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SERMON V.

EPHESIANS, iv. 30.

"And grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby ye "are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

IN my last discourse upon these words of the apostle I told you, that the seal of the Spirit, in this and all other passages where the same image may occur, is to be understood of those gifts and graces which the Scriptures teach us to ascribe to the immediate operation of the holy spirit of God. And taking the expression in its most extensive meaning, as comprehending the miraculous as well as what are called the ordinary influences, I shewed you, that those miraculous powers which subsisted in the primitive ages may with great propriety be esteemed a seal of every private Christian's hope; inasmuch as they were the seal of the general truth of the

Christian doctrine; the seal of Christ's power; the seal of the efficacy of his intercession and the merit of his sacrifice; the seal of the authority of the apostles to establish that new religion by the terms of which we hope for mercy; and the seal of the acceptance of the Gentile converts, who enjoyed their share of these extraordinary endowments so long as they subsisted at all in the Christian church.

I come now to treat a doctrine which, if I mistake not, is a source of greater and more general comfort, and is the doctrine more immediately arising from the text, that the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit on the mind of every true believer, are to every individual of that description a particular seal of his personal interest in the glorious promises of the gospel. A doctrine full of the truest consolation and the highest joy, but very liable to be misunderstood. Great difficulties have indeed been raised in it by those who have unskilfully maintained and those who have rashly denied it. It is to be treated therefore with accuracy and caution; and we must rely on the assistance of that Spirit who, we trust, is in this and in all ages with the faithful teacher and diligent hearer of the word, to conduct us to the truth in this important but difficult disquisition.

The proposition which we apprehend to be implied in the text, and which is inculcated in innumerable passages of holy writ is this, that the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit on the heart of every true believer are to every such person an earnest of his final salvation. These influences are an immediate action of the holy spirit of God upon the mind of man, by which he is brought to will and enabled to do according to God's pleasure; to master the importunity of appetite; to curb the impetuosity of passion; to resist the temptations of the world; to baffle the wiles of the Devil; to deny himself; to take up his cross and follow his crucified Lord through the strait and thorny paths of virtue to the peaceful seats of endless bliss and glory. It is the doctrine of the Scriptures, that a strength conveyed from God into the Christian's mind renders him sufficient for these great performances. And the text, assuming this doctrine as a confessed and certain truth, teaches him to conclude, that God's enabling him to do what without God's assistance could not be done, is a certain argument of God's merciful design to promote him to that happiness hereafter, for which the habits of a religious temper here are the natural preparative. And admitting the premises, the conclusion seems obvious and inevitable. It was wisely said by the philosophers of old, that

Nature does nothing in vain. It was said wisely, because the whole of nature is conducted by the continual providence of the Being who created it. In what are called the operations of nature God is the first and sovereign agent. And a wise being cannot act but to some end; nor can it be but that infinite power must attain the ends to which it exerted. The maxim therefore, that Nature never acts in vain is true; but the truth of it rests upon the wisdom and power of God, who made and governs nature. And it is improperly alleged as itself a first principle of science, of original and intrinsic evidence, since it is only a consequence from a higher and more general principle, " that God never acts "in vain." This principle obtains universally in the moral no less than the material world. No act of the Deity can be without an end: And when God enables the believer to become that character which shall be the object of his mercy in a future life, the only end to which this action can be directed is, to bring the person on whom it is performed to that state of future happiness in which this character fits him to be placed. So that if the principle be true, that without a constant action of God's spirit on the mind of man no man can persevere in a life of virtue and religion, the Christian who finds himself empowered to lead this life cannot err in his conclusion,

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