CHAPTER V: His operations in every part and member of the church
our being made more or less instruments, by whom the Holy Ghost is pleased to communicate himself. Acts 11:24 it is said, Barnabas was
'a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost,' in his own person; 'and much people was added to the Lord.' A preacher, in the primitive language, is termed, 'He that ministereth the Spirit,' Gal. 3:2, 5. And therefore value ministries by this; and let ministers seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is still prefaced of their preaching, such or such an one was filled with the Holy Ghost, and spake, as Acts 4:8, and Acts 2:3, 4.
CHAPTER V
His operations in every part and member of the church and body of Christ.
III. It is next to be considered what the Holy Ghost doth in every part and member of this body of Christ, the church; what he doth for every particular saint. For look, what he is to, and in the church universal, that he is first unto, and in, every saint in particular; for it is the particular individual saint that makes up the church universal; even as reason is first and principally in every particular and individual man; and by means thereof it is that reason is found, and so abounds in a body or assembly of men. They meeting together, every one severally brings a portion of it with him thereunto; so as the main of his work lies and consists in what he doth in and to every member. And when he falls upon assemblies of saints as met, yet it is so as he falls on the whole, by visiting the particular souls so assembled, and out of respect unto each single soul; as when the rain falls upon a field of corn, it falls upon the whole for every particular blade's sake, watering every stalk at its root, and so all grow up together. Hence therefore, Acts 2, where the fulfilling of those promises made in the 14th and 15th chapters of John, were in the first fruits of them accomplished, it is expressly indigitated that 'the Spirit sat upon each of them:' ver. 3, 'And they were all' (that is, every
one of them) 'filled with the Holy Ghost;' as organ pipes use to be with the common blast of the bellows that breathes wind into them, though by the difference of the pipes there is a differing sound. And thus the Holy Ghost doth, as one Spirit, inform and inspire the whole body of Christ, as the soul doth the whole body of a man. Eph. 4:4,
'There is one body, and one Spirit,' and the Spirit is the same in every member. Now consider with yourselves, if there were but one common soul (as some have feigned to be in the system of the world) which acted, and enlivened every man and thing in the world, you would acknowledge that it must be a mighty, vast, and burthensome work which is incumbent upon that great soul (whatever it were), and which it under-goes at every moment. But thus it is in reality with this great Spirit, the soul of the whole church, who both informs and enliveneth the whole, and every member of it.
What therefore is next to be considered, is the activity of this Holy Spirit upon us, and in working in us.
1. First, in general; he worketh no less than all that is wrought, 1 Cor.
12:11, 'But all these worketh that one and self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.' As of Christ, who is the Word, it is said in the point of the first creation (John 1:3), that 'without him there was not anything made that was made;' so of the Spirit in this new creation we may say, that without him there is not anything wrought in us that is wrought.
But let us consider particularly his works.
(1.) In regeneration, which is his prime work in us.
He is the author of all the principles or habits of grace, of that whole new creature, of that workmanship created to good works, the spiritual man, which is called spirit; that divine nature, which is the mass and lump of all things pertaining to life and godliness; that which is born of the Spirit, John 3:6; the image of Christ, which is styled 'Christ formed in us,' Gal. 4:19. That divine nature is the image
drawn. But who is the immediate former, the limner? It is the Spirit of God; 2 Cor. 3:18, 'We are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' And that place shews that not only the first draught of that image is of his drawing, the ground colours, but all the additional lines that follow after, to perfect it all along, from one end of the work to the other. For he attributes that continual change wrought after conversion, in every degree of it,
'from glory to glory,' unto this Spirit. And therein he so speaks of himself and these believing Corinthians, yea, all believers. 'We are thus changed' all along by beholding, &c. All the changes into that image are by the Spirit of the Lord. No hand hath skill or power to add to this work; none able to mingle colours orient and lively enough but he. In the same chapter the believing Corinthians are declared to be 'the epistle of Christ,' so far as they were or shewed themselves Christians in reality. And Christ and his graces are the perfect original and exemplar; and these Corinthians, so far as they had advanced in Christianity, were for essential parts the entire copy, which in some degree does express to the life that original. And there is not a letter or tittle added in the copy which is not found in him, 2
Cor. 3:3, 'For ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered' (indeed says the apostle) 'by us' (as the pens), 'but written with the Spirit of the living God; not with ink, nor in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart:' unto the draught of the least line of which no art or pencil of man can reach, or hath colours orient enough to write it. For all and every tittle, every stroke, is no other than an inward living disposition of heart, like unto the divine life and nature of Christ, the Son of the living God, and therefore requires the living power of the Spirit of the living God (as he is there styled) to concur to the creating of it; Ps. 51:10, 11, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.' For as he vouchsafes to become the ink, so he bears the part of a hand, too, of a ready writer. The Spirit is the finger of God (Mat. 12:28, compared with Luke 11:20), the sole artist that guides those pens that cast this ink, as there also (in ver. 6) it follows: 'God hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter' (for even
that New Testament hath also letter to men unregenerate, and is but the dispensation of a notion), 'but of the Spirit,' or power.
Let us go over the particular actings of the soul, which are as a drawing out of those created principles, whether at or in our first conversion or afterwards; and we shall find that each and every particular thereof are attributed to this Spirit.
[1.] Hast thou seen thy sinful condition, and been humbled, as to hell, for it? It is the Spirit's proper work, for which he was sent. Thus says Christ, John 16:8, 'When he is come he shall convince the world of sin.' And he says it to his apostles, when he was to send them into the world to convert men. And this is the first work of the three there rehearsed, that the Holy Spirit beginneth with, in conversion, viz., a conviction of a state of sin and unbelief. As it follows, 'of sin, because they believed not on me,' and consequently, of damnation, as having lived without God and Christ in the world; and this work, though it may seem too low for him, yet ho is pleased to bear a title from it, and is termed a Spirit of bondage to us, as causing us to see our bondage to sin, and death, and hell: Rom. 8:15, 'For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.' It is one and the same Spirit there spoken of, in respect of two contrary operations, who hath the title there of both. It is the Holy Ghost who is that Spirit of adoption there spoken of, whereby we (afterwards) cry,
Abba, Father. This you may also see, Gal. 4:6, and in the next ver. 16 of that Rom. 8. It is the Spirit who also 'witnesseth to us that we are the sons of God;' and by the opposition it will follow that if the Holy
Ghost be the Spirit of adoption spoken of, that he also was that Spirit of bondage; inasmuch as he doth discover to us our bondage; even as he is termed the Spirit of adoption, because he testifies our sonship.
And the discovery of this our bondage is an infinite favour. For do not the great and wise ones of the world go hoodwinked quick to hell in a moment, and know not whither they are going until they are there? And of thyself thou couldst never have been thoroughly convinced of that; for the heart is deceitful above measure, who can
know it? None without the light of this Spirit. For it is the spirituality of the law whereby he instructs men to know wisdom in the hidden point of their corrupt nature, as David, confessing it, speaks, Ps. 51,
5th and 6th verses compared together, 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.' And without the light of which law the same David likewise confesseth, Ps. 19:12, 'Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.' By which secret sins he understands the immediate ebullitions of corrupt nature. And it is he that 'searcheth the deep things of God,' 1 Cor. 2:10; the hidden wisdom, ver. 7; hid in God, Eph. 3:9; and reveals it to us, ver. 5. It is he, the same Spirit, that searcheth the deep deceitfulness of men's hearts, and reveals it to them, which David called wisdom in the hidden part. And it is THOU (says he to God) that makest me to know it; that is, thou by thy Spirit, who knowest all things, 1 Cor.
2:10. And this for him to vouchsafe to do for him, to take the same pains to do it, as ever mother or schoolmaster took to teach a child from his alphabet to read, is an act of infinite grace. It is he that gives thee eyes to see, and an heart to understand, who holds the candle to thee, and points with his finger to every sin. Let us all consider the unpleasingness of this work, which were it not that it is necessary for his saving thee, he who is the Holy Spirit would never rake into such foul and filthy jakes and dunghills of lusts and by-ends, unbelief and presumptions. This must needs be a loathsome work to him, by reason of the objects he is exercised in, and tedious in itself. And this is the entrance into conversion.
[2.] It is this Spirit which works repentance upon this discovery of sin, and turns our hearts from sin to God effectually. John the Baptist came preaching 'the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.' Now by what, or whose power was it, that repentance was wrought in the hearts of multitudes that were his hearers? It was the Holy Spirit. 'He shall come' (says the prophet) 'in the spirit and power of Elias,' Mal. 4:6. The spirit of Elias was the Holy Ghost, resting on him (2 Kings 2:15), as he did on the Baptist: Luke 1:15, 'He
shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.'
