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THE 



WOUKS 



OF 



JOHN OWEN, D. D., 

EDITED 

BY THE EEV. WILLIAM H. GOOLD, 

iDlNBURGH. 

VOL. III. 

OiN THE HOLY SPIRIT, PART I. 



'GEACE BE WITH ALL THEM WHO LOVE THE LORD J E 9 U 1 
CHRIST IN SINCERITY.' ' E PH. V i. 24; 



OFFICE FOR THE SALE OF 

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"take heed unto thyself, and unto the 

DOCTRINE; CONTINUE IN THEJM: FOR IN DOING 
THIS THOU SHALT BOTH SAVE THYSELF, AND 
THEM THAT HEAR THEE." 

1 Timothy, i v. 16. 



PREFACE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 



The system of truth, of which Dr. Owen is the able 
advocate, rests upon the triple foundation of Holy Scrip- 
ture, sound reason, and Christian experience. The Sacred 
writings used to establish it are fully and consistently 
interpreted ; the reason employed is not carnal, but the 
effort of that sound mind, (rou voog xp^ardv,) which is the 
gift of the Holy Spirit ; while the experience, to which 
appeal is made, is remote from fanaticism. In all ages 
that system has had its opponents, and the conflict of 
opinion lias filled the Church with clamor and confusion. 
Yet after each contest, however brief or prolonged, the 
cause of God and truth has emerged with decided advan- 
tage, and appeared the stronger for the exercise in 
grappling with error. Human arrangements and views 
of that truth have been changed, and adjustments have 
been made, to suit the progress of the mind. But the 
truth itself is unchanged, and still commends itself to 
the spiritual mind and sound understanding with Divine 
efficiency. The word of the Lord endureth forever;" 
and " thy word is tried to the uttermost, therefore thy 
servant loveth it." 

In this age controversies relating chiefly to the Church 
and its appointments are vigorously pursued. Numerous 
works issue from the press, which are characterized by 
ability and fairness, and there is no want of interest in 
those topics manifested by the Christian public. The 
writings of Dr. Owen contain much which has a direct 
bearing upon those controversies. His matter is weighty 
and his arguments are the best which can be collected 
for his view of Church polity. 

The reasons which have induced the republication of 
this series of Dr. Owen's works do not require that his 
treatises and labors on those topics should be included. 

(3) 



4 EREFACE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 

It is judged that enough is accessible to all students and 
general readers, and that the members of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church are supplied with ecclesiastical literature 
relating to all pending questions. We desire to allay 
rather than to provoke and increase a controversial spirit, 
and to call attention to the fundamental and practical 
truths of our holy faith. It is feared, and with reason, 
tliat the Church will lose sight of those great Gospel doc- 
trines, and will not be inclined to study them or to hold 
them fast. 

It is also desirable to introduce topics which will furnish 
variety, and afford completeness to the series. Hence 
the Ninth Volume is a collection of miscellaneous treatises 
and discourses embodying Scriptural interpretation, me- 
thodical defense, and devotional application of Divine 
truth. In this volume will be found some of Dr. Owen's 
earliest and latest efforts, and throughout, the usual evi- 
dences of his energy, warmth, and love for the souls of 
men appear. The work on the plenary inspiration of 
the Holy Scriptures is regarded as timely, and promises 
to do good service in the struggle with rationalism and 
skepticism in which the Church is now engaged. 

The Sacramental Discourses will be attractive to the 
pious soul, desirous of close communion with Jesus. 
Whatever his theoretical views of the nature and use of 
the Lord's Supper may be, he will find refreshment and 
delight in the effusions and directions of one who had 
such rich and varied experience of the manifold grace 
of God, of which the holy ordinance is the means. 
The matured and experienced pastor as well as the 
young servant of the Most High God, who makes known 
the way of salvation, will find valuable aid and direction 
in solving the difficulties, allaying the fears, and repress- 
ing the presumption of communicants. 

The whole work is humbly commended to the grace 
of God, for whose glory its issue is undertaken, and 
placed in the hands of the Church of God, for whose 
comfort and support in this wilderness state it is intended. 

C. W. Q. 

Philadelphia, June, 1865. 



This edition of tile Works of Owen will consist of seventeen 
volumes. The first seven volumes will be the same as the cor- 
responding volumes of the London and the Edinburgh edition 
of the Eev. W. H. Goold, D.D., 1850. The eighth will be 
identical with the eleventh volume of that edition. The ninth 
volume will be compiled from the ninth, tenth, and sixteenth 
volumes of the same edition. Yolumes tenth to the sixteenth 
will contain Owen's exposition of the Epistle of St. Paul to the 
Hebrews, according to the edition of Dr. Goold. Volume seven- 
teen will contain an index to the whole series taken from Pr. 
Goold's index as far as applicable, and embracing references to 
the matter contained in the Exposition of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews 



CONTENTS. 

Vol I. Life of Dr. Owen, by Rev. Dr. Andrew Thomson. 

1. On the Person of Christ. 

2. Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ. 

3. Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ applied to Sinners 

and Saints. 

4. Two Short Catechisms. 

" II. 1. On Communion with God. 

2. Vindication of the Preceding Discourse. 

3. Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity. 

" III. Discourse on the Holy Spirit: His Name, Nature, Personality, Dispen- 
sation, Operations, and EflFects — His Work in the Old an(\ New 
Creation explained, and the Doctrines Vindicated. The Nature and 
Necessity of Gospel Holiness ; the diflference between Grace and 
Morality, or a Spiritual Life unto God in Evangelical Obedience, and 
a course of Moral Virtues, stated and declared. 

" IV.- 1. The Reason of Faith. 

2. Causes, Ways, and Means, of understanding the Mind of God, as 

revealed in His Word, with assurance therein. And a declaration 
of the perspicuity of the Scriptures, with the external means of 
the interpretation of them. 

3. On the Work of the Holy Spirit, in Prayer ; with a brief inquiry 

into the nature and use of Mental Prayer and Forms. 

4. Of the Holy Spirit and His Work, as a Comforter and as the Author 

of Spiritual Gifts. 
" V. 1. The doctrine of Justification by Faith. 
2. Evidences of the Faith of God's Elect. 

(5) 



6 CONTENTS OF VOLUMES, 

Vol. VT. 1. On the Mortification of Sin. 

2. On Temptation. 

3. On Indwelling Sin in Believers. 

4. Exposition of Psalm CXXX. 

' ' VII. 1. On the Nature and Causes of Apostasy, and the Punishment of 
Apostates. 

2. On Spiritual Mindedness. 

3. On the dominion of Sin and Grace. 

" VIII. The Doctrine of the Saint's Perseverance explained and confirmed. 
" IX. Miscellaneous Works, Treatises, and Sermons. 

• 1. The Divine Original and Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures. 

2. On the Death of Christ 

3. Posthumous and Sacramental Discourses 

" X. Esercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews. 

1. Concerning the Epistle itself. 

2. Concerning the Messiah. 

3. Concerning the Institutions of the Jewish Church referred to in 

the Epistle. 
" XI. Exercitations continued. 

1. Concerning the Sacramental Office of Christ. 

2. Concerning a Day of Sacred Rest. 

3. Summary of Observations, drawn from the Exposition of the 

Epistle. 

' ' XTI.— XVI. An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
' XVII. An Index to the whole Series. 



CONTENTS OF VOLUME III. 



IINETMATOAOriA* 



A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Prefatory Note by the Editor, ...... 2 

To the Readers, ........ 5 

BOOK I. 

I.—Geveral Peinciples concerning the Holy Spirit and His Work.— 
1 Cor xii. 1 opened — nnuf^anxa, spiritual gifts— Their grant unto, use 
and abuse in, that church— Jesus, how called " anathema" — Impiety of 
the Jews— How called "Lord" — The foundation of church order and 
worship— In what sense we are enabled by the Spirit to call Jesus 
" Lord " — The Holy Spirit the author of all gifts — Why called " God" and 
" Lord " — General distribution of spiritual gifts — Proper end of their 
communication— Nine sorts of gifts — Abuse of them in the church — 
Tlieir tendency unto peace and order — General design of the ensuing dis- 
course concerning the Spii-it and his dispensation— Importance of the 
doctrine concerning the Spirit of God and his operations — Reasons here- 
of—Promise of the Spirit to supply the absence of Christ, as to his hu- 
man nature— Concernment thereof — Work of the Spirit in the ministra- 
tion of the gospel— All saving good communicated unto us and wrought 
in us by him — Sin against th£ Holy Ghost irremissible — False pretences 
unto the Spirit dangerous— Pretences unto the Spirit of prophecy under 
the Old Testament — Two sorts of false prophets : tue first; the second 
sort — Pretenders under the New Testament— The rule for the trial of 
such pretenders, 1 John iv. 1-3 — Rules to this purpose under the Old 
and New Testaments compared — A false spirit, set up against the Spirit 
of God, examined— False and noxious opinions concerning the Spirit, 
and how to be obviated — Reproaches of the Spirit and his work — Princi- 
ples and occasions of the apostasy of churches under the law and gospel 
^Dispensation of the Spirit not confined to the first ages of the church 
— The great necessity of a diligent inquiry into the things taught con- 
cerning the Spirit of God and his work, . . . .16 

II.— The Name and Titles of the Holy Spirit.— Of the name of the Holy 
Spirit— Various uses of the words tili and miuf^a — riin for the wind or 
any thing invisible with a sensible agitation. Amos iv. 13— Mistakes of 
the ancients rectified by Hierom — oii metaphorically for vanity, meto- 
nymically for the part or quarter of any thing; for our vital breath, the 
rational soul, the aii'ections, angels good and bad — Ambiguity from the 
use of the word, how to be removed— Rules concerning the Holy Spirit 
—The name " Spirit," how peculiar and appropriate unto him — Why he 
is called the "Holy Spirit" — Whence called the "Good Spirit," the 
"Spirit of God," tlie "Spirit of the Son"— Acts ii. 33, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, 
explained— 1 John iv. 3, vindicated, . ... 47 

in. — Divine Nature and Personality of the Holy Spirit Proved and Vin- 
dicated. — Ends of our consideration of the dispensation of the Spirit--^. 
Principles pi'emised thereunto — The nature of God the foundation of all 
religion — Divine revelation gives the rule and measure of religious wor. 



IV CONTENTS. 

Chap, P^oh 

ebip— God hath revealed himself as three in one— Distinct actings and 
oporatii ins ascribed vmto these distinct persons ; tlierefore the Holy Spirit 
a divine distinct person— Double opposition to the Holy Spirit— By some 
his personality granted and his deity denied— His personality denied 
by the Socinians— Proved against them— The open vanity of their pre- 
tences—Matt, xxviii. 19, pleaded- Appearance of the Spirit under the 
shape of a dove explained and improved— His appearance as fire opened 
— 11 is personal subsistence proved— Personal properties assigned unto 
him— Understanding— Argument from hence pleaded and vindicated— 
A wili — John iii. 8, James iii. 4, cleared— Exceptions removed — Power — 
Otlier personal ascriptions to him, with testimonies of them, vindicated 
and explained, ........ 64 

IV. — Peculiar Woeks or tfik Holt Spirit in the First or Old Creation. — 
Tilings to be observed in divine operations— The works of God, how as- 
cribed absolutely unto God, and how distinctly to each person— The rea- 
son hereof— Perfecting acts in divine works ascribed unto the Holy 
Spirit, and why— Peculiar woi-ks of the Spirit with respect unto the old 
creation— The parts of the old creation— Heaven and its host— What the 
host of heaven — The host of the earth— The host of heaven completed by 
the Spirit— And of the earth — His moving on the old creation, Ps. civ. 30 
— The creation of man; the work of the Spirit therein— Tlie work of 
the Spirit in the preservation of all things when created, natural and 
moral— Farther instances thereof, in and out of the church — Work of 
the Spirit of God in the old creation, why sparingly deliveied, . 92 

V. — Way and Manner of the Divine Dispensation or the Holy Spirit. — * 
Dispensation of the Spirit to be learned from the Scripture only — Gene- 
ral adjuncts thereof — The administration of the Spirit and bis own ap- 
plication of himself to his work, how expressed — The Spirit, how and in 
what sense given and received — What is included in the giving of the 
Spirit; what in receiving of him— Privilege and advaaitage in receiving 
the Spirit — How God is said to send the Spirit — What is included in 
Bending— How (xod ministers the Spirit— How God is said to put his 
Spirit on us— What is included in that expression- The Spirit, how 
poured out — What is included and intended herein — The ways of tlie 
Spirit's application of himself unto his •woY\^—i\\sproceeding from Father 
and Son explained— How he cometh unto us — Kis falling on men— His 
resting — How and in what sense he is said to depart from any person — 
Of the distributions of the Holy Ghost, Heb. ii. 4 — Exposition of them 
yindicated, . . . . . . . .105 

BOOK II. 

L — Peculiar Operations of the Holy Spirit under the Old Testa jifat 
PiiEPARATORY FOR TJiE New.— The work of the Spirit of God in the new 
creation ; by some despised— Works under the Old Testament prepara- 
tory to the new creation— Distribution of the works of the Spirit — The 
gift of prophecy ; the nature, use, and end of it— The beginning of pro- 
phecy—The Holy Spirit the only author of it — The name of a "prophet ; " 
its signification, and his work — Prophecy by inspiration ; whence so 
called— Prophets, how acted by the Holy Ghost— The adjuncts of pro- 
phecy, or distinct ways of its communication — Of articulate voices- 
Dreams — Visions— Accidental adjuncts of prophecy — Symbolical actions 
— Local mutations — Whether unsanctified pcnsons might have the gift 
of prophecy— The case of Balaam answered— Of writing the Scriptures 
—Three things required thereunto— Of miracles— Works of the Spirit of 
God in the improvement of the natural faculties of the minds of men in. . 
things political— In things moral— In things corporeal— In things intel- 
lectual and artificial— In preaching of the word, . . .125 

n. — General Dispensation of the Holy Spirit with respect unto the New 
Creation. —The work of the Spirit of God in the new creation proposed 
to consideration— Tiie importance of the doctrine hereof— The plentiful 
effusion of the Spirit the great promise respecting the times of the New 
Testament— Ministry of the gospel founded on tlie promise of the Spirit 
— How this pronuse is made unto all believers— Injunction to all to pray 
for the Spirit of God— The solemn promise of Christ to send his Spirit 
yrhenhe left the world— The ends for which he promised him— The work 
of the now creation the principal means of the revelation of God and his 
glory— How this revelation is made in particular heiein, . . 152 



CONTENTS. ▼ 

Chap. Vaqu 

III. — Work OF the Holt Spirit with respect unto the Head of the New 
Creation— The Human Nature of Christ — The especial works ot the 
Holy JSpirit in the new creation — His work on the human nature of 
Christ — How this work could be, considering the union of the human 
nature unto and in the person of the Son of God — Assumption of the 
human nature into union, the onlj' act of the person of the Son towards 
it— Personal union the only necessary consequent of this assumption^ 
All other actings of the person of the Son in and on the human nature 
voluntary— The Holy Spirit the immediate efficient cause of all divine 
operations— He is the Spirit of the Son or of the Father— How all the 
works of the Trinity are undivided — The body of Christ formed in the 
womb by the Holy Ghost, but of the substance of the blessed Virgin; 
why this was necessary— Christ not hence the Son of the Holy Ghost ac- 
cording to the human nature — Difference between the assumption of the 
human nature by the Son and the creation of it by the Holy Gh« st — 'J'lie 
conception of Christ, how ascribed to the Holy Ghost, and how to the 
blessed Virgin— Reasons of the espousal of the blessed Virgin to Joseph 
before the conception of Christ— The actual purity and holiness of the 
soul and body of Christ, from his miraculous conception, . . 159 

IV. — Work of the Holy Spirit in and on the Human Nature of Christ. — 
The actual sanctification of the human nature of Christ by the Holy 
Ghost— On what ground spotless and free from sin — Positively endowed 
with all grace — Original holiness and sanctification in Christ, how carried 
on by the Spirit — Exercise of grace in Christ by the rational faculties of 
his soul — Their improvement — Wisdom and knowledge, how increased 
objectively in the human nature of Christ— The anointing of Christ by 
the Holy Spii-it with power and gifts— Collated eminently on him at his 
baptism — John iii. 34 explained and vindicated- Miraculous works 
■wrought in Christ by the Holy Ghost— Christ guided, conducted, and 
supported by the Spirit in his whole work— Mark i. 12 opened — How the 
Lord Christ ofl'ered himself unto God through the eternal Spirit — His 
sanctification thereunto— Graces acting eminently therein— Love, zeal, 
submission, faith, and truth, all exercised therein — The work of the 
Spirit of God towards Christ whilst he was in the state of the dead; in 
his resurrection and glorification— The office of the Spirit to bear witness 
unto Christ, and its discharge — The true way and means of coming unto 
the knowledge of Christ, with the necessity thereof— Danger of mistakes 
herein — What it is to love Christ as we ought, .... 168 

v.— The General Work of the Holt Spirit in the New Creation with re- 
spect unto the Members of that Body whereof Christ is the Head. 
— Christ the head of the new creation— Things premised in general unto 
the remaining work of the Spirit— Things presupposed unto the work of 
the Spirit towards the church — The love and grace of Father and Son — 
The whole work of the building of the church committed to the Holy 
Spirit — Acts ii. 33 opened— The foundation of the church in the promise 
of the Spirit, and its building by him alone — Christ present with his 
church only by his Spirit— Matt, xxviii. 19, 20 ; Acts i. 9, 10, iii. 21 ; 
Matt xviii. 19, 20; 2 Cor. vi. 16; 1 Cor. iii. 16, compared— The Holy 
Spirit works the work of Christ— John xvi. 13-15 opened — The Holy 
Spirit the peculiar author of all grace — The Holy Spirit worketh all this 
according to his own will— 1. His will and pleasure is in all his works 
— 2, He works variously as to the kinds and degrees of his operations — 
How he may be resisted; how not — How the same work is ascribed unto 
the Spirit distinctly, and to others with him — The general heads of his 
operations towai'ds the church, . . . . . .188 

BOOK III. 

L — Work of the Holt Spirit in the New Creation bt Regeneration — The 
new creation completed — Regeneration the especial work of the Holy 
Spirit — Wrought under the Old Testament, but clearly revealed in the 
New ; and is of the same kind in all that are regenerate, the causes and 
way of it being the same in all— it consisteth nut in baptism alone, nor 
in a moral reformation of life ; but a new creature is formed in it, whose 
nature is declared and farther explained— Denial of the original depra- 
vation of nature the cause of many noxious opinions — Regeneration con- 
sisteth not in enthusiastic raptures ; their nature and danger — The whole 
doctrine necessary, despised, corrupted, vindicated, ... 307 



Vr CONTENTS. 

euAP. paoi 

lL_\Vo^K9 OF THE IIoLT SpiitiT Preparatort cnto Rfgfneration.— Sundrj 
tilings preparatoiy to the work of conversion — Material and formal dis- 
p silions, \vitli their difiference— Things in the power of our natural abi- ■ 
lilies requii-ed of us in a way of duty— Internal, spiritual eifects wrought 

ill the souls of men hy the word — Illumination — Conviction of sin — Con- 

' " stquents thei-eof— Tiiese things variously taught— Power of the word 
and energy of the Spirit distinct— Subject of this work ; mind, affections, 
and conscience— Natui'e of this whole work, and difierence from saving 
conversion farther declared, ...... 223 

III. — CoR'^nPTioN OR Depravation of the Mind bt Sin. — Contempt and cor- 
ruption of the doctrine of regeneration— All men in the world I'egenerate 
or unregenerate— (Jer.eral description of corrupted na*ure— Depravation 
Qi tlie mind— Darkness upon it — The nature of spiritual darkness— Re- 
duced unto two heads— Of darkness objective; how removed — Of dark- 
ness subjective; its nature and power proved— Eph. iv. 17, 18, opened 
and applied— The mind " alienated from the life of God" — The '' life of 
Cod," what it is— The power of the mind with respect unto spiritual 
tilings examined — 1 Cor. ii. 14 opened— Yux'«of ktSpamts, or the "natural 
man,' who— Spiritual things, what they are- -How the natural man can- 
not know or receive spiritual things— Difference between understanding 
doctrines and receiving of things— A twofold power and ability of mind 
witii respect unto spiritual things explained — Reasons why a natu- 
ral man cannot discern spiritual things — How and wherefore spiritual 
tilings are foolishness to natural men — Why natural men cannot re- 
ceive the things of Cod — A double impotency in the mind of man bj 
nature— 1 Cor. ii. 14 farther vindicated— Power of darkness in persons 
ui rej;enerate — The mind filled with wills or lusts, and enmity thereby 
—The power and efficacy of spiritual darkness at large declared, . 242 

IV". — LirR AND Death, Natural and Spiritual, Compared. — Of death in sin — 
All unregenerate men spiritually dead— Spiritual death twofold: legal; 
metaph. rical — Life natural, what it is, and wherein it consists — Death 
natural, with its necessary consequents— The supernatural life of Adam 
ill iniiocency, in its principle, acts, and power — Differences between it 
and our spiritual life in Christ — Death spiritual a privation of the life 
we had in Adam; a negation of the life of Christ — Privation of a prin- 
ciple of all life to Cod — Spiritual impotency therein — Differences be- 
tween death natural and spiritual — The use of precepts, jiromises, and 
tlireatenings— No man perisheth merely for want of power — No vital 
acts in a state of death— The way of the communication of spiritual life 
— Of what nature are the best works of persons unregenerate —No dispo- 
sition unto spiritual life under the power of spiritual death, . . 282 

V. — The Nature, Causes, and Means of Regeneration.— Description of the 
state of nature necessary unto a right understanding of the work of the 
spirit in regeneration— No possibility of salvation unto persons living 
and dying in a state of sin — Deliverance from it by re;;eneratiou only — 
The Holy Ghost the peculiar author of this work— Differences about the 
manner and nature of it— "Way of the ancients in explaining the doc- 
trine of grace— The present method proposed— Conversion not wrought 
by moral suasion only— The nature and efficacy of moral suasion, wherein 
tliey consist — Illumination preparatory unto conversion— The nature of 
grace morally effective only, opened; not sufficient for conversion— The 
first argument, disproving the working of grace in conversion to be by 
moral suasion only— The second— The third— 'I'he fourth— Wherein the 
■wcrk^of the Spirit in regeneration positively doth consist — The use and 
?rnal efficiency of the Spirit in this work 
Ag. — The nature of it explained; proved 
. „ by grace on our wills farther explained 

— iestinioiiies concerning the actual collation of faith by the power of 
God — ^^Victorious efficacy of internal grace proved by sundry testimonies 
of Scripture— From the nature of the work wrought by it, in vivitication 
and regeneration— Regeneration considered with respect unto the dis- 
tinct faculties of the soul ; the mind ; the will ; the affections, . 297 

VI.— The Manner of Conversion Explained in the Instance of Augustine. 

— J he outward means and manner of conversion to God, or regeneration, 
with the degrees of spiritual operations on the minds of men and their 
cllects, exemplified in the conversion of Augustine, as the account is given 
thereof by himself, ........ 337 



CONTENTS. VH 

Chap. P^gb 

BOOK IV. 

L — The Nattjke of Sanctiftcation and Gospel Holiness Explained. — Re- 
generation the way -whereby the Spii it forms living members for the 
mystical body of Christ— Carried on by sauctification— 1 Thess. v. 23 
opened— God the only author of our sanctification and holiness, and tliat 
as the God of peace— Sanctification described— A diligent inquiry into 
the nature whereof, witli that of lioliness, proved necessary— bonctifica- 
tion twofold: 1. By external dedication; 2. By internal puritication— 
Holiness peculiar to the gospel and its truth— Not discernible to the eye 
of carnal rea.son— Hardly understood by believers themselves— It passefli 
over into eternity— Hath in it a present glory— Is all that God requireth 
of us, and in what sense —Promised unto us— How we are to improve the 
command for holiness, ....... 366 

II. — Sanctification a Progressive Work. — Sanctification described, with the 
nature of the work of the Holy Spirit therein; which is progressive — 
The way and means whei'eby holiness is increased in believers, especially 
by faith and love, whose exercise is required in all duties of obedience ; 
as also those graces whose exercise is occasional— The growth of holiness 
expressed in an allusion unto that of plants, with an insensible progress 
— Renders grace therein to be greatly admired; and is discerned in ti.e 
answerableness of the work of the Spirit in sanctification and supplica- 
tion—Objections against the progressive nature of holiness removed, 386 

III. — Believers the only Object of Sanctification, and Subjkct of Gospel 
Holiness. — Believers tlie only subject of the work of sanctification— 
How men come to believe, if believers alone receive the Spirit of sancti- 
fication — The principal ends for which the Spirit is promised, with their 
order in their accomplishment --Rules to be observed in praying for the 
Spirit of God, and his operations therein— That believers only are sanc- 
tified or holy proved and confirmed— Mistakes about holiness, _ both 
notional and practical, discovered— The proper subject of holiness in be- 
lievers, ......... iC 

IV. — The Defilement of Sin, wherein it Consists, with its Purification. — 
Purification the first proper notion of sanctification — Institution of ba]v 
tism confirming the same apprehension — A spiritnial defilement and pol- 
lution in sin- The nature of that defilement, or wherein it doth consist 
— Depi'avation of nature and acts with respect unto God's holiness, how 
and why called "tilth" and "pollution" — Twofold pravity and defile- 
ment of sin— Its aggravations — We cannot purge it of ourselves, nor 
could it be done by the law, nor by any ways invented by men for that end, 42" 
V. — The Filth of Sin purged by the Spirit and Blood of Christ. — Purifi- 
cation of the filth of sin the first part of sanctification— How it is effect- 
ed — The work of the Spirit therein — Efficacy of the blood of Christ to 
that pui-pose — The blood of his sacrifice intended — How that blood cleans- 
eth from sin — Application unto it, and application of it by the Spirit — 
Wherein that application consists — Faith the instrumental cause of our 
purification, with the use of afflictions to the same purpose — Necessity 
of a due consideration of the pollution of sin — Consideratir ns of the pol- 
lution and purification of sin practically improved — Various directions 
for a due application unto the blood of Christ for cleansing — Sundry de- 
grees of shamelessness in sinning — Directions for the cleansing of sin 
continued — Thankfulness for the cleansing of sin, with other uses of the 
same consideration — Union with Christ, how consistent with the re- 
mainders of sin — From all that, differences between evangelical holiness 
and the old natiu-e asserted, ...... 43** 

VI. — ^The Positive Work of the Spirit in the Sanctification of Believers. 
— Differences in the acts of sanctification as to oi'der — The manner of 
the communication of holiness by the Spirit — The rule and measure 
whereof is the revealed will of God, as the rule of its acceptance is the 
covenant of grace — The nature of holiness as inwaid — Righteousness 
habitual and actual — False notions of holiness removed — The nature of 
a spiritual habit— Applied unto holiness, with its rules and limitations 
—Proved and confirmed — Illustrated and practically improved — The pro- 
perties of holiness as a spiritual habit declared— 1. Spiritual dispositions 
unto suitable acts ; how expressed in the Scripture; with their eftects 
— Contrary dispositions unto sin and holiness how consistent — 2. Power ; 
the nature thereof ; or what power is required in believers unto holy 
obedience ; with its properties and effects in readiness and facility — 
Objections thereunto answered, and an inquiry on these principles after 
true holiness in ourselves directed — Gospel grace distinct from moralitv, 
and all other habits of the mind; proved by many arguinentB, especially 



VIII CONTENTS. 

CoAP. Paqb 

its relation unto the mciliation of Christ— The principal difference be- 
tween evan.Ecelioal lioliness and all other habits of the mind, proved by 
the nianuer and way of its communication from the person of Christ as 
the head of the church, and the peculiar efficiency of the Spirit therein- 
— Moral honesty not gospel holiness, ..... 463 

■ VII.— Ok Tin; Acts and Duties of Holiness.— Actual inherent righteousness in 
duties of holiness and obedience explained— Tlie work of the Holy .Spirit 
with respect thereunto — Distribution of the positive duties of holiness 
—Internal duties of holiness— External duties and their difference — 
Eifectual operation of the Holy Spirit necessary unto every act of holi- 
ness—Dependence on providence with respect unto things natui-al, and 
on grace with respect unto things supernatural, compared — Arguments 
to pi-ove the necessity of actual grace unto every duty of holiness— 
Contrary designs and expressions of the Scripture and some men about 
duties of holiness, ........ 527 

VIII. — Mortification of Sin, the Nature and Causes of it. — Mortification of 
sin, the second part of sanctification— Frequently prescribed and enjoin- 
ed as a duty— What the name signifies, with the reason thereof ; as also 
that of crucifying sin— The nature of tlie mortification of sin explained 
— Indwelling sin, in its principle, operations, and efi'ects, the object of 
mortification- Contrariety between sin and grace- Mortification a par- 
taking with the whole interes-t of grace against sin— How sin is morti- 
fied, and why the subduing of it is so called— Directions for the right dis- 
charge of this duty — Nature of it unknown to many — The Holy Spirit 
the author and cause of mortification in us — The manner of the opera- 
tion of the Spirit in the moi'tification of sin — Particular means of the 
mortification of sin— Duties necessary unto the mortification of sin, di- 
rected unto by the Holy Ghost— Mistakes and errors of persons failing 
in this matter— How spiritual duties are to be managed, that sin may be 
moi tified — Influence of the virtue of the death of Cluist, as applied by 
the Holy Spirit, into the mortification of sin, .... 538 

BOOK V. 

