In our spiritual navigation we come now to trace out the comparison between the sail boat and those Christians who have got beyond being legally pulled along like the canal boat, or impelled by the oar, and have come into the consciousness of regeneration, being born from above by that Spirit which, like the wind, "bloweth where it listeth." This analogy is not altogether imaginary, but based on a real likeness between the operations of the wind blowing on the sails of a vessel, impelling it onward, and the life-giving Holy Spirit that comes down upon the faculties of a soul, vitalizing and inspiring the celestial movements of a holy life. The atmosphere is referred to all through the Scriptures as a type of the Holy Spirit, in fact the same word is used in the Greek Scripture to denote the wind, and both the human spirit and the Divine Spirit. In the case of the row boat, or the tow-boat, the force that produces the motion is human or mechanical, a fitting illustration of the manual labor and servitude of religious legality; but in the case of the sail boat, the power that produces the motion is above man's will, and infinitely superior to all earthly genius and mechanical devices, for the wind is one of the greatest forces in creation, and so utterly beyond man's will power as to represent the mysterious energy of the Creator Himself. Hence, the sail boat, in contrast with the other classes mentioned, represents a soul that has come under the living energy of the Divine Breath, in its inner thoughts and feelings, as well as its outward moral and religious movements. In tracing the points of likeness between a vessel impelled by the wind, and a soul acting under the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, let us notice the following:

1. Whenever the Holy Spirit is in Scripture compared to the wind, it is always in connection with giving life, or restoring life, and hence refers more directly to creation or regeneration, and not to the other offices of the Holy Spirit. There are several emblems of the Holy Spirit, such as fire, water, oil, and wind. But each emblem represents a specific office and work of the Holy Spirit. Water represents the Spirit in cleansing and nourishing — causing to grow. Fire represents the Spirit in a more intense degree of purging, penetrating, illuminating — energizing with extraordinary boldness and perseverance. Oil represents the Holy Spirit in a softening, melting, endowing with gifts — lubricating the spiritual joints, bringing our latent talents for efficiency. Wind invariably is a type of the Spirit in giving life. ''And God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.'' Gen. 2: 7. ''Thou sendest forth thy Spirit and renewest the face of the earth.'' Psalm 104:30. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit." John 3: 8. "Jesus breathed on them, and said unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them." John 20:22, 23. "Thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." Ezek. 37: 9.

