Chapter V (continued, part 2)
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. iii. 16, compared with Coloss. i. 10 and 11), likeas the Spirit fell on Samson, and gave him strength, who of himself was other wise but as other men. It was he made Elias so bold and courageous, and the prophet Amos* after him, chap. iii. 8, * I am full of * Truly, says he, 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. i. 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 * Micah. ED.
CHAP. V.] IN OUR SALVATION
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. viii. 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 ffvmvri Xaj&ftdvtrai 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. xii.), 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 so 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
We through the Spirit purify ourselves. And according to that of David : Ps. li., Create in me a clean heart (after he had so foully fallen into uncleanness), and : 1 Peter i. 22, * 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 meek ness ; 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 season able instruction set on upon our hearts with a strong hand, as Isa. viii. 11.
For, as the same prophet says, Isa. xi. 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 de pended), 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. xvi. 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. xi. 3. Thy Spirit is good, lead me, says the psalmist, Ps. cxliii. 10. And therefore it is a usual phrase in Rom. viii. and Gal. iv., 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 VOL. vi. c
34 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK I. the wilt 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 liv ing 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 * Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Herein the Holy Spirit hath determined the controversy, and re this purpose), Ps. ex. 3, conciled the freeness of man s will in conversion, as likewise in the afteractings 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 accom panying that great apostle s ministry, as the fulfilling of this prophecy. You read the story in Acts ii., 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, To 6etetv, the act of will ing, To Qe\tiv; and the giving this was the Spirit s gift. So in those con verts it was by the Spirit (as Ps. ex. compared with Acts ii. will inform us), who is indeed the power of the Most High, Luke i. 35. And to cause us to do, and therefore to will, is expressly attributed to this Spirit in Ezek. xxxvi., where, first, it is said, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit I will put within 3 rou : 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 mil. 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 ivill, and then follows to do, according unto that of the apostle, Not to do, but to be willing, 2 Cor. viii. 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. xliv. 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. xxxii. And for this latter we have elsewhere our Lord
Christ compared to the sun in this very respect: Mai. iv. 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. xliv. 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. xv. 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. Ixvi. 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 anyjof the sacrifices of the Old Testa ment 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 Testa ment sacrifices, it is still noted how and what acceptableness they had with God, as Abel s, Heb. xi. ; as Noah s, Gen. viii. 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 accept ableness 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 accept able. 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 ev, 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 eanctification 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. i. 6, and our works in his works of mediation, the sole meritorious cause of that acceptation, and as by way of mediation be tween God and us, insomuch as Christ is said to be made sanctification
Acceptations istius oblationis sive victimse, causam tribuit sanctificationi.
Rolloc in verba.
86 THE WOKE OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK I. itself to us, 1 Cor. i. 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. xiii. 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, accord ing to that in chap, viii., 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. xiii. 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. ix. 24 ; and the second time fire came down from heaven, and did the like in Solomon s time, 2 Chron. vii. 1, when the temple was finished and conse crated. This signified the Holy Spirit, who comes out from God, TO crvsaa rb IK TOV Qeov, 1 Cor. ii. 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. iv. 4, as the sacrifices are termed burntofferings and fire -offerings. And as the fire caused the sacri fice to ascend in smoke (and therefore the Hebrew word for a burnt-offering is Gnolak, ascension], and consumed the offering to ashes, so doth this Spirit cause our sacrifice, as well as the altar : Ps. xx. 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. vi. 15 ; which the paraphrasts do in terminis, in our own phrase and words, render a favour able 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. i. 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, ag the altar and mediator, gives an acceptation, so the Spirit, as the fire that consumes the sacrifice, and causethit to ascend in smoke, causeth the accepta tion 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 ix. 81, 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, ii.) that they did so ; in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, as the author of that edifi cation 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 hear ing 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. i. 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, Mai.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. It ii. 7. All which profiting is attributed to the Spirit: 1 Cor. xii. 7, 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 xx. 28, * The flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you over seers. And he furnisheth them with such gifts as shall best serve and most suitably agree unto their capacities, and the bore of their understand ings, 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. i. And then he takes a further special care of their forehand medi tations 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. xxiv. 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 con clusion 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: 1 Pet. i. 3, Blessed be God, that hath begotten us that are regenerate again to a lively hope ; which, according to the degree of it in any, allays that fear of death, the king of sorrows, Job xviii. 14 ; the fear of which all men (which have not this Spirit) are subject unto the bondage of all their lifetime, Heb. ii. 15 ; from the dominion of which bondage the Spirit of adoption frees us, Rom. viii. 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 Scrip tures attribute unto this good Spirit. In the 2d Corinthians, 4th and 5th
88 THE WORK OP THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK I. 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, there fore 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 main tained 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 sup port 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. viii. 28, then especially when we are weakest, as at death (to be sure) we shall be, when our flesh fails, &c., Ps.
Ixxiii. 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. xvi. It is this Spirit: Rom. viii. 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. iv. 14. He is in that respect termed the Spirit of glory ; not of : Blessed are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth on you ; that is, you possess for ever this fountain of all grace only, but of glory glory, this Spirit of God, therefore the promise of the Spirit is made ade quate to the whole blessing (as being the mass of blessings) which was given to Abraham : Gal. iii. 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.
CHAP. VI.] IN OUR SALVATION. 39