Isai. 42.1 where the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have given my Spirit upon him which is almost the same expression with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. John only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon Him makes the former to allude to the Descent of that visible Glory upon our Saviour when he was consecrated to his Office by the Holy Ghost But the Doctor hath met with an unexpected Secret in the Phrase of putting on for he doth not only pretend that it is the person of the Spirit which God is said to put upon men but he thinks something more is meant by it than by Giving the Spirit He saith God doth not only give and send his Spirit unto them to whom he designes so great a benefit and privilege but he actually collates and bestows him upon them He doth not send him unto them and leave it in their wills and power whether they will receive him or no but he so effectually collates and puts him in them or upon them as that they shall be actually made partakers of him And again As to some Gifts and Graces God doth bestow his Spirit where there is some preparation and cooperation on our part but wherever he designes to put or place him he doth it effectually This is too serious a subject to be pleasant withal otherwise here would be occasion enough The Doctor it seems hath discovered that the person of the Spirit is bestowed upon those that are converted and that their Conversion is by an irresistible work and all this in the Phrase of putting the Spirit upon a man or in him Now what a goodly Argument is here lost if this Phrase should signifie the same thing with that of giving the Spirit as I have shewn that it doth unless our Authour is subtle enough to shew some real difference betwen the meaning of these Phrases in Matth. 12.18 and John 3.34 where they are used concerning Christ. But perhaps the force of his Argument lies in the only word Put and therefore he produces that Text Isai. 63.11 where indeed the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is made use of which properly signifies to Put. The words are Where is he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that put his Holy Spirit in the midst of them i. e. whose Spirit was present with the Israelites to save them from their enemies For the Context plainly shews this to be the meaning Where is he that brought them up out of the Sea where is he that put c. that led them by the right hand of Moses c. vers 12. Now certainly this work of the Spirit in saving the Israelites from the Aegyptians doth not imply that the very person of the Spirit was put upon them and without all question 't is of a very forreign nature from that work for which as he pretends to prove from this place the Spirit is irresistibly put upon men And therefore this Text is every way impertinent to his purpose To conclude The Reason of these and the like expressions may be easily understood by comparing them with that plain Text of St Paul 1 Cor. 12.4 There are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom to another c. All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every one severally as he will vers 11. For because it is the person of the Holy Spirit that bestowed these several gifts therefore by an usual Metonymy they who received these gifts were said to receive the Holy Spirit 1 Cor. 2.12 And in like manner the Spirit of God is said to be given and sent and poured forth and administred and put upon those in whom his Operations are and upon whom his Blessings and Benefits his Gifts and Graces are bestowed These are 〈◊〉 significations of this word Spirit in the Holy Scriptures which I have not noted as being too â—â—â—rain to my present purpose of stating the subject of this Discourse to which I now proceed SECT 2. First of all by the Operations of the Holy Ghost I understand those which the Minde of man is the object of and therefore I do not intend to say any thing of the work of the Spirit in the creation of Man in the forming of his Body and his Soul and in enduing him with Intellectual and Moral Abilities much less in the Creation of the World the Heavens and the Earth c. which Dr. Owen hath taken great pains about But I cannot think this needful to the designe which I have of discoursing about the Actions and Operations of the Holy Spirit upon our mindes for they are hereby supposed to have been created and to be what they are Thus the first signification of the word Spirit is proper to the object about which those Operations of the Holy Ghost that I mean are conversant Secondly I intend those Actions of the Holy Ghost upon our mindes which are proper to cause certain Qualities in them whereof they are capable subjects for instance such as are contained under the second signification of the word Spirit viz. Faith and Charity and Meekness and the like But I do not mean nor is it requisite for me to say any thing of the Operation of the Spirit whereby our mindes or any other created beings are sustained in their Natures especially because the Doctor hath taken care not to omit that Subject Thirdly I mean those Operations of the Holy Spirit onely the promise whereof is contained in the Gospel of our Saviour by which limitation of the Subject you see I am not like to trouble you with any enquiry concerning the Operations of the Spirit upon the minde of Man before the Fall for the promise of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel is made to Faln creatures and what his Operations upon our mindes are since the Fall cannot be known but by Revelation because it depended altogether upon God's free Will and Pleasure to bestow the Spirit upon us Neither shall I discourse of the nature and degrees of the Spirit of Prophecy as it was communicated before the coming of the Messias nor shall I at present examine our Author's learning in that point because I intend to confine my self to those promises of the Spirit which may be met withal in the Gospel For the same reason I shall altogether omit to take notice how by the Operations of the Spirit men grow skilful Politicians in which matter if any one hath a minde to be informed he may consult Dr. Owen Nor lastly do I think my self concerned to say any thing of the work of the Holy Spirit in and upon the humane nature of Christ which the Doctor hath likewise spent above a long Chapter upon for that is not the work of the Spirit upon our mindes which Christ hath promised to us and which we can have no other knowledge of than by his Word i. e. by
God we are not to ask them so particularly or if we do not so absolutely as the former I may and ought to pray for them in general and particularly for those degrees of them which are proper for my condition if I govern a Family for so much knowledge as may well serve me to bring up those that are under me in the fear of God and the way of Salvation or if I am a Minister for that underderstanding in Religion which may best fit me to discharge that duty I owe to God of guiding those souls to Heaven that are committed to my trust but if I pray more particularly for the understanding of such a difficult Point in Religion which I would satisfie my self or others about I must not do it absolutely but with submission to God's wisdom and pleasure Thus have I endeavoured to shew what qualifications of minde we are to pray for under this notion of their being needful to Salvation and consequently what those effects are for the producing of which the Operations of the Holy Spirit are promised to Believers in Luke 11.13 Dr. Owen indeed thinks that there is a certain change of the minde of a very different nature from any that I have named necessary to Salvation which he makes to be the Great work of the Spirit upon the Souls of Believers I shall not be long before I come to consider what reason he has for it In the mean time it may not be amiss to observe what conclusions may be made from this promise of the Holy Spirit which we have begun with the Consideration of And the first is SECT 3. 