PREACHERS'

VOL. III.

NALYST:

INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

ANALYSIS OF A SERMON BY S. D. BUCHARD, D. D.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.-Rom. viii, 9.

LET us consider the moral and spiritual effect of this indwelling presence.

I.

The first I mention is a more accurate and discriminating understanding of the Scriptures.

The more practical and important portions of God's Word are simple, level to the capacity of children, so plain, indeed, that the wayfaring men, the common and labouring classes, uneducated though they be, need not err therein. Still it is not to be denied that there are some things hard to be understood,' baffling the scrutiny of the wise, things into which even the angels desire to look-the deep things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead; the mystery of the Incarnation; the coalition of the Divine and human natures and yet their obvious and eternal distinction; the new birth, and its antecedent and effective agency; the Holy Spirit, ever operating invisibly as the wind.

For what man knoweth,' etc., I Cor. ii. 11. If it be true that believers are the 'habitations of God through His Spirit,' that He dwells there as an abiding and familiar guest, we might naturally anticipate a two-fold effectmental stimulus, and a more discriminating knowledge of His revealed word. It cannot be otherwise. Could you entertain in your own family the most scholarly man of the age, who has stirred the community to its profoundest depths by a book, the product of his genius and learning; should you have familiar access to his mind and heart, thus becoming more and more initiated into the style and

PRICE TWOPENCE.

the spirit of the man, how is it possible that such acquaintance and familiarity should operate otherwise than to give a quickened impulse to your own mind, a keener relish for the book he had written, and an infallible key to its true exposition?

The believer is supposed to entertain One of boundless intelligence, who is continually unfolding to his perceptions the sublimest truths, and arousing his mental energies by new and startling discoveries of the secrets of the divine nature, the grandeur of the Atonement, the mysterious workings of Providence, and the amazing destinies of the human soul; and it is impossible for him to be in such a presence and under such tuition, without greatly enlarged mental capacities for knowing and interpreting the Scriptures, whose author is the Holy Spirit.

II.-A second effect of this indwelling is a greater zeal and visible unity among Christians. It would seem that strife and division were among the earliest developed evils in the apostolic church. Sectaries grew up, and the proselyting spirit prevailed among the first converts to the Christian faith, insomuch as to call forth an apostolic letter of condemnation and reproof, etc., I Cor. iii. 4. This was a most undesirable state of things, marring the beauty and symmetry of Christianity. Christ anticipated this evil and its disastrous effects, and hence His prayer for unity among His followers, That they all may be one,' etc., John xvii. 21.

Unity among Christians is a lovely and desirable thing in itself, promoting their own comfort; and nothing wins the world to a believing reception of the gospel as when it can be truthfully said, 'See how these Christians love one another.' The converse of this

is equally true; nothing so effectually works scepticism in worldly minds as strifes and divisions in the Church of God. Church unity, then, is a most desirable end at which to aim, inasmuch as it becomes the occasion and the instrument of the greatest good'that the world may believe.'

The inference is that the world, to a great extent, will remain unbelieving so long as the Church remains divided. The Scriptural idea of the Church is that of unity. When it is represented under the figure of a tree-the olive tree-there is but one tree, however numerous its branches or prolific its fruit; when it is represented under the figures of a body having many members, operating together only to contribute to its unity; when it is represented under the figure of an army, having many detachments, but one Supreme Leader.

This is the Scriptual idea and ideal of the Church-the Church as it should be, as it will be when the last prayer of our Lord for His disciples shall be fully answered, when the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit shall be fully realized in all Christian hearts.

III. We mention purity of life as a third effect of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

No effect can be more natural or legitimate than this. The Spirit that dwells within is holy, and impurity in thought, word or deed, is offence to Him. He cannot look upon sin with the least degree of favour or allowance.

Its commission would occasion grief and basten His departure. He will not dwell in a heart that harbours even the thought of sin, much less in one that is unregenerate and vile, that is fitly represented as a cockatrice's den or a cage of unclean birds. Such is not a fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.

