ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned" To what cause are a be-
liever's devout affections and holiness of conduct trace-
able ? To the influence of the Spirit " The fruit of the
Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth."
" The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." But
a belieVer prays aright only in as far as he prays with
correct apprehensions of divine truth in his understanding,
and with holy devout affections in his heart; that is, he
prays aright only in as far as he prays in a frame of soul
which is the result of the Spirit's influence; What is this
but just another mode of expressing the doctrine of the
intercession of the Spirit?

While the Spirit assists believers in prayer in the man-
ner described, his operations, I must observe, cannot be
distinguished from the ordinary movements of their own
minds. It has been made an objection to the doctrine
under consideration, that it has given encouragement to
fanatical pretences: and, it may be, that persons have been
found to abuse this (as other truths of revelation have
been abused), by pretending that they could feel some
divine impulse guiding them in their devotions, distinct
from the working of their own faculties. But the Scrip-
tures are not answerable for the assertions of hypocrisy or
delusion. In the case of the help which the Spirit gives
us in prayer, as well as in all his other operations upon
the mind, the statement of our Lord applies, " The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither
it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit ;" that
is, the Spirit does exert a real and blessed influence upon
the mind, even though the mode of his action is inscrut-
able, and though we never can be conscious of any thing



THE INTERCESSION OF THE SPIEIT. 205

within our breasts, distinguishable from the movements of
our proper faculties.