1. That we ask the Holy Spirit in the Lords Prayer which as it may be concluded from the perfection of that Form in general so more particularly from the coherence of our Saviour's Discourse in this place upon occasion of that request made by one of his Disciples that he would teach them to pray For to satisfie the request fully he did these two things 1. He taught them what things to pray for by prescribing to them the use of this Form Our Father who art in Heaven c. 2. He taught them in what manner to pray for these things that they might obtain them viz. to pray importunately and fervently for them as 't is plain from vers 9. compared with vers 8. and one reason given by him upon which they may conclude God will grant their requests is this that they ask onely needful things Now it is very improbable that our Saviour should have left out so needful a Request as that of the Holy Spirit in that Prayer which he had taught them for then he did not instruct them so fully what needful things to pray for by prescribing that Form as he did in what manner they should pray for those things by the following directions But much more improbable is it that he left that Request out of this Form considering that he chose the gift of the Holy Spirit for an instance of what might be obtained by Prayer so soon after he had commanded his Disciples to use the Form of his prescribing For this gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest blessing that is now to be obtained under Heaven and it is not credible that he should immediately as it were tax his own Form of so much imperfection as the want of that Request must suppose in it Or that he should let his Disciples know there was no other way to obtain the Holy Spirit but by asking though he had not before taught them to ask it in the Prayer which he had given them But lastly there is no necessity of inferring this Conclusion from the coherence of our Saviour's Discourse since the gift of the Holy Ghost comprehends the gift of all those Heavenly Graces which we ask in the Lords Prayer and therefore the meaning of those words God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him is this God will give the Disciples of Christ such needful Graces as he hath taught them to ask in that excellent Form which he gave to his Disciples And this indeed makes the coherence of our Saviour's Discourse most clear and accurate For upon this supposition you see that he does at last instance in such a request viz. that of the Holy Spirit which is a brief Summary of all the most considerable matters that he had taught them to pray for before Wherefore observe that 2. We pray for the Holy Spirit when we pray for any Grace or Virtue or for any Disposition of minde which is needful to qualifie us for the Kingdom of God In the Lords Prayer wherein the Holy Spirit is asked the Petition is not formally express'd but contained under other words for instance under these amongst others Thy Will be done as in Heaven so in Earth For in this Petition we pray That till we come to the perfect heavenly state we may by the Divine Spirit be disposed to such a submissive and cheerful performance of the Will of God upon Earth as may bear some resemblance and carry some proportion to that absolute readiness of minde wherewith the Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect and wherewith we our selves do hope ere long to perform the Will of God in the Kingdom of Heaven I say although in that Petition we do not expresly ask the Holy Spirit yet in effect we do because we pray for such a temper of minde as may qualifie us for the heavenly Life hereafter And to ask of God so needful a Grace as this is is as I have already shewn by the plain scope of our Saviour's Discourse the same thing with asking the Holy Spirit Now for the same reason in every Petition wherein we beg of God that we may be able to subdue any Lust that we may be endued with any Christian Virtue or grow in any Grace In every such Petition I say we ask the Holy Spirit because this is to ask those needful things for which his Operations are promised to us Therefore those Prayers of our Church that God would make us to have a perpetual fear and love of his holy Name that he would give unto us the increase of Faith Hope and Charity that he would keep us from all things hurtful and lead us to all things profitable for our salvation together with all the yearly Collects are Prayers for the gift of the Holy Spirit i. e. for the several Graces of the true Disciple of Christ which are expresly ascribed to the Spirit in that Prayer that God would grant to us his Spirit to think and to do always such things as be rightful that we who cannot do any thing that is good without him may by him be enabled to live according to his will And this I have by the way observed that you may see how fully our publick Prayers agree to that rule of our Saviour concerning what we are to pray for viz. that we
Miracles Prophecies c. The true difference between Dr. H. and Dr. O. in this matter is not whether the manner or the means of receiving spiritual things be signified by the word spiritually but whether it is designed to express those means which Dr. H. affirms viz. external Testimonies of divine Revelation or those which Dr. O. contends for viz. the internal and irresistible operations of the Spirit upon a mans minde But 2. I have shewn by the clear scope of the Apostle that the outward means are here to be understood This I see is our Author 's great trouble that Dr. H. supposes the true cause why the Natural man cannot know the things of the Spirit is because he will onely be led by his natural Reason and will not attend to Revelation and the outward means whereby revealed Doctrines may be proved whereas J. Owen's meaning is that he cannot receive them because the New Light is not yet created in his minde by an almighty act of the Spirit The truth of Dr. Hammond's sence and the absurdity of Dr. Owen's I have already shewn and shall onely adde this to help our Authors understanding viz. That the proposal of the external evidences of a divine Revelation made equally to those who rejected the Gospel with them who received it is no argument that they who rejected it could not receive it because their mindes were not enlightned by an omnipotent act of the Spirit For another reason may be given why they could not viz. the Apostles reason because they sought after mans Wisdom and would not admit of that for truth which was not proved by Philosophical discourse By the Authorities he brings to confirm his own exposition and to confront Dr. Hammond's we may guess how pertinent the rest are that his Book is stuffed withal He produceth that saying of St. Chrysostome A natural man is he who lives by the flesh and hath not his minde yet enlightned by the Spirit but only hath that connatural humane understanding which the Creator of all things hath endued the mindes of men withal This Exposition which he calls better than Dr. Hammond's is clearly to the same purpose with it for here is not a word about that irresistible Light which J. O. contends for and to be led only by the Light of humane Reason which are Dr. Hammond's words is perfectly the same with having only the connatural humane understanding c. The following passage of Chrysostome which he quotes is to the same effect I shall only adde that citation out of the same Writer which he brings in at the beginning of his Exposition The natural man is one that ascribes all to the reasonings of his own minde and doth not think that he stands in need of aid from above which is madness for God hath given the Soul that it should learn and receive what he bestows or what is from him and not suppose that it is sufficient to it self Eyes are beautiful and profitable but if they would see without light this beauty and power will not profit but hurt them and the Minde if it would see without the Spirit of God it doth but entangle it self This is clearly against him For that which God is here said to bestow is not that irresistible Light the Doctor speaks of but the Light of Revelation which I have been discoursing of i. e. revealed truths which St. Chrysostome saith the Soul is to learn but to learn that Light