444 OUR SANCTIFICATION ously provided for our indemnity, through the sacrifice, and for our eternal happiness, through the merits, of his Son, it is nevertheless certain, that no man can be saved while he continues in his carnal state-in his original, fallen, condition. Those who are still sitting "in darkness and under the shadow of death," are destitute of all capacity "for an inheritance with the saints in light." Those whose spirits are defiled and polluted, and whose prevailing tendency is to wrath, malice, envy, lasciviousness, or covetousness, are even here," aliens from the commonwealth of Israel," and unfit for all communion with their God and Father. Much less are they prepared to participate in the pure joys of the glorified church-in the society of just men made perfect-in the immediate presence of the Lamb-in the fulness of the love and glory of Jehovah. These reflections may enable us to comprehend the emphatic doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ, a doctrine of universal application to the fallen children of Adam-that " except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God"-that "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Our Lord was pleased to follow up these memorable sayings with an explanatory declaration: "That," said he, " which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit-Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth-so is every one that is born of the Spirit: John iii, 3. 5, 6-8. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." The natural man does but produce the natural man, for no man can "bring a clean thing out of an un clean;" (Job xiv, 4;) the son inherits the nature of his father; and from generation to generation are perpetuated, (as all experience and history teach us) the infirmity and corruption of the human species. But there is provided for us in the economy of the grace of God, an invisible, intangible, though not always imperceptible influence,—an illuminating, quickening principle, by which degenerate man is born a second time,—morally changed-introduced to a new condition of life, and gradually restored to the image of his Creator. - Now, respecting this enlightening and restoring principle, to the existence of which the Scriptures bear so full and frequent a testimony, it is necessary for us to lay down two primary positions -the first, that it is supernatural and comes only from God-the second, that it is derived to us through that crucified Saviour, who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." I. The Christian needs not to be reminded, that all our possessions and all our powers are derived from the sole bounty of that almighty and most merciful Being who is the Author of every good and perfect gift-that it is he alone who bestows upon us those various bodily and mental endowments, by which we are qualified for occupying our own rank in the scale of creation. Nevertheless, between these endowments, such as the faculties of reason, reflection, memory, and speech, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, there is this essential distinction-that the former belong to the constitution of our nature, and as such, are received by generation and inheritance; while the latter is a heavenly boon-freely offered indeed to all who are willing to receive it-and yet not inherent in our nature, but imparted supernaturally by the 446 THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT Lord of all things, when, where, and as he pleases. Nothing is more clearly revealed in Holy Writ, than that essential principle of our religion, that in us, that is to say, in our flesh (or natural man), "there dwelleth no good thing,”—that by grace we are saved, through faith, and that not of ourselves, for it is "the gift of God,"-that "it is God who worketh" in us "to will and to do of his good pleasure,”—that the influence by which alone we are enabled to produce the acceptable fruits of righteousness, is not of our spirit, but of the Spirit of JEHOVAH.-that it is he who sheds that influence on his unworthy children, according to his sovereign will,— his own free, unmerited, unrestricted, mercy. There is scarcely a passage in Scripture relating to the Spirit, which may not be said to involve a proof of the absolute freedom and divine origin of the gift of it. The subject is never treated of in the Bible, on any other principle. Nevertheless, it may not be improper for us, in reference to the present point, to examine, first, the language of ancient Hebrew prophecy, and secondly, some of the declarations of Jesus Christ and his apostles. That the servants of God, before the coming of Christ, were the children of grace, and were actuated, in their life and conversation, by the Holy Spirit, is evident from the tenor of their history; and that many of them received. those extraordinary spiritual endowments which fitted them for the peculiar office of prophets, may be proved, not only by that history, but by the express doctrine of the apostle, that these "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost:" II Pet. i, 21. But, among the prophecies which they were thus led to utter and to re cord, there are not a few from which we learn, that the dispensation of Christianity was to be attended with a yet more abundant and extensive effusion of the Spirit of God, both as the sanctifier of the souls of men, and as the imparter of those peculiar gifts which are directed to the establishment and enlargement of the church of God. And these promises were all issued in the name of our Heavenly Father, who alone is described, by his inspired servants, as the author and dispenser of this sacred and powerful influence-a remark which applies, with equal exactness, to the spirit of grace, and to the spirit of prophecy. The former is promised, as the most conspicuous privilege of the Christian church, the children of Israel by faith, in the following memorable passage : "The palaces shall be forsaken: the multitude of the city shall be left, &c., &c.;" (in other words, the church of God shall continue desolate) "until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field, and the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever:" Isa. xxxii, 14-17. It cannot, with any reason, be doubted, that the application of this prophecy is to the times of the Messiah, which the ancient Hebrews were instructed to expect as the times of restoration; and soon afterwards, the same promise was repeated by the evangelical prophet, as follows: "Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee, Fear not, O Jacob my servant, and thou Jesurun, 448 PROPHECIES OF THE SPIRIT. whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my SPIRIT upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring:" Isa. xliv, 2, 3. Nor was it to be merely for the refreshment of the weary, but more especially for the regeneration and purification of the vile and sinful, that the Spirit of God was to be imparted. "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you," said Jehovah to his people, by the prophet Ezekiel," and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes; and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them :" Ezek. xxxvi, 25-27. In these prophecies, there is a clear description of the effusion of a divine influence for the production of spiritual consolation and moral righteousness; and that effusion is attributed to no other source than the spontaneous mercy of our Heavenly Father. In language, not dissimilar, it is declared by one of the prophets, that he would also in the last days—that is, in the days of Christianity-pour forth of his Spirit, in the distribution of gifts for the use and edification of the church—“ and it shall come to pass afterward (or in the last days: see Acts ii, 17) that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants, and upon the handmaids, in those days will I pour out my Spirit:" Joel ii, 28, |