In each one of these passages the Holy Spirit is compared to wind in the one special work of giving life, or restoring life, or remitting sins, and nowhere in Scripture is the Holy Spirit spoken of as a sanctifier under the emblem of wind, for on the day of Pentecost it was the noise of the descending tongues of fire that sounded like the blowing wind; but His operations on that occasion were under the emblem of fire. Now inasmuch as a sail boat is one that is so constructed as to be impelled through the water by the blowing of the wind against its sails, it fitly sets forth the soul experiencing the new birth, and starting forth across the sea of life, under the life giving energy of the divine breeze of the Holy Spirit. It is a very happy transition to the hard toiling sailor, when he can take in the oar, and cease his arduous labor of rowing, and spread his sails, and let the mighty, tireless wind, waft him swiftly o'er the waters, which beautifully illustrates the tired soul, struggling to propel itself in a life of righteousness by the works of the law, ceasing from its own works, and by simple faith yielding itself up to Jesus, to be wafted on by the breath of the Holy Spirit. As the transition from the row boat to the sail boat marks an epoch in navigation, so the transition from legal bondage to the joyous freedom of the new birth, marks an epoch in our lives; and there are several things about both of these transitions which are just alike. In the row boat the force is entirely manual, but in the sail boat the force is in the air, which is one of the forces of God's energy in creation. And so the man who is trying to serve God by the works of the law, is forcing himself by mere human strength to do his duty, but he who is born of the Spirit is under the impelling force of the Holy Ghost, and the motive power of his life has passed from the merely human, up into the currents of divine strength. Again in the row boat, the instrument of motion, the oar, is quite low, on a level with the boat; but in the sail boat the motive force is from above, and thus the converted man has passed from the lower and fleshly forms of strength to the upper and heavenly energies of God's Spirit. Again in the row boat and tow-boat the agencies of motion, whether rope or oar, are visible to the eye, but in the sail boat the moving power is unseen, and though the wind can be felt, still because it is invisible yet so powerful, it resembles the unseen strength that produces a new life. The life of most professors of religion, who are of the tow-boat and row boat class is mostly visible, and they are governed by visible and tangible things, but the soul born from above is governed by an unseen powder, even as sail boats are moved onward by the unseen wind. Again the mechanism and moving forces of the tow-boat and row boat can be calculated by human science, weighed and measured by human skill and arithmatic, but the great currents of wind that move the sail vessels are incalcuable as to their height and magnitude, and though science has found out much about the wind, and its speed, yet there is forever and ever an unknown quantity, and a mysterious power, that stretches away beyond man's reason or imagination, because it is under the immediate control of a higher power than man. In this respect it is true that of worldly church members, and those in legal bondage it can be pretty well estimated as to what they will do under certain conditions, and what motives will move them to action, and what physical, or social, or political, or ecclesiastical or financial forces are needed to move them hither or thither; for their religion being earthly and human, can be calculated upon; but a soul born of the Holy Spirit, and is under the sway of the vast incalculable breath of God, has got beyond physical measurements, and the routine of human authority, and is in touch with a supernatural world which no science can estimate, and no philosophy fathom, and no human reason can foresee how such a soul will act in certain emergencies, because it is now not being paddled by a human hand, but impelled by breezes that blow out from the caverns of eternity. This is why popes, and priests, and church rulers, are always afraid of supernatural Holy Ghost experiences, because they put the soul beyond the leading strings of a canal boat, and beyond the manipulation of a wooden oar, into the currents of that great divine atmosphere which is beyond their management. If all the tow-boat and row boat church members in the world, should suddenly become sail boat Christians, and catch the heavenly breezes, it would shatter to atoms all the priest-craft and church lordships on earth, for under the breezes of the Holy Spirit, they would be wafted out to sea, beyond the reach of ecclesiastical red tape, and dead wooden mechanism. Again all the forces that move the tow-boat and the row boat are very limited as to quantity and strength, for the canal mule may give out, or the rope may break, or the oar may snap in a heavy sea, or the oarsman may faint or die, and all the strength, is only scanty and uncertain, but the circumambient air is practically unlimited, for no one knows how many miles it stretches up in the sky, and w^e know scientifically that it pervades every part of the earth and sea, and as to its capacity of motion, it is beyond all imagination or the experiments of art. The recorded facts of the gigantic feats of cyclones and tornadoes, in lifting millions of tons of water, or playing fantastic tricks, such as driving a slender fence rail through a telegraph pole like a bullet through a shingle, or cutting the foundations from under a large house without disturbing a shingle on the roof, and other inconceivable performances, are familiar to all readers. Now in this respect, all the forces of mere human or church religion, and the forces of legal servitude, are very limited and uncertain, and can soon be exhausted, and are liable to break down in any little storm, and utterly fail in the heavy breakers of death, or the surges of overwhelming disaster, but the sail boat Christian has cut loose from these earthly dependencies, and having been born of God, is in fellowship with spiritual motive forces absolutely unlimited in their nature, vastness, and duration. The seeming limitless forces of the atmosphere are a fitting comparison with the infinite and eternal strength of the Hob/ Spirit; and all the wonderous performances of the wind on sea, or land, or driving clouds, or the delicate curling of the snow drift in the north, or the marvelous twistings and chasings of sand dunes on the desert, are as nothing compared with the powerful, delicate, and beautiful feats which the Holy Spirit accomplishes in the lives of those who come under His matchless power. Thus from the row boat to the sail boat, and from the legalist to the regenerated state, there is a transition from the human to the divine, from the lower to the higher, from the seen to the unseen, from the calculable to the incalculable, and from the limited to the unlimited motive forces of Spirit life.

2. Let us now consider that the sail vessel must be constructed in such a way as to be adapted to the wind, as well as to the water. It must have masts, and sails, and ropes, and such devices of convenience for catching the breezes, as to make it practicable. This will serve to illustrate that the soul which comes to God in reconciliation through Christ, and is born of the Holy Spirit, must be adjusted to God's will and word, in such a spirit of obedience, as to form a vital co-partnership with the Holy Spirit, that it can be taken hold of by divine grace, and impelled onward in a life of service. Let the mast represent the principle of obedience, upon which everything depends in sailing; let the sail represent faith, which is opened to receive the motions of the Holy Spirit through Jesus; let the ropes represent prayer, by which faith is hoisted and expanded to catch the divine breath; let the rudder represent the conscience informed by truth to guide the conduct; let the compass represent the word of God, which marks out the direction of navigation. A real Christian who is truly born of God, has a real positive spiritual union of life with the Lord God, and although that union is more or less hindered by the carnal dispositions of the heart until they are purged away by the work of sanctification, yet nevertheless every principle of Christian life and experience is set agoing in regeneration. The various faculties of the soul must be yielded up to God, and so adjusted to His will, like the sailing apparatus, so that the breezes of the Holy Spirit can take hold upon them, and propel them in ways of righteousness. It is impossible for man in his own natural strength to do anything that will please God, and it is only when God Himself begins to work in us by His Spirit, and we begin to correspond with the divine touches, that we can render any service acceptable to God.