He changes the heart, the bent and current of its thoughts, its motives and principles of action, before He enters it as a dwelling or as a sanctuary of devotion. But when He does enter in his divine personality, He brings every thonght, power, and passion of our being into cordial surrender to the obedience of Christ. His presence is a continual corrective and restraint, an abiding stimulus to a right life, a life well pleasing in His sight. Were you enertaining a highly honoured and esteemed guest in your family, everything in the domestic arrangement would be ordered to suit his taste.

Under one abiding conviction that our hearts are the dwelling-place of the Divine Spirit, it would seem that consistency would

mark our every act. The Christian whose heart is the home of the Spirit, is not out on a stormy sea without a chart or compass, with no pilot on board. He who knows every hidden rock and shoal, who by a word can still the tempest, is at the helm.

For the Christian wilfully to sin, after having received a knowledge of the truth, is to expose himself to the most terrible curse, to a malediction that can never be removed. Heb x. 26.

Sinning in a believer is something more than simple transgression; it is sacrilege. Sin in a Christian is a very different thing from sin, abominable as it is, in an unbeliever. The one is enlightened by the Spirit, as the other is not.

IV. A fourth effect of this indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the heart is a more attractive Christian life. I have read somewhere in classic literature that persons intimately associated become necessary assimilated in character, in taste, and even in looks. If the Holy Spirit should assume form or expression, it would be the most attractive conceivable.

The Spirit is sometimes represented in the form of a dove, because of his grace and beauty. Should He be presented in the human form divine, no artist's pencil could be skilful enough to sketch even the outlines of His ineffable, perfect, and beautiful character. And yet this is the person who finds habitation in our human hearts; and can lle dwell therein, so attractive in person and expression, without our being transformed into the same image.

A palace enriched with all works of art, surrounded by all natural beauties, may symbolize the regenerated human heart where the Spirit dwells, making the life, not sad and cheerless, as is too frequently supposed, but songful and attractive, an epic, a song of perpetual exultation. See Paul and Silas making the walls of their prison vocal with praise; see martyrs at the stake rejoicing in the flames; see believers everywhere 'glorying in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, who dwelleth therein.'

V-The fifth effect of the indwelling of the Spirit is a more effective Christian life. The most effective forces in nature are hidden. We cannot see the force which covers the fields with green, the growths of summer, the harvests of autumn, or the forces which make

the music of the spheres, marshals the stars and holds the planets in their orbits. The most impressive and productive things in nature and in art are the things which are moved by some hidden force. Now our position is that the life force of the church, the secret of her power and usefulness, is not in her ritual, her beautiful forms of worship, her artistic music, her magnificent churches and cathedrals, the learning of her ministry, or the wealth of her members-not in any or all of these, but in the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The apostolic church was aggressive, and moved forward to the conquest of the world like some grand embodiment of power. But the secret of her splendid successes was not because of any extraneous or material advantages, such as the social position or wealth of her members, or the erudition of her ministry; but in their Pentecostal baptism, in the fact that they were filled with the Holy Ghost. The church of the present day needs this same spiritual baptism, this indwelling presence, and then her triumph will be speedy and universal. In all departments of Christian labour, in the press, pulpit, pew, in the Sabbath-school, in our home and foreign work, we need money, but we need prayer for the Spirit more. Let me impress upon you the thought that the church is dead and powerless to convert the world to Christ without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is her life-power-the secret of her past success, the sure pledge of her future glory and triumph.

See

Wardlaw's, R. Discourses-'Influences of the Spirit'; Taylor, Jer., Discourses-Spirit of Grace'; Richards', J., Discourses- The Spirit of Christ'; National Pulpit, vol ii., 'The real Christian.'

CHRIST AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER.

Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls.-Matt. xi. 29.

MAN has but begun existence. He begins in utter ignorance. After his best efforts he knows little of the life that now is, nothing of the life that is to come. He has need at every step of a teacher. There is no teacher for man in all the universe comparable to Christ. 'Learn of Me.'

First.-Christ's fitness to be man's teacher. I. He understands man's nature. II. He understands all those things which man has need to know.

III. He understands perfectly the art of imparting knowledge.

Second.-The methods by which He teaches

man.

I. By His (a) words, (b) deeds, and (c) character (meek and lowly'), as made known in the Bible.

II. By the truths He now imparts to the human heart through the Holy Spirit.

Third.-The effect of Christ's teachings. And ye shalt find rest unto your souls.' I. This instruction leads to the pardon of sin.

