eth for his only fon; and fhall be in bitternefs for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firft-born."

4. Come, tempted finner, who art haraffed with temptations, and art ready to say, One day I fhall fall before this great adverfary. The Spirit is a fpirit of power, 2 Tim. i. 7. It may be, that temptations come in on thee like a breaking forth of waters, threatening to sweep all before them; but come to Christ for his Spirit, who is able to ftem the tide, to create peace, and to make thee more than a conqueror.

5. Come, unfruitful finner. The Lord is at、 much pains with you by ordinances and providences, yet you re barren! you bring forth no fruit anfwerable to the pains of the Hufbandman. What is the reason the Spirit comes not with the word and providences? But you may have the Spirit from Christ, and this would make you fruitful: Eph. "For the fruit of the Spirit, is in all goodnefs, and righteousness, and truth." The blowing of that wind from heaven would make the spices flow out, Cant. iv. 16. and cause you to make progress in your journey to the Zion above.

v. 9.

6. Come, unholy finner. The Spirit which Chrift has to give, is a fpirit of holinefs, Rom. i. 4. He works like water in washing the polluted foul, like fire in burning up corruption. He is the great principle of holinefs, who works it wherever he comes, and makes of the very worst a veffel fit for the Master's use.

Laftly, Come to Chrift for his Spirit, whatever your cafe be; you will find a fuitable cure from him, by the fulness of the Spirit in him; he is fuited for every cafe that is put in his hand: Col. ii. 9. 10. "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him,

who

o is the head of all principalities and powers." will be eyes to the blind, light to them that fit larkness, legs to the lame, meat to the hungry, ak to the thirsty, cloathing to the naked; all in 1.To prevail with you in coming to Chrift for the Spirit, I would offer you the following Mo

TIVES.

Mot. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is abfolutely neceffary for you to have, you cannot want him, you must have him. The world may as well want the fun, moon, and ftars, as you can want the Spirit; for without the Spirit ye can do nothing but fin. When the foul is away, the body is dead, and can do nothing but lie and rot in a grave: And when the Spirit of God is not in a man, he is dead in fin, and can do nothing but fin: John, vì 63.. "It is the spirit that quickneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are fpirit, and they are life." Ye cannot have a good and acceptable thought, nor perform any. duty acceptable: John, iv. 24. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, muft worship him in fpirit and in truth." So that all pains are loft upon thee, as on the dead tree, to which fuinmer and winter are alike,-Again, without the Spirit, ye are none of Chrift's, Rom. viii. 9. "If any man have not the Spirit of Chrift, he is none of his.” All thofe who are Chrift's, they are fealed and marked with the Spirit of Chrift: Eph. i. 13. whom also, after that ye believed, ye were fealed with the Holy Spirit of promife." Men fet their mark on their sheep, and therefore fays one, If fuch a one be one of my fheep, it has fuch a mark; fo fays our Lord, If one of my fheep, he has my Spirit in him; and fo without the Spirit, without Chrift, and without the Father, therefore without the Spirit, without God in the world. - Farther, C 2 without

"In

without the Spirit, ye are undone for ever; for fo ye are without God, and therefore without hope, Eph. ii. 12. The dead corpse may be kept a while, but when there is no hope of the return of life, it is buried in a grave; fo, without the Spirit, ye may be kept a while through God's patience, but the end will be, to be caft into the pit, and buried out of God's fight in fiery flames.

Mot. 2. You cannot have the Spirit but from Jefus Chrift. The bleffed Mediator is the bowl from which this holy oil is conveyed to all the lamps which burn with it. The Spirit, fays he, is on me: 1 John, ii. 20. "But ye have an unction from the holy One, and ye know all things," ver. 27. "But the anointing which ye have received of him, abideth in you." The Egyptians must have starved, if they had not been fupplied with corn by Jofeph, for he had all the corn at his difpofal; and we must be for ever without the Spirit, if we receive him not from Chrift. The Spirit dwells in none but as members of Chrift; and whence shall the members have life but from the Head?

Mot. 3. Ye may have the Spirit, and that freely, from Chrift: Prov. i. 23. "Turn ye at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you." And the promife is very bountiful, ye may have all free of coft: Rev. xxii. 17. " And whofoever will, let him take the water of life freely." The Spirit on Chrift is that water of life which gives life to the dead, and life more abundantly to the living; and the terms are, Afk of him, and he will give thee living water, John, iv. 10. Not only drops of the fpirit, but the fpirit poured out, floods of the fame: Ifa. xliv. 3. " For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon thy feed, and my bleff

ing

ing upon thine offspring." John, vii. 38. 39. "He that believeth on me, as the fcripture hath faid, out of his belly fhall flow rivers of living water. (But this fpake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him fhould receive; for the Holy Ghoft was not yet given, because that Jefus was not yet glorified)."

Laftly, By way of motive, if ye will not come to Chrift for the Spirit, ye judge yourselves unwor thy of eternal life, ye are flighters of Chrift, and dreadful will your reckoning be: Prov. i. 24.-27. "Because I have called, and ye have refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I alfo will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as defolation, and your deftruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you." It will be more tolérable for those who never heard where they might partake of the Spirit than for you.

In conclusion, I fhall only add the following DI

RECTIONS.

I. Pray earnestly for the Spirit, in the name of Chrift; you have a promife of the Spirit; fays God by Ezekiel, xxxvii. 27. " And I will put my fpirit within you." And faid Jefus, " If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more fhall not your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that afk him?" Take courage then, believe the promise, prefs it, and depend upon it.

2. Unite with Jefus Chrift, accepting him in the gofpel-offer, and giving yourselves away freely to him. Bring your dead foul to the Lord of life, and he will breathe in it, and ye fhall be like the dead man laid in the fepulchre of Elifha,

C 3

who

who revived, and stood upon his feet, whenever he touched the prophet's bones, 2 Kings,

xiii. 21.

Laftly, Wait and look for the Spirit in Chrift's ordinances, especially the preaching of the gospel. They who would have the wind to blow on them, go out into the open air; though they may for the prefent miss it, they wait till it blows, when in like manner exercised, then you shall know that the miniftration of the Spirit is glorious, 2 Cor.. iii. 8. Amen.

JESUS