determined by it, until the Holy Spirit convince them what they are by nature, and what they may be by grace. Accordingly the scripture declares, that the Holy Spirit is the inspirer of every good thought, and word, and work. He enlightens the children of God with saving truth, and subdues the opposition which was in their wills to it, and that enmity which was in their hearts. From the first moment he awakens them, and opens the eyes of their understanding; until he bring them safe to glory, he is their teacher. He teaches them to look upon sin, as it is in itself, exceeding sinful; he alarms the conscience, and makes it feel the guilt and danger of sin: he leads the humbled and convinced sinner to Christ for pardon; he gives him faith, and hope, and love; and, by grafting him, like a living branch, into the true vine, enables him to bear much fruit to the glory of God. And since every thing good in him comes from divine teaching, is it not absolutely necessary that he should be taught of God?

If you will consider all these authorities together, I hope they will convince you, my brethren, that there is a necessity for your being taught of God: for by nature you are ignorant of all spiritual and divine things; and you cannot by any means in your own power attain to the knowledge of them; the arts and sciences can give you no assistance. It is a matter of fact that they never did, and the scriptures declares that they never can, help any man to discern the things of the Spirit of God. The natural man, while he remains such, be he ever so learned, cannot know them. And how then can he ever attain any ideas of them but by divine teaching? If this evidence has convinced you, you are prepared to follow me in my second enquiry, which relates to the manner in which God teaches his people.

His established method is by the word, and by the Spirit. In all divine teaching these two go together, the word, and the Spirit explaining and applying the

word. The word is the whole will of God, which he revealed to be the means of bringing sinners from darkness to light, from sin to righteousness, and from the power of Satan unto God, and unto the kingdom of his dear Son, here in grace, and hereafter in glory. These great things are spoken of the written word? For it is able, according to the apostle, to make a man wise unto salvation: but then the quickening Spirit must accompany the hearing, or reading of it, or else you will never find in it this saving wisdom. It is only a dead letter, unless the living Spirit animate it: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. The word is the means in the hand of the Spirit of beginning, carrying on, and perfecting, the life of God in the soul. When the Spirit works in it, and by it, he makes it effectual, through his mighty operation, to build up and to perfect the man of God. He works in the word; for the Spirit is received in it, as the apostle shews, 2 Cor. iii. 8. where he calls the preaching of the gospel, "the ministration of the Spirit," that by which the Spirit was administered and given, and he says to the Galatians, that, by this hearing of faith (which hearing was of the word of God,) they received the Spirit; Gal. iii. 2. And being received, he enlightened their minds and opened their understandings, that they might understand the scriptures, and thereby he wrought that faith in them, which cometh by hearing; for faith is his gift. It is called, Gal. v. 22. "the "fruit of the Spirit ;" one of the fruits produced in the heart by his grace, upon which account he is called "the Spirit of faith;" 2 Cor. iv. 13. And when he has thus wrought in the word, he then works by it, and helps the believer to act faith upon it. The Holy Spirit puts it into his heart to desire the sincere milk of the word, that he may grow thereby. And he does grow, and is nourished up, as Timothy was, in the words of faith, when he is enabled by the same Spirit to act faith upon the word; for then the word preached profits him, when he can mix faith with it-when faith

and the word, like two fluids of the same properties, readily mix together, and closely incorporate. Thus the word nourishes him in the inner man, and he grows thereby. The Spirit applies it and renders it effectual to the promoting of every gracious purpose, for which it was revealed, and by its means he makes the man of God wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in Jesus Christ.