he talks of is nonsence St. Chrysostome is so far from supposing that it is impossible for a man to receive what Revelations God bestows unless the Almighty Power of God necessitateth him to do it that he saies God hath given the Soul that it might receive them when they are bestowed And he reckons it madness for a man to think he needs no divine Revelations and consequently to reject them when they are offered with sufficient evidence Now the only reason according to J. O. why he rejects them is because the Almighty work hath not been yet upon his minde If St. Chrysostome had thought so too he had been a mad man himself for accusing them of Madness that fail'd of doing what no Power less than almighty could enable them to do which is in effect to accuse them of Madness because they were not Almighty themselves St. Chrysostome's Similitude is very pertinent For as Light is to bodily Eyes so is Revelation to the Minde in respect of revealed Truths which are such as none but the Spirit of God could discover And therefore whoever refuseth to attend to his revelation of them must needs be ignorant of them and will finde himself entangled in many difficulties which he might have understood by hearkning to Revelation This Similitude St. Chrysostome useth elsewhere to the same purpose for he saith As no man with his naked eyes can learn the appearances in the heavens so the Soul alone cannot learn the things of the Spirit i. e. they are not to be learned by meer Natural Reason without the aid of Revelation I now leave the Reader to judge with what conscience this man could pretend the Authority of St. Chrysostome to countenance his own Exposition of this Text of St. Paul and this is all I shall say to the Doctor 's Authorities which any one may see are as convincing as his Reasons And now at length I desire him to take notice that it will be to no purpose for him to reject what I have to say concerning spiritual things contrary to his notions of them under pretence that I am a natural man for I thank God I am a Christian and so long as I have the Scriptures by me I enjoy the means of understanding what Revelations God hath made known to us by his Son For they contain those Doctrines which were proved by the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power These Doctrines are so far from being foolishness to me or rejected by me because they are not knowable by meer natural Reason that I should be guilty of inexcusable madness if I should not surrender up my belief unto them Though I could not possibly finde them out nor have known them unless they had been revealed yet being revealed I discern the great Wisdom and Goodness of God towards us in them still acknowledging that I know but in part and that there is a depth of Wisdom in the Mysteries of the Gospel which my understanding cannot reach But the truth of these Revelations I learn principally from the testimonies given to them and the sence of them not excluding other subordinate helps by comparing one Divine Revelation with another and the Doctor hath no other means to qualifie him for the discerning of these things aright but that new light which he pretends to but which the Apostle speaks never a word of and let him make his best advantage of it But if the Doctor be resolved to Cant on still in his own defence and
call this Exposition of St. Paul's Text which I have offered carnal Reasoning and the Wisdom of the Flesh and perhaps he will finde little else to say against it there will be small hope left of doing any good upon him nor is any thing to be done with him but to turn him over to the Quakers and with them at present I leave him PART 1. An Account of what we are taught in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Operations of the Holy Spirit CHAP. I. The General Subject of the following Discourse stated § 1. THrough the Assistance of that Holy Spirit whose Operations I intend to treat of I shall endeavour the performance of these two things First to lay down as clearly and methodically as I can what I finde the Holy Scriptures have taught us concerning his Operations and as I go along to remove those erroneous and as I am yet perswaded dangerous Opinions of Dr. Owen and his Brethren concerning this matter which may seem needful to be debated in order to the present clearing of the Truth and this shall be the work of the First Part. Secondly to confute some other pernicious Doctrines of his relating to the same subject the consideration whereof may be fitly enough reserved till we have concluded what the Holy Scriptures affirm in this matter and that will be my designe in the Second Part of this Discourse I shall begin the First part with stating the general Subject of my intended Discourse as plainly as I can Amongst other significations of the word Spirit that may be met with in the Scripture it will be sufficient for my present designe to take notice of these that follow 1. It is sometimes used to signifie the Minde of man as in Joh. 4.24 to worship God in Spirit is to worship him with our Souls and in Gal. 6.18 and Col. 2.5 and in divers other places This is so plain that it needs onely to be mentioned for where the word is used in that sence the Context does easily lead a man to the right understanding of it 2. It sometimes signifies the Temper and Disposition of a man's minde Thus we are to understand that spirit of Faith mentioned by St. Paul 2 Cor. 4.13 which the Christians and God's Servants also in former times had viz. the same pious temper of Minde in bearing Afflictions for Gods sake and looking for deliverance and reward from him So likewise God hath not given us the spirit of Fear but of Power of Love c. 2 Tim. 1.7 contrary to that timorous cowardly temper of being afraid to endure Persecution for Righteousness sake Hereby saith St. John we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And what that spirit is we see plainly by the former words Chap. 4. vers 12. If we love one another God dwelleth in us It is that spirit of Love that Benignity and charitableness of minde whereby we become like unto God 3. By the Spirit we are frequently to understand the Holy Spirit of God the third person in the blessed Trinity as in 1 Joh. 5.7 There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost or Spirit So also when St. Paul saith There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 we are by Spirit to understand the Holy Ghost for vers 6. he saith it is the same God which worketh all in all which compared with vers 11. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will makes it plain that by the Spirit here St. Paul understands God the Holy Ghost This is the sence wherein I understand the word Spirit when I speak of the operations of the Holy Spirit in us I mean the person of the Holy Ghost But we must observe 4. That the Holy Spirit is frequently used to signifie his Operations or those Effects which are wrought by his Operations Thus the pouring out of the Spirit mentioned Acts 2. plainly signifies his bestowing supernatural gifts in great measures upon the Apostles and Disciples of Christ. So Received ye the Spirit i. e. the gifts of the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith Gal. 3.2 Thus also are we to understand that promise made to the Apostles of sending the Holy Ghost Joh. 14.26 For this being the promise of the Father mentioned Acts 1.4 which was foretold in these words I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh Acts 2.16 17. must needs signifie the same thing with pouring out of the Spirit which phrase as Dr. Owen truely notes hath respect unto his Gifts and Graces So likewise the phrase of giving the Spirit Luke 11.13 is explained in Matth. by giving good things i. e. such good things as the Spirit of God is the Author of to Believers Indeed nothing can properly be said to be given to us but what is capable of becoming our own therefore when the Holy Spirit is said to be given some spiritual good or benefit is meant which accrues to us by the Operation of the Holy Spirit But the Doctor tells us that where the Spirit is given he is given absolutely and as