OTHING could be more remarkable than the change produced in the religious life of the disciples of Jesus, by the impartation of the Holy Spirit. Leaving entirely out of view the special "charisms," or gifts, designed for the confirmation of the testimony, and for the instruction of the church in its period of immaturity, and which necessarily terminated when their purposes were accomplished, we would here consider only those permanent qualities and essential characteristics, which were, and are, and ever must be recognized as appertaining to the Christian life. These have been present in the Church of Christ in all ages, and are just as necessary now, and as much the immediate result of the presence of the Spirit o? God now, as they were in the beginning. The special temporary [179] gifts have been already to some extent considered, and distinguished from those proper fruits of the Spirit, of which Paul gives a partial enumeration in Galatians v: 22, 23, and which, in 1 Cor. xiii, he generalizes under the single comprehensive term, "Charity," or Love. Let us, then, here, in the light of the Record, contemplate, for a moment, the change which appeared in the disciples, as consequent upon their reception of the "Gift of the Holy Spirit"--the "Paraclete" of the New Institution.

      The first matter which justly strikes the attention, in comparing the state of the disciples prior to Pentecost, with their condition afterward, is this, that the difference noticeable consisted, not in the possession of miraculous power, (for this, we again repeat, they had enjoyed before,) but in the manifestation of new and extraordinary power in the moral nature. Their supernatural gifts were, indeed, varied and modified, so as to be adapted to their new circumstances and duties, as we see in respect to speaking in different tongues, etc.; but their superior position now, did not depend on the power of working any greater miracles than they had wrought under the immediate ministry of Christ: it depended on a change effected in and upon themselves--a complete revolution in their inner nature; an entire renovation of all the moral powers and sensibilities, through the impartation of a divine nature, energizing, strengthening, enlarging, and consecrating all the activities of the heart and mind. Never before had there been such ambassadors to men; never [180] before were such moral miracles exhibited; never before was such a revolution effected in human society, because never before had the Holy Spirit descended to dwell in human hearts, as a welling fountain of strength and blessedness; an antepast of an eternal inheritance; a new, actual, abiding, and sole manifestation of God on earth. Jesus had now sent another Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth, to abide with the church forever. He had not left his disciples orphans, but had himself come to them as "the Lord, the Spirit," the final revelation of Deity on earth, in its threefold character, no less than in its mysterious unity, now exhibited in the finished scheme of redemption, and now for the first time distinctly enunciated in the sacred formula of baptism.

      No one, indeed, can, for a moment, contemplate the state of the disciples, prior and subsequent to the day of Pentecost, without being struck with the contrast which presents itself. Previous to this "great and notable day," they were timid, vacillating, doubtful, feeble and dependent; after the descent of the Spirit, they present themselves as fearless, immovable, assured, and empowered with more than human strength and authority. They were, before, simple and retiring, in conscious ignorance and human frailty; they are now, before even kings and rulers, bold, uncompromising public advocates of a religion destined to revolutionize the world. They were once a fleeing and scattered band, humble and obscure; they are now full of a moral heroism by which they are [181] transformed into aggressive and triumphant antagonists to the false religions and sinful practices of the world. They are evidently, indeed, wholly different persons, as to all that appertains to the moral nature of man; for this change, as before stated, was not derived from any new miraculous power communicated, but from the presence of God's Spirit in them--a helpful, comforting, and strengthening interior spiritual force, rendering them equal to every emergency, and successful in every conflict with the powers of darkness. The gift of the Holy Spirit was to the disciples somewhat like the addition of a central ganglion to the nervous system of an animal organization, endowing this with a higher nature, and lifting it into a loftier sphere of life.