And it is spoken to signify the power that should accompany his ministry, to work repentance, as it follows in the next verse; 'And many of the children of Israel shall ho turn to the Lord his God.' And thereupon it is, that this prophecy of Malachi's is alleged, ver. 17, 'He shall come in the spirit and power of Elias, and turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.' So as that which is spoken of Paul's ministry among the Thessalonians, 1 Thes. 1:5, that it came
'not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost,' might (though in a lower degree) be said of his. And yet the first and eminent effect of his ministry was seen in the working of repentance, as it is often said, in Acts 13th and 19th chapters. It may likewise be observed, as serving to this purpose, that when Christ gave that new commission to his apostles, to preach repentance in his name unto all nations, for the remission of sins (as in Luke 24:47), he withal renews 'the promise of the Father,' which was the Holy Ghost; ver.
49, 'Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you.' And why is that annexed to the former, as the preface thereto, 'And behold,' shews, but because the giving of the Holy Ghost, even after Christ's ascension, was to work repentance in men's hearts by that their preaching? Yea, and he commands them (as with a caution, in the following words), that they should tarry in the city of Jerusalem, until they were endued with power from on high. Without whom, and the power of whom, their preaching repentance would have had no efficacy at all, to move men to turn unto God; but through whose operation God gave Israel, Acts 5:31, 32, yea, and the Gentiles, repentance unto life, Acts 11:18.
[3.] The work of faith is of his operation; and therefore he is styled 'The Spirit of faith,' 2 Cor. 4:13. And the same Spirit that wrought faith in the New Testament, is said to have done it in the Old, as that place shews; 2 Cor. 4:13, 'We having the same Spirit of faith,' &c.; the same which David and they in the Old Testament had. It is therefore also, that to be full of the Holy Ghost and of faith are joined; Acts 6:5,
'Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost:' also Barnabas is said to be 'a man full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith,' Acts 11:24.
Let us view some special acts of faith, and see how the working of them is ascribed to the Holy Ghost.
First; He gave thee a spiritual sight of Christ and God's free grace, which drew thy heart unto them.
He gave thee a sight of God's free grace, when thou hadst seen thy sins and thy undone condition, and thy heart was thrown off the hinges of thy former hopes on self-righteousness, and the bladders of presumptions upon God's mercy upon false grounds pricked and fallen; and thou wert left utterly at the loss, and knewest not what to do to be saved. Who was it opened to thee the first 'door of hope'
(Hosea 2), and gave thee the first ken, hint, and glimpse of grace and mercy; and that God would abundantly and freely pardon thee, if thou wouldst seek him and ply thyself to him? Who was it then that laid before thee that all-sufficient righteousness of faith; and that did set thy heart on work to seek it? Even the good Spirit, who is therefore called 'The spirit of grace and supplication,' Zech. 12:10. He became a Spirit of grace, in making a discovery of that rich and free grace in God's heart to be inclining towards thee, and therewith became the Spirit of supplication in thee, inflaming thee, as a condemned man for life, to seek after that grace and pardoning mercy in God. And from thence he led thee to the cross of Christ, and made and set such a lively picture of him, as crucified before thine eyes (Gal. 3:1), as all angels and men could never have pourtrayed, no more, yea, infinitely far less, than they can the sun. It was he, the same Spirit of grace, that did it; and so it follows, Zech. 12:10, 'And they shall look upon him whom they have pierced.' Thus also, John
16:8, it is said, 'When he is come, he shall convince the world of righteousness' (which Christ there enumerates as the Spirit's second work in calling us); even of that all-sufficient righteousness of Christ, offered up for satisfaction to the Father; who was 'made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' And when the word of faith sounded in thy heart and ears, thou hadst not eyes to see it; therefore this 'fountain for sin and uncleanness to wash in' must be
'opened' (as it is said, Zech. 13:1), or men descry it not. Thou wert
ready to perish for thirst, as Hagar was, Gen. 21, and lifted up thy voice and weptest. But as God opened her eyes, and she saw a well
(ver. 19) just by her: so did the Spirit thine, to spy out Christ and his righteousness, which is hid unto the world. As I heard one say on his deathbed, Oh! where had I been if I had not spied out Christ! It was this Spirit of grace who caused thee to look towards him, and first set thy eyes and heart to see him, and look on him that was pierced, as all that are saved should be brought to do, as they did on the brazen serpent, John 3:14, 15.
Secondly; When thou didst find (being come to this fountain) that the well was deep, and thou hadst not wherewith to draw; and while thou wert but looking down into it, with a longing eye after it; but couldst not reach into it, to wash thyself in it; but layest as that poor impotent man did at the pool, utterly without strength (as John 5) to have stepped in: it was then the Holy Ghost sprinkled of it upon thy heart, and caused thine iniquity to pass away (1 Pet. 1:2); 'Through sanctification of the Spirit, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ.' The blood indeed is the blood of Jesus, but the sprinkling (in that place) is attributed to the Spirit, as well as obedience. It was
Christ shed that blood (it is therefore there called the blood of Jesus Christ), but it is the Spirit that sprinkleth it, and he sprinkleth it with both hands, on thy heart, to wash away thy spots; and therefore in ver. 22 they are said to have 'purified their souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit:' which is spoken of the obedience of faith for justification, as well as sanctification; as the parallel words of the same apostle, in Acts 15:8, 9, compared, shew: 'God giving unto them the Holy Ghost, even as he did to us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.' And in 1 Cor. 6:11, justification as well as sanctification is attributed to the Spirit: 'But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.' 'But ye are washed,' that is the general; 'but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified' (two distinct benefits), 'justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.' Both of these are by both Christ and the Spirit; as justification is in the name of the Lord Jesus, so is sanctification too;
and by the like reason they were both justified 'by the Spirit of our God.' It is Jesus Christ's name affords the merit and virtue for both, but the Spirit is the applier of them and all other blessings.
Thirdly; And when thou hast been brought to close with Christ for justification and righteousness, who was it brought thee to the Father to be justified by him also ('who justifies the ungodly,' Rom.
4:5), and who gave thee access to him, when thou stoodest trembling, not daring to approach to a consuming fire, and everlasting burnings? It is 'through Christ we have access'
(manuduction) 'by one Spirit unto the Father,' Eph. 2:18. It is both through Christ, and by the Spirit, who leads us, as well as Christ. And indeed, Christ leads us to the Father (as it were) with one hand, and the Holy Ghost by the other. Yea, it was this Spirit that taught thee to call God Father (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:6), and therewith to seek adoption from him.
Fourthly; When thou art once justified by faith, and hast that righteousness imputed to thee, who is it hath hitherto kept, and continues to keep thine heart fixedly to wait for, and hold to that righteousness alone for thy salvation? And who is it withholds thee from betaking thyself to any other for justification? Who settles thy hopes solely on it? It is even this Spirit: Gal. 5:5, 'For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.' Justification by faith (as we know) is the eminent subject of that epistle; and these words come in in the midst of many other lesser additional persuasives, which he useth last, after the doctrinal arguments in the former chapters, tending all to this, that they should stand fast in that liberty which ver. 1 of this chapter begins with, and which the righteousness of Christ endows us with; and that they should renounce that of works in the point of justification.
We, says he, that is, the generality of believers, Jew and Gentile, of weak and strong faith, we all do steer this way; and therefore you that turn aside to the works of the law for your justification do sever yourselves from the faith common to the church. With which accords
that of the apostle Peter, 2 Peter 1:1, 'To them that have obtained like precious faith with us' (apostles, namely), 'through the righteousness'
(ἐν δικαιωσὺνῃ) 'of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' This was the true and common faith of apostles, and all in those times.
Do wait (says he), that is, we not only did rely upon that righteousness wholly for our first justification (as the papists distinguish), being necessitated unto that alone then, because as then we had no other works to rely upon, but of nature and unregeneracy
(which upon conversion are discovered to be dead works), but ever since we abide by it, and depend upon that alone for our justification afterward, and that now, when we have other manner of works of true holiness and sincerity renewed in us, and which increase more and more in us; which (if any works could or might) would entice us over to join them with Christ, as a ground of our confidence for justification.
