"He is Faithful that Promised."
"I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,
that He may abide with you for ever."--JOHN xiv. 16.
Another Comforter.
Blessed Spirit of all grace! how oft have I grieved Thee! resisted Thy
dealings, quenched Thy strivings; and yet art thou still pleading with
me! Oh! let me realize more than I do the need of Thy gracious
influences. Ordinances, sermons, communions, providential dispensations,
are nothing without Thy life-giving power. "It is the Spirit that
quickeneth." "No man can call Jesus, Lord, but by the Holy Ghost."
Church of the living God! is not this one cause of thy deadness? My
soul! is not this the secret of thy languishing frames, repeated
declensions, uneven walk, and sudden falls, that the influences of the
Holy Ghost are undervalued and unsought? Pray for the outpouring of this
blessed Agent for the world's renovation, and thine own. "I will pour
out my Spirit on all flesh," is the precursor of millennial bliss.
Jesus! draw near, in thy mercy, to this torpid heart, as thou didst of
old to thy mourning disciples, and breathe upon it, and say, "Receive ye
the Holy Ghost." It is the mightiest of all boons; but, like the sun in
the heavens, it is the freest of all: "For if ye, being evil, know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father
in heaven give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask Him!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON
WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"