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would sustain in that gracious Master who was about to leave them; and it still happens that the source of consolation to which He here points, appears even to the faithful themselves to be somewhat involved in obscurity. what nature that spiritual communication may be, which He here promises to his disciples, is an inquiry in which men have often been misled, and which has given rise to much enthusiasm and disorder; it is the more necessary, therefore, to make it frequently a subject of consideration, and we are especially called to the contemplation of it on this solemn Day, which the church has set apart for the commemoration of the Descent of the Holy Ghost.

On the day of Pentecost, this promise of our Saviour which you have now heard, was very distinctly fulfilled in as far as regarded the Apostles. A Divine Spirit descended upon them, opened their minds to a clearer perception of the great system of the Gospel, inspired them with a boldness and steadiness of conduct which they had not previously attained, and enabled them, by the gift of tongues, to preach the truths of salvation to an astonished world. In

as far as they were concerned, therefore, the departure of their master was to them the opening of a better and nobler career; they rose into a new character of existence; and instead of continuing the timid and prejudiced men, which, during all the course of His ministry, they too often appeared to be, they, from this hour, became his worthy representatives, and the faithful accomplishers of that work which he had so powerfully begun. It was, therefore, expedient for them that he should go away, and the Divine Spirit, whom, in fulfilment of his promise, He sent to comfort and encourage them, carried them forward, in fact, into a much higher advancement to excellence than they could ever otherwise have attained.

The influence of this Divine Comforter on the minds of the Apostles was of so marked and visible a kind, that misapprehensions as to his operations in after periods of the world have not unnaturally arisen; and many pious individuals have feared that they did not participate in his influences, if they were unable to show effects of His power approaching to the nature of a miraculous inspiration. How wide a field this misconception has opened to the ex

travagancies of enthusiasm or imposture, has in every age of Christianity been but too apparent. A Spirit, whose presence the Great Author of our Faith seems to consider as of more importance even than his own, would not, it might be thought, really be present in any period of the Church, without as evident a testimony of His presence as in the age of the Apostles; and hence the impulses of a warm imagination have, in many instances, been too readily received as the true inspirations of Heaven. It may be remarked, however, my brethren, that the miraculous influences of the Holy Spirit, as they were exhibited in the Apostles, and in the first converts to the Gospel, are by no means those to which our Saviour chiefly refers as indemnifying them for the loss of his society; these were conferred upon them principally to promote the progress of the Gospel, and to fix its roots deeply in the world,-they were not given for their own good so much as for that of mankind. And although there are now no miraculous gifts entrusted to individuals, still the demonstration of the spirit and of power" is discernible by an attentive observer, in the gradual but steady advancement of

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Christianity through every successive age. The gifts of the Spirit, which, ever since the departure of the Saviour of men, have more than indemnified them for his disappearance, are gifts of a very different kind,-they were first bestowed on the Apostles, and were more valuable to them than their miraculous powers; and they have since been bestowed on every faithful follower of Christ, although they may not, to outward appearance, have distinguished him from the body of mankind.

There are two leading views in which these spiritual influences may be considered, as they affect the belief and direct the conduct of the Christian.

I. In the first place, then, although it cannot be doubted, that the belief of the Gospel rests upon grounds of rational conviction, and that we ought to be" able to give an answer to every one that asketh us a reason of the faith that is in us," yet, in order that our faith may produce a proper and powerful effect upon our own minds, something more is required than the mere force of reason and evidence. It is possible to be rationally convinced of all the great

truths of Religion, and yet to regard them with much less feeling and application of mind, than is naturally excited in us by the common objects of human thought. Every thing around us draws us to the world, and to the conceptions and sentiments which that world awakens. In this state of mind we may, in a certain sense, be said to believe in the Gospel, our understandings may bow before its truth, yet our belief will not be of that impressive and powerful nature which is adequate to the importance of its objects. And it is impossible assuredly that any human efforts merely should be able, without an assisting influence, to give, amidst the avocations and distractions of the world, a character of sufficient efficacy to these great but unseen Objects. A higher Spirit than that of man is required to breathe into the human soul the full inspiration of Religion,—to make it feel amidst all the littleness of present time, and present interests, the weight and the impression of eternal truths,-to make those things which are shadowy from their distance and obscurity, come forward before our thoughts with the steadiness and vivacity of real existence, and to make, on the contrary, present