.*'d 1n5. SACRIFICE OF. CnaiST.- ont of Agrippa's creed. Can Agrippaever supposé that:all the illustrious and magnificent expressions which are used concern- ing the work of the Spirit of god on the souls ofmen, to subdue their sins, " to' give them new hearts, to change their temper into holiness, and to comfort them by. shedding abroad a sense of the love of God in their hearts," can he construed into a mere philosophical love and practice of virtue and piety, raised by the 'rational consideration of those truthswhich were taught the apps- tict by the instruction of the Holy Spirit, or which were con- firmed among men by his extraordinary gifts ? Is this all the meaning of our being regenerated or born again of the Holy Spirit? John iii. 3, 5. Is this the sense of those promises in Ezekiel and Zechary, " I Will put a new spirit within you, or I will put my Spirit in you, and cause you to walk in my sta- tutes ;" Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. " I will pour out mySpirit upon the house of Israel ; 1 will' pour upon the house of David the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look upon him 'whom they have pierced, and mourn ;" Zech. xii. 10: And when Christ says, Your heavenly Father shall give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him; Luke xi. 13. He that believeth in me, out of his belly shall,fow riversof living waters; which Christ spake .of the Spirit, the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father shallsend, says he, in my name ; he shall teach you all things, shall guide you into all truth, shall abide with you for ever; John vii. 38, 39. xiv. 16, 26. xvi. 13. I grant indeed some of the expressions have a prime reference to the extraordinarygifts of the apostles, but others plainly belong to all christians, and perhaps all of them are applicable in a secondary sense to every truedisciple of Christ. But I proceed with the queries. Is this all the meaning of the apostle Paul, when he says, " The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost ;" Rein. N. 5. " IIe that bath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his ;--as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God ; the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us ;" Rom. viii. 9, 14, 26. " Through Christ we both have seseas by one Spirit unto the Father ;" Eph, ii. 18. " If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall Jive ;" Rom. viii. 13. " We through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith ;" Gal. v. 5. " God ham from the beginning chosen you to salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth ;" 2 Thess. ii. 13. " Saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ;" Tit. iii. 5. And does St. Peter meanno more than ex- traordinary gifts, when he says, Elect according to the forelcnow- ¡erl,e of God the Fatherthrough sanctificationof the spirit unto
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