But we are immoveably constant unto this righteousness by faith, and the hope that is from it, for time to come; and this continually, all along the remainder of our lives. 'Do wait,' says he, 'for the hope of the righteousness by faith.' Those words, of righteousness by faith, are a distinction, severing it from that of works, and is an indigitation that he meant that to be the righteousness, which had been the subject of his discourse. For otherwise, that word, to wait, did sufficiently import that by faith they were expectants of it, without that addition.
Those words, for the hope of righteousness, are an extensive speech, and spoken in many respects, especially three.
1. It respects a waiting for justification still to come upon us, from that righteousness. Hope is of what is yet to come; and we not only lay hold on that righteousness to be justified by it at present, but we wait for the hope of justification by it for ever. For we are to be justified continually all along the remainder of our lives; for it is actus continuus or perpetuus; and therefore our hopes of justification are to be continued and kept up, and we depend wholly on that righteousness which is by faith, as well as when we were
converted at first, or do at this day. It is called an 'everlasting righteousness,' Dan. 9:24. And it is but one and the same righteousness first and last which we wait for.
2. We wait for that eternal life (which is frequently termed our hope, and the hope of glory), both after death and at the day of judgment, as the conjunct consequent of this righteousness; for glory is an inheritance entailed upon that righteousness of justification, as the holy apostle informs us: Tit. 3:7, 'That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.' And at that day it is that justification and forgiveness of sins is with the solemnity of those words ('Come ye and inherit,' &c.) finally to be pronounced, and admission thereupon is to be given into eternal glory.
3. Among the persons here expressed by the word we, whose example he presseth upon these unsettled Galatians, it falls out that there are true believers who have sought God much and long, for the justification by faith through Christ's righteousness, and the assurance of it; and God hath been pleased to defer the manifestation of it to their souls. And there were others that had obtained an assurance of it in some good degree, and yet either through sins renewed, and other sad and dark temptations, have been weakened in their faith about it. And in that case there are other ways for relief and comfort besides this of the righteousness of faith, that are ready to offer themselves unto such souls, or otherwise are apt to faint in waiting (as the Psalmist speaks of himself), and to have their souls
'made sick,' (as Solomon speaks of 'hope deferred'), and are ready to grow weary, and give over waiting for the Lord any longer. Now in such a case, who is it that giveth those poor souls (who make the greatest number of believers) patience of hope to wait? Lam. 3:29,
'He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope,' and causeth them to wait (as there it is also said), and causeth them to wait on till God shall reveal himself to their souls (which is the thing
I cited this place for, and have opened as I have done). It is even the Spirit. And for his great honour, it is added by the apostle, 'We,
through the Spirit, wait.' It is one of his greatest works in us to hold our hearts constantly fixed to this righteousness, and to settle our whole expectation upon it, and to continue so to do, that we may look unto no other righteousness for justification and salvation. These
Galatians having at their first calling embraced Christ nakedly, and him alone, for justification, as ver. 7 and 8 insinuates, 'Ye did run well,' says he; 'who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?
This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.' One true cause that so many of them afterward had fallen to the doctrine of works was that they would not wait by pure faith, at which this place also glanceth. They would see something in themselves, as a ground of a believing on Christ, and so had recourse to themselves, to their own doings and actings, for a foundation of it; at least to join them in commission with Christ to justify them. A new convert in Christianity, such an one especially, is in a great danger of thus diverting; for the spirit that is within us would of itself go that way, unless powerfully detained from it by this other blessed Spirit in us.
The law is ingrafted in every man by nature, and was in pure nature of innocency, which knew no other way for justification but by a man's own righteousness, and it was the law of nature to be thereby justified. And this new nature that is begotten in a Christian is, in the groundwork of it, materially a conformity to the same law; and the law is continued under grace to be a tutor to instruct it how to walk in truth of holiness. And hence the heart is apt to listen to the other dictates of it even in the point of justification also. And again it is man's own righteousness which Paul, after many years' experience of the righteousness of faith, was yet by reason of the propensity of nature to it, afraid to be found in, Phil. 3. And the dispositions of righteousness that are renewed in us, and the duties we perform, do often offer their help to supply the room of faith, giving us confidence ere Christ comes. And Christ, to try us, stays often long
(as Samuel did his coming to Saul) ere he reveals himself. And as Abraham, waiting long for a child, turned aside to Hagar, so do we to works. Now in all these hazards, who took thee by the hand, and taught thee the way of sheer faith, and then afterward the way of bare waiting upon God? Who instructed thee by a strong hand, and
would not suffer thee to go in the way of the law, but strengthened and secretly supported thy spirit in waiting till God should 'rain down righteousness,' as the prophet speaks? It was this good Spirit; and nothing else could or had been able to have done it in thee, but that Spirit who moved on the chaos when it was darkness, and but one step from nothing, and newly come out of nothing, and ready to return unto nothing again; and who by his almighty power upheld, hatched, and supported it from falling into nothing, Gen. 1. It is the same good Spirit who enliveneth and inspiriteth such a soul in its confessions. It was he who fostered and maintained and kept up this resolved purpose in thy heart, to remain comfortless for ever, otherwise than by such comforts as Christ and his righteousness should afford thee. And though thou didst vehemently hunger and thirst after righteousness of justification, as well as of sanctification, yet thou wouldst have starved rather than have lived upon thy own bread; that is, have trusted to thine own righteousness; and none but Christ, and his righteousness, who is 'the Lord our righteousness,' and his alone, was it would satisfy thee; yea, that none else should was the fixed resolve of thy heart. It is the Spirit guides and leads thee, thus ver. 18 of this 5th chapter, 'If ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law,' which is spoken in point of justification. He took thee by the hand, and gently led thee the right way therein, as well as (according to what is spoken in respect of sanctification) he led thee to walk holily. The Spirit is the leader and conductor in both, as the coherence with his former and his immediate foregoing discourse do shew, and do suit this of these works to be the scope of these words in common to either.
Fifthly; When thou didst attain unto joy and peace in believing, though Christ was the peace-maker, yet who was the peace-bringer?
It was the Holy Ghost: Rom. 15:13, 'Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.' All that 'joy unspeakable and full of glory,' 1 Pet. 1:8, that 'peace which passeth all understanding,' Phil.
4:7, whereby we 'glory in tribulation,' Rom. 5:2, and are 'more than conquerors,' Rom. 8:37, to whom is it to be ascribed? Whose
operation is it? The Holy Ghost's. It is particularly appropriated to him; and therefore it is styled, 'joy in the Holy Ghost:' Rom. 14:17,
'The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' As God's kingdom consists of these things, so this joy is a peculiar belonging to his Spirit; it is his jurisdiction, it is styled joy in the Holy Ghost; when yet our joy is in God and in Christ objectively, yet in the Holy Ghost efficiently, which is therefore elsewhere styled, 'The joy of the Holy Ghost:' so 1 Thess.
1:6. And the consolations we have are called 'The comforts of the Holy Ghost,' Acts 9:31, as being the author and diffuser of them into our hearts, &c. In which sense our praying is in like manner said to be in the Holy Ghost (Jude, ver. 20), as the inditer of our prayers,
Rom. 8. And it is also thus termed joy in the Holy Ghost, by way of a superlative eminency, in difference from all other joys which have ever entered into the heart of man; and in compare to which all other joys are but as the crackling of thorns, the fuel they are fed with being earthy and terrene. It is a joy 'not as the world giveth' (saith
Christ, speaking of his peace). And it therefore hath the peculiar character of glorious joy, as being joy of another kind, and also unspeakable for degrees and abundance; 'more joy than when their corn and wine,' increasing never so much, afforded, Ps. 4:7. We use to distinguish things that are excellent, by joining the name of the workman, author, or efficient, when in his workmanship he transcendeth all other artists. And so it is in this. All the sweetmeats of heaven (and this joy is the taste of the hidden manna), he hath the keeping and delivery of them out, where and when he will. And not only so, but he tempers them, and all the cordials out of God the Father's love, and Christ's heart and blood, and mingleth his own love with theirs, and puts them into our hearts, conveying them in promises of the word, and fitly and seasonably applies them, and reserves them for us as we need. And though Christ bequeatheth that peace and joy as his last legacy, he being the purchaser of it by his death, yet it is the Holy Ghost that is his administrator and executor of it, to perform it, and execute his will. He it is that maketh known to us that love which hath lain hid in the heart of God the Father towards a particular soul, in choosing him at first, and then giving
him to Christ, and giving his Son to die for him. It is he who displays that love which is laid out in infinite wisdom, contriving and ordering all about every man's particular salvation who is saved. It is he likewise that takes of Christ's, and shews and brings home his love in giving himself for every such soul, and causeth it to 'know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge;' which he did vouchsafe to our apostle; 'Who loved me' (says he), 'and gave himself for me,' Gal.
