Why are we not enlightened and sanctified without means, without ministers, without the Bible, without the ministry? Why act exactly in the science of salvation, as in the sciences of men? For, when we teach a science to a man, we adapt it to his capacity, to his genius, and to his memory; so God requires us to do with regard to men. Faith comes by hearing, says St. Paul, and hearing by the word. Rom. x. 17. Being ascended up on high, he gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry (mark the expression,) for the edifying of the body of Christ, Eph.iv. 11, 12. Perceive you not, therefore, the impropriety of your pretensions? Seeing it has been God's good pleasure to establish a ministry, do you not conceive that he would have you regard it with deference? Seeing he has opened the gates of these temples, do you not conceive that he requires you to enter his courts? Seeing he has enjoined us to preach, do you not conceive that he requires you to hear? Seeing he requires you to hear, do you not conceive that he likewise requires you to comprehend? Seeing he commands us to impress you with motives, would he not have you feel their force? Do you think he has other objects in view? Can you produce a man, who has lived eighty years without meditation and piety, and who has instantaneously become a good divine, a faithful Christian, perfected in holiness and piety? Do you not perceive, on the contrary, that the youth who learns his catechism with care, becomes a good catechumen; that the candidate who profoundly

studies divinity, becomes an able divine; and that the Christian, who endeavours to subdue his passions, obtains the victory over himself? Hence the Holy Spirit requires you to use exertions. Hence when we exhorted you to become genuine Christians, with the same application that we endeavour to become enlightened merchants, meritorious officers, acute mathematicians, and good preachers, by assiduity and study, by labour and application, we advanced nothing inconsistent with the genius of our religion. Hence, he who draws from the aids of the Holy Spirit conclusions to remain inactive, and defer the work of salvation, offers violence to the economy of grace, and supersedes the design of the ministry God has established in his church. This is our first reflection.

We have marked, secondly, the efforts that God requires us to use to obtain the grace of the Holy Spirit, even when we do not account ourselves to have received him. He has uniformly required us, at least, to ask his aid. The Scriptures are very, express. Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened. Matt. vii. 7. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Jam. i. 5. And, if we are required to ask, we are also obliged to use efforts, however weak and imperfect, to obtain the grace we ask. For, with what face can we ask God to assist us in the work of salvation, when we deliberately seek our own destruction ? With what face can we ask God not to lead us into temptation, when we go ourselves in pursuit of temptation, and greedily riot in sin? With what

face can we ask him to extinguish the fire of concupiscence, when we daily converse with objects which inflame it?

We ought, therefore, to conduct ourselves, with regard to the work of salvation, as we do with regard to life and health. In vain should we try to preserve them, did not God extend his care: Nature, and the elements, conspire for our destruction; we should vanish of our own accord: God alone can retain the breath which preserves our life. Asa king of Israel was blamed for having had recourse to physicians, without having first inquired of the Lord. But should we not be fools, if from a notion that God alone can preserve our health, we should cast ourselves into a pit; abandon ourselves to the waves, take no food when healthy, and no medicine when sick? Thus, in the work of salvation, we should do the same; imploring the grace of God to aid our endeavours. We should follow the example of Moses, when attacked by Amalek; he shared with Joshua the task of victory. Moses ascended the hill, Joshua descended into the plain : Joshua fought, Moses prayed: Moses raised his suppliant hands to heaven, Joshua raised a warrior's arm: Moses opposed his fervour to the wrath of heaven, Joshua opposed his courage and arms to the enemy of Israel: and, by this judicious concurrence of praying and fighting, Israel triumphed and Amalek fled.

Observe, thirdly, the manner in which the Holy Spirit requires correspondent co-operation from us, as the objects of his care. In displaying his efficacy in the heart, he pretends not to deal with us as with

stocks and stones. It is an excellent sentence of Augustine: "God, who made us without our choice, will not save us without our consent." Hence the Scripture commonly joins these two things, the work of God in our conversion, and the correspondent duty of man. To-day, if ye will hear his voice, here is the work of God, harden not your hearts. Ps. xcv. 8. Here is the duty of man. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Eph. iv. 30. Here is the work of God. Grieve not the Holy Spirit. Here is the duty of man. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Rev. v. 20. Here is the work of God. If any man hear my voice and open. Here is the duty of man. God worketh in us to will and to do. Phil. ii. 12. Here is the work of God. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Here is the duty of man. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. Ezek. xi. 19. Here is the work of God. Make you a new heart, and a new spirit. Ezek. xviii. 31. Here, the duty of man. What avail all these expressions, if it were the design of Scripture in promising grace to our lukewarmness and delay of conversion? What are the duties it prescribes, except they be those very duties, the necessity of which we have proved, when speaking of habits? What is this caution, not to harden the heart against the voice of God, if it is not to pay deference to all he commands? What is it to open to God, who knocks at the door of our heart, if it is not to hear when he speaks, to come when he calls, to yield when he intreats, to tremble when he threatens, and to hope when he promises? What is

this working out our salvation with fear and trembling, if it is not to have this continual vigilance, this salutary caution, this weighty care, the necessity of which we have proved?

Our fourth reflection is derived from the threatenings, which God denounces against those who refuse to co-operate with the economy of grace. The Spirit of God, you say, will be stronger than your obstinacy; he will surmount your propensities; he will triumph over your opposition; grace will become victorious, and save you, in defiance of nature.-Nay rather this grace shall be withdrawn, if you persist in your contempt of it. Nay, rather this spirit shall abandon you, after a course of obstinacy, to your own way. He resumes the one talent from the unfaithful servant, who neglects to improve it; and, according to the passage already cited, God sends on those, who obey not the truth, strong delusion to believe a lie. 2 Thes. ii. 10, 11. Hence St. Paul draws this conclusion: Stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or by our epistle. And elsewhere it is said, That servant who knew his lord's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. Luke xii. 47. And the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews affirms, That it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, if they fall away, to renew them again unto repentance. Heb. ii. 4. I am aware that the apostle had particularly in view the sin of those Jews who had embraced the gospel, and abjured it through apostacy or prejudice. We ought, however, to deduce this conclusion, that when the Holy Spirit has enabled us to attain a certain degree