unto them, and induce them to grow weary of the cause which they had espoused, he told them plainly of the difficulties that would beset them. "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he doeth God service." The lesson thus inculcated was intended as a parting exhortation from a Master to his disciples before he was taken away from them; and its design was to arm them with expectation, to quicken their patience, and to put them on their guard against "a great fight of affliction," which they must go through if they would become brave and victorious soldiers, to whom the eyes of multitudes would be turned with deepening anxiety, and upon whose achievements the future and eternal blessedness of myriads then unborn would, in a great measure, be made to depend. And to assure them of the intenseness of his anxiety in their behalf, he gives them an additional proof of his love. "These things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you; but now I go my way to Him that sent me." By this intimating, that he had withheld from them the full view of what was to befall them, because they were then unable to bear it, and because he was to remain amongst them as a friend and counsellor in all difficulties. But now the case was to be altered. The Shepherd was to be smitten, and the Leader to be removed, and the countenance that had animated them was to be withdrawn. "Now," said Jesus, "I go my way to Him that sent me; and because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts." And with good reason was it so. They as yet knew not the blessings that were in reserve for them. They saw only-and that with the eye of sense the cloud of disappointment that was gathering blackness around them. Hence a declaration was sounded in the ears of these sorrowing ones, which was well calculated to turn their mourning into joy. "Nevertheless," exclaimed Jesus, "I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." Soothing words must these have been, and suited to the utterance of the Being who spake as never man spake! But if in the hour of their anxiety the disciples received joyous encouragement from words which had yet to wait for an accomplishment, how full and blessed must have been their delight when the appointed time could no longer tarry; and when the promise of the Father, which they had heard from the lips of Jesus, was poured down upon its expectants as a plentiful shower upon a parched desert, or as a glorious flood of light upon the dwellings of those who were abiding in the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death! My brethren, that promise has long since been vouchsafed in all its fulness to this wilderness world. That "little while," of which the Saviour spoke so touchingly, has long since been mingled with the years beyond the flood; and He that was declared to be our light, our guide, our all, has graciously imparted "his sevenfold gifts" to mankind, and shewn that his "blessed unction from above is comfort, life, and fire of love." We, too, are this day assembled, in glad and grateful obedience to the call of the Church, for the purpose, I trust, of once more setting our seal to the truth of God's faithfulness and love; of acknowledging that God "did, as at this time, teach the hearts of his faithful people by the sending to them the light of his Holy Spirit;" and of uniting our heartfelt prayers to him that he would "grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort." That this gracious principle may be still more deeply rooted in our bosoms, and be confirmed and enlivened by an increased supply of that faith which cometh by hearing, and that hearing by the word of God, it will be my endeavour to suggest to you such a meditation upon the language of my text as may enlarge our views of the truths it contains, and stir up within us an increased longing for a personal realisation and enjoyment of the blessed promise which it contains. As that pure and reformed branch of the Church of Christ, to which it is our happiness to belong, claims from every individual member of her community a belief" in the Holy Ghost as the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who, with the Father and the Son together, is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the prophets;" as she directs that prayer should be made to him, and refers to the fact of "the coming of the Holy Ghost" as one that is fraught with mighty interest to the world; as she maintains that he is the Author of sanctification to the believer's soul, and the one who cleanses the thoughts of the hearts of men from the pollutions that are in the world through lust,-it will be consistent, and I trust profitable, for us to refer these confessions of our adopted creed to the only true standard of doctrine; that so, by refreshing our recollection of their conformity | day. "The Holy Ghost is a spiritual and with the word of God, we may increase our divine substance, the third Person in the value for, and delight in, those admirable Deity, distinct from the Father and the Son, formularies which have hitherto stood forth and yet proceeding from them both: which as a mighty bulwark for the safety of our thing to be true, both the creed of Athanasius spiritual Zion, by checking all attempts at beareth witness, and may be also most easily the perversion of Scripture, and by constantly proved by most plain testimonies of God's exhibiting before the gaze of all within her holy word. When Christ was baptised of pale a sound and spiritual digest of "the John in the river Jordan, we read that the truth as it is in Jesus." Long may that bul- Holy Ghost came down in form of a dove, wark remain unshaken and unimpaired; and and that the Father thundered from