimitable 
 and divine degree is his intrinsic, essential, and unchange- 
 able attribute. 
 
 2. The love of God takes on its most wonderful and pecu- 
 har form in its application to senners. He is infinitely holy; 
 
 SF gored abe 
 
 Lae le 
 
 a ee ee ee, 
 
THE Love oF THE Spirit. 379 
 
 a sinner is a being morally polluted. To him this pollution 
 is an essential horror and disgust. He is infinitely just; a 
 sinner as a breaker of law is criminal, a being on whom 
 justice has a claim, a claim to punish his criminal conduct; 
 and God is bound by eternal rightness to do justice, no 
 matter what justice may demand. Yet the loving-kindness 
 of the just and holy one goes out upon sinners. The 
 impulse is altogether what the impulse of love always is, to 
 do them good. The instinctive feeling which springs up in 
 a sinning soul is dread of God, because he is just, a being 
 whose judgment must be graduated by the nature of the fact 
 before him, and who must therefore seek to requite an evil 
 with a result naturally and justly answerable to it. Such a 
 result is necessarily the opposite of a benefit to the trans- 
 gressor. ‘his seems to present an issue on which a collision 
 ensues between his love seeking a benefit to the sinner and 
 his justice prohibiting it. But when the love of God takes 
 on that peculiar modification which is called grace, the very 
 thing which distinguishes it from every other modification of 
 divine benignity is s¢x. How it could be brought into har- 
 mony with the claims of justice and holiness is the great 
 wonder in the divine nature. This is that, as then, unknown 
 and inconceivable mystery in the just and holy one, whose 
 sudden display in the day of Adam’s fall confounded the 
 murderous archangel, and filled all heaven with wonder and 
 delight. That God should love sinners and let loose on 
 them all the tides of that infinite quality in his nature—on 
 those who were an offence to his holiness, and the objects of 
 his inflexibly righteous and true justice—this was the mystery 
 of mysteries. Yet it was done, and it was so done that no 
 claim of justice was sacrificed, no demand of holiness failed 
 of full contentment. The redemption from the claims of justice 
 was committed to the love of the Son; and we know how a 
 dying Saviour redeemed us from the curse of the law, by being 
 madeacurse forus. The redemption from the inward power 
 
380 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 and pollution of sin in the soul was committed to the love of 
 the Spirit. The love of the Father shone glorious in the pro- 
 posal and contrivance of the whole wondrous plan. The erand 
 sum of all the marvelous policy was this wonderful assurance 
 to sinners of the human family, that the dove of the whole 
 Godhead, the love of the Father, the love of the Son, and 
 
 the love of Spirit, the whole energy of an infinite attribute of 
 
 love, was now turned loose, free from every restraint, armed 
 with infinite power, and fully supported by infinite holiness, 
 justice, and truth, to walk all the wards of the sin-sick soul, 
 to gave sinners at its own will. The love of the Son, the 
 Paraclete for sin, confronts* the miseries of guilt; the love of 
 the Spirit, the Paraclete for all inward wants, confronts all 
 the weakness and the wickedness in the soul. If, therefore, 
 any sinner, seeking for peace and assured safety, is discour- 
 aged by the strength of the evil within him, and is dreaming 
 of first accomplishing some preliminary purification within 
 himself ere he will be fit to ground any appeal for help, let 
 him endeavor to take in the meaning of the offices and the 
 loving-tenderness of the Holy Spirit, who has charge of that 
 work. It is only necessary to appeal to his power as the 
 agent of the royal Saviour. If, therefore, any discouraged 
 Christian, oppressed by conscious sins; by unbelief; by a 
 hard heart; by a quick temper; by an unmastered over- 
 eagerness after worldly good; by any sin, is yet anxious to 
 overcome these faults, let him not dream that he must wait to 
 get the better of them before he applies for the grace of the 
 Spirit; let him come at once for the grace to overcome them. 
 If any eager Christian soul, sick of the infirmities, the weak 
 eraces, the mutilated comforts, the ineffective prayers, the 
 whole imperfect service of his low and feeble spiritual de- 
 velopment, desires to attain unto better things, let him at 
 once renew his courage, and appeal to the Comforter. His 
 infinite and most tender love has been put in charge of 
 
 ———— 
 
 el) OL Ah ade 
 
 seh pendant nse i i cmt ite Nant a ail ras hy eer (eg 
 
 ee es ee eae ee ee 
 
 rr ba * 
 
THE LOVE oF THE Spier. 381 
 
 all the inward work needful to the healing of a sinful 
 soul. 
 
 3. The love of the Spirit is displayed in a more or less 
 effective way, literally wpon all sinners in restraining the 
 natural growth of their depravity and in thus limiting the 
 desolating effects of it. He exerts a restraint upon every 
 heathen soul, sufficient at least to preserve the moral element 
 in human nature from being utterly eclipsed, and to make 
 society, civilization, domestic life, and civil law possible. 
 Sin is a powerful energy;,it works towards all its natural 
 results with a swift, relentless determination. It corrupts 
 and breaks the force of the instinctive moral sentiments; it in- 
 flames the passions; it pollutes the whole nature of the sin- 
 ning actor. Through this evil influence on himself it affects 
 all the relations of the man—his social, domestic, business, 
 and political relations. A certain amount of good moral 
 sentiments, a sense of moral obligation, a perception of truth, 
 honor, and justice, are necessary to bind the social structure 
 together and make it workable, to make homes possible and 
 trade possible, and all the interchanges and connections be- 
 tween men possible. But for the secret restraints of the 
 Holy Spirit sin would have long ago broken up all human 
 associations, and not only ruined civilization, but swept the 
 human race from the face of the earth in the torrents of their 
 own vices and crimes. To the love of the Spirit it is due 
 that any man enjoys every benefit, every joy, every right, every 
 comfort which the old and vast heathen peoples have ever 
 possessed. To it it is due that there is such a thing as a 
 respectable man, a being with any effective moral ideas, to 
 be found anywhere. He alone prevents the utter depravation 
 and ruin of the moral element in human nature, and preserves 
 the mighty interests which are conditioned upon its preser- 
 vation in some sufficient degree of serviceable working order. 
 
 4. The love of the Spirit is still more wonderfully dis- 
 played in his dealings with sinners generally under the gospel 
 
382 Guirts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 dispensation. The two great agencies in the conversion of 
 sinners are, the truth revealed in the gospel, and the concur- 
 rent influences of the Holy Spirit. The truth alone is 
 powerless to save; the Spirit, as a rule, only operates in 
 connection with the truth. But wherever the truth comes 
 the Spirit comes. Wherever the truth is neglected’ or re- 
 pudiated the Spirit ceases to strive. But on whatever ear 
 the truth falls the Spirit makes his way into the conscience 
 and the heart. If he ever suspends his influence in con- 
 nection with the truth, it is because the truth has been 
 abused, and his own incitements to obey it have been pre- 
 sumptuously resisted. The glad tidings never fell on the ear 
 of harlot, or gambler, or thief, or murderer, that the Holy 
 Spirit did not enter, or endeavor to enter, the darkened and. 
 crime-haunted heart. He is always resisted, met at the 
 threshhold and rudely rebuffed. Satan and his satellites, 
 viewless and unsuspected, are always leading on the unholy 
 soul, quickening its evil impulses, stimulating its passions, 
 obscuring the influence of healthful views, laying snares for 
 the willing feet, mocking at suggestions of danger. Gaily 
 the victim advances, seeing nothing but pleasant things in 
 his lawless career. But the loving Spirit steps across his path, 
 and lays his gentle hand on the deluded wanderer. Instantly 
 blows are struck at him. The tempting angels put forth all 
 their skill and cunning. The poor foolish lover of his own 
 wild will pulls back from the loving hand of the Deliverer. But 
 he will not yield; he makes his way in; and there, amid the 
 darkness and the stench of excited carnal passions, his reso- 
 lute tenderness, for days, and weeks, and months, and some- 
 times for years together, struggles for a foothold. Sometimes 
 he will yield and go his way; sometimes to return and renew 
 the conflict; and only at the last will he take his final flight, 
 and abandon Ephraim to his idols. What a scene is this 
 conflict of the Holy Spirit with the unholy passions of a 
 human heart and the watchful angels of the abyss! What 
 
Tue Love orf THE Sprrirt. 383 
 
 wickedness on one side; what grace on the other! What 
 infinite love; what sweet “ithe; what eager compassion; what 
 heroic meaerice: what resolute Rania what divine loving- 
 kindness, does the love of the Spirit alse in this strife ti 
 and for an unconverted sinner! Yet thishe shows in ereater 
 or less degree to every sinner to whom the gospel message 
 comes. He shows it even to those who, he knows, will fight 
 him to the bitter end. He shows the infinite love of his sweet 
 compassion, not only to those who will yield to him, but to 
 those who will go on in their sins, and down into the pit at 
 last. No words can tell the tale of the love of the Spirit, 
 even to the most unholy and reckless of disobedient men. 
 