      The difference in the character and conduct of the disciples, before and after the reception of the Spirit, is certainly not to be accounted for on the ground of mere supernatural illumination of mind. That they were endowed at once with superior knowledge; that they were furnished with divine revelations; that, as promised, the Spirit 'took the things of Christ and showed these to them,' leading the apostles "into all the truth" of the gospel by degrees, and enabling them to comprehend, as never before, the purposes of God in relation to mankind, is true; and that it was a natural effect of such knowledge to give them confidence and boldness as religious teachers, is undoubted. But knowledge, while it may guide and aid the exercise of moral qualities, can never replace them or impart to them that marvelous energy and that unfailing constancy so conspicuous in the primitive [182] disciples of Christ. The renovation they experienced, was so far from being confined to the intellect, that it was here even less marked than in their moral being, so that, while they knew but in part, and still remained in ignorance and doubt, for some years, as to the calling of the Gentiles, and other matters of importance, which were only made plain to them as circumstances demanded, there was evident, from the first, in their principles of action, their feelings, their motives, their entire moral constitution, a thorough transformation. Instead of worldly hopes and ambitions, there was now a nobility of self-abnegation and renunciation truly sublime. Instead of a hesitating and timorous allegiance, there was now a devotion of soul and a consecration of life wholly unexampled. In place of limited personal attachments, there was an expansive and pervading love of humanity; and, for a calculating and cautious policy, a Divine trust that banished all fear of consequences, and enabled them, amidst sufferings and reproaches, to persist in one unfaltering resolve "to obey God, rather than men." And all this, not from any exaltation of feeling produced by enthusiasm, or from any spirit of self-immolation imposed by fanaticism, but in the utmost calmness of perfect self-possession, and in immediate view of certain and foretold results, fatal to every worldly hope, yet contemplated with unshaken equanimity and fearless resolution.

      The true secret of this wondrous change was, that they had received "the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts," that "the love of God" had now been "shed [183] abroad" in their hearts "by the Holy Spirit given" to them, and that they were "transformed" by the renewing of their minds, (Rom. xii: 2,) and not by means of any miraculous powers, but, so to speak, in spite even of the hindrance which the possession of such powers opposed to the humility and self-devotion demanded by the gospel. Rom. xii: 3. It was Christ who was now formed in them, and his nature and character which were now reproduced in them. Under the influence of his Spirit, they ardently sought to save men. They counted not their lives dear to them when, by death, they might glorify Christ, and, for the love of man, they forsook all that they possessed. They sold their possessions and goods, that distribution might be made to the needy. They spent their lives amidst labors, dangers, and sufferings, in order to rescue perishing humanity from sin and death. They inculcated the highest integrity, the utmost faithfulness, the purest morality, the strictest fulfillment of all relative and personal duties, and left no means untried to elevate man, and restore him to the Divine favor and fellowship. And the fruits of the Spirit, manifested in the life of each believer, were the same in all. Each possessed the same character, formed after the same model, and animated by the same Spirit. A Christian at Rome differed not from one at Jerusalem, or at Corinth, or at Ephesus, All had the same love, the same mind, the same hopes and feelings, and were conscious that one indissoluble tie bound them forever to each other. Every-where they could be [184] recognized by the same fruits of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance, patience, and, every-where alike, approved themselves to be the children of God, shining as lights amid the darkness of the world.

      In contemplating these facts, the thoughtful will not fail to perceive how utterly at variance they are with those theories of religion which would make the life and example of Christ the chief, or only means of renovation. Here were disciples who had been constantly associated with Jesus, and, who, for a period sufficiently long, accompanied him, witnessing his example, hearing his instructions, and enjoying personal intimacies, and opportunities, such as none others could ever possess; yet, notwithstanding all this, remaining, like Peter, 'unconverted,' incapable, inefficient, undistinguished. Surely, if the most pointed reproofs, the most effective instruction, and the most striking and complete personal exemplification of a virtuous life, in all its living power and reality, could, in any case, effect the renewal of human nature, such a result might have been certainly expected in the case of the immediate followers of Christ. Yet, we perceive that it did not occur; that neither Christ with them, nor Christ sacrificed for them, availed to effect that marvelous transformation which the day of Pentecost revealed, and which has since marked the true disciples of Jesus down through all the ages. How futile, then, are the hopes of those vain theorists who imagine that what Christ's actual life and example; his death, [185] resurrection, personal instructions, and presence, could not effect, is to be accomplished by the partial record which remains in the New Testament of what "He began to do and teach!" How absurd to suppose that mere ethical precepts, however important, and however illustrated by recorded examples, could have power to change human hearts, and develop at once to the world such moral heroism as characterized the disciples, so soon as they had received "power from on high!"

