SERMON IV.

THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY GHOST.

APPROPRIATE FOR WHITSUNDAY.

ACTS II. 32, 33.

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear:

THESE Words were spoken with immediate reference to the extraordinary and miraculous effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the great event which stands recorded in the opening of the chapter, and which our church commemorates at the season of Whitsuntide.

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Whitsunday," or White Sunday, is generally allowed to have derived its name

from an interesting custom which obtained in the primitive church, of the catechumens or candidates for baptism appearing, at this season of the year, in white garments. These were, no doubt, intended to characterize that integrity of heart and purity of principle, which invariably results from the inward and spiritual grace of baptism. And how fervently is it to be wished, that, instead of every where presenting scenes of dissipation, intemperance, and wantonness, the sacred season of Whitsuntide were characterized amongst us, by at least that outward propriety and decorum, which becomes a Christian community and the members of a Protestant church!

True religion is not opposed to cheerfulness; joy and gladness ought to be its constant attendants, and if they are not, the fault is not in religion, but in its professors. There is such a thing as godly joy as well as godly sorrow, and this is the only genuine gladness of heart but men, by separating gladness from holiness, change its nature and destroy its very existence. Flee then, my brethren,

every kind of pleasure which is in itself sinful, or which would lead you into temptation; every kind calculated to bring guilt upon your consciènce, or to render the thought of God's all-seeing eye painful, or to unfit you for prayer, or in any way to "grieve the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." In a word, see to it that your pleasures are holy, harmless, and undefiled; and if you would attain to uniform cheerfulness of mind, so as to be qualified to rejoice at every season with joy unspeakable and full of glory, seek to be continually arrayed as to your inward man, the soul, with that white linen which is the righteousness of the Saints, even the spotless robe of the Redeemer's righteousness, and the garments of personal holiness and outward consistency.* You will thus be enabled, in these his lower courts, to rejoice in the Lord, and to be joyful in your God; and you will thus be fitted and prepared for the services, glories, and felicities of eternity.

In offering some exposition of the text,

* Rev. xix. 8.

and enlarging on the subject it contains, I shall direct your attention, first, to the promise itself, and secondly, to its fulfilment.

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I. THE PROMISE. When our blessed Redeemer had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, he " received,” as it is here expressed, "the promise of the Holy Ghost." This is supposed to have been a promise made, or covenant entered into, on the part of God the Father, with Christ, as the federal head of the church, in behalf of his people; and it is perhaps on this ac count that it has been elsewhere designated "the promise of the Father." Here, however, it is called "the promise of the Holy Ghost," with particular reference to the nature of the blessing promised, even the Holy Spirit himself, with all his gifts, graces, and operations: and Christ is said to have received this promise, because it was in a manner fulfilled to him as Mediator, and as the source of life, grace, and holiness, to the members of his mystical body. You see then, the basis whereupon the entire fabric of Christianity rests: the highest source to which the river of sal

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vation can be traced, is the Everlasting Covenant, even that covenant which an eminent saint of old declared to be "ordered in all things and sure;" and which, in the nearest views of death and the eternal world, he regarded as "all his salvation and all his desire."*

Great and precious beyond comparison are the promises of Scripture! And of their whole number, there is not one which does not stand more secure to the believing penitent, than the pillars of heaven and earth; for they are "all yea and amen in Christ Jesus." That, however, to which the text relates, is emphatically "the promise." It obtains the same place, and claims the same regard, under the New Testament Dispensation, which belonged to the promise of Messiah's advent under the Old. Its value, indeed, cannot be too highly estimated; for it comprehends in its full import, the substance of all which the Lord hath prepared for them that love and obey him. In proof of which, we need only refer to our Saviour's declaration, "Ifye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your

* 2 Samuel xxiii. 5.