PART tit. SERMON XVII. 215 , It is only the Spirit of God that can make the discoveries of heaven in the gospel effectual to awaken our hope, and to raise ourjoy : He shews us how it is purchased by the blood of Christ, and that it is made sure to all those that believe : He stamps his own holy image upon us, and seals us up for the inheritance of heaven ; Eph. i. 13. When ye heard the word oftruth, the gospel ofyour salvation, and believed it, yewere then sealed with the Hold .spirit of promise, which is theearnest of our inheritance. The Spirit is sent into our hearts as a Spirit of adoption, whereby we call God Father; Gal. iv. 6. And he changes us from children of wrath into the sons and daughters of the living God ; and he himself dwelling inus is a pledge and earnest of that inheritance, which is reserved for us among the saints in light. It is the same blessed Spirit that makes the gospel of Christ powerful to mortify sin in us ; for though the words of the gospel forbid all iniquity, and require us to renounce the lusts of the flesh, and the vanities of the world, if we belong to Christ ; yet it is by the Spirit of God alone that we are enabled to mortify the deeds of the body, that we may obtain eternal life : It is he that makes the commands of Christ come with divine power and' authority upon the soul, and gives the motives of the gospel power to persuade us : It is he that renews our affections, makes us hate sin, and love God supremely, and causes us to delight in the spiritual pleasures of a future, unseen world, whichbefore we treatedwith contempt, or disregard t It is by the sanctification of the Spirit, and the belief of the truth, that we are prepared for the heavenlyglorywhereunto weare called by thegospel; 2 Thess. íi. 13. And since the Spirit of God is promised to dwell inus for ever; John xiv. 16, 17. we have good reason to believe he will be our eternal Sanctifier in ;heaven and 'our eternal Comforter. There is such a thing as the influence of the Spirit of God attending the gospel of Christ. The apostle argues thus with theGalatianchristians, Received ye the Spirit by the works ofthe law, or by the hearingoffaith? Gal. iii. 2. And it is the great promise of the gospel, or the new covenant, that God would send his Spirit to make it powerful forthe blessed ends for which he has designed it; Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26, 27. Joel. ii. 28, Ztch. xii. 10. Is. xliv. 3. In the primitive days of christianity, and the age of mira- cles, the Holy Spirit attended the preaching of the gospel with his extraordinary gifts of tongues, of healing, of prophecy, as well as with the gracesof conviction, and sanctification, andcom- ' fort : And the suddenness and the gloryof the change that was wrought on sinners carriedwith it an illustrious and incontested proof of the presence and power of God and his Spirit. Nor have some fainter resemblances of such glorious grace been alto
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