to himself not more or less but his Gifts and Graces may be more plentifully and abundantly given at one time than at another to some persons than to others So that he makes two different things of having the Spirit of God given to us and our being partakers of his Gifts and Graces for according to him a man may have these limitedly That he must have absolutely These more or less That not so And this is a mystery which he hath found out in that expression of giving the Spirit Whatever he intends by this conceit it is plainly contrary to the use of that Phrase in the Scripture for John 3.34 it is said of our Saviour that God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him from whence it is evident that the Spirit may be given in measure Wherefore this Phrase doth not necessarily imply that the person of the Spirit is properly given as the Doctor pretends for he confesseth that as to himself he is not given more or less Nay those words of St. John Baptist imply that the Spirit was given to all other Prophets and Righteous men in measure and consequently the giving of the Spirit unto men cannot signifie the giving of his Person or the giving of him absolutely neither more nor less for he is alwaies given to them in measure i. e. in the same measure wherein his Gifts and Graces are communicated to them The same thing is otherwise exprest Matth. 12.18 I will put my Spirit upon him which being spoken concerning our Saviour Christ is parallel to Gods giving the Spirit to him mentioned John 3.34 Indeed there is little difference in the expressions if it be observed that the passage in St Matthew is cited out of
use the means of arriving to such needful knowledge in that manner as not to miss of it 3. All those Vertues and Graces which make up practical Christianity and consist in having our mindes set free from the dominion of all sensual and worldly Lusts and in sincere obedience to the Commands of Christ So that we make it our greatest care to keep every one of his Laws endeavouring to grow better in some proportion to those means which we enjoy by the good providence of God What these Vertues are in particular we may know by the precepts of the Gospel and principally by our Saviours Sermon from the Mount where he directs his Disciples in the way to everlasting Blessedness obliging all whose office it is to teach and all his Disciples whatsoever to do the very least of his Commandments upon pain of being excluded out of the Kingdom of Heaven All those dispositions of Minde therefore which are supposed to the keeping of these his Commandments are effects necessary to our eternal Happiness and such as we are to ask of God that they may be produced in us by his Holy Spirit And look whatever Vertue or Qualification of our Wills and Affections the Gospel lays so great a stress upon that if we want it it is not possible for us in that state to see the Kingdom of God that is an effect so needful to be wrought in us that we may be sure our Heavenly Father such is his compassion towards us will no more deny us his Holy Spirit to that end if we importunately ask him than we can refuse to give our most beloved Children Bread or any other good thing as necessary for them as that 4. After we are brought into this state and thus become the sincere Disciples of Christ it is equally necessary to our eternal Salvation that we persevere therein For it had been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness than after we have known it so as to escape the pollutions of the world to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto us 2 Pet. 2.20 21. And therefore constancy and unweariedness in well-doing is also a Grace for the obtaining of which we are encouraged by our Saviour's Promise to ask the Holy Spirit that we may be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation I know not any effects that are absolutely necessary to Salvation which are not plainly implied and readily deducible from some of these And thus much for the former sort of needful Graces viz. such as without which Salvation cannot be attained at all being indispensibly necessary thereunto Secondly I come to speak of those Graces which are profitable to Salvation and these are such as regard our improvement either in Goodness or in Knowledge Of the former sort are those degrees of goodness according to which sincere Christians who are all careful to avoid wilful sin and endeavour to grow in Grace do yet excel one another These degrees consist in being more or less free from sins of mere infirmity an absolute freedom from which is that which our condition in this world cannot admit of but every degree towards Perfection which we attain unto in this kinde must needs be so much the more profitable by how much greater it is We are the better able to conclude certainly of our good estate towards God which is a matter of great advantage in the course of a Godly Life whereas a man may be conscious to himself of so many of these sins that it may be a difficult matter for himself or any body else to pronounce certainly concerning his Spiritual estate and therefore the onely good advice that can be given him in that case seems to be this to put the matter out of doubt by using more effectual endeavours after a further amendment Besides the nearer we come to Perfection the further off are we from Apostacy and the less in danger of back-sliding into a wicked course of Life we are the more confirmed in ways of Godliness and Vertue and more likely to persevere therein to the end Finally the degrees towards Perfection wherein some good men excel others are profitable because they will encrease their reward in Heaven For God will judge every man according to his works and therefore they that have done better shall have a better reward they that have done worse than others shall be beaten with more Stripes and there seems to be the same reason for a proportionable difference in Rewards When St. Peter exhorts us that Christian Vertues should not be in us onely but abound he gives this reason for the Exhortation viz. that an entrance may be ministred unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord 2 Pet. 1.11 Upon all these accounts those degrees towards Perfection which consist in prevailing against sins of mere Infirmity are highly profitable in the way of Salvation The latter sort of profitable things are such degrees of Knowledge in divine matters as are not simply necessary for Salvation The more knowledge a Christian hath the better able he is to avoid all errours that are dangerours and thus that knowledge which is not absolutely necessary may be profitable to himself Likewise the more a man understands in Religion the more useful he may be to others in promoting their Salvation by rescuing them from dangerous Errour and removing Doubts and many other ways If it now be demanded whether we can conclude from our Saviour's promise that if we ask the Holy Spirit for needful Graces of this sort God will grant our Request I answer 1. It follows in general from our Saviours promise that God will give the Holy Spirit not only for what is necessary to Salvation but also for what is profitable and advantageous to us in the way of Salvation For our Saviour assureth us that God in bestowing his Holy Spirit will use us with the Kindness and Bounty of a Father Now we know that although the affection of wise and good Parents towards their Children will not carry them to gratifie their wanton and unreasonable Desires yet neither will they deal so straitly and narrowly with them as to give them what is but barely needful to keep them from perishing To this purpose we may observe that two of the good things mentioned by our Saviour viz. the Egge and the Fish which Parents are not wont to deny their Children are instances of that Food which is not absolutely Necessary but Convenient and of ordinary use for the preservation of Life Now the Affection of our Heavenly Father being much more than that of Earthly Parents it may strongly be concluded in the general that God will not deny us what is profitable any more than what is necessary to Salvation But 2. It doth not follow in every particular That is I have no reason thus to conclude This is usefull therefore if I Ask it shall be given me For you must observe that our