      It is specially reported of them, after they had received the Spirit, that "all that believed were together, and had all things common." Again, (Acts iv: 32,) "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common." Again, (Acts ix: 31,) "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort (paraklhsei, paraklesei) of the Holy Spirit, were multiplied." Here the increase of the disciples is expressly attributed to the fact that they were "walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit;" and the congener of the very name, Paraclete, which Christ employed to designate the Holy Spirit, is used to denote the nature of the work accomplished by the Spirit, in supporting, comforting, and strengthening all believers. It was, thus, not so much by the miraculous powers which served as credentials to [186] those who preached the gospel, or by the charisms for the edification of the Church itself, as by the holy lives and loving sympathy of the disciples, that men were led to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah.¹ A consistent Christian life has ever been an argument which Infidelity has failed to refute; and the meek submission of the Christian martyr has, in every age, proved more convincing than any of those signs and marvels which excite the imaginations of men, but have little or no power to change their hearts.

      With these results of the impartation of the Holy Spirit before us, it may be easily seen how appropriate was Christ's declaration to the disciples: "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come." The expediency here was, in fact, a necessity. The Spirit of [187] God in Christ, during his earthly ministry, as we have seen, was, indeed, with the disciples, but not in them. God was then manifested in the flesh in the person of Christ; and there could be, it would seem, at this moment, but this manifestation alone. Having become a partaker of human nature, in order to the suffering of death, Jesus had yet this baptism to undergo, and was "straitened" until it could be accomplished. Restricted by the finiteness of humanity, until the wondrous purposes of the incarnation were completed, Christ displayed in himself alone, the "glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," but might not then share with others that divine communion and spiritual unity with the Father which he himself enjoyed. It was not until the redemptive work was completed, until, triumphing over all our spiritual foes--over sin, death, and Satan--he "led captivity captive," and "ascended up far above all heavens," that, being thus "glorified," he "received gifts for men." And these gifts, we are told, in the strikingly prophetic language of the 68th Psalm, formerly quoted, (the application of which to the Messiah is so apparent,) were "for the rebellious," even for those who had crucified the Lord of Glory, and were given, as the are further expressly informed, "that the Lord God might dwell among them." Nothing could be more evidently descriptive of the giving of the Holy Spirit, in all its manifestations in apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, etc., for the spread of the gospel and the upbuilding and perfecting of the saints, or [188] of the great end and purpose of all, viz.: "that the Lord God might dwell among them," "that he might walk in them and dwell in them," and that "the whole body, fitly joined together" in all its parts, and associated in the "unity of the spirit," might make increase "unto the edifying of itself in love." And this development of the church was no sooner attained, and all the great questions, relating to human salvation, were no sooner sufficiently discussed and revealed, than all special gifts were withdrawn, and the disciples, no longer children, liable to be "tossed about by every wind of doctrine," were left with the written documents which compose the New Testament, as containing all the teachings of apostles and prophets necessary to the Christian life, or needed in the determination of religious truth, to the end of time. It is in this precious volume, then, as connected with the Old Testament, that we have preserved to us the sum and substance of all the miraculous gifts and charisms of the church. There are no inspirations, no new revelations in dreams and visions, no supernatural communications now vouchsafed to men. These would be wholly unnecessary, for, in the New Testament, we have all the revelation needed to "make the man of God perfect and thoroughly furnished unto every good work;" but the possession of this treasure can not now, any more than the presence of the apostles, prophets and charisms of primitive times could then, enable any one to become a member of the body of Christ, without that Divine presence, that "fellowship of the Spirit" [189] which alone, at every period, establishes a vital and real unity with Christ. This Paraclete was "sent down from heaven," not merely for a brief season to impart miraculous powers in confirmation of the Divine testimony; not for any temporary sojourn on earth, but, in the express language of the Saviour, to abide with the church "forever:'

