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and had they so perused and studied themselves and their writings as I have studied them, they would never have dared to appear in print. It is necessary that the minister should strike error with the arm of a giant. Error in principle inevitably leads, sooner or later, to error in practice. They whose errors I have endeavoured to expose may well bear with me; I have patiently endured in silence many of their sneers; but long-suffering has its limit of forbearance; and it becomes a duty to reprove and remonstrate. Read Scott's comment on the twentieth chapter of Revelations. It is as concise as it is valuable; and Dr. Hamilton's work, which they have not answered, nor indeed can they; the subject is excellently treated in one of Dr. Wardlaw's sermons. Dr. Bogue has also written well upon the subject. thank God, that from the commencement of my public ministry, in 1804, to the present period, he has kept me preaching against erroneous doctrines. I am anxions to teach my young friends the whole of truth, to keep them from error, and to present them blameless at the bar of heaven, as my joy and crown of rejoicing. But how does the Holy Spirit preserve the Church? In every possible mannerthe body as well as the soul. In my late sermon, I told you that all natural blessings

I

are given and preserved to man by the Spirit. Hear a passage in proof of this-" Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? when he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place? for his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him." More especially does the Holy Spirit bless men in the salvation of their souls; in renewing them, in strengthening their graces, in removing their prejudices, in teaching and enabling them to die to the law as a covenant, and to live unto God here and for ever.

Learn a few lessons: grieve not the Holy Spirit-the consequences of grieving him are dreadful in the extreme-sin closes the ears and lips to all spiritual converse-we cannot converse with God, we cannot converse of God, neither can we speak for God; we travel into such darkness that we know not whether we are travelling to hell or to heaven what an awful thing it is for a man to be left to himself: there is nothing that he will not do; no sin into which he will not fall:

Holy Spirit from me."

1 Isaiah xxviii. 24-26.

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take not thy

Again-be not satisfied with what is negative; yield to all the Holy Spirit's influences. He is the internal leader of his Church, by his grace, as well as her external leader by his providence. One of the means by which the Spirit leads the Church, is an enlightened conscience. Do every thing an enlightened conscience dictates, -do more-invoke the Spirit's influences every day-every night-till you know God is with you, and in you, in deed and in truth: till your spirits are wholly imbued with his-till you enter into the pleasures of true religion-till you abound-till you know what it is to soar into the skies like the eagle-and, like the primitive Christians, to treat the world, and every thing belonging to it, like baubles. The Holy Spirit has covenanted to lead the Church to a pitch of excellence almost inconceivable. Take it as a satisfactory proof of your having prayed successfully, that you can praise God. When God has sometimes taken away from you your dearest earthly object, then it is that he makes his presence known, and gives the spirit of praise. Every loss which the believer sustains is his gain; God fills up the loss with Himself. As the poet truly sings

'Without thee, poor,

'And with thee, rich, take what thou wilt away.'

Lastly-ONE THING IS NEEDful!

'I have

418 THE HOLY SPIRIT'S NATURE AND Offices.

found that one thing, and I want nothing else: to enter into this happy experience, we must be able to laugh at calamity. I have myself known much adversity; I have known its storms from my childhood, till the storm has become my element; when one friend would enjoy, without interruption, communion with another beloved friend, he sends every body away, that there may be no one present to interfere with their mutual interchange of affection and sympathy;-so it is with God, in his dealings with his child; when he would feast him with his presence and his love, he sends away the world-none must be present but Himself; that God may pour his bosom into that of his child-that his child may reciprocally pour his heart into the bosom of his Heavenly Father.

Whitsunday evening, May 30, 1830.

SERMON XLI.

A PURPOSE NECESSARY TO RECONCILE GOD AND THE SINNER.

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.-EPHESIANS I. 10.

I PREACH from these words on many accounts. The subject is awfully, and, at the same time, delightfully interesting. It is calculated to shake the sinner over the pit of destruction, and at the same time to raise the penitent believer to the skies. "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him." In the third verse the Apostle praises God for spiritual blessings in Christ, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath

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