merely telling us what we ought to do, without enabling us or affording us any help or aid in doing it, is not calculated for such a nature as ours: "it is weak through the flesh :" it is ineffectual by reason of our natural infirmities. Then what the law, or a mere rule of rectitude (for that is what any law, as such, is,) could not do, was done under the Christian dispensation and how done? The righteousness of the law, that is, the righteousness which the law dictated, and which it aimed, as far as it could, to procure and produce, is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; is actually produced and procured in us, who live under the influence and direction of the Holy Spirit. By this Holy Spirit we have that assistance which the law could not impart, and without which, as a mere rule, though ever so good and right a rule, it was weak and insufficient, forasmuch as it had not force or strength sufficient to produce obedience in those who acknowledged its authority.

To communicate this so much wanted assistance was one end and effect of Christ's coming. So it is intimated by St. Paul, "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did :" that is, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, namely, sending him by reason or on account of sin, condemned sin in the flesh; vouchsafed, that is, spiritual aid and ability, by which aid and ability sin, and the power of sin, might be effectually opposed, encountered, and repelled.

SERMON XXVIII.

THE AID OF THE SPIRIT TO BE SOUGHT AND PRESERVED BY PRAYER.

(PART III.)

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? ROMANS, vii. 24.

If it be doctrinally true, that man in his ordinary state, in that state at least in which great numbers find themselves, is in a deplorable condition, a condition which ought to be a subject to him of great and bitter lamentation, viz. that his moral powers are ineffectual for his duty; able, perhaps, on most occasions, to perceive and to approve of the rule of right; able, perhaps, to will it; able, perhaps, to set on foot unsuccessful, frustrated, and defeated endeavours after that will, but by no means able to pursue or execute it:-if it be also true, that strength and assistance may and can be communicated to this feeble nature, and that it is by the action of the Holy Spirit upon the soul, that it is so communicated; that with this aid and assistance sin may be successfully encountered, and such a course of duty maintained, as may render us accepted in Christ: and farther, that to impart the above described assistance is one of the ends of Christ's coming, and one of the operations of his love towards mankind :-if, I say, these propositions be doctrinally true, then follow from them these three practical rules: first, that we are to pray sincerely, earnestly, and incessantly, for this assistance; secondly, that, by so doing, we are to obtain it; thirdly, that, being obtained, we are to yield ourselves to its agency, to be obedient to its dictates.

First: We are to pray sincerely, earnestly, and incessantly, for this assistance. A fundamental, and, as it seems to me, an insurmountable text, upon this head, is our Saviour's declaration, (Luke, xi. 13.) "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" This declaration, beside expressing (which was its primary object) God's benignant, prompt, and merciful disposition towards us; which here, as in other places, our Saviour compares with the disposition of a parent towards his children; beside this, the text undoubtedly assumes the fact of there being a Holy Spirit, of its being the gift of God, of its being given to them that ask him; that these things are all realities; a real spiritual

assistance, really given, and given to prayer. But let it be well observed, that whensoever the Scripture speaks of prayer, whensoever it uses that term, or other terms equivalent to it, it means prayer, sincere and earnest, in the full and proper sense of these words, prayer proceeding from the heart and soul. It does not mean any particular form of words whatever; it does not mean any service of the lips, any utterance or pronunciation of prayer, merely, as such; but supplication actually and truly proceeding from the heart.-Prayer may be solemn without being sincere. Every decency, every propriety, every visible mark and token of prayer, may be present, yet the heart not engaged. This is the requisite which must make prayer availing: this is the requisite indeed which must make it that which the Scripture means whenever it speaks of prayer. Every outward act of worship, without this participation of the heart, fails, not because men do not pray sincerely, but because, in Scripture sense, they do not pray at all.

If these qualities of internal seriousness and impression belong to prayer, whenever prayer is mentioned in Scripture, they seem more peculiarly essential in a case and for a blessing, purely and strictly spiritual. We must pray with the Spirit, at least when we pray for spiritual succour.

