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that no event of magnitude, in the history of the church was undertaken without them. I might refer to many instances, by way of illustration. But one in point is enough: and we have a very notable one, quite apposite to the present occasion. I refer to that memorable Scripture of God the Holy Ghost by his servant James. "Is any sick among you? (saith he) let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." (James v. 14-18.) Here is a full confirmation of the doctrine. Prayer can shut up heaven and prayer can open heaven; when both are the result of the predisposing grace of God. When, as was said before, the Lord is about to make himself more immediately known by his providence, or in a way of grace; and the Lord gives his people, "a spirit of grace and supplication to make intercessions by the Spirit according to the will of God." (Rom. viii. 26, 27.) Hence that blessed promise, "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." (Isa. lxv. 24.)

Great God! who inhabitest the praises of eternity! continue to manifest thyself a prayer-awakening, and a prayer-answering God. Pour out upon this hallowed spot, and the choice ones of thy flock, which

from time to time assemble here before thee, the divine unction of thy Holy Spirit. Let the gracious influences of the Holy Three in One be felt, and known, and enjoyed, in sweet communion. Let thine eyes be upon this place, as upon Judea of old, from "the one end of the year, even to the other end of the year;" and cause this place, from thy continual presence, to be called after that blessed city the prophet named "Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there!" So shall Christ "dwell in our hearts by faith that being rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God. able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us: unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world

To Him that is

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BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF AN ADDRESS, DELIVERED IN THE CHURCH

OF CHARLES, PLYMOUTH, ON THE LORD'S DAY MORNING,

WHITSUNDAY, AFTER AN ABSENCE OF FOUR

MONTHS, (EXCEPTING A SHORT TAKING

LEAVE AT EASTER.)

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John xiv. 26.

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PREFACE.

No subject claims the attention of the Lord's people more frequently, than that which refers to the person and ministry of the Holy Ghost. For although our salvation is not among the almighty acts of the Spirit, being the sole incommunicable work of our most glorious Christ; yet the knowledge and enjoyment of it can only be found from the divine communications of the Holy Ghost the Comforter. It is very blessed indeed, and a matter of vast moment for the regenerated child of God to have personal knowledge of, and personal communion with, each glorious person in the GODHEAD, day by day, from the time of the new birth until the child of God is brought home to glory; (neither can that child of God be otherwise than lean in soul who hath it not,) yet the distinct acts of the Holy Three in One open a very blessed source for daily meditation, and, when grace and faith are in lively exercise, furnish the child of God with numberless occasions for going forth in love and praise, adoration and thanksgiving, to the God of all our mercies. It is most blessed the employment, when we feel the constraining love of God drawing out all the finer feelings of the soul, to the contemplation of the Father's personal acts of grace, in choosing, adopting, and accepting, the whole and every individual of Christ's mystical members before the foundation of the world. And the meditation of Christ taking our nature into union with his GODHEAD, and redeeming his whole body, the church, from the Adam-fall transgression by his blood, is no less a subject of infinite delight, when the mind is divinely directed in the study. And the almighty acts of God the Holy Ghost, whose great work in the covenant of grace is consolation, when the spiritual faculties are brought forth to the view, of his "directing the heart into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ" all are blessed.

Will our gracious God, who as at this time, made an open manifestation of himself on the day of Pentecost, grant to us a pentecost-renewal of his sovereign and almighty power, and come down in our midst, and fill the hearts of all his people that are here present, with divine manifestations of himself, and of the Father, and of Christ, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge?" Lord! accompany thy word with power: give testimony to thy Scriptures of grace: shine, Lord, in the hearts of thy people, and "give them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Amen.

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