428 A Converfation becoming the G f el S E R M. compleat in all the will of God. Such is XV . the weaknefs of men, fo ftrong their pre- judices, efpecially by vicious cuftoms which have obtained, and evil habits, that to re- claim them, and bring them to integrity and goodnefs, there needed a gracious interpofi- tion of God himfelf. Of this, wife men men among the heathens were fenfible, and expreffed their delire and expectations of it ; and the more rare examples of illuftrious vir- tue they attributed to fuperior aids from hea- ven. But it is fully explained and afcertained by the gofpel, a great part of which is taken up in defcribing the various operations and in-. fluences of the Holy Spirit on the minds of men, in order to their carrying religious vir- tue to a jai meafure ofperfetion. The an- cient prophets foretold it, as the glory of the laft and molt perfef form of religion, namely, the chriftian, that the Spirit of God fhould be poured abundantly on his fervants; and though many of their prophecies relate to extraordinary gifts, yet fome fpeak of the affiftances which fhould be given for the ordinary purpofes of religious life, as Ezekiel xxxvi. 26. A new heart allb will Igive you, and a new fpirit will I put within you ; and I will take away the flony heart out of your flèfh, and I will give ycu an heart of fefh ; and I 3 will
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