 5. But the love of the Spirit takes on its sweetest and 
 most charming form in his dealings with those whom he 
 resolves to regenerate and save. All without exception resist 
 him; some he abandons to their own devices after a long 
 and desperate conflict; but some he determines to conquer. 
 Not because they are better or more worthy, but solely be- 
 cause of his own sovereign and distinguishing grace, because 
 for reasons in his own wise and sovereign counsels his love 
 burns for them into a higher and an intenser flame! He 
 puts forth his strength; he rouses their fears, and intensifies 
 their convictions of their sin until resistance is overmastered. 
 He teaches them to pray in passionate earnestness; he makes 
 them keenly desire his aid now, and to find the way to 
 Christ. He gives them experimental knowledge of their own 
 perversity, blindness, hardness of heart, and their helpless- 
 ness in the dreadful strait. He keeps them under lights 
 which reveal the delusions under which they have hitherto 
 lived and acted. He overwhelms them by such a conscious- 
 ness of their guilt, danger, and need of a Saviour, as to pre- 
 pare them to appreciate the deliverance and the Deliverer 
 offered to them. He breaks down all their self-righteous 
 excuses. He then makes plain the way of salvation; he 
 leads them to Jesus; he gives them the faith which is the fruit 
 
384 GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 of the Spirit, and they pass within the muniments of the 
 covenant of life. This act of regeneration is the first step in 
 this peculiar manifestation of the love of the Spirit to the 
 saints. Now comes the highest and most impressive of all 
 its wonderful displays.- It is called the indwelling of the 
 Holy Ghost. It is always shown to every regenerate soul ; 
 -it is begun in the act of regeneration which opens the way 
 to his permanent occupation of the soul now pledged to 
 eternal life by the act of faith in the Saviour. Until then 
 his entry into the unholy heart, and his contact with all its 
 pollutions, has been at will, not under the bond of any cove- 
 nant engagement, most freely entered, most binding when 
 made. He was free to leave as he was to enter before the 
 terms of mercy were closed. The offer is, Believe, and thou 
 shalt be saved; and when the regenerate soul puts forth the 
 act of faith the covenant is closed, and that happy spirit 
 stands in new and invincible relations with the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost. The promise to faith is a pledge 
 of an absolute salvation, a salvation from sin as well as from 
 its consequences. Its sacred assurance is, Sin shall not have 
 dominion over you. This is not a pledge that all sin shall be 
 destroyed at once and the soul made perfectly holy. If that 
 were so, there would be no place for the peculiar display of 
 the love of the Spirit to the saints; for he would then have 
 a holy and a pleasant place to occupy. The promise secures 
 a full conquest’ over all sin in the end, but only that sin 
 shall not be master in the progress towards the end. Sin 
 shall not have dominion; but this implies that sin shall still 
 have a standing, and exert an influence, until the end of the 
 natural life puts a period to the presence and the mischiefs 
 of moral evil. 
 
 It will be impossible for us to appreciate suitably the un- 
 searchable love of the Holy Spirit as involved in his indwell- 
 ing in the saints, until we can form some conception of the 
 state of a regenerate soul, in which the law of grace in the 
 
 5 
 Z 
 
THE Love oF THE Sprrtr. 385 
 
 mind is perpetually confronted by the law of sin in the mem- 
 bers. It is a scene of conflict, not of peace; a scene of evil 
 as well as good, for the grace given is living grace, and 
 the remaining sin is real sin, a power broken, but not de- 
 stroyed; weakened, but still formidable; wounded, but still 
 capable of long and desperate strife even against the Spirit 
 of the living God. Into that chequered scene in every fe- 
 generate heart that holy agent enters to make good the 
 pledge of the covenant, sin shall not have the mastery. 
 He enters it not as a wayfarer who turneth to tarry but 
 a night. He enters it to dwell there; he enters it as his 
 home; he enters it as his workshop, the chosen place where 
 his wonderful achievements are to be accomplished. He 
 enters it under a covenant promise, more durable than the 
 everlasting hills, to stay there and never to abandon it, until 
 his work is done and the covenant with the believer is ful- 
 filled. If he left, all would be undone. But the bond and 
 security of his holding his place is the strongest that can 
 be conceived; the faithfulness and the pledged veracity and 
 honor of the whole Godhood, Father, Son, and Spirit. His 
 love and zeal rejoice to confirm the grand guarantees of the 
 covenant and the divine integrity. The very throne and life 
 of the sovereign and immortal God stand not on a firmer 
 basis, or under a more absolute assurance, than the perma- 
 nence of the Spirit’s indwelling in the regenerate human 
 heart. But to appreciate the love, the faithfulness, and the 
 delight of the Spirit in his work, we must comprehend the 
 place where he dwells, and the nature of his activity in it. 
 As already said, the power of sin is broken, but the evil still 
 abides. It is there, with all the elements and particular 
 evils which sin involves, just as it was before. The lusts of 
 the eye and the pride of life still linger, weakened, but not 
 destroyed ; the new law is infused, a new energy is created in 
 opposition to these evils, and a perpetual collision is inaugu- 
 rated. But sin is still there, and sin is an infinite offence 
 20 
 
386 Carre TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 to a holy being, even when lying quiet and inactive; it is 
 far more so when stirred into activity. Just as a foul pool 
 shows nauseous to sight, and emits its odors slowly and 
 faintly when in repose, but becomes far more offensive to 
 eye and nostril when stirred out of its stillness. The Holy 
 Spirit goes into a regenerate heart to dwell in the midst 
 of sin, in habitual presence, and often in fierce activity. 
 The Scripture symbols of a sinful heart are absolutely 
 fearful: darkness, stony hardness, a cage of unclean birds, a 
 den of serpents, a lonely cottage in the stillness of a desert, 
 within whose swept and garnished walls, eight devils, su- 
 preme in wickedness, are holding an infernal revel, and 
 making the midnight wilderness hideous with their appall- 
 ing and malicious glee. This is the home of the Holy Spirit. 
 By his side within the dreadful walls that “new man” he 
 has created in Christ Jesus stands confronting the awful 
 array in the armed attitude of watchful war—war to the belt- 
 knife. See the pale, resolute face of the spiritual man, 
 crossed often by pangs of mortal fear, or wrenched with 
 agony at some sly serpent bite, or pierced by some devil's 
 poisoned arrow or fiery dart, or anon stupefied and stiffened 
 by some foul blast of air, or the touch of some foul wing, as 
 the unclean birds slip through the shadows. Ah! can he 
 win; can he come safe out of such a scene? Look at the 
 grand figure at his side. The Spirit of the living God is 
 dwelling with him and is in him; he is on guard. He is 
 sitting in the fixed posture of one who has come to stay. 
 He kindles a gentle light, which qualifies the murky dark- 
 ness, and shows the lurking figures of the hostile forces. 
 His glorious face beams with serene peace, and kindles with 
 infinite loving tenderness, as he supplies all needed strength 
 and comfort to the tried and wearied soldier at his side. 
 Now and then his mighty hand is stretched forth, and a 
 stroke of sword or hammer falls on some over-insolent intru- 
 der, and at the touch the devils crouch and whine, the ser- 
 
 Sn ekg nc iblehaigaann ie 
 
 st ga het her DP 
 
 \<? @2e. 9 Ogee ei eet, ae, 
 
Tue LOVE oF THE SPrIrIt. 387 
 
 pents writhe and twist, and the foul birds droop wing or 
 slumber. Now and then he pours a fresher and a stronger 
 grant of grace into his weary charge, and then songs in the 
 night ring cheerily in the beleaguered fortress of the re- 
 generate soul. So it goes until the end; but the victory 
 is assured by the presence of the divine indwelling Spirit. 
 In one sense his perils are great; in another his safety is 
 absolute. In one sense his trials are awful; in another his 
 blessedness is unspeakable. His danger is in himself; for 
 these vultures, serpents, and devils, which the poverty of 
 human thought and words compel us to represent as in him, 
 but distinct from him, are his own unholy energies and pas- 
 sions. His safety is in the blood and righteousness of Jesus, 
 in the fatherhood and faithfulness of the Father, and in the 
 presence and love of the Holy Ghost. But this scene of the 
 Spirit on guard ‘in a regenerate heart compels the question, 
 if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly 
 and sinner appear? The same awful company are in his 
 heart, but no indwelling Spirit of grace is found there to 
 oppose and subdue the deadly mischief. The answer to the 
 question asked can only be, they will appear the ruined 
 victims of the infernal garrison; they will appear on the left 
 hand of the judgment throne; they will appear in the long 
 line of the devil’s captives, moving down to the iron gates; 
 they will appear in the final scene riding on the waves of the 
 lake of fire; for they have grieved and repelled the Holy 
 Spirit, and he did not dwell in them. But his victorious 
 love will finally exterminate the birds, and serpents, and 
 devils of an unholy heart, and the soul, delivered by the 
 love of the Spirit, will appear on the right hand of the 
 Judge, on the highway to the gates of pearl, in the long 
 procession of the King’s ransomed, and on the sweet fields 
 by the river of life forever. All their fitness for this high 
 destiny will be due to the love of the Spirit; their title to 
 it, to the love of the Son; their opportunity for gaining both 
 
388 Gifts TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 title and fitness, to the love of the Father. Salvation is all 
 of grace. 
 
