4- PBESENTED TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY BY Professor flenry von Dyke, D.D., Ixlx.D. BX 5131 .R94 1878 Ryle, J. C. 1816-1900. Old paths Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/oldpathsbeingplaOOryle OLD PATHS. OLD PATHS. BEING PLAIN STATEMENTS ON SOME OF .THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF CHRISTIANITY, FROM THE STANDPOINT OF AN EVANGELICAL CHURCHMAN. REV. J. C. 'RYLE, M.A., HON. CANON OF NORWICH ; VICAR OF STRADBEOKE, AND RURAL DEAN OF HOXNE, SUFFOLK. Author of "Expository Tlioughts on the Gospels," "Knots Untied," etc. " If the tiumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?"—! Cob. xiv. 8. LONDON: WILLIAM HUNT AND COMPANY, 12, PATERNOSTER ROW. IPSWICH: WILLIAM HUNT, TAVERN STREET. 1878. PKEFACE. The volume now in the reader's hands consists of a series of papers, systematically arranged, on the leading truths of Christianity which are " necessary to salvation." Few, probably, will deny that there are some things in religion about which we may think other people hold very erroneous views, and are, notwithstanding, in no danger of being finally lost. About baptism and the Lord's Supper, — about the Christian ministry, — about forms of prayer and modes of worship, — about the union of Church and State, — about all these things it is commonly admitted that people may differ widely, and yet be finally saved. No doubt there are always bigots and extreme partisans, who are ready to excommunicate every one who cannot pro- nounce their Shibboleth on the above-named points. But, speaking generally, to shut out of heaven all who dis- agree with us about these things, is to take up a position which most thoughtful Christians condemn as unscriptural, narrow, and uncharitable. vi PREFACE. On the other hand, there are certain great truths of which some knowledge, by common consent, appears essential to salvation. Such truths are the immortality of the soul, — the sinfulness of human nature, — the work of Christ for us as our Redeemer, — the work of the Holy Ghost in us, — forgiveness, — ^justification, — conversion, — faith, — repentance, — the marks of a right heart, — Christ's invitations, — Christ's intercession, — and the like. If truths like these are not absolutely necessary to salvation, it is difficult to understand how any truths whatever can be called necessary. If people may be saved without knowing anything about these truths, it appears to me that we may throw away our Bibles altogether, and proclaim that the Christian religion is of no use. From such a miserable conclusion I hope most people will shrink back with horror. To open out and explain these great necessary trutlis, — to confirm them by Scripture, — to enforce them by home appeals to the conscience of all who read this volume, — this is the simple object of the series of papers which is now ottered to the public* To this statement, I frankly admit, the first and two last papers in the volume form an exception. Inspiration, Election, and Perseverance are undoubtedly points about which good men in every age have dis- agreed, and will disagree perhaps while the world stands. The immense importance of inspiration in this day, and the extraordinary neglect into which election and perseverance have fallen, notwithstanding the Seven- teenth Article, are my reasons for inserting the three papers. PREFACE. VII The name Avliich I have selected will prepare the reader to expect no new doctrines in this volume. It is simple^ unadulterated, old-fashioned Evangelical theology. It contains nothing but the " Old Paths " in which the Apostolic Christians, the Reformers, the best English Churchmen for the last three hundred years, and the best Evangelical Christians of the present day, have per- sistently walked. From these " paths " I see no reason to depart. They are often sneered at and ridiculed, as old-fashioned, effete, worn out, and powerless in the Nine- teenth Century. Be it so. " None of these things move me." I have yet to learn that there is any system of religious teaching, by whatever name it may be called. High, or Broad, or Romish, or Neologian, which produces one quarter of the effect on human nature that is produced by the old, despised system of doctrine which is commonly called Evangelical. I willingly admit the zeal, earnestness, and devotedness of many religious teachers wlio are not Evangelical. But I hrmly maintain that the way of the school to which I belong is the "more excellent way." The longer I live the more I am convinced that the world needs no new Gospel, as some profess to think. I am thoroughly persuaded that the world needs nothing but a bold, full, unflinching teaching of the " old paths." The heart of man is the same in every age. The spiritual medicine which it requires is always the same. The same VIU PREFACE. Gospel whicli was preached by Latimer, and Hooper, and Bradford, — by Hall, Davenant, Usher, Reynolds, and Hopkins, — by Manton, Brooks, Watson, Charnock, Owen, and' Gurnall, — by Romaine, Venn, Grimshaw, Hervey, and Cecil, — this is the gospel which alone will do real good in the present da}'. The leading doctrines of that gospel are the substance of the papers which compose this volume. They are the doctrines, I firmly believe, of the Bible and the Thirty-nine Ai-ticles of the Church of England. They are doctrines which, I find, wear well, and in the faith of them I hope to live and die. I repeat most emphatically that I am not ashamed of what are commonly called " Evangelical principles." Fiercely and bitterly as those principles are assailed on all sides, — loudly and scornfully as some proclaim that they have done their work and are useless in this day, — I see no evidence whatever that they are defective or decayed, and I see no reason for giving them up. No doubt other schools of thought produce great outward eflfects on man- kind, gather large congregations, attain great popularity, and by means of music, ornaments, gestures, postures, and a generally histrionic ceremonial, make a great show of religion. I see it all, and I am not surprised. It is exactly what a study of human nature by the light of the Bible would lead me to expect. But for real imoard eflfects on hearts, and outward effects on lives, I see no teaching so PREFACE. ix powerful as thorough, genuine Evangelical teaching. Just in proportion as the preachers of other schools borrow Evangelical weapons and Evangelical phraseology I see them obtaining influence. No doubt the good that is done in the world is little, and evil abounds. But I am certain that the teaching which does most good is that of the despised Evangelical school. It is not merely true and good up to a certain point, and then defective and needing additions, as some tell us ; it is true and good all round, and needs no addition at all. If those who hold Evangelical views were only more faithful to their own principles, and more bold, and uncompromising, and decided, both in their preaching and their lives, they would soon find, whatever infidels and Romanists may please to say, that they hold the only lever which can shake the world. The readers of the many tracts which God has allowed me to send fortli for thirty years, must not expect much that they have not seen before, in " Old Paths." Expe- rience has taught me, at last, that the peculiar tastes of all classes of society must be consulted, if good is to be done by the press. I am convinced that there are thousands of people in England who are willing to read a volume, but f will never look at anything in the form of a tract. It is for them that I now send forth " Old Paths." Those who read through this book continuously, and PREFACE. without a pause, will, doubtless, observe a certain degree of sameness and similarity in some of the papers. The same thoughts are occasionally repeated, though in a diflferent dress. To account for this, I will ask them to remember that most of the papers were originally written separately, and at long intervals of time, in some cases of as much as twenty years. On calm reflection, I have thought it better to republish them, pretty much as they originally appeared. Few readers of a religious book like this read it all through at once ; and the great majority, I suspect, find it enough to read quietly only one or two chapters at a time. I now send forth the volume with a deep sense of its many defects ; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. J. C. RYLE. October, 1877. Vicar of Stradbroke. CONTENTS. PREFACE V I. INSPIRATION 1 II. OUR SOULS . 40 III. FEW SAVED 64 IV. OUR HOPE . 93 V. ALIVE OR DEAD . . 121 VI. OUR SINS 150 VII. FORGIVENESS . 179 VIII. JUSTIFICATION 211 IX. THE CROSS OF CHRIST . 239 X. THE HOLY GHOST 263 XI. HAVING THE SPIRIT . 291 XII. CONVERSION . 322 XIII. THE HEART . 340 XIV. Christ's invitation 358 XV. FAITH .... . 376 XVI. repentance 403 xyii. Christ's power to save . 436 XVIII. election 458 XIX. perseverance . 476 OLD PATHS. 1. INSPIRATION. "All Scripture is g'ven hy inspiration of God." — 2 Tdi. iii. IG. How was the Bible written? — "Whence is it? From heaven, or of men ? " — Had the writers of the Bible any special or peculiar help in doing their work ? — Is there anything in the Bible which makes it unlike all other books, and therefore demands our respectful attention ? — These are questions of vast importance. They are ques- tions to which I wish to offer an answer in this paper. To speak plainly, the subject I propose to examine is that deep one, the inspiration of Scripture. I believe the Bible to have been written by inspiration of God, and I want others to be of the same belief The subject is ahunyf? important. I place it purposely in the very forefront of the papers which compose this volume. I ask a hearing for the doctrines which I am about to handle, because they are drawn from a book which is the " Word of God." Inspiration, in short, is the very keel and foundation of Christianity. If Christians have no Divine book to turn to as the warrant of their doctrine and practice, they have no solid ground for present peace or hope, and no right to claim the attention of man- B 2 OLD PATHS. kind. They are building on a quicksand, and their faith is vain. We ought to be able to say boldly, " We are what we are, and we do what we do, because we have here a book whicb we believe to be the Word of God." The subject is one of peculiar importance in the present day. Infidelity and scepticism abound everywhere. In one form or another they are to be found in every rank and class of society. Thousands of Englishmen are not ashamed to say that they regard the Bible as an old obsolete Jewish book, which has no special claim on our faith and obedience, and that it contains many inaccuracies « and defects. Myriads who will not go so far as this are wavering and shaken in their belief, and show plainly by their lives that they are not quite sure the Bible is true. In a day like this the true Christian should be able to set bis foot down firmly, and to render a reason of liis con- fidence in God's Word. He should be able by sound arguments to meet and silence the gainsayer, if he cannot convince him. He should be able to show good cause why he thinks the Bible is "from heaven, and not of men." The subject without doubt is a very difficult one. It cannot be followed up without entering on ground which is dark and mysterious to mortal man. It involves the discussion of things which are miraculous, and supernatural, and above reason, and cannot be fully explained. But difficulties must not turn us away from any subject in religion. There is not a science in the world about which questions may not be asked which no one can answer. It is poor ^ihilosophy to say we will believe nothing unless we can understand everything ! We must not give up the subject of inspiration in despair because it contains things "hard to be understood." There still remains a vast amount of ground which is plain to every common under- standing. I invite my readers to occupy this ground with me to-day, and to hear what I have got to say on the Divine authority of God's Word. INSPIRATION. 3 In considering the subject before us, there are two things which I propose to do : — I. In the first place, I shall try to show the general truth, that the Bible is given by inspiration of God. II. In the second place, I shall try to show the extent to which the Bible is inspired. I trust that all who read this paper will take up the subject ill a serious and reverent spirit. This question of inspiration is no light one. It involves tremendously grave consequences. If the Bible is not the Word of God and inspired, the whole of Christendom for 1800 years has been under an immense delusion ; — half the human race has been cheated and deceived, and churches are monu- ments of folly. — If the Bible is the Word of God and inspired, all who refuse to believe it are in fearful danger ; — they are living on the brink of eternal misery. No man, in his sober senses, can fail to see that the whole subject demands most serious attention. I. In the first place, I propose to show the general truth, — that the Bible is given by inspiration of God. In saying this, I mean to assert that the Bible is utterly unlike all other books that were ever written, because its writers were specially inspired, or enabled by God, for the work which they did. I say that the Book comes to us with a claim which no other book possesses. It is stamped with Divine authority. In this respect it stands entirely alone. Sermons, and tracts, and theological writings of all kinds, may be sound and edifying, but they are only the handiwork of uninspired man. The Bible alone is the Book of God. Now I shall not waste time in proving that the Scrip- tures are genuine and authentic, that they were really written by the very men who profess to have written them, and that they contain the very things which they wrote. 4 OLD PATHS. I shall not touch what are commonly called external evidences. I shall bring forward the book itself, and pu t it in the witness box. I shall try to show that nothing can possibly account for the Bible being what it is, and doing what it has done, except the theory that it is the Word of God. I lay it down broadly, as a position whicli cannot be turned, that the Bible itself, fairly examined, is the best witness of its own inspiration. I shall content myself with stating some plain facts about the Bible, which can neither be denied nor explained away. And the ground I shall take up is this, — that these facts ought to satisfy every reasonable inquirer that the Bible is of God, and not of man. They are simple facts, whicli require no knowledge of Hebrew, or Greek, or Latin, in order to be understood ; yet they are facts which prove to my own mind conclusively that the Bible is superhuman, or not of man. (a) It is a fact, that there is an extraordinary fulness and richness in the contents of the Bible. It throw^s more light on a vast number of most important subjects than all the other books in the world put together. It boldly handles matters which are beyond the reach of man, when left to himself It treats of things which are mysterious and invisible, — the soul, the world to come, and eternity, — depths which man has no line to fathom. All who have tried to write of these things, without Bible light, have done little but show their own ignorance. They grope like the blind ; they speculate ; they guess ; they generally make the darkness more visible, and land us in a region of vincertainty and doubt. How dim were the views of Socrates, Plato, Cicero, and Seneca! A well-taught Sunday scholar, in this day, knows more spiritual truth than all these sages put together. The Bible alone gives a reasonable account of the beginning and end of the globe on which we live. It starts from the birthday of sun, moon, stars, and earth in INSPIRATION. 