2:20. He shews these things (as Christ's word is), and tells over the stories of them in a way of application and comfort to a man's own heart in particular; and withal, lets in the taste of them; and makes the loves of all the three pass through and through us, even through our very inwards, as oil that soaks into the bones, and refresheth the marrow within them, even this 'oil of gladness,' which is purely of his making. And he gives an immediate taste of that love fresh out of the heart of God and Christ, and causeth every faculty in its kind to taste how good the Lord is. He gives us a relish of the sweetness, of the deliciousness of loves; loves, in the plural, as it is' expressed in Cant.
5:1; which we are made abundantly to drink and taste of, as it is said Cant. 5:1. In Rom. 5:5, you have it thus expressed, 'Hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.' Given us he had been afore, to endow us with justifying faith, and all those glorious fruits of it, which he setly had enumerated; as peace with God, ver. 1; access by faith into grace, ver. 2; rejoicing in hope of the glory of God; glorying in tribulation; and patience working experience; and experience, hope: and that hope rising up, in the end, to a steadiness, solidity, and constancy, as never to be confounded; no, not in a man's own apprehension or fears. And this hope is wrought by shedding the love of God abroad in the heart, so as never to be violated or temerated by prevailing doubtings any more. And this he reckons last, as the sum, the complement of all the foregoing privileges. And this last, as well as all those other, are the effects of the Spirit given us; for he working those other first, and then this of shedding the love of God over and above. Now that wherein this love of God and Christ materially or objectively doth consist, the apostle tolls us in the following 6th, 7th, and 8th verses, that 'God himself hath commended his love to us,
that when we were enemies, Christ died for us;' than which there cannot be a higher strain or note that love could reach unto. Yet the coherence of this place shews, that if the material part of this love should be declared in words never so illustriously, without the power of the Holy Ghost accompanying it, and his shedding that love abroad in the heart; yea, if these very words were used, whereby God himself commends his love by the Holy Ghost himself, as the penman of them; yea, if these words were preached and enlarged upon by the apostles themselves, ay, and by all the angels in heaven too (if they were sent by God to do it), yet they would avail nothing upon our hearts to affect them therewith, without a transcendent operation of this blessed Spirit, whose work and office is to be 'the Comforter.' Yea further, where this Holy Spirit doth, by this and such like words as those, setting forth the love of God and Christ, perfume and bedew the souls of believers in his ordinary dispensation of faith with the consolations of the Almighty, more or less; yet the text in Rom. 5:5 means and intends, by that shedding abroad God's love, a higher communication of the love of God than those more commonly vouchsafed. And as there is promised a pouring forth of this Spirit, so there is a pouring forth joys in the Holy Ghost more extraordinary, which in its measure doth exceed the dispensings by the ordinary light of faith believers are accustomed unto. And the reason for this latter dispensation may be resolved unto this, that this Holy Spirit
'searching the deep things of God,' and knowing the height, depth, breadth, and length of his love, to the extremest dimensions of it, and coming immediately upon men's souls from out of the heart of God and Christ, is enabled from thence to bring this their love warm immediately out of their hearts and convey it into ours, and give us a true and native original taste of and from the things themselves, and the sweetness thereof. And so he sheds it abroad (as the word here is) into every chink and cranny of the soul, thirsting after this love, and brings it as fresh as the mother's milk comes out of the dug into the child's mouth or stomach; and his love so shed into us by the Holy Spirit, is digested or turned into love in us, and returned on our parts towards God and Christ again. This is another manner of thing than all the words that ever have been or can be uttered; yea, though
penned by the Holy Ghost himself, speaking the greatest things that can be uttered of this love, and enlarging our minds to the most extensive conceptions of the dimensions of this love, so far as words or arguments by words will avail to do it, though uttered by the tongues of men or angels. But, when the Spirit by the word (for I speak not of revelations without that word, or besides it), shall add his condiment and seasoning to that love of God set forth in the word, with diffusing joy which passeth understanding, this doth infinitely surpass even such joys; as he doth sometimes unto some saints vouchsafe.
Sixthly; If we consider all the fellowship and communion we have with the persons of the Father and the Son, we shall find that this
Holy Spirit is the introducer of us into it, and the manager and transacter of it in us, and for them with us. 'Our fellowship is with the Father, and with the Son,' 1 John 1:3. By means of which it is that our joy mentioned is a full joy, ver. 4. And all this fellowship is through the help and manifestations of the Holy Ghost: Phil. 2:1, 'If there be any comfort in love' (which is peculiarly attributed to the Father); 'If any fellowship of the Spirit,' who communicates both these. This place seems to speak, in the matter of it, somewhat parallel to that of the same apostle: 2 Cor. 13:14, 'The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.' Now it is the love of the Father which ordained Christ and salvation for us; it is the grace of Christ which works our salvation by redemption; as you read how grace is in that sense and respect attributed unto Christ, 2 Cor. 8:9. But yet it is the Holy Ghost imparts and conveys all things that the Father or Son hath. He takes them and reveals them to us, and so glorifies them both unto us: John 16:14, 15, 'He shall glorify me,' said Christ, 'for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore, said I, he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.' In saying, All that the Father hath are mine, he doth plainly affirm that it is the Spirit that shews all that is the Father's to us, as well as Christ, and what is Christ's. And in that renowned place in the gospel of John, where Christ promiseth that
'he and his Father will come to us, and make their abode with us,' and that he 'will manifest himself to us,' John 14 ver. 21–23. Yet in the verse 20 immediately foregoing, Christ says, 'At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you;' in that day, namely, when he should give and send his Spirit, as by this verse, being compared with verse 16, appears. And therefore it is, that that fulness of joy which ariseth from the communion with these persons is termed, 'joy in the Holy Ghost' (that is, through the Holy
Ghost); and the communion of the Holy Ghost, although the objects of that joy are the love and persons of the Father and Son.
Seventhly; All the evidence and witnessing of all or any grace wrought in us (though not accompanied with joy unspeakable and full of glory), as a love in us to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, they are all of his working, and from him.
Do our own consciences witness to any eminent holy disposition that is written in our hearts, such as the apostle professeth he found in his own heart, even to a willingness to be accursed from Christ, for the glory of God, and the salvation of his own countrymen the Jews? The evidence of this to his conscience was from the Holy Ghost, without whose testimony joined to that of his conscience, his conscience would not have witnessed it. Natural conscience witnesseth the things of the law naturally in man, Rom. 2, yet gracious dispositions it cannot. Here the apostle himself speaketh himself concerning this matter: Rom. 9:1–3, 'I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.' When he says, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, he speaks it not only because the Holy
Ghost was he that had wrought that grace in him, but that, in point of his conscience witnessing of it, it was the Spirit who was the cause of that witness. Conscience indeed was the faculty that was the substance that witnessed this to his soul, but it was in (that is, from) the Holy Ghost so testifying with it. And therefore if that or any other grace in us be evidenced to us, it is ho that is the eminent witness,
and causeth that grace to speak so loud as to witness it: Rom. 8:16, 'The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.' It may be read 'witnesseth to our spirit,' and 'witnesseth with our spirit.' And though man hath a reflecting faculty as a man, which (1 Cor. 2) the apostle indigitates, 'None knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit that is in man,' yet the discerning the things of God, and of his supernatural working in a man, the apostle in the same place attributes to the Spirit, as the person who works all, and makes all in us, and also reveals all that to us which he worketh. He writes first all graces in us, and then teacheth our consciences to read his handwriting, which we could never do without his light. In 1 John 5 ver. 6 and 7, you read of six witnesses,
'three in heaven,' and 'three on earth,' who are witnesses of two things: 1, Christ to he the Son of God; 2, To believers' hearts of their own salvation, as in ver. 1, 'Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,' which also is evident by comparing ver. 13, where both these two are put together, as the things believers might know, through what he had written in this epistle, especially now last written in those immediate foregone verses. Now you find there in these 6th and 7th verses, that the Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, is mentioned in either catalogue; first, among the witnesses in heaven,
'The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost;' and yet again this Spirit, that is a witness in heaven, is yet numbered with those that bear record on earth, too. Ver. 8, 'The Spirit, the water, and the blood;' and he, the first, and as the principal of these on earth, is set before water and blood. One among other reasons I have apprehended for this, is that he efficiently is the grand witness with those other two on earth in their witnessing; and to whatsoever they bear their testimony, this Spirit joins with them in it, and brings home their testimony into our hearts; as without whom and which their witness would be of no force. As, for example, if Christ's blood, when believed on, witnesseth to our hearts, by giving our hearts ease and peace, it is because this Spirit joins with it in its testimony. If water, or the new creature (begotten of water and this Spirit, the holy Spirit working as water in cleansing us), if that do testify to us, it is in virtue of the Holy Ghost's conjecture with it, and irradiation of it, and
it is that which gives its validity of testimony to it: as Rom. 8:16, 'He witnesseth with our spirits;' that is, our graces (or that which is born of the Spirit, which is spirit), and in the same 1 John 5:6, the apostle resolves all into this, as the foundation of the other's testimonies, 'It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.' It is he therefore that bears the name of witness, κατʼ ἐξοχήν, as being the 'Spirit of truth,' as Christ also calls him. And truly in that Rom. 8, where it is rendered, 'The Spirit witnesseth with our spirits,' the Holy
Ghost, in the original, hath so composed the words, that they import his witnessing to our spirits as well as with our spirits; and that witnessing with hath a respect to the witness of the other two persons, the Father and Christ, as with whom this Spirit should witness to our spirits; they all three, the witnesses in heaven, conjoining their testimonies together to persuade our spirit (that is, our souls and graces in them), 'that we are the children of God.' And if so understood, then the witnessing both of the Father and of Christ unto our salvation is eminently attributed to the Spirit, who only is named, as also in witnessing the truth by Christ, and the especial honour thereof is given to him, which accords with that fore-cited speech of Christ, John 16:14, 15. And thus he is the great witnesser, both of heaven and of earth, to this of our being the sons of God.