I. — Necessity of Holiness erom the Consideration of the Nature of God. 
— The necessity of evangelical holiness owned by all Christians— Doctrines 
falsely charged with an inconsistency with it— Though owned by all, yet 
practised by few, and disadvantageously pleaded for by many— The true 
nature of it briefly expressed— First argument for the necessity of holi- 
ness, from the nature of God; frequently proposed unto our considera- 
tionfor that end — This argument cogent and unavoidable ; pressed, with 
its limitation — Not the nature of God absolutely, but as he is in Christ, 
the foundation of this necessity, and a most effectual motive unto the same 
end— The nature and efficacy of that motive declared — The argument 
enforced from the consideration of our conformity unto God by holiness, 
■with that communion and intercourse with him which depend thereon, 
with our future everlasting enjoyment of him— True force of that consi- 
deration vindicated— Merit rejected, and also the substitution of mora- 
lity in the room of gospel holiness— False accusations of the doctrine of 
grace discarded ; and the neglect of the true means of promoting gospel 
obedience charged— The principal argument farther enforced, from the 
pre-eminence of our natures and persons by this conformity to God, and 
our accesses unto God thereby, in order unto our eternal enjoyment of 
Lim ; as it also alone renders us useful in this world unto others— Two 
sorts of graces by whose exei'cise we grow into conformity with God: 
those tlmt are assimilating, as faith and love ; and those which are de- 
clarative of that assimilation, as goodness or benignity, and truth— An 
objection against the necessity of holiness, from the freedom and efficacy 
of grace, answered, ....... 566 

IT.- Eternal Elkction a Cause of and Motive unto Holiness.— Other argu- 
ments for the necessity of holiness, from God's eternal election— The 
argument from thence explained, improved, vindicated, . . 591 

III.— IIomness NrcKSSAUT FROM TiiF, COMMANDS OF GoD,— Ncccssity of hoUness 

proved from the commands of God in the law and the gospel, . '. 604 

IV.— NiccESSiTT OF Holiness from God's sending Jesus Christ.- The neces- 
sity of holiness pi-oved from the design of God in sending Jesus Clu'ist, 
with the ends of his mediation, ...... 623 

v.— Necessity of Holiness from our Condition in this World.— Necessity 
of holiness farther argued from our own state and condition in this 
world ; with what is required of us with respect unto our giving glory to 
Jesus Chi-ist, . . . . . . . ., 641 



nNETMATOAOriA* 



A mSCOUESE CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIEIT : 



AN ACCOUNT IS GIVEN OF HIS NAME, NATUEE, PEESONAIITY, DISPENSATION, OPEEATIONS, 

AND EFFECTS; HIS WHOLE WORK IN THE OLD AND NEW CREATION IS 

EXPLAINED; THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING IT VINDICATED 

FROM OPPOSITIONS AND REPROACHES. 

THE NATUEE ALSO AND NECESSITY OF GOSPEL HOLINESS ; THE DIFFEKENCE BETWEEN GEACS. 

AND MOEALITY, OR A SPIEITUAL LIFE UNTO GOD IN EVANGELICAL OBEDIENCE 

AND A COURSE OP MORAL VIRTUES, ARE STATED AND DECLAEED. 



Search tlie Scriptures, etc — John v. 39. 



LONDON: 1674. 



VOL. III. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The year 1674 saw issuing from the press some of the most elaborate productions of 
our author. Besides his own share in the Communion controversy, he published in the 
course of that year the second volume of his Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
and another folio of equal extent and importance, the first part of his work on the 
Holy Spirit ; for what is generally known under the title of " Owen on the Holy Spirit," 
is but the first half of a treatise on that subject. The treatise was completed in suc- 
cessive publications: — "The Keason of Faith," in 1677; "The Causes, Ways, and 
Means of Understanding the Mind of God," etc., in 1678 ; " The Work of the Holy Spirit 
in Prayer," in 1682; and, in 1693, two posthumous discourses appeared, "On the 
Work of the Spirit as a Comforter, and as he is the Author of Spiritual Gifts." From 
the statements of Owen himself, in various parts of these works, as well as on the 
authority of Nathaniel Mather, who wrote the preface to the last of them, we learn 
that they were all included in one design, and must be regarded as one entire and uni- 
form work. In Owen's preface to the " Reason of Faith," he expressly states, " About 
three years since I published a book about the dispensation and operations of the Spirit 
of God. That book was one part only of what I designed oh that subject. The 
consideration of the work of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of illumination, of suppli- 
cition, of consolation, and as the immediate author of all spiritual offices and gifts, 
extraordinary and ordinary, is designed unto the second part of it." Uncertain, as he 
advanced in years, whether he should be spared to finish it, Owen was induced to issue 
ssparately the treatises belonging to the second part, according as he was able, under 
the pressure of other duties, to overtake the preparation and completion of them. 
They are now for the first time collected, and arranged into the order which, it is be- 
lieved, the author would have made them assume, had he lived to publish an edition 
comprehending all his treatises on the Holy Spirit in the form and under the title of 
one work. No other liberty, however, is taken with the treatises than simply to number 
the four of them which were published separately, and which are contained in the 
next volume, as so many additional books, continuing and completing the discussion of 
the subject which had been begun and so far prosecuted in the five previous books em- 
braced in this volume. To all of them the general designation nNETMATOAOriA is 
equally applicable. Thus arranged and seen in its full proportions, the work amply 
vindicates the commendation bestowed on it, as the most complete exhibition of the 
doctrine of Scripture on the person and agency of the Spirit " to be found in any 
language." As no author had previously attempted to treat " of the whole economy 
of the Holy Spirit, with all his adjuncts, operations, and effects," Owen urges the 
circumstance in extenuation of any want of system and lucid order in his work. If 
f-uch an attempt had never previously been made, it is equally true that no successor 
h 13 been found in this walk of theology who has ventured to compete with Owen in the 
fill and systematic discussion of this great theme. Treatises of eminent ability and 
value have appeared on separate departments of it ; but in the wide range embraced in 
this work of Owen, as well as in the power, depth, and resources conspicuous in every 
chapter, it is not merely first, but single and alone in all our religious literature. 

The work, as we may gather from various allusions in it, was written in opposition 
to the rationalism of the early Socinians, especially as represented by Crellius ; to 
the mysticism of the Quakers, a sect which had grown into notoriety within thirty 
years before the publication of this work; and to the irreligion of a time when the de- 
rision of all true piety was the passport to royal favour. That, during the religious 
fervours of the commonwealth, fanaticism of various kinds should appear, is no more 
strange than that when genuine coin is in circulation, attempts should be made to utter 
what is counterfeit and base. Against such fanaticism it was natural that a reaction 
should ensue, and certain divines pandered to the blind prejudice of the times succeed- 
ing the Restoration, by sarcastic invective against all that was evangelical in the creed 
of the Puritans and vital in personal godliness. Samuel Parker, in his infamous sub- 
serviency to the malice of the Court against dissent, and even against the common 
interests of Protestantism, distinguished himself in this assault upon the doctrines of 
grace and the distinctive principles of the Christian faith. Owen accordingly adminis- 
ters to him a rebuke in terms as severe as the calm dignity of his temper ever allowed 
him to employ in controversy; but the prominent aim in his whole work is to dis- 
criminate the gracious operations of the Spirit in the hearts of believers from the ex- 



PREFATORY NOTE. 3 

cesses of fanaticism on the one hand, whether as it appeared in the ruder sects of the age, 
or in the more genial mysticism of the Quaker, elevating his subjective experience of a 
spiritual light to co-ordinate authority with the objective revelation of God in the word ; 
and, on the other hand, from the morality which, springing from no gracious principle, 
scarcely brooked an appeal to the only divine code for the regulation of human conduct. 

This comprehensive treatise abounds in more than Owen's usual prolixity; — a fea- 
ture of the work which may, perhaps, be explained by the consciousness under wliich 
the author seems always to labour that he is prosecuting an argument with opponents, 
rather than dealing with the conscience in a treatise on practical religion. He moves 
heavily, as if he were panoplied for conflict rather than girt for useful work. As he pro- 
ceeds, however, the interest deepens ; weighty questions receive clear elucidation ; prac- 
tical difficulties are judiciously resolved; and momentous distinctions, such as those be- 
tween gospel holiness and common morality, and between natural and moral inability, 
are skilfully given. Indeed, many points which he brings out with sufficient precision, 
when stripped of the wordiness which encumbers them, are found to be identical with 
certain modes in the presentation of divine truth which have been deemed the disco- 
veries and improvements of a later theology. No work of the author supplies better 
evidence of his pre-eminent skill in what may be termed spiritual ethics, — in tracing 
the effect of religious truth on the conscience, and the varied phases of human feeling 
as modified by divine grace and tested by the divine word; and his reasonings would 
have been reputed highly philosophical if they had not been so very scriptural. 

It is in reference to the following work that Cecil, an acute and rather severe judge 
of books and authors, has observed, " Owen stands at the head of his class of divines. 
His scholars will be more profound and enlarged, and better furnished, than those of 
most other writers. His work on the Spirit has been my treasure-house, and one of 
my very first-rate books." A good abridgment of it by the Rev. G. Burder has ap- 
peared in more than one edition. 

In 1C78, Dr Clagett, preacher to the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, and one of 
his Majesty's chaplains in ordinary, in " A Discourse concerning the Operation of the 
Holy Spirit," etc., attempted " a confutation of some part of Dr Owen's work on that 
subject." Mr John Humfrey, in his " Peaceable Disquisitions," having animadverted 
on the spirit in which Clagett had dealt with Owen, Clagett published another volume, 
and promised a tiiird on the opinions of the Fathers respecting the points at issue. The 
manuscript of this last volume was lost in a fire which consumed the house of a friend 
with whom it had been lodged. Henry Stebbing published, in 1719, an abridgment of 
the first two volumes. The principles of the work are not evangelical ; a tone of cold 
pedantry pervades it ; and the author seems as much influenced by a desire to differ 
from Owen as to discover the truth in regard to the points on which they differed. 

ANALYSIS. 

The First Book of the treatise is devoted to considerations of a general and prelimi- 
nary nature. The promise of spiritual gifts contained in Scripture is examined ; and 
occasion is hence taken to illustrate the importance of sound views on the doctrine of the 
Spirit, from the place it holds in Scripture ; from the abuses practised under his name ; 
from certain pretences that were urged to inward light, inconsistent with the claims of 
the Spirit of God ; from many dangerous opinions which had become prevalent respect- 
ing his work and influence ; and from the opposition directly offered to the Spirit and 
his work in the world, chap. i. The name and titles of the Holy Spirit are next consid- 
ered, II. The evidence of his divine nature and personality follows, from the formula of 
our initiation into the covenant, Matt, xxviii. 19 ; from the visible sign of his personal ex- 
istence, Matt. iii. 16 ; from the personal properties ascribed to him; from the personal 
acts he perfoi'ms ; and from those acts towards him on the part of men which imply his 
persoaality. A short proof of his Godhead, from the divine names he receives, and the 
divine properties ascribed to him, is appended to the argument in illustration of his 
personality, iii. The work of the Spirit in the old creation, in reference to the hea- 
vens, to tlie earth, to man, and to the continued sustentation of the universe, is fully 
explained, iv. The dispensation of the Spirit is illustrated in reference to the Father 
as giving, sending him, etc., and in reference to his own voluntary and personal agency 
BS proceeding, coming, etc., v. 

In the Second Book, the peculiar operations of the Holy Spirit under the old testa- 
ment, and in preparation for the new, are considered, such as prophecy, inspiration, 



4 PREFATORY NOTE. 

miracles, and other giftf?, t. The importance of the Holy Spirit in the new creation 
is proved by the fact that he is the subject of the great promise in sacred Scripture 
respecting new testament times, ii. His work in reference to Christ is unfolded under a 
twofold aspect, — 1. As it bore on himself, in framing his human nature, iii. ; sanctifying 
it in the instant of conception, filling it with the needful grace anointing it with ex- 
traordinary gifts, conveying to it miraculous powers, guiding, comforting, and support- 
ing Christ, enabling him to offer himself without spot unto God, pi'cserving his human 
nature in the state of the dead, raising it from the grave, and finally glorifying it ; and, 
2. As he secures, throughout successive ages, a sound and explicit testimony to the per- 
son and work of Christ, iv. General considerations are urged regarding the work of the 
Spirit in the new creation, as it relates to the mystical body of Christ, — all believers, v. 

The Third Book is occupied with the subject .of regeneration as the especial work 
of the Spirit ; it is shown not to consist in baptism merely, or external reformation, or 
enthusiastic raptures, i. The operations of the Spirit preparatory to regeneration are 
exhibited, such as illumination, conviction, etc., ii. Two important chapters of a digres- 
sive character follow, in which the condition of man by nature is stated, as spiritually 
blind and impotent, iii., and as spiritually dead, iv. The true nature of regeneration 
is next illustrated,— first negatively, under which head it is proved not to consist in 
any result of moral suasion, moral suasion being defined, and the extent of its efficacy 
being fixed. No change which it can effect can be viewed as tantamount to regenera- 
tion, because, — 1. It leaves the will undeterviined ; 2. Imparts no supenmtural strength; 
o. Is not all tue pray for when we pray for efficient grace ; 4. And doea not actually pro- 
duce regeneration or conversion. Regeneration is then considered positively, as imply- 
ing all the moral operation which means can effect, and not only a moral but a physical 
immediate operation of the Spirit, and the irresistibility of this internal efficiency on 
the minds of men. After explanations to the effect that the Holy Ghost in regene- 
ration acts according to our mental nature, does not act upon us by an influence 
such as inspiration, and offers no violence to the will, three arguments in support of 
this view of regeneration are given, — from the collation of faith by the power of God, 
from the victorious efficacy of internal grace as attested by Scripture, and from the 
nature of the work itself as described in various terms of Scripture, " quickening," 
" regeneration," etc., and also from the terms in which the effect of grace on the different 
faculties of the soul is represented, v. The manner of conversion is then explained 
in the instance of Augustine, the account by that eminent father of his own conversion 
being selected to illustrate both the outward means of conversion, and the various de- 
grees and effects of spiritual influence on the human mind, vi. 

The Fourth Book discusses the doctrine of sanctification, which is exhibited as the 
process completing what the act of regeneration has begun. A general view is then 
given of the nature of sanctification, as consisting, 1. In external dedication ; and, 2. In 
internal purification, i. Its progressive character is unfolded, ii. ; and that it is a 
gracious process, extending to believers only, is proved, in Sanctification, so far as it 
relates to the removal of spiritual defilement, is illustrated; and that man caiuiot purge 
liimself from his natural pravity is proved, iv. It is shown how the Sph-it and blood 
of Christ are effectual to the purgation of the heart and conscience, the Spirit effica- 
ciously, the blood of Christ meritoriously, faith as the instrumental cause, and afflic- 
tions as a subordinate instrumentality, v. The positive work of sanctification follows, 
embracing evidence of two propositions: 1. That the Spirit implants a supernatural 
liabit and principle enabling believers to obey the divine will, and differing from all na- 
tural habits, intellectual or moral; and, 2. That grace is requisite for every act of ac- 
ceptable obedience. Under the first proposition four things are considered, — the reality 
of the principle asserted ; its nature in inclining the will ; the power as well as the incli- 
nation it imparts; and, lastly, its specific difference from all other habits, vi. Under 
the second proposition the acts and duties of holiness are reviewed, and proof supplied 
of the necessity of grace for them, vii. The nature of the mortification of sin, as a 
special part of sanctification, is considered ; directions for this spiritual exercise are 
given ; particular means for the mortification of sin are specified ; and certain errors 
respecting this duty corrected, viii. 

The Fifth Book simply contains arguments for the necessity of holiness, — from the 
nature of God, i. ; from eternal election, ii. ; from the divine commands, in. ; from 
the mission of Christ, iv. ; and from our condition in this world, v. — Ed. 



TO THE READERS. 



An account in general of the nature and design of the ensuing discourse, with 
the reasons why it is made public at this time, being given in the first chapter of the 
treatise itself, I shall not long detain the readers here at the entrance of it. But 
some few things it is necessary they should be acquainted withal, and that both as to 
the matter contained in it and as to the manner of its handling. The subject-matter 
of the whole, as the title and almost every page of the book declare, is, the Holy 
Spirit of God and his operations. And two things there are which, either of 
them, are sufficient to render any subject either difficult on the one hand, or un- 
pleasant on the other, to be treated of in this way, both which we have herein 
to conflict withal: for where the matter itself is abstruse and mysterious, the 
handling of it cannot be without its difficulties ; and where it is fallen, by any 
means whatever, under public contempt and scorn, there is an abatement of satis- 
faction in the consideration and defence of it. Now, all the concernments of the 
Holy Spirit are an eminent part of the " mystery" or " deep things of God ; " for 
as the knowledge of them doth wholly depend on and is regulated by divine reve- 
lation, so are they in their own nature divine and heavenly, — distant and remote 
from all things that the heart of man, in the mere exercise of its own reason or 
understanding, can rise up unto. But yet, on the other hand, there is nothing 
in the world that is more generally despised as foolish and contemptible than 
the things that are spoken of and ascribed unto the Spirit of God. He needs no 
furtherance in the forfeiture of his reputation with many, as a person fanatical, 
estranged from the conduct of reason, and all generous principles of conversation, 
who dares avow an interest in His work, or take upon him the defence thereof. 
Wherefore, these things must be a little spoken unto, if only to manifest whence 
relief may be had against the discouragements wherewith they are attended. 

For the first thing proposed, it must be granted that the things here treated of 
are in themselves mysterious and abstruse. But yet, the way whereby we may endea- 
voin- an acquaintance with them, "according to the measure of the gift of Chri.st unto 
every one," is made plain in the Scriptures of trutli. If tins way be neglected or 
despised, all other ways of attempting the same end, be they never so vigorous or 
promising, will prove ineffectual. What belongs unto it as to the inward frame 
and disposition of mind in them who search after understanding in these things, 
what unto the outward use of means, what unto the performance of spiritual 
duties, what unto conformity in the whole soul unto each discovery of truth that 
is attained, is not my present work to declare, nor shall I divert thereunto. If 
God give an opportunity to treat concerning the work of the Holy Spirit, enabling 
us to understand the Scriptures, or the mind of God in them, the whole of this 
way will be at large declared. 

At present, it may suffice to observe, that God, who in himself is the eternal 
original spring and fountain of all truth, is also the only sovereign cause and 
author of its revelation unto us. And whereas that truth, which originally is one 
in him, is of various sorts and kinds, according to the variety of the things which 



6 TO THE READERS. 

it respects in its communication unto us, the ways and means of that communica- 
tion are suited unto the distinct nature of each truth in particular. So the truth 
of things natural is made known from God by the exercise of reason, or the due 
application of the understanding that is in man unto their investigation ; for 
" the things of a man knoweth the spirit of a man that is in him." Neither, ordi- 
narily, is there any thing more required unto that degree of certainty of know- 
ledge in things of that nature whereof our minds are capable, but the diligent 
application of the faculties of our souls, in the due use of proper means, unto the 
attainment thereof. Yet is there a secret work of the Spirit of God herein, even 
in the communication of skill and ability in things natural, as also in things civil, 
moral, political, and artificial; as in our ensuing discourse is fully manifested. 
But whereas these things belong unto the work of the old creation and the pre- 
servation thereof, or the rule and government of mankind in this world merely as 
rational creatures, there is no use of means, no communication of aids, spiritual or 
supernatural, absolutely necessary to be exercised or granted about thera. Where- 
fore, knowledge and wisdom in things of this nature are distributed promiscuously 
among all sorts of persons, according to the foundation of their natural abilities, 
and a superstruction thereon in their diligent exercise, without any peculiar ap- 
plication to God for especial grace or assistance, reserving still a liberty unto the 
sovereignty of divine Providence in the disposal of all men and their concerns. 

But as to things supernatural, the knowledge and truth of them, the teachings 
of God are of another nature ; and, in like manner, a peculiar application of our- 
selves unto him fur instruction is required of us. In these things also there ai'e de- 
grees, according as they approach, on the one hand, unto the infinite abyss of the 
divine essence and existence, — as the eternal generation and incarnation of the Son, 
the procession and mission of the Holy Spirit, — or, on the other, unto those divine 
effects which are produced in our souls, whereof we have experience. According 
unto these degrees, as the divine condescension is exerted in their revelation, so 
ought our attention, in the exercise of faith, humility, and prayer, to be increased 
in our inquiries into them. For although all that diligence, in the use of outward 
means, necessary to the attainment of the knowledge of any other useful truth, be 
indispensably required in the pursuit of an acquaintance with these things also, 
yet if, moreover, there be not an addition of spiritual ways and means, suited in 
their own nature, and appointed of God, unto the receiving of supernatural light 
and the understanding of the deep things of God, our labour about them will in 
a great measure be but fruitless and unprofitable: for although the letter of the 
Scripture and the sense of the propositions are equally exposed to the reason of 
all mankind, yet the real spiritual knowledge of the things themselves is not com- 
municated unto any but by the especial operation of the Holy Spirit. Kor is any 
consideraljle degree of insight into the doctrine of the mysteries of them attainable 
but by a due waiting on Him who alone giveth " the Spirit of wisdom and revela- 
tion in the knowledge of them;" for "the things of God knoweth no man but 
the Spirit of God," and they to whom by him they are revealed. Neither can the 
Scriptures be interpreted aright but by the aid of that Spirit by which they were 
indited; as Hierom affirms, and as I shall afterward fully prove. But in the use 
of the means mentioned we need not despond but that, seeing these things them- 
selves are revealed that we may know God in a due manner and live unto him as 
we ought, we may attain such a measure of spiritual understanding in them as is 
useful unto our own and others' edification. They may, I say, do so who are not 
slothful in hearing or learning, but " by reason of use have their senses exercised 
to discern both good and evil." 

Wherefore, the subject of the ensuing discourses being entirely things of this 
nature, in their several degrees of access unto God or ourselves, X shall give no 



TO THE READERS. 7 

account of any particular endeavours in my inquiries into them, hut leave the judg- 
ment thereof uftto the evidence of the effects produced thereby : only, whereas I 
faiovsr not any who ever v^ent before me in this design of representing the whole 
economy of the Holy Spirit, with all his adjuncts, operations, and effects, whereof 
this is the first part (the attempt of Crellius in this kind being only to corrupt 
the truth in some kw instances), as the difficulty of my work was increased 
thereby, so it may plead my excuse if any thing be found not to answer so regular 
a projection or just a method as the nature of the subject requireth and as was 
aimed at. 

In the first part of the whole work, which concerneth the name, divine nature, 
personality, and mission of the Holy Spirit, I do but declare and defend the faith 
of the catholic church against the Socinians; with what advantage, with what 
contribution of light or evidence, strength or order, unto what hath been pleaded 
before by othei's, is left unto the learned readers to judge and determine. And in 
what concerns the adjuncts and properties of His mission and operation, i^r-me 
may, and I hope do, judge themselves not unbeholden unto me for administering 
an occasion unto them of deeper and better thoughts about them. 

The second part of our endeavour concerneth the work of the Holy Spirit in 
the old creation, both in its production, preservation, and rule. And whereas I 
had not therein the advantage of any one ancient or modern author to beat out 
the paths of truth before me, I have confined myself to express testimonies of Scrip- 
ture, with such expositions of them as sufficiently evidence their own truth; though 
also they want not such a suffrage from others as may give them the reputation of 
some authority. 

The like may be said of what succeeds in the next place, concerning His work 
under the New Testament, preparatory for the new creation, in the communication 
of all sorts of gifts, ordinary and extraordinary, all kind of skill and ability in 
thjngs spiritual, natural, moral, artificial, and political, with the instances whereby 
these operations of His are confirmed. All these things, many whereof are handled 
by others separately and apart, are here proposed in their order with respect unto 
their proper end and design. 

For what concerns His work on the head of the new creation, or the human 
nature in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, I have been careful to keep se- 
verely under the bounds of sobriety, and not to indulge unto any curious or un- 
warrantable speculations. I have, therefore, therein not only diligently attended 
unto the doctrine of the Scripture, our only infallible rule and guide, but also 
expressly considered what was taught and believed in the ancient church in this 
matter, from which I know that I have not departed. 

More I shall not add as to the first difficulty wherewith an endeavour of this 
kind is attended, arising from the nature of the subject treated of. The other, 
concerning the contempt that is cast by many on all these things, must yet be 
farther spoken unto. 

In all the dispensations of God towards his people under the Old Testament, 
there was nothing of good communicated unto them, nothing of worth or excel- 
lency wrought in them or by them, but it is expressly assigned unto the Holy 
Spirit as the author and cause of it. But yet, of all the promises given unto 
them concerning a better and more glorious state of the church to be afterward 
introduced, next unto that of the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, those are 
the most eminent which concern an enlargement and more full communication of 
the Spirit, beyond what they were or could in their imperfect state be made par- 
takers of. Accordingly, we find in the New Testament, that whatever concerns 
the conversion of the elect, the edification of the church, the sanctification and 
consolation of believers, the performance of those duties of obedience which we 



8 TO THE EEADERS. 

owe unto God, with our conduct in all the ways thereof, is, in general and parti- 
cular instances, so appropriated unto him, as that it is withal declared that no- 
thing of it in any kind can be enjoyed or performed without his especial operation, 
aid, and assistance ; so careful was God fully to instruct and to secure the faith 
of the church in this matter, according as he knew its eternal concernments to lie 
therein. Yet, notwithstanding all the evidence given hereunto, the church of God 
in most ages hath been exercised with oppositions either to his person, or his woik, 
or the manner of it, contrary unto what is promised and declared concerning 
them in the word of truth ; nor doth it yet cease so to be. Yea, though the con- 
tradictions of some in former ages have been fierce and clamorous, yet all that 
hath fallen out of that kind hath been exceeding short of what is come to pass in 
the days wherein we live ; for, not to mention the Socinians, who have gathered 
into one head, or rather ulcerous imposthume, all the virulent oppositions made 
unto His deity or grace by the Photinians, Macedonians, and Pelagians of old, 
there are others, who, professing no enmity unto his divine person, yea, admitting 
and owning the doctrine of the church concerning it, are yet ready on all occa- 
sions to despise and reproach that whole work for which he was promised under 
the Old Testament, and which is expressly assigned unto him in the New. Hence 
is it grown amongst many a matter of reproach and scorn for any one to make 
mention of his grace, or to profess an interest in that work of his, as his, with- 
out which no man shall see God, if the Scripture be a faithful testimony ; and 
some have taken pains to prove that sundry things which are expressly assigned 
unto him in the gospel as effects of his power and grace are only filthy enthu- 
siasms, or at least weak imaginations of distempered minds. Neither is there any 
end of calumnious imputations on them by whom his work is avowed and his 
grace professed. Yea, the deportment of many herein is such as that, if it were 
not known how effectual the efforts of profaneness are upon the corrupted minds 
of men, it would rather seem ridiculous and [to] be despised than to deserve any 
serious notice : for let any avow or plead for the known work of the Spirit of 
God, and it is immediately apprehended a sufficient ground to charge them with 
leaving the rule of the word to attend unto revelations and inspirations, as also 
to forego all thoughts of the necessity of the duties of obedience ; whereas no 
other work of his is pleaded for, but that only without which no man can either 
attend unto the rule of the Scripture as he ought, or perform any one duty of 
obedience unto God in a due manner. And there are none of this conspiracy so 
weak or unlearned but are able to scoff at the mention of him, and to cast the 
very naming of him on others as a reproach. Yea, it is well if some begin not 
to deal in like manner with the person of Christ himself; for error and profane- 
ness, if once countenanced, are at all times fruitful and progressive, and will be so 
whilst, darkness nnd corruption abiding on the minds of men, the great adversary 
is able, by his subtle malice, to make impressions on them. But in these things 
not a few do please themselves, despise others, and would count themselves injured 
if their Christianity should be called in question. But what value is there in that 
name or title, where the whole mystery of the gospel is excluded out of our reli- 
gion? Take away the dispensation of the Spirit, and his effectual operations in 
all the intercourse that is between God and man ; be ashamed to avow or profess 
the work attributed unto him in the gospel,— and Christianity is plucked up by the 
roots. Yea, this practical contempt of the work of the Holy Spirit being grown 
the only plausible defiance of religion, is so also to be the most pernicious, beyond 
all notional mistakes and errors about the same things, being constantly accom- 
panied with profaneness, and commonly issuing in atheism. 

The sense I intend is fully expressed in the ensuing complaint of a learned per- 
son, published many years ago: "In seculo hodie tam perverso prorsus immersi 



TO THE READERS. 9 

vivimus miseri, in quo Spiritus Sanctus omnino ferme pro ludibi-io habetur: imo 
in quo etiam sunt qui non tantum corde toto eum repudient ut factis negent, sed 
quoque adeo blasphemi in eum exsurgant ut penitus eundem ex orbe expulsum aut 
exulatum cupiant, quum illi nuUam in operationibus suis relinquant efficaciam; 
ac propriis vanorum habituura suorum viribus, ao rationis profanae libertati car- 
nalitatique suae omnem ascribant sapientiam, et fortitudinem in rebus agendis. 
Unde tanta malignitas externae proterviae apud mortales cernitur. Ideoque per- 
nicies nostra nos jam ante fores expectat," etc. Herein lies the rise and spring of 
that stated apostasy from the power of evangelical truth, wherein the world takes 
its liberty to immerge itself in all licentiousness of life and conversation; the end 
whereof many cannot but expect with dread and terror. 