5 their present order, and shows us creation iti its cradle. It foretells the dissolution of all things, when the earth and all its works shall be burned up, and shows us creation in its grave. It tells us the story of the world's youth ; and it tells us the story of its old age. It gives us a picture of its first days; and it gives us a picture of its last. How vast and important is this knowledge ! Can this be the handiwork of uninspired man ? Let us try to answer that question. The Bible alone gives a true and faithful account of man. It does not flatter him as novels and romances do ; it does not conceal his faults and exaggerate his goodness ; it paints him just as he is. It describes him as a fallen creature, of his own nature inclined to evil, — a creature needing not only a pardon, bat a new heart, to make him fit for heaven. It shows him to be a corrupt being under every circumstance, when left to himself, — corrupt after the loss of paratlise, — corrupt after the flood, — corrupt when fenced in by divine laws and commandments, — corrupt when the Son of God came down and visited him in the flesh, — corrupt in the fice of warnings, promises, miracles, judgments, mercies. In one word, it shows man to be by nature always a sinner. How important is this knowledge ! Can this be the work of uninspired minds ? Let us try to answer that question. The Bible alone gives us true views of God. By nature man knows nothing clearly or fully about Him. All his conceptions of Him are low, grovelling, and debased. What could be more degraded than the gods of the Cauaanitcs and Egyptians, — of Babylon, of Greece, and of Rome ? What can be more vile than the gods of the Hindoos and other heathen in our own time ? — By the Bible we know that God hates sin. The destruction of the old world by the flood ; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah ; the drowning of Pharoah and the Egyptians in the Red Sea ; the cutting olf the nations of Canaan ; 6 OLD PATHS. the overthrow of Jerusalem and the Temple; the scattering of the Jews ; — all these are unmistakable witnesses. — By the Bible we know that God loves sinners. His sracious promise in tlie day of Adam's fall; His longsuffering in the time of Noah ; His deliverance of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; His gift of the law at Mount Sinai ; His bringing the tribes into the promised laud ; His forbearance in the days of the Judges and Kings ; His repeated warnings by the month of His prophets ; His restoration of Israel after the Babylonian captivity ; His sending His Son into the world, in due time, to be crucified ; His commanding the Gospel to be preached to the Gentiles ; — all these are speaking facts. — By the Bible we learn that God knows all things. We see Him foretelling things hundreds and thousands of years before they take place, and as He foretells so it comes to pass. He foretold that the family of Ham should be a servant of servants, — that Tyre should become a rock for drying nets, — that Nineveh should become a desolation, — that Babylon should be made a desert — that Egypt should be the basest of kingdoms, — that Edom should be forsaken and uninhabited, — and that the Jews should not be reckoned among the nations. All these things were utterly unlikely and improbable. Yet all have been fulfilled. Once more I sa}-, how vast and important is all this knowledge ! Can this Book be the work of uninspired man ? Let us try to answer that question. The Bible alone teaches us that God has made a full, perfect, and comiilcte provision for the salvation of fallen man. It tells of an atonement made for the sin of the world, by the sacrifice and death of God's own Son upon the cross. It tells us that by His death for sinners, as their Substitute, He obtained eternal redemption for all that believe on Him. The claims of God's broken law have now been satisfied. Christ has suffered for sin, the just for the unjust. God can now be just, and yet the INSPIRATION. 7 justifier of the ungodly. It tells us that there is now a complete remedy for the guilt of sin, — even the precious blood of Christ; and peace, and rest of conscience for all who believe on Christ. " Whosoever believeth on Him .shall not perish, but have eternal life." It tells us that there is a comjilete remedy for the power of sin, — even the almighty grace of the Spirit of Christ. It shows us the Holy Ghost quickening believers, and making them new creatures. It promises a new heart and a new nature to all who will hear Christ's voice, and follow Him. Once more I say, how important is this knowledge ! What should we know of all this comfortable truth without the Bible ? Can this Book be the composition of uninspired men ? Let us try to answer that question. The Bible alone explains the state of things that ice see in the tuorld around us. There are many things on earth which a natural man cannot explain. The amazing inequality of conditions, — the poverty and distress, — the oppression and persecution, — the shakings and tumults, — the failures of statesmen and legislators, — the constant existence of uncured evils and abuses, — all these things are often puzzling to him. He sees, but docs not under- stand. But the Bible makes it all clear. The Bible can tell him that the whole world lieth in wickedness, — that the prince of the world, the devil, is everywhere, — and that it is vain to look for perfection in the present order of things. The Bible will tell him that neither laws nor education can ever change men's hearts, — and that just as no man will ever make a machine work well, unless he allows for friction, — so also no man will do much good in the world, unless he always remembers that human nature is fallen, and that the world he works in is full of sin. The Bible will tell him that there is "a good time" certainly coming, — and coming perhaps sooner than people expect it, — a time of perfect knowledge, perfect justice, perfect happiness, and perfect peace. But the Bible will 8 OLD PATHS. tell him this time shall not he brought in by any power but that of Christ coming to earth again. And for that second coming of Christ, the Bible will tell him to prepare. Once more, I say, how important is all this knowledge ! All these are things which men covdd find nowhere except in the Scriptures. We have probably not the least idea how little we should know about these thinsfs if we had not the Bible. We hardly know the value of the air we breathe, and the sun which shines on us, because we have never known what it is to be without them. We do not value the truths on which I have been just now dwelling, because we do not realize the darkness of men to whom these truths have not been revealed. Surely no tongue can fully tell the value of the treasures this one volume contains. Set down that fact in your mind, and do not forget it. The extraordinary contents of the Bible are a great fact which can only be explained by admitting its inspiration. Mark well what I say. It is a simple broad fact, that in the matter of contents, the Bible stands entirely alone, and no other book is fit to be named in the same day with it. He that dares to say the Bible is not inspired, let him give a reasonable account of this fact, if he can. (b) It is another fact that there is an extraordinary unity and harmony in the contents of the Bible, which is entirely above man. We all know how difficult it is to get a story told by any three persons, not living together, in which there are not some contradictions and discrepan- cies. If the story is a long one, and involves a large quantity of particulars, unity seems almost impossible among the common run of men. But it is not so with the Bible. Here is a long book written by not less than thirty different persons. The writers were men of every rank and class in society. One was a lawgiver. One was a warlike king. One was a peaceful kmg. One was a herdsman. One had been brought up as a publican, — INSPIRATION. 9 finother as a physician, — another as a learned Pliarisce, — - two as fishermen, — several as priests. They lived at different intervals over a space of 1500 years; and tho greater part of them never saw each other face to face. And yet there is a perfect harmony among all these writers ? They all write as if they were under one dictation. The style and hand-writing may vary, but the mind that runs through their work is always one and the same. They all tell the same story. They all give one account of man, — one account of God, — one account of the way of salvation, — one account of the human heart. You see truth unfokling under their hands, as you go through the volume of their writings, — but you never detect any real contradiction, or contrariety of view. Let U8 set down this fact in our minds, and ponder it well. Tell us not that this unity might be the result of chance. No one can ever believe that but a very credulous person. There is only one satisfactory account to be given of the fact before us. — The Bible is not of man, but of God. (c) It is another fact that there is an extraordinary rvisdom, svMiinity and majesty in the style of the Bible, which is above man. Strange and unlikely as it was, the writers of Scripture have produced a book which even at this day is utterly unrivalled. With all our boasted attainments in science and art and learning, we can produce nothing that can be compared with the Bible. Even at this very hour, in 1877, the book stands entirely alone. There is a strain and a style and a tone of thought about it, which separate it from all other writings. There are no weak points, and motes, and flaws, and blemishes. There is no mixture of infirmity and feebleness, such as you will find in the works of even the best Christians. " Holy, holy, holy," seems written on every page. To talk of comparing the Bible with other "sacred books" so- called, such as the Koran, the Shasters, or the book of 10 OLD PATHS. Mormon, is positively absurd. You niioht as well compare the sun with a rushlight, — or Skiddaw with a mole hill, — or St. Paul's with an Irish hovel, — or the Portland vase Avith a garden pot, — or the Koh-i-noor diamond with a bit of glass. * God seems to have allowed the existence of these pretended revelations, in order to prove the immeasurable superiority of His own Word. To talk of the inspiration of the Bible, as only differing in degree from that of such writings as the works of Homer, Plato, Shakspeare, Dante, and Milton, is simply a piece of I blasphemous folly. Every honest and unprejudiced reader / must see that there is a gulf between the Bible and any ' other book, which no man can fathom. You feel, on turning from the Scriptures to other works, that you have got into a new atmosphere. You feel like one who has exchancred sold for base metal, and heaven for earth. And how can this mighty difference be accounted for ? The men who wrote the Bible had no special advantages. They lived in a remote corner of the civilized earth. They had, most of them, little leisure, few books, and no learning, — such as learning is reckoned in this world. Yet the book they compose is cue which is unrivalled ! There is but one way of accounting for this fact. — They wrote under the direct inspiration of God. (d) It is another fact that there is an extraordinary accuracy in the facts and statements of the Bible, which *Carlyle's estimate of the Koran is given, in " Hero-worsliip, " in the following words. "It is a wearisome, confused jumble, crude, recondite, abounding in endless iterations, long-windeduess, entangle- ment, insupportable stupidity. In short nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European through the Koran, with its unreadable masses of lumber." John Owen says, " There are no other writings in the world, beside the Bible, that ever pretended unto a divine original, but they are not only from their matter, but from the manner of their writing, and the plain footsteps of human artifice and weakness therein, sufficient for their own conviction, and do openly discover their own vain pretensions." {The Reason of Faith. AYorks, vol iv., p. 34r, Johnston's Edition.) INSPIRATION. 11 is above man. Here is a book wliieli has been finished and before the world for nearly 1800 years. These 1800 years have been the busiest and most changeful period the world has ever seen. During this period the greatest discoveries have been made in science, the greatest alterations in the ways and customs of society, the greatest improvements in the habits and -usages of life. Hundreds of things might be named which satisfied and pleased our lorefathers, which we have laid aside long ago as obsolete, useless, and old-fashioned. The laws, the books, the houses, the furniture, the clothes, the arms, the machinery, the car- riages of each succeeding century, have been a continual improvement on those of the century that went before. There is hardly a thing in which fiiults and weak points have not been discovered. There is scarcely an institution which has not gone through a process of sifting, purifying, refining, simplifying, reforming, amending, and changing. But all this time men have never discovered a weak point or a defect in the Bible. Infidels have assailed it in vain. There it stands, — perfect, and fresh, and complete, as it did eighteen centuries ago. The march of intellect never overtakes it. The wisdom of wise men never gets beyond it. The science of philosophers never proves it wrong. The discoveries of travellers never convict it of mistakes. - — Are the distant islands of the Pacific laid open ? Nothing is found that in the slightest desjree contradicts the Bible account of man's heart. — Are the ruins of Nineveh and Egypt ransacked and explored ? Notliing is found that overturns one jot or tittle of the Bible's historical state- ments.— How shall we account for this fact ? Who could have thought it possible that so large a book, handling such a vast variety of subjects, should at the end of 1800 years, be found so free from erroneous statements ? There is only one account to be given of the fact. — The Bible was written hy inspiration of God. (e) It is another fact that there is in the Bible an 12 OLD PATHS. extraorJinary suitahleness to the spiritual wants of all 'mankind. It exactly meets the heart of man in every rank or class, in every country and climate, in every age and period of life. It is the only book in existence which is never out of place and out of date. Other books after a time become obsolete and old-fashioned : the Bible never does. Other books suit one country or people, and not another : the Bible suits all. It is the book of the poor and unlearned no less than of the rich and the philosopher. It feeds the mind of the labourer in his cottage, and it satisfies the gigantic intellects of Newton, Chalmers, Brewster, and Farada}^ Lord Macaulay, and John Bright, and the writers of brilliant articles in the Times, are all under obligations to the same volume. It is equally valued by the converted New Zealander in the southern hemisphere, and the Red River Indian in the cold north of America, and the Hindoo under the tropical sun. It is the only book, moreover, which seems always fresh and evergreen and new. For eighteen centuries it has been studied and jarayed over by millions of private Christians, and expounded and explained and preached to us by thousands of ministers. Fathers, and Schoolmen, and Reformers, and Puritans, and modern divines, have incessantly dug down into the mine of Scripture, and yet have never exhausted it. It is a well never dry, and a field which is never barren. It meets the hearts and minds and consciences of Christians in the nineteenth century as fully as it did those of Greeks and Romans when it was first completed. It suits the " Dairyman's daughter " as well as Persis, or Tryphena, or Tryphosa, — and the English Peer as well as the converted African at Sierra Leone. It is still the first book which fits the child's mind when he begins to learn religion, and the last to which the old man clings as he leaves the world.* In short, it suits all ages, * "I have alwaj's been strongly in favour of secular education in the sense of education without theology. But I must confess I have been INSPIRATION. 13 ranks, climates, minds, conditions. It is tlie one book which suits the world. Now how shall we account for this singular fact ? What satisfactory explanation can we give ? There is only one account and explanation. — The Bible was %vritten hy Divine inspiration. It is the book of the world, because He inspired it who formed the world, — who made all nations of one blood, — and knows man's common nature. It is the book for every heart, because He dictated it who alone knows all hearts, and what all hearts require. It is the book of God. (/) Last, but not least, it is a great fact that the Bible hds liad a most cxtraordiuarij ejfect on the condition oj those nations in which it lias been known, taught, and read. I invite any honest-minded reader to look at a map of the worhl, and see what a story that map tells. Which are the countries on the face of the globe at this moment where there is the greatest amount of idolatry, or cruelty, or tyranny, or impurity, or misgovernmeut, or disregard of no less seriously perplexed to know by what practical measures tlie religious feeling, which is the essential basis of conduct, could be ke]it up in the present chaotic state of opinion on these matters without //i" use of the Bible." " Consider the great historical fact that for three centuries tliis Book has been woven into the life of all that is best and noblest iii Kngli.sh Listory ; — that it has become the national epic of Britain, iind is as familiar to noble and simple from John o' Groat's Home to the Land's End, as Dante and Tasso once were to the Italians ; — that it is writteu in the best and purest E :glish, and abounds in exquisite beauties of mere literary form ; — and Hnally, that it forbids the veriest hind who never left his village to be ignorant of other countries and other civiliza- tions, and of a great past, stretching back to tlie furthest limits of t!ie oldest nations in the world. By the study of what other book to dd children be so much humaniEed and made to feel that each figure in that vast historical procession tills, like themselves, but a mon e itary space in the interval between two eternities, and earns the blessings or the curses of all time, according to its effort to do good and hate evil, even as they also are earning their payment fo;- their woik?" — Proftasor Hucky on School Boards [Huxleijs Critiques and E^saijH, p. 51.) 