Eighthly; As thus in respect of evidencing our graces to us, and his joining with God the Father and Christ in their testimonies also to us, the Spirit doth the work so as to lead us into all truths of the word and secrets of God whatever, which in this life are revealed; it is he whom God sends to discover and convince us of them all: 1 Cor. 2:10,
'He searcheth all the deep things of God.' He is the keeper of all those archives of eternity, and they are all committed to his custody, and he lets us into the view of them, and reveals what is revealed of them unto us 'as he will.' There is not a thing that God hath prepared for us that love him, ver. 9 (which is spoken of the hidden things of the gospel, ver. 7), but he is the manifester of it to one or other of the saints; it is he leads into all truth: 2 Tim. 1:13 and 14, 'Hold fast the form of sound words, which is in Christ Jesus.' But, alas! might they say of ourselves, we are apt to let them slip and leak out (as Heb.
2:1), and to be 'carried away with every wind of doctrine,' Eph. 4 (this we are prone to be), therefore he adds, ver. 14, 'That good thing' (so he calls the truth of the doctrine of wholesome words, for bonum et verum convertuntur), 'keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.'
Who also brings them home to our remembrance when we have forgotten them, John 14:26.
And as these matters, in point of faith, and assurance, and joy, and all communion with God the Father and the Son, are transacted by this Spirit, together with the revelation of all truths, so,
Ninthly; If we view all and the whole of the work and works of sanctifition that are wrought in us, or proceed from us, it will appear that it is he that works them all in us and for us. This is the third part of the application of salvation to us; according to that distribution which Christ makes, John 16:8, 11, and which he attributes to the Spirit, 'when he is come, he shall convince the world of judgment,' that is, of true holiness, sanctification, and reformation of heart and life; as in the Old Testament frequently, and in the New, that word judgment is used, as Mat. 12:20. That Christ shall 'bring forth judgment to victory,' citing ver. 18 out of the Old, viz., out of Isa.
42:1, 'He shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.' And in respect of his working herein, he hath this denomination made appropriate to him, viz., 'a Spirit of judgment,' purging away the filth of sin in his people,
Isa. 4:4. And holiness is called 'the sanctification of the Spirit,' 1
Peter 1:2, and 2 Thess. 2:13. And for this cause he bears the name of the Holy Spirit, as the eminent efficient of holiness in us. And accordingly as men have grown up into, and increased more and more in, holiness, they have been said to be filled with the Holy
Ghost, as, Luke 1:41, it is said of Elizabeth the mother, and her child the Baptist; and his eminent holiness is expressed by this, 'He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb,' Luke
1:15. And the same strain of speech goes on in the New Testament:
Acts 6:3, 'Choose men full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.' Of Barnabas it was said, 'A good man, and full of the Holy Ghost,' Acts
11:28; and the super-excelling fulness and eminency of Christ's
graces is set out by this measure, that he had 'the Spirit above measure;' for this Spirit's indwelling in him was the fountain and standard of his infinitely transcending holiness.
Let us go over the several particulars of that work.
1. Habitual holiness, and all the principles of holiness. I have shewn afore that they are wholly of his operation, and this our baptism
(which is the seal of regeneration, or of the new creature) doth signify in a special manner. The letter of that word Βάπτω imports not simply to wash, or to be washed, but to be dyed also. It is also taken from the dyer's vat, into which what clothes are dipped they carry away in them a new habitual tincture. The Holy Ghost takes a man's heart, and dyes it anew, changeth it. As a cloth goes into the vat of one colour and comes out of it of another, 'so is he who is born of the Spirit:' he goes wholly flesh, comes out spirit in a good degree,
'which two are contrary,' Gal. 5.
2. Mortification of sin and to the world is ascribed to the Spirit: Rom.
8:13, 'For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' It was prophesied by Malachi, Mal. 2:2, 3, that Christ coming after the Baptist, should 'purify the sons of Levi' by 'fuller's soap, and the refiner's fire.' Now who is that refiner's fire but this Spirit? as appears by comparing Isa. 4:4, where he is styled 'the Spirit of burning,' and 'the Spirit of judgment;' the Spirit of burning, consuming and purging out our dross and filth; and there also is the prophecy of Christ's coming to 'baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire,' as the Baptist expounded it; the Holy Ghost, as it is spoken, partly because what remaining filth his baptism of water had not cleansed out, Christ's Spirit, as fire, should do it; for, Num. 31:23, the fire is made a stronger purifier than water; and even of the Baptist himself and his ministry (the Spirit of God accompanying it), it was foretold by Isaiah, chap. 40, that the glory and beauty of the whole creation should be blasted, and caused to fade and wither, as flowers of the grass are by a wind, in and to new converts' hearts, and
deading their souls, being deadened unto it, when the voice of the crier should come and preach repentance to the people, and the glory of the Lord (Christ, namely) should be revealed. The grass withered, and the flower faded (ver. 7) in such men's hearts as were savingly wrought upon by his voice and cry. And how came this to pass? It is added, 'The Spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it.' And the apostle
Peter expounding this prophecy, says, That all believers wrought upon by his and the apostle's ministry, had 'purified their souls,' 1
Peter 1:22, by the preaching of the gospel, and then referreth us unto this very place in Isaiah, 'Being born again;' ver. 23, 'For all flesh is as grass, and the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever; and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you, ver. 24 and 25.
3. There is in Scripture ascribed to the Holy Ghost the implantation of all the contrary graces, which are so often compared to flowers and the gardens of them, and unto trees in orchards and beds of spices, planted artificially by a florist (which is an allusion the Holy Ghost delights to use in that book of Canticles); the fruits and flowers whereof shall never fade (as the flower of grass doth), but grow up, and flourish to eternal life; which flowers, &c., because planted in her heart, the spouse there calleth her garden—'upon my garden'—as also Christ calls it his garden, and both in that one verse, Cant. 4:16, which, as appears by ver. 12, was her own self. 'An enclosed garden is my sister, my spouse,' says Christ of her, 'a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.' And ver. 13 and 14, 'Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon;' which is certainly an enumeration of particular graces in their distinction and variety, if we knew how aptly to apply those similitudes in each to what is proper to each. But however, it serves in general to instruct us, that there is such a variety of graces in our hearts, as hero of trees in the spouse's heart,* and that the heart of every saint is an orchard to such spiritual plants growing therein; and in like manner, a garden to a like variety of flowers, as in ver. 12. And various graces are meant by either. And
the planting and bringing forth these are all ascribed to the Holy Spirit, as Christ's chief planter. Thus I understand that fore-cited ver.
12, 'A garden enclosed, a spring shut up,' to intend that she had two things enclosed in her heart.
(1.) All sorts of graces, planted as in a garden, as the effects.