To obviate these evils in any measure ; to vindicate the truth and reality of 
divine spiritual operations in the church ; to avow what is believed and taught by 
them concerning the Holy Spirit and his work who are most charged and reflected 
on for their profession thereof, and thereby to evince the iniquity of those calum- 
nies under the darkness and shades whereof some seek to countenance themselves 
in their profane scoffing at his whole dispensation ; to manifest in all instances 
that what is ascribed unto him is not only consistent with religion, but also that 
without which religion cannot consist, nor the power of it be preserved, — is the 
principal design of the ensuing discourses. 

Now, whereas the effectual operation of the blessed Spirit in the regeneration 
or conversion of sinners is, of all other parts of this work, most violently opposed, 
and hath of late been virulently traduced, I have the more largely insisted thereon. 
And because it can neither be well understood nor duly explained without the 
consideration of the state of lapsed or corrupted nature, I have taken in that also 
at large, as judging it necessary so to do; for whereas the knowledge of it lies at, 
the bottom of all our obedience unto God by Christ, it hath always been the design 
of some, and yet continueth so to be, either wholly to deny it, or to extenuate it 
unto the depression and almost annihilation of the grace of the gospel, whereby 
alone our nature can be repaired. Designing, therefore, to treat expressly of the 
reparation of our nature by grace, it was on all accounts necessary that we should 
treat of its depravation by sin also. 

Moreover, what is discoursed on these things is suited unto the edification of 
thenrvthat do believe, and directed unto their furtherance in true spiritual obedi- 
ence and holiness, or the obedience of faith. Hence, it may be, some will judge 
that our discourses on these subjects are drawn out into a greater length than 
was needful or convenient, by that continual intermixture of practical applications 
which runs along in them all. 'But if they shall be pleased to consider that my 
design was, not to handle these things in a way of controversy, but, declaring and 
confirming the truth concerning them, to accommodate the doctrines treated of 
unto practice, and that I dare not treat of things of this nature in any other way 
but such as may promote the edification of the generality of believers, they will 
either be of my mind, or, it may be, without much difficulty admit of my excuse. 
However, if these things are neglected or despised by some, yea, be they never so 
many, there are yet others who will judge their principal concernment to lie in 
such discourses as may direct and encourage them in the holy practice of their 
duty. And whereas the way, manner, and method of the Holy Spirit, in his ope- 
rations as to this work of translating sinners from death unto life, from a state of 
nature unto that of grace, have been variously handled by some, and severely re- 
flected on with scorn by others, I have endeavoured so to declare and assert 
what the Scripture manifestly teacheth concerning them, confirming it with the 
testimonies of some of the ancient writers of the church, as I no way doubt but it 
is suited unto the experience of them who have in their own souls been made par- 



10 TO THE READERS. 

tiilcers of that blessed work of the Holy Ghost. And whilst, in the substance of 
what is delivered, I have the plain testimonies of the Scripture, the suffrage of the 
ancient church, and the experience of them who do sincerely believe, to rest upon, 
I shall not be greatly moved with the censures and opposition of those who are 
otherwise minded. 

I shall add no more on this head but that, whereas the only inconvenience where- 
with our doctrine is pressed is the pretended difficulty in reconciling the nature 
and necessity of our duty with the efficacy of the grace of the Spirit, I have 
been so far from waiving the consideration of it, as that I have embraced every 
opportunity to examine it in all particular instances wherein it may be urged 
with most appearance of probability. And it is, I hope, at length made to appear, 
that not only the necessity of our duty is consistent with the efficacy of God's 
grace, but also, that as, on the one hand, we can perform no duty to God as we 
ought without its aid and assistance, nor have any encouragement to attempt a 
course of obedience without a just expectation thereof, so, on the other, that the 
work of grace itself is no way effectual but in our compliance with it in a way of 
duty : only, with the leave of some persons, or whether they will or no, we give the 
pre-eminence in all unto grace, and not unto ourselves. The command of God is 
the measure and rule of our industry and diligence in a way of duty; and why 
any one should be discouraged from the exercise of that industry which God re- ' 
quires of him by the consideration of the aid and assistance which he hath pro- 
mised unto him, I cannot understand. The work of obedience is difficult and of 
the highest importance; so that if any one can be negligent therein because God 
will help and assist him, it is because he hates it, he likes it not. Let others do 
what they please, I shall endeavour to comply with the apostle's advice upon the 
enforcement which he gives unto it: "Work out your own salvation with fear and 
trembling ; for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his own 
good pleasure." 

These things, with sundry of the like nature, falling unavoidably under con- 
sideration, have drawn out these discourses unto a length much beyond my first 
design ; which is also the occasion why I have forborne the present adding unto 
them those other parts of the work of the Holy Spirit, in prayer or supplication, 
in illumination with respect unto thebelief of the Scriptures and right imderstand- 
ing of the mind of Qod in them, in the communication of gifts unto the church, and 
in the consolation of believers; which must now wait for another opportunity, if 
God in his goodness and patience shall be pleased to grant it unto us. 

Another part of the work of the Holy Spirit consisteth in our sanctifcation, 
whereon our evangelical obedience or holiness doth depend. How much all his 
operations herein also are by some despised, what endeavours there have been to 
debase the nature of gospel-obedience, yea, to cast it out of the hearts and lives of 
Christians, and to substitute a heathenish honesty at best in the room thereof, is 
not unknown to any who think it their duty to inquire into these things. Hence 
I thought it not unnecessary, on the occasion of treating concerning the work of 
the Holy Spirit in our sanctification, to make a diligent and full inquiry into the 
true nature of evangelical holiness, and that spiritual life unto God which all be- 
lievers are created unto in Christ Jesus. And herein, following the conduct of 
the Scriptures from first to last, the difference that is between them and that exer- 
cise of moral virtue which some plead for in their stead did so evidently manifest 
itself, as that it needs no great endeavour to represent it unto any impartial judg- 
ment. Only, in the handling of these things, I thought meet to pursue my former 
method and design, and principally to respect the reducing of the doctrines insisted 
on unto the practice and improvement of holiness; which also hath occasioned the 
lengthenmg of these discourses. I doubt not but all these things will be by some 



TO THE HEADERS. • H 

despised; they are so in themselves, and their declaration by me will not recommend 
them unto a better acceptation. But let them please themselves whilst they sea 

' good in their own imaginations; whilst the Scripture is admitted to be an infallible 
declaration of the will of God and the nature of spiritual things, and there are 

1 Christians remaining in the world who endeavour to live to God, and to come to 
the enjoyment of him by Jesus Christ, there will not want sufficient testimony 

1 against that putid figment of moral virtue being all our gospel holiness, or that the 

• reparation of our natures and life unto God doth consist therein alone. 

In the last place succeeds a discourse concerning the necessity of holiness and 
obedience. Some regard, I confess, I had therein, though not much, unto the ridicu- 
lous clamours of malevolent and ignorant persons, charging those who plead for 
the efficacy of the grace of God and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, 
as though thereby they took away the necessity of a holy life ; for who would 
much trouble himself about an accusation which is laden with as many convictions 
of its forgery as there are persons who sincerely believe those doctrines, and which 
common light gives testimony against in the conversations of them by whom they 
are received, and by whom they are despised? It was the importance of the thing 
itself, made peculiarly seasonable by the manifold temptations of the days wherein 
we live, which occasioned that addition unto what was delivered about the nature 
of evangelical holiness; seeing " if we know these things, happy are we if we do 
them." But yet, the principal arguments and demonstrations of that necessity 
being drawn from those doctrines of the gospel which some traduce as casting no 
good aspect thereon, the calumnies mentioned are therein also obviated. And thus 
far have we proceeded in the declaration and vindication of the despised work of 
the Spirit of God under the New Testament, referring the remaining instances 
above mentioned unto another occasion. 

The oppositions unto all that we believe and maintain herein are of two sorts : 
—First, Such as consist in particular exceptions against and objections unto each 
particular work of the Spirit, whether in the communication of gifts or the Ope- 
ration of grace. Secondly, Such as consist in reflections cast on the whole work 
ascribed unto him in general. Those of the first sort will all of them fall under 
consideration in their proper places, where we treat of those especial actings of the 
Spirit whereunto they are opposed. The other sort, at least the principal of them, 
wherewith some make the greatest noise in the world, may be here briefly spoken 
unto: — 

The first and chief pretence of this nature is, that all those who plead for the 
effectual operations of the Holy Spirit in the illumination of the minds of men, the 
reparation of their natures, the sanctificationof their persons, and their endowment 
with spiritual gifts, are therein and thereby enemies to reason, and impugn the 
use of it in religion, or at least allow it not that place and exercise therein which 
is its due. Hence, some of those who are otherwise minded affirm that it is cast 
on them as a reproach that they are rational divines; although, so far as I can 
discern, if it be so, it is as Hierom was beaten by an angel for being a Ciceronian 
(in the judgment of some), very undeservedly. But the grounds whereon this 
charge should be made good have not as yet been made to appear; neither hath it 
been evinced that any thing is ascribed by us unto the efficacy of God's grace in 
the least derogatory unto reason, its use, or any duty of man depending thereon. 
I suppose we are agreed herein, that the reason of man, in the state wherein we 
are, is not sufficient in itself to find out or frame a religion whereby we may please 
God and be accepted with him; or if we are not agreed herein, yet I shall not 
admit it as a part of our present controversy, wherein we suppose a religion pro- 
ceeding from and resolved into supernatural revelation. Neither is it, that I know 
of, as yet pleaded by any that reason is able to comprehend all the things in their 



1 2 TO THE HEADERS. 

nature and being, or to search them out unto perfection, which are revealed unto 
us; for we do not directly deal with them by whom the principal mysteries of the 
gospel are rejected, because they cannot comprehend them, under a pretence that 
what is above reason is against it. And it may be it will be granted, moreover, 
that natural reason cannot enable the mind of a man unto a saving perception of 
spiritual things, as revealed, without the especial aid of the Spirit of God in illumi- 
nation. If this be denied by anv, as we acknowledge our dissent from them, so we 
know that we do no injury to reason thereby, and will rather suffer under the im- 
putation of so doing than, by renouncing of the Scripture, to turn infidels, that we 
may be esteemed rational. But we cannot conceive how reason should be preju- 
diced by the advancement of the rational faculties of our souls, with respect unto 
their exercise .towards their proper objects, — which is all we assign unto the work 
of the Holy Spirit in this matter; and there are none in the world more free to 
grant than we are, that unto us our reason is the only judge of the sense and truth 
of propositions drawn from the Scripture or proposed therein, and do wish that 
all men might be left peaceable under that determination, where we know they 
must abide, whether they will or no. 

But the inquiry in this matter is, what reasonableness appears in the mysteries' 
of our religion when revealed unto our reason, and what ability we have to receive, 
believe, and obey them as such. The latter part of this inquiry is so fully spoken 
imto in the ensuii:g discourses as that I shall not here again insist upon it; the 
former may in a few words be spoken unto. It cannot be, it is not, that I know 
of, denied by any that Christian religion is highly reasonable; for it is the effect of 
the. infinite reason, understanding, and wisdom of God. But the question is not, 
w-hat it is in itself? but what it is in relation to our reason, or how it appears there- 
unto? And there is no doubt but every thing in Christian religion appears highly 
reasonable unto reason enlightened, or the mind of man affected with that work 
of grace, in its renovation, which is so expressly ascribed unto the Holy Spirit in 
the Scripture; for as there is a suitableness between an enlightened mind and spi- 
ritual mysteries as revealed, so seeing them in their proper light, it finds by experi- 
ence their necessity, use, goodness, and benefit, with respect unto our chiefest good 
and supreme end. It remains, therefore, only that we inquire how reasonable the 
mysteries of Christian religion are unto the minds of men as corrupted ; for that 
they are so by the entrance of sin, as we believe, so we have proved in the ensuing 
treatise. And it is in vain to dispute with any about the reasonableness of evangeli- 
cal faith and obedience until the state and condition of our reason be agreed [on]. 
Wherefore, to speak plainly in the case, as we do acknowledtre that reason, in its 
corrupted state, is all that any man hath in that state whereby to understand and 
to judge of the sense and truth of doctrmes revealed in the Scripture, and, in the 
use of such aids and means as it is capable to improve, is more and better unto him 
than any judge or interpreter that should impose a sense upon him not suit,ed there- 
unto; so, as to the spiritual things themselves of the gospel, in their own nature, it 
is enmity against them, and they are foolishness unto it. If, therefore, it be a 
crime, if it be to the impeachment and disadvantage of reason, to affirm that our 
minds stand in need of the renovation of the Holy Ghost, to enable them to under- 
stand spiritual things in a spiritual manner, we do acknowledge ourselves guilty 
thereof. But otherwise, that by asserting the efficacious operations of the Spirit 
of God, and the necessity of them unto the discharge of every spiritual duty to- 
wards God in an acceptable manner, we do deny that use and exercise of our own 
reason in things religious and spiritual whereof in any state it is capable, and 
whereunto of God it is appointed, is unduly charged on us, as will afterward be 
fully manifested. 

But it is moreover pretended, that by the operations we ascribe unto the Holy 



TO THE READEr^S. 13 

Spii'it, we expose men to be deceived by satanical dehisions, [and] open a door to 
enthusiasms, directing them to the guidance of unaccountable impulses and reve- 
lations; so making way unto all folly and villany. By what means this charge can 
be fixed on them who professedly avow that nothing is good, nothing duty unto 
us, nothing acceptable unto God, but what is warranted by the Scripture, directed 
unto thereby, and suited thereunto, which is the alone perfect rule of all that God 
requires of us in the way of obedience, but only [by] ungrounded clamours, hath not 
yet been attempted to be made manifest; for all things of this nature are not 
only condemned by them, but all things which they teach concerning the Holy 
Spirit of God are the principal ways and means to secure us from the danger of 
them. It is true, there have been of old, and haply do still continue among some, 
satanical delusions, diabolical suggestions, and foul enthusiasms, which have been 
pretended to proceed from the Spirit of God, and to be of a divine original; for so 
it is plainly affirmed in the Scripture, both under the Old Testament and the 
New, directions being therein added for their discovery and disprovement. But 
if we must therefore reject the true and real operations of the Spirit of God, the 
principal preservative against our being deceived by them, we may as well reject 
the owning of God himself, because the devil hath imposed himself on mankind as 
the object of their worship. Wherefore, as to enthusiasms of any kind, which 
might possibly give countenance unto any diabolical suggestions, we are so far from 
affirming any operations of the Holy Ghost to consist in them, or in any thing like 
unto them, that we allow no pretence of them to be consistent therewithal. And 
we have a sure rule to try all these things by ; which as we are bound in all such 
cases precisely to attend unto, so hath God promised the assistance of his Spirit, 
that they be not deceived, unto them who do it in sincerity. What some men in- 
tend by impulses, I know not. If it be especial aids, assistances, and inclinations 
unto duties, acknowledged to be such, and the duties of persons so assisted and in- 
clined, and these peculiarly incumbent on them in their present circumstances, it 
requires no small caution that, under an invidious name, we reject not those sup- 
plies of grace which are promised unto us, and which we are bound to pray for ; 
but if irrational impressions, or violent inclinations unto things or actions which 
are not acknowledged duties in themselves, evidenced by the word of truth, and so 
unto the persons so affected in their present condition and circumstances, are thus 
expressed, as we utterly abandon them, so no pretence is given unto them from any 
tiling which we believe concerning the Holy Spirit and his operations: for the 
whole work which we assign unto him is nothing but that whereby we are enabled 
to perform that obedience unto God which is required in the Scripture, in the way 
and manner wherein it is required ; and it is probably more out of enmity unto 
him than us where the contrary is pretended. The same may be said concerning 
revelations. They are of two sorts, — objective and subjective. Those of the former 
sort, whether they contain doctrines contrary unto that of the Scripture, or additional 
thereunto, or seemingly confirmatory thereof, they are all universally to be rejected, 
the former being absolutely false, the latter useless. Neither have any of the ope- 
rations of the Spirit pleaded for the least respect unto them; for he having finished 
the whole work of external revelation, and closed it in the Scripture, his whole 
internal spiritual work is suited and commensurate thereunto. By subjective reve- 
lations, nothing is intended but that work of spiritual illumination whereby we 
are enabled to discern and understand the mind of God in the Scripture; which 
the apostle prays for in the behalf of all believers, Eph. i. 16-19, and whose 
nature, God assisting, shall be fully explained hereafter. So little pretence, there- 
fore, there is for this charge on them by whom the efficacious operations of the 
Spirit of God are asserted, as that without them we have no absolute security that 
we shall be preserved from being imposed on by them or some of them. 



I 



14 TO THE READERS. 

But, it may be, it will be said at last that our whole labour, in declaring tbe vroA. 
of the Spirit of God in us and towards us, as well as what we have now briefly 
spoken in the vindication of it from these or the like imputations, is altogether 
vain, seeing all we do or say herein is nothing but canting with unintelligible ex- 
pressions. So some affirm, indeed, before they have produced their charter wherein 
they are constituted the sole judges of what words, what expressions, what way of 
teaching, are proper in things of this nature. But, by any thing that yet appears, 
they seem to be as unmeet for the exercise of that dictatorship herein which they 
pretend unto, as any sort of men that ever undertook the declaration of things 
sacred and spiritual. Wherefore, unless they come with better authority than as 
yet they can pretend unto, and give a better example of their own way and manner 
of teaching such things than as yet they have done, we shall continue to make 
Scripture phraseology our rule and pattern in the declaration of spiritual things, 
and endeavour an accommodation of all our expressions thereunto, whether to 
them intelligible or not, and that for reasons so eas^ to be conceived as that tiwy 
need not here be pleaded. 



DISCOURSE CONCEENING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



BOOK I. 

CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 

1 Cor. xii. 1 opened — nvivfia.Ti»d, spiritual gifts — Their grant unto, use and abuse 
in, that church — Jesus, how called "anathema" — Impiety of the Jews — How 
called " Lord" — The foundation of church order and worship — In what sense 
we are enabled by the Spirit to call Jesus " Lord" — The Holy Spirit the author 
of all gifts — why called " God," and " The Lord" — General distribution of spiri- 
tual gifts — Proper end of their communication — Nine sorts of gifts — Abuse 
of them in the church — Their tendency unto peace and order — General design 
of the ensuing discourse concerning the Spirit and his dispensation — Import- 
ance of the doctrine concerning the Spirit of God and his operations 

Reasons hereof— Pi'omise of the Spirit' to supply the absence of Christ, as to 
his human nature — Concernment thereof — Work of the Spirit in the minis- 
tration of the gospel — All saving good communicated unto us and wrought 
m us by him — Sin against the Holy Ghost irremissible — False pretences unto 
the Spirit dangerous — Pretences unto the spirit of prophecy under the Old 
Testament — Two sorts of false prophets: the first; the second sort — Pre- 
tenders under the New Testament — The rule for the trial of such pretenders, 
1 John iv. 1-3 — Rules to this purpose under the Old and New Testaments 
compared — A false spirit, set up against the Spirit of God, examined — False 
and noxious opinions concerning the Spirit, and how to be obviated — Re- 
proaches of the Spirit and his work — Principles and occasions of the apostasy 
of churches under the law and gospel — Dispensation of the Spirit not con- 
fined to the first ages of the church — The great necessity of a diligent in- 
quii-y into the things taught concerning the Spirit of God and his work. 

The apostle Paul, in the 12th chapter of his First Epistle to the 
Corinthians, directs their exercise of spiritual gifts, concerning which, 
amongst other things and emergencies, they had made inquiry of 
him. This the first words wherewith he prefaceth his whole dis- 
course declare : Verse 1, " Now, concerning spiritual gifts,"— ns/s'/ 
ds Tuv <?r)iivfji,arix.M\i' — that is, ^a,piff//.a.Tav, as his ensuing declaration 
doth evince. And the imagination of some, concerning spiritual 
persons to be here intended, contrary to the sense of all the ancients, 



1 6 GTCNERAL PRINCTPLES CONCERNING [BOOK I. 

is inconsistent with the context:^ for as it was about spiritual gifts 
and their exercise that the church had consulted with him, so the 
whole series of his ensuing discourse is directive therein; and, 
therefore, in the close of it, contracting the design of the whole, he 
doth it in that advice, ZjjXoDrs 8s ra yaf'teihara TO, xpiiTTova, — " Covet 
earnestly the best gifts," — namely, among those which he proposed to 
treat of, and had done so accordingly, verse 31. The ra, •yxsu/iar/xa of 
verse 1 are the t& y^aple/iara of verse 81 ; as it is expressed, chap, 
xiv. 1, ZtjXovts ds TO, irviviMarixa, — that is, yapidiMara^ — "'Desire spiritual 
gifts,' whose nature and use you are now instructed in, as it first was 
proposed." Of these that church had received an abundant measure, 
especially of those that were extraordinary, and tended to the con- 
viction of unbelievers: for the Lord having "much people in that 
city," whom he intended to call to the faith. Acts xviii. 9, 10, not 
only encouraged our apostle, against all fears and dangers, to begin 
and carry on the work of preaching there, wherein he continued " a 
year and six months," verse 11, but also furnished the first converts 
with such eminent, and some of them such miraculous gifts, as might 
be a prevalent means to the conversion of many others; for he will 
never be wanting to provide instruments and suitable means for the 
effectual attaining of any end that he aimeth at. In the use, exer- 
cise, and management of these " spiritual gifts," that church, or 
sundry of the principal members of it, had fallen into manifold dis- 
orders, and abused them unto the matter of emulation and ambition, 
whereon other evils did ensue ;^ as the best of God's gifts may be 
abused by the lusts of men, and the purest water may be tainted by 
the earthen vessels whereinto it is poured. Upon the information 
of some who, loving truth, peace, and order, were troubled at these 
miscarriages, 1 Cor. i. 11, and in answer unto a letter of the whole 
church, written unto him about these and other occurrences, chap, 
vii. 1, he gives them counsel and advice for the rectifying of these 
abuses. And, first, to prepare them aright with humility and thank- 
fulness, becoming them who were intrusted with such excellent pri- 
vileges as they had abused, and without which they could not re- 
ceive the instruction which he intended them, he mindeth them of 
their former state and condition before their calling and conversion 
to Christ, chap. xii. 2, " Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried 
away with dumb idols, even as ye were led;" ug av yjyiffdi aitayoit^im, 

TlvivftetriKoc to, trnftiTa xaXZv, on Taura tpyx rov trvtificcros fievcv, elioiy av^aanr/'mj 
Wtia-ftpouff))! tfTtouhni, ih TO Ta roiavret B-av/iarovpyiTv. — Clirysost. in loc. So also Am- 
bros. and Theophylact. in loc. 

* Xcipi^rftara. dt £';)j«v, oi fuv iXurrovoc, oi ol TXtitu' xa) tovto a'lTiov ffx^'iffftaroi auroTs 
cytvlTt, ov 'JTa.fa, <r>iv oiKHav ipufiv, aXXa Tccfk dyvufiotrmriv tuv ilXri<p'oTui' «'/ts yoif tcc //.li- 
%'.)ia, 'ix.oi'^iS i-rr.fuvTo x«t« tuv ra. iXccTToya xiXTti/iivcov ourei it ecu vraXiv HXyovv, xai roTi 
<ra /iii^ota 'i^ovffiv if^ovovv. — ChrySOSt. in loc. 



CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS V/ORK. 37 

— hurried with violent impressions from the devil into the service of 
idols. This he mentions not to reproach them, but to let them 
know what frame of mind and what fruit of life might be justly ex- 
pected from them who had received such an alteration in their con- 
dition.^ Particularly, as he elsewhere tells them, if they had not 
made themselves to differ from others, if they had nothing but 
what they had received, — they should not boast nor exalt themselves 
above others, as though they had not received, chap. iv. 7; for it 
is a vain thing for a man to boast in himself of what he hath freely 
received of another, and never deserved so to receive it, as it is with 
all who have received either gifts or grace from God. 

This alteration of their state and condition he farther declares 
unto them by the effects and author of it: chap. xii. 3, " Wherefore I 
give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God 
calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the 
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." The great difference which was then 
in the world was concerning Jesus, who was preached unto them all. 
Unbelievers, who were still carried with an impetus of mind and 
affections after " dumb idols," being led and acted therein by the 
sphit of the devil, blasphemed, and said Jesus was anathema, or- 
one accursed. They looked on him as a person to be detested and 
abominated as the common odium of their gods and men. Hence, 
on the mention of him they used to say, " Jesus anathema," " He is," 
or, "Let him be, accursed/' detested, destroyed. And in this blas- 
phemy do the Jews continue to this day, hiding their cursed senti- 
ments under a corrupt pronunciation of his name: for instead of 
^^1, they write and call him ^'^'^., the initial letters of ii^H ^^^ ^^\ 
— that is, " Let his name and memory be blotted out;" the same with 
" Jesus anathema." And this blasphemy of pronouncing Jesus ac- 
cursed was that wherewith the first persecutors of the church tried 
the faith of Christians, as Pliny in his epistle to Trajan, and Justin 
Martyr, with other apologists, agree; and as the apostle says, those 
who did thus did not so " by the Spirit of God," so he intends that 
they did it by the acting and instigation of the devil, the unclean 
spirit, which ruled in those children of disobedience. And this was 
the condition of those Corinthians themselves to whom he wrote, 
whilst they also were carried away after " dumb idols." On th& 
other side, those that believed called Jesus " Lord," or professed that 
he was the Lord; and thereby avowed their faith in him and obedi- 
ence unto him. Principally, they owned him to be Jehovah, the 
Lord over all, God blessed for ever; for the name '"'j'^^. is every- 

1 " Spiritualia illis traditurus, exemplum prioris conversationis memorat ; ut sicufr 
eiraulacrorum fueruiit formtl colontes idola, et ducebanturduce voluntate daemonioruui,. 
ita et colentes deuui siut loraia ioj^is doiulnicu)." — Aiubros. iu loc. 

YOL. III. 2 



] 8 GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK I 

•where in the New Testament expressed by Kupiog, here used. He 
Avho thus professeth Jesus to be the Lord, in the first place acknow- 
ledgeth him to be the true God. And then they professed him 
therewithal to be their Lord, the Lord of their souls and consciences, 
imto whom they owed all subjection and performed all obedience; 
as Thomas did in his great confession, " My Lord and my God," 
John XX. 28. Now, as he had before intimated that those who dis- 
owned him and called him "accursed" did speak by the instinct and 
instigation of the devil, by whom they were acted, so he lets them 
know, on the other hand, that no man can thus own and confess 
Jesus to be the *' Lord" but by the Holy Ghost. But it may be said 
that some acted by the unclean spirit confessed Christ to be the Lord. 
So did the man in the synagogue, who cried out, " I know thee who 
thou art, the Holy One of God," Mark i. 23, 24 ; and verse 34, he "suf- 
fered not the devils to speak, because they knew him." And the dam- 
sel possessed with a spirit of divination cried after the apostle and his 
companions, saying, " These men are the servants of the most high 
God," Acts xvi. 1 7. So also did the man who abode in the tombs, pos- 
sessed with an unclean spirit, who cried out unto him, " What have I 
to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God," Mark v. 7. 
And other testimonies to the like purpose among the heathen, and 
from their oracles, might be produced. Ans. 1. Our apostle speaks 
of such a saying of Jesus to be Lord as is accompanied with faith 
in him and subjection of soul unto him; which is from the Holy 
Ghost alone. Thus none acted by the unclean spirit can call him 
Lord. 2. These acknowledgments were either (1.) wrested from the 
devil, and were no small part of his punishment and torment ; or (2.) 
were designed by him with an intention to prejudice the glory of 
Christ by his testimony, who was a liar from the beginning ; and 

" Malus bonum cum simulat, tunc est pessimus." 

These things, therefore, can have here no place.^ Hereby, then, the 
apostle informs them wherein the foundation of all church relation, 
order, and worship, did consist: for whereas they had all respect 
unto the Lordship of Christ and their acknowledgment thereof, this 
was not from themselves, but was a pure effect of the operation of 
the Holy Ghost in them and towards them. And any thing of the 
like kind which doth not proceed from the same cause and fountain 
is of no use to the glory of God, nor of any advantage unto the souls 
of men. 

Some think that this saying of Jesus to be the Lord is to be re- 

•v'lo; rou Siov; olx) Uast/Xa; 'iXiyov, ovTot ot av^^wjroi oovXoi ToZ 0iou rou ii^itrrov ti<riv ; i)^}i.ei 
fiatrrtl^oiitvoiy aXX' o.vayKoJ^oft.iiioi, IxctTis ei Koci fir) fittrriyou/iivoi, auia(iov. — ChrySOStii 

in loc. 