14. OLD PATHS. life and liberty and truth ? Precisely those countries where the Bible is not known. — Which are the Christian countries, so-called, where the greatest quantity of ignor- ance, superstition, and corruption, is to be found at this very moment? The countries in which the Bible is a forbidden or neglected book, — such countries as Spain and the South American States. — Which are the countries where liberty, and public and private morality have attained the highest pitcli ? The countries where the Bible is free to all, like England, Scotland, Germany, and ' the United States. Yes ! when you know how a nation deals with the Bible, you may generally know what a nation is. But this is not all. Let us look nearer home. Which are the cities on earth where the fewest soldiers and police are required to keep order ? London, Manchester, Liver- pool, New York, Philadelphia, — cities where Bibles abound. — Which are tlie countries in Europe where there are the fewest murders and illegitimate births ? The Protestant countries, where the Bible is freely read. — Which are the Churches and religious bodies on earth which are producing the greatest results by spreading light and dispelling darkness ? Those which make much of the Bible, and teach and preach it as God's Word. The Romanist, the Neologian, the Socinian, the deist, the sceptic, or the friends of mere secular teaching, have never yet shown us one Sierra Leone, one New Zealand, one Tinnevell)'-, as the fruit of their principles. We onl}' can do that who honour the Bible and reverence it as as God's Word. Let this fact also be remembered. He that denies the Divine inspiration of the Bible, let him explain this fact if he can.* * "The Bible is the fountain of all true patriotism and loyalty in States ; — it is the source of all true wisdom, sound policy, and equity in Senates, CouncU-chambers, and Courts of Justice ; — it is the spring of all tme discipline and obedience, and of all valour and chivalry, in armies and fleets, in the battlefield and on the wide sea ; — it is the INSPIRATION. 15 I place these six facts about the Bible before my readers, and I ask them to consider them well. Take them all six together, treat them fairly, and look at them honestly. Upon any other principle than that of divine inspiration, those six facts appear to me inexplicable and. unaccountable. Here is a book written by a succession of Jews, in a little corner of the world, which positively stands alone. Not only were its writers isolated and cut off in a peculiar manner from other nations, but they belonged to a people who have never produced any other book of note except the Bible ! There is not the slightest proof that, unassisted and left to themselves, they were capable of writing anything remarkable, like the Greeks and Romans. Yet these men have given the world a volume which for depth, unity, sublimity, accuracy, suitableness to the wants of man, and power of influencing its readers, is perfectly unrivalled. How can this be explained ? How can it be accounted for ? To my mind there is only one answei*. The writers of the Bible were divinely helped and qualified for the work which they did. The book which they have given to us was written by inspiration of God* For my own part, I believe that in dealing with sceptics, and unbelievers, and enemies of the Bible, Christians are too apt to stand only on the defensive. They are too often content with answering this or that little objection. origin of all probity and integrity in commerce and in trade, in marts and in shops, in b.mks and exchanges, in the public resorts of men and the secret silence of the heart ; — it is the pure, unsullied fountain of all love and peace, happiness, quietness and joy, in families and bouspholds. — Wherever it is duly obeyed it makes the desert of the world to rejoice and blossom as the rose." — Wordsworth on Intipiration, p. 113. * "The little ark of Jewish literature still floats above the surges of time, while mere fragments of the wrecked archives of the huge oriental empires, as well as of the lesser kingdoms that surrounded Juda'a, arc now and then cast on o\ir distant shores."— i?o<7e>-s on the Svpcrhitman Origin of the. Bible, p. 311. 16 OLD PATHS. or discussing this or that little difficulty, which is picked out of Scripture and thrown in their teeth. I believe we ought to act on the aggressive far more than we do, and to press home on the adversaries of inspiration the enormous difficulties of their own position. We have a right to ask them how they can possibly ex^^lain the origin and nature of the Bible, if they will not allow that it is of Divine authority ? We have a right to say, — " Here is a book which not only courts inquiry but demands investi- gation. We challenge you to tell us how that Book was written." — How can they account for this Book standing so entirely alone, and for nothing having ever been written equal to it, like it, near it, or fit to be compared with it for a minute ? I defy them to give any rational reply on their own principles. On our principles we can. To tell us that man's unassisted mind could have written the Bible is simply ridiculous. It is worse than ridiculous: it is the height of credulity. In short, the difficulties of unbelief are far greater than the difficulties of faith. No doubt there ai-e things " hard to be understood " if we accept the Scriptures as God's Word. But, after all, they are nothing compared to the hard things which rise up in our way, and demand solution if we once deny inspiration. There is no alternative. Men must either believe things which are grossly improbable, or else they must accept the great general truth that tJie Bible is tlie inspired Word of God. II. The second thing which I pro])ose to consider is the extent to xvlucli the Bible is inspired. Assuming, as a general truth, that the Bible is given by Divine inspira- tion, I wish to examine how far and to what degree its writers received Divine help. In short, what is it exactly that we mean when we talk of the Scriptures as "tlie Word of God " ? This is, no doubt, a difficult question, and one about INSPIRATION. 17 wliich the best Christians are not entirely of one mini). The plain truth is that inspiration is a miracle; and, like all miracles, there is much about it which we cannot fully understand. — We must not confound it with intellectual power, such as great poets and authors possess. To talk of Shakespeare and" Milton and Byron being inspired, like Moses and St. Paul, is to my mind almost profane. — Nur must we confound it with the gifts and graces bestowed on the early Christians in the primitive Church. All the Apostles were enabled to preach and woi'k miracles, but not all were inspired to write. — We must rather regard it as a special supernatural gift, bestowed on about thirty people out of mankind, in order to qualify them for the special business of writing the Scriptures; and we must be content to allow that, like everything miraculous, we cannot entirely explain it, though we can believe it. A miracle would not be a miracle, if it could be explained. That miracles are possible, I do not stop to prove here. I never trouble myself on that subject until those who deny miracles have fairly grappled with the great fact that Christ rose again from the dead. I firmly believe that miracles are possible, and have been wrought ; and among great miracles I place the fact that men were inspired by God to write the Bible. Inspiration, therefore, being a miracle, I frankly allow that there are difficulties about it which at present I cannot fully solve. The exact manner in which the minds of the inspired writers of Scripture worked when they wrote, I do not pretend to exjliin. Very likely they could not have ex- plained it themselves. I do not admit for a moment that they were mere machines holding pens, and, like type-setters in a printing-office, did not understand what they were doing. I abhor the "mechanical" theory of inspiration. I dislike the idea that men like Moses an I St. Paul were no better than organ pipes, employed by the Holy Ghost, or ignorant secretaries or amanuenses who c 18 OLD PATHS. wrote by dictation what they did not understand. I admit nothing of the kind. I believe that in some mar- vellous manner the Holy Ghost made use ^of the reason, the memory, the intellect, the style of thought, and the pecul'ar mental temperament of each writer of the Scrip- ture.s. But how and in what manner this was done I can no more explain than I can the union of two natures, God and man, in the person of our blessed hord Jesus Christ. I only know that there is both a Divine and a human element in the Bible, and that while the men who wrote it were really and truly men, the book that they wrote and handed down to us is really and truly the Word of God. I know the result, but I do not understand the process. The result is, that the Bible is the written Word of God ; but I can no more explain the process than I can explain how the water became wine at Cana, or how five loaves fed five thousand men, or how a word raised Lazarus from the dead. I do not pretend to explain miracles, and I do not pretend to explain fully the miraculous gift of inspiration. The position I take up is that, while the Bible-Avriters were not " machines," as some sneeringly say, they only wrote what God taught them to write. The Holy Ghost put into their minds thoughts and ideas, and then guided their pens in writing them. When you read the Bible you are not reading the unaided, self-taught composition of erring men like ourselves, but thoughts and words which were suggested by the eternal God. The men who were emjiloyed to indite the Scrip- ture spake not of themselves. They "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter i. 21.) He that holds a Bible in his hand should know that he holds " not the word of man but of God." (1 Thess. ii. 13.) Concerning the precise extent to which the Bible is inspired, I freely admit that Christians differ widely. Some of the views put forth on the subject appear to me erroneous in the extreme. I shall not shrink from giving INSPIRATION. 19 my own opinion and stating my reasons for maintaining it. In matters like those I dare not call any riian master. Painful as it is to disagree with able and gifted men on religious questions, I dare not take up views of inspiration which my head and heart tell me are unsound, however high and honoured the names of those who maintain them. I believe in my conscience that low and defective views of the subject are doing immense damage to the cause of Christ in the.se last days. Some hold that some of the books of Scripture are not in.spired at all, and have no more authority or claim to our reverence than the writings of any ordinary man. — Others who do not go so far as this, and allow that all the books in the Bible are inspired, maintain that inspiration was only partial, and that there are portions in almost every book which are uninspired. — Others hold that in- spiration means nothing more than general superintendence and direction, and that, while the Bible writers were miraculou.sly preserved from making mistakes in great things and matters necessary to salvation, in thine Gospel describe. Generally speaking, if Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell a thing in our Lord's his- tory, John does not tell it. But there is one thing that all the four give us most fully, and that one thing is the story of the cross. This is a telling fact, and not to be overlooked. People seem to me to forget that all Christ's sufferings on the cross were fore-ordained. They did not come on Him by chance or accident : they were all planned, counselled, and determined from all eternity. The cross was foreseen in all the provisions of the everlasting Trinity for the salvation of sinners. In the purposes of God the cross was set up from everlasting. Not one throb of pain did Jesus feel, not one precious droji of blood did Jesus shed, which had not been appointed long ago. Infinite wisdom planned that redemption should be by the cross. Infinite wisdom brought Jesus to the cross in due time. He was crucified "by the determinate counsel and fore- knowledge of God." (Acts ii. 23.) People seem to me to forget that all Christ's sufferings on the cross were necessary for man's salvation. He had to bear our sins, if ever they were to be borne at all. With His stripes alone could we be healed. This was the one payment of our debt that God would accept : this was the great sacrifice on which our eternal life depended. If Christ had not gone to the cross and suffered in our stead, the just for the unjust, there would not have been a spark of hope for us. There would have been a mighty 252 OLD PATHS. gulf between ourselves and God, wliicli no man ever could have passed. * People seem to me to forget that all Christ's sufferings were endured voluntarily, and of His own free will. He was under no compulsion. Of His own choice He laid down His life : of His own choice He went to the cross in order to finish the work He came to do. He might easily have summoned legions of angels with a word, and scattered Pilate and Herod, and all their armies, like chaff before the wind. But He was a willing sufferer. His heart was set on the salvation of sinners. He was resolved to open " a fountain for all sin and uncleanness," by shedding His own blood. (Zech. xiii. 1.), When I think of all this, I see nothing painful or disagreeable in the subject of Christ's cross. On the contrary, I see in it wisdom and power, peace and hope, ioy and gladness, comfort and consolation. The more I keep the cross in my mind's eye, the more fulness I seem to discern in it. The longer I dwell on the cross in my thoughts, the more I am satisfied that there is more to be learned at the foot of the cross than anywhere else in the world. (a) Would I know the length and breadth of God the Father's love towards a sinful world ? Where shall I see it most displayed ? Shall I look at His glorious sun, shining down daily on the unthankful and evil ?' Shall I look at seed-time and harvest, returning in regular yearly succession ? Oh, no ! I can find a stronger proof of love than anything of this sort. I look at the cross of Christ. * "In Christ's humiliation stands our exaltation; in His weakness stands our strength ; in His ignominy our glory ; in His death our life." —Cudworth. 1613. "The eye of faith regards Christ sitting on the summit of the cross as in a triumphal chariot ; the devil bound to the lowest part of the same cross, and trodden under the feet of Christ. " — Blaliop Davenant on Colossians. 1627. THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 253 I see in it not the cause of the Father's love, but the effect. There I see that God so loved this wicked world, that He gave His only begotten Son, — gave Him to suffer and die, — that " whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John iii. 16.) I know that the Father loves us, because He did not withhold from us His Son, His only Son. I might sometimes fancy that God the Father is too high and holy to care for such miserable, corrupt creatures as we are ! But I cannot, must not, dare not think it, when I look at the cross of Christ.* (6) Would I know how exceedingly sinful and abomi- nable sin is in the sight of God ? Where shall I see that most fully brought out ? Shall I turn to the history of the flood, and read how sin drowned the world ? Shall I go to the shore of the Dead Sea, and mark what sin brouq-ht on Sodom and Gomorrah ? Shall I turn to the wandering Jews, and observe how sin has scattered them over the face of the earth ? No : I can find a clearer proof still ! I look at the cross of Christ. There I see that sin is so black and damnable, that nothing but the blood of God's own Son can wash it away. There I see that sin has so separated me from my holy Maker, that all the angels in heaven could never have made peace between us. Nothing could reconcile us, short of the death of Christ. If I listened to the wretched talk of proud men, I might sometimes fancy sin was not so very sinful ! But I cannot think little of sin, when I look at the cross of Christ.