That blessed agency, which is so indispensable, is now experienced by me. Instead, therefore, of pausing to pry into the deep things of God, which are reserved for the disclosures of the great day, I am encouraged, by this collation of facts, to yield myself freely to that mysterious power which can alone conduct me to the feet of Jesus. Let the sinner take, further, the testimony of all the redeemed. Let him summon the thousand witnesses for Christ now upon the earth, and then the ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, whom John saw before the throne, and, without dissent, they will all testify, that by just such power as he now begins to feel, were they brought into a state of salvation. They, just as he, were roused from apathy, and were made to feel the powers of the world to come; they, just as he must, were led to "loathe and abhor themselves," and to "cast themselves upon the mercy of God in Christ Jesus." Then, by all that he now feels, may he hope that a good work is begun within him, which will be carried on till the day of Christ. The true deduction leads not to despondency and cavil, but to hope and joyful trust; for he can be saved only through those influences which are now consciously experienced, and which he is exhorted to cherish. We may, then, endorse this, "the argument of interest;" and let it restrain the sinner from foolishly perilling his salvation by grieving now away the Holy Spirit of God.

IV. Because the Scriptures hedge about the office and work of the Holy Ghost with very solemn and peculiar sanctions.

It has been already said that He is the only person of the Godhead who sustains no office of wrath, and is attended by no symbols of terrible majesty. This, however, is one of those partial truths which might mislead, unless qualified by the statements now to be made. Perhaps, for this reason, His person and office are guarded by the most fearful warning found within the Bible. "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men; and whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." It thus appears, "there is a sin unto death"-one form of transgression which is excepted from all hope of pardon, which the infinite goodness of God refuses to cover, and for which the prayer of intercession may not be offered; and that sin

can only be committed against the person of the Holy Ghost. It may be irreverent to inquire into the reasons of this remarkable limitation. Perhaps it is because the Holy Spirit is the third and last person of the adorable Trinity, so that he who sins finally and fatally against Him has sinned past the entire Godhead. He that transgresseth against the person and law of the Father may yet be forgiven through the infinite merits and prevalent intercessions of the Son; and he that sins against the person and office of the Son, may yet be overtaken by the resistless might and grace of the Spirit; but when the Spirit is grieved away, there remains behind no other person who may gather up the resources of the Godhead, and bring them to the sinner's rescue. Or, perhaps it is because to the Holy Ghost is assigned the office of applying the scheme of redemption; so that he who sins against Him finally has sinned against the Gospel in its last stage, just where it is intended to bear upon human destiny; and having sinned past the scheme of grace, "there remains no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." Or, it may be in compensation for the lowliness of the Spirit's condescension; because, in discharging the office of Comforter, He must come with a gentleness that shall not alarm the timid soul, and descend into contact with the lowest impurity of the sinner's heart; because he must stand thus seemingly defenceless before the sinner, and submit to all the outrage of the sinner's resistance and scorn, therefore He must bear this solemn seal of the Father and the Son, who throw around his person the sanctions of their own official greatness and severity. But without pausing, with prurient curiosity, to pry into the reasons of this awful warning, the fact itself, in its fearful solemnity, is sufficient for us. Trifle not with this person of the Trinity, since the one sin which God will never forgive is, and can be, perpetrated only against Him. Nor is it essential to the import of this warning, that we should define precisely the nature of this sin. That it is special, and does not involve every act of resistance, is evident; since, otherwise, the whole human race would be cut off from the hope of salvation. Which one of all the redeemed, on earth or in heaven, but consciously has, at some stage in his career, resisted and grieved the Holy Spirit? This dreadful offence, therefore, described under the strong term of blasphemy, must import something more than the ordinary resistance of the unrenewed will.

It must imply a confirmed and malignant opposition of the soul to holiness and God, such as can alone admit the wilful and habitual traducing of the Holy Ghost in the fulfilment of His glorious and benign mission. But, even in this view, the warning is not the less significant. It may be presented thus: He that consciously sins against the Spirit, in the face of such a woe here denounced, has no guaranty that he may not be judicially abandoned of God to sin that sin which shall never be remitted. This side of the judgment bar, there are awful sanctions by which Jehovah guards both His law and the Gospel of His grace; and the most fearful of these is the withholding of His restraints, and punishing sin by allowing the commission of other sins which are deeper. Your present resistance of the Holy Ghost may not be "the sin which is unto death," but it may be the first step in the path of declension which terminates in that fearful abyss. Grieved by ordinary and persistent rejection, this blessed agent, whose commission is sealed by the Father and the Son, may depart; and He that sitteth upon the throne may lift His right hand in the dreadful oath, "My Spirit shall no more strive!" The withering sentence may be pronounced, "Let him alone!" Thus judicially abandoned, with all the restraints of providence and grace withdrawn, the sinner may go on from sin to sin, until the last dreadful act of treason is consummated in the blasphemy against God's Eternal Spirit. We may therefore endorse this, "the argument of warning;" and, by the terrors of the Lord, persuade the sinner not to trifle with the thunders of Jehovah's Word. Rise not up now, in the stubbornness of your pride, and say, "We will not be frightened into submission by the echoes of a penalty like this." Remember that the language of bravado is always the language of cowardice and of falsehood. It is right to be afraid of God, when He speaks to us in the majesty of His law. And when these warnings come as the foreshadowing of His stern retributive justice, and are addressed to our judgment and conscience, rather than to our sense of fear, they can only be disregarded by the recklessness that is blind, or by the folly that is mad. The flaming sword which turneth every way guards the person of that Divine Spirit, who comes to the sinner the last exponent of God's infinite love. He who rushes upon that sword dies by the hand of God; while mercy and love, outraged and despised by the sinner, vindicate themselves by echoing the decree which inflexible justice both issues and executes.