CHAP. I.J THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 19 

strained unto the manner of speaking afterward insisted on-/ for 
the apostle in the following verses treateth of those extraordinary 
gifts which many in that church were then endowed withal. " None 
can," saith he, " say ' Jesus is the Lord/ in an extraordinary manner, 
with divers tongues, and in prophecy, but by the Holy Ghost ;" — with- 
out his especial assistance, none can eminently and miraculously de- 
clare him so to be. And if this be so, it is likely that those before 
intended, who said Jesus was accursed, were some persons pretend- 
ing to be acted, or really acted, by an extraordinary spirit, which the 
apostle declares not to be the Spirit of God; and so Chrysostom 
interprets those words of them who were visibly and violently acted 
by the devil. Many such instruments of his malice did Satan stir 
up in those days, to preserve, if it were possible, his tottering king- 
dom from ruin. But there is no necessity thus to restrain the words, 
or to affix this sense unto them ; yea, it seems to me to be incon- 
sistent with the design of the apostle and scope of the place: for 
intending to instruct the Corinthians, as was said, in the nature, use, 
and exercise of spiritual gifts, he first lays down the spring and 
fountain of all saving profession of. the gospel, which those gifts were 
designed to the furtherance and improvement of. Hereupon, having 
minded them of their heathen state and condition before, he lets 
tliem know by what means they were brought into the profession of 
the gospel, and owning of Jesus to be the Lord, in opposition unto 
the dumb idols whom they had served ; and this was by the Author 
of those gifts, unto whose consideration he was now addressing him- 
self The great change wrought in them, as to their religion and 
profession, was by the Holy Ghost ; for no man can say that Jesus 
is the Lord, which is the sum and substance of our Christian profes- 
sion, but by him, though some think he hath little or no concern at 
all in this matter. But to say Christ is the Lord includes two 
tilings: — First, Faith in him as Lord and Saviour. So was he de- 
clared and preached by the angels, Luke ii. 11, "A Saviour, which 
is Christ the Lord." And this word " Lord " includes, as the dignity 
of his person, so his investiture with those offices which for our good 
this Lord did exercise and discharge. Secondly, The profession of 
that faith. Which two, where they are sincere, do always accompany 
each other, Rom. x. 10; for as the saying of Jesus to be anathema 
did comprise an open disclaimer and abrenunciation of him, so the 
calling of him Lord expresseth the profession of our faith in him, 
and subjection unto him. And both these are here intended to be 
sincere and saving : for that faith and profession are intended where- 
by the church is built upon the rock; the same with that of Peter, 
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Matt. xvi. 16. 
' Crel de Spir. Sane, Prolegom., pp. 29-31. 



20 GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK L 

And that these are the works of the Holy Ghost, which none of 
themselves are sufficient for, shall, God assisting, be afterward abun- 
dantly declared. 

Having thus stated the original and foundation of the church, in 
its faith, profession, order, and worship, he farther acquaints them 
that the same Spirit is likewise the author of all those gifts whereby 
it was to be built up and established, and whereby the profession of 
it might be enlarged : 1 Cor. xii. 4, " Now there are diversities of gifts, 
but the same Spirit." These are the things which he intendeth to 
discourse upon, wherein he enlargeth himself in the whole ensuing 
chapter. Now, because the particulars here insisted on by him in 
the beginning of his discourse will all of them occur unto us and be 
called over again in their proper places, I shall only point unto the 
heads of the discourse in the verses prece'ding the 11th, which we 
principally aim at. 

Treating, therefore, '?rspi ruv 'rvsv/x^anxuv, of these spiritual things 
or gifts in the church, he first declares their author, from whom 
they come, and by whom they are wrought and bestowed. Him he 
calls the " Spirit," verse 4 ; the " Lord," verse 5 ; " God," verse 6 ; 
and to denote the oneness of their author, notwithstanding the di- 
versity of the things themselves, he calls him the same Spirit, the 
same Lord, the savie God. The words may be understood two 
Avays : First, That the whole Trinity, and each person disl inctly, should 
be intended in them ; — for consider the immediate operator of these 
gifts, and it is the " Spirit" or the Hol_y Ghost, verse 4; consider them 
as to their procurement and immediate authoritative collation, and 
so they are from Christ, the Son, the " Lord," verse 5 ; but as to their 
first original and fountain, they are from " God," even the Father, 
verse 6 : and all these are one and the same. But rather the Spirit 
alone is intended, and hath this threefold denomination given unto 
him ; for as he is particularly denoted by the name of the " Spirit," 
which he useth that we may know whom it is that eminently he in- 
tendeth, so he calls him both "Lord" and "God," as to manifest his 
sovereign authority in all his works and administrations, so to ingene- 
rate a due reverence in their hearts towards him with whom they had 
to ;lo in this matter. And no more is intended in these three verses 
but what is summed up, verse 11, "But all these worketh that one 
and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." 

Secondly, With respect unto their general nature, the apostle dis- 
tributes them into " gifts," ;^a/5/o7Aara, verse 4 ; " administrations,'' 
btaxovtai, verse 5; "operations," hipyrjiiara, verse 6; — which division, 
with the reasons of it, will in our progress be farther cleared. 

Thirdly, He declares the general end of tlie Spirit of God in the 
conmiunication of them, and the use of them in the church: Verse 7, 



tiTJ.p. l] the holy spirit and his woek. 21 

" But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to pro- 
fit withal." ^avepuetgroij Uvsvfiarog' Syr., nrrni W?i, — "the revelation 
of the Spirit;" that is, the gifts whereby and in whose exercise he 
manifests and reveals his own presence, power, and effectual opera- 
tion. And the Spirit of God hath no other aim in granting these 
his enlightening gifts, wherein he manifests his care of the church, 
and declares the things of the gospel unto any man, but that they 
should be used to the profit, advantage, and edification of others. 
They are not bestowed on men to make their secular gain or advan- 
tage by them, in riches, honour, or reputation, — for which ends Simon 
the magician would have purchased them with his money. Acts viii. 
18, 19, — no, nor yet merely for the good and benefit of the souls of 
them that do receive them ; but for the edification of the church, and 
the furtherance of faith and profession in others : Ufhg H ev//,(pspov 
" Ad id quod expedit, prodest;" " For that which is expedient, useful, 
profitable," — namely, to the church, 1 Cor. vi. 12, x. 23; 2 Cor. viii, 
10. Thus was the foundation of the first churches of the gospel laid 
by the Holy Ghost, and thus was the work of their building unto 
perfection carried on by him. How far present churches do or ought 
to stand on the same bottom, how far they are carried on upon the 
same principles, is worth our inquiry, and will in its proper place fall 
under our consideration. 

Fourthly, The apostle distributes the spiritual gifts then bestowed 
on the church, or some members of it, into nine particular heads or 
instances: as, — 1. Wisdom; 2. Knowledge, 1 Cor. xii. 8, or the word of 
wisdom and the word of knowledge; 3. Faith; 4. Healing, verse 9; 
5. Working of miracles; 6. Prophecy; 7. Discerning of spirits; 8. 
Kinds of tongues; 9. Interpretation of tongues, verse 10. And all 
these were extraordinary gifts, in the manner of the communication 
and exercise, which related unto the then present state of the church. 
^V^hat is yet continued analogous unto them, or holding proportion 
with them, must be farther inquired into, when also their especial 
nature will be unfolded. But now if there be that great diversity of 
gifts in the church,^ if so much difference in their administrations, 
how can it possibly be prevented but that differences and divisions 
will arise amongst them on whom they are bestowed and those 
amongst whom they are exercised? It is true, this may so fall out, 
and sometimes doth so ; and, de facto, it did so in this church of Co- 
rinth. One admired one gift, a second another of a different kind, 
and so the third. Accordingly, among those who had received them, 

' " Ex hoc capite et proximo licet conjicere qute fuerint dotes illius veteris ecclesisB 
Ohristianse, priusquam tot ceremoniis, opibus, imperiis, copiis, bellis aliisque id genus 
esset oiierata. Nunc fere tot pr^clara munia ad unam Potestatem redacta sunt : h. e., 
Christl titulo palliatam Tyrannidem. Quid enim aliud est potestas nisi adsit animua 
apostoiicus ?" — Erasm. Annot. ad v. 4. 



22 GENERAL PPvINCIPLES CONCERNING ' [BOOK L 

one boasted of this or that particular gift and ability, and would be 
continually in its exercise, to the exclusion and contempt of others, 
bestowed no less for the edification of the church than his own. And 
so far were they transported with vain-glory and a desire of self-ad- 
vancement, as that they preferred the use of those gifts in the church 
which tended principally to beget astonishment and admiration in 
them which heard or beheld them, before those which were pecu- 
liarly useful unto the edification of the church itself; which evil, in 
particular, the apostle rebukes at large, chap. xiv. By this means 
the church came to be divided in itself, aad almost to be" broken in 
pieces, chap. i. 11, 12. So foolish ofttimes are the minds of men, so 
liable to be imposed upon, so common is it for their lusts, seduced 
and principled by the craft of Satan, to turn judgment into worm- 
wood, and to abuse the most useful effects of divine grace and bounty ! 
To prevent all these evils for the future, and to manifest how perfect 
a harmony there is in all these divers gifts and different administra- 
tions, at what an agreement they are among themselves in their ten- 
dency unto the same ends of the union and edification of the church, 
from what fountain of wisdom they do proceed, and with what care 
they ought to be used and improved, the apostle declares unto them 
both the author of them and the rule he proceedeth by in their dis- 
pensation, chap, xii. 11. " All these," saith he,^ " worVeth that one 
and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." 
I shall not at present farther open or insist upon these words. Fre- 
quent recourse must be had unto them in our progress, wherein they 
• will be fully explicated as to what concerns the person of the Spirit, 
his will, and his operations, which are all asserted in them ; for my 
purpose is, through the permission and assistance of God, to treat 
from hence of the name, nature, existence, and whole work of the 
Holy Spirit, with the grace of God through Jesus Christ in the com- 
munication of him unto the sons of men : a work in itself too great 
and difficult for me to undertake, and beyond my ability to manage 
unto the glory of God or the edification of the souls of them that 
do believe, for " who is sufficient for these things?" but yet I 
dare not utterly faint in it nor under it, whilst I look unto Him 
whose work it is, who giveth wisdom to them that lack it, and up- 
braideth them not, James i. 5. Our eyes, therefore, are unto him 
alone, who both supplieth seed to the sower, and when he hath 
done, blesseth it with an increase. The present necessity, impor- 
tance, and usefulness of this work, are the things which alone have 
engaged me into the undertaking of it. These, therefore, I shall 
briefly represent in some general considerations, before I insist on 
the things themselves whose especial explanation is designed. 

1 ' AiroCTiXXirai //.iv oiKovofiixa;, Xvifyu SI avTt^oufiu;. — Basil. HoniiL XY. de Fide. 



CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 23 

First, then, we may consider, That the doctrine of the Spirit of 
God, his work and grace, is the second great head or principle of 
those gospel trutlis wherein the glory of God and the good of the 
souls of men are most eminently concerned. And such also it is, 
that without it, — without the knowledge of it in its truth, and the 
improvement of it in its power, — the other will be useless unto those 
ends. For when God designed the great and glorious work of re- 
covering fallen man and the saving of sinners, to the praise of the 
glory of his grace, he appointed, in his infinite wisdom, two great 
means thereof. The one was the giving of his Son for them, and 
the other was the giving of his Spirit unto them. And hereby was 
way made for the manifestation of the glory of the whole blessed 
Trinity; which is the utmost end of all the works of God. Hereby 
were the love, grace, and wisdom of the Father, in the design and 
projection of the whole; the love, grace, and condescension of the 
Son, in the execution, purchase, and procurement of grace and sal- 
vation for sinners; with the love, grace, and power of the Holy 
Spirit, in the effectual application of all unto the souls of men, — made 
gloriously conspicuous. Hence, from the first entrance of sin, there 
were two general heads of the promise of God unto men, concerning 
the means of their recovery and salvation. The one was that concern- 
ing the sending of his Son to be incarnate, to take our nature upon 
him, and to suffer for us therein ; the other, concerning the givino: of 
his Spirit, to make the effects and fruits of the incarnation, obedi- 
ence, and suffering of his Son, effectual in us and towards us. To these 
heads may all the promises of God be reduced. Now, because the 
former was to be the foundation of the latter, that was first to be 
laid down and most insisted on until it was actually accomplished. 
Hence, the great promise of the Old Testament, the principal object 
of the faith, hope, and expectation of believers, was that concerning 
the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, and the work which he 
was to perform. Yet was this also, as we shall see in our progress, 
accompanied with a great intermixture of promises concerning the 
Holy Spirit, to render his coming and work effectual unto us. But 
when once that first work was fully accomplished, when the Son of 
God was come, and had destroyed the works of the devil, the prin- 
cipal remaining promise of the New Testament, the spring of all the 
rest, concerneth the sending of the Holy Spirit unto the accomplish- 
ment of his part of that great work which God had designed. 
Hence, the Holy Ghost, the doctrine concerning his person, his work, 
his grace, is the most peculiar and principal subject of the Scriptures of 
the New Testament, and a most eminent immediate object of the ftiith 
of them that do believe ; and this must be farther cleared, seeing 
we have to deal with some who will scarce allow him to be of any 



24 GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK I. 

consideration in these matters at all. But I shall be brief in these 
previous testimonies hereunto, because the whole ensuing discourse 
is designed to the demonstration of the truth of this assertion. 

1. It is of great moment, and sufficient of itself to maintain the 
cause as proposed, that when our Lord Jesus Christ was to leave 
the world, he promised to send his Holy Spirit unto his disciples 
to supply his absence. Of what use the presence of Christ was unto 
his disciples we may in some measure conceive. They knew full 
well whose hearts were filled with sorrow upon the mention of his 
leaving of them, John xvi. 5, 6. Designing to relieve them in this 
great distress, — which drew out the highest expressions of love, ten- 
derness, compassion, and care towards them, — he doth it principally 
by this promise ; which he assures them shall be to their greater ad- 
vantage than any they could receive by the continuance of his bodily 
presence amongst them. And to secure them hereof, as also to in- 
form them of its great importance, he repeats it frequently unto 
them, and inculcates it upon them. Consider somewhat of what he 
says to this purpose in his last discourse with them: John xiv. 16-18, 
" I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, 
that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom 
the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth 
him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in 
you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you;" that 
is, in and by this Holy Spirit. And verses 25-27, "These things 
have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Com- 
forter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my 
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your re- 
membrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with 
you," etc. And chap. xv. 26, "But when the Comforter is come, 
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of 
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." 
And chap. xvi. 5-15, "Now I go my way to him that sent me; and 
none of you asketh me. Whither goest thou? But because I have 
said these things unto you, sorrow hatli filled your heart. Never- 
theless I tell you the truth ; It is expedient for you that I go away : 
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if 
I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will 
reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of 
sin, because they believe not on me ; of righteousness, because I go 
to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the 
prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto 
you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit 
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth : for he shall not 
speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak : 



CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 25 

and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify nae : for 
he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things 
that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall 
take of mine, and shall show it unto you."^ This was the great 
legacy which our Lord Jesus Christ, departing out of this world, be- 
(jueathed unto his sorrowful disciples. This he promiseth unto them 
as a sufficient relief against all their troubles, and a faithful guide in 
all their ways. And because of the importance of it unto them, he 
frequently repeats it, and enlargeth upon the benefits that they should 
receive thereby, giving them a particular account why it would be 
more advantageous unto them than his own bodily presence; and, 
therefore, after his resurrection he minds them again of this promise, 
commanding them to act nothing towards the building of the church 
until it was accomplished towards them. Acts i. 4, 5, 8. They would 
have been again embracing his human nature, and rejoicing in it; but 
as he said unto Mary, " Touch me not," John xx. 1 7, to wean her from 
any carnal consideration of him, so he instructs them all now to look 
after and trust unto the promise of the Holy Ghost. Hence is that of 
our apostle, " Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now 
henceforth know we him no more," 2 Cor. v. 16; for although it 
was a great privilege to have known Christ in this world after the 
flesh, yet it was much greater to enjoy him in the dispensation of the 
Spirit. And this was spoken by the apgstle, as the ancients judge, 
to rebuke the boastinof of some about their seeing the Lord in the 
flesh, who were thereon called hfCirdcuvoi, whom he directs unto a 
more excellent knowledge of him. It is in vain pretended that it 
A> as the apostles only, and it may be some of the primitive Christians, 
Vvho were concerned in this promise, for although the Holy Ghost 
v.as bestowed on them in a peculiar manner and for especial ends, 
}et the promise in general belongs unto all believers unto the end of 
tlie world ;^ for as to what concerns his gracious operations, what- 

1 " Spiritus Sanctus ad hoc missus a Christo, ad hoc postulatus de Patre ut esset doctor 
veritatis, Christi vicarius." — Tertul. advers. Hseret. cap. xxviii. 

" Quoiiiam Dominus in caelos esset abiturus, Paracletum discipulis necessario dabat, ne 
illos quodammodo pupillos, quod minime decebat, relinquerct ; et sine advocato et quo- 
dam tutore desereret. Hie est enim qui ipsorum animos mentesque firniavit, qui in ipsis 
illumiuatoi' rerum divinarum fuit ; quo confirmati, pro nomine Domini nee carceres nee 
vincula timuerunt : quin imo ipsas seculi potestates et tormenta calcaverunt, armati jam 
Hcilicet per ipsum atque firmati, habentes in se dona qu£e hie idem Spiritus ecclesise 
Christi sponsce, quasi quaedam ornamenta distribuit et dirigit." — Novat. de Trinitat. 

" Totum ex Spiritus Sancti constat ducatu, quod devii diriguntur, quod impii con- 
vertuntur, quod debiles confirmantur. Spiritus rectus, Spiritus Sanctus, Spiritus prin- 
cipalis regit, componit, consummat et perficit, nostras inhabitat mentes, et corda quae 
possidet ; nee errare patitur, nee corrumpi, nee vinci quos docuerit, quos possederit, quos 
gladio potentissimoB veritatis accinxerit." — Cypr. de Spir. Sane. 

* " Prossentia spirituali cum eis erat ubique futurus post ascensionem suam, et cum 
tota ecclesia sua in hoc mundo usque in consummationem seculi: neque enim de solis 
apostolis potest iuteliigi, 'sicut dedisti ei potestatem omnis carnis, ut omne quod dedisti 



26 GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK T. 

ever the Lord Christ prayed for for them, and so promised unto them 
(as the Spirit was procured for them on his prayer, John xiv. 16, 
1 7), he " prayed not for it for them alone, but for them also which 
should believe on him through their word," chap, xvil 20. And his 
promise is, to be " with his alway, even unto the end of the world/' 
Matt, xxviii. 20; as also, that "wherever two or three are gathered 
together in his name, there he would be in the midst of them," chap, 
xviii. 20 ; — which he is no otherwise but by his Spirit ; for as for his 
human nature, " the heaven must receive him until the times of res- 
titution of all things," Acts iii. 21. And this one consideration is 
sufficient to evince the importance of the doctrine and things which 
concern the Holy Spirit ; for is it possible that any Christian should 
be so supinely negligent and careless, so unconcerned in the things 
whereon his present comforts and future happiness do absolutely de- 
pend, as not to think it his duty to inquire with the greatest care 
and diligence into what our Lord Jesus Christ hath left unto us, to 
supply his absence, and at length to bring us unto himself? He by 
whom these things are despised hath neither part nor lot in Christ 
himself; for " if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none 
of his," Rom. viii. 9. 

2. The great work of the Holy Ghost in the dispensation and 
ministration of the gospel, unto all the ends of it, is another evidence 
unto the same purpose.^ Hence, the gospel itself is called " The mi- 
nistration of the Spirit," 2 Cor. iii. 8, in opposition to that of the law, 
which is called the ministration of the letter and of condemna- 
tion. Aiaxovta roxt Uvivfiarog, the " ministry of the Spirit," is either 
that ministry which the Spirit makes effectual, or that ministry 
whereby the Spirit in his gifts and graces is communicated unto men. 
And this is that which gives unto the ministry of the gospel both its 
glory and its efficacy. Take away the Spirit from the gospel and 
you render it a dead letter, and leave the New Testament of no 
more use unto Christians than the Old Testament is of unto the 
Jews. It is therefore a mischievous imagination, proceeding from 
ignorance, blindness, and unbelief, that tliere is no more in the gospel 
but what is contained under any other doctrine or declaration of 
truth, — that it is nothing but a book for men to exercise their reason 

ei det eis vitam seternam ;' sed ubique de omnibus quibus in eum credentibus vita seterna 
datur." — Aug. Tractat. 106, in Evangel. Joban. 

" Munus hoc quod in Christo est, — in consummationem seculi nobiscum; hoc expec- 
tationis noslrse solatium, hoc in dononim operationibus futuiiB spei pignus est; hoc 
mentiuin lumen, hie splendor animorum est." — Hilar, lib. ii. 35, de Trinitat. 

' " Ilic est qui prophetas in ecclesia constituit. magistros erudit, linguas dirigit, ver- 
tutes et sanctitates facit, opera mirabilia gerit, discretiones spirituum porrigit, guber- 
natiories contribuit, consilia suggerit, quseque alia sunt charisniatum dona compouit ct 
digerit ; et idco ecclesiam Domino undique et in omnibus consummatam et perlectam 
facit." — Tertul. 



CIIAr. I.] THE HOLY SPIllIT AND HIS WORK. 27 

in and upon, and to improve the things of it by the same faculty: 
for this is to separate the Spirit, or the dispensation of the Spirit, 
from it, which is in truth to destroy it; and therewith is the cove- 
nant of God rejected, which is, that his word and Spirit shall go 
together, Isa. lix. 21. We shall, therefore, God assisting, mani- 
fest in ovir progress that the whole ministry of the gospel, the whole 
use and efficacy of it, do depend on that ministration of the Spirit 
wherewith, according to the promise of God, it is accompanied. . If, 
therefore, we have any concernment in, or have ever received any 
benefit by, the gospel, or the ministration of it, we have a signal duty 
lying before us in the matter in hand. 

S. There is not any spiritual or saving good from first to last com- 
municated unto us, or that> we are from and by the grace of God 
made partakers of, but it is revealed to us and bestowed on us by the 
Holy Ghost. He who hath not an immediate and especial work of 
the Spirit of God upon him and towards him did never receive any 
especial love, grace, or mercy, from God. For how should he do so? 
Whatever God works in us and upon us, he doth it by his Spirit; 
he, therefore, who hath no work of the Spirit of God upon his heart 
did never receive either mercy or grace from God, for God giveth 
them not but by his Spirit. A disclaimer, therefore, of any work cf 
the Spirit of God in us or upon us is a disclaimer of all interest in 
his grace and mercy; and they may do well to consider it with 
whom the work of tlie Spirit of God is a reproach. When they can 
tell us of any other way whereby a man may be made partaker of 
mercy and grace, we will attend unto it; in the meantime we shall 
prove from the Scripture this to be the way of God. 

4. There is not any thing done in us or by us that is holy and 
acceptable unto God, but it is an effect of the Holy Spirit; it is of 
his operation in us and by us. Without him we can do nothing; 
for without Christ we cannot, John xv. 5, and by him alone is the 
grace of Christ communicated unto us and wrought in us. By him 
we are regenerated;^ by him we are sanctified; by him we are 
cleansed; by him are we assisted in and unto every' good work. 
Particular instances to this purpose will be afterward insisted on and 
proved. And it is our unquestionable concernment to inquire into 
the cause and sj^ring of all that is good in us, wherein also we shall 
have a true discovery of the spring and cause of all that is evil, without a 
competent knowledge of both which we can do nothing as we ought, 

' " Hie est qui operatur ex aquis seeundam nativitatem, semen quoddam divini gene- 
ris, et consecrator cselestis nativitatis; pignus promissae hoereditatis et quasi chiro- 
grapbum quoddam seternae salutis ; qui nos Dei faciat templum et nos efficiat domum, 
qui intevpellat diviiias aures pro nobis gemitibua ineloquacibus, advocationis officia, et 
detensionis exliibens munera, inhabitator corporibus nostris ductus, et sanctitatis efi'eo 
tor; hie est qui iuexplebiles cupiditates coercet," etc. — No vat. de Triuitat. 



23 GENERAL PEINCIPLES CONCERNING [bOOK I. 

5. God lets us know that the only peculiarly remediless sin and 
way of sinning under tlie gospel is to sin in an especial manner 
against the Holy Ghost. And this of itself is sufficient to convince 
us how needful it is for us to be well instructed in what concerns 
him ; for there is somewhat that doth so, which is accompanied with 
irrecoverable and eternal ruin ; and so is nothing else in the world. 
So Mark iii. 28, 29, " All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, 
and' blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but he that 
shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness/' 
Or, "Whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be for- 
given him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come," Matt, 
xii, 32. There remains nothing for him who doth despite to the 
Spirit of grace but a " certain fearful looking for of judgment and 
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries," Heb. x. 27, 29. 
This is that " sin unto death " whose remission is not to be prayed 
for, 1 John v. 16: for he having taken upon him to make effectual 
unto us the great remedy provided in the blood of Christ for the 
pardon of our sins, if he in the prosecution of that work be despised, 
blasphemed, despitefully used, there neither is relief nor can there 
be pardon for that sin. For whence, in that case, should they arise 
or spring? As God hath not another Son to offer another sacrifice 
for sin, — so that he by whom his sacrifice is despised can have none 
remaining for him, — no more hath he another Spirit to make that 
sacrifice effectual unto us, if the Holy Ghost in his work be despised 
and rejected. This, therefore, is a tender place.^ We cannot use too 
much holy diligence in our inquiries after what God hath revealed in 
his word concerning his Spirit and his work, seeing there may be so 
fatal a miscarriage in an opposition unto him as the nature of man 
is incapable of in any other instance. 

And these considerations belong unto the first head of reasons of 
the importance, use, and necessitjj, of the doctrine jjroposed to be in- 
quired into. They are enough to manifest wlmt is the concernment 
of all believers herein ; for on the account of these things the Scrip- 
ture plainly declares, as we observed before, that " he who hath not 
the Spirit of Christ is none of his," — their portion is not in him, they 

1 " Omnibus quidem quas divina sunt cum reverentia et velienienti cura oportet in- 
tendere, maxime autem his quae dc Spiritus Sancti divinitate dicuntur, pitesertim cum 
blasphemia in eum sine vcnia sit; ita ut blasphemantis poena tendatur non solum in 
omne prgesens seculum, scd etiam in futurum. Ait quippe Salvator, blaspliemanti in 
Spiiitum Sanctum non esse rcmissionem, ' neque in isto seculo ncque in tuturo : ' unde 
magis ac magis intendere oportet quae Scripturarura de eo relatio sit : ne in aliquem, 
saltern per ignorantiam, blasphemia error obrepat." — Didym. de Spir. Sane. lib. i., In- 
terpret. Hieron. 

[Didymus, from whom Owen quotes so copiously in the following pages, was a pro- 
fessor of theology in Alexandria, and died a.d. 896 at the age of eiglity-five. He be- 
came blind when only four years old, and yet contrived to acquire gieat distinction for 
his knowledge of all the sciences of the age, and especially of theology. His treatise 
on the Holy Spirit was translated by Jerome into Latin, and appears among the works 
of that father. — Ed.] 



CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WOEK. 29 

! shall have no benefit by his mediation. Men may please themselves 
with a profession of being Christians and owning the gospel, whilst 
they despise the Spirit of God, both name and thing. Their condi- 
tion we shall examine and judge by the Scripture before we come to 
the end of this discourse. And for the Scripture itself, whoever reads 
the books of the New Testament, besides the great and precious pro- 
raises that are given concerning him in the Old, will find and con- 
clude, unless he be prepossessed with prejudice, that the whole of 
what is declared in those writings turns on this only hinge. Remove 
from them the consideration of the Spirit of God and his work, and 
it will be hard to find out what they aim at or tend unto. 

Secondly, The great deceit and abuse that hath been, in all ages of 
the church, under the pretence of the name and work of the Spirit 
make the thorough consideration of what we are taught concerning 
them exceeding necessaiy. Had not these things been excellent in 
themselves, and so acknowledged by all Christians, they would never 
have been by so many falsely pretended unto. Men do not seek to 
adorn themselves with rags, or to boast of what, on its own account, 
is under just contempt. And according to the worth of things, so 
are they liable to abuse; and the more excellent any thing is, the 
more vile and pernicious is an undue pretence unto it. Such have 
l)een the false pretences of some in all ages unto the Spirit of God 
and his work, whose real excellencies in themselves have made those 
pretences abominable and unspeakably dangerous; for the better 
the things are which are coimterfeited, the worse always are the ends 
they are employed unto. In the whole world there is nothing so 
vile as that which pretendeth to he God, and is not; nor is any other 
thing capable of so pernicious an abuse. Some instances hereof I 
shall give, both out of the Old Testament and the New. 