 6. The love of the Spirit is also powerfully illustrated by 
 that delight in all his official work, in all its general and 
 special acts in the regenerate soul, which 1s assured by that love 
 itself. Love delights in its own exercises and its own offices. 
 Tt would seem that such a constant dwelling in such a devil-_ 
 haunted cottage in a wilderness, as we have just described, 
 might afford room for the exhibition of the faithfulness and 
 power of the Holy Spirit, but could hardly allow of his find- 
 ing any delight in it. Perhaps this will account for the gen- 
 eral recognition of the fidelity and strength of the Spirit, 
 and the equally general scanty recognition of his love, the 
 unspeakable tenderness and freedom of his grace.* But we 
 are emphatically assured of his love; and this certifies that 
 his delight in fulfilling the will and counsel-of the Godhead 
 in his work in the saints is fully equal to the delight which 
 the Son found in doing his part, and the Father in his. Al- 
 though the Holy Comforter finds an amount of offence, which 
 no mortal mind can conceive, in the pollutions of a soul only 
 partially purified, yet, in spite of all, his loving heart finds an 
 infinite complacency and delight in the work which he enters 
 that heart to do. He is there on a mission of cleansing and 
 healing; and he delights to do it. He is there to accomplish 
 the grandest enterprise of the counsels of God; and he de- 
 lights to accomplish it. He is there to defeat the malignant 
 counsels of the kingdom of darkness; and he delights to do 
 it. He is there to save millions of immortal spirits from 
 an unimaginable ruin for eternal ages; and he glories in 
 the mighty undertaking. He delights in the exercise of 
 his glorious energies, in the indulgence of his infinite ten- 
 derness, in every part and specialty of his glorious office. 
 He delights to awaken and arrest sinners as they are 
 dancing along, devil-led, on the primrose path to the ever- 
 
 * Phillip of Maberly. 
 
iA 
 / 
 
 V 
 
 THe LovE oF THE SPIRIT. 389 
 
 lasting bonfire. He delights in raising the dead soul to 
 life by his regenerating grace, as Jesus delighted his own 
 sad, loving heart in raising Lazarus, and in turning -the sor- 
 rows of the Bethany home, which he loved so dearly, into 
 songs of rejoicing. He delights in teaching the dim eyes of 
 his children to see all the things of Christ. He rejoices to 
 seal, anoint, testify, lead, intercede, and give the earnest of 
 the Spirit. He delights in all his work. He is never idle; 
 never reluctant; never churlish in doing it. He is the Com- 
 forter, and delights in comforting; he is the universal Para- 
 clete of his people, and delights for them to call him to their 
 side in any of their times of need. | 
 
 The love of the Spirit gives the full assurance of the abso- 
 lute freedom and completeness of our access to the gracious 
 influences of the Spirit. It is just as free an access as we 
 have to the unsearchable riches of the love and redemption 
 work of the Saviour himself. The symbols of both are the 
 wide, free winds of heaven, sweeping every inch of ground in 
 a continent, stirring every leaf in the forests, and every blade 
 of grass in the fields; and second, the water, covering two- 
 thirds or more of the planet in its oceans, piercing every 
 section with its running streams, every nook in wood or 
 mountain with its springs and falling rains, and entering as a 
 principal factor into the composition of well-nigh everything 
 that exists—vegetable, mineral, or animal. These are the 
 symbols of the love and free grace of the blessed Spirit. This 
 love on his part stands side by side with the command of the 
 Father, and the pleading love of the Son, and unites with 
 these in giving the grand assurance to every needy sinner, 
 and especially to every yearning Christian heart, touching 
 that wide and welcome privilege they have to appeal for any 
 srant of faith, hope, clear vision, holy affections, of guid- 
 ance, strength, patience, love, comfort, for any grace they 
 may néed. No regenerate sinner need want for any comfort 
 in life or death; no unregenerate sinner need stay in the 
 
390 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 peril or bond of his sin for a single hour, since we all have 
 such free access to the power and the tender love of the 
 Spirit. That love is so marked with every high and winning 
 quality of love in its infinite and unsurpassable form; it is a 
 love so distinguished by its tenderness, by its infinite sweet- 
 ness, by its grand energy, by its absolute fidelity and trust- 
 worthiness, by its tender, unweariable patience, by its wise 
 and resolute faithfulness to every interest entrusted to it, by 
 its zeal and fervor, by its boundless power, by its delight in 
 allits work, by its complacency in all its glorious results—that 
 there is really no excuse for any poverty or slackness of 
 either strength or comfort in the gifts of the Spirit. He is 
 so necessary to us, to our trust in the Son, to our confidence 
 in the Father, to our reliance on himseif; he is so essential 
 to our success in prayer, to our understanding and compli- 
 ance with the terms of mercy, to the guarantees of our hope, 
 to the soundness of our graces; he is so important to our 
 safety in temptation, to our comfort in affliction, to our sat- 
 isfaction in life, to our usefulness in service, to our support 
 in death; in a word, so vast and absolute 1s our dependence 
 on the influences of the Holy Ghost that we need every pos- 
 sible encouragement to go to him. That encouragement is | 
 given by this wonderful love of the Spirit in as complete a 
 degree as need be hoped or desired. Infinite love, and in- 
 finite delight in his work, discount all fear of refusal in 
 appealing for his grace. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE SPIRIT IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 
 
 ‘‘For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and re- 
 joice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”—Pawul to the 
 Philippians. 
 
 HE worship of God in private and in public, as it is 
 prescribed in the Scriptures, requires our active atten- 
 
 tion always to the two grand divisions into which the service 
 has been divided: the visible or tangible instruments to be 
 used, and the effective power which is to be appealed to in 
 the use of these instruments. In considering the worship of 
 God and the surest means of benefit from it, it 1s necessary 
 to recognize the outward ordinances as the only authorized 
 method of our approaching him, and the only means by 
 which we may expect his favor in benefits to ourselves. 
 This dictates due care to have the ordinances as exactly con- 
 formed to the requirements of the law as it is possible to 
 secure them. It is also indispensable to apprehend clearly, 
 and then to act practically, on this knowledge of the corre- 
 lated Scripture doctrine of the only agent and efficacious 
 power by which the divinely-appointed ordinances can be 
 made effectual. There can be no acceptable worship except 
 in the use of those ordinances and actions in employing 
 them which God himself has appointed. No man, or organ- 
 ized body of men, has a right to invent any action for the 
 worship of God, and to challenge his blessing on the use of 
 it. He would lay himself open to the cutting question, 
 “Who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts” 
 therewith? -Every earthly monarch claims the right to settle 
 the etiquette of his own court, the dress and acts of homage 
 and ceremony by which strangers and his own servants are to 
 
 391 
 
392 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 approach the royal presence. To alter those prescriptions — 
 for others entirely different, or to make changes by addition 
 or subtraction in the prescribed forms, would be considered 
 an invasion of the king’s right, and a personal affront to his 
 majesty. Much more has the King of kings the right to 
 order the etiquette of his court, and the acts by which he 
 would be approached. His ordinances must be observed, as 
 nearly as possible, according to his own prescriptions, with- 
 out additions to or subtractions from them. But the teach- 
 ing of the Scriptures is unequivocally clear, that even the 
 ordinances appointed of God have no power in themselves 
 alone to work the needful effects on the soul of the wor- 
 shipper, unless accompanied by the efficacious influences of 
 the Holy Spirit. The gospel must come, not in word only, 
 but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Our pre- 
 sent object, however, is not to illustrate the general doctrine 
 of the relation of the Spirit to the ordinances of worship 
 and the means of grace, but the particular doctrine of his 
 relation to the public worship of God in the regular assem- 
 blies of the people for Sabbath service. The assertion of 
 the text is, that one characteristic mark of a true believer is 
 that he ‘worships God in the spirit.” This includes all 
 kinds of worship, whether secret, social, or public, whether in 
 the use of prayer, or praise, or preaching, or sacraments, or 
 any other ordinance. The presence and the exerted influ- 
 ence of the Spirit is essential to the right and profitable use 
 of them all. The special presence of the Holy Ghost, then, 
 in the public assemblies for divine worship, 7s @ fact cer- 
 tified to us in the word of God. The expression used by 
 our Lord in reference to the Holy Spirit, “he dwelleth with 
 you and shall be in you,” points to a distinction, which, per- 
 haps, cannot be fully understood in its complete, actual ap- _ 
 plication. But it evidently implies both a dwelling with and. 
 a dwelling in the believer. The dwelling with has been 
 applied, and with obvious propriety, to the presence of the 
 