      It is precisely, indeed, in regard to this point of a greater nearness to God, a closer union and approximation to the spiritual system, that the Christian institution differs from all others. It was not in vain that, while the law and the prophets were until John, from that time the "kingdom of heaven" was preached. It was not in vain that, at the death of Jesus, the vail of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom, showing that the way into the holiest of all was now for the first time made manifest. Nor is it without meaning, that the apostles announce, under the New Institution, that believers are made to sit together "in heavenly places in Christ," and are blessed with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places" (Eph. i: 3); or that the kingdom of God "is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Nothing is, indeed, so marked a feature of the gospel dispensation as that "fellowship of the Spirit," to which the sacred writings so often refer, and to which Paul makes so earnest an appeal as a fact realized by all, when he says, "If there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit--fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one [190] mind," Phil. ii: 1, 2. It was, in short, from the presence of the Spirit, establishing unity with Christ and imparting vital energy to the soul of every believer, that the Gospel derived its power of transforming, renewing and saving men. The rationalistic or Socinian interpreter, with his moral suasion by example, and his code of Christian law, would reduce Christianity even below Judaism, which possessed, in the Shekinah, at least the visible symbol of the Divine presence. But, under the gospel dispensation, we have come to something infinitely better than types and symbols, and are privileged "to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil." It is here that, through Christ, we have "an access by one Spirit unto the Father;" are permitted to "taste of the heavenly gift," and are made "partakers of the Holy Spirit," Heb. vi: 4. The impartation of the Holy Spirit, indeed, was the great final aim of the ministration of the gospel. That which is first in design is ever last in execution, as ends are both the origin and the result of means. Faith, repentance and obedience to the commands of the gospel, hence precede the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is the last and final promise to the church on earth, and the possession of which indicates the existence of all essential prerequisites. The great question hence in primitive times was not, "Have you made a profession of religion?" or "Have you experienced a hope?" but "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" and it is to this [191] Divine gift that reference is ever made in this order of sequence, as in Eph. i: 13. "In whom, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession." So Paul asks the Galatians, "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?" And it was thus the final aim of the ministry of the gospel, because it was the earnest of the heavenly inheritance and the seal of the Christian covenant, an absolute and infallible attestation of the Divine acceptance. "Hereby we know," says John, "that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." Again, "Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit," for thus was established that unity for which Christ prayed, "I in them and thou in me, that they may be one in us."

      For it is to be remembered that the believer had a "witness in himself," and that the fruits of the Spirit were not all borne in the outer life, as a testimony to others. Long-suffering, meekness, temperance, patience, fidelity, might be thus displayed to the world; but love, joy and peace were matters of individual experience as emotions of the heart. The "love of the Spirit"--that Christian affection to which Paul appeals, Rom. xv: 30; the "joy" that was "unspeakable and full of glory," and the "peace of God,"² which [192] kept "the heart and mind" had their primary and chief sphere of action within the soul itself, and proceeded, not from reasonings, but from the Spirit himself as the originating cause. Hence, while the world could recognize, in the outer life of the disciple of Jesus, the working of a mysterious power which it was unable to comprehend; the disciple had a witness in himself of his relations to Christ, in a conscious blessedness, not less inscrutable and not less Divine. The destinies of men are in their hearts, and "out of the heart are the issues of life." It was the peculiar characteristic of Christ's teaching, therefore, to direct attention to this fountain of all human action, and to endeavor, as he said, "to make the tree good" that its fruit might be "good." "He," says Paul, (2 Cor. i: 21), "which establisheth us with you, in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." It was the heart, accordingly, that was made the center of all spiritual power. It was the office of the Spirit to shed abroad there, that love of God, by which the entire nature was to be renewed; and to maintain there evermore the memories, feelings, and affections appertaining to the Christian life. It was its function to bear a joint witness with the spirit of the believer. to his new and Divine filiation; [193] to "help" his infirmities to strengthen with might the inner man to assist his prayers, and even to make intercession on his behalf with Him who searcheth the hearts." Rom. viii: 16-27.