This is the usual and common way in which God fulfils the text. He teaches his children spiritual and divine things by his word, as explained and applied by his Spirit: which two cannot be put asunder. The word is the eye, and the Holy Spirit is the light shining upon it. Now a man cannot see without eyes, and having eyes he cannot see without light. So if you have the word without the Spirit, you have eyes without light; and if you have the Spirit without the word, you have light, but no eyes to see it; the word and the Spirit therefore must go together. To expect that the Spirit will teach you without the word, is rank enthusiasm, as great madness as to hope to see without eyes: and to expect that the word will teach you, without the Spirit, is as great an absurdity as to pretend to see without light; and if any man says, that the Spirit teaches him to believe, or to do what is contrary to the written word, he is a mad blasphemer. God has joined the word and the Spirit; and what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

Convinced of these things, have you, my brethren, reduced them to practice? Do you go with humility, to the word of God to be taught, and do you find that instruction from it, of which you stand in need? Perhaps you say, you do read it, but you find it very difficult: it is so hard to be understood, that it is for the most part to you a sealed book. This is a very general complaint; but what is the cause of it? Certain it is, that this scripture cannot be broken-" All thy children shall be taught of God." The fault is not in

God, nor yet in his word. Surely then it is in your selves. Either you have not been deeply convinced of your own blindness in spiritual things, and therefore are not practically persuaded of the necessity of the word; or you have not looked up to the Holy Spirit for his divine teaching, praying him, in the prophet's words, "Lord, open thou mine eyes, that I may see "wonderous things out of thy law :" for until he opens your eyes and enlighten them, you cannot see any of the wonders contained in the book of God. Consider

these points then, and examine them closely. Be faithful, my brethren, to your own souls, and be not afraid to discover the true ground of your complaint. Have you been led to read and to hear the word of God under a strong sense of your darkness and blindness without it? And do you always seek the grace of the Holy Spirit to explain and to apply it? The first of these is absolutely necessary; because you will not ask wisdom of God, until you be convinced you lack it. And you will ask it with more or less earnestness in proportion to the sense you have of your want of it; so that when you are made deeply sensible of your great ignorance, then you will become very humble and teachable. This is the proper disposition of mind which the Holy Spirit must work in you, both before and under divine teaching, and the consideration of which was the third particular I proposed to speak

to.

Divine teaching is absolutely necessary for the learning of divine things, and God teaches his children by his word and by his Spirit. You may be convinced, my brethren, of these truths in speculation, but it is very difficult to bring them into practice. For such is the pride of the natural man, that he will not submit to be taught, no, not of God. He will exalt his own reasoning faculties above the wisdom of God's word, and above the teaching of God's Spirit. Although he has nothing to be proud of, being a creature made up of ignorance and sin, yet is he excessively proud: for

pride is interwoven in his very frame and constitution. Our Lord says, pride proceeds from within, out of the heart, Mark vii. 21. It comes from a corrupt principle that is within us, in the heart; there it has taken deep root, and grown luxuriant, bringing forth a vast crop of proud looks, words, and works. Nothing but the almighty grace of God can pull down the high opinion which this proud creature entertains of himself, and which he will continue to entertain, until he be well disciplined into the knowledge of himself. He must be brought to see his ignorance, and to feel his guilt and misery, before he will be humble enough to apply to God for instruction. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is through his gracious operation that the proud self-sufficient sinner is made thoroughly acquainted with his ignorance and his sinfulness. The Holy Spirit gives him a view of himself in the glass of the law, and shews him and makes him feel the entire corruption of his nature, the blindness of his understanding, the depravity of his will, and the rebellion of his heart. The natural man is a bad scholar at this humbling lesson. He learns it very slowly, and with great pain and difficulty. The practice of it is like plucking out a right eye, or cutting off a right hand: for his inbred sins are as dear to him as any member of his body. But the Holy Spirit so alarms him with his guilt, and with his danger, that by degrees he is brought heartily to wish for deliverance from his ignorance, and from his sins; and thus he is made teachable. He becomes simple, and is willing to be taught of God. He is brought into a proper frame of mind to sit with Mary at the master's feet, hearing his word, in order to be enlightened with saving wisdom, and to be blessed with the comforts of saving faith. The persons of this humble, teachable temper, the scripture has made many sweet promises, both when they at first go to the school of Christ to learn his will, and also when they afterwards sit at his feet hearing his words, that they may do them. In general, it is said, that