The most signal gift of the Spirit of God, for the use of the church 
under the Old Testament, was that of prophecy. This, therefore, 
was deservedly in honour and reputation, as having a great impres- 
sion of the authority of God upon it, and in it of his nearness unto 
man. Besides, those in whom it was had justly the conduct of the 
minds and consciences of others given up unto them : for they spake 
in the name of God, and had his warranty for what they proposed ; 
which is the highest security of obedience. And these things caused 
many to pretend unto this gift who were, indeed, never inspired by 
the Holy Spirit ; but were rather, on the contrary, acted by a spirit 
of lying and uncleanness: for it is very probable that when men 
falsely and in mere pretence took upon them to be prophets divinely 
inspired, without any antecedent diabolical enthusiasm, that the 
devil made use of them to compass his own designs. Being given 
up, by the righteous judsment of God, unto all delusions, for belying 
his Spirit and holy inspirations, they were quickly possessed with a 



so GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK L 

spirit of lying and unclean divination. So the false prophets o^ 
Ahab, who encouraged hira to go up unto Ramoth-gilead, foretelling 
his prosperous success, 1 Kings xxii. 6, seemed only to have complied 
deceitfully with the inclinations of their master, and to have out- 
acted his other courtiers in flattery by gilding it with a pretence of 
prophecy; but when Micaiah came to lay open the mystery of their 
iniquity, it appeared that a lying spirit, by the permission of God, 
had possessed their minds, and gave them impressions, which being 
supernatural, they were deceived as well as they did deceive, verses 
19-23. This they were justly given up unto, pretending falsely 
unto the inspiration of that Holy Spirit whicVi they had not re- 
ceived. And no otherwise hath it fallen out with some in our days, 
whom we have seen visibly acted by an extraordinary power. Unduly 
pretending unto supernatural agitations from God, they were really 
acted by the devil; a thing they neither desired nor looked after, but, 
being surprised by it, were pleased with it for a while : as it was with 
sundry of the Quakers at their first appearance. 

Now, these false prophets of old were of two sorts, both mentioned, 
Deut. xviii. 20 : — First, Such as professedly' served other gods, direct- 
ing all their prophetic actings unto the promotion of their worship. 
Such were the prophets of Baal, in whose name expressly they pro- 
phesied, and whose assistance they invocated : " They called on the 
name of Baal, saying, Baal, hear us," 1 Kings xviii. 26-29. Many 
of these were slain by Elijah, and the whole race of them afterward 
extirpated by Jehu, 2 Kings x. 18-28. This put an end to his deity, 
for it is said, " he destroyed Baal out of Israel," false gods having 
no existence but in the deceived minds of their worshippers. It may 
be asked why these are called " prophets ?" and so, in general, of all , 
the false prophets mentioned in the Scri^Dture. Was it because they 
merely pretended and counterfeited a spirit of prophecy, or had they 
really any such ? I answer, that I no way doubt but that they were 
of both sorts. These prophets of Baal were such as worshipped the 
sun, after the manner of the Tyrians. Herein they invented many 
hellish mysteries, ceremonies, and sacrifices; these they taught the 
people by whom they were hired. Being thus engaged in the service 
of the devil, he actually possessed their minds " as a spirit of divina- 
tion," and enabled them to declare things unknown unto other men. 
They, in the meantime, really finding themselves acted by a power 
superior to them, took and owned that to be the power of their god; 
and thereby became immediate worshippers of the devil. This our 
apostle declares, 1 Cor. x. 20. "Whatever those who left the true 
God aimed at to worship, the devil interposed himself between that 
and them, as the object of their adoration. Hereby he became the 
" god of this world," 2 Cor. iv. 4, — he whom in all their idols they 



CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 31 

worshipped and adored. With a spirit of divination from him were 
many of the false prophets acted, which they thought to be the spirit 
of their god ; for they found themselves acted by a superior power, 
which they could neither excuse nor resist.^ Others of them were 
mere pretenders and counterfeits, that deceived the foolish multitude 
with vain, false predictions. Of these more will be spoken afterward. 

Secondly, Others there were who spake in the name, and, as they 
falsely professed, by the inspiration of the Spirit, of the holy God. 
With this sort of men Jeremiah had great contests; for in that 
apostatizing age of the church, they had got such an interest and 
reputation among the rulers and people as not only to confront his 
prophecies with contrary predictions, chap, xxviii. 1-4, but also to 
traduce him as a false prophet, and to urge his punishment according 
to the law, chap. xxix. 25-27. And with the like confidence did 
Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah carry it towards Micaiah, 1 Kings 
xxii 24; for he scornfully asks him, "Which way went the Spirit of 
the Lord from me to speak unto thee ? " that is, " Whereas assuredly he 
speaketh in me, how came he to inspire thee with a contrary revela- 
tion?" Ezekiel, at the same time with Jeremiah, was exercised and 
perplexed with them, chap. xiii. and xiv. ; for this sort of persons, — 
namely, false pretenders unto divine extraordinary revelations, — did 
of old usually abound in times of danger and approaching desolations. 
The devil stirred them up to fill men with vain hopes, to keep them 
in sin and security, that destruction might seize upon them at un- 
awares: and whoever take the same course in the time of deserved, 
threatened, impendent judgments, though they use not the same 
means, yet they also do the work of the devil ; for whatever encou- 
rageth men to be secure in their sins is a false divination, Jer. 
V. 30, 31. And this sort of men is characterized by the prophet 
Jeremiah, chap, xxiii., from verse 9 to 33 ; where any one may read 
their sin and judgment. And yet this false pretending unto the 
spirit of prophecy was very far from casting any conten^pt on the 
real gift of the Holy Ghost therein; nay, it gave it the greater glory 
and lustre. God never more honoured his true prophets than when 
there were most false ones; neither shall ever any false pretence to 
the Spirit of grace render him less dear unto those that are partakers 
of him, or his gifts of less use unto the church. 

It was thus also under the New Testament, at the first preaching 
of the gospel. The doctrine of it at first was declared from the im- 
mediate revelation of the Spirit, preached by the assistance of the 

'Emioaii yxp TiXirctTi rifi xai /aayyavtiais Karihrxfi oaifiovd ri; lis avipwrov, *as* 
XuavrtuiTo ixi7yo;, Koi ficcvrtvo/^ivos Iffii'Tiro, xa) Iff'^a.famro, xa.) IviyKtlv too daif^stes 
Tjjv cff^riii oux r^ivaro aXX' 'i/^tiXXi iiaa'Ttif^iva; o'lirui i-roXXvir^ai, toTs ra TciauTa /ncy 
yicviiiovffi <pn<ri. 

Auffart Xoi'Tot avaxra, fipoTo; Qiov cvx in •^tupiT. — ChrysOSt. in 1 Cor. Xll. 



S2 GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK L 

Spirit, made effectual by his work and power, [and] was accompanied in 
many by outward miraculous works and effects of the Spirit ; whence 
the whole of what peculiarly belonged unto it, in opposition to the 
law, was called " The ministration of the Spirit." These things being 
owned and acknowledged by all, those who had any false opinions 
or dotages of their own to broach, or any other deceit to put upon 
Christians, could think of no more expedite means for the compass- 
ing of their ends than by pretending to immediate revelations of the 
Spirit ; for without some kind of credibility given them from hence, 
they knew that their fond imaginations would not be taken into the 
least consideration. Hence the apostle .Peter, having treated con- 
cerning the revelation of God by his Spirit in prophecy, under the 
Old Testament and the New, 2 Epist., chap. i. 19-21, adds, as an 
inference from that discourse, a comparison between the false pro- 
phets that were under the Old Testament and the false teachers 
under the New, chap. ii. 1 : "But there were false prophets also 
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you." 
And the reason of it is, because that as they pretended to the Spirit 
of the Lord in tbeir prophecies, saying, " Thus saith the Lord," when 
he sent them not, so these ascribed all their abominable heresies to 
the inspiration of the Spirit, by whom they were not assisted. 

Hence is that blessed caution and rule given us by the apostle 
John, who lived to see much mischief done in the church by this 
pretence: 1 Epist. chap. iv. 1-3, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, 
but try the spirits whether they are of God : because many false pro- 
phets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of 
God : Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the 
flesli is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." A twofold direction 
doth the apostle here give unto all believers ; the first by the way 
of caution, that they would not believe every spirit, — that is, not re- 
ceive or give credit to every doctrine that was proposed unto them 
as of immediate revelation and inspiration of the Spirit. He intends 
the same with the apostle Paul, Eph. iv. 14, who would not have us 
"carried about with every wind of doctrine," like vessels at sea without 
anchors or helms, by the "sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, 
whereby they lie in wait to deceive ;" for the crafts and sleights 
Intended are such as men use when they cast a mist, as it were, be- 
fore the eyes of others whom they intend to cheat and defraud. So 
dealt false teachers with their disciples, by their pretences of imme- 
diate revelations. His next direction informs us how we may ob- 
serve this caution unto our advantage; and this is, by trying the 
spirits themselves. This is the duty of all believers on any such 
pretences. Tiiey are to try these s])irits, and examine whether they 



CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 33 

are of God or no. For the observation of this rule and discharge of 
this duty, the church of Ephesus is commended by our Lord Jesus 
Christ: Rev. ii. 2, "Thou hast tried them which say they are apos- 
tles, and are not, and hast found them liars ;" for those who said 
they were a,postles pretended therewithal to apostolical authority 
and infallibility, on the account of the immediate inspirations which 
they received by the Holy Ghost. In trying them, they tried the 
spirits that came unto them ; and by this warrant may we try 
the spirit of the church of Home, which in like manner pretends 
unto apostolical authority and infallibility. 

Unto these two directions the apostle subjoins the reason of the 
present watchfulness required unto the discharge of this duty: "Be- 
cause," saith he, " many false prophets are gone out into the world."' 
It is "false teachers," as Peter calls them, "bringing in damnable here- 
sies," concerning whom he speaks. And he calleth them " false pro- 
phets," partly in an allusion unto the false prophets under the Old 
Testament, Avith whom they are ranked and compared by Peter, 
and partly because, as they fathered their prejudices on divine reve- 
lation, so these falsely ascribed their doctrines unto immediate divine 
inspiration. And on this account also he calleth them spirits : "Try 
the spirits ;" for as they pretended unto the Spirit of God, so indeed 
for the most part they were acted by a spirit of error, lying, and de- 
lusion, — that is, the devil himself. And therefore I no way doubt 
but that mostly those who made use of this plea, that they had their 
doctrines which they taught by immediate inspiration, did also effect 
other extraordinary operations or undiscoverable appearances of 
them, as lying miracles, by the power of that spirit whereby they 
were acted, as Matt. xxiv. 24. Hence the apostle doth not direct us 
to try their pretensions unto inspiration by putting them on other 
extraordinary works for their confirmation, for these also they 
made a show and appearance of, and that in such a manner as that 
they were not to be detected by the generality of Christians ; but he 
gives unto all a blessed stable rule, which will never fail them in 
this case who diligently attend unto it; and this is, to try them by 
the doctrine that they teach, 1 John iv. 2, S. Let their doctrine be 
examined by the Scriptures, and if it be found consonant thereunto, 
it may be received without danger unto the hearers, whatever corrupt 
affections the teachers may be influenced by ; but if it be not con- 
sonant thereunto, if it keep not up a harmony in the analogy of faith, 
whatever inspiration or revelation be pleaded in its justification, it is 
to be rejected, as they also are by whom it is declared. This rule the- 
apostle Paul confirms by the highest instance imaginable: Gal. i. 8,. 
"Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you. 
than that which we have preached unto you,let him be accursed." And 

VOL. III. 3 



54 GENEKAL TRINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK I. 

tlie apostle shows that, for our advantage in this trial we are to make of 
spirits, it is goodto have a dear conviction of, and a constant adherence 
unto, some fundamental principles, especially such as we have reason to 
think will be the most cunningly attacked by seducers. Thus, because 
in those days the principal design of Satan was, to broach strange, false 
imaginations about the person and mediation of Christ, endeavour- 
ing thereby to overthrow both the one and the other, the apostle ad- 
viseth believers to try the spirits by this one fundamental principle of 
truth, namely, that "Jesus Christ is come in the flesh;" which con- 
tains a confession both of his person and mediation. This, therefore, 
believers were to demand of all new teachers and pretenders unto 
spiritual revelations in the first place, " Do you confess that Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh?" and if they immediately made not this 
confession, they never stood to consider their other pretences, but 
turned from them, not bidding them God speed, 2 John 7, 10, 11. 
And I could easily manifest how many pernicious heresies were ob- 
viated in those days by this short confession of faith. For some of 
late (as Grotius, following Socinus and Schlichtingius) interpreting 
"this coming of Christ in the flesh of his outward mean estate and 
condition, and not in the pomp and glory of an earthly king, do 
openly corrupt the text. His coming in the flesh is the same with 
the "Word's being made flesh," John i. 14; or "God being manifest 
in the flesh," 1 Tim. iii. 16, — that is, the Son of God being made 
"partaker of flesh and blood," Heb. ii. 14; or "taking on him the 
seed of Abraham," verse 16, — that is, his being "made of a ■woman," 
Gal. iv. 4; or his being "made of the seed of David according to the 
flesh," Rom. i, 3 ; or his "being of the fathers as to the flesh," Rom. ix. 5. 
And this was directly opposed unto those heresies which were then 
risen, whose broachers contended that Jesus Christ was but a phan- 
tasy, an appearance, a manifestation of divine love and power, 
denying that the Son of God was really incarnate, as the ancients 
generally testify. And well had it been for many iji our days had 
they attended unto such rules as this ; but through a neglect of it, 
accompanied with an ungrounded boldness and curiosity, they have 
hearkened in other things to deceiving spirits, and have been en- 
gaged beyond a recovery before they have considered that by their 
cogging deceits they have been cheated of all the principal articles of 
their faith; by which if oi first they had steadily tried and examined 
them, they might have been preserved from their snares. 

The Jews say well that there was a double trial of prophets under 
the Old Testament, — the one by their doctrine, the other by their 
predictions. That by their doctrine,-^namely, whether they seduced 
men from the worship of the true God unto idolatry, — belonged unto 
all individual perso .s of the church. Direction for this is given, 



CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. S5 

Deut. xiii. 1-3, " If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer 
of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the 
wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee" (effect any thing 
by a seeming presence of an extraordinary power), saying, " Let us go 
after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 
thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that propliet, or that 
dreamer of dreams." Let his signs and wonders be what they would, 
the people were to try them by what they taught. The judgment 
upon predictions was left unto the sanhedrim, for which directions 
are given, Deut. xviii. 20-22; and by virtue hereof they falsely and 
cruelly endeavoured to take away the life of Jeremiah, because he 
foretold the ruin of them and their city, chap. xxvL 11. In the first 
place, though his sign, wonder, or prediction came to pass, yet the 
doctrine he sought to confirm by it being false, he was to be rejected. 
In the latter, the fulfilling of his sign acquitted him, because he 
taught with it nothing in point of doctrine that was false. The first 
kind of trial of the spirits of prophets is the duty of all believers 
under the gospel ; and those who would deprive them of this liberty 
would make brutes of them instead of Christians, — unless to believe 
a man knows not what, and to obey he knows not why, be the pro- 
perties of Christians. See Rom. xii. 2; Eph. v. 8-12; Phil. i. 10; 
1 Thess. V. 21. The other, so far as was needful to preserve the 
church in truth and peace, was provided for in those primitive times, 
whilst there was a real communication of extraordinary gifts of the 
Spirit (and so more occasion given to the false pretence of them, and 
more danger in being deceived by them), by a peculiar gift of dis- 
cerning them, bestowed on some amongst them. 1 Cor. xii. 10, " Dis- 
cerning of spirits" is reckoned among the gifts of the Spirit. So had 
the Lord graciously provided for his churches, that some among them 
should be enabled in an extraordinary manner to discern and judge 
()f them who pretended unto extraordinary actings of the Spirit. 
And upon the ceasing of extraordinary gifts really given from God, 
the gift also of discerning spirits ceased, and we are left unto the 
vjord alone for the trial of any that shall pretend unto them. Now, 
this kind of pretence was so common in those days, that the apostle 
Paul, writing to the Thessalonians to caution them that they suffered 
not themselves to be deceived in their expectation and computations 
ubout the time of the coming of Christ, in the first place warns them 
not to be moved in it " by spirit," 2 Thess. ii. 2 ; that is, persons pre- 
tending unto spiritual revelations. Something, also, of this nature 
hath continued, and broken out in succeeding ages, and that in in- 
stances abominable and dreadful. And the more eminent in any 
season are the real effusions of the Holy Spirit upon the ministers 
of the gospel and disciples of Christ, the more diligence and watcli- 



36 GENERAL PEINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK I. 

fiilness against these delusions are necessaiy; for on such opportuni- 
ties it is, when the use and reputation of spiritual gifts is eminent,- 
that Satan doth lay hold to intrude under the colour of them his 
own deceitful suggestions. In the dark times of the Papacy, all 
stories are full of satanical delusions, in phantastical apparitions, 
horrors, spectrums, and the like effects of darkness. It was seldom ■ 
or never that any falsely pretended to the gifts and graces of the 
Holy Spirit ; for these things were then of little use or request in 
the world. But when God was pleased to renew really a fresh com- 
munication of spiritual gifts and graces unto men, in and upon the 
Reformation, the old dreads and terrors, nightly appearances, tending 
luito deeds of darkness, vanished, and everywhere,' by Satan's insti- 
gation, arose false pretenders to the Spirit of God ; in which way of 
delusion he will still be more active and industrious, as God shall in- 
crease the gifts and graces of his Spirit in his churches; though as 
yet, in these latter ages, he hath not attained what he was arrived 
unto in the primitive times of the gospel. A full and clear declara- 
tion from the Scripture of the nature of the Holy Spirit and his 
operations may, through the blessing of God, be of use to fortify the 
minds of professors against satanical delusions counterfeiting his act- 
ings and inspirations; for directions unto this purpose are given us by 
the holy apostle, who lived to see great havoc made in the churches 
by deluding spirits. Knowledge of the truth, trying of spirits that 
go abroad by the doctrines of the Scriptures, dependence on the 
Holy Spirit for his teachings according to the word, are the things 
which to this purpose he commends unto us. 

Thirdly, There is in the days wherein we live an anti-spirit set 
up and advanced against the Spirit of God, in his being and all his 
operations, in his whole work and use towards the church of God; 
f )r this new spirit takes upon him whatever is promised to be effected 
by the "good Spirit of God." This is that which some men call " the 
light within them," though indeed it be nothing but a dark product 
of Satan upon their own imaginations, or at best the natural light 
of conscience ; which some of the heathens also call " a spirit,"^ But 
hereunto do they trust, as to that which doth all for them, leaving no 
room for the " promise of the Spirit of God," nor any thing for him 
to do. This teacheth them, instructs them, enlightens them; to this 
they attend as the Samaritans to Simon Magus, and, as they say, 
yield obedience unto it; and from hence, with the fruits of it, do 
they expect acceptation with God, justification and blessedness here- 
fifter. And one of these two things these deluded souls must fix 
upon, — namely, that this light whereof they speak is either the Holy 
(Spirit of God, or it is not. If they say it is the Spirit, it will be 

1 " Ita dico, Lucili, sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, nialorum bonorumque nostronira 
obscrvatoi' et custos : hie prout auobis tractatus est, ita uos ipse tractat." — l^eucc. Ep. xli. 



CIT.'.r". I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. S7 

easy to demonstrate how by tlieir so saying they utterly destroy the 
very nature and being of the Holy Ghost, as will evidently appear 
in our explication of them. And if they say that it is not the Holy 
Spirit of God which they intend thereby, it will be no less manifest 
that they utterly exclude him, on the other side, from his whole work, 
and sul)stitute another, yea, an enemy, in his room: for another God 
is a false god; another Christ is a false Christ; and another Spirit 
is a false spirit, — the spirit of antichrist. Now, because this is a grow- 
ing evil amongst us, many being led away and seduced, our duty 
unto Jesus Christ and compassion for the souls of men do require 
that our utmost endeavour, in the ways of Christ's appointment, 
should be used to obviate this evil, which eateth as doth a canker; 
which also is propagated by profane and vain babblings, increasing 
still unto more ungodliness. Some, I confess, do unduly rage against 
the persons of those who have imbibed these imaginations, falling 
upon them with violence and fury, as they do also on others; — the 
Lord lay it not unto their charge! Yet this hinders not but that, 
by those " weapons of our warfare which are not carnal, but mighty 
through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down such 
like imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against 
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought 
unto the obedience of Christ," we ought to attempt the destruction 
of their errors and the breaking of the snares of Satan, by whom 
the}^ are taken captive alive at his pleasure. The course, indeed, of 
opposing errors and false spirits by praying, preaching, and writing, 
is despised by them in whose furious and haughty minds ure, seca, 
occide, " ])urn, cut, and kill," are alone of any signification, — that 
thiuk, " Arise, Peter, kill and eat," to be a j^recept of more use and 
advantage unto them than all the commands of Jesus Christ besides; 
but the way proposed unto us by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, 
walked in by his holy apostles, and all the ancient, holy, learned 
writers of the church, is that which, in these matters, we must and 
shall attend unto : and that course which is particularly suited to 
obviate the evil mentioned, is, to give a full, plain, evident declaration 
from the Scripture of the nature and operations of the Holy Spirit 
of God. Hence it will be undeniably manifest what a stranger this 
pretended light is unto the true Spirit of Christ; how far it is from 
being of any real use to the ■ souls of men ; yea, how it is set up in 
opposition unto him and his work, by whom and by which alone we 
become accepted with God, and are brought imto the enjoyment of him. 
Fourtlily, There are, moreover, many hurtful and noxious opinions 
concerning the Holy Ghost gone abroad in the world, and entertained 
by many, to the subversion of the faith which they have professed.^ 

1 " Qiion'am quidam temeritate potius quam recta via etiam in superna eriguntur, et 
hsec de Spiiitu Sancto jactitant, quae neque in Scripturis lecta, nee a quoquam ecclesi- 



oS GE^ERVL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [bOOK L 

Such are those whereby his deity and personality are denied. About 
these there have been many contests in the world: some endea- 
vouring with diHgence and subtilty to promote the perverse opi- 
nions mentioned; otliers " contending/' according to their duty, " for 
the faith once delivered unto the saints." But these disputations are 
for the most part so managed, that although the truth be in some of 
them strenuously vindicated, yet the minds of believers generally are 
but little edified by them ; for the most are unacquainted with the 
ways and terms of arguing, which are suited to convince or " stop 
the mouths of gainsayers," rather than to direct the faith of others. 
Besides, our knowledge of things is more by their operations and 
proper effects than from their own nature and formal reason. Espe- 
cially is it so in divine things, and particularly with respect unto 
God himself. In his own glorious being he dwelleth in light, where- 
unto no creature can approach. In the revelation that he hath made 
of himself by the effects of his will, in his word and works, are we to 
seek after him. By them are the otherwise invisible things of God 
made known, his attributes declared, and we come to a better ac- 
quaintance with him than any we can attain by our most diligent 
speculations about his nature itself immediately. So is it with the 
Holy Ghost and his personality. He is in the Scripture^ proposed 
unto us to be known by his properties and works, adjuncts and ope- 
rations; by our duty towards him and our offences against him. The 
due consideration of these things is that which will lead us into that 
assured knowledge of his being and subsistence which is necessary 
for the guidance of our faith and obedience; which is the end of all 
these inquiries. Col. ii. 2. Wherefore, although I shall by the way 
explain, confirm, and vindicate the testimonies that are given in the 
Scripture, or some of them, unto his deity and personality, yet the 
principal means that I shall insist on for the establishing of our faith 
in him is the due and just exposition and declaration of the adminis- 
trations and operations that are ascribed unto him in the Scriptures; 
which also will give great light into the whole mystery and economy 
of God in the work of our salvation by Jesus Christ. 

Fifthly, The principal cause and occasion of our present under- 
taking is, the open and horrible opposition that is made unto the 
Spirit of God and his work in the world. There is no concernment 

asticorum veterum usurpata sunt, compulsi sumus creberrhnse exhortation! fratrum 
cedere, quaaquc sit nostra de eo opinio etiam Scripturarum testimoniis coniprobare; ne 
imperitia tanti dogrnatis, hi qui contraria opponunt dccipiant eos qui sine discussions 
sollicita in adversariorum sententiani statim pertrahuntur." — Didyra de Spir. Sane, 
lib i. 

1 " Appcllatio Spiritus Sancti, et ea quce monstratur ex ipsa appellatione substantia, 
penitiis ab his ignoratur, qui extra sacram Scripturam philosophantur : solummodo 
enim in nostratibus Uteris et notio ejus et vocabulum refertur tarn in nobis quam in 
vcteribus." — Didjm. de Spir. Sane. lib. i. 



CHAP. I.J THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS "VYOEK. 39 

of his that is not by many derided, exploded, and blasphemed. The 
very name of the Spirit is grown to be a reproach ; nor do some 
think they can more despitefully expose any to scorn than by ascrib- 
ing to them a " concern in the Spirit of God." This, indeed, is a 
thing which I have often wondered at, and do continue still so to do : 
for whereas in the gospel every thing that is good, holy, praise-worthy 
in any man, is expressly assigned to the Spirit, as the immediate 
eflficient cause and operator of it; and whereas the condition of men 
without him, not made partakers of him, is described to be reprobate 
or rejected of God, and foreign unto any interest in Christ; yet many 
pretending unto the belief and profession of the gospel are so far 
from owning or desiring a participation of this Spirit in their own 
persons, as that they deride and contemn them who dare plead or 
avow any concern in him or his works. Only, I must grant that 
herein they have had some that have gone before them, — namely, 
the old scoffing heathens; for so doth Lucian, in his Philopatris [18], 
speak in imitation of a Christian by way of scorn, Aiys, 'rapa too 
Tiviblj^cirog duvafiiv rou Xoyov XaCuiv — " Speak out now, receiving power 
or ability of speaking from the Spirit," or " by the Spirit." Certainly 
an attendance to the old caution, Si non cast^, tamen caut^, had 
been needful for some in this matter. Could they not bring their 
own hearts unto a due reverence of the Spirit of God, and an endea- 
vour after the participation of his fruits and effects, yet the things 
that are spoken concerning him and his work in the whole New 
Testament, and also in places almost innumerable in the Old, might 
have put a check to their public contemptuous reproaches and scornful 
mockings, whilst they owned those writings to be of God; — but such 
was his entertainment in the world upon his first effusion, Acts ii. 13. 
Many pretences, I know, will be pleaded to give countenance unto 
this abomination; for, first, they will say, " It is not the Spirit of 
God himself and his works, but the pretence of others unto him and 
them, which they so reproach and scorn." I fear this plea or excuse 
will prove too short and .narrow to make a covering unto their pro- 
faneness. It is dangerous venturing with rudeness and petulancy 
upon holy things, and then framing of excuses. But in reproaches 
of the Lord Christ and his Spirit men will not want their pretences, 
John X. 32, 33. And the things of the Spirit of God, which they thus 
reproach and scorn in any, are either such as are truly and really 
ascribed unto him and wrought by him in the disciples of Jesus 
Christ, or they are not. If they are such as indeed are no effects of 
the Spirit of grace, such as he is not promised for, nor attested to 
work in them that do believe, as vain enthusiasms, ecstatical raptures 
and revelations, certainly it more became Christians, men professing, 
or at least pretending, a reverence unto God, his Spirit, and his word, 



40 GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [bOOK I. 

to manifest to and convince those of whom they treat that such things 
are not " fruits of the Spirit," but imaginations of their own, than to 
deride them under the name of the Spirit, or his gifts and operations. 
Do men consider with whom and what they make bold in these 
things? But if they be things that are real effects of the Spirit of 
Christ in them that believe, or such as are undeniably assigned unto 
him in tlie Scripture, which they despise, what remains to give coun- 
tenance unto this daring profaneness? Yea, but they say, secondly, 
" It is not the real true operations of the Spirit themselves, but the 
false pretensions of others unto them, which they traduce and ex- 
pose." But will this warrant the course which it is manifest they 
steer in matter and manner ? The same persons pretend to believe 
in Christ and the gospel, and to be made partakers of the benefits 
of his mediation ; and yet, if they have not the Spirit of Christ, 
they have no saving interest in these things ; for " if any man have 
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." If it be, then, only their 
false pretending unto the Spirit of God and his works which these 
persons so revile and scorn, why do they not deal with them in like 
manner with respect unto Christ and the profession of the gospel? 
why do they not say unto them, " You believe in Christ, you be- 
lieve in the gospel," and thereon expose them to derision? So plainly 
dealt the Jews with our Lord Jesus Christ, Ps. xxii. 7, 8; Matt. xxi. 
38, 39. It is, therefore, the things themselves, and not the pretences 
pretended, that are the objects of this contempt and reproach. Be- 
sides, suppose those whom at present on other occasions they hate 
or despise are not partakers of the Spirit of God, but are really 
strangers unto the things which hypocritically they profess, — will 
they grant and allow that any other Christians in the world do so 
really partake of him as to be led, guided, directed by him; to be 
quickened, sanctified, purified by him; to be enabled unto com- 
munion with God, and all duties of holy obedience by him, with those 
other effects and operations for which he is promised by Jesus Christ 
unto his disciples? If they will grant these things to be really 
effected and accomplished in any, let them not be offended with 
them who desire that they should be so in themselves, and declare 
themselves to that purpose ; and men would have more charity for 
them under their petulant scoffing than otherwise they are able to 
exercise. It will, thirdly, yet be pleaded, " That they grant as fully 
as any the being of the Holy Ghost, the promise of him and his real 
operations ; only, they differ from others as to the sense and exposi- 
tion of those phrases and expressions that are used concerning these 
things in the Scripture, which those others abuse in an unintelligible 
manner, as making them proper which indeed are metaphorical." 
But is this the way which they like and choose to express their no- 



OFAP. I.] rUE nOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 47 

tions and apprehensions, — namely, openly to revile and scorn the very 
naming and asserting the work of the Spirit of God, in the words 
which himself hath taught? A boldness this is, which, as whereof 
the former ages have not given us a precedent, so we hope the future 
will not afford an instance of any to follow the example. For their 
sense and apprehension of these things, they shall afterward be ex- 
amined, so far as they have dared to discover them. In the mean- 
time, we know that the Socinians acknowledge a Trinity, the sacri- 
fice of Christ, the expiation of sin made thereby, and yet we have 
some differences with them about these things; and so we have 
with these men about the Spirit of God and his dispensation under 
the gospel, though, like them, they would grant the things spoken 
of them to be true, as metaphorically to be interpreted. But of these 
things we must treat more fully hereafter. 

