This dispensation is one of unparalleled mercy; and the blessings it brings are above all price. By what means shall we secure those inestimable blessings to ourselves? On this point we may obtain some valuable information from the recorded experience of those who have, in a good measure, profitted by the present dispensation. See then in what way, the apostles and primitive Christians became partakers of the precious fruits of the Spirit; and how they and other eminent believers in after-times attained to that peculiar excellence of character and life which is the proper result of the dispensation of the Spirit. On this point there has been a general agreement among eminent Christians. They have all had a deep conviction of the sinfulness and pollution of their hearts, which is the great evil to be remedied by the dispensation of the Spirit. They have been sensible of the necessity and the preciousness of this sanctifying work of the Spirit, and have earnestly prayed for it; and they have watchfully avoided all hinderances to it in their own hearts. If then you would obtain the peculiar benefits of the present dispensation of the Holy Spirit, you must have a deep conviction of your sinfulness and pollution. Sin is the evil which it is the special work of the Spirit to remedy. It is primarily the disorder of the heart, though it shows itself in outward transgressions. When you entered on the life of piety, you began to know your sinfulness. But if you would arrive at an advanced state of piety, and would in any good degree be complete in all the will of God, you must have a growing conviction of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of your heart, so that you may abhor yourselves, and cry out, Oh! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! The low attainments of Christians generally are owing not a little to their defective views of the evil of their hearts. They who are the most holy, have the strongest conviction of the depth and malignity of the evil within them. You must also be sensible how much you need the work of the Holy Spirit, and how precious that work is. Do you ask how much you must feel your need of this? I answer; you will never come to the right state, so long as you have any idea left that you can cure the evil in your heart by your own exertions. Here, Christians are frequently involved in a hurtful mistake. They are sensible of various sinful dispositions. But they have a secret feeling, that they are sufficient of themselves, to subdue them. They resolve to be rid of their sins; and their inward thought is, that their resolution will be effectual; and that they can put off their evil habits at will. This is a great mistake. It is a certain truth, and you must know it, that there is no power that can subdue your sins and cleanse your heart, but the power of the Holy Spirit. You must be sensible of the great value of the work of the Spirit. You look at faith, love, humility, meekness, and all the other Christian graces, and you see their beauty and importance, and you say, how precious they are! You are drawn towards them. You long and pant for them as the hart panteth for the water brook. And then, as a consequence of this earnest desire, you will engage in prayer for the Holy Spirit. You will go to God and ask for the gift of the Spirit, with a feeling that you cannot live without it. You will beg and plead for it as for the life of your soul. And if your petition is not granted at once, as is often the case, you will ask again; you will seek and knock, and will become more and more importunate, till you attain the blessing. Prayer is appointed, as the special means of securing the presence of the Holy Spirit, and of becoming partakers of all its fruits. And it will generally be successful in proportion to the strength and fervor of the desire which you feel for the blessing. If you pray for the Holy Spirit with groanings which cannot be uttered; if you desire it, as the covetous man desires wealth, and the ambitious man honor; you will not pray in vain. Such prayer availeth much. When children ask bread, a kind father will not give them a stone. And when they ask a fish, he will not give them a scorpion. And if an imperfect earthly father knows how to give good gifts to his children; how much more will your Fa ther who is in heaven, and who is infinite in goodness, give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. If your heart is truly set upon obtaining the indwelling of the Spirit; if you cry to God with unceasing earnestness, that he would bestow this invaluable blessing upon you; you will not fail of success. There never was a child of God, who turned his thoughts distinctly upon Christian love, joy, and peace, and the other fruits of the Spirit, and who desired them above all earthly good, and who looked to God for them with persevering importunity, never was one who pursued this course, without obtaining the blessing desired. This is the way in which Christians have been gradually freed from the common faults and blemishes of character, and have been adorned with whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. The way is perfectly plain, in which not a few ministers and private Christians in every age, have become bright and shining lights. Christians of an ordinary character live in the same society; have the same Scriptures, and the same opportunities for prayer, and the same offer of God's abounding grace. Why then do they linger so far behind? Why remain with so little of the