(2.) The indwelling of the Spirit, as the spring and producer of all these flowers, and accordingly in ver. 15 she is said to be 'a fountain of gardens, a well of living water, and streams from Lebanon.' Now that well of living water is apparently the Spirit: John 4:14, 'But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life;' which is interpreted to be the Holy Ghost (John 7:38, 39), which comes as a spring from Lebanon, that is, from that high mountain, even from heaven, from the throne of God and of the Lamb, as Rev. 21:1, 'And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,' which watereth these flowers; which well the church hath in her belly, as Christ's word is in that of John the Evangelist, chap. 7:38. And all these plants in Christ's garden, which is the soul o£ a believer, are of the Spirit's bringing forth and setting; for as the earth, watered with fructifying water, brings forth plants as at the first creation, so the soul, bedewed with the Spirit, brings forth 'trees of righteousness, of the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified,' Isa. 61:3; which (as appears by comparing ver.
1) is recorded as the effect of Christ's having this Spirit given him:
'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to preach the gospel,' whereof this is made the immediate effect, viz., the communicating the same
Spirit unto his members, for this end, to plant in them trees of righteousness. Thus it is ascribed unto this Spirit, and ver. 11 of the same chapter it is added, 'For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations.' In a word, he is styled the Spirit of grace,
Heb. 10:29 as the eminent efficient of all our graces; and therefore,
they that apostatise are said to do despite unto this Spirit, as he is the efficient of all graces and gracious workings.
4. As the planting, so the drawing them forthwith into act, both bud and fruit, and causing them to grow, is his work also.
(1.) The drawing them forth into act, or the acting of them, or the causing them to shoot forth, is ascribed to him. He is that wind which, blowing upon our graces, causeth them to flow out, even as his blowing upon the flower of the grass (as you heard out of Isa. 40) withers and mortifies the flowers or glories of this world to new converts. And this follows in the next words of the same chapter:
Cant. 4:16, 'Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden,' says the spouse, 'that the spices thereof may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.'
There are two prayers in those word: the first to the Spirit, 'Come, thou south wind, and blow;' and the second to Christ himself, 'Let my beloved come into his garden' when it shall be thus blown upon.
First, the wind there apparently is the Holy Ghost, Ezek. 37 3d, 14th verses compared with 5th, 6th: 'As the wind bloweth where it listeth, so is he that is born of the Spirit.' The Spirit is a quickening wind (the breath of the living God and of Christ), who coming upon a man doth regenerate him, and infuse a new spirit into him, as Christ had there said. And after he is thus quickened and born, a soul new born of the Spirit, then by blowing thereon the same Spirit doth cause him to operate and act as such a now creature, who is so high born, should in some measure do. Insomuch as all and the whole of him who is truly born again is from this Spirit, not only his first begetting, but his after actings; which latter Christ also involves in saying, 'so is he that is born of the Spirit,' supposing him first to have been begotten anew.
If any shall object, that the Spirit is but one and the same Spirit, viz., the person, and how can he be termed both the north wind and the south wind, which are not only diverse, but blow contrary ways? the answer is, It is true the person of the Holy Ghost is one and the same
person, as in himself considered, but his being said to be a wind is in respect of his operations upon us; and so his blasts may blow several ways, not only in these two points of the compass there mentioned, but several others; and in this respect he is said to be 'seven spirits,'
Rev. 1:7, from whom grace is there prayed for as well as from Christ and the Father. And even the natural wind in the air is one and the same wind for the substance of it, whilst yet it turneth itself about, as God pleaseth, unto several quarters, from north to south, &c. And this objection is preoccupated by the apostle: 1 Cor. 12:3, 4, 'Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit;' and so on, ver. 6–8, and 'there are differences of administrations,' &c. Now, both these contrary winds are needful to cause the several graces in believers to flow forth: 'Come,' says the spouse, praying to this Spirit, 'come, and blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.' So then the Spirit's operations upon those graces is the blowing upon them; and their exerting that hidden virtue or active power that lies latent in them, through the excitement and actings of the Holy Ghost, is that their flowing forth. And it is as if she had said, I indeed have these plants and graces habitually rooted in me by thee, O holy and blessed Spirit; but I am utterly unable so much as so give forth the least scent or virtue of them (which other plants naturally do) without thy breathing on them, and moving and impregnating of them. Yet even earthly plants yield their fragrancy of themselves yet more strongly and abundantly when the wind drives them to and fro, and exhales the scent out of them; but she, in the sense of her utter inability, prays to the Spirit to come and influence her.
And from hence, by the way, we may observe an instance of a warrant to pray distinctly to the person of the Spirit; as if it had been said by her, Awake, and come, thou Holy Spirit. As likewise to pray distinctly to the person of Christ, as she also doth in these next words, 'Let my beloved come;' and that is, Then be thou also pleased to come and visit thy garden, when first thy Spirit, sent by thee, hath drawn out and educed from out of those plants that are growing therein, those pleasant savours so pleasing to thee, which these my graces, when thus acted by the Spirit, do afford. And indeed the
many former prayers and petitions, ever and anon found up and down in this book of the Canticles, do put it out of all question that it is useful for us thus to pray to each person.
There is not so much as the least good thought, nor the least bud which we with all our inherent graces are able to bring forth, unless this Holy Spirit efficaciously blows upon us, 2 Cor. 3:6. It is the Spirit
(says he) who is ζωοποιοῦν, that quickens and gives life; and he speaks this of the Holy Spirit joining with the gospel, even the Spirit of the living God, whom he had under that title mentioned afore in ver. 3. And that his quickening relateth unto all and everything of the Spirit of life within us, even unto the production of but one, a single individual one action, though it also be but the least good thought, is expressly said in ver. 5: 'Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;' that is, unless God (the living God) by his living Spirit (as in ver. 3) do form it in us, and although the matter of a good thought were cast into our minds, yet as seed thrown into a barren soil, it would sow this in our hearts, it would instantly become a dead work, such as all the works of unregenerate men are, Heb. 6:1. So that our eyes should be fixed upon and entirely ascribe all that is good in us to this Spirit as the author. And though we and our wills do concur in the acting also, yet he is the efficient of that concurrence in us, causing us to do; yea, and is the cause of every degree of that goodness in our actings, 'dividing to every man severally as he will,' 1 Cor. 12:11.
3. The Spirit produceth all the spiritual strength we receive, when our hearts are ready to be overborne with temptations, or a lust; or when we want strength to do such and such a work or duty; to suffer, that we may be able to endure in such a trial. It is the Spirit gives strength to the inner man (Eph. 3:16, compared with Coloss. 1:10 and 11), likeas the Spirit fell on Samson, and gave him strength, who of himself was otherwise but as other men. It was he made Elias so bold and courageous, and the prophet Amos* after him, chap. 3:8,
'Truly,' says he, 'I am full of power, by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Judah his transgression, and to
Israel his sin.' The like he gave the Baptist to tell Herod of his sin, which cost him his life. It was because he came in the power and spirit of Elias. Take the weakest heart that is, as weak as water (as the prophet speaks), and let the Spirit join with it, and mingle himself therewith, and it is too hard and strong for all the world; it will snap asunder tentations, as Samson did his withs. There is a supply of the Spirit, Phil. 1:10, comes in with fresh forces, when we are near to a yielding up the fort, and being led captive, and so he rescues and delivers us. In all our walkings with God, he is our guide and faithful companion, to see to us and keep us out of harm's way. And often when we stumble, he puts under his hand, as the psalmist's word is.
And a little help keeps up a man that is falling or reeling, or to recover him again when he is falling. And thus the apostle seems to intend that speech, 'who helpeth our infirmities,' Rom. 8. And those infirmities there are not to be limited to the infirmities that belong to and accompany our prayers only, but which accompany us in all our ordinary walkings. The word συναντιλαμβάνεται supposeth it to be the case of a weak man in himself, who yet further hath a weight or a burden hanging on him, which presseth him down (as of our corruptions, especially some, or such as are more proper to us, as the apostle expresseth, Heb. 12), who yet having a friend to accompany him in his running the race set before him (as there the apostle's allegory is), he perceiving the weakling's aptness to sink under the weight, does continually relieve him; and not only shores up and sustains the man, but himself takes the other end of his burden (and the far heavier end), and be helps him to bear it, and go on along with it. And this the apostle expressly there attributes to the Spirit; and if so be it chanceth that we fall, he is still at hand, a present help
(as a present help, as David says), to take us up; yea, then when we fall into the foulest mire and dirt, and grievously defile ourselves, it is the Spirit that cleanseth us, according to that of the apostle: 1 Peter
1:22, 'We through the Spirit purify ourselves.' And according to that of David: Ps. 51, 'Create in me a clean heart' (after he had so foully fallen into uncleanness), and 'take not thy Holy Spirit from me,' verses 10, 11. In this case this gracious Spirit says not (as the harsh spirits of men would say), Even lie there still, since you would needs
fall, sprawling in your own filth. Not so this good Spirit: but as if a man (a brother) be overtaken with a fault, those that are spiritual are to take on them to restore, and often do restore, such a man in the spirit of meekness; how much more will and doth this blessed Spirit, who is he that makes spiritual those that are such, and endues them with that spirit of meekness, out of his own dovelike meekness, restore such an one, and take care of him for ever after, lest he fall so again.