THe Sprrit In Pupuic WorsHIP. 393 
 
 Spirit in assemblies for worship, considered as wholes, as 
 companies, or bodies, associated according to the divine re- 
 quirement. His dwelling in has been stated, in contrast, as 
 his presence in the soul of every individual worshipper, as 
 the guide and animating influence of his personal feelings. 
 The expressions do unquestionably embrace also a perpetual 
 presence with and in the believer at all times, and not merely 
 in connection with public worship. But as bearing on the 
 matter of worship, the distinction evidently points to a pre- 
 sence with, and yet outside the worshipper, and also to a 
 distinct presence of the Spirit within the worshipper as the 
 guide of his spirit in worshipping. We have no fear of be- 
 ing far from the truth in saying that one of the meanings of 
 these remarkable phrases refers directly to the presence of 
 the Spirit in the assemblies for worship. He is no doubt a 
 perpetual presence around as well as within the individual 
 Christian. But he is also a perpetual presence in every 
 Christian assembly. This last is the particular truth that 
 invites our attention now: 
 
 1. The first question which excites notice is, what is meant 
 by this presence of the Holy Ghost in the Christian assem- 
 bly? There is a sense in which he is necessarily present in 
 such assemblies. He is God, and God is everywhere pre- 
 sent. But in this sense he is present in a drinking or a 
 gambling saloon as truly as in a church. In this sense his 
 presence in an assembly for worship signifies no more than 
 it signifies in the depths of an impenetrable forest, or in the 
 cave of a mountain, or in the solitudes of a desert. In this 
 sense, also, the Father and the Son are equally present. 
 The presence of the Spirit in the Christian assembly must 
 mean something more than this natural and necessary de- 
 termination of his omnipresence. The analogy of similar 
 conceptions of the divine presence may guide to the mean- 
 ing. Although the divine being is everywhere present, he 
 is frequently spoken of in the Scriptures as ‘coming,’ com- 
 
394 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 ing to a place or to a person, and for different purposes: 
 “The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai.” “The Lord 
 came down to see the city and the tower of Babel.” ‘The 
 Lord met him and sought to kill him.” ‘He cometh to 
 judge the earth.” It is obvious that all these forms of ex- 
 pression about a being, naturally everywhere present, simply 
 
 mean some peculiar manifestation of his presence for dif- 
 
 ferent purposes, and the nature of the purpose in each case 
 gives its peculiar coloring to the coming or presence which 
 it qualifies. Thus when he comes in judgment, it is God 
 manifesting himself in the actual infliction, or in his official 
 announcement of his purpose to inflict his judicial ven- 
 geance. When he comes or is present as the God of peace 
 and love, he manifests himself in the grant of peace and in 
 the expressions of his tender mercies. From these analogous 
 forms of expressions it is safe to conclude that the peculiar 
 presence of the Holy Spirit in the Christian assemblies is 
 the manifestation of that blessed agent in all the relations 
 which he sustains to the worship of the church, and in such 
 acts as he pleases to perform in the progress of the service. 
 As God he is the object of the worship offered; but his pecu- 
 liar relations to the worship, determined by the great cove- 
 nant of salvation, present him prominently as the animating 
 and guiding influence which controls the worship, and ena- 
 bles its offering in an acceptable manner. 
 
 It becomes clear, then, that the first in the official order 
 of divine worship is the Holy Spirit, who enables the wor- 
 shipper to offer his service in faith to the Son, who, as offi- 
 cial priest, offers it to the Father. This priority, of course, 
 implies no precedence of dignity or honor, but merely indi- 
 cates the appointed official relation to the worship to be 
 offered. The first of the three sacred and mysterious per- 
 sons of the Godhead in meeting his worshippers is the Holy 
 Spirit of God. The Christian dispensation is emphatically 
 called “the dispensation of the Spirit”; it is so called from 
 
Tue Sprrit In Pusiic WorsHIP. 395 
 
 the declared prominence given in the gospel to his part in 
 the work of salvation. The Spirit meets the worshipper to 
 prepare his approach, to enable him to exercise faith in the 
 Saviour, and thus through the mediation of the Son, realized 
 and secured in its gracious functions by faith, to approach 
 the Father, and to call him Abba, in acceptable worship. To 
 enable the worship of the Father through the Son, the Spirit 
 takes the lead in the worship of the saints. No ordinance 
 has any effective spiritual power, except as the Spirit glves 
 it. No worshipper’s heart is ever in a proper frame for wor- 
 ship, except as the Spirit gives it. Without faith itis impos- 
 sible to please God, and there is no true faith except that 
 which is the fruit of the Spirit. The great fact, then, which 
 is presented to us in this doctrine of the relation of the Holy 
 Spirit to the worship of the Christian assemblies, is one of 
 very high and solemn significance, a fact that ought to be 
 fruitful of constant and profound practical effects on all 
 who assemble for divine worship. That fact is, that the 
 Lord is in his holy temple, in a peculiar posture, waiting to 
 meet them. The Holy Ghost is pervading every sanctuary 
 where the assembly meets to worship the Father through 
 the Son. How striking the conception when we fully master 
 it! How solemn the thought! To what searching inspec- 
 tion is the heart of every worshipper about to be subjected! 
 The effects which this grand Christian doctrine ought to 
 produce on the whole bearing and demeanor of those who 
 come into the presence, and challenge his special attention 
 by assuming the attitude and character of a worshipper, are 
 go obviously those dictated by the immediate presence of 
 such a being; they are so manifold in form, yet so strongly 
 demanded by the fact, that it would hardly seem necessary 
 to specify them. ~ 
 
 9. Tt dictates that there should always be some suitable 
 preparation of the thoughts and feelings before we leave our 
 homes to attend public worship. We are going to meet the 
 
396 Guirts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 Holy Ghost. If we were going to meet a king or any great 
 person by his own invitation or command in his own palace, 
 our anxiety would be keenly roused as to the propriety of 
 our own demeanor in his presence. We should anxiously 
 acquaint ourselves with the rules of etiquette to be observed. 
 We should have our minds thoroughly purged of all listless- 
 ness and indifference. We should be solicitous to do no- 
 thing to forfeit his regard, or spoil our own welcome. If 
 we went to solicit some favor or advantage for ourselves or 
 
 others, we should prepare for the best presentment of our 
 cause, and seek carefully to avoid everything which might 
 
 hinder our success. To go into the special presence of the 
 Holy Spirit without any recognition of it at all, with our 
 
 minds in the same general attitude as if we were going into 
 
 some secular assembly, with no feeling of reverence, with no 
 quickened sense of obligation to wait before him in a suit- 
 able frame of feeling, is to offend the obtrusive proprieties of 
 the position. To confound an assembly for the worship of 
 
 Almighty God with an assembly to listen to a lecture on art 
 
 or a political address, is to annihilate the spirit and the con- 
 ception of worship altogether. How keenly does this con- 
 demn the prevailing spirit of our attendance on public 
 
 worship. This utter practical ignoring of the radical idea of 
 
 divine worship, and construing it as a mere Sunday assembly 
 of the people, warranted by custom, but of no vital signifi- 
 cance, is altogether sufficient to account for the chronic un- 
 fruitfulness of ordinary Christian worship. No wonder the 
 Spirit withholds his influences, and the ordinances are 
 powerless, when his presence and the necessity for it in 
 every Christian assembly for worship is so completely dis- 
 
 counted. Let us fill our minds with the thought that we — 
 
 are going to meet the Holy Ghost whenever we come to the 
 sanctuary, and come with some suitable frame of thought 
 and feeling. It is as incongruous in itself, and far more so 
 in the degree of its impropriety, to come unprepared than to 
 
 . 
 
 “—— a 
 
Tue Sprrit In Pustic WorsHIP. 397 
 
 come with studied or careless indifference into the presence 
 of a king. 
 