heaven, long may the shield of Omnipotence spread saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I a shelter over the ark of God that is in the am well pleased.' Where note three divers midst of us-that so "peace and happiness, and distinct Persons, the Father, Son, and truth and justice, religion and piety, may be Holy Ghost: which all, notwithstanding, are established among us for all generations." not three Gods, but one God. Likewise The Church has shewn a signal love for the when Christ did first institute and ordain souls of her children in setting apart the the sacrament of baptism, he sent his dissolemnity which we are this day called upon ciples into the whole world, willing them to to commemorate; and in giving to her daily baptise all nations in the name of the Father, liturgical services so deep and rich a savour and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. of that heavenly doctrine which the day of These, and such other places in the New Pentecost ushered in upon our world. That Testament, do so plainly and evidently condoctrine, as maintained by our Church, calls firm the distinction of the Holy Ghost from upon us to acknowledge the personality of the other Persons in the Trinity, that no man the Holy Ghost. Accordingly we have that possibly can doubt thereof, unless he will striking prayer in our litany: "O God the blaspheme the everlasting truth of God's Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and word. As for his proper nature and subthe Son, have mercy upon us, miserable sin- stance, it is altogether one with God the ners." It is, however, a doctrine which we Father and God the Son; that is to say, spiderive from the Bible. Among many other ritual, eternal, uncreated, incomprehensible, instances, my text affords it a strong cor- almighty to be short, he is even God and roboration. The Holy Spirit is exhibited Lord everlasting. Therefore he is called the | under the character of a Guide. "He will Spirit of the Father, therefore he is said to guide you into all truth." And again: "He proceed from the Father and the Son, and shall testify of me; he shall receive of mine, therefore he was equally joined with them in and shall shew it unto you." The apostle the commission that the apostles had to bapPaul, too, speaking of the Holy Ghost, de- tise all nations. But that this may appear clares "that he maketh intercession for the more sensibly to the eyes of all men, it will saints, according to the will of God." The be requisite to consider the wonderful and unpardonable sin spoken of by our Lord is heavenly works of the Holy Ghost, which "the sin against the Holy Ghost ;" and it is plainly declare unto the world his mighty the same Spirit that imparteth gifts to man- and divine power. First, it is evident that kind," dividing to every man severally as he did wonderfully govern and direct the he willeth." The great fact of Christ's in- hearts of the patriarchs and prophets in old carnation is directly ascribed to the operation time, illuminating their minds with the knowof the Holy Ghost. "An angel said to the ledge of the true Messias, and giving them Virgin, The Holy Ghost shall come upon utterance to prophesy of things that should thee, and the power of the Highest shall come to pass long time after. For, as overshadow thee." The regeneration of the St. Peter witnesseth, the prophecy came not soul of man is styled the " being born again in old time by the will of man; but the holy of the Spirit." And when Jesus commissioned men of God spake as they were moved by his disciples, and bade them to baptise all the Holy Ghost. And of Zachary the highnations, he told them to do it" in the name priest it is said in the Gospel, that he, being of the Father, and of the Son, and of the full of the Holy Ghost, prophesied and praised Holy Ghost." Now all these are personal God. So did also Simeon, Anna, Mary, and attributes. They belong not, nor can they divers others, to the great wonder and adbe made to refer, to a mere energy or opera- miration of all men." tion, to a mere quality or power. again listen to the language of our Church as it is expressed, and that too with amazing power and unction, in the homily for this Let us The same homily will also be found to proceed in a strain not less emphatic, nor less scriptural. Its language runs thus:"As there are three several and sundry dis tinct Persons in the Deity, so have they three several and sundry offices proper unto each of them. The Father to create, the Son to redeem, the Holy Ghost to sanctify and regenerate. Whereof the last, the more it is hid from our understanding, the more it ought to move all men to wonder at the secret and mighty working of God's holy Spirit which is within us. For it is the Holy Ghost, and no other thing, that doth quicken the minds of men, stirring up good and godly motions in their hearts, which are agreeable to the will and commandment of God; such as otherwise of their own crooked and perverse nature they should never have. That which is born of the flesh,' saith Christ, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' Man of his own nature is fleshly and carnal, corrupt and naught, sinful and disobedient to God, without any spark of goodness in him, without any virtuous or godly motion, only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds. As for the works of the Spirit, the fruits of faith, charitable and godly motions, if he have any at all in him, they proceed only of the Holy Ghost, who is the only worker of our sanctification, and maketh us new men in Christ Jesus... Did not God's Holy Spirit miraculously work in Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, when of a proud publican he became an humble and lowly evangelist? And who can choose but marvel to consider that Peter should become of a simple fisher a chief and mighty apostle? Paul, of a cruel and bloody persecutor, a faithful disciple of Christ to teach the Gentiles? Such is the power of the Holy Ghost to regenerate men, and, as it were, to bring them forth anew, so that they shall be nothing like the men that they were before. Neither doth he think it sufficient inwardly to work the spiritual and new birth of man, unless he do also dwell and abide in him. Know ye not,' saith St. Paul, that ye are the temple of God, and that his Spirit dwelleth in you? Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you?' Again, he saith, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. For why? the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. To this agreeth the doctrine of St. John, writing on this wise: The anointing which ye have received (he meaneth the Holy Ghost) dwelleth in you.' And the doctrine of Peter saith the same, who hath these words: The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.' O what comfort is this to the heart of a true Christian to think that the Holy Ghost dwelleth within him! If God be with us,' as the apostle saith, 'who can be against us?" The language here advanced, supported as it is at every step with the resistless argu 66 ments of holy writ, most fully and clearly sets before us the momentous importance of a right belief in the Holy Ghost, as of one substance, majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God:" that he has a distinct and essential personality, and has undertaken his own peculiar office in that work of redeeming mercy, which the boundless love of God devised for the recovery and final blessedness of fallen man; that he leads mankind to a knowledge and obedience of the law of God; that he guides men into all truth, and brings them from darkness to light, from sin to holiness, from Satan to God. We are, moreover, authorised to believe that the assertion, which Jesus made to his sorrowing disciples with respect to the Spirit of truth, has also a full and literal application to every heart among the children of men that shall be touched with a sense of the love of God and of Christ Jesus our Lord. We know that the letter of the promise to the disciples was, "that the Spirit was to abide with them for ever;" and the last assurance which the risen Saviour gave to the same little band before he was finally taken away from them into heaven was, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." And since it is clear to demonstration, that the term "for ever," and "to the end of the world," cannot be limited by the little span of earthly existence which remained to the apostles after the cloud had received Jesus out of their sight, we are left to infer that all who embrace the salvation of Jesus, even those who shall live at the close of earth's dispensations, shall also realise the rich promise that was uttered in the language of my text: "They shall be guided into all truth by the Spirit of truth." O, then, brethren, while you are carefully investigating the doctrine of the personality of the Holy Spirit, of his essential divinity, and of his co-operation in the mighty scheme of redemption, are ye also anxious to ascertain whether or not ye yourselves have been guided by him into all truth? The abstruseness of your reasonings, and the clearness of your arguments, and the correctness of your conclusions, will avail you nothing, if, after all, you are found to be strangers to the love of Jesus, and unblessed by the teachings of that Spirit which can alone place you among the sons of God. Yea, brethren, the very existence of your knowledge will mightily aggravate your guilt and misery, if, among your other searchings, ye have never sought for a personal interest in that prayer which our Saviour poured forth,-" Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Pause, then, I beseech you, and consider the matter over, once more, with yourselves. This morn ing your lips have confessed that you have erred and strayed from God's ways like lost sheep. Did you include yourselves among the number? Some there are among you who rest satisfied with present attainments, and imagine that nothing of truth can lie beyond that scope upon which they have fixed their eyes. They therefore refuse every statement which projects over those most narrow limits; yea, and in too many instances, the authors of those statements have to adopt the expostulation of St. Paul to the Galatians, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" Bre this circumstance that the Psalmist, alluding to their journey to Jerusalem, speaks of the blessedness of those whose strength is in God, "who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God" (Ps. lxxxiv. 6, 7). Whether the Psalmist referred to any particular valley where these wells were dug,-which he most probably did, as the valley of Bochim; or whether he alluded to the practice so common in the East,-it is certain that wells dug for the refreshment of the traveller were essentially requisite; and hence the greatest precautions were taken to prevent these wells being choked by the moving sand; and the stopping them up was, as it is now, regarded as an act of hostility, as is fully testified by writers sacred and profane. To stop those wells which might be in an enemy's route was, in fact, one of the most effectual methods to cut off the army. It is difficult, indeed, for us, whose lot has been cast in a good land" a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills," to form any adequate notion of the miseries endured by those who are compelled to journey through a land of drought when their supply of water fails, and