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SERMON II.

SPIRITUAL MIGHT.

EPHESIANS iii. 16.

"That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man."

THE prayer of the Apostle Paul for the Ephesian Christians is peculiarly valuable, if we view it as informing us what is essential to the prosperity and happiness of believers. It makes us acquainted with this; and it therefore teaches us what we ought to pray for, both on our own behalf and on that of the Church, in order that we, and that all who name the name of Christ, may flourish and abound in unfeigned godliness. It might be expected, indeed, that the Apostle would enter deeply into the spiritual matters of our holy faith; into those things which relate directly to the spiritual health of man. He well knew that if religion, in its light and life, in its principles and affections, prevail in the soul, the genuine fruits of it will be seen in practice; in the holy conversation of its disciples. And this is precisely the case: he

directs us in the first petition, (for we may consider his devout desires as so many earnest petitions,) to the vital spring or source of all true piety.

Before I examine the text, there is one idea which I wish to impress on your minds;-The necessity of forming distinct and exact notions of religious truths, and therefore of the language of Scripture in which they are conveyed to us. There is a peculiarity in Scripture language in general, and in the language of St. Paul in particular: and unless it be read with close thought and with sound reflection, we shall read it without forming clear notions; and, therefore, without gaining that knowledge which it is intended to communicate to us. In this case, the sacred language of Scripture will be to us only so much letter or sound, which we read or hear to very little purpose. I admit the difficulty which belongs to the diction of St. Paul: but at the same time I am persuaded that far too much has been said about it, and with a most injurious result: for in too many cases the sacredness of inspiration seems to be forgotten in the peculiarities of the writer. But if we were not so indolent as we are, we should not find his writings so difficult as they are commonly apprehended to be. It is with the Bible, (that field, to speak so, of divine truth,) as it is with the natural field: for the latter, however fertile it may be in itself, will bestow nothing on man except as the fruit of his labour: and, in like manner the former is so constructed or constituted, that its riches are not obtained without labour on the part of man. He must pray but he must do more; for he must meditate on the language of Scripture, trace the

order of ideas, observe transitions, compare one part of the sacred volume with another, and always endeavour to dive into the spirit of what he studies, and to view it in its own divine simplicity.

I will apply these remarks to the text: and then my question is, What are the plain ideas which this verse is intended to present to the mind? What is the substance of this first petition? If we offer it to God for ourselves or for others, what do we really ask at His gracious hands? Let us recollect, then, that the word "riches" here denotes, as in many other passages of Scripture, greatness or abundance; that "glory" here expresses, as also in other places, power or goodness. The expression, therefore, "according to the riches of His glory," will simply mean, according to His great and abundant power and goodness. To be "strengthened with might," signifies, to be greatly or mightily strengthened. The "inner man" is an expression that denotes the immortal soul. And thus the petition of the Apostle, when put into common language, amounts to this,— "I pray that God, who is infinite in power and goodness, may grant you such abundant measures of the influences of His Holy Spirit that you may be strong in your souls, strong in your principles and lively in your affections, so as to resist evil, to endure trial and suffering, to flourish in piety, and to abound in the fruits of righteousness." Or, more concisely, the petition is for spiritual strength from the Fountain of all strength. We have, therefore, a very clear, as well as important petition before us; one that we cannot too frequently present to God for ourselves, for

:

those around us, and for the whole Church :Strengthen us in our souls, O Lord, by Thy Holy Spirit.

I now proceed to the examination of the text; briefly commenting on every expression of it; and then advancing a few remarks on the subject. And may you so hear me, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you may be led to pray daily for strength from above, in order that you may think and feel, act and suffer, and thus shine in the world, as the followers of Christ!

I. I shall briefly examine the four leading expressions of the text.

1. St. Paul speaks of the soul, which he calls "the inner man." He uses a similar expression elsewhere: "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."-Each of us is, to speak so, a two-fold being. We are composed of what the Apostle calls the "outward man" and the "inward man." The outward man is the body, or visible part of our nature; "the dust of the ground." As a plant of the field, so do we spring up, and grow, and flourish, and fade, and decay, and sink into the dust. In the pride and pomp of our youth, we are only as the flower of the grass, which one hour is radiant in all the fulness of its charms, and in the next hour perhaps vanishes from our view. But the inner man is the soul; the invisible and immortal part of our nature; which shall survive the fall of its earthly tabernacle, and of the world itself, and of the bright luminaries which we see above us.

It is the soul which gives to

man all his dignity and importance; all those high attributes which compel us to think of him with wonder, delight, and awe. It is for the soul, and with an habitual reference to its welfare, that we ought to live daily and hourly. If it be ill with us as to our souls, we are miserable creatures, walking in a vain shadow although the world may lavish upon us its choicest treasures and its brightest honours: but if it he well with our souls, it is well with us for eternity; and at the contemplation of our spiritual state and prospect, the humiliating or painful circumstances of this life sink into absolute nothingness.

With regard to the body, we know that it is composed of various parts; of limbs and members, organs and vessels; and we know that the body in some, or in all, of its parts may be either strong or weak ; healthy or diseased; in a good and sound, or in a bad and unsound state. We will fix on one idea: Strength is essential to the welfare of the body; strength in the several parts of it is necessary, in order that they may perform their proper functions, and that we may be competent to the labours of our respective stations, and enjoy our temporal existence and it may be remarked, that this strength very much depends on the proper use of air and exercise, of aliment and medicine.—And, in like manner, we know that the soul has what we call faculties and capacities: it is the seat of various principles and affections: it possesses its modes of activity: and its gaining knowledge, its believing, repenting, loving, hating, desiring, fearing, and so on, are to be viewed as its acts and exercises. We also know, that the soul may

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