 3. A suitable, that is to say, a serious and even solemn 
 impression that the Holy Ghost is in the house waiting for 
 us, would change much in the demeanor of the people before 
 the actual commencement of divine worship. They would 
 have little or no inclination to gather together and exchange 
 all sorts of ideas while waiting for the service to begin. A 
 quiet grasp of friendly hands, a brief inquiry after mutual 
 welfare, an expression of sympathy for an existing affliction, 
 ‘the necessary exchange of thought about church affairs, re- 
 duced to briefest proportions, would precede a prompt 
 entry into the sacred house. A diligent preparation of mind 
 to enter into the impending service, before and after enter- 
 ing, would become a prevailing and instinctive habit. The 
 custom of lingering in protracted talks about all manner of 
 secular things, even after the signal for service has been 
 given, would become a thing of the past, and the disturbance 
 of the actual worship by the sound of the late-comers hurrying 
 to their places would soon be unknown. Listlessness and 
 inattention, careless conversation in the house as well as out 
 of it, would be abolished. The sentiment that the Holy 
 Ghost was in the house, ready to search every heart to see 
 what and how much desire was there for his blessing, and 
 waiting to bestow his grace on all who really wanted it, would 
 soon put an end to all this censurable carelessness. Our 
 whole view of entering into the sanctuary would be power- 
 fully modified by the grand thought of his holy presence, 
 and all our behavior would be adjusted to it. Sleeping 
 during the service, the study of costumes, and the critical 
 observation of our fellow-worshippers, would be swallowed 
 up by our proper conception of the presence of the Holy 
 Ghost in the sanctuaries of Christian worship. 
 
 4. The proper recognition of the presence of the Spirit in 
 the sanctuary would suitably control that most difficult and 
 
398 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 dangerous question of dress in the Christian assembly. A 
 certain limited class of people are censurably careless about 
 their appearance. Another, a much more extensive class, err 
 on the opposite extreme, and seem to regard the temples of 
 the most High God as the chief theatre on which to display 
 the splendors of fashion and the taste of its devotees. No 
 earthly king would be pleased with either of these species of 
 display in his presence. A sloven would be probably shown 
 to the door, and a rich parvenu who should refuse the court 
 dress ordered by court fashions for the king’s guests, and 
 
 appear loaded with the ‘ostentatious pomp of overgrown © 
 
 wealth, would scarcely meet with a warmer reception. Elab- 
 orate dressing in the sanctuaries of God is a serious spiritual 
 snare. It absorbs the thoughts; it raises the frivolous pas- 
 sions; it distracts others; it excludes or deadens the impres- 
 sion of the truth, and indicates a mind as dead to the presence 
 and purposes of the presiding Spirit as it would be in a 
 saloon or a courthouse. A certain simple dignity and pro- 
 priety of dress, alike distant from carelessness and ostenta- 
 tion, is alone suitable to the presence and aims of the Holy 
 Ghost in the house of God. 
 
 5. The presence of the Spirit as the guide and animating 
 energy of the worship of the church ought to qualify pro- 
 foundly all our use of the ordinances. These instruments 
 are appointed of God in order that man, the worshipper, 
 may be assured that his action in the use of these instru- 
 ments is acceptable to him. The ordinances are, as it were, 
 . trysting-places where the soul that seeks may find God. 
 This meeting with God in the ordinances ought always to be 
 definitely recognized whenever we use them. It would bea 
 fruitful thought every time we employed any ordinance in 
 public or private worship—prayer, reading Scripture, praise, 
 sacrament—if we should formally remind ourselves that we 
 are going to meet the Holy Ghost that he may lead us into 
 the presence of the Father through the Son. These ordinances 
 
 —— ee lL ee 
 
THE Sprrit In Pustic WorsHIP. 399 
 
 are not only instruments of worship towards God, but means of 
 srace for ourselves. They are the acts which the King has pre- 
 scribed by which we are authorized to. approach him and obtain 
 his favors. They can only be defeated by defective use. Their 
 power will be increased by increased degrees of rightness in 
 their use. The presence of the Hoiy Spirit properly dictates 
 certain effects in the use of the ordinances. In the first place, 
 it dictates the use of all the ordinances, not to all men indiscrim- 
 inately, but only such of them as have been prescribed to cer- 
 tain classes of men. Some of them have been appointed to be 
 used by unregenerate men in order to regenerate them. Others 
 have been appointed for the use only of regenerate men in 
 order to their growth in grace; and the limitation in the use 
 is to be observed, as well as the use itself. Prayer, reading the 
 Scriptures, and attending on the whole worship of the sanc- 
 tuary, may be lawfully used by the worst of men. The sac- 
 rament of baptism as applicable to adults, and the sacrament 
 of the supper, are only to be used by those who avow their 
 faith and obligation to obey the Saviour. But no one, saint 
 or sinner, has the right to decline the use of any ordinance 
 which the law authorizes him to employ; for that authoriza- 
 tion not only confers a privilege, but issues a command. It 
 is an offence to the present and watchful Spirit to refuse to 
 join in all those acts of worship which he has required to be 
 used. Disobedience in his special presence is a special 
 offence, and effectually discounts the prospect of his blessing. 
 
 In the second place, the presence of the Spirit dictates, 
 not merely the use, but the right wse of all the ordinances. 
 There is a certain spirit or frame of feeling in which the law 
 requires them to be employed. There is @ certain reverence 
 which is indispensable. To challenge the Holy Spirit of God 
 to meet us in the act and ordinance which he himself has ap- 
 pointed for the purpose, involves the obligation to do it with 
 a reverent frame of mind suitable to his majesty. To meet 
 him before whom all angels bow in adoring awe, with no 
 
400 GiIFts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 more concern than we would whistle up a dog or speak to a 
 boot-black, is appalling irreverence. All our intuitions of moral 
 propriety are shocked by disrespectful conduct in the pre- 
 sence of superior dignity ; and we fear a very brief inspection 
 of the frames of feeling in which we commonly appear in the 
 sanctuary would disclose a most alarming want of reverence 
 and godly awe in the worship of God. 
 
 In the third place, the presence ‘and the purposes with 
 which the Holy Ghost presides in the worship of the Chris- 
 tian assembly dictates the eager expectation of a blessing on 
 the worshipper. ‘Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it” 
 is acommand and a promise peculiarly adapted, and as such, 
 designed for the public assemblies of believers. These ordi- 
 nances of worship are not designed as mere empty forms. 
 God is seeking not merely the homage which is due to him- 
 self, but he is seeking also the highest interests of his poor, 
 sinful, and unhappy creatures. His appointed ordinances 
 carry richer blessings, when rightly used, than all the valu- 
 ables of the world put together. They ought to be employed, 
 therefore, with an eager confidence in the grace they tender. 
 They ought to be used with a lively desire and expectation, 
 with an earnestness and vigor, an absorbed interest and oc- 
 cupation of thought and feeling, exclusive of all other 
 thoughts and feelings, all other ideas and things. 
 
 In the fourth place, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the 
 use of the ordinances determines also the spirit of joy and 
 gladness in the public or private worship of God. « The rev- 
 erence due to his divine majesty does not in the least detract 
 from the joy that is also legitimately due to his presence 
 and the gracious purposes for which he is present. He is in 
 the ordinances as the Paraclete, the one ready to be called 
 to our side for the help of every worshipper. He is there 
 for the purpose of taking the things of Christ and showing 
 them unto us. He is there to unseal to our dull vision the 
 gladness of the gospel. He is there to enable us to “serve 
 
 Ca I EOE EE vss 
 
 eee 
 
THE Spirit IN Pupiic Worsurp. 401 
 
 the Lord with gladness.” How shamefully has the spirit of 
 joy been banished from the worship of God, the gracious! 
 Any true or adequate apprehension of the Spirit’s presence 
 would make the worship of the sanctuary and the closet ring 
 with delight. His presiding grace dictates a lively and loving 
 expectation of joy and comfort in waiting upon him, an an- 
 ticipation of realizing all the gracious ends of divine worship, 
 comfort, and strength to saints, awakening and conversion 
 to sinners. 
 
 In the fifth place, the presence of the Spirit in the public 
 sanctuary dictates the keeping pure and entire all such ordi- 
 nances as he has appointed, not taking anything away, not 
 adding anything to them. It requires strict compliance with 
 his given law concerning ordinances. The notion is enter- 
 tained by certain sections of the Christian body, that the 
 presence and influence of the Holy Spirit in the assembly of 
 believers warrants any and every one to take the leadership 
 of the worship when impressed with the belief that they are 
 moved by the presiding power to do so. This notion is un- 
 founded. If the Holy Ghost did so move, it would of course 
 be right. But the presence of the Spirit is not designed to 
 abolish the written laws he has ordained, but rather to 
 secure their fulfilment. The words of Holy Writ are to be 
 the guide of all acceptable worship; they order what is to 
 be done; they affix every restriction, as well as impose every 
 precept. The refusal to observe those restrictions, so far 
 from being justified by his presence, is rather a demonstra- 
 tion of his absence. 
 
