As on this day, was poured forth "the oil of gladness," whose "anointing teacheth us of all things "."

As on this day, came the Baptism of fire, wherewith the refiner began to purify the sons of Levi°.

As on this day, God lifted up the light of His countenance on all believers; the Enlightener coming to guide them into all truthP.

As on this day, the Angel of God's presence began to go before us in the cloud to guide us on our pilgrimage. Nay, as the cloud, when Solomon's prayer was ended, filled the temple, so when our Intercessor had ended His work of Atonement, the Holy Ghost was shed abroad in the hearts of those who believed, and they were made His living temples;

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they

were all filled with the Holy Ghost¶." There was a sound as of a mighty rushing wind, yet no wind; as oil, and as water poured upon the head, sat cloven tongues,

n 1 John ii. 27. xvi. 13.

• Malachi iii. 3. P John

q Acts ii. 4.

as of fire; yet there was not fire: to shew that the Holy Ghost is neither voice, nor fire, nor oil, nor water, yet is each and all in the diversities of His operations, and that He is the unseen reality to the soul and its powers which these are visibly to the body and its powers.

As on this day, He came from the Father and the Son in that fulness of efficacy, in respect of which He is spoken of as till then not given at all. "The Holy Ghost was not yet given, for that Jesus was not yet glorified'," held true of all times preceding this great day. Not that He had not before dwelt with kings, and priests, and prophets, and patriarchs, saints, and lowliest believers. No. God had said, indeed, from the first, "Let there be light, and there was light;" but, as on this day, "He made the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stars also."

As on this day, the Sun of Righteousness came forth as a bridegroom out of

r John vii. 39.

I

the chamber of God's eternal counsels, rejoicing as a giant to run His course; and the Heavens began to declare the glory of God; and the sound of His Apostles went out into the ends of the world".

As on this day, the curse and the confusion of Babel began to have an end. Men of the same faith speaking in all languages shewed that men of all languages should henceforth have one and the same faith.

As on this day, began that great antitype of the flood, which is to save more souls than the flood, destroyed lives, even Baptism, which, as St. Peter teacheth, doth now" even now save us, by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ "." All the waters above and the waters beneath the firmament, having been sanctified (as our Church teaches us) to the mystical washing away of sin, by our blessed sinless Lord's Baptism in Jordan, began to be from this day effectual on sinners to that end "by the

Rom. x. 18.

t

* 1 Peter iii. 21.

Word." On this flood floats the Cross of Christ, on which whosoever is found, to which whosoever clingeth in faithful trust, the same shall, without doubt, be saved. In it we are washed from sin, anointed with grace, enlightened and quickened with living fire.

Truly, as Caiaphas unconsciously prophesied of Christ, so did the Jewish nation unconsciously prophesy of the Holy Ghost, when they added, without sanction of their lawgiver, to the ceremonies of the feast of tabernacles the drawing of water from the pool of Siloam, pouring it forth in the temple, and saying, "With joy shall ye

draw water out of the wells of salvation. Sing unto the Lord: for He hath done excellent things: He is known in all the earth. Cry out, and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee"."

But time forbids my entering on the many and various other observances and enactments which, under the Law, foreIsaiah xii. 3, 5, 6.

shadowed this great day.

"This is the

day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." As on Ascension day, ten days ago, He, ascending, carried up to Heaven our first-fruits, the first-fruits of our nature and obedience wrought in it for us. To-day, He sends down to the first-fruits of "the divine nature" of which we are made "partakers"," the "earnest of the Spirit" promised by the Father, and which being in us is to us the promise of our inheritance.

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I will conclude with a brief notice of this, (which was the second point proposed at first for our consideration,) viz. that the Holy Spirit of promise" (that is, Who was promised) being come, He is in us and to us the promise of the Father still; being the earnest of good things to come, even of "our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession"." The same Apostle in the same Epistle says, "Grieve not the Spirit of God, where

X

Psalm cxviii. 24. y 2 Peter i. 4. Z i. 13, 14. comp. 2 Cor. i. 20.

Ephes.

Ephes. iv. 30.

a