general truth of the revelation, the Holy Spirit thus sealing the doctrine, in some sense "seals every true believer to the day of redemption."

But again:-This visible descent of the Holy Spirit was in itself, without any reference to former prophecies and promises, a seal of the general truth of Christianity, as it was a token of the merit of Christ's atonement, and the efficacy of his intercession with the Father, "the Author of every good and perfect gift."—" I will pray the Father," said Jesus to his disciples, " and he shall give you another Comforter." The coming of that other Comforter is a certain argument that Christ's intercession has prevailed, and a sure ground of hope that it shall equally prevail for all the purposes for which it shall be exerted. Again :- If we consider the Comforter as sent immediately to the church by Christ himself, which is the Scripture doctrine, his visible descent was an instance of that power which Christ exercises at the right hand of God, for the welfare and preservation of his church. In this light, therefore, as a token of the Father's acceptance of Christ's atonement, and of the power exercised by Christ in his exalted state, the visible descent of the Holy Ghost was a seal of the Christian doctrine. And the hope of every believer being built on the acceptance of that meritorious sacrifice, and on Christ's power to raise the dead bodies of his servants from the grave, and transform them to the likeness of his own; whatever is, in the nature of the thing, a certain sign of Almighty power exercised by Christ, and of the merit of his sacrifice, is a seal of every believer's hope of his own final redemption.

As the visible descent of the Holy Ghost, and the

powers which were conveyed by it to the first Christians, made the proper seal of the Christian doctrine, so the power of imparting these extraordinary endowments, in certain due proportions to other Christians, was the seal of the apostolical office and authority. That the apostles were exclusively possessed of this extraordinary privilege, is evident from the history of the first converts of Samaria. The Gospel was preached to them by Philip the deacon, who baptized his converts of both sexes. And when the apostles, who as yet resided at Jerusalem, heard of Philip's success in Samaria, they sent thither Peter and John, who seem to have been deputed for the express purpose of communicating the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. For, when they were come down, they prayed for them, "that they might receive the Holy Ghost: for as yet he was fallen upon none of them." And after these prayers the two apostles "laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost." That the gifts conveyed to these Samaritan converts, by the imposition of the hands of the apostles, were of the miraculous kind, is evident, in the first place, from this general consideration, that the persons who received these gifts had already been baptized by Philip; and the ordinary gifts of the Spirit, those moral influences by which every believer must be regenerated in order to his being saved, are conferred in baptism. The same thing is further evident from the particulars of the story. Simon the sorcerer was of the number of Philip's converts :-" When Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given by the imposition of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I may lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost." It

is evident, that the Holy Ghost, which was given upon this occasion by the apostles, was some sensible gift of a very extraordinary and notorious kind, which Simon saw; and he vainly and impiously imagined, that the power of conferring it might be of great use to him in carrying on his trade of magical delusion. The power, therefore, of imparting these miraculous gifts was the peculiar seal of the apostolical office, and some share of them seems to have been the constant effect of the imposition of their hands. The gift that seems to have been the most generally bestowed is that of tongues. For when St. Paul laid his hands upon the Ephesian converts of Apollos, the effect was, that the Holy Ghost came upon them in his sensible operations, and they "spake with tongues and prophesied ;" that is, they celebrated the praises of God and of Christ. And, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle, making a distinct and orderly enumeration of the miraculous gifts, places that of tongues last, as among great things the least considerable. Indeed, it appears from that epistle, that it was possessed and exercised by many in the Corinthian church, who had little discretion in the use of it. This, therefore, seems to have been of the extraordinary gifts the most common. And the conceit of some learned men, who have imagined that this gift was not one of the standing powers of the primitive church in the apostolic age, but a particular miracle that accompanied the first descent of the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost, and his subsequent descent on the family of Cornelius, the first Gentile convert; and that it was never heard of but in these two instances; this conceit of some learned men, who lived about the beginning of the Reform

ation, is vain, and destitute of all foundation. But to return: The Holy Spirit, by the power with which he invested the apostles of communicating his extraordinary gifts to their converts in due proportion, according to the exigencies of the church and the merits of the persons on whom their hands were laid, sealed their authority. And as the true believer's hopes rest on the authority of the apostles to preach Christ's religion, the Holy Spirit thus sealing their authority, seals all those who embrace and practise the faith they taught "to the day of redemption."

The miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were also a visible mark of God's acceptance of the Gentile converts, and a particular seal of them "to the day of redemption."

ments.

But the seal of which the apostle speaks in my text I rather take to be the ordinary influence of the Holy Ghost than any or all of the miraculous endowThis may be inferred with certainty from the parallel passage in the second Epistle to the Corinthians, where he says, that God has sealed us, by giving the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Many of the passions of the mind, anger, fear, joy, grief, surprise, and others, when they rise to any considerable height, have a sensible effect on the motion of the blood, to accelerate or retard its circulation, to collect and confine it in the heart, or to drive it to the external surface of the body. Hence the effect of these passions on the body is particularly felt in the region of the heart, which was therefore the part first thought of for the seat of the soul. Afterwards, when men came to understand that the brain is the immediate organ of sensation, they refined,

and allotted distinct seats to the understanding, the manly passions, and the appetites; placing the first in the brain, the second in the heart, and the last in the liver. Hence in all languages, and with all writers sacred and profane, the heart is used figuratively to denote the moral qualities and dispositions of the mind. And this expression, "the Holy Spirit in our hearts," can signify no other thing than his ordinary influences on these moral qualities and dispositions in every true believer. These influences, the apostle asserts, are to every Christian the seal of his redemption. And this, which is the doctrine most immediately arising from my text, I purpose hereafter to discuss: imploring the assistance of that Spirit who is with the faithful to the end of the world, to give me the power to declare, and you to apprehend, this great and interesting, but difficult and mysterious, branch of the doctrine of redemption.

* PLATO in the Timæus.