thy hope; thou canst weep over, but thou canst not weep out thy deformity; thine iniquity is still marked before the Lord. If there be a little grace in thee, yet there is such a weakness in its sinews, such a paleness in its face, that it is not like to live; or if it live, O how little hope that ever it should thrive or flourish.

Thus thou complainest, thus thou goest mourning and sighing and sinking and fainting in thy mind, and now and then venturest out a desponding prayer: “Lord, pity; Lord, look upon my sorrow and my sin; Lord, wash me; Lord, help me." Why, the Lord God hath sent thee his help out of his sanctuary, and his strength out of Zion. The eternal Spirit is come down on purpose to give battle to the flesh, to subdue thine iniquities, and bring all those that rise up within thee under thy feet. Thou mistakest thyself and thine enemies, if thou thinkest they will be conquered by one blow of thine arm; this kind goeth not out so; "not by might nor by power," much less by weakness and by flesh, by any weak attempts of thine own, "but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." It is work for a God, to relieve and cleanse such a heart, to turn such a hell into a heaven. What thou canst not do, being weak through the flesh, behold, he comes down to do for thee; thou hast proved thine own weakness, now try everlasting strength. He stands at the door and knocks, hear his voice at the door: "Wilt thou be made clean? Wilt thou be made whole? Wilt thou be delivered?" Open to him, and with him deliver

ance comes in. He stands at the pool, stirring the waters for thee; put in thy cripple-soul, and be healed of all thy diseases; say to him, "Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean," and thou shalt soon have this answer, "I will; be thou clean."

III. As a Spirit of TRUTH AND DIRECTION. John 16:13. He shall guide them by his counsel, he shall lead them in the way that they should go. They shall hear a word behind them, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. Isa. 30:21. He shall lead them into all truth, to prevent mistakes; and into all righteousness, to prevent miscarriages. Nay, more, he shall not be only their star, but their strength too; he shall guide them on, and help them on; they shall be led by the Spirit, bound in the Spirit, pressed in the Spirit; they shall be excited, assisted, carried on in the power of the Spirit, in the way that they should go; he will cause them to walk in the statutes of the Lord. Whatsoever thy waywardness and thy wanderings have been, whatever thy feebleness and fickleness be, whatever false lights and false ways are before thee, whatever temptations thou meetest with to turn thee aside out of the right way, whatever doubts hence arise in thy heart, "I shall one day or other perish from the way, and be a lost sheep at last;" yet his guidance shall be prosperous, and the event shall be sure; he shall so guide thee by his counsel, that he shall bring thee to glory. He shall gather his lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

IV. As a Spirit of COMFORT AND CONSOLATION. “If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." John 16:7. He shall come unto them, and abide with them, to supply the absence of their Redeemer, to support them under their affliction, to witness their adoption, to seal them up unto the day of redemption, and to be the earnest of their inheritance. Eph. 1:13, 14.

"He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” John 16:14. "He shall receive of mine,” that is, not only of the truths, those treasures of wisdom that are in me, though that be specially intended, but of my love, my righteousness, my holiness, and all those treasures of grace and mercy that are laid up in me: whatever there is in me that may stand you in any stead, yield you any relief or support, the Comforter whom I will send you shall bring it down to you; he shall take my blood and the pardons it hath purchased for you, my compassions that are working in me towards you, my prayers and intercessions I am offering up for you; he shall take of all those treasures of grace and everlasting consolations which are laid up for you with me; he shall take of mine, and show it unto you. As much as you have in the world to afflict and amaze you, as little as you have of your own to comfort you, either in your hearts or in your houses, or among your friends, he shall show what I have for you to refresh you.

O Christians, a sight of Christ in our sorrows, in our fears, in our thickest darkness, what daylight

would it bring in! When thou lookest into thy heart, and art astonished and confounded at what thou findest there at the blindness and the hardness, the poverty and the emptiness, the guilt and the guile, the pride and the peevishness, the evil thoughts, the vile affections, the filthy lusts, that are swarming and working in thee; when thou lookest into the world, and tremblest at what thou beholdest there-the malice, the craft, the power, that is engaged against thee; the furious spirits, the fiery tongues, the fierce looks, the violent hands, that are flying upon thee, and the little relief the earth will afford thee; when thy heart faints and dies within thee at the sense of this thy woful and forlorn state, a sight of what thou hast in thy Lord is presented to thee by his Spirit. Look thou here, soul, what thy Jesus has sent thee down-a glance from his eye, a drop from his heart, food from his table; and all to tell thee, Yet do I not forget thee; behold the care I take of thee, the treasures I have for thee, to encourage thy love and reward thy faithfulness. Oh, how will this make all thy darkness depart, and turn the shadow of death into the morning!

Thus is the Holy Spirit given to the saints, to be the light of their eyes, the death of their sins, the guide of their ways, the stay of their hearts; to uphold their grace, and to maintain their peace; to subdue their enemies and their fears; to secure them from temptations, or succor them when tempted; to wipe off their reproach, or make it their crown; to heal their diseases, or make them their cure; to help

their infirmities, to work their works, to make their yoke easy and their burdens light; to turn their sighs into songs, to form their groans into prayers, send them up to their Lord, and bring down returns; to comfort their hearts, to establish, strengthen, settle them, that they be neither offended at the rod nor moved from the hope of the gospel.