HOLDSWORTH AND BALL, 18, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD; AND MAY BE HAD OF THE BOOKSELLERS IN CAMBRIDGE AND OXFORD. M DCCC XXXII. ייך BODLEY DOMIMINA E. £.H1832 SERMON I. ROMANS VIII. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. a ON a remote occasion, similar to the present, I endeavoured to set forth in this place, the Law; and on a subsequent occasion the Gospel. These two subjects, taken together, form a whole, so far as relates to Christianity as system. But for the full developement of our holy religion, in its spiritual operations and practical results, the office of the Holy Spirit should be separately and distinctly considered. This part, therefore, it is now my intention to supply. But, in entering on a subject so deeply mysterious as this, I may well ask, "Who is sufficient for these things?" Besides, in reference to it, there is a still further ground of discouragement, arising from B the opposition which the subject itself meets with in the human mind. To a person who has never experienced any thing of a work of grace upon his own heart, the work of the Spirit appears to be little better than an enthusiastic conceit; and when pressed upon his conscience as a matter to be experienced at the peril of his soul, it excites, I had almost said, a feeling of indignation, inasmuch as it requires of him a greater degree of submission to God than he is willing to yield, and a closer intercourse with God than he has any inclination to attain. I think this admits of an easy illustration. It is an indisputable fact, that we are, by nature, altogether alienated from the life of God. Now we all feel, that, when alienated from a fellow-creature, however we may bear with him in a crowd, we are indisposed to have much personal intercourse with him alone. So, also, we feel in reference to God. We can hear of him at a distance, and not be disturbed; but, by reason of our alienation from him, we are averse to be brought into very near communion with him. We can bear with a display of his perfections in the universe, because, though we see him as our Creator, he is not sufficiently near us to exercise any material control over us: but when he is brought nigh to us in the law, as our Governor, we feel somewhat of a painful constraint, because of our responsibility to him, and the account we must one day give of ourselves to him at his tribunal. Let him then be brought still nearer to us in the gospel, as our incarnate and suffering God, and our inquietude is proportionably increased; because we are made to realize more deeply the terrors of his wrath, which demanded such a sacrifice, and the personal obligation which lies upon us to surrender up ourselves unreservedly to him. But, in the offices and operations of the Holy Spirit, we are led to view him, not merely as God, in the universe, displaying himself around us; or as God, in his church, declaring his will to us; or as God, in our nature, interposing for us; but as God, in our hearts, dwelling and operating in us: and this brings him into such immediate contact with us, and requires of us such a minute attention to all our ways, that we shrink back from every part of the subject, and, for the pacifying of our own minds, cast reflections upon it as visionary, unintelligible, absurd. I do not |