 In the last place, the right use of the ordinances, as de- 
 termined by the presence of the Holy Ghost, dictates always 
 a look beyond the ordinances to the Spirit himself to give them 
 efficacy. To rest in the ordinances, though given by God 
 himself, is to repudiate his own agency, which is alone effica- 
 cious. To attribute a mystic energy to the ordinances them- 
 selves, as many do, is to rely upon them, and to renounce all 
 
 26 
 
402 Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 dependence on God himself or on his grace back of the ordi- 
 nances. This is the grand central doctrine of Christianity, 
 that salvation is of the Lord, and that he alone can give the 
 increase, though even Paul may plant and Apollos water. 
 The presence of the Spirit confirms this doctrine; there 
 would be no need for his presence or the forth-putting of his 
 energy if the doctrine was false. This living presence of the 
 Holy Ghost requires every worshipper, while using the in- 
 strumental means of grace, with all fervor and engagedness 
 of feeling, to construe them as they really are, mere means, 
 and to look beyond them to the power of the living Spirit, 
 who alone can give them any efficacious energy or saving 
 effects. This is the vital difference between an evangelical 
 and a ritual religion. 
 
 This wonderful truth of the presence of the Spirit in the 
 Christian assembly ought to make us open our hearts, and 
 always keep the attitude of expectancy of a blessing and a 
 readiness to receive it. Let it be distinctly marked and 
 remembered, that this official presence of the Spirit 1s con- 
 stant, a regular incident of all regular public worship, and 
 not, as the course of events for many years has taught us to 
 construe it, as only the incident of special occasions, called 
 revivals. If Christians would honor the Holy Spirit more in 
 his regular offices in public worship, and always keep them- 
 selves designedly amenable to his influence, both in the 
 sanctuary and out of it, there would be far more constant 
 and effective manifestations of his power and grace, both in 
 building up the saints and in the salvation of sinners, than is 
 to be seen now. The long intervals of barrenness, the cold- 
 ness and discomfort of Christians are due, in great measure, 
 to the well-nigh complete degree in which all divisions of 
 the church have lost the practical and adequate apprehen- 
 sion of the presence and the official designs of the Holy Ghost 
 as the presiding power in the Christian assembly for public 
 worship. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 THEH PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 ‘“‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the com- 
 munion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.”—Paul to the Corinthians. 
 
 HE lesson which we propose to draw from these words, 
 
 and confirm by other testimonies from the word of 
 God, is the proof of the personality of the Holy Spirit, and 
 the infinitely important practical uses and consequences 
 which flow from it. By the personality of the Spirit is 
 meant, that he is a person, not a mere quality, a distinct ex- 
 istence having the qualities of a distinct person, and not a 
 mere attribute or characteristic quality of another person. 
 A person is different from a mere thing, not only in the pos- 
 session of reason, moral quality, and a will colored by these 
 attributes, but as possessed of a consciousness of these powers. 
 The doctrine of the Trinity is the datum of the Scriptures 
 alone. This is equally true of both elements of the doc- 
 trine—the unity of the Godhead, and the trinity of the per- 
 sons in the Godhead. The history of the human race has 
 shown an apparently irresistible tendency in the human 
 mind to recognize the existence of many gods. The exist- 
 ence of good and evil in this strange world, the universal 
 spread of both in some degrees, and the perpetual conflict 
 between them, are more easily accounted for by supposing 
 two or more hostile superior powers, than by ascribing them 
 to the ordering of a single will. Accepting the unity of the 
 divine nature, the unguided natural reason in man accepts 
 it as excluding any qualifying conception of unity in God- 
 hood. But the revelation in the Scriptures, in its progres- 
 sive unfolding of the mysteries of the spiritual universe, has 
 
 clearly taught that in the unity of the divine nature, not dis- 
 403 
 
404 GirTs TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 turbing that unity, but in full consistency with it, there are 
 mysterious and incomprehensible distinctions which lay the 
 foundation for the ascription of names, titles, affections, and 
 works to each of these distinctions. What the exact nature 
 and mode of existence in these distinctions may be is not 
 explained. The fact is asserted ; the mode of its existence is 
 left involved in impenetrable mystery. All attempts to under- 
 stand and bring the fact under comprehensible forms of 
 definition and statement are absolutely useless. For a man 
 to spend time and energy in the attempt to comprehend 
 what is absolutely incomprehensible is an absolute waste 
 of both. In ten thousand things we are compelled to be 
 content with the knowledge of a fact, and to remain in abso- 
 lute ignorance of its nature, its origin, its method, and many 
 other points connected with it. In reference to God, that 
 mystery which encompasses all things without exception 
 might have been expected to attach itself with extraordinary 
 force to the conception of his being. His eternal and un- 
 caused existence, his omnipresence, his self-subsistence, the 
 whole circle of his attributes, confound our conceptions. 
 Our minds are conditioned to conceive, and they cannot con- 
 ceive beyond the conditions established for our thinking. 
 But we can know facts which we cannot explain in many 
 things essentially connected with them. If, then, God is de- 
 clared to exist in a unity, embracing and not inconsistent with 
 itself in allowing distinctions within that unity, it is a rational 
 demand upon our confidence to accept the fact without resist- 
 ance or an irrational attempt to define the mode of the fact. 
 To a finite mind an infinite existence is simply beyond the 
 conditions of its thinking, and consequently can only be 
 known as fact, and not comprehended in anything in which 
 the infinitude appears. If God is incomprehensible to us in 
 his relation to time, space, and the law of causality, he may 
 be also in relation to number. If incomprehensible in all 
 his infinite attributes, why not in reference to the mode of 
 
Tur PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRir. 405 
 
 his infinite being? If we can and do accept all other facts 
 in his nature which are incomprehensible in théir modes, 
 why reject a single fact on the mere ground of incomprehen- 
 sibility? If that circumstance warrants the rejection of one 
 mysterious fact it would warrant the rejection of them all, 
 and reduce us to absolute atheism, because we are not gods 
 ourselves, because the thinking capacity of a finite and con- 
 ditioned intellect must conform to the conditions of its own 
 mental energy, and cannot transcend them. This lands us 
 in absurdity. We are, then, content to accept the facts in 
 the constitution of the divine nature as they are stated in the 
 Bible, without making any attempt whatever to comprehend 
 the nature or mode of the facts stated. 
 
 1. We do not propose to present the Scripture testimony 
 to the doctrine of the Trinity as a whole, we merely state 
 briefly the proof of the personality of the Spirit. The Holy 
 Ghost is called by separate personal names. In the apostolic 
 benediction he is associated with the Father and the Son, on 
 the same level of dignity and authority, and discriminated, as 
 they are discriminated from each other, by u distinct and sep- 
 arate name. Jf the name /ather is intended to express a 
 distinction from the Son, and the name Son to express a 
 distinction from the Father, no matter what that distinction 
 may actually be, then, unquestionably, the name //oly Ghost 
 is intended to express a similar distinction from both the 
 Father and the Son. Whatever the distinction may be, it is 
 impliedly affirmed of the Spirit as it is of the Father and the 
 Son. To make the distinction a personal one between the 
 Father and the Son, and then to make the Spirit nothing but 
 a mere quality or attribute of either or both of them, is to 
 confound the passage with absurdity, and to arbitrarily 
 change the signification of names which are indiscrimi- 
 nately applied to each distinction in the series. If the dis- 
 tinction is personal, as between the Father and the Son, 
 it is personal as between the Holy Ghost, on the one side, 
 
406 ) GIFTS To BELIEVERS. 
 
 and the Father and the Son both on the other. The formula 
 of baptism yields the same result. A distinct name, carrying 
 the same distinction and implying the same dignity and 
 authority, is there applied to the Spirit, as it is to the Father _ 
 and the Son. The baptized person is consecrated by the 
 ordinance to the service of the Holy Ghost, just as much, 
 by the very same ordinance, by the very same words, with 
 the very same meaning as he is to the service of the Father 
 and the Son; to the service of each one of them as to the 
 service of all of them. Personal names are ascribed to the 
 Spirit, and emphatically the supremest of all names; he is 
 called God, as when the unhappy Ananias and his wife are 
 first said to have lied to the Holy Ghost, and then immedi- 
 ately after are said to have lied to God. He is called the 
 “ Holy Spirit,” “the Spirit of grace,” “the Spirit of holiness,” 
 “the good Spirit,” “the Spirit of Christ,” “the Spirit of the 
 Lord,” and absolutely “the Spirit.” He is described as pro- 
 ceeding from the “Father and the Son,” yet is emphatically 
 called “the free Spirit” and “the eternal Spirit.” These 
 personal names are employed in such connections as to leave 
 no doubt of their design to designate a person, and not a 
 quality. 
 Personal attributes are ascribed to him. He is said to be 
 holy, wise, good, active, powerful, eternal, and free. Per- 
 sonal affections are ascribed to him. He is said to be grieved, 
 pleased, offended and tempted. A personal will is ascribed 
 to him: “As they ministered unto the Lord, and fasted, the 
 Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the 
 work whereunto I have called them.” ‘Take heed therefore 
 unto yourselves, and to all the fiock, over the which the Holy 
 Ghost hath made you overseers.” Personal actions are as- 
 cribed to him. He is said to teach, to strive, to comfort, to 
 lead, to intercede, to bring to remembrance, to create, to regen- 
 erate, to search all things, yea, even the deep things of God. 
 He is said to know, to choose, to call men to particular acts of 
 
THE PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT. AQT 
 
 service, to guide and govern the church as a whole, and the 
 souls of believers. He is called God, and the incommunicable 
 and exclusive attributes of God are ascribed to him. If such 
 qualities, names, affections, and positive actions do not prove 
 personality, nothing can prove it. To attribute will, know- 
 ledge, capacity of feeling, choice, and action, to a mere ab- 
 stract quality is absurd. A personal being only is capable 
 of such things. 
 