when, in the parched desert, under the rays of a scorching sun, the wells to which they hastened are found dried up. Scarcely any bodily anguish, it is stated, can be compared to this; and hence we find such frequent reference in Scripture to the importance of a ready and constant supply of salubrious water, and that the rich blessings of the Gospel are so often likened to those resulting from a copious supply of that element. To enter fully, however, into the force of these passages, it is necessary to enter into the peculiar circumstances of those to whom they refer; we shall thus be enabled to perceive the force and beauty of the scriptural representations, and be more likely to derive instruction. thren, we have no desire to bring strange things to your ears, unless those strange things be the unchanging and unchangeable truths of God. As men that have been made overseers by the Holy Ghost, our simple desire is to act under the direction of our divine Teacher, and to guide you into all truth. Beyond that point, we cannot go; short of that point, we dare not intentionally stay your progress. Command is laid upon us; yea, wo is unto us if we preach not the Gospel. We are entrusted with souls as men that must give account; and for us to preach another Gospel in order to please man, while in our consciences we believe and know that it is not a Gospel," would be to destroy our own souls, and the souls of those who hear us. O, then, brethren, seek more earnestly the guidance and teaching of that Spirit whose sacred office it is to guide mankind into all truth! Believe in his power, journey through the wilderness of the world. And, depend upon his grace, cleave to his mises; so will you be " strengthened with might in the inner man," and "be sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of the glory of Jesus Christ." THE VALLEY OF BACA. pro THE solemn requirement of the Mosaic law,- that at each of the three great feasts all the males should appear at Jerusalem to worship,- as it was obeyed with the utmost punctuality, so did it impose upon many of them no ordinary fatigue. The account given by St. Luke of the numbers assembled on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit miraculously descended from on high, and the different nations which he enumerates, from which these worshippers had come, abundantly testify that many of them had travelled from a great distance, and must have suffered from the fatigue of the journey; which, in not a few instances, was through a burning and sandy desert. To refresh them on their way, wells were dug at different stations, from whence they might obtain a ready supply of water; and it was with reference to In consequence of the scarcity of water in the East, travellers are careful to stop as often as possible near some river, fountain, or well; this will probably account for Jacob's halting with his family at the ford Jabbok (Gen. xxxii. 22); for the Israelites assembling their forces near the fountains of Jezreel The journey of those who passed through the valley of weeping, to worship the Lord in the courts of Jerusalem, is strikingly illustrative of the Christian's first, it may be observed that, as the Jews directed their steps towards the holy city, so the hearts of God's believing people now are turned towards the sanctuary above, where they trust they shall serve God day and night in his temple. They feel that this world is not their home - that this is not the place of their rest. Like the patriarch of old, they plainly testify that they desire a better country, even an heavenly; and, while they are contented to tarry the Lord's leisure, and patiently to wait their appointed time until their change come, thankful for the privileges they enjoy, and sedulous in the performance of the duties incumbent upon them, they yet breathe a purer spiritual atmosphere than that which the world affords, and are influenced by motives and hopes of which the world is entirely ignorant. The world is to them as a desert, where, notwithstanding the manifold blessings scattered in their path, there is no sure dwelling-place. They feel that they are strangers and pilgrims, and cannot but long for admission into (1 Sam. xxix. 1), as the celebrated moslem warrior Saladin afterwards did; and for David's men, that were unable to march with him, waiting for him by the brook Besor (1 Sam. xxx. 21). It is not improbable that the ancient wells mentioned Gen. xvi. 14, xxiv. 20, and Exod. ii. 16, were furnished with some conveniences for drawing water to refresh the fainting traveller, and with troughs, or other contrivances, for supplying cattle with water, similar to those which are to be found at this day in Persia, Arabia, and the East Indies. Great precautions were taken anciently, as well as in modern times, to prevent the sands from choking up their wells, by placing a stone over the mouth (Gen. xxix. 2-8) after the requisite supply had been drawn up. The stopping up of wells is to this day an act of hostility in the East, as it was in the days of Abraham and Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 15-18), and Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxii. 3, 4), and also long after among several other nations. See Rev. HARTWELL HORNE'S Introduction. that glorious city of habitation whose builder and maker is God. The Cabinet. BLESSEDNESS OF COMMUNION WITH GOD.