of that revival, which has gone through several editions, and which has been honoured as the means of producing several revivals. I have now been in this place about two years, and we have had about one hundred and fifty persons added to our communion, in a comparatively thin population. You will pardon me for saying so much about myself, when I assure you that it is not myself, but the Truth, and the God of Truth, that I wish to magnify. To his name be all the glory."

Whatever causes may be hopefully operating towards the production of similar results on this side of the Atlantic, the author has little expectation of their extensive appearance, until the ministration of the quickening word is, in like manner, loosed from its miserable shackles, and sinners are driven without ceremony from a refuge of lies, which has been held sacred far too long.

THE

WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,

&c. &c.

PART I.

OF THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CONVERSION.

THE form in which the subject of this volume is announced carries with it the general sentiment, that the conversion of a sinner to God is a work in which the Holy Spirit is concerned; and it may be desirable in the outset, to devote a brief space to an exhibition of the scripture testimony on this point. We shall find it to indicate and establish two great positions; namely, that, in reference to the conversion of a sinner, the influence of the blessed Spirit is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, and CER

TAINLY EFFECTUAL.

B

CHAP. I.

Of the Absolute Necessity of the Spirit's Influence in Conversion.

THE operation of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of a sinner is not to be regarded as occasional or accidental, but as essential and uniform. Conversion to God never has taken place, and never will take place, without it. And if this be the case, it is but saying the same thing in other words, to assert that his influence is absolutely necessary to the production of this effect.

This is manifestly a point on which, independently of divine revelation, we have no means of obtaining complete and satisfactory knowledge. When any man does in fact turn to God, under what influence he did so might be doubted, were it not revealed; and yet more difficult might it be to decide whether any other man would turn to God without a given influence, unless that also were declared by a being of competent information. According

to their various views, some might suppose one thing, and some another; but the voice of authority puts all our imaginations to silence, and announces, as from Him that knows the heart to its lowest depths, that, without his Spirit, no man ever did repent or ever will. We turn, therefore, necessarily and directly to the language of holy writ, and may place the passages which bear upon the subject before us in such an arrangement as follows.

1. Sometimes the existence of an unconverted state is expressed by asserting the absence of the Holy Spirit: as in Jude 19, 20; where ungodly men are described as "sensual, having not the Spirit." If the fact of not having the Spirit be a decisive evidence of an unconverted state, it is plain that no man is converted without becoming a partaker of it.

2. Sometimes the presence of the Spirit is made a criterion of a converted state. So when Paul says, As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Rom. viii. 9, 14. And John, "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and

he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." 1 John iv. 13. There can be no force, nor even truth, in these passages, except upon the principle that the influence of the Spirit is uniformly and inseparably connected with conversion. If in any case it were not so, in that case these texts would be inapplicable.

3. Sometimes the necessity of the Spirit's agency to a saving change is expressly affirmed: as in John iii. 5. "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

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4. Sometimes the sacred writers directly ascribe to the Spirit the exercises involved in conversion to God. So in 1 Pet. i. 22. "Seeing ye have purified your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit." Obeying the truth," though under another form of speech, is identical with conversion; and the apostle affirms it to have been done "through the Spirit."

5. Sometimes the success of the gospel generally is referred to the power of the same glorious agent. 1 Thess. i. 5. "For our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost." "Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things