4. He is a Spirit of counsel, powerfully instructing and convincingly teaching how to act and walk, for he directs us to set right steps, and to walk with a right foot, and thereby prevents us of many a sin, by seasonable instruction set on upon our hearts with a strong hand, as Isa. 8:11. For, as the same prophet says, Isa. 11:2, he is the Spirit of counsel and of might. 1. Of counsel to direct. 2. Of might, to strengthen the inner man. Such he was to Christ the head, of whom it is there spoken. For instance, in that agony (on the determination of which our salvation depended), and conflict in the garden, when he prayed, 'Let this cup pass,' it was this good Spirit that counselled him to die; and in Ps. 16:7 he blesseth God for it, 'I bless the Lord that hath given me counsel.' It was that counsel that in that case caused his heart to say, 'Not my will, but thine.' When we are out of the way he recalls us, and is 'a voice behind us, saying, This is the way, walk in it;' and not only thus directs us, but taketh us by the arm, and teacheth us to go, Hos. 11:3. 'Thy Spirit is good, lead me,' says the psalmist, Ps. 143:10. And therefore it is a usual phrase in Rom. 8 and Gal. 4, our being led by the Spirit. And not only so as to direct and lead, but effectually to cause us to walk in his statutes and ways. For,
5. As he is a Spirit of counsel to our understanding part, so an effectual persuader and conducter of our wills, with might (as was observed), 'working in us the will and the deed, according to his good pleasure.' For although the will of a man regenerate is endowed with a new vital principle of spiritual life, so as in its willing and acting spiritually it doth it freely, and as a living principle of its own acts, yet it acts concurring with the movings and influences of the Spirit,
according to that most excellent scripture (as to this purpose), Ps.
110:3, 'Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.' Herein the Holy Spirit hath determined the controversy, and reconciled the freeness of man's will in conversion, as likewise in the after-actings of grace, with the determinating efficacy of the power of God's grace, this being so full and infallible a prophecy, certainly foretelling these events of their willingness. Now that prophecy doth directly refer to the day of Pentecost (whereof that psalm treateth), and of Christ's ascension and sitting in heaven; and that passage refers unto the pouring forth the Spirit that day upon the apostles, and unto his coming upon three thousand of the Jews converted the same day, and made willing, by the same Spirit accompanying that great apostle's ministry, as the fulfilling of this prophecy. You read the story in Acts 2, where you find that willingness ascribed unto the Spirit as his work; and so wonderfully efficacious is his power, as it was styled in that psalm, 'The day of his power;' not of man's will.
Christ's power had the day of it in overcoming man's will. And whereas it is said, that 'God worketh in us to will and to do,' it is not by his giving in power only to will or to do, but to will, Τὸ θέλειν, the act of willing, Τὸ θέλειν; and the giving this was the Spirit's gift. So in those converts it was by the Spirit (as Ps. 110 compared with Acts 2 will inform us), who is indeed the power of the Most High, Luke 1:35.
And to cause us to do, and therefore to will, is expressly attributed to this Spirit in Ezek. 36, where, first, it is said, 'A new heart also will I give you, and a now spirit I will put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh;' which words denote the creating of those principles of spiritual life and habitual graces; and then it is added, ver. 27, 'I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.' What is this other but the same with that in the Philippians, to 'work in us to will and to do'? For if to do, then to be sure to will. And this promise of the covenant (and it is the covenant of grace is there promulged) is to work in us an evangelical obedience unto all the commandments, which begins first with to will, and then follows to do, according unto that of the apostle, 'Not to do, but to be willing,' 2 Cor. 8:10.
6. As all the principles and the production of the acts and fixing the will, so our whole growth in grace, from first to last, is attributed to this Spirit also: Isa. 44:3, 4, 'I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as the grass, as willows by the water courses,' or streams. There are two things that cause the springing up of grass and growth in willows. 1. Sufficiency and plenty of water, either rain from heaven or streams of rivers, when trees (as willows) are seated by them. 2. The sun and the sweet influences thereof, Deut. 32. And for this latter we have elsewhere our Lord Christ compared to the sun in this very respect: Mal. 4:2, 'But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall grow up as calves in the stall;' as the sun causeth trees and plants to grow, so beasts too, which latter allusion he prosecutes there. But in that of Isa. 44 he compares the Spirit to the floods and the rain, which, increasing the sap within the root and body of the trees, causeth them to grow up and bring forth fruits, even to old age: 'I will pour floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed.'
7. The acceptance of all these fruits by God, and of our persons by God for them, both all along, and specially when all is finished and perfected, is by and from the Holy Ghost. Thus Rom. 15:16 the apostle speaks, 'That the offerings up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.' In which words he sets out the great function and success of his gospel ministry, under allusions to the Levitical priesthood, as that which succeeded that of the law (Isa. 66:20), in declaring how there had been a far more excellent sacrifice offered up to God by his preaching than had been by them of old. Their sacrifices were but of beasts, but this was of men—the souls of men, which by his preaching had been converted to God, even an innumerable company of the Gentiles, which were the first fruits and foundation of the church of the New Testament.
These sacrifices of the gospel also in number far exceed any of the sacrifices of the Old Testament that were at any one time ever offered up; yea, than there had been by Solomon, at the foundation and
consecration of his new-built temple; and yet all this was as the work but of one apostle. Of those Old Testament sacrifices, it is still noted how and what acceptableness they had with God, as Abel's, Heb. 11; as Noah's, Gen. 8:20, 21, 'God smelt a sweet savour;' and of Solomon, testified by fire coming down from heaven. Now of this great New
Testament oblation here, that which gave the acceptableness is expressly said to be the being sanctified by the Holy Ghost,* as the cause that rendered them acceptable; and our translators favour it, if not imply it, in rendering it, 'Being sanctified by the Holy Ghost;' that is, in that, or because, it was sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and therefore acceptable. As for the apostle's own part, he professeth himself but the poor instrument; so in the following 18th verse; and that it was Christ, and his Spirit, had wrought all by him. And as he wrought nothing in those Gentile hearts, so the acceptation of what was wrought was much less from any consideration whatever in him to make this sacrifice accepted by the holy God. Far be that from the least of our thoughts; for it is to be attributed unto Christ as the worker of it, ver. 18, and unto the Spirit, in this 16th verse, and unto the Spirit as well as unto Christ. Neither is our sanctification, simply in itself, and abstractly considered, as it is in us, of force and virtue alone, to cause this acceptation. This the confessions of David and Daniel, &c., abundantly do declare. It is the matter indeed, or thing, that is accepted, but not the ground or cause of the acceptation. And therefore that word ἐν, in (as in the original), which is translated by the Holy Ghost, is not added barely to shew that the Holy Ghost was the author of this and all other sanctification that is accepted, but that it might be noticed that it was he who was and is the main and principal cause of that acceptation; and for which it hath a due value with God, even for this reason, that our sanctification is the work of the Holy Ghost. As we esteem the work for the workman's sake, so doth God our works for the Holy Ghost's sake, as the worker of it.
If it be said that our good works and holiness have their acceptation from Christ; it is granted, as most true, our persons are accepted in his person, as 'the beloved,' Eph. 1:6, and our works in his works of mediation, the sole meritorious cause of that acceptation, and as by
way of mediation between God and us, insomuch as Christ is said to be made sanctification itself to us, 1 Cor. 1:30, as if it were no sanctification in the sight of God, that is not made accepted for such in Christ. And by him we offer up our sacrifices to God; and God is well pleased with them, Heb. 13:15 and 16. And upon such an account the Holy Ghost is not the cause of this kind of acceptation.
This honour is Christ's alone; yet so as there is left room for this Holy Spirit to have the glory of procuring acceptation to our good works another way, namely, in that he is the efficient of them, and in that they are his works in us. Yea, and our persons also are in such a like respect accepted in and for the Holy Ghost, in that we are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and he dwells in us; and God hath respect to the temple for his sake that dwells therein. Therefore give and acknowledge that honour to the Spirit, for his work and interest, as well as to the Son for his.
