SERMON IV.

NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCE IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE HEART AND CONDUCT.

EPHES. v. 9.

The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and rightcousness, and truth.

In a former discourse, an endeavour was made to ascertain the measure in which the assistance of the Holy Spirit was essential in "the study and use of the Scriptures." In that discourse little comparatively was said on the necessity of Divine influence for the sanctification of the heart and conduct. But, as to this point, also, the same difficulty exists which was stated to prevail as to the other. It is possible, I conceive, to attribute certain habits of thinking, feeling, and acting, to the special influence of the Holy Spirit, which have a far lower origin. And therefore it is possible to conceive ourselves the subjects of this sacred influence, when we have no claim to any such distinction. But if so, my brethren, of what transcendent importance is it that we should endeavour, by Divine assistance, to escape from delusion on so vital a point; that we should "prove the spirits whether they be of God;" that we should descend into the heart, and so analyze its affections and feelings as to be able

to pass a precise and discriminating judgment on its real condition. Such is the object of the present discourse, in which, in dependence upon the Divine blessing, it is intended to examine. I. WHAT USEFUL OR ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES A

MAN MAY POSSESS BY NATURE.

II. WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES WHICH THE SPIRIT OF GOD ALONE CAN IMPARt to him.

I. We are to inquire WHAT USEFUL OR ATTRAC

TIVE QUALITIES A MAN MAY POSSESS BY NATURE.

1. In the first place, then, he may, without the special influence of the Holy Spirit, be an honest man.-He may wish to rob no man of his earthly rights He may scorn and detest a lie. He may, if poor, refuse to eke out his scanty pittance by depredation upon the property of others. He may, if a tradesman, hold false weights, and measures, and the thousand shifts and evasions too common in the traffic of the world, in utter abhorrence. He may thus act and feel, and yet be a stranger to the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. For he may possess all these qualities in common with the heathen who never heard of the true God; or with the multitudes who, having heard of Him, neglect or despise Him. He may have all these qualities without the smallest sense of his own sinfulness, and of his need of a Saviour; or the slightest value for the word of God, for his church, his Sabbath, or his sacraments-without offering a single supplication for mercy, or a single tribute of praise and gratitude to the God and Saviour of a guilty world.

2. In the next place, a man may be mild and gentle in his temper, without the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. Nothing indeed can be I

more obvious, than that such a temper may prevail in the man without the operation of any principle whatever. Individuals notorious for the absence of piety, and for an addiction to gross immoralities, have been thus gifted. Whole nations have been discovered, remarkable at once for the absence of religion and the gentleness of their demeanour. The history of several heathens is preserved to us, who, by their calmness under injury and insult, might put to shame many possessed of higher advantages.-But, let me not be mistaken. It is far from my intention to deny, be their source what it will, the value of such dispositions of mind, either to the possessors themselves, or to those around them. On the contrary, they are to be considered as ingredients cast by the bountiful hand of the great Father of the universe into the cup of life, to sweeten its bitter waters. But what I am anxious to establish is the fact, that such tempers are no necessary evidence of the influence of the Holy Spirit on the heart. They are, indeed, always present where real religion exists; but they are also found independent of religion. They may be religious; they may have no connexion with religion; they may be substituted for it, and even opposed to it; and therefore, of themselves, can afford no proof that the possessor of them is influenced by the Holy Spirit.

3. In the third place, great benevolence or kindness may exist in the mind without the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit.-In some cases, it will at once be admitted that this feeling of kindness and tenderness is merely instinctive, and therefore independent of all principle; as, for example, in the case of a parent to a child.

In other cases, it is little more than enlarged selflove a love of others for our own sake. And this is certain, that it is frequently found in minds wholly destitute of the love of God and of our gracious Redeemer. Many heathens have displayed it under the most captivating forms. The most profligate individuals, at times, have discovered it, and in such proportions as to win the admiration of the unthinking multitude around them. Few indeed are the minds of such unbroken darkness and malignity that no ray of benevolence breaks over them. A celebrated traveller asserts that, especially in one sex, he never failed to find tenderness where he absolutely needed it. Indeed, there appear to be certain sympathies in almost every mind which a sufficient measure of calamity will awaken; sympathies which even those who think the worst of human nature will allow to exist, and which are to be considered as the lovely and precious relics of that original nature given to our first parents, and forfeited at the Fall. And these sympathies, when called into action, will, even in the absence of Christian principles, render the most important services to society; will vent themselves in the erection of schools and hospitals; will "dive into the depths of dungeons," lighten the chain of the prisoner, soften the anguish of disease, and bind up many a broken heart. But, notwithstanding these precious fruits, such sympathies are not necessarily the fruit of religion, or any unequivocal testimony to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

4. In the fourth place, a man may be the ardent lover of his country, or of the public good, without the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit.-I name

this quality on account of the high value attached to it in society. But surely nothing can be more obvious than that a man may thus live for the glory of his country; may sacrifice his life on the altar of her liberties; may, at the foot of the throne, gloriously assert the rights of the people against a tyrant, or discharge the less popular, and therefore more difficult, duty of maintaining the rights of a sovereign against a deluded and murmuring people-he may do all this, and yet be without genuine religion. It has pleased a merciful God to preserve, amidst the wreck of our fallen nature, certain elements of patriotism -certain feelings of attachment to our home, our country, and our fellow-men-which are designed, in the absence of better feelings, to rear up a barrier against invasion, or usurpation, or oppression, and to render the hearts of a people the bulwarks of public safety. Such feelings are, indeed, sometimes among the best bulwarks of religion; but they are altogether distinct from religion. They are often the issue of mere sympathy; and often of ambition, or vanity, or the love of fame. They They are sometimes found in combination with indifference, or even with the most decided hostility to the interests of spirituality and godliness.

5. In the fifth place, a man may possess much merely formal religion, without the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit.-Many of the Jews, for instance, thus sacrificed the substance of religion to its mere forms-the "spirit" to the "letter." The profligate Herod even "heard John gladly," and was willing to "do many things"—although not to make the great sacrifice which God re