      In such statements, it is necessarily implied that the believer may assure himself of the Spirit's presence. It would, indeed, be impossible to comprehend otherwise how he could be thereby "sealed to the day of redemption," or how the Spirit could be to him at all an "earnest" in his heart. If even, the 'sealing' could be plausibly considered as a testimony only to others, most assuredly the 'earnest' could be an evidence only to the disciple himself, and an assurance of an eternal inheritance only in so far as its presence should be, in some way, realized by the human consciousness. Let the skeptical rationalist note that the "earnest" does not consist in a belief or admission of the fact as possible, nor in any fancied philosophical explanation of such a fact supposed, but in the realization of the fact itself as actual. For it is precisely here, that the believer passes beyond the precincts of faith into those of knowledge or experience; but this knowledge is not one that rests upon gross material contact, or visible appearances, real or imaginary, or even on any impressions made upon the internal natural sensibilities which man shares in common with the rest of the animal creation. It is a knowledge of a higher, purer, holier character; a knowledge of God--a knowledge (epignwsiV) derived from the 'enlightening of the eyes [194] of the heart,'³ (Eph. i: 18); a spiritual discernment and understanding; a communion or fellowship (koinwnia), resulting in the quickening of the affections, the renovation of the entire moral nature as well as in the guidance of the will. It would be strange, indeed, then, if the Christian had no heart-experiences; no inward assurances; no spiritual joys. It would be singular if he had no consciousness of his changed condition, or that he now possessed within him an unfailing source of strength and consolation previously unknown. Man is not so constituted as to be insensible to the existence and interior state and operations of his moral, any more than of his intellectual nature; nor is he at all more liable to be deceived, as many erroneously suppose, by his feelings than by his reasonings. As the excitement of feeling speedily subsides, deceit here is soon detected, and men come to regard emotional excitements with a distrust, which should be oftener and more justly directed to that imperfect knowledge and those innumerable, but undiscovered, fallacies from false reasoning, which mislead men often through the whole of life.

      The warm heart may prompt to a benevolent or generous deed, but the frigid reasonings of the head intervene to repress its movements. A thousand cold and selfish considerations await the bidding of the intellect, to crush the springing emotions of [195] tenderness or love; of sympathy, charity, penitence, or trust. It is only in childhood that the emotional nature seems free to express itself, as it is in Spring that the flowers reveal their beauty and their fragrance. The sad experience of human selfishness, the conventionalities of society, the lynx-eyed watchfulness of personal interest and ambition, conspire to destroy the native affections of the heart, and to replace them by the empty formalities and hollow courtesies of the world. It were impossible to tell how much of evil springs from this habitual repression of feeling, which ultimately may extinguish every throb of emotion in the human breast, as continued pressure may still the heart's own pulse of life. Surely, the sympathy and tears of Jesus teach us no such lesson; nor is it thus we can become again as little children, fit for the kingdom of heaven.

      There has been, unhappily, with many, a systematic and continuous effort to disparage religious feeling, and to oppose all expression of it, as savoring of enthusiasm, and incompatible with their philosophy of religion. This extreme, is but the counterview of that theory of special "spiritual operations" now prevailing, which has been productive of so many disorders and extravagancies in religious society, to the discredit of both reason and religion. There has, hence, arisen a dislike to all excitement, and to every manifestation of emotion, as if religion were designed for the intellect alone. The advocates of modern revivalism, on the other hand, seem to regard religion as consisting altogether in certain excitements of [196] feeling. But the religion of Christ is designed both for the head and for the heart. It is intended to embrace the whole man in body, soul, and spirit, and to secure to every faculty and every department of human nature its appropriate office and its most harmonious development. It is, hence, absurd to attempt to establish any contrariety between the religion of the heart and the religion of the head, or to seek to exalt the one to the depreciation of the other. Much more is it criminal to exalt either against the religion of the Bible.