Furthermore, there is good authority in Scripture, which it would carry us too widely from our subject to state at present, for persevering in prayer, even when long unsuccessful. Perseverance in unsuccessful prayer is one of the doctrines and of the lessons of the New Testament.

But again; we must pray for the Spirit earnestly; I mean with a degree of earnestness, proportioned to the magnitude of the request. The earnestness with which we pray, will always be in proportion to our sense, knowledge, and consciousness, of the importance of the thing which we ask. This consciousness is the source and principle of earnestness in prayer; and in this, I fear, we are greatly deficient. We do not possess or feel it in the manner in which we ought: and we are deficient upon the subject of spiritual assistance most particularly. I fear, that many understand and reflect little upon the importance of what they are about, upon the exceedingly great consequence of what they are asking, when they pray to God, as we do in our liturgy, "to cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit;" "to make clean our hearts within us;" "not to take his Holy Spirit from us; to give us increase of grace; to grant that his Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts."

These are momentous petitions, little as we may perceive, or think, or account of them, at the time. It has been truly said, that we are hardly ever certain of praying aright, except when we pray for the Spirit of God.-When we pray for temporal blessings, we do not know, though God does, whether we ask what is really for our good: when we ask for the assistance and sanctification of God's Spirit in the work and warfare of religion, we ask for that which, by its very nature, is good, and which, without our great fault, will be good

to us.

But secondly, We must obtain it. God is propitious. You hear that he has promised it to prayer, to prayer really and truly such, to prayer, viz. issuing from the heart and soul; for no other is ever meant. We are suppliants to our Maker for various and continual blessings; for health, for ease; it may be, for prosperity and success. There is, as hath already been observed, some degree of uncertainty in all these cases, whether we ask what is fit and proper to be granted; or even, what, if granted, would do us good. There is this, likewise, farther to be observed, that they are what, if such be the pleasure of God, we can do without. But how incapable we are of doing without God's Spirit; of proceeding in our spiritual course upon our own strength and our own resources; of finally accomplishing the work of salvation without it; the strong description, which is given by St. Paul, may convince us, if our own experience had not convinced us before. Many of us, a large majority of us, either require, or have required, a great change, a moral regeneration. This is to be effectuated by the aid of God's Spirit. Vitiated hearts will not change themselves; not casily, not frequently, not naturally, perhaps, not possibly. Yet, "without holiness no man shall see God." How then are the unholy to become holy? Holiness is a thing of the heart and soul. It is not a few forced, constrained actions, though good as actions which

constitute holiness. It must reside within us; it is a disposition of soul. To acquire, therefore, that which is not yet acquired; to change that which is not yet changed; to go to the root of the malady: to cleanse and purify the inside of the cup, the foulness of our mind, is a work for the Spirit of God within us. Nay, more; many, as the Scripture most significantly expresses it, are dead in sins and trespasses, not only committing sins and trespasses, but dead in them, that is, as insensible of their condition under them, as a dead man is insensible of his condition. Where this is the case, the sinner must, in the first instance, be roused and quickened to a sense of his condition; of his danger, his fate; in a word, he must, by some means or other, be brought to feel a strong compunction. This is also an office for the Spirit of God. "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." (Eph. ii. 1.) "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." (Eph. v. 14.) Whether, therefore, we be amongst the dead in sin; or whether we be of the number of those with whom, according to St. Paul's description, to will is present, but how to perform that which is good they find not; who, though they approve the law of God, nay delight in it after the inward man, that is, in the answers of their conscience, are nevertheless brought into captivity to the law of sin, which is in their members; carnal, sold under sin; doing what they allow not: what they hate; doing not the good which they would, but the evil which they would not: whichever of these be our wretched estate, for such the apostle pronounces it to be, the grace and influence of God's Spirit must be obtained, in order to rescue and deliver us from it, and the sense of this want and of this necessity lies at the root of our devotions, when directed to this object.