-f- I * "The world we live in had fallen upon our heads, had it not been upheld by the pillar of the cross ; had not '-hrist stepped in and promised a satisfaction for the sin of man. By this all things consist : not a blessing we enjoy but may put us in mind of it ; they were all forfeited by sin, but merited by His blood. If we study it well we shall be sensible how God hated sin and loved a world." — Charnock. t " If God hateth sin so much that He would allow neither man nor angel for the redemption thereof, but only the death of His only and well-beloved Son, who will not stand in fear thereof?" — Church of England Iloiiiihj for Good Friday. 15G0. .254 OLD PATHS. (c) Would I know the fulness and completeness of the salvation God has provided for sinners ? Where shall I see it most distinctly ? Shall I go to the general declara- tions in the Bible about God's mercy ? Shall I rest in the general truth that God is a " God of love " ? Oh, no ! I will look at the cross of Christ. T find no evidence like that. I find no balm for a sore conscience and a troubled heart, like the sight of Jesus dying for me ou the accursed tree. There I see that a full payment has been made for all ray enormous debts. The curse of that law which I have broken has come down on One who there suffered in my stead. The demands of that law are all satisfied. Payment has been made for me, even to the uttermost farthing. It will not be required twice over. Ah, I might sometimes imagine I was too bad to be forgiven ! My own heart sometimes whispers that I am too Avicked to be saved. But I know in my better moments this is all my foolish unbeHef I read an answer to my doubts in the blood shed on Calvary. I feel sure that there is a way to heaven for the very vilest of men, when I look at the cross. (fZ) Would I find strong reasons for being a holy man?^ Whither shall I turn for them ? Shall I listen to the ten commandments merely ? Shall I study the examples given me in the Bible of what grace can do ? Shall I meditate on the rewards of heaven, and the punishments of hell ? Is there no stronger motive still ? Yes : I will look at the cross of Christ ! There I see the love of Christ constraining me to " live not unto myself, but unto Him." There I see that I am not my own now : I am " bought with a price." (2 Cor. v. 15 ; 1 Cor. vi. 20.) I am bound by the most solenm obligations to glorify Jesus with body and spirit, which are His. There I see that Jesus gave Himself for| me, not only to redeem me from all iniquity, but also to purify me, and to make me one of a "peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus ii. 14.) He bore my sins in His own body on the tree, " that I being dead unto sin THE CROSS OF CHRIST, 255 sliould live unto righteousness." (1 Pet. ii. 2-i.) There isi nothing so sanctifying as a clear view of the cross of' Christ ! It crucifies the world unto us, and us unto the world. How can we love sin, when we remember that because of our sins Jesus died ? Surely none ought to be so holy as the disciples of a crucified Lord. (e) Would I Icarnhow to he contented and cheerful under all the cares and anxieties of life ? What school shall I go to ? How shall I attain this state of mind most easily ? Shall I look at the sovereignty of God, the wisdom of God, the providence of God, the love of God ? It is well to do so. But I have a better argument still. I will look at the cross of Christ. I feel that " He who spared not His only-begotteu Son, but delivered Him up to die for me, will surely with Him give me all things" that I really need. (Rom. viii. 32.) He that endured such agony, sufferings, and pain for my soul, will surely not withhold from me anything that is really good. He that has done the greater things for me, will doubtless do the lesser things also. He that gave His own blood to procure me a home in heaven, will unquestionably supply me with all that is really profitable for me by the way. There is no school for learning contentment that can be compared with the foot of the cross ! (/) Would I gather arguments for hoping that I shall never he cast away ? Where shall I go to find them ? Shall I look at my own graces and gifts ? Shall I take comfort in my own faitli, and love, and penitence, and zeal, and prayer ? Shall I turn to my own heart, and say, " this same heart will never be false and cold " ? Oh, no ! God forbid ! I will look at the cross of Christ. This is my grand argument. This is my main stay. I cannot think that He who went through such sufferings to redeem my soul, will let that soul perish after all, when it has once cast itself on Him. Oh, no ! what Jesus paid for, Jesus will surely keep. He paid dearly for it. He will not let it easily be lost. He called me to Himself when I was a 256 OLD PATHS. dark sinner: He will never forsake me after I have believed. AVhen Satan tempts us to doubt whether Christ's people will be kept from falling, we should tell Satan to look at the cross.* And now, will you marvel that I said all Christians ought to glory in the cross ? Will you not rather wonder that any can hear of the cross and remain unmoved ? I declare I know no greater proof of man's depravity, than the fact that thousands of so-called Christians see nothing in the cross. Well may our hearts be called stony, — well may the eyes of our mind be called blind,— well may our whole nature be called diseased, — well may we all be called dead, when the cross of Christ is heard of and yet neglected. Surely we may take up the words of the prophet, and sa}^ " Hear, 0 heavens, and be astonished 0 earth ; a wonderful and a horrible thing is done," — Christ was crucified for sinners, and yet many Christians live as if He was never crucified at all ! (a) The cross is tlie grand peculiarity of the Christian religion. Other religions have laws and moral precepts, forms and ceremonies, rewards and punishments. But other religions cannot tell us of a dying Saviour. They cannot show us the cross. This is the crown and gloiy of the Gospel. This is that special comfort which belongs to it alone. Miserable indeed is that religious teaching Avhich calls itself Christian, and yet contains nothing of the cross. A man who teaches in this way, might as well profess to explain the solar system, and yet tell his hearers nothin"' about the sun. o (6) The cross is the strength of a minister. I for one 1 _ * "The believ^er is so freed from eternal wrath, that if Satan and 'conscience say, 'Thou art a sinner, and under the curse of the law,' he can say. It is true, I am a sinner ; but I was hanged on a tree and died, and was made a curse in my Head and Lawgiver Christ, and His pay- ment and suffering is my payment and swSmvig."— Rutherford's ChrUt Dying. 1647. THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 257 would not be without it for all the world. I should feel like a soldier without arms, — like an artist without his pencil, — like a pilot without his compass, — like a labourer without his tools. Let others, if they will, preach the law and morality ; let others hold forth the terrors of hell, and the joys of heaven ; let others drench their congregations with teachings about the sacraments and the church ; give me the cross of Christ ! This is the only lever which has ever turned the world ujiside down hitherto, and made men forsake their sins. And if this will not, nothing will. A man may begin preaching with a perfect knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ; but he will do little or no good among his hearers unless he knows something of the cross. Never was. there a minister who did much for the conversion of souls who did not dwell much on Christ crucified. Luther, Rutherford, Whitefield, M'Cheyne, were all most eminently preachers of the cross. This is the preaching that the Holy Ghost delights to bless. He loves to honour those who honour the cross. (c) The cross is the secret of all missionary success. Nothing but this has ever moved the hearts of the heathen. Just according as this has been lifted up missions have prospered. This is the weapon which has won victories over hearts of every kind, in every quarter of the globe. Greenlanders, Africans, South-Sea Islanders, Hindoos, Chinese, all have alike felt its power. Just as that huge iron tube which crosses the Menai Straits, is more affected and bent by half-an-hour's sunshine than by all the dead weight that can be jilaced in it, so in like manner the hearts of savages have melted before the cross, when every other argument seemed to move them no more than stones. " Brethren," said a North-American Indian after his con- version, " I have been a heathen. I know how heathens think. Once a preacher came and began to explain to us that there was a God ; but we told him to return to the place from whence he came. Another preacher came and S 258 OLD PATHS. told US not to lie, nor steal, nor drink ; but we did not heed him. At last another came into my hut one day and said, ' I am come to you in the name of the Lord of heaven and earth, He sends to let you know that He will make you happy, and deliver you from misery. For this end He became a man, gave His life a ransom, and shed His blood for sinners.' I could not forget his Avords. I told them to the other Indians, and an awakening began among us. I say, therefore, preach the sufferings and death of Christ, our Saviour, if you wish your words to gain entrance among the heathen." Never indeed did the devil triumph so thoroughly, as when he persuaded the Jesuit missionaries in China to keep back the story of the cross ! (d) The cross is ^/ie foundation of a CJmrch's 'prosperity. No Church will ever be honoured in which Christ crucified is not continually lifted up: nothing whatever can make up for the want of the cross. Without it all things may be done decently and in order ; without it there may be splendid ceremonies, beautiful music, gorgeous churches, learned ministers, crowded communion tables, huge collections for the poor. But without the cross no good will be done ; dark hearts will not be en- lightened, proud hearts will not be humbled, mourning hearts will not be comforted, faintitag hearts will not be cheered. Sermons about the Catholic Church and an apostolic ministry, — sermons about baptism and the Lord's supper, — sermons about unity and schism, — sermons about fasts and communion, — sermons about fathers and saints, — such sermons will never make up for the absence of sermons about the cross of Christ. They may amuse some : they will feed none. A gorgeous banqueting room, and splendid gold plate on the table, will never make up to a hungry man for the want of food. Christ crucified is God's ordinance for doing good to men. Whenever a Church keeps back Christ crucified, or puts anything whatever in that foremost place which Christ crucified should always THE CROSS OF CHRIST. 259 have, from that moment a Church ceases to be useful. Without Christ crucified in her pulpits, a church is little better than a cumberer of the ground, a dead carcase, a well without water, a barren fig tree, a sleeping watchman, a silent trumpet, a dumb witness, an ambassador without terms of peace, a messenger without tidings, a lighthouse without fire, a stumbling-block to weak believers, a comfort to infidels, a hot-bed for formalism, a joy to the devil, and an offence to God. (e) The cross is the grand centre of union among true Christians. Our outward differences are many, without doubt. One man is an Episcopalian, another is a Presby- terian,— one is an Independent, another a Baptist, — one is a Calvinist, another an Arminian, — one is a Lutheran, another a Plymouth Brother, — one is a friend to Establish- ments, another a friend to the voluntary system, — one is a friend to liturgies, another a friend to extempore prayer. But, after all, what shall we hear about most of these differences, in heaven ? Nothing, most probably : nothing at all. Does a man really and sincerely glory in the cross of Christ I That is the grand question. If he does, he is my brother : we are travelling on the same road ; we are journeying towards a home where Christ is all, and everything outward in religion will be forgotten. But if he does not glory in the cross of Christ, I cannot feel comfort about him. Union on outward points only is union only for a time : union about the cross is union for eternity. Error on outward points is only a skin-deep disease : error about the cross is disease at the heart. Union about outward points is a mere man-made union : union about the cross of Christ can only be produced by the Holy Ghost. I know not what you think of all this. I feel as if I had said nothing compared to what might be said. I feel as if the half of what I desire to tell you about the cross were left untold. But I do hope that I have given you 260 OLD PATHS. something to think about. I do trust that I have shown you that I have reason for the question with which I began this paper : " What do you think and feel about the cross of Christ ? " Listen to me now for a few moments, while I say something to apply the whole subject to your conscience. (a) Are you living in any kind of sin? Are you following the course of this world, and neglecting your soul? Hear, I beseech you, what I sa}^ to you this day: "Behold the Cross of Christ." See there how Jesus loved you! See there what Jesus suffered to prepare for you a way of salvation. Yes : careless men and women, for you that blood was shed ! For you those hands and feet were pierced with nails ! For you that body hung in agony on the cross ! You are those whom Jesus loved, and for whom He died ! Surely that love ought to melt you. Surely the thought of the cross should draw you to repent- ance. Oh, that it might be so this very day ! Oh, that you would come at once to that Saviour who died for you, and is willing to save ! Come, and cry to Him with the prayer of faith, and I know that He will listen. Come, and lay hold wpon the cross, and I know that He will not cast you out. Come, and believe on Him who died on the cross, and this very day you shall have eternal life. How will you ever escape if you neglect so great salva- tion ? None surely will be so deep in hell as those who despise the cross ! (b) Are you inquiring the imy toiuarcl heaven ? Are you seeking salvation, but doubtful whether you can find it ? Are you desiring to have an interest in Christ, but doubting whether Christ will receive you ? To you also I say this day, "Behold the cross of Christ." Here is encouragement if you really want it. Draw near to the Lord Jesus with boldness, for nothing need keep you back. His arms are jpen to receive you : His heart is full of love towards you. He has made a way by which you THE CROSS OF CHRIST. may approach Him with confidence. Think of the cross. Draw near, and fear not. (c) Are you an unlearned man ? Are you desirous to get to heaven, and perplexed and brought to a stand-still by difficulties in the Bible which you cannot explain ? To you also I say this day, " Behold the cross of Christ." Read there the Father's love and the Son's compassion. Surely they are written in great plain letters, which none can well mistake. What though you are now perplexed by the doctrine of election ? What though at present you cannot reconcile your own utter corruption and your own responsibility ? Look, I say, at the cross. Does not that cross tell you that Jesus is a mighty, loving, ready Saviour ? Docs it not make one thing plain, and that is that it is all your own fault if you are not saved ? Ob, get hold of that truth, and hold it fast ! (d) Are you a distressed believer? Is your heart pressed down with sickness, tried with disappointments, overburdened with cares ? To you also I say this day, "Behold the cross of Christ." Think whose hand it is that chastens you ; think whose hand is measuring to you the cup of bitterness which you are now drinking. It is the hand of Him that was crucified. It is the same hand which in love to your soul was nailed to the accursed tree. Surely that thought should comfort and hearten you. Surely you should say to yourself, "A crucified Saviour v?ill never lay upon me anything that is not for my good. There is a needs be. It must be well." (e) Are you a believer that longs to be more holy? Are you one that finds his heart too ready to love earthly things ? To you also I