      It is often the case that men become enamored of a particular religious theory, which seems to them consistent with itself and with a few fragments of Scripture taken out of their connection and misinterpreted in support of it. This theory involves usually one or more untaught questions, and consists largely of speculations respecting the decrees of God, the work of the Spirit, the state of the dead, the destiny of the wicked, the time of Christ's second coming, or some similar theme, in regard to which revelation is supplemented by conjectures and imaginations, clothed with the authority of dogmas. Each one of these systems, while it may contain in it a certain portion of Christianity, is really a distinct religion, captivating a peculiar class of men, as they may be naturally predisposed to reflection, imagination, or feeling; and, taken together, these systems maintain, by their evil influence, those unhappy divisions which exist in religious society.

      The fundamental and fatal error of all these [197] different systems is the same, viz., that they set up something that is merely human, against the word of God. The deductions of the intellect, the reveries of the fancy, or the emotions of the heart, are exalted to supremacy, and the Divine testimony is made subservient and secondary. Orthodoxy of opinion, or some transient feeling, is erected into a standard of truth, and it is this that is trusted, rather than God. Whatever in the Bible may seem to correspond with the particular theory adopted, or with the feelings relied upon, will be accepted. Whatever seems to clash with these, must be explained away and rejected. Scripture must be, by some means, conformed to these theories, or to these feelings, and interpreted by them alone. But it is the word of God only which can afford instruction or assurance in regard to "the things of the Spirit." It is this alone which can be the standard of truth, whether this relate to the mind or to the affections of the heart. It is by this the thoughts, as well as the feelings, are to be tested, and to allow either of these to dictate the sense of Scripture, is at once to lose not only the assurance of truth and of salvation, but the possibility of obtaining it. It is, in short, to abandon Christianity, which the Bible alone reveals, and to substitute the ignorance of men for the wisdom of God.

      It is especially appropriate to offer a warning against such extremes, in considering those fruits of the Spirit which have relation to the feelings, since it is in respect to these that error is most [198] common. It is, indeed, an undue reliance, on the part of some, upon mere feeling, and the placing of this above both reason and Scripture, that has, as before remarked, led many others to the opposite extreme and induced them to doubt or to deny any immediate fruits of the Spirit in the emotional nature, and to restrict his office wholly to the revelation of truth to the intellect. Yet it is a part of this revelation of truth that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, and such other moral qualities and feelings, as long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, patience! And it is, furthermore, a part of this revelation of truth to define and describe the character and effects of these emotions, so that their genuineness and their true nature may be fully known! Surely, then, it is not the presence, but the absence, of such fruits, thus specially indicated in the word of God, and essential to the Christian life, that may justly occasion doubt as to the reception and presence of the Holy Spirit. Certainly, it is not a reverent and sincere acceptance of the Divine teaching upon this subject, that can be construed into an undue confidence, either in the emotions of the heart or in the conclusions of the intellect. There is, indeed, no need, at any time, to set the one in opposition to the other, since both are equally necessary and equally due to that Divine Spirit which worketh in all, "both to will and to do of God's good pleasure." Let the feelings of the heart, as well as the deductions of the understanding, be ever alike tested by the word of God, and there is, then, no danger of error or [199] delusion. There can be no room for philosophical stoicism where the teachings of the Spirit are regarded, and no enthusiasm can exist where the objects of desire are scripturally sought, and are worthy of the earnestness with which they are pursued.

      It is to the heart particularly, in which reside the active principles of human conduct, that the Scriptures constantly direct human inquiry; and it is to the cultivation and proper maintenance of right affections and motives here, that Christian development and perfection are chiefly to be attributed. "Now," says Paul to the Romans (xv: 13), "may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." Correct verbal knowledge, indeed, is necessary, and a proper understanding of the gospel; but, among the details of this knowledge, there is no particular more important to the believer than to know that he is the temple of God, and that it is his to realize that the Spirit of God dwelleth in him. "What," says Paul (1 Cor. vi: 19), "know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God?" Ignorance in regard to other things might be excusable, but to be unaware of the fulfillment and of the purposes of the great promise of the gospel, might well excite surprise and awaken fear.

