SERM. SERMON XVIII. The Duty of walking in the Spirit. GALAT. V. 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us alfo walk in the Spirit. T HERE is nothing which is more talked of, by Profeffors of all Denominations, nor is there any Thing which is more univerfally pretended to, than the Gifts and Graces of God's Holy Spirit; and yet generally there is no Article of our Faith more perverted and lefs understood; and that which is most deplorable is, that many of those Divines, who have treated most largely and on fet Purpose on this Argument, feem to have done nothing, but to have rendered thofe Expreffions, which, in themselves, were plain and natural, per plexed and unintelligible. Enthufiafts, in SE RM. the Church of Rome, and, amongst some XVIII. Proteftants, make it their chief Bufinefs to teach Men how to lead a spiritual Life; but when they come to explain this to their Hearers, by affecting an uncouth and unufual Way of expreffing themselves, they either amuse us with common and known Truths, or gild over dangerous and antiquated Errors with Scripture Phrase. THE Words, which I have read to you, are a remarkable Inftance of this; which, though they contain Truths, which, if duly understood, may be of great Use to us, yet have they been perverted to countenance the most extravagant Conceits of a heated Fancy. The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, was the general Cry of the Zealots amongst the Jews; and Walking by the Spirit, and Living by the Spirit, is the diftinguishing Phrafe of the Quakers and Enthufiafts amongst us; and therefore, I hope, it will not be judged unfeafonable, that I spend the Time allotted me, in giving you the full Import and true Meaning of these Words: If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit. In the Performance of which I fhall fhew, SERM. XVIII. I. WHAT is meant by Spirit. 24. II. WHAT, by Living in the Spirit. rit. V. and Laftly, I SHALL conclude with fome Inferences from the Whole. I. WHAT is meant by the Spirit. Amongst the many Acceptations of this Word which are to be met with in the Holy Scripture, I fhall only take Notice of the four following; becaufe all the other may be reduced to thefe, and thefe are fufficient to prepare our Way for the better Understanding what I have to fay upon this Subject. And, I. THE Word Spirit is fometimes put for the Mind of a Man, and in this Senfe John iv. it is taken by St. John, where to worship God in Spirit, is to worship him in our Souls, in Oppofition to that bodily Worfhip in which fome Men place the Whole of their Religion, who appear before God with their Bodies, but their Minds are in fome other Place, and taken up with fome other Employment; and thus in the Epiftle to the Coloffians, though I am SERM. abfent from you in the Flesh, yet I am XVIII, with you in the Spirit, i. e. you are freCol. ii. 5: quently in my Thoughts, and I wish myself with you. 2. THE Spirit fometimes fignifies the Difpofition of a Man's Mind, the Frame and Temper of our Souls; thus we are to understand that Spirit of Faith mentioned by St. Paul, which enabled the 2 Cor. iv. Primitive Chriftians to bear Affliction for 13. God's Sake, and to depend on him for their Deliverance and Reward: God hath 2 Tim. i not given us the Spirit of Fear, but of Power and of Love; contrary to that timorous cowardly Temper, which makes Men afraid of enduring Perfecution for Chrift's Sake, and the Keeping of a good Confcience. Hereby, faith St. John, We know that we dwell in him, and be in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit; and, 1 John iv; what that Spirit is, we may fee plainly 13. by the former Words: If we love one an- Verse 12, other, God dwelleth in us. It is that Spirit of Charity, Love, and Kindness, whereby we refemble God, who is the Fountain of all Good, from whom comes every good and perfect Gift. 3. By the Spirit in the infpired Writings we are frequently to understand, the Bb 2 third SERM. third Perfon in the Holy Trinity, whom XVIII. emphatically we call the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost. This is fo well known, and the Texts in which the Spirit is taken in this Sense are fo numerous, that I need not give you many Inftances of it, and Cor. xii. therefore one fhall fuffice: There are Diverfities of Gifts, but the fame Spirit ; where by Spirit, it is plain, we are to unVerse 6. derstand the Holy Ghoft, for he faith, it is 4. the fame God that worketh all in all, which, Verfe 11. compared with what follows, but all thofe worketh that one and the felf-fame Spirit, dividing unto every Man feverally as he will, makes it plain, that, by the Spirit in this Place, St. Paul understands God the Holy Ghoft. 4. and Laftly, THE Spirit is frequently 3. ufed to fignify the Operations of the Holy Spirit thus pouring out of the Spirit, Acts ii. 17. mentioned in the Acts, plainly fignifies his bestowing fupernatural Gifts in a great Measure upon the Apostles and Difciples of our Saviour Chrift. It is a Phrase of Luke xi. the fame Import with giving the Spirit, 13. which is explained by St. Matthew by giving good Things, i. e. fuch good Things as the Spirit of God is the Author of; and, because the Holy Spirit is the Author and Giver of these several Gifts, therefore, Matt. vii. II. by |