If we have recourse to the metaphor the apostle began with, and continues along to the end of the verse, viz., that the Gentiles were made a sacrifice and an offering to God, and had their lusts slain by the gospel, the sword of the Spirit, as the sacrificing knife, and this by the Holy Ghost, according to that in chap. 8, 'You by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body,' we may extend the allusion to the acceptation of a sacrifice. There were two things made the sacrifice acceptable, viz., the altar upon which the offering was made, which Christ teacheth us, 'The altar sanctifies the gift;' and that most fitly represented Christ's part in our acceptation: Heb. 13:10, 'We have an altar,' namely Christ, by whom we offer our sacrifice of praises, and by whom they are accepted, ver. 12, 15, 16. But then there was fire also, which came forth immediately from the Lord, and consumed the burnt offering that was upon the altar. So it was at first in Moses's time, Lev. 9:24; and the second time fire came down from heaven, and did the like in Solomon's time, 2 Chron. 7:1, when the temple was finished and consecrated. This signified the Holy Spirit, who comes out from God, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, 1 Cor. 2:12, even as that fire came forth from the Lord, and came upon the apostles to convert the world, like fire; according to the promise that
they should be 'baptized with the Holy Ghost, as with fire.' And he is termed the 'Spirit of burning,' Isa. 4:4, as the sacrifices are termed burnt-offerings and fire-offerings. And as the fire caused the sacrifice to ascend in smoke (and therefore the Hebrew word for a burntoffering is Gnolak, ascension), and consumed the offering to ashes, so doth this Spirit cause our sacrifice, as well as the altar: Ps. 20:3,
'The Lord accept thy burnt sacrifice.' It is in the Hebrew, 'The Lord shall turn to ashes,' which our translators rightly translate accept, from the wonted speech of Moses's law, which informs us that the smoke which ascended from the sacrifice by reason of the fire, is termed up and down in the Levitical law 'a rest before the Lord,' and 'a savour of rest,' Lev. 6:15; which the paraphrasts do in terminis, in our own phrase and words, render 'a favourable acceptation with the Lord;' and this sweet savour is expressly attributed to the fire, as that which did thus sanctify the offering, and the acceptation of the sacrifice, its being a fire-offering. He puts it upon account, Lev. 1:9 and 13. It is a burnt offering (says the text there), 'an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord,' as if he would have said, it is therefore of a sweet savour because made by fire. So then as Christ, as the altar and mediator, gives an acceptation, so the Spirit, as the fire that consumes the sacrifice, and causeth it to ascend in smoke, causeth the acceptation also; but either upon differing accounts, as was explained.
8. The whole edification of every saint, by the means of grace, which are the ordinances and other means whatsoever, all flow from the benign influences of this Spirit accompanying them, and bedewing men's hearts by them. And for the proof of this in general, you have that passage, Acts 9:31, 'Then had the churches rest, and were edified, walking in the fear of the Lord.' And so it is said of churches walking in all the order and ordinances of Christ; as of the Colossian church it is spoken (chap. 2) that they did so; 'in the comfort of the Holy Ghost,' as the author of that edification and comfort by those ordinances.
I shall instance particularly in the main ordinances of our salvation, and shew how our profiting by them is from the Spirit.
In the preaching of the word we receive not only the fruits of the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit himself, by the hearing of faith, that is, by the hearing the gospel preached, which is the doctrine of truth: 'Our gospel came not to you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy
Ghost,' 1 Thess. 1:5; 'I create the fruit of the lips, peace, and teach thee to profit,' namely, by the lips of those who by office are said to 'preserve knowledge,' Mal. 2:7. All which profiting is attributed to the Spirit: 1 Cor. 12:7, 'But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.' It is the profit both of a man's self and others. And the Holy Spirit's care is very great herein; he is the Providore General, to oversee the overseers of the flock, and to see to it, provide the fittest stewards for every flock: Acts 20:28, 'The flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.' And he furnisheth them with such gifts as shall best serve and most suitably agree unto their capacities, and the bore of their understandings, and to work on their hearts; and in providential grace disposeth of them and their gifts as shall be most agreeable to their spirits and spiritual condition. As some ministers are fitted for the profiting of the weak, so others to the wise; even as the apostle says he was a debtor to both, Rom. 1. And then he takes a further special care of their forehand meditations and preparations, to suggest such materials and notions for their sermons as shall be a food most convenient for men's souls. They are 'stewards, that give meat in due season,' Mat.
24:45. He fills the breasts of ministers (their spiritual nurses) with consolations and other truths, suitable to the temper and constitution of their stomachs, and instructeth them to speak words in season; and this very often unknown to themselves that speak them, they not having any aim at thee or any other man in particular in such passages, which also are utterly unexpected to or perhaps not prayed for by him whom yet they greatly concern, when yet the Holy
Ghost knew whom to direct those passages unto, and had set up thy heart as the mark to shoot those arrows into it.
9. And lastly, to draw to a conclusion, and it is indeed the happy conclusion and crown of the whole work of the Spirit upon us, for we are now come to the brink of eternity, the consummation of all.
(1.) With respect to death, this Holy Spirit, the Comforter, all our life long feeds and maintains by faith, more or less, a lively hope within them that are regenerate: 1 Pet. 1:3, 'Blessed be God, that hath begotten us again to a lively hope;' which, according to the degree of it in any, allays that fear of death, the king of sorrows, Job 18:14; the fear of which all men (which have not this Spirit) are subject unto the bondage of all their lifetime, Heb. 2:15; from the dominion of which bondage the Spirit of adoption frees us, Rom. 8:15, so as to have our spirits supported by faith, so far as ordinarily to be able (when put to it in earnest) to venture or cast our souls into the hands of God as a Father. And this the Scriptures attribute unto this good Spirit. In the 2d Corinthians, 4th and 5th chapters, the apostle treats of a believer's dying, and comforts himself and them against it; for upon occasion, as the times then were, he and other saints were in continual hazard of death; as ver. 11, 'For we that live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake.' Now, from whence or from whom had he and they supports and reliefs against this, but from the Spirit, his working and upholding faith in them? 'We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written,' &c., and pertinently quotes a saying of David's under the Old Testament in the 116th
Psalm, where he had been under apparent apprehensions of death, as in the third verse, upon occasion of which David had uttered that speech, 'I believed, therefore have I spoken,' ver. 10; and spoke it, as it were, in defiance of death, and all the fears of it, and dangers about it. Now, whence had David this confidence? From the Spirit, says the apostle, as who wrought and maintained that faith in him. Thus it was in the Old Testament, 'and we' (says he, under the New
Testament), 'having the same Spirit of faith,' we, upon the view of such apparent dangers of death, believe and therefore speak, with a far greater confidence, by how much the Spirit that is in the New exceeds in his comforts the same that was in the Old; but, from the same Spirit, both. And what spake he by this Spirit of faith? It follows
in ver. 14, 'We knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus;' this they spake and believed, and comforted themselves with against dying. Again, in the 5th chapter, what made him confident of a house in heaven when this earthly tabernacle should be dissolved? Even this, and above all this, that God hath given us the earnest of his Spirit, ver. 5, to bind the promise of eternal life. And from thence it is (says he) that 'we are always confident,' &c., ver. 6; always, which extends both to all along our lives, and also at our deaths. Which is a second thing, that when we come to die, or that the time of death approacheth, and is coming upon us, this Spirit it is given to support us. For if always, as the apostle even now said, and at all other times of our lives, and upon other occasions of fears and distress, he is given to help our infirmities, Rom. 8:28, then especially when we are weakest, as at death (to be sure) we shall be, when our flesh fails, &c., Ps. 73:26.
(2.) And at the last day of the world, who is it shall raise thee up, having kept thy bones, dwelt in thy dust all this while, as Christ's
Godhead did his body, which therefore though in the grave David calls the 'Holy One'? Ps. 16. It is this Spirit: Rom. 8:11, 'But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.' It is brought in as the comfortable consequent of this Spirit dwelling in us; and having raised thee, leaves thee not, but is the author of all thy glory and communion with Father, Son, and himself for ever, 1 Pet. 4:14. He is in that respect termed the Spirit of glory; not of grace only, but of glory:
'Blessed are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth on you;' that is, you possess for ever this fountain of all glory, this Spirit of God, therefore the promise of the Spirit is made adequate to the whole blessing (as being the mass of blessings) which was given to Abraham: Gal. 3:14, 'That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles though Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.' The whole is termed the promise of the Spirit.