say, " Behold the cross of Christ." Look at the cross, think of the cross, meditate on the cross, and then go and set your affections on the world if you can. I believe that holiness is nowhere learned so well as on Calvary. I believe you cannot look much at the cross without feeling your will sanctified, and your tastes made 2G2 OLD PATHS. more spiritual. As the sun gazed upon makes everything else look dark and dim, so does the cross darken the false splendour of this world. As honey tasted makes all other things seem to have no taste at all, so does the cross seen by faith take all the sweetness out of the pleasures of the world. Keep on every day steadily looking at the cross of Christ, and you will soon say of the world, as the poet does, — Its pkeasures now no longer please, No more content afford ; Far from my heart be joys like these, Now I have seen the Lord. As by the light of opening day The stare are all concealed, So earthly pleasures fade away ' When Jesus is revealed. (/) Are you a dying believer ? Have you gone to that bed from which something within tells you you will never come down alive ? Ai'e you drawing near to that solemn hour, Avhen soul and body must part for a season, and you must launch into a world unknown ? Oh, look steadily at the cross of Christ by faith, and you shall be kept in peace ! Fix the eyes of your mind firmly, not on a man-made crucifix, but on Jesus crucified, and He shall deliver you from all your fears. Though you walk through dark places, He will be with you. He will never leave you, — never forsake you. Sit under the shadow oi the cross to the very last, and its fruit shall be sweet to your taste. " Ah," said a dying missionary, " there is but one thing needful on a death-bed, and that is to feel one's arms around the cross ! " I lay these thoughts before your mind. What you think now about the cross of Christ, I cannot tell. But 1 can wish you nothing better than this, — that you may be able to say with the Apostle Paul, before you die or meet the Lord, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." X. THE HOLY GHOST. "Tf any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." — Rom. viii. 9. The subject of this paper is one of the deepest importance to our souls. That subject is the work of God the Holy Ghost. The solemn words of the text which heads this page demand the attention of all who believe the Scriptures to be the living voice of God. " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is NONE OF HIS." It is probable that most of those into whose hands this paper will fall, have been baptized ? And in what name were you baptized ? It was " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." It is probable that many readers of this paper are married people. And in what name were you pronounced man and wife together ? Again, it was " Ii the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." It is not unlikely that many readers of this paper are members of the Church of England. And in what do you declare your belief every Sunday, when you repeat the Creed ? You say that you " Believe in God the Father, and in God the Son, and in God the Holy Ghost." It is likely that many readers of this paper will be 264 OLD PATHS. buried one da}- vrith. the burial service of tbe Clinrch of England. And what will be the last words pronounced over your coffin, before the mourners go home, and the grave closes over your head? They will be, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all." (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) Now I ask every reader oi this paper a plain question :' Do you know what you mean by these words, so often repeated, — the Holy Ghost ? — What place has God the Holy Ghost in your religion ?— What do you know of His office, His work, His indwelling. His fellowship, and His power ? — This is the subject to which I ask your attention this day. I want you to consider seriously what you know about the work of God the Holy Ghost. I believe that the times in which we live demand frequent and distinct testimonies upon this great subject. I believe that few truths of the Christian relijrion are so O often obscured and spoiled by false doctrine as the truth about the Holy Ghost. I believe that there is no subject wbich an ignorant world is so ready to revile as " cant, fanaticism, and enthusiasm," as the subject of the work of the Holy Ghost. My heart's desire and prayer to God is, that about this subject I may write nothing but the "truth as it is in Jesus," and that I may write that truth in love. For convenience sake I shall divide my subject into lour heads. I shall examine in order : — I. Firstly, — the importance attached to the work of the Holy Ghost in Scripture. II. Secondly, — the necesnity of the work of the Holy Ghost to man's salvation. III. Thirdly, — the manner in which the Holy Ghost works in man's heart. THE HOLY GHOST. 2G.5 IV. Lastly, — the metrics and evidences by which the presence of the Holy Ghost in a man's heart may be known. I. The first point I propose to consider is the import- ance attached to the ivork of the Holy Ghost in Scripture. I find it hard to know where to begin and where to leave off, in liandling this branch of my subject. It would be easy to fill up all this paper by quoting texts about it. So often is the Holy Ghost mentioned in the New Testament, that my difficulty is not so much the discovery of evidence as the selection. Eighteen times in the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans St, Paul speaks of God the Spirit. In fact the place which the Holy Ghost holds in the minds of most professing Christians bears no proportion to the place which He holds in the Word.* I shall not spend much time in pi'oving the divinity and personality of the Holy Ghost. They are points which arc written in Scripture as with a sun-beam. I am utterly at a loss to understand how any honest-minded reader of the Bible can fail to see them. Above all, I am unable to comprehend how any unprejudiced reader of the Bible can regard the Spirit as nothing more than " an influence or principle." We find it written in the New Testament, that the Holy Ghost was " seen descending in a bodily * "There is a general omission in the saints of God, in their not giving the Holy Ghost that glory that is clue to His person, and for His great work of salvation in us ; insomuch that we have in onr hearts almost lost this Third Person. We give daily in our thoughts, prayers, affections and speeches, an honour to the Father and the Son. But who directs the aims of his praise {more than in that general way of doxology we use to close our prayers with) unto God the Holy Ghost ? He is a Person in tlie Godhead, ec^ual with the Father and the Son. The work He doth for us, in its kind, is as great as those of the Father or the Son. Therefore, by the equity of all law, a proportionable honour is due to Him."— y/iowas Goodwin on the Work of the Holy Ghost. 1704. 266 OLD PATHS. shape." (Luke iii. 22.) He commanded disciples to do acts, and lifted them through the air by His own power. (Acts viii. 29 — 39.) He sent forth the first preachers to the Gentiles. (Acts xiii. 2.) He spake to the Churches. (Rev. ii. 7.) He maketh intercession. (Rom. viii. 26.) He searcheth all things, teacheth all things, and guideth into all truth. (1 Cor. ii. 10; John xiv. 26 ; xvi. IS.) He is another Comforter distinct from Christ. (John xiv. 16.) He has personal affections ascribed to Him. (Isaiah Ixiii. :10 ; Ephes. iv. 30 ; Rom. xv. 30.) He has a mind, will, and power of His own. (Rom. viii. 27; 1 Cor. xii. 11; Rom. XV. 13.) He has baptism administered in His name together with the Father and the Son. (Matt, xxviii. 19.) And whosoever shall blaspheme Him hath never forgiveness, and is in danger of eternal damnation. (Mark iii. 29.) I make no comment on these passages. They speak for themselves. I only use the words of Ambrose Serle in saying, that " Two and two making four, does not appear more clear and conclusive than that the Holy Spirit is a living divine Agent, working with consciousness, will, and power. If people will not be persuaded by these testi- monies, neither would they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." * I repeat that I will not spend time in dwelling on proofs of the Holy Spirit's divinity and personality. I will rather confine all I have to say on this branch of my subject to two general remarks. For one thing, I ask my readers to remark carefully that in every step of the grand tvork of man's reder^iption the Bible assigns a prominent place to God the Holy Ghost. What do you think of the incarnation of Christ ? You know we cannot over-rate its importance. Well ! it is written that when our Lord was conceived of the Virgin * Serle's Horce Solitaria'. THE HOLT GHOST, 267 Mary, " the Holy Ghost came upon her, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her." (Luke i. 35.) What do you think of the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ ? You know that none ever did what He did, lived as He lived, and spake as He spake. Well ! it is written that the Spirit " descended from heaven like a dove and abode upon Him," — that " God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost," — that " the Father gave not the Spirit by measure unto Hinci," and that He was " full of the Holy Ghost." (John i. 32 ; Acts x. 38 ; John iii. 34 ; Luke iv. 1.) What do you think of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ on the cross ? Its value is simply unspeakable. No wonder St. Paul says, " God forbid that I should gloryj save in the cross." (Gal. vi. 14.) Well ! it is written, " Through the eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God." (Heb. ix. 14.) What do you think of the resurrection of Christ ? It was the seal and topstone of all His work. He was "raised again for our justification." (Rom. iv. 25.) Well! it is written that " He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." (1 Pet. iii. 18.) What do you think of the departure of Christ from this world, when He ascended up into heaven ? It was a tremendous trial to His disciples. They were left like a little orphan family, in the midst of cruel enemies. Well ! ivhat was the grand promise wherewith our Saviour cheered them the night before He died ? "I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth." (John xiv. 16, 17.) What do you think of the mission of the apostles to preach the Gospel ? We Gentiles owe to it all our religious light and knowledge. Well ! they were obliged to tarry at Jerusalem and " wait for the promise of the Father." They were unfit to go forth till they were "filled Avith the Holy Ghost," upon the day of Pentecost. (Acts i. 4 ; ii. 4.) 268 OLD PATHS. What do yon think of the Scripture, which is written for our learning ? You know that our earth without a sun would be but a faint emblem of a world without a Bible. Well ! we are informed that in writing that Scrip- ture, " Holy rnen spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Pet. i. 21.) "The things which we speak," says St. Paul, wc speak in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth." (1 Cor. ii. 13.) What do you think of the whole dispensation under which we Christians live ? You know its privileges as far exceed those of the Jews as twilight is exceeded by noon- day. Well we are especially told that it is the " ministra- tion of the Spirit." (2 Cor. iii. 8.)* I place these texts before my readers as matter for private meditation. I pass on to the other general remark I promised to make. I ask you then to remark carefully, that whatever individual Christians have, are, and enjoy, in co7itra- distinction to the worldly and unconverted, they owe to the agency of God the Holy Ghost. By Him they are first called, quickened, and made alive. Of Him they are born again, and made new creatures. By Him they are convinced of sin, guided into all truth and led to Christ. By Him they are sealed unto the day of redemption. He dwells in them as His living temples. He witnesses with their spirits, — gives them the spirit of adoption, makes them to cry Abba Father, and makes intercession for * I would not for a moment have any one suppose that I think Old Testament believers had not the Holy Ghost. On the contrary I hold that there has never been a whit of spiritual life among men, excepting from the Holy Ghost, — and that the Holy Ghost made Abel and Noali what they were no less really than He made St. Paul. All I mean to assert is, that the Holy Ghost is so much more fully revealed and largely poured out under the New Testament than under the Old, that the New Testament dispensation is emphatically and peculiarly called the "ministration of the Spirit.'' The difference between the two dispensa- tions is only one of degree. THE HOLY GHOST. 2GD them. By Him they are sanctified. By Him the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts. Through His power they abound in hope, Through Him they wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Through Him they mortify the deeds of their bodies. After Him they walk. In Him they live. In a word, all that believers have from grace to glory, — all that they are from the first moment they believe to the day they depart to be with Christ, — all, all, all may be traced to the work of God the Holy Ghost. (John vi. 63 ; iii. 8 ; xvi. 9, 10 ; Eph. iv. 30 ; 1 Cor. vi. 19 ; Rom. viii. 15, 16, 26 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13 ; Rom. V. 5 ; xv. 13 ; Gal. v. 5, 2.5 ; Rom. viii. 1, 13.) I may not tarry longer on this branch of my subject. I trust I have said enough to prove that I did not use word.s without meaning, when I spoke of the importance attached in ScriiDture to the work of the Spirit of God. Before I pass on let me entreat all who read this paper to make sure that they hold sound doctrine concerniug the work of the Holy Ghost. * Give Him the honour due unto His name. Give Him in your religion the place and the dignity which Scripture assigns to Him. Settle it in your minds that the work of all three Persons in the blessed Trinity, is absolutely and equally needful to the salvation of every saved soul. The election of God the Father, and the atoning blood of God the Son, are the foundation stones of our faith. But from them must never be separated the applicatory work of God the Holy Ghost. The Father chooses. The Son mediates, absolves, justifies, and intercedes. The Holy Ghost applies the whole work to man's soul. Always together in Scripture, never separated in Scripture, let the offices of the three * "To give the Holy Spirit divine worship, if he be not God, is idolatry ; and to withhold it, if He is God, is a heinous sin. To be well informed on this point, is of the last importance." — Ilurrion on the Hultj Spirit. 1731. 270 OLD PATHS. Persons in the Trinity never be wrenched asunder and disjoined in your Christianity. What God hath so beauti- fully joined together let no man dare to put asunder. Accept a brotherly caution against all kinds of Christian teaching, falsely so called, which, either directly or indirectly* dishonour the work of the Holy Ghost. Beware of tfu error, on one side, which practically substitutes church- membership and participation of the sacraments for the Spirit. Let no man make you believe that to be baptized and go to the Lord's Table, is any sure proof that you have the Spirit ot Christ. — Beware of the error, on the other side, which proudly substitutes the inward light, so called, and the scraps of conscience which remain in every man after the fall, for the saving grace of the Holy Spirit. * Let no man make you believe that as a matter of course, since Christ died, all men and women have within them the Spirit of Christ. — I touch on these points gently. I should be sorry to write one needless word of controversy. But I do say to every one who prizes real Christianity in these days, "Be very jealous about the real work and office of the third Person of the Trinity." Try the spirits whether they be of God. Prove diligently the * "It is not the natural liglit of conscience, nor that improved by the Word, which converts any man to God, although this is the best spring of most men's practical part of religion. But it is faith, bringing in a new light into conscience, and so conscience lighting its taper at that sun which humbleth for sin in another manner, and drives men to Christ, sanctifieth, changeth, and writes the law in the heart. And this you will find to be the state of difference between Augustine, and the Pelagians, and semi-Pelagians, which the whole stream and current of his writings against them hold forth. They would have had the light of natural conscience, and the seeds of natural virtues in men (as in philosophers), being improved and manured by the revelation of the Word, to be that grace which the Scripture speaks of. He proclaims all their virtues, and their use of natural light to be sins, because deficient of holiness, and requires for us not only the revelation of the objects of faith, which else natural light could not find out, but a new light to see them withal." — Thomas Goodwin on the Woi'k of the Holy Ghost, 1704. THE HOLT GHOST. 