become temples in which God is pleased to take his residence. The Church of Christ is rendered glorious, so that it is without spot or wrinkle in the sight of God. The saints of the Most High are made pure in heart, because the Spirit of Christ dwells in them, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.

21. The last emblem, under which we have to consider the Spirit, is that of fire. And that fire is an emblem of the Holy Ghost, is clear from what John the Baptist says of our Lord; "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." (Matt. iii. 11.) And, when the Spirit was poured out upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, "there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." (Acts ii. 3, 4.) And when Isaiah describes how the Lord would wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion, he says, it should be effected, "by the Spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning." (Isaiah iv. 4.)

22. Now, as fire penetrates all substances with which we are acquainted, so does the Spirit enter into the hardest heart by his secret power and influence. The word of God, we know, "is the sword of the Spirit," but "the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. iv. 12.) By means of the word of God, the Spirit enters into the inmost thoughts; penetrates through all the windings, darkness, and hardness of the human heart; and makes, when he pleaseth, the most insensible to

feel his pervading power. The matter of fire producing heat, gives life in the kingdom of nature; and is it not the Spirit that quickeneth" that giveth life to the soul which is dead in sin, and that calls into spiritual action the powers and faculties of man? We can scarcely conceive of any substance, which is not penetrated more or less by the matter of fire; and as by the anointing," St. John sometimes means the Holy Ghost in his operations; so of this anointing he says, "The anointing which we have received of him abideth in you." Is fire then in the very interior of bodies, and does it enter into the composition of their minutest particles? Intimate also to the real Christian, is that Holy Spirit which abides in him, and influences the thoughts and purposes of his mind. Where God is, there is his Spirit; and as in God, so also in his Spirit, we live, and move, and have our being. And still more especially, if possible, from him we derive that spiritual life, by which we become truly devoted to the service and glory of our Creator.

23. Another property of fire is, to illuminate and to give light to the natural eye; and hence to enable us to discharge the duties, and perform the business of human life. And, what light is to the body, truth is to the mind: and hence, the Eternal Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. He gives knowledge to the ignorant, he imparts heavenly light to the blind; he shews the right path to those who are in error; and as the pillar of fire gave light to the Israelites, so does he enlighten the mind, and direct the steps of the true Israel of God, the real, humble followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, our Lord says, "when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide

you into all truth....He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (John xvi. 13, 14.) The heart of man cannot of itself conceive "the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God." (1 Cor. ii. 9, 10.) Without natural light, how do we grope, stumble, and fall, in well known places: and without the light of the Holy Spirit to guide our minds, we should wander in darkness, roam in error, and fall into the pit of perdition. He must enlighten the dark understanding; He must guide us into all truth; He must shew us the path of life; and He must keep us in peace, in joy, and in safety.

24. The power of fire to warm and soften is known to all; we feel its influence on our bodies, and we see how powerfully it acts upon the substances which are exposed to it. We see it heat, divide, and separate the parts of substances the most hard and impenetrable. Nor is there any heart too hard for the Holy Spirit to soften, by his renewing agency. He convinces the sinner of his sin, so as to produce that godly sorrow which is unto life and he effects in the heart that real contrition, which makes a man feel the burden of his guilt to be intolerable. It is far, very far more difficult to soften the naturally hard depraved heart of man, as to its offences against God, than to fuse the diamond by the operation of fire; for the latter may be accomplished by human means, but the former requires the power of Jehovah the Spirit. It requires the fire of Divine love to melt the sinner's heart of stone, and to cause to flow the tears of true repentance. That love, which the

Holy Ghost sheds abroad in the heart, makes the unfeeling, kind; and the ferocious, gentle; and that love produces the tenderest affections towards man, and supreme love for God. He, who is filled with the Spirit, is cheered and warmed with the most lively hopes; he has that hope which "maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." (Rom. v. 5.)

25. Finally, there is another property of fire applicable to the operations of the Spirit, which instructs us in a most serious and awful doctrine. Fire has the power of hardening some substances, while it softens others; it hardens clay, but softens wax. And not only by its direct operation does it harden some substances, but, by its abstraction produces the same effect in others; for by the abstraction of the matter of heat, water becomes ice. And, when men resist the Holy Ghost beyond a certain limit, he withdraws from them, and leaves them to harden in their crimes, and to perish in their sins. As they do not like to retain God in their knowledge, he gives "them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." (Rom. i. 28.) Men may and sometimes do resist the truth and the love of it to such a degree, that "for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 11, 12.) Men have no warrant from Scripture nor from reason to expect, that the Holy Spirit will be afforded them under all circumstances whatever; for as before the flood God declared, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man; " so is it

now under the Gospel, when men sin away their day of grace; “He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." (John xii. 40.) It is not reasonable for men to imagine that the goodness of God is not accompanied by justice; and that they are at liberty to slight, resist, and despise the suggestions and strivings of the Holy Ghost continually, and yet he should not be grieved, and withdraw from them; for as with the Jews who would not receive the gospel, so is it still with some of the same character: they are "blinded; according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber; eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear." (Rom. xi. 7, 8.) We know that it was the Holy Ghost which declared to those under the Mosaic dispensation, and the same words are applicable to many under the Christian; "Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed but understand not, and see ye indeed but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." (Isaiah vi. 9, 10.) And, how awful their state, who are forsaken by the Holy Spirit, and hardened of God; who are given up to a reprobate mind, to work all uncleanness with greediness! Their perdition is sealed, and their damnation is just. God's Spirit called, but they would not hearken; he strove long with them, but they still resisted; he invited them, but they spurned the invitation; and now he justly leaves them to perish in their crimes, and in their guilt, and to become desperate

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