''What are our works but sin and death,

Till Thou the quickening Spirit breathe."

The reason is, all our works apart from God's grace, are filled with self-righteousness, self dependence, pride, unbelief, and other sinful tempers of our fallen state, and nothing can please God except that which is directly or indirectly from Himself. Thus the sail boat Christian is one who receives and co-operates with divine grace, and by the ropes of prayer, he lifts and unfolds the sails of faith, to receive the moving energy of the divine breath, and nothing pleases God more than a wide open faith to receive the generosity of His provisions of mercy, for without faith it is impossible to please Him.

3. In the smaller and lower order of sail boats, such as the canoe, skiff, small sloop, and other small sail craft, there is generally the combination of construction for using both the sail or the oar according to emergency, but such small vessels are not formidable, and do not rank as very strong or useful craft. Even this feature has its counterpart in a class of Christians of a weak and uncertain faith, who seem to be a combination of the legalist and the truly regenerated. At one time they stretch their sails of faith, and move along under the Spirit's motion with ease and beauty, but in a storm they cannot endure or correspond with the great power of God, and in a dead calm they cannot afford to wait on the Lord, and so taking in their sails, either from too much wind or too little, they drop back into the row boat class, and ply the oars of hard manual labor, depending on their own efforts to serve God. Thus these small craft which are made partly for sailing and partly for rowing, fitly typify weak and unestablished believers, who though they are born of God, and at times are distinctly wrought upon by the Holy Spirit, yet being feeble in spiritual strength, in times of discouragement, or when their spiritual feelings subside into a calm, they get into bondage of legal works, and by various devices of what looks like good works, they depend on their will power to carry them forward. Some of this class get in bondage to scruples, and stumble over little nonsensical trifles in eating, or drinking, or apparel, or mannerism. Sometimes they are switched off on keeping the Jewish Sabbath, or some form of legalism, supposing it is a mark of extra holiness, and thus with the sails of faith either folded or idly flapping against the mast, they labor at the oars, supposing religious sweat is their salvation. Notwithstanding these spells of legal bondage, if they retain their sails, and get adjusted to the Holy Spirit, they may some day put out to sea, and get into the trade winds of spiritual life where every trace of legality will be lost.

4. Before we consider the sail ship Christian, or the established life in the new birth, there is one more point to be considered in connection with the smaller kind of sail boat Christians, and that is, in their navigation, as a rule they keep close to the land, sailing in rivers, creeks, bays, and along the coast; and steering by objects on shore — light-houses, and such objects. We must remember that in the regenerate state, all believers are not equal in strength, or vital energy, or faith, or faithfulness of life. Among converted souls who are not fully sanctified, there is about as great a variety as there is among different sail vessels, from the little skiff that darts across the river, up to the stately, full-fledged sail ship that plows the ocean for weeks and months out of sight of land. So there are Christians truly regenerated, who are conservative, or timid, or lacking in mental or spiritual capacity, or on account of environment, or education, never get out on the high seas of brave spiritual navigation, but spend their lives in the shallows of land-locked bodies of water, or along coast lines, where they can easily put into harbor, and screen themselves behind some ecclesiastical or social protection, and never know those terrific storms that other Christians have to endure who go clear over the sea with God. As these coast line, or river sail boats are steered by objects on the shore, so these Christians, instead of getting their eye entirely on God's word as the compass, they are largely guided by other persons, by precedents and opinions, or traditions, and by rules and regulations of sectarian legislation. Thus they steer their lives partly by persons, or notions, or customs, outside the Bible, and on the coast shores of time and sense.

Again, it often happens that small sail boats, by being close under the bluffs or shore line, fail to catch the wind which is sweeping along beautifully out in deep water, and in this respect many a feeble Christian who is sailing along under the high bluffs of some church steeple, or social mountain, or shore of human influence, is becalmed, and his sails flap idly against the mast; whereas, if he were leagues away out to sea, he would catch the sweet gales of the free Spirit of God, and make rapid headway in spiritual things. But usually their weaknesses and mixedness is due to Steering partly by the compass and partly by objects on shore. Still, let us thank God that they have sails, that is real saving faith, and have come under the converting power of the Holy Spirit, and that they consult the Bible compass if only to a limited extent, and we pray that they may become large crafts, and "go into the deep, and do business in great waters."