from being addicted to sensuality and worldliness they are come to love God with all their Hearts and to be strongly inclined to Holiness and Virtue This likewise produceth a suitable change in their lives which now are led not according to the lusts of the Flesh and the examples of evil Men but the Laws of God and the Example of Christ. And thus we come to the true use of all our Faculties as an Infant after it is born falls into those natural motions which are hindred by its imprisonment in the Womb. Now when our mindes are thus purified from sin when the Spirit that was in Christ is in us and our bodies and souls are become the Instruments of Righteousness there follows a Relative change in our state as considerable as the other For then are we the Sons of God Heirs with Christ Brethren to God's Children in heaven and on earth we are of kin to the Family of God we enjoy his Favour and Blessing and have an actual right to that promise which he hath promised even eternal life Lay all these things together and nothing will be more evident to you than this that so great a change of our state is implied in our being the true Disciples of Christ that we are as it were other men by being so and so may fitly be said to be Born again when we become such persons But that Intrinsick alteration which seems to afford the clearest Similitude regards that sense of good and evil which is proper to a true Christian. We know that all living Creatures have such a sense of things hurtful and destructive to them that they are thereby generally prompted to avoid them 'T is thus I say in the natural life that we readily apprehend what is contrary to it and therefore we do not run into the Fire nor venture down Precipices because these things are contrary and destructive to our Natures And this is a very fit Emblem of the state of a true Christian for by reason of that divine temper of Soul which is wrought in him by the Holy Spirit he hath such a like sense of good and evil with regard to his Minde and Conscience as all living Creatures have with respect to their Natures He therefore that is in Christ i. e. who is a true Christian is said to be Born again and to become a new Creature for he hath a new sense of things which he had not before he hath other apprehensions of sin than sensual and worldly men have he looks not upon any immorality as a harmless thing but apprehends all kindes of wickedness to be what they are pernicious and detestable which is the reason as I have already intimated of what St. John saith He that is born of God sinneth not In like manner that which in the Relative change seems to be most visibly intended by this Metaphor is our being qualified to enter into the Kingdom of God which is the Inheritance of the Saints or the true Disciples of Christ for by becoming his Disciples we are as it were born to this Inheritance we are the Sons of God and if Sons then Heirs as the Apostle tells us Now if faith in Christ and obedience to his Laws make men so much better and more excellent persons than they were before and qualifie them also for an everlasting reward then here is another visible reason for the choice of this Metaphor to express the state of a good Christian by viz. the great advantages they gain by it we have as it were a new being given unto us when we truely believe in Jesus and conform our selves to his Doctrine and Example we are so much altered for the better as if we had never lived till then and we have infinitely more reason to think of this alteration in our state than to remember the day of our Birth with joy and gladness Hence we finde that the Scripture does not onely represent the advantages we gain by the Gospel of our Saviour under Metaphors taken from things most grateful to our natural Appetites as Liberty Life and Light but withal it assures us that the good implied in those things does in a more eminent manner belong to the true Disciples of Christ than to any body else as when our Saviour saith Joh. 8.36 If the Son shall make you free then are you free indeed Now what this freedom is we are told vers 32. The truth shall make you free and vers 34. He that committeth sin is the servant of sin So that this freedom consisteth in the knowledge of the Truth and in obedience to the Laws of God which is that very state that the Scripture elsewhere calls Light and Life and being Born again and created in Christ Jesus Lastly Since it is by the Operations of the Holy Spirit in us that we become true believers and good men it is visible that our being then said to be born of God does fitly express the concurrence of that Divine power whereby this change is effected in us There are other Metaphors whereby the Scripture expresseth the same thing but none of them seem to be so full of signification as this although the use and meaning of all of them is easily discernible Those expressions of Creating and Drawing seem principally to respect that divine Grace by which we are enabled to overcome the world and to live to God Converting or Turning peculiarly notes that alteration that is hereby made in our state Taking away the Heart of stone expresseth the same thing but chiefly with regard to what we were before as giving the Heart of flesh also doth with respect to what we become afterward Making a new Heart and a new Spirit signifies that change which is wrought in the Dispositions of the Minde as causing us to walk in God's Statutes notes the reformation that is made in the life Purifying Cleansing and Purging are Metaphors that express the excellency of this change and how much our Natures are bettered by it But Quickning and making Free and turning from darkness to light do express all the advantages which we gain by the Faith and Obedience of the Gospel whether they be Inherent or Relative And this may serve to shew in what divers respects these Metaphors conspire to express the same thing But you may observe that the Metaphor of Regeneration or the new Birth contains all those Similitudes to the state of a true Christian which are severally discernible in the rest And this probably is the reason why it is more frequently used in the Scriptures than the rest are as that is the reason I suppose why it hath obtained amongst Christian writers to treat of the conditions of eternal Life more frequently under the name of Regeneration than under any other phrase whereby they are Metaphorically exprest And possibly this common use of the word may have been an occasion to some unwary Christians of imagining that it is to be understood in
but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 This is the substance of what I can finde in the Scripture concerning this matter and I suppose it is sufficiently shewn that faith or a firm perswasion that Jesus is the Son of God and that his Doctrine is the Word of God is an effect of a divine Operation upon our mindes and that the first preparations within us towards Regeneration are from the Holy Spirit And consequently that the Semipelagian opinion introduced by the Massilienses upon occasion of the Pelagian controversie viz. that there is no necessity of preventing Grace though Grace be necessary to make our Faith fruitful of good works but that Faith and the first inclinations of the Will to that which is good are merely from our selves is contrary to the Scriptures SECT 2. Now when we are once perswaded that Jesus is the Son of God that which still remains to be done by us is to overcome the world and keep the Commandments of God Indeed if we believe in Jesus we have entertained into our mindes such forcible and prevailing considerations as will not easily suffer us to disobey him in any thing and they have so much power to lead our Affections after them and to govern our practices that I always thought the Semipelagians might with more appearance of reason have questioned the Doctrine of the Church concerning those divine Operations by which the Faith of a Believer