-How happy is the condition of that man who, through God's mercy, has attained to a state of communion with the Ere they reach God's eternal city, however, his believing people must pass through the wilderness of a fallen world; a world which presents many allurements to cause them to swerve from the narrow path, in which temptation besets them in a thousand shapes, and innumerable snares are laid by the great adversary for their destruction. Compassed with infirmity, inheritors of a corrupt nature, believers are apt to be discouraged in their Christian course, or, as the apostle expresses it, to become "weary and faint" in their minds. Liable to the miseries which attach themselves to man as a sinner-those afflictive dispensations which more or less mingle themselves in every human cup, they are more grievously oppressed by a sense of sinfulness, by reflection on their shortcomings, their backslidings, their violation of solemn vows, their dread lest they should finally fail of arriving at the blissful presence of God. Too often do they doubt the fulfilment of the Divine promises, and are even tempted to ask whether it might not be better to return to the follies of the world, as there is no chance of their continuing stedfast in their Christian course. Like the bondwoman cast out of the house of the patriarch, they sit down to weep, wearied with the journey, and, finding, as they conceive, the water that hitherto refreshed them altogether spent, to weep over the supposed hopelessness of their condition. But at such a moment of extremity, God is graciously pleased to open their eyes, as he opened those of Hagar, that they may see a well of water. This gracious promise is accomplished, "I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." His gracious voice is heard, "Be strong, fear not, behold your God will come and save you; in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert; and the parched land shall be a pool, and the thirsty land springs of MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY.-I have been speakwater." By the refreshing influence of his Holying only of the natural effects of Christian habits and Spirit, that Spirit whose descent the Church at this season more especially calls us to commemorate, God is graciously pleased to invigorate his fainting people, to strengthen them on their journeys, and to enable them to pass in safety along that way of holiness in which the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err. At each successive step, this Spirit is at hand to aid. The weak hands are strengthened. The feeble knees are confirmed. The wilderness is turned into a standing water, and the dry ground into water-springs. He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with gladness. Thus strengthened, the believer goes on, privileged to trust that he shall not ultimately fail, and cheered by the gracious promise, "I will not leave thee nor forsake thee." The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought. Hitherto hath he helped thee, why then shouldst thou despair? He that first turned thy feet into the narrow path, will surely keep thy footsteps right. Let the believer, then, be of good courage; his path may be thorny, his worldly comforts may be few; his heart may faint, and his flesh may fail; but God will be the strength of his heart and his portion for ever. Let him bear in mind, that hitherto, in a spiritual as in a temporal sense, his bread has been given him, and his waters have been sure. Yet a few more stages on life's journey, and he shall see the King in his beauty, and look upon Zion, the city of solemnities. His eyes shall see Jerusalem, a quiet tabernacle that shall not be taken down; amidst the ransomed who drink of the pure river of life eternal, he shall, amidst the pastures of Emmanuel's land, recount with adoring gratitude the wells of water which refreshed him whilst passing through the valley of weeping; the invigorating influences of that eternal Spirit, who enabled him to go on from strength to strength, until brought by saving mercy to appear before the God of gods in Zion. 0. Christian thoughts. There is something yet higher and yet better beyond. For that blessed Spirit who watches over and co-operates with the endeavours of his faithful ministers will shed his own consolations and his own joy over their bosoms. He will indeed be their Comforter, that they faint not; so that, "when troubled on every side, they shall not be distressed; though perplexed, not in despair; though cast down, not destroyed." He will tranquillise and calm them in all the storms of life, comfort them in its worst afflictions, and be their exceeding great reward, alike in the struggle through time and the passage to eternity; renewing the inward man day by day, pointing their view to the house not made with hands, and to the season when their ministry shall pass into empire, their watchfulness into fruition, and their labour into rest. Compare this comfort, my brethren, with the prospects and the hopes of the worldly and thoughtless priest. Look, I would especially beseech you, to that period of life, when even the unbeliever confesses that a browner shade is cast on his declining years by the abbreviation of time and the failure of hope; when even the heathen moralist feels that there is something from within required to support and to sustain, to give dignity to the frailty of age, and cheerfulness and comfort to the long and weary hours of unoccupied infirmity; when, as far as relates to our mortal nature and mortal state, all forward-looking thoughts are closed by the grave, which is opening for us, and all mortal hopes are departing from those dreary days when there is no pleasure in them. Tell me, I beseech you, what must then be the thoughts of the priest who has deemed lightly of his office, and lowered its dignity by his own neglect, or his own carelessness? What is there with him of the thoughts which cheer and comfort the declining years of other and better men, by setting before them the remembrance of a course of honour and of useful |