      Paul's earnestness in relation to this, may be readily seen in the 8th chapter of Romans, where he exhibits, in a most striking and particular manner, the interior state of the believer whose body is the [200] temple of the Holy Spirit. Being under the influence of the Spirit, he minds the things of the Spirit, and "enjoys life and peace." He is in, or under the Spirit, because "the Spirit of God dwells in him;" and if Christ be thus in him, though the body be condemned to death because of sin, the Spirit is made alive through righteousness, and can even communicate life to the mortal body, in causing its members to become instruments of righteousness, thus consecrating these also [alive] to God, and presenting the body as a "living sacrifice." It is his duty and his happiness, hence, to mortify those deeds of the body to which the fleshly nature prompts, and in all things to be led by the Spirit of God, that he may be assured of being a child of God, it being of the utmost importance to him to know this, and to be enabled to approach God, not in the slavish spirit of Judaism, but in the confidence and filial spirit of adoption, crying "Abba, Father." It is in order that he may enjoy this confidence, that "the Spirit HIMSELF"--the Holy Spirit the Comforter--bears witness with or to his own Spirit⁴ that he is a child of God, and, [201] hence, an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ. This witness is borne in the fact of the Spirit's presence, realized by its fruits--the joy, the peace, the conscious love which it inspires, and by the aid which it imparts, amidst the pains and travails of this mortal state, in helping the infirmities of the believer, in assisting him in his supplications to God, and in making intercession for him 'with groans which words can not utter,' but which He who searcheth the hearts in which the Spirit abides, will recognize as expressing the "mind of the Spirit," who "maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." It is in the very impulse of prayer itself, indeed, that the Christian may recognize the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which, dwelling in the heart, manifesting [202] itself in its fruits, and ruling the life, becomes thus an internal evidence to the believer, and, hence, a joint witness with the mind itself, that the individual is in a state of justification and salvation.

      It is in prayer that the Spirit manifests itself as an advocate. "We know not what we should pray for as we ought." We are unaware of the dangers which threaten us, for we know not what a day may bring forth, and we are unable to see the spiritual foes which beset us. While on earth, Christ fulfilled the office of Paraclete. He was the guardian and the advocate of the disciples. As the secrets of the spiritual world were open before him, he knew the dangers surrounding them, and it was to his prayers they owed their safety. They knew not that Satan desired to have them in his power that he might sift them as wheat, but Christ knew it and preserved them by his prayerful advocacy. In like manner, the second Paraclete--the Holy Spirit, knowing and seeing all the possible wants and dangers of the saints; familiar with all the things of the spiritual system, makes intercession for them, as Christ had done, being thus a helper--helping their infirmities, supplying their inability, so that while they know not what they should pray for, the Spirit knows, and intercedes on their behalf, that their faith may not fail in the approaching hour of trial, which they themselves are unable to foresee. These inward aspirations of the Spirit on their behalf, they are, hence, unable to interpret, or express in words; but He that seeth the heart knoweth what is the mind of [203] the Spirit, as he knew the desire of Jesus on behalf of his disciples; for as Jesus did, so does the Spirit make intercession for the saints according to the will of God; and this, not only for their defense against unseen spiritual foes, but for the attainment of needed graces and attributes of character, as well as for the opportunities and means of development and usefulness.

