for your comfort, the gracious promise of him, who spake as never man spake.

Blessed are the poor in spirit; for their's is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled *.

Thus is heaven promised as the reward of your humiliation; comfort, as the happy result of your sorrow; and the fullest satisfaction, as the end of your eager desire after a more perfect communion with God.

4. After all, it may very possibly be, that you have made a much greater progress in religion, than you yourself are conscious of. That very Christian, whom you look up to as so much your superior, may perhaps at the same time be mourning his own deficiency in those graces, which to him seem to flourish much more abundantly in your heart.

They, who are the most advanced in holiness, have always the most accurate percep

* Matt. v. 3.

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tion of sin and, consequently, they are much more sensible of their failings, than others who have had less experience of themselves. They see so much imperfection in their very best deeds, so much obstinacy even in their reformed wills, and so much corruption in their purest affections; that, while they deeply perceive the necessity of being saved solely by the merits of Christ, they are apt to think no human heart so replete with perverseness as their own. Even the laborious Apostle of the Gentiles pronounces himself less than the least of all the Apostles, unworthy of bearing the name of an Apostle: and every Christian, who possesses the least degree of self-knowledge, can most feelingly exculpate him from the charge of an affected humility. They, who complacently view their own good deeds, and, while they bless themselves that they are not like other men, verily believe that they produce the fruits of the Spirit in the highest perfection, are much further removed from the kingdom of God, than the humble, self-condemning, penitent, sinner, who dares not so

much as lift up his eyes unto heaven. Such an one need in no wise despair. Though his heart may accuse him, God is greater than his heart and knoweth all things *. Let him redouble his diligence, and leave the rest in the hands of his Redeemer. The merciful Saviour never yet cast out a single person, who claimed his assistance and who besought his intercession.

5. I cannot better conclude this description of the fruits of the Spirit, than with the beautiful delineation which St. Paul has given us of Christian love: a delineation, which, if I may use the expression, is a miniature portrait of every sincere believer.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envyeth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

* 1 John iii. 20.

+1 Corinth. xiii. 4.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CONSTANT INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT NECESSARY TO CONVEY US IN SAFETY TO THE END OF OUR PILGRIMAGE.

WHEN a man has been once deeply convinced of the extreme sinfulness of his heart, and has discovered from repeated lapses his utter inability to walk in the way of God's commandments by any inherent strength of his own; he will naturally be anxious to learn, how he is to arrive in safety at the end of his pilgrimage. He knows too well by bitter experience, that, the moment he is left to himself, he is sure to fall more or less from that degree of Christian perfection, to which he had previously attained. When the supporting arm of God is withdrawn, as a trial of his faith, and in order to convince him of his frailty, his strength withers, his spiritual fa

culties decay, and he becomes weak like any other man *. He finds that the occasional assistance of the Spirit is not sufficient: he finds, that he requires it every day, every hour, every minute †. As the body is unable to perform its functions, unless constantly supplied with the breath of life; so does the soul constantly require the vivifying inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

I. In Scripture, spiritual ideas are conveyed to our minds by natural objects; nor is it possible to form a conception of them through any other medium, than that of some one of

our senses.

If the Holy Ghost bore no other denomination than that of the third person of the Trinity, we should be unable from such a title to form any definite notion of his attributes. But when he is styled Ruach and Pneuma, words which primarily signify the

1

* Judges xvi. 17.

Opus est nobis quotidiana sanctificatione, ut qui quotidie delinquimus, delicta nostra sanctificatione assidua repurgemus. Cyprian. de Orat. Domin. Oper. vol. i. p. 143.