To those who are in a better state than what has been here described, little need be said, because the very supposition of their being in a better state includes that earnest and devout application by prayer for the continual aid, presence, and indwelling, of God's Holy Spirit, which we state to be a duty of the Christian religion.

But thirdly; The assistance of God's Spirit being obtained, we are to yield ourselves to its direction; to consult, attend, and listen to, its dictates, suggested to us through the admonitions of our conscience. The terms of Scripture represent the Spirit of God, as an assisting, not forcing power; as not suspending our own powers, but enabling them: as imparting strength and faculty for our religious work, if we will use them; but whether we will use them or not, still depending upon ourselves. Agreeably hereunto St. Paul, you have heard, asserts, that there is no condemnation to them who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The promise is not to them who have the Spirit, but to them who walk after the Spirit. To walk after the flesh, is to follow wherever the impulses of sensuality and selfishness lead us; which is a voluntary act. To walk after the Spirit, is steadily and resolutely to obey good motions within us, whatever they cost us: which also is a voluntary act. All the language of this remarkable chapter (Rom. vii.) proceeds in the same strain; namely, that after the Spirit of God is given, it remains and rests with ourselves whether we avail ourselves of it or not. "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live." It is through the Spirit that we are enabled to mortify the deeds of the flesh. But still, whether we mortify them or not, is our act, because it is made a subject of precept and exhortation so to do. Health is God's gift: but what use we will make of it, is our choice. Bodily strength is God's gift: but of what advantage it shall be to us, depends upon ourselves. Even so, the higher gift of the Spirit remains a gift, the value of which will be exceedingly great; will be little; will be none; will be even an increase of guilt and condemnation, according as it is applied and obeyed, or neglected and withstood. The fourth chapter of Ephesians (verse 30) is a warning voice upon this subject. "Grieve not the Spirit of God:" therefore he may be grieved: being given, he may be rejected: rejected, he may be withdrawn.

St. Paul (Rom. viii.) represents the gift and possession of the Spirit in these words, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you:" and its efficacy, where it is efficacious, in the following magnificent terms: "If the Spirit of him that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." What, never

theless, is the practical inference therefrom stated in the very next words? " Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die :" consequently it is still possible, and plainly conceived, and supposed, and stated to be so, even after this communication of the Spirit, to live, notwithstanding, according to the flesh and still true, that if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. "We are debtors;" our obligation, our duty, imposed upon us by this gift of the Spirit, is no longer to live after the flesh; but, on the contrary, through the Spirit so given, to do that, which, without it, we could not have done, to "mortify the deeds of the body." Thus following the suggestions of the Spirit, ye shall live: for "as many as are led by the Spirit of God," as many as yield themselves to its guidance and direction, "they are the sons of God."

To conclude the subject. The difference between those who succeed and those who fail in their Christian course, between those who obtain and those who do not obtain salvation, is this: They may both feel equally the weakness of their nature, the existence and the power of evil propensities within them; but the former, by praying with their whole heart and soul, and that perseveringly, for spiritual assistance, obtain it; and, by the aid so obtained, are enabled to withstand, and do, in fact, withstand their evil propensities; the latter sink under them. I will not say that all are comprised under this description; for neither are all included in St. Paul's account of the matter, from which our discourse set out; but I think, that it represents the general condition of Christians, as to their spiritual state, and that the greatest part of those who read this discourse will find, that they belong to one side or other of the alternative here stated.

SERMON XXIX.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CANAANITES.

the

So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of springs, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.-Joshua, x. 40.

I HAVE known serious and well-disposed Christians much affected with the accounts, which are delivered in the Old Testament, of the Jewish wars and dealings with the inhabitants of Canaan. From the Israelites first setting foot in that country, to their complete establishment in it, which takes up the whole Book of Joshua, and part of the Book of Judges, we read, it must be confessed, of massacres and desolations unlike what are practised now-a-days between nations at war, of cities and districts laid waste, of the inhabitants being totally destroyed, and this, as it is alleged in the history, by the authority and command of Almighty God. Some have been induced to think such accounts incredible, inasmuch as such conduct could never, they say, be authorised by the good and merciful. Governor of the universe.