II.--To the assurance that we are reconciled to God.

III. To the removal of all fear of evil, present and to come.

ANALYSIS OF A SERMON BY GEO. F.
PENTECOST.

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.-Jude, 21. THE apostle exhorteth the brethren to two things: (1) In the 20th verse, that they build themselves up on the most holy faith. (2) In the text, that they keep themselves in the love of God. No two passages are more misunderstood. How many seek to build their own faith by introspection, etc. The command is not that we should 'keep' our love to God, but that we should keep ourselves

in the love of God.' If you had been sick and were convalescing, and the physician would say to you, Yes, you may go out. but keep yourself in the sunshine,' you would understand at once that you were not to generate sunshine, but only to keep yourself in that sunshine which is flooding the earth.

The Scriptures declare God is love, not that He has love. Dr. Chalmers used to say, As soon as a man comes to understand that passage he is infallibly converted. Love is not an attribute. You say God is merciful, God is just; but mercy and justice do not express the whole of God, Love is the whole of God. Light is not yellow or red, but white. White is a combination of all colors; so love is a combination of all the attributes of God.

Look at this thought of the love of God. I. Observe its greatness.

Take this passage from John iii. 16, 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.' In the bright sunshine of that text, what a place for a sinner! The invalid sits so the sun can shine through the window upon him. He bathes in the sunlight. This text is a window through which streams the health-giving light from God. I remember the story of a little girl in Luther's time, a printer's daughter. She had been taught that God was just, watching to be revenged unless propitiated. One day she picked from the floor a scrap of paper; she read on it the words, God so loved the world, that He gave'-At that word 'gave' the bit of paper had been torn. She thought of those words, and her whole nature was changed. Her mother asked her one day why she was so changed, so happy. She took from her bosom that scrap of paper. That has done it,' she said. The mother read the words. But it does not say what he gave.' Said the little girl, I dont know what He gave. If He so loved the world as to give anything, I wont be afraid of him any more.' But we, brethren, can read the whole of that text. We know what was that gift. Oh, its vastness!

II. But we turn from that passage, it is so general. The world' is so big. It is my sin, my great throbbing anxiety that troubles me. We read further, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' We enter through that word whosoever, and find Christ a personal Saviour. This whole love of God is not divided as it were commercially, so much for each individual. I sometimes hear, with a shudder, persons say that a drop of the blood of the sacrifice is enough to save a man. No, it takes the whole of the love of God to save each man. Nor do I rob my brethren by claiming the whole of the love of God. Mothers, fathers, know how it is that each child is loved with the whole of the heart.

in us.

III. This love is not based on any merit Hence, our great sinfulness is no hindrance to it. I have a little girl who often says to me, 'I love you, papa; I love you just because I do.' So is it with the great heart of God.

IV. Nor is there any peculiarity in the sinfulness or nature of any one that hinders this love. In Ephesians iii. the Ephesians are urged to be 'rooted and grounded in love.' In whose love? Their love? No, Christ's.

Read the concluding verses of that chapter. This love 'passeth knowledge,, and yet Paul would have us comprehend it. Blessed paradox! Paul seems to reel and stagger at the thought of the greatness of this personal love of God.

V. When did this love begin? The Scriptures tell us that God loves us with an everlasting love. Some are troubled about fore-ordination. I am comforted in knowing that salvation was not an afterthought; but way back in the ages God had planned it all out, etc.

VI.-How long will this love endure? Human love breaks down, but not so with Divine love. Having loved His own, He loved them to the end. How He loved His disciples. He did not say, 'and go and tell John who loved me,' but Peter who denied me. Tell him that I am risen and wish to see him. What triumphant confidence is that of Paul, Romans viii. 38, I am persuaded that neither death nor life,' etc. There is nothing in the whole category of human or spiritual enmities in this world or the world to come that can tear us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Be assured that He who forgives and loves will love to the end. See

Beecher's, H. W., Discourses-'Love of God'; Wesley's, Jno., Sermons- Love of God to Fallen Man'; Summerfield's, J., Discourses -'Love of God to a Perishing World'; Binney's, T., Discourses-Principles to be Remembered.'

WISDOM'S WARNING.