271 many divers and strange doctrines which now infect the Church. And let the subject brought before you this day be one of your princii^al tests. Try every new doctrine of these latter times by two simple questions. Ask first, " Where is the Lamb ? " And ask secondly, " Where is the Holy Ghost ? " II. The second point I propose to consider, is the necessity of the ivork of the Holy Ghost to man's salvation. I invite special attention to this part of the subject. Let it be a settled thing in our minds that the matter we are considering in this paper is no mere speculative question in religion, about which it signifies little what we believe. On the contrary, it lies at the very foundation of all saving Christianity. Wrong about the Holy Ghost and His offices, we are wrong to all eternity. The necessity of the work of the Holy Ghost arises from the total corruption of human nature. We are all by nature " dead in sins." (Eph. ii. 1.) However shrewd, and clever, and wise in the things of this world, we are all dead towards God. The eyes of our understanding are blinded. We see nothing aright. Our wills, affections, and inclinations are alienated from Him who made us. " The carnal mind is enmity against God." (Rom. viii. 7.) We have naturally neither faith, nor fear, nor love, nor holiness. In short, left to ourselves, we should never be saved. Without the Holy Ghost no man ever turns to God, repents, believes, and obeys. — Intellectual training and secular education alone make no true Cliristians. Acquaint- ance with fine arts and science leads no one to heaven. Pictures and statues never brought one soul to God. The " tender strokes of art " never prepared any man or woman for the judgment day.* They bind up no broken heart; * " To wake the soul by tender strokes of .art,"— was the motto which in large letters caught the eye on entering the Manchester Exhibition of f"ine Arts, at the extreme end of the building. 272 OLD PATHS. they heal no wounded conscience. The Greeks had their Zeuxis and Parrhasius, their Phidias and Praxiteles, masters as great in their day as any in modern times; yet the Greeks knew nothing of the way of jieace with God. They were sunk in gross idolatry, and bowed down to the works of their own hands. — The most zealous efforts of ministers alone cannot make men Christians. The ablest scriptural reasoning has no effect on the mind ; the most fervent pulpit eloquence will not move the heart; the naked truth alone will not lead the will. We who are ministers know this well by painful experience. We can show men the fountain of living Avaters, but we cannot make them drink. We see many a one sitting under our pulpits year after year, and hearing hundreds of sermons, full of Gospel truth, without the slightest result. WS mark him year after year, imaffected and unmoved by every Scriptural argument, — cold as the stones on which he treads as he enters our church, — unmoved as the marble statue which adorns the tomb against the wall, — dead as the old dry oak of which his pew is made, — feelingless as the painted glass in the windows, through which the sun shines on his head. We look at him with wonder and sorrow, and remember Xavier's words as he looked at China : " Oh, rock, rock ! when wilt thou open ? " And we learn by such cases as these, that nothing will make a Christian but the introduction into the heart of a new nature, a new prin- ciple, and a Divine seed from above. What is it then that man needs ?— We need to be " born again : " and this new birth we must receive of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of life must quicken us. The Spirit must renew us. The Spirit must take away from us the heart of stone. The Spirit must put in us the heart of flesh. A new act of creation must take place. A new beinsr must be called into existence. Without all this we cannot be saved. Here lies the main part of our need of the H0I3' Ghost. " Except a man be born again he cannot THE HOLY GHOST. 273 see il\e kingdom of God." (Jolin iii. 3.) No salvation without a new birth ! * Let us dismiss from our minds for ever the common idea that natural theology, moral suasion, logical arguments, or even an exhibition of Gospel truth, are sufficient of themselves to turn a sinner from his sins, if once brought to bear upon him. It is a strong delusion. Tliey will not do so. The heart of man is far harder than we fancy : the old Adam is much more strong than we suppose. The ships which run aground at half-ebb, will never stir till the tide flows : the heart of man will never look to Christ, repent, and believe, till the Holy Ghost comes down upon it. Till that takes place, our inner nature is like the earth before the present order of creation began, — " without form and void, and darkness covering the face of the deep." (Gen. i. 2.) The same power which said at the beginning, " Let there be light : and there was light," must work a creating work in us, or we shall never rise to newness of life. But I have something more to say yet on this branch of my subject. The necessity of the work of the Spirit to man's salvation is a wide field, and I have yet another re- mark to make upon it. I say then, that without the work of the Holy Ghost no man could ever he fit to divell xuith God in another world. A fitness of some kind we must have. The mere pardon of our sins would be a worthless gift, unless accom- * "This is tliat which gives unto the ministry of the Gospel both its glory and its elficacy. Talvc away tlie Spirit from the Gospel, and you render it a dead letter, and leave the New Testament of no more use unto Christians than the Old Testament is unto the Jews." — Owen on the Ilohj Sjiirit. " In the power of the Holy Ghost resteth all ability to know God and to please Him. It is He that piirifieth the mind by His secret working. He enlighteneth the mind to conceive worthy thoughts of Almighty^ God." — Ilom'dy for Ro'jatlon Week. T , 274 OLD PATHS. panied by the gift of a uew nature, a nature in harmony and in tune with that of God Himself. We need a meet- ness for heaven, as well as a title for heaven, and this meetness we must receive from the Holy Gliost. We must be made " partakers of the divine nature," by the indwelling ot the Holy Ghost. (2 Pet. i. 4.) The Spirit must sanctify our carnal natures, and make them love spiritual things. The Spirit must wean our affections from things below, and teach us to set them on things above. The Spirit must bend our stubborn wills, and teach them to be submissive to the will of God. The Spirit must write again the law of God on our inward man, and put His fear within us. The Spirit must transform us by the daily renewing of our minds, and implant in us the image of Him whose servants we profess to be. Here lies the other great part of our need of the Holy Ghost's work. We need sanctification no less than justification. " Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." (Heb. xii. 14.) Once more 1 beseech my readers to dismiss from their minds the common idea, that men and women need nothing but pardon and absolution, in order to be prepared to meet God. It is a stton" delusion, and one against which T desire with all my heart to place you on your guard. It is not enough, as many a poor ignorant Christian supposes on his death- bed, if God " pardons our sins and takes us to rest." 1 say again most emphatically, it is not enough. The love of sin must be taken from us, as well as the guilt of sin removed ; the desire of pleasing God must be implanted in us, as well as the fear of God's judgment taken away ; a love to holiness must be engrafted, as well as a dread of punishment removed. Heaven itself would be no heaven to us if we entered it without a new heart. An eternal Sabbath and the society of saints and angels could give us no happiness in heaven, unless the love of Sabbaths and of holy com- pany had been first shed abroad in our hearts upon earth. THE HOLY GHOST. 275 Whether men will hear or forbear, the man wlio enters heaven must have the sanctification of the Spirit, as well as the siirinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. To use the words of Owen, "When God designed the g.-eat and glorious work of recovering fallen man and saving sinners. He appointed in His infinite wisdom two great means. The one was the giving of His Son for them ; and the other was the giving of his Spirit unto them. And hereby was way made for the manifestation of the glory of the whole blessed Trinity." * I trust I have said enough to show the absolute necessity of the work of the Holy Ghost to the salvation of man's soul. Man's utter inability to turn to God without the Spirit, — man's utter uumeetness for the joys of heaven, without the Spirit, — are two great foundation stones in revealed religion, which ought to be always deeply rooted in a Christian's mind. Rightly understood, they will lead to one conclusion, — "Without the Spirit, no salvation !" Would you like to know the reason why we who preach the Gospel, preach so often about conversion? We do it because of the necessities of men's souls. We do it because we see plainly from the Word of God that nothing- short of a thorough change of heart will ever meet the exigencies of your case. Your case is naturally desperate. Your danger is great. You need not only the atonement of Jesus Christ, but the quickening, sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, to make you a true Christian, and deliver you from hell. Fain would I lead to heaven all who read this volume ! My heart's desire and prayer to God is that you may be saved. But I know that none enter * "God the Father had but two grand gifts to bestow; and when once they were given, He had left then nothing that was great (eoni- paratively) to give, for they contained all good in tliem. These two gifts were His Son, who was His promise in the Old Testament, and the Spirit, the promise of the New." — Thomas Goodwin on the Work of the Holy Olwst. 1704. 276 OLD PATHS. lieaven without a heart to enjoy heaven, and this heart we must receive from God's Spirit. Shall I tell you plainly the reason why some receive these truths so coldly, and are so little affected by them ? You hear us listless and unconcerned. You think us extreme and extravagant in our statements. And why is this? It is just because you do not see or know the disease of your own soul. You are not aware ot your own sinfulness and weakness. Low and inadequate views of your spiritual disease, are sure to be accompanied by low and inadequate views of the remedy provided in the Gospel. What shall I say to you ? I can only say, " The Lord awaken you ! The Lord have mercy on your soul ! " The day may come when the scales will fall from youi eyes, when old things will pass away, and all things become new. And in that day I foretell and forewarn you confidently that the first truth you will grasp, next to the work of Christ, Avill be the absolute necessity of the work of the Holy Ghost. III. The third thing I propose to consider, is the manner in which the Holy Ghost ivories on the hearts of those ivho are saved. I approach this branch of my subject with much difiidence. I am very sensible that it is surrounded with difficulties, and involves many of the deepest things of God. But it is folly for mortal man to turn away from any truth in Christianity, merely because of difficulties. Better a thousand times receive with meekness what we cannot fully explain, and believe that what we know not now, we shall know hereafter. "Enough for us," says an old divine, " if we sit in God's court, without pretending to be of God's counsel." In speaking of the manner of the Holy Ghost's work- ing, I shall simply state certain great leading facts. They are facts attested alike by Scripture and experience. They THE HOLT GHOST. 277 are facts patent to the eyes of every candid and well- instructed observer. They are facts which I believe it is impossible to gainsay. (a) I say then that the Holy Ghost works on the heart of a man in a mysterious manner. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself tell us that in well-known words ; — " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." (John iii. S.) We cannot explain how and in what way the Almighty Spirit comes into man, and operates upon him ; but neither also can we explain a thousand things which are continually taking place in the natural world. We cannot explain how our wills work daily on our members, and make them walk, or move, or rest, at our discretion; yet no one ever thinks of disjDuting the fact. So ought it to be with the work of the Spirit. We ought to believe the fact, though we cannot explain the manner. (6) I say furthei'more, that the Holy Ghost works on the heart of a man in a sovereign manner. He comes to one and does not come to another. He often converts one in a family, while others are left alone. There were two thieves crucified with our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary. They saw the same Saviour dying, and heard the same words come from His lips. Yet only one repented and went to Paradise, while the other died in his sins. — There were many Pharisees besides Saul, who had a hand in Stephen's murder; but Saul alone became an apostle. — There were many slave captains in John Newton's time ; yet none but he became a preacher of the Gospel. — We cannot account for this. But neither can we account tor China being a heathen country, and England a Christian land : we only know that so it is. (c) I say furthermore, that the Holy Ghost always works on the heart of a man in such a manner as to he felt. I do not for a moment say that the feelings which He pro- 278 OLD PATHS. duces are always understood by the person in whom they are produced. On the contrary, they are often a cause of anxiety, and conflict, and inward strife. All I maintain is that we have no warrant of Scripture for supjjosing that there is an indwelling of the Spirit which is not felt at all. Where He is there will always be corresponding feelings. (d) I say furthermore, that the Holy Ghost always works on the heart of a man in such a manner as to be seen in ihe man's life. I do not say that as soon as He comes into a man, that man becomes immediately an established Christian, a Christian in whose life and ways nothing but spirituality can be observed. But this I say, — that the Almighty Spirit is never present in a person's soul without producing some perceptible results in that person's conduct. He never sleeps : He is never idle. We have no warrant of Scripture for talking of " dormant grace." " Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him." (1 John iii. 9.) Where the Holy Ghost is, there will be something seen. (e) I say furthermore, that the Holy Ghost always works on the heart of a man in an irresistible manner. I do not deny for a moment that there are sometimes spiritual strivings and workings of conscience in the minds of uncon- verted men, which finally come to nothing. But I say confidently, that when the Spirit really begins a work of conversion, He always carries that work to perfection. He effects miraculous changes. He turns the character upside down. He causes old things to pass away, and all things to become new. In a word, the Holy Ghost is Almighty. With Him nothing is impo.'^sible. (/) I say, finally, under this head, that the Holy Ghost generally works on the heart of man through the use of means. The Word of God, preached or read, is generally employed by Him as an instrument in the conversion of a soul. He applies that Word to the conscience : He THE HOLY GHOST. 