I say it is so come to pass, amongst many who profess they believe 
the gospel to be true, that the name or naming of the Spirit of God 
is become a reproach ; so also is his whole work. And the promise 
of him made by Jesus Christ unto his church is rendered useless and 
frustrated. It was the main, and upon the matter the only, support- 
ment which he left unto it in his bodily absence, the only means of 
rendering the work of his mediation effectual in them and among 
them ; for without him all others, as the word, ministry, and ordi- 
nances of worship, are lifeless and useless. God is not glorified by 
them, nor the souls of men advantaged. But it is now uncertain 
with some of what use he is unto the church ; yea, as far as I can 
discern, whether he be of any or no. Some have not trembled to 
say and contend, that some things as plainly ascribed unto him in 
the Scripture as words can make an assignation of any thing, are 
the cause of all the troubles and confusions in the world ! Let them 
have the word or tradition outwardly revealing the will of God, and 
what it is that he would have them do (as the Jews have both to 
this day) ; these being made use of by their own reason, and improved 
by their natural abilities, they make up the whole of man, all that 
is required to render the persons or duties of any accepted with God ! 
Of what use, then, is the Spirit of God in these things? Of none at 
all, it may be, nor the doctrine concerning him, " but only to fill the 
world with a buzz and noise, and to trouble the minds of men with 
unintelligible notions." Had not these things been spoken, they 
should not have been repeated ; for death lieth at the door in them. 
So, then, men may pray without him, and preach without him, and 
turn to God without him, and perform all their duties without him 
well enough ; for if any one shall plead the necessity of his assist- 
ance for the due performance of these things, and ascribe unto him 
all that is good and well done in them, he shall hardly escape from 



42 GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK 1 

being notably derided. Yet all this while we would be esteemed 
Christians! And what do such persons think of the prcyers of 
the ancient church and Christians unto him for the working of 
all good in them, and their ascriptions of every good thing unto 
him?^ And wherein have we any advantage of the Jews, or where- 
in consists the pre-eminence of the gospel? They have the word 
of God, that part of it which was committed unto their church, and 
which in its kind is sufficient to direct their faith and obedience; 
for so is the " sure word of prophecy," if diligently attended unto, 
2 Pet. i. 19. And if traditions be of any use, they can outvie all 
the world. Neither doth this sort of men want their wits and the 
exercise of them. Those who converse with them in the things 
of this world do not use to say they are all fools. And for their 
diligence in the consideration of the letter of the Scripture, and in- 
quiring into it according to the best of their understanding, none 
will question it but those unto whom they and their concernments 
are unknown. And yet after all this, they are Jews still. If we 
have the New Testament no otherwise than they have the Old, — have 
only the letter of it to 'philosophize upon, according to the best of 
our reasons and understandings, without any dispensation of the 
Spirit of God accompanying it to give us a saving light into the 
mystery of it, and to make it effectual unto our souls, — I shall not 
fear to say, but that as they call themselves " Jews and are not, but 
are the synagogue of Satan," Rev. ii 9, so we who pretend ourselves 
to be Christians, as to all the saving ends of the gospel, shall not be 
found in a better condition. 

And yet it were to be wished that- even here bounds might be 
fixed unto the fierceness of some men's spirits. But they will not 
suffer themselves to be so confined. In many places they are trans- 
ported with rage and fury, so as to stir up persecution against such 
as are really anointed with the Spirit of Christ, and that for no other 
reason but because they are so. Gal. iv. 29. Other things, indeed, 
are pretended by them, but all the woidd may see that they are not 
of such importance as to give countenance unto their wrath. This 
is the latent cause which stirs it up, and is oftentimes openly ex- 
pressed. 

These things at present are charged only as the miscarriages of 

1 " Adcsto Sancte Spiritus, et paraclesin tuam expectantibus illabere caelitus, sanc- 
tifica templum corporis nostri et coiisccra in habitaculum tuum; desideiantes te ani- 
nias tua piaescntia Iretifica, dignam te habitatore domum compone ; adorna thalamum 
tuum, et quietis tuce reclinatorium circumda varietatibus virtutum ; sterne pavimenta 
pigmentis; iiiteat mansio tua carbunculis flammeis, et gemmarum splendoribus ; et 
omnium Chrismatum intriiisccus spirent odoramenta; affiitim balsami liquor fragranti^ 
sua cubiculum suum imbuat ; et abigens inde quicquid tabidum est, quicquid corrup- 
telce scininarium, stabile et perpetuum hoc facias gaudium nostrum, et creationis tuaa 
reuovationem in decore imniarcessibili solides in 83ternum." — Cjpr., de Spir. Sane. 



CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 43 

private persons. When they are received in churches, they are the 
cause of and an entrance into a fatal defection and apostasy. From 
the foundation of the world, the principal revelation that God made 
of himself was in the oneness of his nature and his monarchy over 
all. And herein the person of the Father was immediately repre- 
sented with his power and authority; for he is the fountain and 
original of the Deity, the other persons as to their subsistence being 
of him : only, he did withal give out promises concerning the pecu- 
liar exhibition of the Son in the flesh in an appointed season, as also 
of the Holy Spirit, to be given by him in an especial manner. 
Hereby Avere tlieir persons to be signally glorified in this world, it 
being the will of God that all " men should honour the Son as they 
honoured the Father," and the Holy Spirit in like manner. In this 
state of things, the only apostasy of the church could be polytheism 
and idolatry. Accordingly, so it came to pass. The church of Israel 
was continually prone to these abominations, so that scarcely a gene- 
ration passed, or very few, wherein the body of the people did not 
more or less defile themselves with them. To wean and recover 
them from this sin was the principal end of the preaching of those 
prophets which God from time to time sent unto them, 2 Kings 
xvii. 13. And this also was the cause of all the calamities which 
befell them, and of all the judgments which God inflicted on them, 
as is testified in all the historical books of the Old Testament, and 
confirmed by instances innumerable. To put an end hereunto, God 
at length brought a total desolation upon the whole church, and 
caused the people to be carried into captivity out of their own land; 
and hereby it was so far effected that, upon their return, whatever 
other sins they fell into, yet they kept themselves from idols and 
idolatry, Ezek. xvi. 41-43, xxiii. 27, 48. And the reason hereof was, 
because the time was now drawing nigh wherein they were to be 
tried with another dispensation of God ; — the Son of God was to be 
sent unto them in the flesh. To receive and obey him was now to 
be the principal instance and trial of their faith and obedience. They 
were no longer to be tried merely by their faith, whether they would 
own only the God of Israel, in opposition unto all false gods and 
idols, for that ground God had now absolutely won upon them; but 
now all is to turn on this hinge, whether they would receive the Son 
of God coming in the flesh, according to the promise. Here the 
generality of that church and people fell by their unbelief, aposta- 
tized from God, and became thereby neither church nor people, John 
viii. 24. They being rejected, the Son of God calls and gathers 
another church, founding it on his own person with faith, and the pro- 
fession of it therein. Matt. xvi. 18, 1.9. In this new church, there- 
fore, this foundation is fixed, and this ground made good, that Jesus 



i-i GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [EOOK I. 

Christ, the Son of God, is to be owned and honoured as we honour the 
Father, 1 Cor. iii. 11 ; John v. 23. And herein all that are duly called 
Christians do agree, as the church of Israel did in one God after their 
return from the captivity of Babylon. But now the Lord Jesus Christ 
being ascended unto his Father, hath committed his whole affairs in 
the church and in the world unto the Holy Spirit, John xvi. 7-11. 
And it is on this design of God that the person of the Spirit may be 
singularly exalted in the church; unto whom they were so in the 
dark before, that some (none of the worst of them) professed they had 
not so much as heard whether there were any Holy Ghost or no, 
Acts xix, 2, — that is, at least, as unto the peculiar dispensation of him 
then introduced in the church. Wherefore, the duty of the church 
now immediately respects the Spirit of God, who acts towards it iu 
the name of the Father and of the Son; and with respect unto 
him it is that the church in its present state is capable of an apostasy 
from God. And whatever is found of this nature amongst any, here 
it hath its beginning ; for the sin of despising his person and re- 
jecting his work now is of the same nature with idolatry of old, and 
the Jews' rejection of the person of the Son. And whereas there 
was a relief provided against these sins, because there was a new dis- 
pensation of the grace of God to ensue, in the evangelical work of 
the Holy Ghost, if men sin against him and his operations, contain- 
ing the perfection and complement of God's revelation of himself 
unto them, their condition is deplorable. 

It may be some will say and plead, that whatever is spoken of the 
Holy Ghost, his graces, gifts, and operations, did entirely belong unto 
the first times of the gospel, wherein they Avere manifested by visible 
and wonderful effects, — to those times they were confined; and, 
consequently, that we have no other interest or concern in them but 
as in a recorded testimony given of old unto the truth of the gospel. 
This is so, indeed, as unto his extraordinary and miraculous opera- 
tions, but to confine his whole work thereunto is plainly to deny 
the truth of the promises of Christ, and to overthrow his church ; for 
we shall make it undeniably evident that none can believe in Jesus 
Clnist, or yield obedience unto him, or worship God in him, but by 
the Holy Ghost. And, therefore, if the whole dispensation of him 
and his communications unto the souls of men do cease, so doth all 
faith in Christ and Cliristianity also. 

On these and the like considerations it is that I have thought it 
necessary for myself, and unto the church of God, that the Scrij)ture 
should be diligently searched in and concerning this great matter; 
for none can deny but that the glory of God, the honour of the gos- 
pel, the faith and obedience of the church, with the everlasting wel- 
fare of our own souls, are deeply concerned herein. 



k 



I 



CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 45 

■ The apostle Peter, treating about the great things of the gospel, 
taught by himself and the rest of the apostles of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, tells those to whom he wrote that in what was so preached 
unto them they had not " followed cunningly-devised fables,'' 2 Pet. 
i. 16; for so were the " power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" 
then reported to be in the world. What was preached concerning 
them was looked on as " cunningly-devised" and artificially-framed 
" fables," to inveigle and allure the people. This the apostle gives 
his testimony against, and withal appeals unto the divine assurance 
which they had of the holy truths delivered unto them, verses 1 7-21. 
In like manner, our Lord Jesus Christ himself having preached the 
doctrine of regeneration unto Nicodemus, he calls it into question, as 
a thing incredible or unintelligible, John iii. 4; for whose instruc- 
tion and the rebuke of his ignorance, he lets him know that he spake 
iiothing but what he brought with him from heaven, — from the 
eternal Fountain of goodness and truth, verses 11-13. It is fallen out 
not much otherwise in this matter. 

The doctrine concerning the Spirit of God, and his work on the 
?ouls of men, hath been preached in the world. What he doth in 
convincing men of sin; what in working godly sorrow and humilia- 
1 ion in them ; what is the exceeding greatness of his power, which 
he puts forth in the regeneration and sanctification of the souls of 
men ; what are the supplies of grace which he bestows on them that 
do believe; what assistance he gives unto them as the Spirit of grace 
and supplications, — hath been preached, taught, and pressed on the 
minds of them that attend unto the dispensation of the word of the 
gospel. Answerable hereunto, men have been urged to try, search, 
examine themselves, as to what of this work of the Holy Ghost they 
have found, observed, or had experience to have been effectually ac- 
complished in or upon their own souls. And hereon they have been 
taught that the great concernments of their peace, comfort, and as- 
sin-ance, of their communion among themselves as the saints of God, 
Y/ith many other ends of their holy conversation, do depend. Nay, 
it is, and hath been constantly, taught them that if there be not 
an effectual work of the Holy Ghost upon their hearts, they " can- 
not enter into the kingdom of God." Now, these things, and what- 
ever is spoken in the explication of them, are by some called in 
question, if not utterly rejected ; yea, some look on them as " cun- 
ningly-devised fables," — things that some not long since invented, 
r.nd others have propagated for their advantage. Others say that 
what is delivered concerning them is hardly, if at all, to be under- 
stood by rational men, being only empty speculations about things 
v/herein Christian religion is little or not at all concerned. Whereas, 
therefore, many, very many, have received these things as sacred 



46 GENERAL PRINCIPLES, ETC. [eOOK L 

truths, and are persuaded that they have found them realized in 
their own souls, so that into their experience of the work of the 
Holy Spirit of God in them and upon them, according as it is de- 
clared in the word, all their consolation and peace with God is for 
the most part resolved, as that which gives them the best evidence of 
their interest in him who is their peace ; and whereas, for the present, 
they do believe that unless these things are so in and with them, 
they have no foundation to build a hope of eternal life upon, — it can- 
not but be of indispensable necessity unto them to examine and 
search the Scripture diligently whether these things be so or no. 
For if there be no such work of the Spirit of God upon the hearts 
of men, and that indispensably necessary to their salvation ; if there 
are no such assistances and supplies of grace needful unto every good 
duty as wherein they have been instructed, — then in the whole course 
of their profession they have only been seduced by " cunningly-de- 
vised fables," their deceived hearts have fed upon ashes, and they 
are yet in their sins. It is, then, of no less consideration and im- ' 
portance than the eternal welfare of their souls immediately con- 
cerned therein can render it, that they diligently try, examine, and 
search into these things, by the safe and infallible touchstone and 
rule of the word, whereon they may, must, and ought, to venture 
their eternal condition. I know, indeed, that most believers are so 
far satisfied in the truth of these things and their own experience of 
. them, that they will not be moved in the least by the oppositions 
which are made unto them and the scorn that is cast upon them; 
for " he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him- 
self," 1 John V. 10: but yet, as Luke wrote his Gospel to Theophilus 
" that he might know the certainty of those things wherein he had 
been instructed," Luke i. 4, — that is, to confirm him in the truth, by 
an addition of new degrees of assurance unto him, — so it is our duty 
to be so far excited by the clamorous oppositions that are made unto 
the truths which we profess, and in whose being such, we are as much 
concerned as our souls are worth, to compare them diligently with 
the Scripture, that we may be the more fully confirmed and estab- 
lished in them. And, upon the examination of the whole matter, I 
shall leave them to their option, as Elijah did of old: " If Jehovah 
be God, follow him; but if Baal be God, follow him." If the 
things which the generality of professors do believe and acknow- 
ledge concerning the Spirit of God and his work on their hearts, his 
gifts and graces in the church, with the manner of their communica- 
tion, be for the substance of them (wherein they all generally agree) 
according to the Scripture, taught and revealed therein, on the same 
terms as by them received, then may they abide in the holy profes- 
sion of them, and rejoice in the consolations they have received by 



CHAP. II.] THE NAME AND TITLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 4? 

them; but if these things, with those others which, in the appli- 
cation of them to the souls of men, are directly and necessarily 
deduced, and to be deduced from them, are all but vain and useless 
imaginations, it is high time the minds of men were disburdened of 
them. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE NAME AND TITLES OF THE HOLT SPIRIT. 

Of tlie name of the Holy Spirit — ^Various uses of the words hi'i and vrnV/tct — ^h'\"i 
for the wind or any thing invisible with a sensible agitation, Amos iv. 13— 
Mistakes of the ancients rectified by Hierom — tjl"> metaphorically for vanity, 
metonymically for the part or quarter of any thing ; for our vital breath, 
the rational soul, the affections, angels good and bad — Ambiguity from the 
use of the word, how to be removed — Rules concerning the Holy Spirit — The 
name " Spirit," how peculiar and appropriate u-nto him — Why he is called 
the " Holy Spirit"— Whence called the « Good Spirit," the " Spirit of God," 
the " Spirit of the Son"— Acts ii. 33, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, explained— 1 John 
iv. 3, vindicated. 

Before we engage into the consideration of the things themselves 
concernhig which we are to treat, it will be necessary to speak some- 
thing unto the name whereby the third person in the Trinity is 
commonly known and peculiarly called in the Scripture. This is 
the "Sphit," or the "Holy Spirit," or the "Holy Ghost," as we usually 
speak. And this I shall do that we be not deceived with the homonymy 
of the word, nor be at a loss in the intention of those places of Scrip- 
ture where it is used unto other purposes: for it is so that the 
name of the second person, 6 Aoyog, " the Word," and of the third, 
rb U\/su/ji,a, " the Spirit," are often applied to signify other things; I 
mean, those words are so. And some make their advantages of the 
ambiguous use of them. But the Scripture is able of itself to mani- 
fest its own intention and meaning unto humble and diligent in- 
quirers into it. 

It is, then, acknowledged that the use of the words D'''' and crvsu/Aa 
in the Old Testament and New is very various ; yet are they the words 
whereby alone the Holy Spirit of God is denoted. Their peculiar 
signification, therefore, in particular places is to be collected and de- 
termined from the subject-matter treated of in them, and other espe- 
cial circumstances of them. This was first attempted by the most 
learned Didymus of Alexandria, whose words, therefore, I have set 
down at large, and shall cast his observations into a more perspicuous 
method, with such additions as are needful for the farther clearing 



48 THE NAME AND TITLES [BOOK L 

of the whole matter/ First, In general, D''"' and 'xnZiJ.ec signify a 
tuind or spirit, — that is, any thing which moves and is not seen. So 
the air in a violent a^dtation is called D^l; Gen. viii. 1, Q"''?''!!? "".^V'l 
n^C"''i' O^"! ; — " And God made a wind," or " spirit," that is, a strong 
and mighty wind, "to pass over the earth," for the driving and removal 
of the waters. So ntn'Zii.a is used, John iii. 8, To irnXi'Ma oVou ^zku -ttvsT, 
K.T.X., — "Thewind bloweth where it listeth,and thou hearest the sound 
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth;" 
which is a proper description of this first signification of the word. 
It is an agitation of the air which is unseen. So Ps. i. 4. And in 
tliis sense, sometimes it sionifies a " great and strong wind," — that is, 
PJCJ '^^^"'f Oi"i, 1 Kings xix. 11; and sometimes a cool and soft 
wind, or a light easy agitation of the air, such as often ariseth in the 
evenings of the sjaring or summer. So Gen. iii. 8, " God walked in 
the garden" CDi'n m?^ "in the cool of the day;" that is, when the 
evening air began to breathe gently, and moderate the heat of the 
day. So in the poet, — 

" Solis ad occasum, quum frigidus aera vesper 
Temperat." — Virg. Geor. iii. 336. 

*' At the going down of the sun, when the cold evening tempers the 
heat of the air." And some think this to be the sense of that place, 
Ps. civ. 4, "Who maketh his angels riin^i^ spirits," — swift, agile, power- 
ful as mighty winds. But the reader may consult our Exposition on 
Heb. i. 7. 

' " Quia vero Spiritus vocabulura multa significat, enumerandum est breviter quibus 
rebus nomen ejus aptetur. Vocatur spiritus et ventus, sicut in Ezechiele cap. v. : Ter- 
(iam partem dispcrges in spiritum ; lioc est, in ventum. Quod si volueris secundum his- 
toriani illud sent ire, quod scriptum est, J71 spiritii violento conteres naves T hards, non aliud 
ibi spiritus quam ventus accipitur. Nee non Salomon inter multa hoc quoque munus 
u Deo accepit ut sciret violeutias spirituum ; non aliud in hoc se accepisse demon- 
.'■ trans, quam scire rapidos ventorum flatus, et quibus causis eorum natura subsistat. 
"\''ocatur et anima spiritus, ut in Jacobi epistola, Quomodo corpus tuuni sine spiritu mor- 
( 'mm est. Manifestissime enim spiritus hie nihil aliud nisi anima nuncupatur. Juxta 
(juam intelligeutiam Stephanus animam suam spiritum vocans: Bomine, inquit, Jesu, 
fiiscipe spirituvi meiim, Act. vii. Illud quoque quod in Ecclesiaste dicitur, Quis scit an 
spiritus hominis ascendat sursum, et spiritus jumenti descendat deorsum? Eccl. iii. Con- 
siderandum utrumnam et pecudum auima3 spiritus appellentur. Dicitur etiam excepta 
anima, et excepto spiritu nostro, spiritus alius quie esse in homine, de quo Paulus scribit : 
Quis enim scit hominum ea quce sunt hominis, nisi spiritus hominis qui in eo est? 1 Cor. 

ii. 11 Sed et in alio loco idem apostolus a nostro spiritu Spiritum Dei secernens 

iiit. Ipse Spiritus testimonium perhibet spiritui nostro, Eom. viii. ; hoc significans, quod 
Ppiritus Dei, id est, Spiritus Sanctus, testimonium spiritui nostro praebeat, quern nunc 
diximus esse spiritum hominis. Ad Thessalonicenses quoque, Integer, inquit, spiritus 
vester et anima et corpus, 1 Thess. v. — Appellantur quoque supernas rationabilesque vir- 
tutes, quas solct Scriptura angelos et fortitudines nominare, vocabulo spiritus ut ibi, 
Qui fads angelos tuos spiritus; et alibi, Nonne omncs sunt administratores spiritus? Heb. i. 

llationales quoque alia; creaturre, et de bono in malum sponte propria profluentes, 

.si.iiritus pessimi et spiritus appellantur immundi; sicut ibi. Cum autem spiritus im- 
71 und'ts cxicrit ah homine, Matt, xii., et in consequentibus, assumit septem alios spiritus 
7i-'piiores se. Spiritus quoque dsemones in Evangoliis appellantur : sed et hoc notandum, 
iiUiiiiLiaiu siiiipiiciter .^piiilum sed cum aliquo additaiuuuto spiritum siguificari contra- 



I 



CHAP. II.] OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 49 

This is one signification of the word D'l'', or this is one thing de- 
nclted by it in the Scripture. So, among many other places, expressly 
Amos iv. 13, " For, lo," nn Nnhl nnn ivi^, " he that formeth the 
mountains, and createth the spirit," that is, " the wind." The LXX. 
render this place, ^rspsuv ^povrriv, xai xtI^^uv i:nZiha: — " "Who estab- 
lisheth the thunder, and createth the spirit;" though some copies 
read, ra oV>j, " the mountains." And the next words in the text, 
in^trnDi nnx^ l^ap'i,— " And declareth unto man what is his thought,'' 
they render, Ka/ avayyiXktfjv eig a.v6f'U)'Troug rij* XpiOTov auroiJ, — " And de- 
clareth unto men his Christ," or his Anointed, or his Messiah; for 
they took irT'tJ'Tip for i'~>''P'p, by inadvertency, and not for want of 
points or vowels as some imagine, seeing the mistake consists in the 
casting out of a letter itself. And thence the old Latin translation 
renders the words, " Firmans tonitruum, et creans Spiritum, et an- 
nuncians in homines Christum suum;" which Hierom rectified into 
" Formans monies, et creans ventum, et annnntians homini eloquium 
suum," discovering in his comment the mistake of the LXX. But it 
is certain that, from the ambiguity of the word D^"" in this place, with 
the corrupt translations making mention of Christ in the next words, 
some who of old denied the deity of the Holy Spirit mightily in- 
sisted on it to prove him a creature; as may be seen in Didymus, 
Ambrose, Hierom, Hilary, and the ancients generally. But the 
context determines the signification of the word beyond all just ex- 
ceptions. It is the power of God in making and disposing of things 

rium, Tit spiritus immundus et spiritus dgemotiis ; hi vero qui sancti sunt spiritus abs- 
que ullo additamento spiritus simpliciter appellantur. Sciendum quoque quod nomen 
spiritus et voluntatem tiominis et animi sententiam sonet. Volens quippe apostolus 
virginem non solum corpore sed et mente sanctam esse, id est, non tantum corpore, sed. 
et motu cordis interno, ait, Ut sit sancta corpore el spiritu, 1 Cor. vii., voluntatem spiritu, 
et corpore opera, significans. Considera uti-um hoc ipsum in Esaia sonet quod scriptum 

est, Et scient qtii spiritu errant intelkctum, Isa. xxix. 24 Et super omnia vo- 

cabulum spiritus, altiorem et mysticum in Scripturis Sanctis significat intellectum ; ut 
ibi, Litera oceidit, spiritus autem vivijicat, 2 Cor. iii. — Hsec juxta possibilitatem nostri in- 
genii, quot res spiritus .significet, attigimus. — Nonnunquam autem spiritus et Dominus 
noster Jesus Christus, id est, Dei Filius, appellatur : Dominus autem spiritus est, ut ante 
diximus: ubi etiam illud adjunximus, spiritus Dens est, non juxta nominis communi- 
onem, sed juxta naturae substantiagque consortium. — Porro ad haec necessario devoluti 
sumus, ut quia frequenter appellatio spiritus, in Scripturis est respersa divinis, non 
labamur in nomine sed unumquodque secundum locorum varietates et intelligentias ac- 
cipiamus. Omni itaque studio ac diligentia vocabulum Spiritus, ubi et quomodo appel- 
latum sit contemplantes, sophismata eorum et fraudulentas decipulas conteramus, qui 
Spiritum Sanctum asserunt creaturam. Legentes enim in propheta, Effo sum firmans 
tonitruum, et creans spiritum, Amos iv. 13, ignorantia multiplicis in hac parte sermonis 
putaverunt Spiritum Sanctum ex hoc vocabulo demonstrari ; cum in praesentiarum spiri- 
tus nomen ventum sonet Ergo ut pra3locuti sumus, quomodo unumquodque 

dictum sit, consideremus ne forte per ignorantiam ia barathrum decidamus erroris." — 
Didym. de Spir. Sane. lib. iii. 

1 So the word is constantly given by Owen. The i is uniformly elided from modern 
editions of the Hebrew Scriptures, and the word stands thus il-!^-n'3_ The origin of 
the mistake to which Owen refers is more apparent from the way in which the word is 
printed, but the insertion of the "^ seems without authority. — Ed. 

YOL. III. 4 



50 THE na:me and titles [book I. 

here' below, whetlier dreadful for their greatness and height, as the 
mountains; or mighty and effectual in their operations, as the wind; 
or secret in their conceptions, as the thoughts of men; or stable in 
their continuance, as the night and daij, the evening and morning, 
without the least respect to Christ or the Spirit, that it treateth of. 

And I cannot but observe from hence the great necessity there is 
of searching the original text in the interpretation of the Scriptures, 
as it might be evidenced by a thousand other instances ; but one 
we may take from two great and learned men, who were contempo- 
raries in the Latin church, in their thoughts on this place. 

The one is Ambrose, who, interpreting these words in his second 
book, De Spiritu Sancto, lib. ii. cap. 6, being deceived by the coiTupt 
translation mentioned, "Annuncians in homines Christum suuni," is 
forced to give a very strained exposition of that which, in truth, is 
not in the text, and to relieve himself also with another corruption 
in the same place, where "forming the mountains" is rendered by 
"establishing the thunder;" and yet, when he hath done all, he can 
scarce free himself of the objection about the creation of the Spirit, 
which he designs to answer. His words are, " Siquis propheticum 
dictum, ideo derivandum putet ad interpretationem Spiritus Sancti; 
quia habet, 'annuncians in homines Christum suum,' is ad incarna- 
tionis Dominica mysteria dictum facilius derivabit. Nam si te 
movet quia Spiritum dixit, et hoc non putas derivandum ad myste- 
rium assumptionis humanse ; prosequere scripturas et invenies optima 
congruere de Christo, de quo bene convenit sestimari, quia firmavit 
tonitrua adventu suo; vim videlicet et sonum coelestium scriptura- 
rum; quarum velut quodam tonitru mentes nostra redduntur atto- 
nitse, ut timere discamus, et reverentiam coelestibus deferamus ora- 
■culis. Denique, in Evangelio fratres Domini filii tonitru dicebantur. 
Et cum vox Patris facta esset dicentis ad Filium, ' Et honorificavi te, 
et iterum honorificabo,' Judsi dicebant, 'Tonitruum factum est illi.'" 
And hereon, with some observations to the same purpose, he adds, 
"Ergo tonitrua ad sermones Domini retulit, quorum in omnem ter- 
ram exivit sonus; Spiritum aiitem hoc loco an imam, quam suscepit 
rationabilem et perfectam intelligimus." The substance of his dis- 
course is, that treating of Christ (who indeed is neither mentioned 
nor intended in the text), he speaks of "confirming the thunder" 
(which nowhere here appears), by which the sound of the Scriptures 
and preaching of the word is intended ; the spirit that was created 
beinof the human soul of Jesus Christ. Nor was he alone in this 
interpretation. Didym, lib. ii. de Spiritu Sancto, Athanas. ad Se- 
Tapion., Basil lib. iv. contra Eunom., amongst the Grecians, are in 
like manner entangled with this corruption of the text; as was also 
Concil. Sardicen. in Socrat. lib. il cap. 20. 