But some one may arise here and say, Of all this, we are deeply persuaded; there is no fault more grave, and no calamity more fatal, than to grieve away the Holy Spirit; if we know ourselves, there is no crime from which we shrink with greater dread; tell us how we may be saved from an offence of such awful magnitude. The demand is reasonable, for doubtless there are many who would not designedly do despite to the Spirit of Grace, who nevertheless, in their blindness, pursue a course which leads to this dreadful issue. It is of immense concern to such, to know the principal ways in which this may inadvertently be done.

I. Many grieve the Spirit by their unwillingness to own that they are under His influence and feel His power.

Those who are called to deal with awakened souls are aware how studiously these religious exercises are screened from the view of others. Nor have we the right to complain of this, so far as it springs from that natural reserve which God has cast, as a veil of concealment, over all the sacred and tender affections of the soul. It is never easy to speak out the sentiments even of natural affection into the ears of a stranger; and we speedily lose respect for those who can babble forth all their inner feelings in the shambles and in the market place, which should be reserved for self-communion, or at least for the confidential disclosures of intimate friendship. That veil of secrecy should not be rudely drawn aside or rent, which a true and instinctive delicacy draws around the heart; and which, as a principle of our nature, God has implanted, that we may be protected from the profane and intrusive gaze of our fellow men. It is not of this we complain, that anxious sinners are reluctant to make us the depositaries of their religious secret. However we may regret that want of confidence which renders unavailing our wisdom and experience, an unquestioned right alone is exercised, which no one may lawfully challenge. But the indisposition to acknowledge, even to themselves, the source and nature of their distress, is what we cenHow many are peevish and fretful when no adequate cause exists without them for this disquietude, who would discover, if they would institute an inquiry, that it is God Himself by whom they are troubled. He has "stirred up their nest," and therefore they are ill at ease! To live day by day in this discomposure of soul, and never ask wherefore they droop; not to cease the din and clatter of life long enough to ask who it is that knocketh at the door of the heart,

sure.

and seeks admission-this is to grieve the Spirit of God, by sad inattention to the signs of His presence, and by slothful disregard to the calls of His love. An earthly friend, however dear, would turn away from our door at such rebuffs, nor could he be pacified without acknowledgment and sorrow for the wrong. Is it strange that the Holy Ghost should suspend His importunate solicitations, and leave the sinner that is deaf to all his entreaties to reap the fruit of his folly in bitter disappointment and sorrow?

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II. Others grieve the Holy Ghost by laboring to extinguish their convictions, and escape present distress, without repentance and confession. Transparent candor is due to all earnest searchers after truth-the same candor exhibited by our blessed Lord, when He said, soever will not take up his cross and follow Me, cannot be My disciple." So we are bound to say to all who would press into His Kingdom, it is through sorrow and pain this entrance must be gained; for the gate is strait, and none enter but through striving. The agonies of the second birth, like the pains of the first, must be felt by all who would see the light. It is impossible, in the nature of things, that a man should wake up to the fact that he is vile before God, and that in him dwelleth no good thing, without torture of soul. The misfortune and guilt of multitudes is, that they will not undergo that distress which is antecedent to all relief. They desire to be comforted, without the mourning to which the promise of comfort is annexed. Hence the effort, at every hazard, to throw off the sense of pain. Hence the lamentation of God, "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." In the very crisis of their fate, instead of "repenting in dust and ashes"-instead of "being in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first born "-they plunge with frantic haste into anything that will for the time hush the upbraidings of conscience, or extract the sting of remorse. They addict themselves to business, and steep themselves in care; they mingle in society, and drown the voice of the monitor within amid scenes of pleasure; they lock up the heart in a cold and stony stoicism; anything but listen to the Spirit's reproof, when He "convinces of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come." What is this but mad resistance of the Holy Ghost, by which all His blessed influences are quenched, perhaps forever?