THE RENOVATOR. And I will put my spirit within you.-EZEKIEL Xxxvi. 27. "THERE are three that bear record in heaven : the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." They form the mystery of one Godhead, and act in harmony. As might be expected, the divine record represents these three Persons as all connected with, and co-operating in creation. With the honours of a work, usually ascribed to the Father, Paul crowns the Son. Mark what he says of the Son-" By him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers;" and speaking elsewhere of God, he says "He, who at sundry times, and in divers manners spake to our fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." Now, as to the third person, or Holy Spirit, we discover indications of his existence even in the Mosaic record of creation. He appears in the earliest epochs of time, and amid those sublime and magnificent spectacles with which the Bible opens. The curtain rises upon the first act of creating power, and through the enveloping shroud of darkness, we see the earth-a shapeless mass, crude and chaotic. It is a world in embryo. "The earth was without form and void." Yet at this early period, when there was neither golden cloud nor blue sky, nor green land, nor silver sea; when no waves broke upon the shore, and there were no shores for waves to break on; when no mountains rose to greet the morning sun, and there was no sun to shine on them; when no wing of bird was cleaving the silent air, nor fin of fish the waters; when-like the rude and various materials from which an architect intends to rear the fabric he has designed the elements of fire, air, earth, and water lay mingled in strange confusion, through the darkness that lies on the face of the deep, we discover some mighty presence. It is the Spirit of God. He is moving, and at work. He presides at the birth of time. Evoking order from confusion, he is forming the world in the womb of eternity, and preparing a theatre for scenes and events of surpassing grandeur. Concerning that early period of creation, Moses has recorded this important fact-"The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters." In this glorious creation, therefore—in our beautiful world, and these star-spangled skies we behold the mighty monuments of his presence and power. He sprung the arch of this crystal dome, and studded it over with these gems of light. Listen to the magnificent hymn of the Patriarch-" He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He holdeth back the face of his throne and spreadeth his cloud upon it; he hath compassed the waters with bounds, and divideth the sea with his power. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens." In the temple of nature, therefore, as in that of grace, we adore a Godhead-the three in one; and see Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the presiding and co-equal authors of a first creation. But let us come to man. The pillar is finished, and wants nothing but its capital; the house, built and furnished, now waits its tenant. He is about to be formed who shall be not merely a work, nor a servant, but a son of God; a mirror in which Divinity may complacently contemplate itself; a being who is to exhibit what, amid their bright and beautiful forms, neither sun, nor sea, nor earth could boast of an image of God. In man the crown of creation is to be topped with its brightest gem. This province of the divine empire is to be provided with a king, who, wielding a delegated sceptre, shall exercise dominion "over the fish of the sea, the fowls of the air, the cattle, and the creeping things." It is a great occasion. And, as was worthy of it, the three persons of the Godhead appear. God fashions the plastic clay into the form of man, and moulds those features which, given by his hand, have descended to us ;-bending over the prostrate and inanimate statue, he breathes into its hollow nostrils the element of life; -rushing in, this mysterious power sets its organs into play, and, as the heart begins to beat, and the current of the blood to flow, Adam opens his eyes in life and on the world; but, ere this crowning act-ere, by this greatest act he closes the drama of creation-addressing the Son on this hand and the Spirit upon that, the Father saith, "Let us make man in our image." In many respects, the new creation corresponds with that old one-the Paradise Regained with the Paradise lost. Man is the subject of both; his good and the divine glory are the ends of both; devils are the enemies, and angels are the allies of both; the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are the authors of both. Now while the first chapter of Genesis-raising a portion of the veil which hangs upon the mysteries of creation-shows us the Holy Spirit as an active agent in that work, my text introduces the same divine person, as discharging functions as important in the more exalted and enduring work of a new creation. The Father decrees redemption; the Son procures it; the Holy Spirit applies it; and for the latter purpose this promise is both given and fulfilled-"I will put my Spirit within you." In illustration of the doctrine, I remark— I. The Holy Spirit is the great agent in conversion and sanctification. Man cannot be saved unless elected, nor elected without the Father; nor saved unless redeemed, nor redeemed without the Son; nor saved unless converted, nor converted without the Spirit. Do you ask why? Is there not a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness? Is it not true that whosoever seeks sal vation there, may wash and shall be clean? Most true. Jesus has filled that fountain with blood, and, once bathed there, the foulest become white as snow. Blessed truth! that fountain is free to all; free as air, free as sunlight, free as the waves of ocean, where man, who parcels out God's earth, and forbids other foot than his own to tread on it, claims no exclusive property-where the beggar may go in to bathe abreast of a king. What need I more, then? you may ask. We require much more. Our necessities are those of the cripple-who, for thirty years, sat uncured by Bethesda's pool, nor took his anxious eye off the water as he waited for its first stir and ruffle. The healing of that pool was regulated by a law, and it was this. Like an electric battery, which to one and the first touch discharges all its fluid, this pool cured but one at a time, and he got its benefit who first stepped in after the angel's descent. Whatever his disease might be, he was cured. Was he lame? he leaped. Was he Was he dumb? he sung. a cripple? he shouldered his crutch, and walked. why had this man sat out these weary years unhealed? Had the vision tarried? Was it the rare advent of the angel to this pool which suggested the figure, "Like angels' visits, few and far between ?" Had these waters been ever agitated during that long period of thirty years? Often. Many a time this cripple had seen the sudden spring, and heard the loud plunge, as some neighbour flashed into the pool; and as the cured left the scene, many a time had he followed them with envious eyes. Many a time had he witnessed proofs of the healing |