CHAP. II.] OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 51 

The other person intended is Hierom, who, consulting the original, 
as he was well able to do, first translated the words, "Quia ecce for- 
mans monies, et ereans ventum, et annuncians homini eloquium 
suum," declares the mistake of the LXX. and the occasion of it: — 
"Pro montibus qui Hebraic^ dicuntur ^^D, soli LXX. jSpovrriv, id 
est, tontitruum, verterunt. Cur autem illi Spiritum et nos dixeri- 
mus ventum, qui Hebraice D^"i vocatur, causa manifesta est : quod- 
que sequitur, 'Annuncians homini eloquium suum,' LXX. transtule- 
runt, '' KitayyiKkm slg avSpu'Trovg rov XpiffTov airoS, verbi similitudiue, et 
ambiguitate decepti.'' So he shows that it is not i^'';^'0 in the text, 
but irT'tmp 5 — that is, saith he, "juxta Aquilam, o/nXlc^v aurou* Sym- 
machum, to pai^>;/a.a auroC' juxta Theodotionem, rov Xoyov auroE/" juxta 
quintam editionem, ttiv adoXie^lav aWov. 

And as DV, whence the word is, signifies both to meditate and to 
speak, so the word itself intends a conceived thought, to be spoken 
afterward. And that S here is reciprocal, not relative. And to this 
purpose is his ensuing exposition, "Qui confirmat monies, ad cujus 
vocem coelorum cardines et terrse fundamenta quaiiuntur. Ipse qui 
creat spiritum, quem in hoc loco non Spiritum Sanctum, ut hsere- 
tici suspicantur, sed ventum intelligimus, sive spiritum hominis, an- 
nuncians homini eloquium ejus, qui cogitationum secreta cognoscit," 
Hieron. in loc. 

Secondly, Because the wind, on the account of its unaccountable 
variation, inconstancy, and changes, is esteemed vain, not to be ob- 
served or trusted unto, — whence the wise man tells us that "he that 
observeth the wind shall not sow," Eccles. xi. 4, — the word is used 
metaphorically to signify vanity: Eccles. v. 16, "What profit hath he 
that hath laboured nn^^ for the wind?" So Mic. ii. 11, •" If a man 
walk" ip'^ 0^"*, "with the wind a-ndi falsehood ;" — that is, in vanity, 
pretendiug to a spirit of prophecy ; and falsehood, vainly, foolishly, 
falsely boasting. So Job xv. 2, "Should a wise man utter" D^ nj?"!^ 
"knowledge of wind?" vain words, with a pretence of knowledge 
and wisdom ; and he calls them D1"i '''?3'7, "words of wind," chap. xvi. 3. 
So also Jer. v. 18, "And the prophets shall become D^lf, wind," 
or be vain, foolish, uncertain, and false, in their predictions. But 
'!rvivju,a is not used thus metaphorically in the New Testament. 

Thirdly, By a metonymy, also, it signifies any part or quarter, 
as we say, of the world from whence the wind blows; as also a part 
of any thing divided into four sides or quarters. So Jer. lii. 23, 
"There were ninety and six pomegranates •^C''"', towards a wind;" 
that is, on the one side of the chapiter that was above the pillars in 
the temple. Ezek. v. 12, "I will scatter a third part" O^n '?^^, "into all 
the winds," or all parts of the earth. Hence, the " four quarters " of a 
thing lying to the four parts of the world are called its four winds, 



5Si THE NAME AND TITLES [BOOK I. 

nin=n J??")^^ l Chron. ix. 24; whence are the rsgffupsg anfioi, "the four 
winds," in the New Testament, Matt. xxiv. 31. This is the use of 
the word in general with respect unto things natural and inanimate^ 
and every place where it is so used gives it [a] determinate sense. 

Again, [Fourthly], These words are used for any thing that cannot 
he seen or touched, be it in ii&QM material and corporeal, or absolutely 
spiritual and immaterial. So the vital breath which we and other 
living creatures breathe is called : Every thing wherein was niTJIO^J 
£3\*n, " the breath of the spirit of life," Gen. vii. 22,— that vital breath 
which our lives are maintained by in respiration. So Ps. cxxxv. 17; 
Job xix. 17; which is a thing material or corporeal. But most fre- 
quently it denotes things purely spiritual and immaterial, as in finite 
substances it signifies the rational soul of man : Ps. xxxi, 5, " Into 
thine hand I commit" ""'^l"', that is, "my spirit," They are the words 
whereby our Saviour committed his departing soul into the hands of 
.his Father, Luke xxiii. 46, rh -Trvtv/Md [lov. So Ps. cxlvi. 4, ^nn ^y:r\^ 
— " His breath," say we, " goeth forth ; he returneth to his eaith." 
It is his soul and its departure from the body that is intended. This 
is t^^^^n ""Jii nn^ that "spirit of the sons of man that goeth upward,'' 
when the "spirit of a beast goeth downward to the earth," or turneth 
to corruption, 'Eccles. iii. 21 : see chap. viii. 8, xii. 7. Hence, — 

Fifthly, By a metonymy also, it is taken for the affections of the 
mind or soul of man, and that whether they be good or evil : Gen, 
xlv. 27, " The spirit of Jacob revived;" he began to take heart 
and be of good courage. Ezek. xiii. 3, " The prophets that walk" 
Dnn "iHKj "after their own spirit," — that is, their own desires and in- 
clinations, — when, indeed, they had no vision, but spake what they 
had a mind unto. Num. xiv. 24, Caleb is said to have "another spirit" 
than the murmuring people, — another mind, will, purpose, or resolu- 
tion. It is taken for prudence. Josh. v. 1 ; anger, or the irascible 
faculty, Eccles. vii. 9 ; fury, Zech. vi. 8. " He shall cut off the spirit 
of princes" [Ps. Ixxvi. 12]; that is, their pride, insolency, and con- 
tempt of others, Ilvsu/Aa in the New Testament frequently intends 
the intellectual part of the mind or soul, and that as it is active, or 
in action, Luke i. 47; Rom. i. 9 ; — and ofttimes is taken for the mind 
in all its inclinations, in its whole habitual bent and design, 1 Thess. 
V. 23. 

[Sixthly], Angels also are called spirits: — good angels, Ps. civ. 4; 
(and it may be an angel is intended, 1 Kings xviiL 12 ;) and evil angels 
or devils, 1 Kings xxii. 21, 22; for that spirit who appeared before 
the Lord, and offered himself to be a lying spirit in the mouths of 
Ahab's prophets, was no other but he who appeared before God, Job 
i. 6, who is called " Satan." These in the New Testament are called 
" unclean spirits," Matt. x. 1 ; and the observation of the ancients, 
that Satan is not called a spirit absolutely, but with an addition or 



CTTAr'. IT.] OF THE HOLY SPTTtlT. (^3 

mark of distinction, holds only in the New Testament.* And be- 
cause evil spirits are wont to torment the minds and bodies of men, 
therefore evil thoughts, disorders of mind, wicked purposes, disquiet- 
ing and vexing the soul, arising from or much furthered by melan- 
choly distempers, are called, it may be, sometimes " an evil spirit." 
The case of Saul shall be afterward considered. 

In such variety are these words used and applied in the Scripture, 
because of some very general notions wherein the things intended 
do agree. For the most part, there is no great difficulty in discover- 
ing the especial meaning of them, or what it is they signify in the 
several places where they occur. Their design and circumstances as 
to the subject-matter treated of determine the signification. And 
notwithstanding the ambiguous use of these words in the Old and 
New Testament, there are two things clear and evident unto our 
purpose : — First, That there is in the holy Scriptures a full, distinct 
revelation or declaration of the Spirit, or the Spirit of God,^ as one 
singular, and every way distinct from every thing else that is occa- 
sionally or constantly signified or denoted by that word "Spirit." And 
this not only a multitude of particular places gives testimony unto, 
but also the whole course of the Scripture supposeth, as that without 
an acknowledgment whereof nothing else contained in it can be un- 
derstood or is of any use at all; for we shall find this doctrine to be 
the very life and soul which quickens the whole from first to last. 
Take away the work and powerful efficacy of the Holy Spirit fro«i 
the administration of it, and it will prove but a dead letter, of no 
saving advantage to the souls of men ; and take away the doctrine 
concerning him from the writing of it, and the whole will be unin- 
telligible and useless. Secondly, That whatever is affirmed of this 
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, it ^11 relates either to his person or 
his operations, and these operations of his being various^ are some- 
times, by a metonymy, called "spirit;" whereof afterward. I shall not, 
therefore, need to prove that there is a Holy Spirit distinct from all 
other spirits whatever, and from every thing else that on several occa- 
sions is signified by that name; for this is acknowledged by all that 
acknowledge the Scriptures, yea, it is so by Jews and Mohammedans, 
as well as all sorts of Christians. And, indeed, all those false appre- 
hensions concerning him which have at this day any countenance 
given unto them may be referred unto two heads: — 1 That of the 
modern Jews, who affirm the Holy Ghost to be the influential power 

' " Discant (homines) Scripturse sanctae consuetudinem, nunquam spiritum perver- 
eum absolute, sed cum additamento aliquo spii-itum nuncupari : sicut ibi, Spiritu forni- 
cationis seducti sunt; et in Evaiigelio, Cum autem siuitm immundus ezierit de homine; 
et csetera his similia." — -Hieron. Comment, in Ilab cap, ii. 

2 " Qui Spiritum negavit, et Deum Patrem negavit et Filium : quoniam idem est Spi- 
ritus Dei, qui ISpiritus Christi est," cap. 3. " Unum autem esse Spiritum nemo dubitave- 
rit; etsi de uno Deo plerique dubitaverunt," cap. 4. — Ambros. de Spir. Sane. lib. i. 



54 THE NAME AND TITLES [BOOK I. 

of God; wliich conceit is entertained and diligently promoted by the 
Socinians. 2. That of the Mohammedans, who make him an emi- 
nent angel, and sometimes say it is Gabriel; which, being traduced 
from the Macedonians of old, hath found some defenders and pro- 
moters in our days. 

This, then, bemg the name of him concerning whom we treat, 
some things concerning it and the use of it, as peculiarly applied unto 
him, are to be premised:^ for sometimes he is called the " Spirit" ab- 
solutely; sometimes the " Holy Spirit," or, as we speak, the " Holy 
Ghost;" sometimes the "Spirit of God," the "good Spirit of God," 
the "Spirit of truth" and "holiness;" sometimes the "Spirit of Christ" 
or "of the Son." The first absolutely used denotes his person; the 
additions express his properties and relation unto the other persons. 

In the name Spirit two things are included ; — First, His nature or 
essence, — namely, that he is a pwre, spiritual, or immaterial sub- 
stance; for neither the Hebrews nor the Greeks can express such a 
being in its subsistence but by Dl"* and rrvev/j^a, a spirit. Nor is this 
name, firstly, given unto the Holy Spirit in allusion unto the wind 
in its subtilty, agility, and efficacy;^ for these things have respect 
only unto his operations, wherein, from some general appearances, 
his works and effects are hkened unto the wind and its effects, John 
iii. 8. But it is his substance or being which is first intended in this 
name.' So it is said of God, John iv. 24, IIvgD/ia 6 @s6g- — " God is 
a Spirit;" that is, he is of a pure, spiritual, immaterial nature, not 
confined unto any place, and so not regarding one more than another 
in his worship ; as is the design of the place to evince. It will there- 
fore be said, that on this account the name of "Spirit" is not peculiar 
unto the third person, seeing it contains the description of that na- 
ture which is the same in them all ; for whereas it is said, " God is a 
Spirit," it is not spoken of this or that person, but of the nature of 
God abstractedly. I grant that so it is;'* and therefore the name 

' "Ovo/ua avrau ^viv//.a ayiii, TviVf^a aXnhlas, <Tyiv//.a tov Slav, vyiv/ia xvpiov, "jrvivfio, 
rau TiaTpoe, rrynuf/.a Xpimij, xeci ou'ru x,aX{i auTOV h 'ypatpri. MaX>.«» il uiro taura itai 
vtv%Zi/.a tdiou, xa.) cTviufict to i» Tov &iiu. — Chrysost. de Adoiand. Ibpir. 

2 Crell. Prolcgom. 

* " Sanctificationis bonitatisque Tocabulum, et ad Patrem, et ad Filkiin, et ad Spi- 
ritum Sanctum seque refertur; sicut ipsa quoque appellatio Spiritus. Nam et Pater 
Spiritus dicitur ut ibi, Spiritus est Deus, Joan. iv. l!4. Et Filius Spiritu.s, Dominus, 
inquit, Spiritus ejus, 2 Cor. iii. 17. Spiritus autem Sanctus semper Spiritus Sanctiap- 
pellatione censetur; non quod ex consortio tantum nominis Spiiitus cum I'atre pona- 
tur et Filio, sed quod unanatura unum possideat et nomen." — Didym. de Spir. Sane, 
lib. iii. 

* " Multa sunt tcstimonia, quibus hoc evidenter ostenditur, et Patris et Filii ipsura 
esse Spiritum, qui in Trinitate dicitur Spiritus Sanctus. Nee ob aliud existimo ip- 
sum proprie vocari Spiritum, cum etiam si de singulis intcrrogemm-, non possimus 
non Patrem et Filium Spiritum dicere; quoniam Spiritus est Deus, id est, non Corpus 
est Deus sed Spiritus; hoc proprie vocari oportuit eum, qui non est unus eorum, sed 
in quo communitas apparet ambomm." — August. Tractat. xcix. in Johan. 



CHAP, ir.] OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 55 

"Spirit" is not, in the first place, characteristical of the third person in 
the Trinity, but denotes that nature whereof each person is partaker. 
But, moreover, as it is pecuharly and constantly ascribed unto him, 
it declares his especial manner and order of existence; so that 
wherever there is mention of the " Holy Spirit," his relation unto the 
Father and Son is included therein ; for he is the Spirit of God. And 
herein there is an allusion to somewhat created, — not, as I said, to 
the wind in general, unto whose agility and invisibility he is compared 
in his operations, but unto the breath of man ; for as the vital breath 
of a man hath a continual emanation from him, and yet is never 
separated utterly from his person or forsaketh him, so doth the Spirit 
of the Father and the Son proceed from them by a continual divine 
emanation, still abiding one with them : for all those allusions are 
weak and imperfect wherein substantial things are compared with 
accidental, infinite things with finite, and those that are eternal with 
those that are temporary. Hence, their disagreement is infinitely 
more than their agreement ; yet such allusions doth our -weakness need 
instruction from and by. Thus he is called "fS H^"', Ps. xxxiii. 6, " The 
Spirit " or " breath of the mouth of the Lord," or " of his nostrils;" 
as Ps. xviii. 15, wherein there is an eminent allusion unto the breath 
of a man. Of the manner of this proceeding and emanation of the 
Spirit from the Father and the Son, so far as it is revealed, and as 
we are capable of a useful apprehension of it, I have treated else- 
where. And from hence, or the subsistence of the Holy Spirit in an 
eternal emanation from the Father and Son, as the breath of God, 
did our Saviour signify his communication of his gifts unto his dis- 
ciples by breathing on them: John xx. 22, 'EvKpusrias- and because in 
our first creation it is said of Adam that God Ci^?n ni^'f: VSXB m\ 
" breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," Gen. ii. 7. He hath 
the same appellation with respect unto God, Ps. xviii. 15. Thus is 
he called the " Spirit." And because, as we observed before, the word 
Tvevfji^a is variously used, Didymus, de Spiritu Sancto, lib. iii., supposeth 
that the prefixing of the article rh doth distinguish the signification, 
and confine it to the Holy Ghost in the New Testament. Ofttimes 
no doubt it doLh so, but not always, as is manifest from John iii. 8, 
where to is joined with 'zvivfia, and yet only signifies " the wind." But 
the subject treated of, and what is affirmed of him, will sufficiently 
determine the signification of the word, where he is called absolutely 
" The Spirit." 

Again; He is called, by way of eminency, the Holy Spirit, or the 
Holy Ghost} This is the most usual appellation of him in the New 
Testament; and it is derived from the Old: Ps. li. 11, ^f^i? 0^"!, 

' " Avahv ■yra.fia, 0i«u xaTiauira, It) toIis cLyhfo,; aylaui 'Scof-id, »v •rvsUjita ayiov ivufio.l^oua'iti ei 
lifo) ■rf.efriTo.i. — Justin Mart. 



56 THE NAME AND TITLES [BOOK L ^ 

" The Spirit of thy Holiness," or " Thy Holy Spirit." Isa. Ixiii. 10, 
11, iti'l^ nn._" The Spirit of his Holiness," or " His Holy Spirit." 
Hence are ^'ni^L" L"" and tJ^npn nn^ "The Holy Spirit," and "The 
Spirit of Holiness," in common use amcmg the Jews. In the New 
Testament he is to Uvsv/jja rl "Ayiov, "That Holy Spirit." And v:e 
must inquire into the special reasons of this adjunct. Some suppose 
it is only from his peculiar work of sanctifying us, or making us holy: 
for this effect of sanctification is his peculiar work, and that of what 
sort soever it be; whether it consist in a separation from things pro- 
fane and common, unto holy uses and services, or whether it be the 
real infusion and operation of holiness in men, it is from him in an 
especial manner. And this also manifeststli him to be God, for it is 
God alone who sanctifieth his people: Lev, xs. 8, "I am Jehovah 
which sanctify you." And God in that work ascribes unto himself 
the title of Holy in an especial m.anner, and as such would have us 
to consider him : chap. xxi. 8, " I the LoED, which sanctify you, 
am holy." And this may be one reriRon of the frequent use of this 
property with reference unto the Spirit. 

But this is not the whole reason of this name and appellation : for 
where he is first so mentioned, he is called " The Spirit of God's Holi- 
ness," Ps. li. 11, Isa. Ixiii. 10, 11; and in the New Testament ab- 
solutely " The Spirit of Holiness," Rom. i. 4 And this respects his 
nature, in the first place, and not merely his operations.^ As God, 
then, absolutely is called " Holy," " The Holy One," and " The Holy 
One of Israel," ] eiug therein described by that glorious property 
of his nature whereby he is "glorious in holiness," Exod. xv. 1?., 
and whereby he is distinguished from all false gods, (" Who is like 
unto thee, O Jehovah, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious 
in holiness?") so is the Spirit called "Holy" to denote the holiness 
of his nature. And on this account is the opposition made between 
him and the unholy or unclean spirit: Mark iii. 29, 30, " He that 
shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness: 
because they said, He hath an unclean spirit." And herein first his 
personality is asserted; for the unclean spirit is a person, and if 
the Spirit of God were only a quality or accident, as some fancy and 
dream, there could no coraparativo opposition be made between him 
and this unclean spirit, — that is, the devil. So also are they opposed 
with respect unto their natures. His nature is holy, whereas that of 
the unclean spirit is evil and perverse. This is the foundation of his 
being called " Holy," even the eternal glorious holiness of his nature. 
And on this account he is so styled also with respect unto all his 
operations; for it is not only with regard unto the particular work of 

AtyfTKi rtivvv vrnuftm ayiov. A.l'rtt yap lirriv ft xupia xxi VfuTn •rpoiTti'ytipio!. ii i/i.^a.^irixu' 
vtfa* 'ix'ti(Ta, <r»i> hai/oiav, xai ■npurra^a mu ayiou •xnuiixra; Tti' (fistv. — Chrysost. ub. Sup, 



CHAP. IT.] OP THE HOLY KPTRTT. 57 

regeneration and sanctifi cation, or making of us holy, but unto all 
his works and operations, that he is so termed : for he being the im- 
mediate operator of all divine works that outwardly are of God, and 
they being in themselves all holy, be they of what kind soever, he is 
called the " Holy Spirit." Yea, he is so called to attest and witness 
that all his works, all the works of God, are holy, although they may 
be great and terrible, and such as to corrupt reason may have another 
appearance ; in all which we are to acquiesce in this, that the " Holy 
One in the midst of us will do no iniquity," [Hos. xi. 9], Zeph. iii, 5. 
The Spirit of God, then, is thus frequently and almost constantly 
called " Holy," to attest that all the works of God, whereof he is the 
immediate operator, are holy: for it is the work of the Spirit to 
harden and blind obstinate sinners, as well as to sanctify the elect; 
and his acting in the one is no less holy than in the other, although 
holiness be not the effect of it in the objects. So, when he came to 
declare his dreadful work of the final hardening and rejection of the 
Jews, — one of the most tremendous effects of divine Providence, a 
work which, for the strangeness of it, men " would in no wise believe 
though it were declared unto them," Acts xiii. 41, — he was signally 
proclaimed Holy by the seraphims that attended his throne, Isa, 
vi. 3, 9-12; John xil 40; Acts xxviii. 25, 26. 

There are, indeed, some actions on men and in the world that are 
wrought, by God's permission and in his righteous judgment, by evil 
spirits ; whose persons and actings are placed in opposition to the Spirit 
of God. So 1 Sam. xvi. 14, 15, "The Spirit of the Lord departed 
from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. And 
Saul's servants said unto him. Behold now, an evil spirit from 
God troubleth thee." So also verse 23, " The evil spirit from God 
was upon Saul." So chap, xviii. 10, xix. 9. This spirit is called, 
nj?n D\"i7X"n'n^ — " an evil spirit of God," chap. xvi. 15 ; and absolutely 
'2'''i''.^"D^"i, — "a spirit of God," verse 23, where we have supplied "evil" 
in the translation. But these expressions are to be regulated and 
explained by verse 14, where he is called '"'i'TI nso nyynn^ — «an evil 
spirit from the LORD;" that is, appointed and commissioned by 
him for the punishing and terrifying of Saul: for as the Spirit of 
the Lord departed from him, by withdrawing his assistance and in- 
fluential operations, whereby he had wrought in him those gifts and 
abilities of mind which fitted him unto the discharge of his kingly 
office, upon the first impressions whereof he was "turned into another 
man " from what he was in his private condition, chap. x. 6-9 ; so 
the evil spirit came upon him to excite out of his own adust melan- 
choly, discontents, fears, a sense of guilt, as also to impress terrifying 
thoughts and apprehensions on his imagination; for so it is said, " An 
evil spirit fr'om the Lord" ^^^V^, chap, xvi 14, " terrified him," 



58 THE NAME AND TITLES [BOOK I. 

frightened him with dreadful agitations of mind. And, that we 
may touch a httle on this by the way, the foundation of this trouble 
and distress of Saul lay in himself: for as I do grant that he was 
sometimes under an immediate agitation of body and mind from 
the powerful impressions of the devil upon him, — for under them it 
is said he " prophesied in the midst of th»- house." 1 Sam. xviii. 10, 
which argues an extraordinary and involunta tf effect upon him, — yet 
principally he wrought by the excitation and provocation of his per- 
sonal distempers, moral and natural ; for these have in themselves a 
great efScacy in cruciating the minds of guilty persons. So Tacitus 
observes out of Plato, Annal. lib. vi. 6, " Neque frustra prsestan- 
tissimus sapientiffi firmare solitus est, si recludantur tyrannorum 
mentes, posse aspici laniatus et ictus; quando, ut corpora verberibus, 
ita ssevitia, libidine, malis consultis, animus dilaceretur;" — "The most 
eminent wise man was not wont in vain to affirm, that if the minds 
of tyrants were laid open and discovered, it would be seen how they 
were cruciated and punished; seeing that as the body is rent and 
torn by stripes, so is the mind by cruelty, lusts, evil counsels and 
undertakings." So he, as I suppose from Plato de Repub. lib. ix., 
where Socrates disj)utes sundry things to that purpose. And 
another Roman historian gives us a signal instance hereof in Ju- 
gurtha, after he had contracted the guilt of many horrible wicked- 
nesses.^ 

And yet this work in itself is of the same kind with what God 
sometimes employs holy angels about, because it is the execution of 
his righteous judgments. So it was a " watcher and an holy one" that 
in such a case smote Nebuchadnezzar with a sudden madness and 
frenz}^, Dan. iv. 13-17. 

To return; As he is called the Holy, so he is the Good Spirit of 
God: Ps. cxliii. 10, '^r}m nnito ^nn;_" Thy Spirit is good; lead me 
into the land of uprightness;" so ours: — rather, " Thy good Spirit 
shall lead me;" or, as Junius, " Spiritu tuo bono deduc me," — " Lead 
me by thy good Spirit." The Chaldee here adds ']^1'^P,—" The 
good Spirit of thy holiness," or " Thy holy good Spirit." Didymus, 
lib. ii. de Spir. Sane, says that some copies here read to dyiov, a re- 
membrance whereof is in the MS. of Q'hecla, and not elsewhere. 
So Neh. ix. 20, " Thou gavest them" nnirsn ^nn^ "thy good Spirit 
to instruct them." And he is called so principally from his na- 
ture, which is essentially good, as " there is none good but one, 
that is, God," Matt. xix. 17; as also from his operations, which are all 

^ " Neque post id locorum Jugurthse dies aut nox ulla quieta fuere : neque loco, ne- 
que mortali cuiquam, aut tempori, satis credere: civis, hostis, juxta metuere: cir- 
cumspectare omnia, et onini strepitu pavescere : alio atque alio loco, sa^pe contra decus 
regium requiesccre : interdum, somno excitus arrcptis armis tumultum facere: ita for- 
inidine, quasi vecordia, agitari." — Bell. Jugur. Ixxii. 



OIIAP. II.] OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 59 

|i good as they are holy ; and unto them that believe are full of good- 

■ ness in their effects. Crell. Prolegom., p. 7, distinguisheth between 
this good Spirit and the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost; for this 
good Spirit he would confine unto the Old Testament, making it the 

, author or cause of those gifts of wisdom, courage, prudence, and 
i government, that were granted unto many of the people of old. So 
i it is said of Bezaleel, that he was " filled with the Spirit of God, in 

■ wisdom, and understanding, and in knowledge," Exod. xxxi. 8; so 
; XXXV. 31 ; — " That is," saith he, " with this ' good Spirit of God.'" So 
; also, it is pretended, in all those places where the Sj)irit of God is said 
I to " come on " men to enable them unto some great and extraordinary 
• work, as Judges iii. ] 0. But this is plainly to contradict the apostle, 

who tells us that there are, indeed, various operations, but one Spirit; 
: and that the one and self-same Spirit worketh all these things as he 
j pleaseth, 1 Cor. xii. 6, 11. And if from every different or distinct effect 
I of the Spirit of God we must multiply spirits, and assign every one of 
' them to a distinct spirit, no man will know what to make of the Spirit of 
' God at last.^ Probably, we shall have so many feigned spirits as to 
lose the only true one. As to this particular instance, David prays 
! that God would "lead him by his good Spirit," Ps. cxliii. 10. Now, cer- 
tainly, this was no other but that Holy Spirit which he prays in an- 
other place that the Lord would not take from him: Ps. li. 11, "Take 
not thy Holy Spirit from me;" which is confessed to be the Holy 
Ghost. This he also mentions, 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, " The Spirit of the 
Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue." And what 
i Spirit this Avas Peter declares, 2 Epist. i. 21, "Holy men of God 
spake in old time as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." So vain 
is this pretence. 

Again ; He is commonly called the Spirit of God, and the Spirit 
of the Lord; so, in the first mention of him, Gen. i. 2, Ci'^ripx mi^ 
" The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." And I doubt 
not but that the name '^''r'''?, " Elohim," which includes a plurality 
in the same nature, is used in the creation and the whole description 
of it to intimate the distinction of the divine persons ; for presently 
upon it the name Jehovah is mentioned also, chap. ii. 4, but so as 
Elohim is joined with it. But that name is not used in the account 
given us of the work of creation, because it hath respect only unto 
the unity of the essence of God. Now, the Spirit is called the " Spirit 
of God " originally and principally, as the Son is called the " Son of 

• " Nemo suspicetur alium Spiritum Sanctum fuisse in Sanctis, nimirum ante adven- 
tum Domini, et alium in apostolis CEeterisque discipulis, et quasi homonymura in differ- 
entibus esse substantiis; possumus quidem testimonia de divinis Uteris exliibere, quia 
idem Spiritus et in apostolis et in prophetis fuerit. Paulus in epistola quam ad He- 
brteos scribit, de Fsahiiuiinu volumine testimonium proferens, a Spiritu Sancto id dic- 
tum esse commemorat." — Didym. de Spir. Sane. lib. L 



60 THE NAME AND TITLES [BOOK I. 

God;" for the name of " God" in those enunciations is taken person- 
ally f<-ir the -Fntiier,— that is, God the Father, the Father of Christ, 
and our Father, John xx. 17. And he is thus termed uvoerariKuc, 
upon the account of the order and nature of personal subsistence and 
distinction in thfe holy Trinity. The person of the Father being 
" fons et origo Trinitatis," the Son is from him by eternal genera- 
tion, and is therefore his Son, the Son of God ; whose denomination 
as the Father is originally from hence, even the eternal generation 
of the Son. So is the person of the Holy Spirit from him by eternal 
procession or emanation. Henct^ is that relation of his to God even 
the Father, whence he is called the " Spirit of God." And he is not 
only called Uviu/jua. rov Qsou, the " Spirit of God," but n^sD/za to ix rou 
Qsou, " the Spu it that is of God," which proceedeth from him as a 
distinct person.^ This, therefore, arising from and consisting in his 
proceeding from him, he is called, metaphorically, " The breath of his 
mouth," as proceeding from him by an eternal spiration. On this 
foundation and supposition he is also called, secondly, " The Spirit of 
God" bia.y.piTiztjg^ to difference him from all other spirits whatever; as, 
thirdly, also, because he is promised, given, and sent of God, for the 
accomplishment of his whole will and pleasure towards us. The in- 
stances hereof will be afterward considered. But these appellations 
of him have their foundation in his eternal relation unto the Father, 
before mentioned. 