279 brings that Word home to the mind. This is His general course of procedure. There are instances, un- doubtedly, in which people are converted " without tlie Word." (1 Pet. iii. 1.) But, as a general rule, God's truth is the sword of the Spirit. By it He teaches, and teaches nothing else but that which is written in the Word. I commend these six points to the attention of all my readers. A right understanding of them supplies the best antidote to the many false and specious doctrines by whicb Satan labours to darken the blessed work of the Spirit. (a) Is there a haughty, highminded person reading this paper, who in his pride of intellect rejects the work of the Holy Ghost, because of its mysteriousness and sovereignty ? I tell you boldly that you must take up other ground than this before you dispute and deny our doctrine. Look to the heaven above you, and the earth beneath you, and deny, if you can, that there are mysteries there. — Look to the map of the world you live in, and the marvellous difference between the privileges of one nation and another, and deny if you can, that there is sovereignty there. — Go and learn to be consistent. Submit that proud mind of yours to jjlain undeniable facts. Be clothed with the humility that becomes poor mortal man. Cast off that affectation of reasoning, under which you now try to smother your conscience^ Dare to confess that the Avork of the Spirit may be mysterious and sovereign, and yet for all that is true. Qj) Is there a Romanist, or semi-Romanist reading this paper, who tries to persuade himself that all bairtized people, and members of the Church, as a matter of course, have the Spirit ? I tell you plainly that you are deceiving yourself, if you dream that the Spirit is in a man, when His presence cannot be seen. Go and learn this day that the presence of the Holy Ghost is to be tested, not by the, name in the register, or the place in the family pew, butj by the visible fruits in a man's life. 280 OLD PATHS. (c) Is there a worldly man reading this paper, who regards all claims to the indwelling of the Spirit as so much en- thusiasm and fanaticism ? I warn you also to take heed what you are about. No doubt there is plenty of hypocrisy and false profession in the Churches ; no doubt there are thousands whose religious feelings are mere delusion. But bad money is no proof that there is no such thing as good coin : 1he abuse of a thing does not destroy the use of it. The Bible tells us plainly that there are certain hopes, and joys, and sorrows, and inward feelings, inseparable from the •work of the Spirit of God. Go and learn this day that you have not received the Spirit, if His presence within you has not been felt. (d) Is there an excuse-making indolent person reading this paper, who comforts himself with the thought that decided Christianity is an impossible thing, and that in a world like this he cannot serve Christ ? Your excuses will not avail you. The power of the Holy Ghost is offered to you without money and without price. Go and learn this day that there is strength to be had for the asking. Through the Spirit, whom the Lord Jesus offers to give to you, all difficulties may be overcome. Is there a fanatic reading this paper, who fancies that it matters nothing whether a man stays at home or goes to church, and that if a man is to be saved, he will be saved in spite of himself? I tell you also this day, that you have much to learn. Go and learn that the Holy Ghost ordinarily works through the use of means of grace, and that it is by " hearing " that faith generally comes into the soul." (Rom. X. 17.) I leave this branch of my subject here, and pass on. I leave it with a sorrowful conviction that nothin"- in reliOTon so shows the blindness of natural man as his inability to receive the teaching of Scripture on the manner of the Holy Ghost's operations. To quote the saying of our Divine Master, — " The world cannot receive Him." (John THE HOLY GHOST. 281 xlv. 17.) To use the words of Ambrose Serle : " This operation of the Spirit hath been, and ever will be, an incomprehensible business to those who have not known it in themselves. Like Nicodemus, and other masters in Israel, they will reason and re-reason, till they puzzle and perplex themselves, by darkening counsel without know- ledge ; and when they cannot make out the matter, will give the strongest proof of all that they know nothing of it, by fretting and raving, and calling hard names, and saying, in short, that there is no such thing." IV. I propose, in the last place, to consider tlie marJcs and evidences hy tvhich the 'presence of the Holy Ghost in a mans heart may he knoivn. Last as this point comes in order, it is anything but last in importance. In fact, it is that view of the Holy Ghost which demands the closest attention of every pro- fessing Christian. We have seen something of the place assigned to the Holy Ghost in the Bible. We have seea something of the absolute necessity of the Holy Ghost to a man's salvation. We have seen something of the manner of the Holy Ghost's oj^erations. And now comes the, mighty question, which ought to interest every reader " How are we to know whether we are partakers of the Holy Ghost ? By what marks may we find out whether we have the Spirit of Christ ?" I will begin by taking it for gi'anted that tlie question I have just asked may be answered. Where is the use of our Bibles, if we cannot find out whether we are in the way to heaven ? Let it be a settled principle in our Christianity, that a man may know whether or not he has the Holy Ghost. Let us dismiss from our minds once and for ever the many unscriptural evidences of the Spirit's presence with which thousands content themselves. Re- ception of the sacraments and membership of the visible Church are no proofs whatever that we " have the Spirit 282 OLD PATHS. of Christ." Ill short, I call it a short cut to the grossest antinomiamsm to talk of a man having the Holy Ghost so long as he serves sin and the world. The presence of the Holy Ghost in a man's heart can only be known by the fruits and effects He produces.] Mysterious and invisible to mortal eye as His operations are, they always lead to certain visible and tangible results. Just as you know the compass-needle to be magnetized by its turning to the north, — just as you know there is life in a tree by its sap, buds, leaves and fruits, — ^just as you know thei-e is a steersman on board a ship by its keeping a steady rogiilar course, — ^just so you may know the Spirit to be in a man's heart by the influence He exercises over his thoughts, affections, opinions, habits, and life. I lay this down broadly and unhesitatingly. I find no safe ground to occupy excepting this. I see no safeguard against the wildest enthusiasm, excepting in this j)osition. And I see it clearly marked out in our Lord Jesus Christ's words: "Every tree is known by his own fruit." (Luke vi. 44.) But what are the specific fruits by which the presence of the Sj^irit in the heart may be known ? I find no difficulty in answering that question. The Holy Ghost always works after a certain definite pattern. Just as the bee always forms the cells of its comb in one regular hexagonal shape, so does the Spirit of God work on the heart of man with one uniform result. His work is^ the work of a master. The world may see no beautyj in it : it is foolishness to the natural man. But " he that is spiritual discerneth all things." (1 Cor. ii. 15.) A well- instructed Christian knows well the fruits of the Spirit of God. Let me briefly set them before you in order. They are all clear and unmistakable, " plain to him that under- standeth, and right to them that find knowledge." (Prov. viii. 9.) (1) Where the Holy Ghost is, there will always be deep THE HOLY GHOST. 283 conviction of sin, and true repentance for it. It is His special office to convince of sin. (J ohn xvi. 8.) He shows the exceedini? holiness of God. He teaches the exceedinn^ corruption and infirmity of our nature. He strips us of our blind self-righteousness. He opens our eyes to our awful guilt, folly and danger. He fills the heart with sorrow, contrition, and abhorrence for sin, as the abomin- able thing which God hateth. He that knows nothing o^ all this, and saunters carelessly through life, thoughtless about sin, and indifferent and unconcerned about his soul, is a dead man before God. He has not the Spirit of Christ. (2) Where the Holy Ghost is, there will always be lively faith in Jesus Christ, as the only Saviour. It is His special office to testify of Christ, to take of the things of Christ and .show them to man. (John xvi. 1.5.) He leads the soul which feels its sin, to Jesus and the atonement made by His blood. He shows the soul that Christ has suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. He points out to the sin-sick soul that we have only to receive Christ, believe in Christ, commit ourselves to Christ, and pardon, peace, and life eternal, are at once our own. He makes us see a beautiful fitness in Christ's finished work of redemption to meet our spiritual necessities. He makes us willing to disclaim all merit of our own and to venture all on Jesus, looking to nothinj^, restincj on nothing, ti'ust- ing in nothing but Christ, — Christ, — Christ, — " delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification." (Kom. iv. 25.) He that knows nothing of all this, and builds on any other foundation, is dead before God. He has not the Spirit of Christ. (3) Where the Holy Ghost is, there vnll alwaj's be holiness of life and conversation. He is the Spirit of holiness. (Rom. i. 4.) He is the sanctifying Spirit. He takes away the hard, carnal, worldly heart of man, and puts in its i^lace a tender, C(mscientious, spiritual heart, deli^htiiij; in the law of God. He makes a man turn his 281 OLD PATHS. face towards God, and desire above all things to please Him, and turn his back on the fashion of this woidd, and no longer make that fashion his god. He sows in a man's heart the blessed seeds of "love, joy, meekness, long- suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, temperance," and causes these seeds to spring up and bear pleasant fruit. (Gal. V. 22.) He that lacketh these things, and knows nothing of daily practical godliness, is dead before God. He has not the Spirit of Christ. (4) Where the Holy Ghost is, there will always be the Tidbit of earnest private prayer. He is the Spirit of grace and supplication, (Zech. xii. 10.) He works in the heart as the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. He makes a man feel that he must cry to God, and speak to God, — feebly, falteringly, weakly, it may be, — but cry he must about his soul. He makes it as natural to a man to pray as it is to an infant to breathe ; with this one difference, — that the infant breathes without an effort, and the new-born soul prays with much conflict and strife. He that knows nothing of real, living, fervent, private prayer, and is content with some old form, or with no prayer at all, is dead before God. He has not the Spirit of Christ. (.5) Finally, where the Holy Ghost is, there will always be love and reverence f(w God's Word. He makes the new-born soul desire the sincere milk of the Word, just as the infant desires its natural food. He makes it " delight in the law of the Lord." (1 Pet. ii. 2 ; Psa. i. 2.) He shows man a fulness, and depth, and wisdom, and sufficiency: in the Holy Scripture, which is utterly hid from a natural man's eyes. He draws him to the Word with an irresistible force, as the light and lantern, and manna, and sword, which are essential to a safe journey through this world. If the man cannot read He makes him love to hear : if he cannot hear He makes him love to meditate. But to the Word the Spirit always leads him. He that sees no, THE HOLY GHOST. 2S5 special beauty in God's Bible, and takes no i^leasure in reading, hearing, and understanding it, is dead before God. He has not the Spirit of Christ. I place these five grand marks of the Spirit's presence before my readers, and confidently claim attention to them. I believe they will bear insjiectiou. I am not afraid of their being searched, criticized, and cross-examined- Repentance toward God, — faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, — ^holiness of heart and life, — habits of real private prayer, — love and reverence toward God's Word, — these are the real proofs of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in a man's soul. Where He is, these marks will be seen. Where He is not, these marks will be lacking. I grant freely that the leadings of the Spirit, in some minute details, are not always uniform. The paths over which He conducts souls, are not always precisely one and the same. The experience that true Christians pass through in their beginnings is often somewhat various. This only I maintain, — that the main road into which the Spirit leads people, and the final results which He at length produces, are always alike. In all true Christians, the five great marks I have already mentioned will always be found. I grant freely that the degree and depth of the work of the Spirit in the heart may vary exceedingly. There is weak fiiith and strong faith, — weak love and strong love, — a bright hope and a dim hope, — a feeble obedience to Christ's will, and a close following of the Lord. This only I maintain, — that the ma^>^ outlines of religious character in all who have the Spirit, perfectly correspond. Life is life, whether strong or feeble. The infant in arms, though weak and dependent, is as real and true a representative of the great family of Adam as the strongest man alive. Wherever you see these five great marks, you see a true Christian. Let that never be forgotten. I leave it to others to excommunicate and unchurch all who do not OLD PATHS. belong to their own pale, and do not worship after their bwn particular fashion. I have no sympathy with such narrowmindedness. Show me a man who repents, and believes in Christ crucified, — who lives a holy life, and delights in his Bible and prayer, — and I desire to regard him as a brother. I see in him a member of the Holy Catholic Church, out of which there is no salvation. I behold in him an heir of that crown of glory which is incorruptible and fadeth not away. If he has the Holy Ghost, he has Christ. If he has Christ, he has God. If he has God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, all things are his. Who am I that I should turn my back on him, because we cannot see all things eye to eye ? Wherever these five great marks of the Spirit are wanting, we have just cause to be afraid about a man's soul. Visible Churches may endorse him, sacraments may be administered to him, forms of prayer may be read over him, ministers may charitably speak of him as " a brother," — but all this does not alter the real state of things. The man is in the broad way that leadetb to destruction. With- out the Spirit he is without Christ. Without Christ he is ^without God. Without God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, he is in imminent danger. The Lord have mercy upon his soul ! , I hasten on now towards a conclusion. I desire to wind up all I have been saying by a few words of direct personal application. ^ (1) In the first place, let me ash a question of all who read this paper. It is a short and simple one, and grows naturally out of the subject. "Have you, or have you not, the Spirit of Christ ? " I am not afraid to ask this question. I will not be stopped by the commonplace remark that it is absurd, enthusiastic, unreasonable to ask such questions in the present day. I take my stand on a plain declaration or THE HOLY GHOST. 287 Scripture. I find an inspired Apostle saying, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His." I want to know what can be more reasonable than to press on your conscience the inquiry, " Have you the Spirit of Christ ? " I will not be stopped by the foolish observation, that no man can tell in this world whether or not he has the Spirit.. No man can tell ! Then what was the Bible given to us for ? Where is the use of the Scriptures if we cannot discover whether we are going to heaven or hell ? The thing I ask can be known. The evidences of the Spirit's presence in the soul are simple, plain, and intelligible. No honest inquirer needs miss the way in this matter. You may find out whether you have the Holy Ghost. I entreat you not to evade the question I have now asked. I beseech you to allow it to work inwardly in your heart. I charge you, as ever you would be saved, to give it an honest answer. Baptism, Church-membership, re- spectability, morality, outward correctncs?, are all excellent things. But do not be content with them. Go deeper r look farther. " Have you received the Holy Ghost ? Have you the Spirit of Christ ? " * (2) Let me, in the next place, offer a solemn tvarninr/ to all who feel in their own consciences that they have not the Spirit of Christ. That warning is short and simple. If you have not the Spirit, you arc not yet Christ's people : you are " none of Hi.s." Think for a moment how much is involved in those few words, "none of His." You are not washed in Christ's blood ! You are not clothed in His righteousness ! You are not justified! You are not interceded for! Your * " It is a good sign of grace when a man is willing to search and examine himself, whether he be gracious or not. There is a certain instinct in a child of God, whereby he naturally desires to have the titfe of liis legitimation tried ; whereas a hypocrite dreads nothing more thau to have his rottenness searched into." — Bishop Hoplcim. 