 9. The personality of the Spirit is not a mere unproductive 
 exactness of theological opinion; it is full of infinitely im- 
 portant practical uses. The Spirit is the great agent for 
 applying the redemption purchased by Christ. He alone, 
 under the arrangements of the covenant, can awaken and 
 bring a sinner to seek for salvation. He alone can regen- 
 erate a carnal, and sanctify a regenerate, soul. Without his 
 incessant concurrent action the ordinances are absolutely 
 powerless. Without his aid no prayer will be answered, no 
 grace can develop, no strength can be secured, no comfort 
 can be enjoyed. If the Holy Spirit is a mere quality, con- 
 ditioning all spiritual benefit and hope, it is clear that no 
 special solicitude, attention or application need be, or can be 
 directed to him. The only object of such feelings and acts 
 will be the person who possesses and administers this qual- 
 ity. But if the Holy Spirit 2s a person, it is obvious that if 
 any hope of his gracious offices is to be indulged he must 
 be recognized as a person; he must be approached as a 
 person; he must be conciliated as a person in every applica- 
 tion made to him. Any attempt to misconstrue him, to 
 deprive him of his personal character, or his personal rights, 
 may be expected to result in the defeat of the objects for 
 which the approach and appeal are made. 
 
 3. The first all-important and intensely practical inference 
 from the personality of the Spirit is this necessity of ap- 
 proaching him as a person. This involves the necessity of 
 making this approach suitably to has personal character, to the 
 
408 GIFTs TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 glory of his qualities, and to the greatness of his divine majesty. 
 The very grace of the Holy Spirit, and the very freedom of 
 our access to him, symbolized by the wide air and the 
 abounding waters, has a tendency to lead our misguided 
 feelings into degrading and dangerous conceptions of his 
 influence and his gracious affections towards sinners. We 
 are so prone to the abuse of mercies, it tends to present 
 him to us rather as a quality or a provided influence, im- 
 personal as the air, always accessible, creating no special 
 solicitude to enjoy it, incapable of offence or personal affec- 
 tions of any kind; and, therefore, a thing which may be neg- 
 lected, made subject to our convenience, postponable without 
 hazard for other interests, just because of the width, con- 
 stancy, and patient energy of the blessed influence itself. 
 But the influence of the Spirit is the goodness and power 
 residing in a personal will, and while comparable to water, 
 or to the wide and free-flowing winds, on account of its 
 infinite strength and tenderness, and the freedom with which 
 it is offered to all who need its grace, nevertheless it is not 
 comparable to water or air in its insensibility to abusive 
 treatment. Water may be fouled and rendered unfit for 
 
 service ; the free winds may be loaded with poisonous gases; — 
 
 yet neither water nor air suffer, because they are not sensi- 
 tive, because they are not persons. But the Holy Spirit is 
 a person ; his wide, free grace is simply the intense and mas- 
 terly affection of a personal will, infinite in its compassionate 
 and tender sensibilities. But this very fact that it is personal 
 love and kindness is proof of a personal control over its 
 direction and application. It may be checked by abuse; it 
 may be alienated by presumption; it may be directed upon 
 one and averted from another; it may distribute one degree 
 of its energy to one, and a greater or a less degree to an- 
 other ; it may be sought or despised; it may thus be granted 
 or denied. Sought aright there is every assurance of its 
 being granted; neglected or misused, it is assured of being 
 
Tur PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT. 409 
 
 removed. It becomes evident, then, from the personality of 
 the Spirit, that it is a matter of incalculable importance that 
 all who seek his favor, whether sinners seeking grace to 
 convert them, or saints seeking increase of grace, or any of 
 his special acts for their benefit, must conform to the de- 
 mands of his personal nature or to the conditions of his official 
 interference. Humility, fervor, and absolute sincerity, rev- 
 erence, patience, submission to his own times, terms, and 
 measures in his gifts, and absolute confidence in his wisdom 
 and grace in giving or withholding, are indispensable to suc- 
 cess in seeking his favor. 
 
 There must be a compliance with his known will. He 1s 
 God; he must be sought with unfeigned reverence. He is holy; 
 sin must be renounced; for if we regard iniquity in our hearts 
 he will not hear; if we come with cherished evil, fresh on 
 our hands, he will despise our prayer. Isaiah explained 
 why Israel was not heard, though they made many prayers: 
 their hands were full of blood. The sinner, seeking the con- 
 verting grace of the Spirit, must, at once, and in advance of 
 obtaining it, put away his known sins. The drunkard must 
 abandon his bottle, and the licentious his lust. He must 
 abandon his prayerlessness, and begin to pray; he must give 
 up his disregard of the Bible, and begin to read it. No mat- 
 ter what the will of the Spirit requires, there must be an 
 effort to comply with it. This rule of action, determined by 
 the personality of the Spirit, is equally applicable to the 
 believer seeking growth and special graces; and doubtless 
 the reason why so many prayers of the saints apparently 
 and actually fail is, that the Holy Ghost, as the sole source 
 of acceptable prayer, is not suitably recognized as such, and 
 proper attention is not given to comply with his will. 
 
 The personality of the Spirit also determines another fact 
 all-important to be recognized, and dealt with accordingly ; 
 that is, that the Holy Ghost may be grieved and offended. 
 His influence is the only stay to the natural growth and 
 
410 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 maturity of moral evil in the inward nature, and in the 
 visible conduct of all men. left to themselves, the ruin 
 would soon become absolute and irretrievable. This evil is 
 an energy in the will of sinning agents. The conflict of the 
 Spirit is not with mere dead or fossilized habits, but with an 
 active, positive, persistent energy of personal will, seeking to 
 do evil, and to enjoy its results. Consequently, there is always 
 present in all the restraining and purifying conflicts of the 
 Holy Ghost an element of provocation to him of intense and ex- 
 asperating offence. It is a wonder he ever makes the strug- 
 gle at all. Itis no wonder he sometimes gives up the contest. 
 “My Spirit shall not always strive with man,” said God, just 
 before the waters of the flood were turned loose on a world 
 of incorrigible sinners. There is such a thing as “grieving 
 the Spirit.” There is such a thing as “quenching the 
 Spirit.” There is such a thing as God saying, “Ephraim 
 is joined to idols; let him alone.” No conception of the 
 work of the Holy Ghost is more full of power to warn 
 the presumptuous and overawe the scornful than this truth 
 of the personality of the Spirit and his consequent capability 
 of being offended. To guard the Holy Spirit from insult in 
 the near contact which his office involves with all the secret, 
 but to him undisguised, pollutions of a fallen soul, the Serip- 
 tures seem to have taken particular pains. They have sur- 
 rounded him with certain vague, but menacing safe-guards, 
 which are appalling in their mysterious terrors. Blasphemy 
 against the Father and against the Son may be forgiven; 
 but blasphemy against the Holy Ghost hath never forgive- 
 ness. This offence to the Spirit, whatever it may be, is the 
 only sin which cannot be forgiven. It is not easy to discern 
 the reasons of this peculiar solicitude for the honor of the 
 Spirit, as compared with the honor of the Father and the 
 
 Son. It may be due to that close personal contact with the — 
 
 sin in the soul, which his work demands of him. He comes 
 into the very midst of the infernal mob. The stench of the 
 
 _——-. 
 