      For man is not only most ignorant, of the temporal, as well as of the spiritual, dangers which menace him, but sadly unacquainted with his own actual spiritual needs, and the means necessary for overcoming his special propensities and tendencies to evil. It is, indeed, a blessed privilege that, so far as he may be able to discern these, he may, in prayer, make his requests known to God; but oh! how consoling the assurance that the indwelling Spirit fully apprehends his necessities, and fails not to make them known to God. Without this personal and present aid, how feeble are all poor human endeavors! How futile all confidence in that which is merely external and formal! Alas! in the modern profession of Christianity, how much of materialism, how much of impiety against the invisible and the spiritual, has mingled itself with the gospel of Christ! How different the feelings, the language, the consciousness, the perception of the modern disciple, as compared with one of primitive times! It would seem, almost, as if the increased cultivation of physical science, with its exact methods, and its material philosophies, had given a stronger tendency to the [204] human mind toward the things that are seen, and enfeebled the power of faith. The progress of civilization, indeed, so-called, has been little else than a progress in things material--in physical discovery, in methods of worldly enjoyment, in the power of controlling the forces of nature for the attainment of wealth and pleasure, or for the purposes of proud ambition in the overthrow and destruction of governments and armies. But primitive Christianity brought man into direct relation and communion with the spiritual world. The weapons of its warfare were not carnal, and it recognized man's proper conflict as being with the unseen principalities, powers, and malignant spiritual hosts of the ærial regions--a conflict for which it furnished him an appropriate panoply in "the armor of God," and, in the Holy Spirit, conferred on him no unnecessary gift, or supernumerary guardian and assistant. Alas! into how fatal and false a security have many fallen! How few professors of religion seem to realize the nature of the struggle in which they are engaged! How vain the hope of the restoration of the primitive power of the gospel, until the primitive Spirit can be regained through the simple faith and obedience of apostolic times!

      In dwelling thus upon the importance of the restoration of the Spirit of the primitive gospel in all its fullness, let me not be understood as countenancing any of the pseudodoxies which exist in modern religious society upon the subject of the Holy Spirit. In vain, indeed, would that promised [205] Comforter be sought, amidst those tumultuous excitements; those unscriptural proceedings, those manipulated ecstasies, in which so many modern religionists hope to find the Spirit of gentleness and love. False views of religion inevitably generate false and artificial feelings and sympathies, created by human appliances, and having no higher origin than what is merely animal. The Divine presence accompanies Divine truth, but honors not those scenes of disorder, those frenzied, clamorous appeals, those vociferous outcries and hysterical swoonings and catalepsies which characterize modern religious revivals; for "God is the God of order, and is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints." The more ignorant and less intellectual men are, the more readily are they operated upon by those methods which revivalists employ, and the more wild and extravagant is their conduct, to the discredit of the true spirit of religion. It is evident, indeed, from the extremes and errors prevailing, that nothing is so much needed by the religious world in general as scriptural instruction in relation to the whole subject of spiritual influence, and the proper work of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of men. It is by the truth alone that deliverance can be obtained from a frigid philosophy or senseless ritualism, on the one hand, and a visionary enthusiasm or blind excitement, upon the other.

      The Spirit of the gospel is a "Spirit of love and of a sound mind." It has given to us, accordingly, for our government and guidance, a "form of sound [206] words" to which we are counseled to adhere "in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." "That good thing which was committed unto thee," said Paul to a primitive disciple, "keep by the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us." The duties of self-examination and of constant vigilance, as to thoughts and feelings, words and actions, in their individual character, and in all their mysterious reflex influence upon each other, are constantly urged in Scripture, and it is every-where implied that we can rightly determine their origin and nature. We are hence commanded to "try the spirits," to "seek the wisdom which cometh from above," to "prove ourselves whether we be in the faith," and, while the appeal is thus made to our own self-consciousness, the Holy Spirit has furnished, in the written word, abundant tests, both positive and negative, by which we may be secured from error, and be enabled to determine with absolute certainty our true religious position. If the fruits of the Spirit are manifest in the outer life, the Christian may trust the emotions of the heart from which they flow. If he loves his brethren, "not in word only, but in deed and in truth," he may be assured that he has "passed from death to life." If he hears the apostles, he is authorized to conclude that he is of God; while, on the other hand, as John declares, "He that is not of God, heareth not us." "If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father." 1 John ii: 24. "He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he [207] in him, and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us." Again, God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him." That all-conquering, all-pervading love, which is the primal and essential manifestation of the Spirit in the heart, ever proves its true nature by inducing obedience to all the Divine commandments, and an ever-progressive assimilation of character to that of Christ.⁵ [208]

[OHS 179-208]