SERMON XIV.

ON THE EXISTENCE AND DIVINITY OF THE HOLY

GHOST,

ACTS xix. 1, 2, 3.

And it came to pass that-Paul having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy

Ghost, since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard, whether there be any Holy Ghost.

And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.

THE language and conduct both of St. Paul and of the persons, with whom he here converses, are worthy of attention; and may supply very suitable materials for our meditations on this festival, when

we commemorate the sensible communication of the same Holy Spirit, who was the subject of the Apostle's inquiry.

The narrative is briefly this. St. Paul being at Ephesus, and there finding certain disciples, his first question to them was, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost?" -a question, the importance of which appears from its being the very first, that he asked. So far however were they from having received the Spirit, that they had not even been informed of his existence. "We have not so much as heard, whether there be any Holy Ghost." So strange and unexpected an answer excited the astonishment of the Apostle, who supposed them to be disciples of Christ; and as such, of course acquainted with the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. "Unto what then were ye baptized?" he demands and understanding by their reply, that it was unto John's baptism," he first teaches them, that as John was to Christ, so was John's baptism to the baptism of Christ, only an introduction to that which was to come; and thence he

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leads them to that holier baptism, where they both "heard of," and "received, the Holy Ghost."

:

This narrative may suggest two leading questions for our consideration; Ist, whether we have heard of the Holy Ghost; and 2dly, whether we have received Him for the question, which from a sense of its great importance St. Paul first put to these disciples, he would not have put, but on the presumption, that they were better instructed than they really were. We will begin, then, with having recourse to that quarter, to which he referred them for information; and thence endeavour to "hear" concerning the Holy Ghost, both that he is, and what he is: both his existence, and his nature.

I. Now, had the Apostle chosen, he might have sent the disciples at Ephesus to other evidences of the existence of the Holy Ghost. He might have sent them to the very beginning of Genesis, where they would have heard of "the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the wa

ters"—or to the Law, where the same "Spirit came down upon the seventy elders." —or to the Psalms, where they might have heard David say of Him, "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, and they are created ;' and, "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me":" -or to the Prophets; as to Isaiah, for the words of Christ's first text, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me," or to Joel, for the words of St. Peter's text on this day, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all

Or if they had ever heard of our Saviour Christ, St. Paul might have sent them to his conception, where they would have heard the Angel say to the blessed Virgin, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee:" -to Christ's baptism, where "the Holy Ghost descended upon Christ” in a visible shapes-to his promise, so often repeated, of sending to them the Holy Ghost:-to his caution "not to sin against the Holy

Ghost;" it was a high and heinous of fence; it could not be remitted.

Or if they had heard of the Apostles, St. Paul might have reminded them, of Christ's" breathing on them," and willing them to receive the Holy Ghost";"-or of the great event of this day, how he was visibly sent down, like " fiery tongues, upon each of them';"- or of their solemn meeting and council at Jerusalem, where it was the tenor of their decrees, "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us":"—or of the alarming end which befel Ananias, with the admonition of St. Peter, that he had lied unto "the Holy Ghost;" and immediately after, that he had lied not unto but unto God"."

man,

But instead of taking either of these courses, St. Paul refers the disciples to their baptism, supposing that it was Christ's baptism, with which they had been baptized. Nor can we follow a better direc

iMatt. xii. 31, 32. Acts xv. 28.

* John xx. 22.

n. Acts v. 3, 4.

Acts ii. 3.