the Christian is to look for the influences of the Spirit of God.

After that Jesus Christ had begun his career, by an act which shewed how entirely he intended to be an example in his own person of all that was required by the Gospel, namely, by coming with the promiscuous multitude of Israelites to John's baptism of repentance, though himself without sin, because the doing so was a part of righteousness, then it was that a sign, or token, of what his own baptism was to be, was given him from the clouds of heaven; the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him,"*" and John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him, and I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptise with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." But not only did the Holy Ghost descend from heaven, and remain on him externally, as a sign that he was invested with authority to baptize with • Luke iii. 22. ↑ John i. 32, 33.

the same baptism, but it also entered into his heart and dwelt there, giving him the power to execute aright the mission he was ordained to fulfil. It was the presence of this Spirit within him, which gave him utterance to testify, as a man sent from God, that which, as God, he had "seen and heard." It was this that gifted his mortal nature with that prescience which belongs to, or is the gift of, Deity alone, and that in a higher degree than it had done any other son of man, inasmuch as it was given him "without measure." It was this, and not his own divine nature, which spake all the words of God; for John bare record of him, "he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God, for," or because, "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."*

John iii. 34. A divine nature in the Redeemer was absolutely necessary for the completion of man's redemption, because without it there would have been a deficiency of power; but, during the period that the Redeemer, in his character of man was satisfying the divine law by perfect obedience, this nature was necessarily lost sight of, and it was as a man, dependent upon God, that Jesus worked out salvation upon earth. If it had not been so, it would have been God fulfilling his own law. Accordingly, although St. John most unequivocally asserts that "the Word was God," yet, when this Word is made flesh, he is thrown back into dependence upon God; God sends him, and God gives him his Spirit. And this

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The Spirit was given him without measure, without limitation, either of time or quantity; his soul was a temple, in which it dwelt in all its fulness, and where it dwelt always, as in a habitation; where its operations met with no impediment or obstacle; it abode with him so long as he bore the weight of our sins upon his head; and when, from the external violence of his foes, his soul and body underwent that separation to which all mortality is liable, it brought back his soul from the deep dwellings of departed spirits; and, restoring it to its fleshy tabernacle, quickened it into that which was to be now everlasting life, "for Christ also hath once suffered, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit."*

Having thus established the fact, that Jesus the Christ was aided by the Holy Ghost, we now proceed to inquire, why it was that he was thus aided? It could not be his divine nature that required it, for he

dependence Jesus himself acknowledged, even when he was authenticating his mission by working the most stupendous miracles, as John xi. 41; v. 19.

* 1 Pet. iii. 18.

was, as God, of one substance, power, and eternity with the Spirit that dwelt within him; it was then his human nature, which for us was made sin, which was "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," being "in all points tempted like as we are; and if that which was conceived by the Holy Ghost himself, and without sin, was by the mere contagion of our infirmities so weakened as still to require his supporting power, how much more must we, who at the best are sprung from disobedient and rebellious creatures, and ourselves equally estranged from the love of God, find that of ourselves we cannot stand; that we must struggle in vain against the weakness of the flesh, without the aid of some mighty and prevailing hand.

There have been those who have been hardy enough to maintain the sufficiency of the human powers, that they could by unassisted reason alone, search out the deep things of God, and fathom the secrets of the Divine mind; that temptation was harmless against their principle of virtue;

* Heb. iv. 15.

that they wanted nothing beyond the resources of their own wills to render them proof against the evils of mortality. I believe that there are many who, if not in words, yet uphold these sentiments in practice, or at least act as if they intended to do so. There are few who, when they would understand heavenly things aright, really and from the heart, ask the aid of the Spirit of God to guide them unto all truth; there are few who habitually call it in as their ally against every surrounding temptation : there are few who so sensibly feel their weakness, as to understand why it is ever needed for the helping our infirmities; there are few who take it into their hearts, to be their strength and support in the hour of affliction and sorrow; and why is all this, but that they depend upon their own sufficiency, and their own strength, and their own powers? But let such men look to Christ, and behold the Spirit descending upon him, and remaining on him, and abiding in his heart without measure, speaking within him the words of God, supporting him in temptation, soothing him in agony, and at last raising him from the