subduing, elevating, comforting influence of the Spirit? Verily, they are not straitened in God, but in themselves. They receive not, because they ask not. Their low attainments, their deficiencies and blemishes must be charged to their own sinful negligence. They might have been as holy, and they might have been as manifestly sealed for as the apostles and martyrs were. and it shall be given you. fill it. heaven by the Holy Spirit, God has said to them, Ask Open your mouth wide, and I will But there is still another thing, which is as necessary as fervent desire and prayer; that is, that you should watchfully avoid everything which would prove a hinderance to the work of the Spirit in your hearts. The humble, contrite heart is the proper abode of the Spirit. But if you regard iniquity in your heart, if you allow yourself in known sin, either in your life or in your affections, you will grieve the Spirit, and hinder his sanctifying work. Here is the strange inconsistency which is often found among Christians. do They pray God to purify their hearts by his Spirit, and then they cherish impure desires. They pray that the Holy Ghost may dwell in them and make them spiritually minded, and they soon give place to the carnal mind. Now whatever is contrary to the nature and object of the Holy Spirit, whether in thought, word or deed, is a direct hinderance to his operation in the soul. How you find it to be in your garden or field? Weeds which spring up and grow spontaneously, hinder the growth of the useful plant. Suppose the rain and the sun-shine come upon the plant. They come also upon the weeds which surround it. And if the weeds remain, they will grow faster than the useful plant, and will choke it, so that it will come to nothing. If you would have fruit you must clear away the weeds; not once, but constantly. So in the Christian life. Sinful thoughts and desires, and sinful words and actions, which are the natural product of the human heart, are direct hinderances to the sanctifying operation of the Spirit, and the growth of grace. Against all these you must watchfully guard, if you would have the work of the Holy Spirit advanced within you. You must labor to exclude them. You must overcome them. You pray for the sanctifying influence of the Spirit. But you might as well not pray, as to pray, and then do that which will prevent an answer to your prayer. Dear brethren, servants of the holy Jesus, let me beseech you to shun all the ways of sin, and to do the whole will of God. There is nothing else that you need to shun. There is nothing but sin, showing itself in your life, or lurking in your heart, that can be a hinderance to the increasing work of the Holy Spirit. nothing but sin that can offend and grieve the Spirit. nignant Spirit can bear with your weakness, and with your innocent infirmities yea, with infirmities which are not innocent, if you mourn for them and are humbled under them. The Spirit will not forsake you, because your natural affections and your attachment to things in themselves useful or harmless, are somewhat excessive, if you strive against that excess, He will not forsake you, because your heart has some remains of pride, or selfishness, or worldliness, or impurity, if you resist the evil, and loathe your There is selves on account of it. He will not forsake you, because there is a law in your members warring against the law of your mind, and often bringing you into captivity—if you heartily condemn it, and cry for deliverance from it. But there is one thing and only one, which will cause the Spirit to depart from you, and that is, allowed sin-living in sin. If you open your heart to that hateful thing-if you embrace it-if you are content that it should remain, and wage no war against it; then, I forewarn you that the Spirit of God will be grieved, and his blessed influence will be quenched. That heavenly Visitant, will not be an inmate in a heart that loves sin. He will not afford his favorable presence with those whose settled habit it is to disobey the holy commands of the gospel. This it is, which will cause the heavenly Agent to depart. And if you do not find the Spirit dwelling in you, as his temple, and adding grace to grace, and comfort to comfort; then look for the cause in some abominable thing which his searching eye has seen you cherishing in your bosom. And if you have, in time past, lived in some good measure unto God, and have had evidence, from your growth in grace, that the Holy Spirit has not only come to you, but has made his merciful abode with you, working in you both to will and to do; and if after all this you now begin to be negligent of your spiritual concerns, and to comply with temptation, and to yield yourselves servants to unrighteousness; then, you may expect that want of life, that dreadful insensibility, darkness and desolation of soul, which are the certain consequences of the departure of the Holy Spirit. But how happy are they, who watchfully avoid whatever would grieve the Spirit and impede his work in sanctifying the heart. Only put away the hateful thing which resists his gracious sway within you; only remove the obstacles to his transforming influence; let the light from heaven shine upon you, and the dew and the rain from heaven water you; and how will all the humble and gentle virtues, and all the sublime and godlike virtues flourish! They are all the fruits of the Spirit; and they will grow and thrive in proportion as the Spirit blesses you with his presence. And with what pleasure will that Holy Spirit look upon |