is crowned with all other Christian Virtues than concerning those which are preparatory to Faith it self for of the two he is a more unreasonable man who believing God's Word is yet so mad as to go on still in his sins than he who believes it not and since the Lusts of men make them so unwilling to attend to those truths which are against them we might think it were an easier matter to keep the Faith of Christ from entring into their Hearts than to resist the power of it when it is once admitted But now as the evidence of those Reasons by which the Gospel is proved to be a divine Revelation is far from excluding all need of a divine Influence upon our mindes to create a firm Faith in us So neither does the power of those motives which are contained in our Faith render the concurrence of the Holy Spirit needless to move our Wills to that which is good and upon good principles but still our sufficiency is of God without whose Grace the temptations of the World and the lusts of our corrupt Nature which make us unwilling to entertain the truth would always suppress the force and vertue of it afterwards Thus our Saviour told his Disciples Without me ye can do nothing John 15.5 but he did not suppose that they were incapable of doing any thing with him too but that they had power to bring forth fruit unto God and that it was from him Now that this power imparted to them was not merely the effect of the Revelation of his Doctrine to them is plain from hence that they already believed the Revelations he had made Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you vers 3. and yet he tells them that without him they can do nothing which must needs imply some grace distinct from the bare revelation of the Gospel by which they had already bore some fruit and were capable of bringing forth more vers 2 3. But that all those dispositions and vertues wherein our obedience to the Gospel doth consist are as well the graces of the Holy Spirit as the effects of our Faith is clearly and fully affirmed in those words of the Apostle Phil. 2.13 It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do which being again spoken to Believers manifestly suppose a divine Operation distinct from the Revelation of the Gospel which enabled them to will and to do i. e. to perform that obedience from their very souls which would qualifie them for eternal happiness For this is the motive by which the Apostle encourageth them to work out their Salvation vers 12. by universal obedience as hitherto they had done Now because the motive extends to engage us to every part of our duty therefore God worketh in us that we may be every way so disposed in minde and will and obedient in life as to become meet for the Kingdom of Heaven Wherefore the fear and love of God and godly Sorrow and true Repentance and the hope of eternal Life together with all Christian Virtues such as Righteousness Mercy Patience Love Peace Joy Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness and Temperance are the Graces of the Spirit Wherefore Lastly our doing that which God requires and with that fear and love of him which he requires too are the effects of his Operations in us If any thing were yet wanting to satisfie us fully in this matter our being taught to pray that we may not enter into temptation and to pray always that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil would leave no room for doubting whether of our selves we need or by promise have this great encouragement to the study of Godliness and Virtue or not For these directions were unprofitable if we either needed no strength from the divine Spirit against our Temptations or if it were not to be gained by our Prayers Much less would those Prayers of St. Paul for other Christians which we so often meet withal have signified any thing to their advantage or encouragement if there were not a divine Grace obtainable by them for the producing of those effects which he so much desired to see in their conversation And these effects were no other than all kindes of Christian Virtue and Goodness as we may learn by the following places Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of Faith with power 2 Thess. 1.11 i. e. that God would make their Faith fruitful of all good works acceptable to him that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in them as he speaks in the following verse Again we do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work Col. 1.9 10. Thus in another place For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the Inner man Now that which the Apostle prays for in these and many like places is plainly this That those Christians to whom he wrote might attain all those Qualifications which the Gospel requires in Believers And from hence it follows that God hath not left the success of the Gospel to
trusted and his Soveraign Dominion owned by a spirit of obedience and submission to it which are incomparably more effectual acknowledgments of the Divine perfections than whole Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices For this as our Saviour speaks is to worship God in spirit and in truth Such a Temple as this God is so delighted in that in comparison therewith he disregarded the Temple at Hierusalem with all the external services that belonged to it For that God dwelleth in pious mindes was not unknown to the Jews Where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest To him will I look saith the Lord even to him that is poor and of a contrite heart and trembleth at my word Isa. 66.2 3. Thus saith the high and holy One that inhabiteth eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the spirit of the contrite ones Isa. 57.15 Let us now lay these things together and the conclusion will be that God's dwelling in men implies a plentiful communication of Divine grace to confirm and strengthen them in all goodness which was what I took upon me to shew under this head For since this expression of God's dwelling in men denotes the presence of a peculiar grace and favour to those in whom he is said to dwell which is not afforded to others Since the dwelling of the Holy Ghost in Believers is to enable them to mortifie the deeds of the body and to prevail finally against all their spiritual Enemies Since also it is true that God dwelleth in good and righteous but not in impure and unholy persons it follows in the first place that after we are regenerated it is still by the grace of God and the Operations of his Holy Spirit that we are enabled to proceed in vertue and godliness and to persevere therein to the end for God dwelleth in us that we may mortifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit Secondly it follows also that there is a more abundant measure of Divine Grace communicated to holy persons than to those who are not so For God's dwelling implies the presence of more than ordinary Grace And thus our Saviour also hath plainly told us To him that hath shall be given and he shall have abundantly Finally this Doctrine is very well consistent with that of attributing the beginnings of Christian Faith and goodness in us to the Operations of the Holy Spirit For although the Spirit of God dwells onely in good men yet it is by his Operations that any are made so at first and as the Apostle speaks we are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Eph. 2.22 But his dwelling in us afterward signifies as we have shewn the more abundant grace we are made partakers of And thus although the blessings which all the World enjoyed while the Tabernacle and Temple stood flowed to Mankinde from the Divine bounty and goodness yet God was said to dwell onely among the Israelites because he had a more especial care of that people than of any other Nation in the World My designe in this Chapter was to shew that the beginnings and progress of that state whereby we are qualified for Heaven are in the Scriptures ascribed to the Operations of the Holy Spirit and that all Christian Vertues are the gifts and graces of God I might now prove by as convincing testimonies that perseverance in the Faith and obedience of the Gospel is the