 aes on 
 -* 
 
THE PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT. 411 
 
 unclean birds is in his nostril; the hiss of the serpents 1s in 
 his ear; the insulting, malicious demeanor of the lurking 
 fiends is in his eye. He is liable to peculiar violence, and 
 he is guarded specially against it. His work also gives effect 
 to all the provisions of the covenant. Without his work the 
 counsels of the Father would fail ; the whole work and sacri- 
 fice of the Son would come to nothing. To resist his work, 
 then, is to resist all the work of the Father and the Son also. 
 To do despite to the Spirit is to do despite to the whole 
 Godhead; to resist the love of the Spirit is at the same time 
 to resist the love of the rest of the sacred Trinity. Yet 
 again, the Spirit’s entrance into the unregenerate heart is a 
 free accession to it. So far as man, the sinner, is concerned, 
 his original entry is absolutely free, not under any covenant 
 bond to him to do it or to repeat it. To resist it involves 
 peculiar wickedness and peculiar foolhardiness. His free 
 entry involves a peculiar personal kindness, and on this 
 account resistance to it involves a peculiar ingratitude. Yet 
 more, that hatred to God, which 1s the universal distinctive 
 trait of the carnal mind, is peculiarly obnoxious to the Holy 
 Spirit, inasmuch as being the immediate agent of applied grace 
 he has to come into a closer contact with it. These reasons 
 are more vaguely suggestive, than positively demonstrative, 
 of the cause why the Spirit is so specially ouarded against 
 insult in the unholy human heart. But the fact is clear, 
 however perplexing the reason of it may be. The nature of 
 that sin against the Holy Ghost which is never to be for- 
 given is involved in an obscurity that creates a vague terror 
 and makes us tread lightly, even at a distance, from the 
 guarded shrine of the honor of the Spirit. Some have him- 
 ited it to the form of the sin in which it first appeared, that 
 is, in the blasphemous ascription of the Saviour’s miracles to 
 evil spirits. As they were done by the concurrent power of 
 the Holy Spirit resting on his human energies, the ascrip- 
 tion of them to a devilish agency was a direct and malignant 
 
412 Girts To BELIEVERS. 
 
 assault on the Holy Ghost, as well as on the Son. The 
 Pharisees, in order to break the force of the miracles, claimed 
 that they were done through a compact with the prince of the 
 devils, who had, therefore, given order to his subordinates 
 to obey the commands of the Nazarene. If the form of the 
 sin contained the essence of the sin, then the blasphemy 
 against the Holy Ghost was confined to the period of the 
 Saviour’s personal life, and could not be committed after- 
 wards. But it is a dangerous pulling down of the defences 
 of the Spirit, perhaps a dangerous making it easy to commit 
 the sin, to construe it in this manner. The essence of the 
 sin was probably different from the mere form of it as commit- 
 ted by the Pharisees. That malignant hatred to the doctrine 
 and the person of the Redeemer, which lay at the core of 
 Pharisees’ blasphemy, has often appeared since; and this 
 feeling may involve the sin against the Spirit which hath 
 never forgiveness. The whole narrative of his history, and 
 the whole statement of his doctrines, have been given under 
 the superintendence of the Spirit; they are thus endorsed by 
 him ; and to assail the record is to assail the Maker of it. If 
 hatred to Christ involved the outrage on the Spirit at first, it 
 is equally probable that the same malignant temper may 
 always involve it. The personality of the Spirit, involving as 
 it does a capability of offence, is thus shown to involve the 
 most solemn and impressive lesson in the whole revelation of 
 God concerning the sins of men, the lesson that there is one 
 sin which the blood of the Son cannot purge away, which 
 the infinite benignity of the Father cannot pardon. 
 
 4, The personality of the Spirit also determines his claim 
 to our confidence in his personal qualities and his personal 
 affections, as qualifying him for his great trust. No approach 
 or application to him can be expected to succeed which does 
 not do some justice to his fitness, to the qualities which ad- 
 just him to the work assigned to him. Equal justice must 
 be done to the affections which animate him and encourage 
 
THE PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT. 413 
 
 the appeal to his power. He has asserted both in the word 
 he has inspired, and confidence in his word will breed confi- 
 dence in his fitness and his love. Want of confidence in 
 either lays no ground of hope or expectation of his favor. 
 His fitness and his loving-kindness are both grounded in his 
 personality. No one is qualified to deal with the strong and 
 complicated evils in a fallen nature, unless endowed with an 
 intelligence and a strength equal to the emergency. His 
 love is equally essential; his sympathy and readiness to help 
 are indispensable to make the appeal of a soul conscious of 
 its sin, hopeful, and persevering. Just in proportion as 
 justice is done to the loving heart of the Holy Ghost, and the 
 anxious mind of the seeker for grace can realize the infinite, 
 brooding tenderness of his grace, his delight in his work, 
 his pity, his patience, and the unsearchable freedom and 
 riches of his grace, just in this proportion will spring the joy 
 and comfort of a real hope and confidence of his blessing. 
 The personality of the Spirit also gives assurance touching 
 his power to help us effectively. There is great power in 
 impersonal agencies and energies; but they are not always 
 available. Even when under the direction of personal intel- 
 -ligence and will, they require the intervention of machinery 
 to render them effective in the use of the power that is in 
 them. If the Holy Ghost is a mere quality, and not a per- 
 son, he is unfit to serve our uses. We are assailed by a 
 mighty personal intelligence; we ourselves are personal in- 
 telligences with all their changeable impulses ; the evil to be 
 combatted in our nature resides in the living and shifting 
 energies of a personal will. A mere quality cannot help us, 
 because it exerts its force along certain fixed lines, and ac- 
 cording to a certain fixed constitution in its own nature. It 
 is consequently unfit to cope with the infinitely various mani- 
 festations of a personal will, subject, in addition to its own 
 impulses, to the subtle temptations of personal wills outside 
 of its own proper sphere. But the personality of the Spirit 
 
414 GIFTS TO BELIEVERS. 
 
 makes him a match for Satan and for man, in not only the 
 degree of his power, but in the mode and adjustability of its 
 exercise. It therefore lays the foundation for unlimited con- 
 fidence in his teaching, in his guidance, in his protection, 
 and in his control of all events and vicissitudes of the spir- 
 itual history and experience of those in whom he dwells. 
 The personality of the Spirit teaches us to recognize and 
 conform to his determining will. The changes in the reli- 
 gious experiences of regenerate souls are sometimes unac- 
 countable in their apparent causes, and in the ends and 
 purposes for which they are ordered. The changes which 
 took place in Job’s condition, outwardly and inwardly, must 
 have appeared very strange to the people who knew him. 
 They could not account for it. They knew nothing of the 
 scene between God and Satan. They knew nothing of the 
 grand lessons of instruction to all ages and generations of 
 the world which God was intending to educe. Many similar 
 cases of great affliction to good men have since occured. 
 The general purpose in all such cases is the purpose of all 
 afflictions whatever; it is a spiritual profit, that we may be 
 partakers of holiness, as Paul puts it. This is the proximate 
 cause. A remoter cause is the determination of his own 
 will in the sovereign Spirit; he determines to subject his 
 loved pupil and subject to this sorrow, just as the Father sub- 
 jected Job. It is the result of his sovereign will; but his 
 will is never separate from reasons; the more sovereign the 
 will the stronger the assurance of reasons, though known 
 only to himself. Therefore an absolute trust in the wisdom 
 and the love embodied in the will of the Holy Ghost in all 
 spiritual trials, and the resolute and loyal determination to 
 submit and conform to that will, is essential to peace and the 
 highest profit under these spiritual trials. The assurance 
 of the propriety of that unerring will which orders them is 
 found in the infinitely perfect, personal qualities of the Holy 
 Ghost; qualities which are guaranteed to us by his per- 
 
THE PERSONALITY OF THE Sprrir. 415 
 
 sonality. To conceive the vicissitudes of Christian experi- 
 ence, however attributable to other causes as they always 
 are, aS In no sense due to the wise and faithful ordering of 
 the indwelling Spirit, is to subject his people to the same 
 bitter sorrow with which we recognize the trials of life, apart 
 from the wise and gracious ordering of the Father in the 
 sphere of providence. The control of an unerring personal 
 will is essential to mental peace under both forms of trial. 
 The personality of the Spirit holds high relations to the in- 
 terests of his people under the vicissitudes of the spiritual life. 
 
 5. Lastly, the personality of the Spirit assures us of Ais 
 rights, his own regard to them, and the danger of infringing 
 them. He has a right to command; it is dangerous to dis- 
 obey. He has a right to enter the heart of any sinner; it is 
 dangerous to resist him. He has a right to convict of sin 
 and to lead to the Saviour; it is perilous to refuse his en- 
 lightenment and to go where he leads the way. He has a 
 right to confidence, to gratitude, to obedience; it is dangerous 
 to deny him either of these claims. He has a right to reverent 
 treatment, to be met freely in his gracious advances, to be 
 loved and appealed to at all times and under all circum- 
 stances. He has a right to be recognized as a person, and 
 dealt with as such in all the acts and offices in which he is 
 appointed to execute the covenant of grace. Every sinner 
 seeking pardon should deal with him as a person. Every 
 Christian seeking for his seal, his unction, his witness, or his 
 comforts should deal with him as a person. All should deal 
 with him as a person endowed with his great and lovely 
 attributes ought to be, as infinitely holy, wise, powerful, and 
 full of gracious tenderness and love. The Holy Spirit is 
 God, and has all the rights of the infinite and glorious Lord 
 over all his own creatures, to their love and faithful service, 
 world without end. To refuse him even the least of them 
 all is to rob and repudiate him; than which nothing can be 
 conceived more wicked or more dangerous, more insulting to 
 him, or more ruinous to the creature. 
 
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