I intend in the following discourse to consider this matter so far as to show, that these transactions were calculated for a beneficial purpose, and for the general advantage of mankind; and, being so calculated, were not inconsistent either with the justice of God, or with the usual proceedings of divine providence.

Now the first and chief thing to be observed is, that the nations of Canaan were destroyed for their wickedness. In proof of this point, I produce the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus, the twenty-fourth and the following verses. Moses in this chapter, after laying down prohibitions against brutal and abominable vices, proceeds in the twenty-fourth verse thus"Defile not yourselves in any of these things, for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you, and the land is defiled; therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, neither any of your

own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you for all these abominations have the men of the land done which were before you, and the land is defiled, that the land vomit not you out also, when ye defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from amongst their people. Therefore shall ye keep my ordinances, that ye commit not any of these abominable customs which were committed before you; and that you defile not yourselves therein." Now the facts disclosed in this passage, are for our present purpose extremely material, and extremely satisfactory. First, The passage testifies the principal point, namely, that the Canaanites were the wicked people we represent them to be; and that this point does not rest upon supposition, but upon proof: in particular, the following words contain an express assertion of the guilt of that people. “In all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you; for all these abominations have the men of the land done." Secondly, The form and turn of expression seems to show, that these detestable practices were general amongst them, and habitual: they are said to be abominable customs which were committed. Now the word custom is not applicable to a few single, or extraordinary instances, but to usage and to national character, which argues, that not only the practice, but the sense and notion, of morality was corrupted amongst them, or lost; and it is observable, that these practices, so far from being checked by their religion, formed a part of it. They are described not only under the name of abominations, but of abominations which they have done unto their gods. What a state of national morals must that have been! Thirdly, The passage before us positively and directly asserts, that it was for these sins that the nations of Canaan were destroyed. This, in my judgment, is the important part of the inquiry. And what do the words under consideration declare? "In all these, namely, the odious and brutal vices which had been spoken of, the nations are defiled which I cast out before you and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it." This is the reason and cause of the calamities which I bring on it. The land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. The very land is sick of its inhabitants; of their odious and brutal practices; of their corruption and wickedness. This, and no other, was the reason for destroying them. This, and no other, is the reason here alleged. It was not, as hath been imagined, to make way for the Israelites; nor was it simply for their idolatry. It appears to me extremely probable, that idolatry in those times led, in all countries, to the vices here described: and also that the detestation, threats, and severities, expressed against idolatry in the Old Testament, were not against idolatry simply, or considered as an erroneous religion, but against the abominable crimes which usually accompanied it. I think it quite certain, that the case was so in the nations of Canaan.-Fourthly, it appears from the passage before us, and what is surely of great consequence to the question, that God's abhorrence, and God's treatment of these crimes were impartial, without distinction, and without respect of nations or persons. The words which point out the divine impartiality are those, in which Moses warns the Israelites against falling into any of the like wicked courses: "that the land," says he, "cast not you out also, when you defile it, as it cast out the nations that were before you; for whoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people." The Jews are sometimes called the chosen and favoured people of God, and, in a certain sense, and for some purposes, they were so; yet is this very people, both in this place, and in other places, over and over again, reminded, that if they followed the same practices, they must expect the same fate. "Ye shall not walk in the way of the nations which I cast out before you: for they committed all those things, and therefore I abhorred them; as the nations which the Lord destroyed before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye were not obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God."

What farther proves, not only the justice, but the clemency of God, his long-suffering, and that it was the incorrigible wickedness of those nations which at last drew down upon them their destruction, is, that he suspended, as we may so say, the stroke, till their wickedness was come to such a pitch, that they were no longer to be endured. In the fifteenth chapter of Genesis God tells Abraham, that his descendants of the fourth generation should return into that country, and not before: "for the iniquity," saith he, "of the