effect of a Divine Operation in us But this truth is so evidently consequent from what the Scripture asserts concerning God's dwelling in good men which I have largely enough discoursed of that I reckon it needless to produce any further testimonies to confirm it Thus have I discharged what I promised in the close of the last Chapter which was to prove that those Christian Vertues in which the state of Regeneration consists together with our improvement and perseverance in them are particularly ascribed in the Scriptures to the Operations of the Holy Spirit And from what hath been thus proved these things follow 1. That he who is endued with these Virtues hath the Spirit of God for they are the effects of his grace And to say that a man may be endued with them and yet be void of Grace is to contradict the Scriptures which ascribe them in whomsoever they are to the Operations of the Holy Spirit 2. And by consequence it is an idle supposition that God will be displeased with us though we be never so careful to do his Commands and to increase in Christian Virtues if all this while we have not the Spirit of God for the former cannot be without the latter 3. Wherefore also it is a vain thing to make our believing and obeying the Gospel on the one side and our having true Grace and the Spirit of God on the other distinct marks of a Regenerate state For if Faith and Obedience are the fruits of the Holy Spirit within us if they are Grace as that signifies the performance of our duty and the effects of Grace as that signifies Divine Assistance then having the Grace of God and the Spirit of God is not a mark of Regeneration distinct from believing and obeying the Gospel because this is Grace it self in the former and is it self the onely mark of Grace in the latter sence of the word i. e. of our having the Spirit of God And now I have not discoursed upon this subject out of the least suspition that there are any in this Church who deny the Qualifications of a true Disciple of Jesus to be the graces of the Holy Spirit For excepting Dr. Owen and some of his party and as those who are acquainted with them say the Quakers I do not know of any in England who may justly be suspected to use one of the Doctor 's phrases of being gone over into the Tents of the Pelagians Nor was it merely to vindicate the Ministers of this Church whose judgement in this matter I am acquainted with something better than our Author seems to be from the imputation of Pelagianism which with so much clamour and railing he hath charged them withal But principally to give those who believe what the Scripture thus plainly declares occasion to consider it again and to lay it to heart since there can hardly be a more effectual encouragement to Piety and Virtue than this that God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him for all blessings needful for their eternal welfare And nothing will render the wilful sinner more inexcusable and more severely punishable than this that whilst he goes on in his wicked life he does despight unto the Spirit of Grace CHAP. V. Concerning pretended Gifts of the Spirit SECT I. HItherto I have shewn of what kinde those Effects are for which the Holy Spirit
other part of it look'd backward to keep off the first And at this rate a Childe may confute all the Arguments in the world that are brought for or against any thing Having thus discovered our Author's fallacious way of proceeding upon this Head and his art in declining the proof of what he so boldly affirms concerning personal Election and the promise of regenerating Grace being made to his Elect it may not now be unnecessary to put the Reader in minde that I have not been wandring all this while from the designe of this Section which was to shew that we have no reason to expect God's special Grace such as that is whereby we are enabled to keep the Commandments of Christ if we be not on our parts qualified to receive it Now I do not see how this can be admitted for a certain truth on supposition that there are any absolute promises in the Scripture made to some particular men that God will regenerate them or that there are any certain persons whom without consideration of any qualities in them God decreed to save But if these are groundless suppositions themselves I understand not which way any man should think to obtain the special Grace of God but by performing the condition on which it is promised And then I say with Dr. Owen that Believers are the onely object of Sanctification and subject of Gospel-holiness not meaning by Believers as he doth holy persons though the word is and may be so used but those merely that are perswaded that Jesus is the Christ. I onely adde that these Believers must visibly own themselves the Disciples of Christ and they must use earnest Prayers for that divine Grace which will enable them to do the Will of God upon Earth as it is done in Heaven For both these conditions are supposed in that promise of the Holy Spirit made to the Disciples of Christ which is mentioned in Luke 11.13 Wherefore if Believers themselves do not perform these conditions they have no reason to expect that special Grace which is there promised Finally since the Spirit of God is promised to dwell in good men onely if the Disciples of Christ do not improve that Grace which they obtain by their Prayers to actual amendment and a sincere obedience of the Gospel it would be a vain presumption in them to think that God will communicate those fuller measures of Grace to them while they are thus unreformed which are signified by his dwelling in us SECT 3. Having thus shewn you who are the Objects of special Grace I proceed to a third conclusion which being proved nothing else seems necessary for the satisfying of this Question To whom the Holy Spirit is given Wherefore I adde 3. That common Grace or that which is not suspended upon the performance of any condition required in the Covenant is given to all those that live under the ministration of the Gospel My meaning is they are all prevented with that Grace which makes it possible for them to begin well i. e. to desire the knowledge of God's ways with a purpose of walking in them when they are known and then to be convinced that the Gospel is the Word of God by the use of those external means which God hath afforded them I do not say that every one of them hath this Grace always bestowed upon him for it is possible that some of those to whom the Word of God is spoken may put it away from themselves as the Jews did and be at length forsaken by the divine Grace and left under an obstinate and unteachable minde as they were Much less shall I venture to say how long the divine Spirit moves upon the Souls of men to make them teachable and willing to learn the truth before he gives them over For God hath reserved this matter to his own Soveraign pleasure and therefore we neither ought to set limits to his patience nor to presume upon the length of it But all I say is this That Grace of God which prevents our first good inclinations and desires and is necessary to make us capable of learning the Truth is given to as many as have the Gospel preached to them so that until by their obstinacy they have utterly forfeited the divine Grace and Blessing it is in their power to lay aside prejudice to attend to the Word of God and receive the knowledge of the truth Out of many Arguments which the Scripture affords to this purpose I shall chuse but one having already drawn out this Part into a greater length than I expected but that concluding strongly enough to spare me the labour of producing any more The Argument I mean is founded upon those passages in the New Testament wherein those to whom the Word of God is made known are threatned with eternal Damnation if they believe it not and with more grievous punishments than had been inflicted on them if the Gospel had never been preached to them Thus saith our Saviour to his Apostles Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.15 16. If any man hear my words and believe not but rejecteth me the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day John 12.47 48. He that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the onely begotten Son of God John 3.18 Further the severity of that punishment which belongs to them who believe not is intimated plainly in the aggravation of their fault as our Saviour saith If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin they could not have been accused of this particular sin of not believing in me and that would have mitigated their other faults but now they have no cloak for their sin they are every way inexcusable and therefore the more punishable John 15.22 But it is fully express'd in Matth. 