ANALYSIS OF A SERMON BY THE REV. ROBERT S. LATIMER, Willingham, Cambs.

Proverbs i, 24-31.

THE summer evening is vocal with the melodious warbling of many birds. Life is vocal with the warnings, invitations, entreaties of God to the sinner. There are the sweet wooings of love from Calvary. Voices may be heard in nature and in providence. Heaven and hell utter sounds of attraction and alarm. Do you not hear these? In this text the herald of the King puts the silver trumpet to his lips-it is the blast of an alarm! I. The opportunities of time.

1. What are they? Wherever you are along the path of life, God has a particular utterance for you. (1) At the start, God's counsel, (verse 30). You know the right by your conscience, your training, your Bible.

(2) In sin's commencings, God's reproof (verse 30). He belts sin around with the thunderings and the lightnings of his law'Thou shalt not.' He has marked off forbidden paths with the silken cord of love'Why will ye?' (3) When sin has become a habit and a course, God's call (verse 24): Forsake' 'Return'! Calls grow fainter. (4) When the measure of sin is nearly full, God's entreaties (verso 24); Turn ye!' As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in your death.'

2. What prove they? (1) The value of your soul, (2) The love which God entertains for your soul. (3) His freedom from all responsibility if your soul should be lost. Say not the decree is severe ! The crime of neglect is monstrous !

II.—The neglect of these opportunities.

1. Hear the terms in which this neglect is spoken of: Ye refused,' 'no man regarded,' 'ye set at nought,' 'ye would have none,' 'ye hated,' 'ye despised.' Learn (1) God thinks more of your neglect than you do. Α careless, thoughtless act may deeply wound a tender heart. (2) You don't think nearly as much of it as you ought to do. Supposing that he neglected you, how would you fare?

2. We must all plead guilty of this neglect in some degree. Most of us have neglected his counsels; many of us, his rebukes; many also, his calls; and some, his entreaties.

'I have long withatood His grace,
Long provoked Him to His face;
Would not hearken to His calls-
Grieved Him by a thousand falls.'

8. Some of us have not wholly neglected these voices. The stretched-out hands upon the cross, the whispers of the Spirit of love, have won our hearts and turned our steps.

4. Others have hitherto neglected all. Why? (1) They plead other calls. It was a matter of choice, and their guilt is that they did not choose the fear of the Lord' (verse 29). (2) They plead ignorance of these calls: They hated knowledge' (verse 29). (3) They plead their intention not to decline to reply, but to delay. "I did not say, 'not at all, but not yet.' Still it is written with truth, Ye refused.'

III.-The retribution of eternity.

1. They are left to their sins (verse 31). What a fearful harvest to reap!-what a bitter cup to drink!

2. They are left to themselves in their sins (verse 28). No one to help their prayerspious friends, or promised Spirit. No one to hear their prayers.

ANALYSIS OF A SERMON BY THE REV. J.
VAN DYKE, D.D.

Be it known unto you, &c.-Acts iv. 10-12, THE text asserts, and the context illustrates, as in a picture, the pre-eminence and power of the name of Jesus Christ. The man who was lame from his birth, and impotent for his own recovery, as he lies at the gate of the temple, is the type of our fallen nature, as it lies distorted and defiled by sin. This same man, walking and leaping and praising God in the temple, illustrates what human nature may become under the transforming power of that name which is above every name. the explanation as given by the apostle in our text is the Gospel which we preach, wherein we stand, and by which we and our children will yet conquer and regenerate the world.

And

1. The pre-eminence and power of the name of Jesus Christ are manifest in the necessity for the Gospel, and in its corresponding nature.

Two correlative words summarize the whole Bible-sin and salvation. But our knowledge of these two things is not derived from the

same source.

2. The pre-eminence and power of the name of Jesus Christ, are apparent in the Biblical history of that name.

It is not a mere collection of arbitrary titles, but the embodiment and gradual unfolding of the Divine nature and purpose: it is the root and the offspring, the germ and the fruit, of all Revelation. God, the Elohim, created the heavens and the earth; but the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, entered into covenant with man.

8. The pre-eminence and power of the name of Jesus Christ, are manifest in the constitution of His person.

The incarnation of the Son of God is the most stupendous miracle in the history of the universe. It is the miracle of miracles,