288 OLD PATHS. sins are yet upon you ! The devil claluis you for his own ! The pit opens her mouth for you ! Tlie torments of hell wait for you ! I have no desire to create needless fear. I only want sensible people to look calmly at things as they are. I only want one plain text of Scripture to be duly weighed. It is A%Titten, " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." And I say in the sight of such a text, if you die without the Spirit, you had better never have been bom. (3) Let me, in the next place, give an earnest invita- tion to all who feel that they have not the Spirit. That invitation is short and simple. Go and cry to God this day in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured down on your soul. There is every possible encouragement to do this. There is warrant of Scripture for doing it. " Turn you at my reproof, — I will pour out my Spirit upon you. I will make known my words unto you." — "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him." (Prov. i. 23 ; Luke xi. 13.) There is warrant in the experience of thousands for doing it. Thousands will rise at the last day, and testify that when they prayed they were heard, and when they sought grace, they found it. — Above all, there is warrant in the person and character of our Lord Jesus Christ. He waits to be gracious. He invites sinners to come to Him. He rejects none that come. He gives "power to all who receive Him by faith and come to Him, to become the sons of God." (John i. 12.) Go then to Jesus, as a needy, wanting, humble, contrite sinner, and you shall not go in vain. Cry to Him mightily about your soul, and you shall not cry to no purpose. Confess to Him your need, and guilt, and fear, and danger, and He will not despise you. Ask, and you shall receive. THE HOLY GHOST. 289 Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be openetl to you. I testify to the chief of sinners this day, that there is enough in Christ, and to spare, for your soul. Come, come : come, this very day. Come to Christ ! (4) Let me, in the last place, give a parting ivord of exliortation to all readers of this paper who have received the Spirit of Christ, — to the penitent, the believing, the holy, the praying, the lovers of the Word of God. That exhortation shall consist of three simple things. (a) For one thing, be thankful for the S^Dirit. Who has made you to differ ? Whence came all these feelings in your heart, which thousands around you know not, and you yourself knew not at one time ? To what do you owe that sense of sin, and that drawing towards Christ, and that hunger and thirst after righteousness, and that taste for the Bible and prayer, which, with all your doubts and infirmities, you find within your soul ? Did these things come of nature ? Oh, no ! — Did you learn these things in the schools of this world ? Oh, no : no ! — They are all of grace. Grace sowed them, grace watered them, grace began them, grace has kept them up. Learn to be more thankful. Praise God moi-e every day you live : praise Him more in private, praise Him more in public, praise Him in your own family, praise Him above all in your own heart. This is the way to be in tune for heaven. The anthem there will be, " What hath God wrought ? " (6) For another thing, he filled with the Spirit. Seek to be more and more under His blessed influence. Strive to have every thought, and word, and action, and habit, brought under obedience to the leadings of the Holy Ghost. Grieve Him not by inconsistencies and conformity to the world. Quench Him not by trifling with little infirmities and small besetting sins. Seek rather to have Him ruling and reigning more completely over you every week that you live. Pray that you may yearly grov; in grace, and in U 290 OLD PATHS. the knowledge of Christ. This is the Avay to do good to' the world. An eminent Christian is a North Foreland Light-house, seen far and wide by others, and doing good to myriads, whom he never knows. — This is the way to enjoy much inward comfort in this world, to have bright assurance in death, to leave broad evidences behind us, and at last to receive a great crown. (c) Finally, pray daily for a great outpouring of the Spirit on the Church and on the world. This is the grand want of the day : it is the thing that we need far more than money, machinery, and men. The " company of preachers " in Christendom is far greater than it was in the days of St. Paul ; but the actual spiritual work done in the earth, in proportion to the means used, is un- doubtedly far less. We want more of the presence of the Holy Ghost, — more in the pulpit, and more in the congregation, — more in the pastoral visit, and more in the school. Where He is, there will be life, health, growth, and fruitfulness. Where He is not, all will be dead, tame, formal, sleepy, and cold. Then let every one who desires to see an increase of pure and undefiled religion, pray daily for more of the presence of the Holy Ghost in every branch of the visible Church of Christ. XI. HAVING THE SPIRIT. . "Having not the Spirit." — Jude 19. I TAKE it for granted that every reader of this paper believes in the Holy Spirit. The number of people in this country who are iniidels, deists, or Socioians, and openly deny the doctrine of the Trinity, is hajjpily not very great. Most persons have been baptized in the name ot the Father, and of the Son, and ot the Holy Ghost. There are lew Churchmen, at any rate, who have not often heard tlie well-known words of our old Catechism, " I be- lieve in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me and aU the elect people of God." But, notwithstanding all this, it would be well for many if they Avould consider what they know of the Holy Spirit beyond His name. What experimental acquaintance have you with the Spirit's work ? What has He done for you ?, What benefit have you received from Him ? You can say of God the Father, " He made me and all the world ; " you can say of God the Son, "He died for me and all man- kind :" but can you say anything about the Holy Ghost? Can you say, with any degree of confidence, " He dwells in me, and sanctifies me"? In one word. Have you the Spirit? The text which heads this paper will tell you that there is such a thing as "not having the Spirit." This is the point which I press upon your attention. 292 OLD PATHS. I believe the point to be one of vital importance at' all seasons. I hold it to be one of special importance in the present day. I consider that clear vie'n-s about the work of the Holy Spirit are among the best preser\^atives against the many false doctrines which abound in our times. Sufler me then, to lay belare you a lew things, ■which by God's blessing, may throw light on the subject of having the Spirit. I. Let me explain the immense importance of " Having the Spirit" II. Let me point out the great general principle by u-hich alone the question can he tried, — " Have you the Spirit?" III. Let me describe the particular effects tvhich the Spirit always produces on the souls in which He dwells. I. Let me, in the first place, explain the immense impoHance of having the Spirit. It is absolutely necessary to make this point clear. Unless you see this I shall appear like one beating the air all through this paper. Once let your mind lay hold on this, and half the work I want to do is alreadv done tor your soal. I can easily fancy some reader saying, " I do not see the use of this question ! Supposing I have not the Spirit, where is the mighty harm ? I try to do my duty in this world : I attend my church regularly : I receive the Sacrament occasionally: I believe I am as good a Christian as my neighbours. I say my prayers: I trust God will pardon my sins for Christ's sake. I do not see why I should not reach heaven at last, without troubling myself with hard questions about the Spirit." If these are your thoughts, I entreat you to give me your attention for a few minutes, while I try to supply you HAVING THE SPIRIT. 293 with reasons for thinking differently. Believe me, nothing less than your soul's salvation depends on " Having the Spirit." Life or death, heaven or hell, eternal happiness or eternal misery, are bound up with the subject of this 13aper. («) Remember, for one thing, if you have not the Spirit, you, have no part in Christ, and no title to heaven. The words of St. Paul are express and unmistakable : " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." (Rom. viii. 9.) The words of St. John are no less clear : " Hereby we know that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He hath given us." (1 John iii. 2-1!.) The indwelling of God the Holy Spirit is the common mark of all true believers in Christ. It is the Shepherd's mark on the flock of the Lord Jesus, distinguishing them from the rest of the world. It is the goldsmith's stamp on the genuine sons of God, which separates them from the dross and mass of false professors. It is the King's own seal on those who are His peculiar people, proving them to be His own property. It is " the earnest" which the Redeemer gives to His believing disciples while they are in the body, as a pledge of the full and complete " redemption " yet to come in the resurrection morning. (Ephes. i. 14.) This is the case of all believers. They all have the Spirit. Let it be distinctly understood that he who has not the Spirit has not Christ. He who has not Christ has no pardon of his sins, — no peace with God, — no title to heaven, — no well-grounded hope of being saved. His religion is like the house built on the sand. It may look well in fine weather. It may satisfy him in the time of health and prosperity. But when the flood rises, and the wind blows, — when sickness and trouble come up against him, it will' fall and bury him under its ruins. He lives without a good hope, and without a good hope he dies. He will rise again only to be miserable. He will stand in the judgment only to be condemned ; he will see saints and angels 294 OLD PATHS. looking on, and remember he might have been among them, but too late ; he will see lost myriads around him, and find they cannot comfort him, but too late. This Avill be the end of the man who thinks to reach heaven without the Spirit. Settle these things down in 5'our memory, and let them never be forgotten. Are they not worth remembering? No Holy Spirit in you, — no part in Christ ! No part in Christ, — no forgiveness of sins ! No forgiveness of sins, — no peace with God ! No peace with God, — no title to heaven ! No title to heaven, — no admission into heaven ! No admission into heaven, — and what then ? Aye : what then ? You may well ask. Whither will you flee ? Which way Avill you turn ? To Avhat refuge will you run ? There is none at all. There remains nothing but hell. Not admitted into heaven, you must sink at last into hell. I ask eveiy reader of this paper to mark well what I say. Perhaps it startles you : but may it not be good for you to be startled ? Have I told jou anything more than simple scriptural truth ? Where is the defective link in the chain of reasoning you have heard ? Where is the flaw in the argument ? I believe in my conscience there is none. From not having the Spirit to being in hell, there is but a long flight of downward steps. Living without the Spirit, you are already on the top; dying without the Spirit, you will find your way to the bottom. (b) Eemember, for another thing, if you have not the Spirit you have no holiness of heart, and no meetness for heaven. Heaven is the place to which all people hope to go after death. It would be well for many if they considered calmly what kind of dwelling-place heaven is. It is the habitation of the King of kings, who is " of purer eyes than to behold iniquity," and it must needs be a holy place. It is a place into which Scripture tells us there shall enter in nothing " that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomi- HAVING THE SPIRIT. 295: nation." (Rev. xxi. 27.) It is a place where there shall be nothing wicked, sinful, or sensual, — nothing worldly, foolish, frivolous, or profane. There, let the covetous man remember, shall be no more money ; there, let the pleasure- seeker remember, shall be no more races, theatres, novel reading, or balls ; there, let the drunkard and the gambler remember, shall be no more strong drink, no more dice, no more betting, no more cards. The everlasting presence of God, saints, and angels, — the perpetual doing of God's will, — the complete absence of everything which God does not approve, — these are the chief things which shall make up heaven. It shall be an eternal Sabbath day. For this heaven we are all by nature utterly unfit. We have no capacity for enjoying its happiness ; we have no, taste for its blessings; we have no eye to see its beauty; we have no heart to feel its comforts. Instead of freedom, we should find it bondage ; instead of glorious liberty, we should find it constant constraint; instead of a splendid palace, we should find it a gloomy prison. A fish on dry land, a sheep in the water, an eagle in a cage, a painted savage in a royal drawing room, would all feel more at ease and in their place than a natural man in heaven. " Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." (Heb. xii. 14.) For this heaven it is the special office of the Holy Ghost to prepare men's souls. He alone can change the earthly heart, and purify the worldly affections of Adam's children. He alone can can bring their minds into harmony with God, and tune them for the eternal com- pany of saints, and angels, and Christ. He alone can make them love what God loves, and hate what God hates, and delight in God's presence. He alone can set the limbs of human nature, which were broken and' dislocated by Adam's fall, and bring about a real unity between man's will and God's. And this He does for every one that is saved. It is written of believers that they are 296 OLD PATHS. "saved according to God's mercy," but it is "by tbe washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." They are chosen unto salvation, but it is " through sanctification of the Spirit/' as well as " belief, of the truth." (Titus iii. 5 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13.) Let this also be written down on the tablet of your memory. No entrance into heaven without the Spirit first entering your heart upon earth ! No admission intoi glory in the next life without previous sanctification in this life ! No Holy Spirit in you in this world, — then no heaven in the world to come ! You would not be fit for it ; you would not be ready for it ; you would not like it ; you would not enjoy it. There is much use made in the present day of the word " holy." Our ears are wearied with " holy church," and " holy baptism," and " holy days," and " holy water," and " holy services," and " holy priests." But one thing is a thousand times more important : and that is, to be made a really holy man by the Spirit. We must be made partakers of the Divine nature, while we are alive. We must " sow to the Spirit," if we would ever reap life everlasting. (2 Peter i. 4 ; Gal. vi. 8.) (c) Remember, for another thing, if you have not the Spirit, you have no right to he considered a true Christian, and no ivill or power to become one. It x'equires little to make a Christian according to the standard of the world. Only let a man be baptized and attend some place of worship, and the requirements of the world are satisfied. The man's belief may not be so intelligent as that of a Turk : he may be profoundly ignorant of the Bible. The man's practice may be no better than that of a heathen : many a respectable Hindoo might put him to shame. — But what of that ? He is an Englishman ! He has been baptized ! He goes to church or chapel, and behaves decently when there ! What more would you have ? If you do not call him a Christian you are thought very uncharitable ! HAVING THE SPIRIT. 297 But it takes a great deal more than this to make a man a real Christian according to the standard of the Bible.' It requires the co-operation of all the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. The election of God the Father, — tlie blood and intercession of God the Son, — the sanctifica- tion of God the Spirit, — must all meet together on the soul that is to be saved. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost must unite to work the work of making any child of Adam a true Christian. This is a deep subject, and one that must be bandied with reverence. But where the Bible speaks with decision, there we may also speak with decision ; and the words of the Bible have no meaning if the work of the Holy Spirit be not just as n