11.20 where we finde our Saviour upbraiding the Cities that rejected him and declaring it should be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon and Sodom at the day of judgement than for them vers 22 23. These testimonies of Scripture being premised I argue thus If all that preventing Grace which is necessary to believing be not sometime given to all that hear the Gospel then it would be always impossible for some that hear to believe and that without their fault But it is not always thus impossible for any therefore such Grace is sometime given to all The former Proposition is evident for as long as I want that which is necessary to the doing of any thing so long is that thing impossible to me and if it be not my fault that I want the former neither is the impossibility imputable to me as a fault Finally it is not my fault that I want it if I could never do any thing to procure it and 't is
understand our being strongly and deeply affected with divine Truths for where the Word of God dwells richly there the Spirit of God dwells too Nay I may adde further that there is no need of being curious to mark what respect was principally aimed at by the Apostle in the use of these Phrases throughout Rom. 8. and likewise Gal. 5. and other places and that because the Apostle does not seem to be curious in the use of them himself Nor was it necessary for him so to be in order to the making good of that conclusion against the Jews which he aimed at viz. that Justification was not to be had by the works of the Law but by the faith of Christ i. e. by being a true Disciple of Christ in mortifying the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts. But on the other hand his using of those Phrases of being led by and walking after the Spirit indifferently for living according to the Gospel and being governed by the motions of the Holy Spirit was very suitable to his designe of shewing that Justification was no other way to be obtained but by being a true Christian For since mortifying of the deeds of the body and being subject to the Law of God in that degree which Christianity now required were necessary to Justification the Jew who rejected the Gospel of Christ must needs be under Condemnation because the Holy Spirit whose guidance and incitations were necessary to the subduing of sin was given for that purpose to none that rejected Christianity Wherefore as long as the Jew would not submit to the Law of the Spirit of Life i. e. to the Gospel to the profession whereof the special promise of the Spirit was made he must needs be subject to the Law of Sin and of Death Of sin because he refused the necessary means of subduing the lusts of the Flesh viz. the Faith of the Gospel which was to refuse the Incitations and Grace of the Spirit Of Death because if we live after the Flesh we shall die This Observation I thought might not prove altogether unuseful to well-meaning persons that have not hit on it before for a man may well be in danger of mistaking the Apostle's designe in this and other places where the fore-mentioned Phrases are promiscuously used if he expects that every one of them should have a peculiar mystery belonging to it and a sence quite different from all the rest But that which I chiefly intended was to observe that the promiscuous use of those Phrases in the holy Scripture is extreamly agreeable to that familiar way wherein the Holy Spirit moveth the mindes of men For if we are so moved by him that we are not sensible of any operation in our mindes but that of divine Truth as it is represented to us by ordinary means and thereupon embraced by our Understandings then we cannot better express our being led and guided by the Spirit than by saying that we obey the Gospel And thus you see a further reason of the promiscuous and indifferent use of the above-mentioned Phrases and that taken from the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations as the former was from the end and designe of them I shall conclude this point with inferring from what hath been said concerning it that we resist the Holy Spirit of God many times when we think of nothing less and we do not think of it because we do not feel that supernatural impression which is made upon us and cannot discern it from the free and natural Operations of our minds And thus we quench the motions of the Spirit very often when we imagine that we onely quarrel with our own Thoughts or reject the good counsels of a Friend or the exhortations of a Minister or the rebukes of our own Conscience Now if we could hear or apprehend the Holy Spirit disswading us from any wickedness as sensibly as when a good man speaks to us we should not dare surely to entertain one thought more of going forward A temptation could no more prevail against us if we were thus admonish'd than if God should speak to us from Heaven with an audible voice in these words O do not that wicked thing which I hate But God doth not use this method upon us because we are here to live by Faith because he will prove us whether we believe his Word or not Therefore if it be plain from the holy Scriptures that when we are sinning against the clear Convictions of our duty when we are baffling any good Exhortations and Counsels and our own hopes of Heaven or our fears of Hell or the force of any seasonable good thought tending to Repentance we do then as really contradict the perswasions of the blessed Spirit as if we heard his Voice sounding in our Ears shall we not be as much afraid to do the former as we should be to do the latter For it will not be admitted in our excuse that we did not think of rebelling against the Holy Spirit for our not thinking of it is another fault since we have reason to believe that every sin we commit against the checks of Conscience has that aggravation and why should we think that one fault will excuse another Wherefore if we cannot but acknowledge that the doing of despight to the Spirit of Grace must needs adde an heavy weight to every sin which we commit presumptuously and to every neglect of improving an inclination to Repentance methinks we should tremble to do the one or to delay the other Finally the consideration of this matter if we have any due reverence of God will not fail of making all good counsels profitable to us of giving strength to all our own good purposes and making us careful to improve by all reasons that are proper to convince us by all Examples that are fit to instruct us and by all opportunities of serious reflection upon our selves For the Operations of the Holy Spirit do conspire with such familiar methods as these are to produce his Graces in us SECT 6. From all these things it follows in the last place that the Operations of the Holy Spirit in our minds are Assistances or Helps as they are generally called by Christians of all perswasions not excepting our Author and the Friends of his way But I say also they are properly so called because the Operations of the Spirit are no more than Assistances and that because his Graces are truely and properly the effects of other Causes viz. of the ministration of the Gospel of the external means of Grace and of our own endeavours with all which the Operations of the Holy Spirit conspire for the producing of those effects in us The Spirit is indeed the principal cause of these effects and therefore they are called his Graces and ascribed to him as if we did nothing our selves to gain them according to that saying of the Apostle I laboured abundantly yet not I but the grace of God which