On the same account originally, he is also called the Spirit of the 
Son: " God hath sent forth the Spirit of the Son into your hearts," 
Gal iv. 6 ;— and the Spirit of Christ: " What time the Spirit of Christ 
which was in them did signify," 1 Pet. i. 11. So Rom. viii. 9, " But 
j-e are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of 
God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, 
he is none of his."' The Spirit, therefore, of God and the Spirit of 
Christ are one and the same; for that hypothetical proposition, " If 
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his," is an infer- 
ence taken from the words foregoing, " If so be that the Spirit of 
God dwell in you." And this Spirit of Christ, verse 11, is said to be 
the "Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead." Look, 
then, in what sense he is said to be the Spirit of God,— that is, of the 
Father,— in the same he is said to be the Spirit of the Son. And this 

*irayu „ yj,u<f„ to ^viv^x ri ^y,„, xa-J ^f.^r'J-^^, - roZ SioZ, ro Ix. @toZ. "AXX. Ti to tov 
ei«y «a, aXXoT. U eioS. S.,Z ^iv yip ovfccvos *ai y^j ^- „\p avri ^i^„>,f.iva. 'E» 

eiei/ ii .i/«,v Kiyira,, i< fih S Ik t»s ovrla; j<rT;.— Chrysost. de Spir. Sane. 

» Ef^y ^vivfccc _Hi,D c!Ki7 i, b,^iy,-;% ^v£D^« Q^oZ. " E/ Vi t/; -rnZf^o, Xp<froZ ch^ i^i'," 
Kx, ,ziv ix:r,, u-ruv, t, li r,i rrnZ/ict SuZ ouk 'iy^t,, <iA.X' sT^ ^vsD/ta y.(iiTToZ. ET« %ioZ 

*»..,««._ ,a, ,^,yayt ro ^nv^x roZ Xp.^rcZ. El li r,( 'xnZf.a. ^f.^ToZ oIk 'ixu, cSroi oIk 

Ut,, avrov, aXXarovro .,^£v, iW St/^j, "or, h ^nZf^a, k«.\ iV»v Urh u^iT, xvCvu.cc OicZ, x»i 

vnK/ia XfiffTcv. — lulu. 



CHAP. II.] OF THE KOLY SPIKIT. 61 

is because he proceedeth from the Son also ; and for no other reason 
can he be so called, at least not without the original and' formal rea- 
son of that appellation. Secondarily, I confess he is called the "Spirit 
of Christ" because promised by him, sent by him, and that to make 
effectual and accomplish his work towards the clmv-jh. But this he 
'could not be unless he had antecedently been the Spirit of the Son 
by his proceeding from him also: for the order of the dispensation of 
the divine persons towards us ariseth from the order of their own 
subsistence in the same divine essence; and if the Spirit did pro- 
ceed only from the person of the Father, he could not be promised, 
sent, or given by the Son. Consider, therefore, the human nature 
of Christ in itself and abstractedly, and the Spirit cannot be said to 
be the Spirit of Christ; for it was anointed and endowed with gifts 
and graces by him, as we shall show. And if from hence he may be 
said to be the Spirit of Christ, without respect unto his proceeding 
from him as the Son of God, then he may be also said to be the 
Spirit of every believer who hath received the unction, or is anointed 
with his gifts and graces; for although believers are so, as to mea- 
sure and degree, unspeakably beneath what Christ was, who received 
not the Spirit by measure, yet as he is the head and they are the 
members of the same mystical body, their imction by the Spirit is of 
the same kind. But now the Spirit of God may not be said to be 
the Spirit of this or that man who hath received of his gifts and 
^Taces. David prays, " Take not thy Holy Spirit from me," — not " tny 
Holy Spirit." And he is distinguished from our spirits even as they 
are sanctified by him: Rom. viii. 16, "The Spirit himself beareth 
witness with our spirit." No more, then, can he be said to be the 
Spirit of Christ merely upon the account of his communications unto 
him, although in a degree above all others inconceivably excellent ; for 
with respect hereunto he is still called the Spirit of God or the Father, 
who sent him, and anointed the human nature of Christ with him. 

It will be said, perhaps, that he is called the "Spirit of Christ" be- 
cause he is promised, given, and poured out by him. So Peter 
speaks, Acts ii. 33, " Having received of the Father the promise of 
the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." 
But in this regard, namely, as given by Christ the mediator, he is 
expressly called the Spirit of the Father; he was given as the pro- 
mise of the Father: for so he is introduced speaking, verse 17, " It 
shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my 
Spirit on all flesh." And so our Saviour tells his disciples that he 
would " pray the Father, and he should give them another Com- 
forter, even the Spirit of truth," John xiv. 16, 17. Nor is he other- 
wise the Spirit of Christ, originally and formally, but as he is the 
Spu'it of God, — that is, as Christ is (Jod also. On this supposition I 



62 THE NAME AND TITLES [l300K I. 

grant, as before, that he may consequently be called the " Spirit of 
Christ," because i^roniised and sent by him, because doing his work, 
and communicating his grace, image, and likeness to the elect. 

And this is yet more plain, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, " Of which salvation 
the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied 
of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what 
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify." 
And this Spirit is said absolutely to "be the " Holy Ghost," 2 Pet. i. 21. 
So, then, the Spirit that was in the prophets of old, in all ages since 
the world began, before the incarnation of the Son of God, is called 
the " Spirit of Christ," — that is, of him who is so. Now, this could 
not be because he was anointed hy that Spirit, or because he gave 
it afterward to his disciples; for his human nature did not exist in 
the time of their prophesying. Those, indeed, who receive him after 
the unction of the human nature of Christ may be said in some 
sense to receive the Spirit of Christ, because they are made partakers 
of the same Spirit with him, to the same ends and purposes, according 
to their measure ; but this cannot be so with respect unto them who 
lived and prophesied by him, and died long before his incarnation. 
Wherefore, it is pleaded by those who oppose both the deity of Christ 
and the Spirit, which are undeniably here attested unto, that the 
Spirit here, whereby they cannot deny the Holy Ghost to be intended, 
is called the " Spirit of Christ," because the prophets of old, who spake 
by him, did principally prophesy concerning Christ and his grace, 
and delivered great mysteries concerning them. So Christ is made 
in this place the object of the Spirit's teaching, and not the author 
of his sending! So Crell. Prolegom., pp. 13, 14. But why, then, is 
he not called the " Spirit of God" also on this reason, because the 
prophets that spake by him treated wholly of God, the things and 
the will of God ? This they will not say, for they acknowledge him 
to be the " virtue and power of God, inherent in him and proceeding 
from him." But, then, whereas God even the Father is a person, and 
Christ is a person, and the Spirit is said to be the " Spirit of God " and 
the " Spu-it of Christ," whence doth it appear that the same expression 
must have different interpretations, and that the Spirit is called the 
" Spirit of God " because he is so, and proceedeth from him, but the 
"Spirit of Christ" because he is not so, but only treateth of him? The 
answer is ready,— namely, " Because the Father is God, but Christ is 
not, and therefore could not give the Spirit when he was not." This 
IS an easy answer,— namely, to deny a fundamental truth, and to set 
up that denial in an opposition unto a clear testimony given unto it. 
But the truth is, this pretended sense leaves no sense at all in the 
words: for if the Spirit which was ir the prophets be called the "Spirit 
of Christ" only because he did beforehand declare the things of Christ, 



CHAP. II.] OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 63 

• — that is, his " sufferings and the glory that did follow/* — and that 
he the sole reason of that denomination, then the sense or import- 
ance of the words is this, " Searching what or what manner of time 
the Spirit — ' which did signify when it testified beforehand the suffer- 
ings of Christ' — which was in them did signify when he testified be- 
forehand the sufferings of Christ;" for according to this interpre- 
tation, the Spirit of Christ is nothing but the Spirit as testifying 
beforehand of him, and thence alone is he so called, — the absurdity 
whereof is apparent unto all. 

But countenance is endeavoured unto this wresting of the Scrip- 
ture from 1 John iv. 3, "Every spirit that confessetb not that 
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God : and this is that of 
antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even 
now already is it in the world;" — for say some, " The spirit of anti- 
christ is said to be in the world, when antichrist was not as yet 
come." But the spirit here intended is not called the spirit of anti- 
christ because it declared and foretold the things of antichrist 
before his coming; on which account alone they allow the Spirit of 
God in the prophets of old to be called the " Spirit of Christ : " they 
have, therefore, no countenance from this place, which fails them in 
the principal thing they would prove by it. Again, supposing these 
words, " Whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now 
already is it in the world," are to be interpreted of the spirit mentioned, 
and not of antichrist himself, yet no more can be intended but that 
the false teachers and seducers which were then in the world acted with 
the same spirit as antichrist should do at his coming : and so there is 
no conformity between these expressions. Besides, the spirit of anti- 
christ was then in the world, as was antichrist himself So far as 
his spirit was then in the world, so far was he so also ; for antichrist 
and his spirit cannot be separated. Both he and it were then in the 
world in their forerunners, who opposed the truth of the gospel 
about the incarnation of the Son of God and his sufferings. And, 
indeed, the spirit of antichrist in this place is no more but his doc- 
trine, — antichristian doctrine, which is to be tried and rejected. 
Neither is any singular person intended by antichrist, but a myste- 
rious opposition unto Christ and the gospel, signally headed by a 
series of men in the latter days. He, therefore, and his spirit began 
to be together in. the world in the apostles' days, when the "mystery 
of iniquity" began to "work," 2 Thess. ii. 7. There is, therefore, no 
countenance to be taken from these words unto the perverting and 
wresting of that other expression concerning the Spirit of Christ in 
the prophets of old. This, therefore, is the formal reason of this ap- 
pellation : The Holy Spirit is called the " Spirit of the Son," and the 
" Spirit of Christ," upon the account of his procession or emanatiou 



64 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK I. 

from his person also. Without respect hereunto he could not be 
called properly the "Spirit of Christ ;" but on that supposition he may 
be. He is so deuominated from that various relation and respect that 
he hath unto him in his work and operations. Thus is the Spirit 
called in the Scripture, these are the names whereby the essence 
and suhsistcmce of the third person in the Holy Trinity are declared. 
How he is called on the account of his offices and operations will be 
manifested in our progress. 



CHAPTER III. 

DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 
PROVED AND VINDICATED. 

Ends of our consideration of tho dispensation of the Spirit — Principles premised 
thereunto — The nature of God the foundation of all religion — Divine revela- 
tion gives the rule and measure of religious worship — God hath revealed him- 
self as three in one — Distinct actings and operations ascribed unto these dis- 
tinct person ; thtrefore the Holy Spirit a divine distinct person — Double 
opposition to the Holy Spirit — By some his personality granted and his deity 
denied — His jiersonality denied by the Socinians — Proved against them — The 
open vanity of their pretences — Matt, xxviii. J 9, pleaded — Appearance of 
the Spirit under the shape of a dove explained and improved — His appear- 
ance as fire opened — Ilis personal subsistence proved — Personal properties 
assigned unto him — Underftandiiig— Argument from hence pleaded and vin- 
dicated—A will— John iii. 8, James iii. 4, cleared — Exceptions removed — 
Power— Other personal ascriptions to him, with testimonies of them, vindi- 
cated and explained. 

We shall now proceed to the matter itself designed unto considera- 
tion, — namely, the dispensation of the Spirit of God unto the church ; 
fuid I shall endeavour to fix what I have to offer upon its proper 
l)riuciples, and from them to educe the whole doctrine concerning it. 
And ^ this must be so done as to manifest the interest of our faith, 
obedience, and holy worship, in the \^^hole and each part of it; for 
these are the immediate ends of all divine revelations, according to 
tliat holy maxim of our blessed Saviour, "If ye know these things, 
happy are ye if ye do them." To this end the ensumg principles 
are to be observed: — 

First, The nature and being of God is :he foundation of all true 
religion and holy religious worship in the world. The great end for 
which we were made, for which we were brought forth by the power 
of God into this world, is to worship him and to give glory unto him ; 
for he " made all things for himself," or his own glory, Prov. xvi. 4, to 
be rendered unto him according to the abilities and capacities that 
he both furnished them withal, Rev. iv. 11. And that which makes 



I 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PEOTED AND VINDICATED. 65 

this worship indispensably necessary unto ns, and from whence it is 
holy or religious, is the nature and being of God himself There are, 
indeed, many parts or acts of religious worship which immediately 
respect (as their reason and motive) what God is unto us, or what he 
hath done and doth for us ; but the principal and adequate reason 
of all divine worship, and that which makes it such, is what God is 
in himself Because he is, — that is, an infinitely glorious, good, wise, 
holy, powerful, righteous, self-siibsisting, self-sufficient, all-sufficient 
Being, the fountain, cause, and author of life and being to all things, 
and of all that is good in every kind, the first cause, last end, and 
absolutely sovereign Lord of all, the rest and all-satisfactory reward 
of all other beings, — therefore is he by us to be adored and worship- 
ped with divine and religious worship. Hence are we in our hearts, 
minds, and souls, to admire, adore, and love him; his praises are we 
to celebrate; him [are we] to trust and fear, and so to resign ourselves 
and all our concernments unto his will and disposal ; to regard hitn with 
all the acts of our minds and persons, answerably to the holy proper- 
ties and excellencies of his nature. This it is to glorify him as God ; 
for seeing " of him, and through him, and to him are all things," to 
him must be " glory for ever," Rom. xi. 86. "Believing that God thus 
is, and that he is a rewarder of tbem that diligently seek him," is the 
ground of all coming unto God in his worship, Heb. xi. 6. And herein 
lies the sin of men, that the " invisible things of God being manifest 
unto them, even his eternal power and Godhead," yet "they glorify 
him not as God," Rom, i. 19-21. This is to honour, worship, fear God 
for himself; that is, on the account of what he is himself Where the 
divine nature is, there is the true, proper, formal object of religious 
worship ; and where that is not, it is idolatry to ascribe it to or exer- 
cise it towards any. And this God instructs us in, in all those places 
where he proclaims his name and describes his eternal excellencies, 
and that either absolutely or in comparison with other things. All 
is, that we may know him to be such a one as is to be worshipped 
and glorified for liimself, or his own sake. 

Secondly, The revelation that God is pleased to make of himself 
unto us gives the ride and measure of all religious worship and 
obedience. His being, absolutely considered, as comprehending in it 
all infinite, divine perfections, is the formal reason of our worship; 
but this worship is to be directed, guided, regulated, by the revela- 
tion he makes of that being and of those excellencies unto us. This, 
is the end of divine revelation, — namely, to direct us in paying that 
homage which is due unto the divine nature. I speak not now only 
of positive institutions, which are the free effects of the will of God, 
depending originally and solely on revelation, and which, therefore, 
have been various and actually changed; but this is that which I 

VOL. IIL ^ 



66 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK X. 

intend : — Look, what way soever God manifesteth his being and pro- 
perties unto us, by his works or his word, our worship consisteth in a 
due application of our souls unto him according to that manifestation 
of liimself. 

Thirdly, God hath revealed or manifested himself as three in one, 
and, therefore, as such is to be worshipped and glorified by us; — 
that is, as three distinct persons, subsisting in the same infinitely holy, 
one, undivided essence. This principle might be, and, had not that 
labour been ob\nated, ought to have been, here at large confirmed ; it 
being that which the whole ensuing discourse doth presuppose and 
lean upon. And, in truth, I fear that the failing of some men's pro- 
fession begins with their relinquishment of this foundation. It is 
now evident unto all that here hath been the fatal miscarriac^e of 
those poor deluded souls amongst us whom they call Quakers; and 
it is altogether in vain to deal with them about other particulars, 
whilst they are carried away with infidelity from this foundation. 
Convince any of them of the doctrine of the Trinity, and all the rest 
of their imaginations vanish into smoke. And I wish it were so with 
them only. There are others, and those not a few, who either reject 
the doctrine of it as false, or despise it as unintelligible, or neglect it 
as useless, or of no great importance. I know this ulcer lies hid in 
the minds of many, and cannot but expect when it will break out, 
and cover the whole body with its defilements whereof they are 
members. But these things are left to the care of Jesus Christ. The 
reason why I shall not in this place insist professedly on the confir- 
mation and vindication of this fundamental truth is, because I have 
done it elsewhere, as having more than once publicly cast my mite 
into this sanctuary of the Lord; for which and the like services, 
wherein I stand indebted unto the gospel, I have met with that re- 
ward which I did always expect. For the present I shall only say, 
that on this supposition, that God hath revealed himself as three in 
one, he is in all our worship of him so to be considered. And, there- 
fore, in our initiation into the profession and practice of the worship 
of God, according to the gospel, we are in our baptism engaged to it, 
" In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," 
Matt, xxviii. 19. This is the foundation of our doing all the things that 
Christ commands us, as verse 2p. Unto this service we are solemnly 
dedicated, namely, of God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; as they 
are each of them equally participant of the same divine nature. 

Fourthly, These jJersons are so distinct in their peculiar subsist- 
ence that distinct actings and operations are ascribed unto them. 
And these actmgs are of two sorts:-l. Ad intra, which are those 
internal acts in one person whereof another person is the object. 
And these acts ad invicem, or intra, are natural and necessary, in- 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIEIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. G7 

separable from the being and existence of God. So the Father knows 
the Son and loveth him, and the Son seeth, knoweth, and loveth 
the Father. In these mutual actings, one person is the object of the 
knowledge and love of the other: John iii. 35, "The Father loveth 
the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." Chap, v.- 20, " The 
Father loveth the Son." Matt. xi. 27, " No man knoweth the Son, 
but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Sou." 
John vl 46, " None hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, 
he hath seen the Father." This mutual knowledge and love of 
Father and Son is expressed at large, Prov. viii. 22-31 ; which ip];\ce 
I have opened and vindicated elsewhere. And they are absolute, in- 
finite, natural, and necessary unto the being and blessedness of God. 
So the Spirit is the mutual love of the Father and the Son, knowing 
them as he is known, and "searching the deep things of God." And 
in these mutual, internal, eternal actings of themselves, consists much 
of the infinite blessedness of the holy God. Again, 2. There are dis- 
tinct actings of the several persons ad extra; which are voluntary, or 
effects of will and choice, and not natural or necessary. And these 
are of two sorts: — (1.) Such as respect one another; for there are 
external acts of one person towards another : but then the person that 
is the object of these actings is not considered absolutely as a divine 
person, but with respect unto some peculiar dispensation and conde- 
scension. So the Father gives, sends, commands the Son, as he had 
condescended to take our nature upon him, and to be the mediator 
between God and man. So the Father and the Son do send the 
Spirit, as he condescends in an especial manner to the office of being 
the sanctifier and comforter of the church. Now, these are free and 
voluntary acts, depending upon the sovereign will, counsel, and plea- 
sure of God, and might not have been, without the least diminution 
of his eternal blessedness. (2.) There are especial acts, ad extra, 
towards the creatures.^ This the whole Scripture testifieth unto, so 
that it is altogether needless to confirm it with particular instances. 
None who have learned the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, 
but can tell you what works are ascribed peculiarly to the Father, 
what to the Son, and what to the Holy Ghost. Besides, this will be 
manifested afterward in all the distinct actings of the Spirit ; which 
is sufficient for our purpose. 

Fifthly, Hence it follows unavoidably that this Spirit of whom 
we treat is in himself a distinct, living, poiuer/ul, intelligent, divine 
person; for none other can be the author of those internal and ex- 

1 « In hac divini magisterii schola, Pater est qui docet et instruit ; Filius qui arcana 
Dei nobis revelat et aperit; Spiritus Sanctus qui nos replet et imbuit. A Pat re po- 
tentiam, a Filio sapientiam, a Spiritu Sancto accipimus innocentiam. Pater eligit, filius 
diligit, Spiritus Sanctus conjungit et uuit."--Cypr. de Baptismo Christi. 



68 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK I. 

tcrnal divine acts and operations which are ascribed unto him. But 
here I must stay a little, and confirm that foundation which we build 
upon ; for we are in the investigation of those things which that one 
and self-same Spirit distributeth according to his own will. And it 
is indispensably necessary unto our present design that we inquire 
who and what that one and self-same Spirit is, seeing on him and 
his will all these things do depend. And we do know, likewise, that 
if men prevail in the opposition they make unto his person, it is to 
no great purpose to concern ourselves in his operations; for the 
foundation of any fabric being taken away, the superstructure will be 
of no use nor abide. 

The opposition that is made in the world against the Spirit of 
God doctrinally may be reduced unto two heads; for some there 
are who grant his personality, or that he is a distinct self-subsisting 
'person, but they deny his deity, deny him to be a participant of the 
divine nature, or will not allow him to be God. A created finite 
spirit they say he is, but the chiefest of all spirits that were created, 
and the head of all the good angels. Such a spirit they say there is, 
and that he is called the " Spirit of God," or the " Holy Ghost," upon 
the account of the work wherein he is employed. This way went the 
IMacedonian heretics of old, and they are now followed by the Mo- 
hammedans; and some of late among ourselves have attempted to 
revive the same frenzy. But we shall not need to trouble ourselves 
about this notion. The folly of it is so evident that it is almost by 
all utterly deserted ; for such things are affirmed of the Holy Ghost 
in the Scripture as that to assert his personality and deny his deity 
is the utmost madness that any one can fall into in spiritual things. 
Wherefore, the Socinians, the present great enemies of the doctrine 
of the holy Trinity, and who would be thought to go soberly about 
the work of destroying the church of God, do utterly reject this plea 
and pretence. But that which they advance in the room of it is of 
no less pernicious nature and consequence : for, granting the things 
assigned to him to be the effects of divine power, they deny his per- 
sonality, and assert that what is called by the name of the " Spirit of 
God," or the " Holy Spirit," is nothing but a quality in the divine 
nature, or the power that God puts forth for such and such purposes; 
which yet is no new invention of thens.' I do not design here pro- j 
fessodly to contend with them about all the concernments of this 
diflference; for there is nothing of importance in all their pretences 
or exceptions, but it will in one place or other occur unto considera- 

' "_' Hsec autera omnia opcratur unus atque idem Spiritus, dividens singulis prout 
vult; undcdicentcs opcratricem, et ut ita dicam, distributricem naturam Spiritus 
^anc 1, non abducamur ab his qui dicunt, operationem et non substantiam Dei esse 
V:P!"*"™ ^''"<=*V'"\.. * ex ahis quoque plurimis locis subsistens nature demonstratur 
bpintus bancti. — Didjm. de Spir. Sane. lib. ii. 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 69 

tion in our progress. I shall only at present confirm the divine per- 
sonality of the Holy Ghost with one argument ; which I will not say 
is such as no man can return the show of an answer unto, — for what 
is it that the serpentine wits of men will not pretend an answer unto, 
or an exception against, if their lusts and prejudices require them so 
to do? — but I will boldly say it is such as that the gates of hell shall 
never prevail against it in the hearts of true believers, the strengthen- 
ing of whose faith is all that in it I do aim at. And if it do not 
imto all unprejudiced persons evince the truth and reality of the 
divine personality of the Holy Ghost, it must certainly convince all 
men that nothing which is taught or delivered in the Scripture can 
possibly be understood. 

One consideration, which hath in part been before proposed, I shall 
premise, to free the subject of our argument from ambiguity; and 
this is, that this word or name " Spirit" is used sometimes to denote 
the Spirit of God^ himself, and sometimes his gifts and graces, the 
effects of his operations on the souls of men. And this our adver- 
saries in this cause are forced to confess, and thereon in all their 
writings distinguish between the Holy Spirit and his effects. This 
alone being supposed, I say, it is impossible to prove the Father to 
be a person, or the Son to be so (both which are acknowledged), any 
other way than we may and do prove the Holy Ghost to be so; for 
he to whom all personal properties, attributes, adjuncts, acts, and 
operations, are ascribed, and unto whom they do belong, and to whom 
nothing is or can be truly and propey-ly ascribed but what may 
and doth belong unto a iierson, is a person, and him are we taught 
to believe so to be. So know we the Father to be a person, as also 
the Son ; for our knowledge of things is more by their properties 
and operations than by their essential forms. Especially is this so 
with respect to the nature, being, and existence of Gt)d, which are in 
themselves absolutely incomprehensible. Now, T shall not confirm 
the assumption of this argument with reference unto the Holy Ghost 
from this or that particular testimony, nor from the assignation of 
any single personal property unto him, but from the constant, uniform 
tenor of the Scripture in ascribing all these properties unto him. 
And we may add hereunto, that things are so ordered, in the wisdom 
of God, that there is no personal property that may be found in an 
infinite divine nature but it is in one place or other ascribed unto him. 

* ''ETiiSnTip ro oupov/Lcivov to Ttvivfun to uyiov Iffri, xccXurai kcci to dZpov i[yi,uivi/.tds Tea 
p^api(rf^%Ti — Chrysost. 

" Nee existiiiiare dcbemus Spiritum Sanctum secundum substantias esse divisum 
quia multitude boHorum dicatur, — impassibilis enira et indivisibilis atque immutabilis 
est, sed juxta diff'erentes efficientias et intellectus multis bonorum vocabulis nuncu- 
patur ; quia participes suos, non juxta unam eandemque virtutem communione sui 
uouet, quippe cum ad utilitatem uniuscuj usque aptus sit." — Didym. lib. i. 



70 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK L 

There is no exception can be laid against the force of this argu- 
ment, but only that some things, on the one hand, are ascribed unto 
the Spuit which belong not unto a person, nor can be spoken of him 
who is so; and, on the other, that sundry things that properly belong 
to persons are in the Scripture figuratively ascribed unto such things 
as are not so. Thus, as to the first head of this exception, the Holy 
Spirit is said to be " poured out," to be " shed abroad," to be " an 
unction," or the like ; of all which expressions we shall treat after- 
ward. What then? shall we say that he is not a person, but only the 
2)otuer of God? Will this render those expressions concerning him 
proper? How can the virtue of God, or the power of God, be said 
to be poured out, to be shed abroad, and the like? Wherefore, both 
they and we acknowledge that these expressions are figurative, as 
many things are so expressed of God in the Scripture, and that fre- 
quently, and what is the meaning of them under their figurative 
colours we shall afterward declare. This, therefore, doth not in the 
least impeach our argument, unless this assertion were true gene- 
rally, that whatever is spoken of figuratively in the Scripture is no 
person; which would leave no one in heaven or earth. On the other 
side, it is confessed that there are things peculiar unto rational sub- 
sistents or persons, which are ascribed sometimes unto those that 
are not so. Many things of this nature, as to " hope," to " believe," 
to " bear," are ascribed unto charity, 1 Cor. xiii. 7. But every one 
presently apprehends that this expression is figurative, the abstract 
being put for the concrete by a metalepsis, and charity is said to do 
that which a man endued with that grace will do. So the Scripture 
is said to "see," to "foresee," to " speak," and to "judge," which are 
personal actings ; but who doth not see and grant that a metonymy 
is and must be allowed in such assignations, that being ascribed unto 
the effect, the Scripture, which is proper to the cause, the Spirit of 
God speaking in it? So the heavens and.,the earth are said to 
"hear," and Uie fields, with the trees of the forest, to "sing" and "clap 
their hands," by a prosopopoeia. Now, concerning these things there 
is no danger of mistake. The light of reason and their own nature 
tlierein do give us a sufficient understanding of them; and such 
figurative expressions as are used concerning them are common in all 
good authors. Besides, the Scripture itself, in other places innumer- 
able, doth so teach and declare what they are, as that its plain and 
du-ect proper assertions do sufficiently expound its own figurative 
enunciations: for these and such like ascriptions are only occasional; 
the dnect description of the things themselves is given us in other 
places. _ But now with respect unto the Spirit of God all things are 
otherwise. The constant uniform expressions concerning him are 
such as declare him to be a person endowed with all personal pro- 



CHAP. III.] HOLT SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 7l 

perties, no description being anywhere given of him inconsistent 
with their proper application to him. 

If a sober, wise, and honest man should come and tell you that 
in such a country, where he hath been, there is one who is the 
governor of it, that doth well discharge his office, — that he heareth 
causes, discerneth right, distributes justice, relieves the poor, comforts 
them that are in distress; supposing you gave him that credit which 
honesty, wisdom, and sobriety do deserve, would you not believe that 
he intended a righteous, wise, diligent, intelligent person, discharging 
the office of a governor? What else could any man living imagine? 
But now suppose that another unknown person, or, so far as he is 
known, justly suspected of deceit and forgery, should come unto you 
and tell you that all which the other informed you and acquainted 
you withal was indeed true, but that the words which he spake have 
quite another intention ; for it was not a man or any person that he 
intended, but it was the sun or the wind that he meant by all which 
he spake of him : for whereas the sun by his benign influences 
doth make a country fruitful and temperate, suited to the relief and 
comfort of all that dwell therein, and disposeth the minds of the in- 
habitants unto mutual kindness and benignity, he described these 
things figuratively unto you, under the notion of a righteous governor 
and his actions, although he never gave you the least intimation 
of any such intention; — must you not nowi believe that either the 
first person, whom you know to be a wise, sober, and honest man, 
was a notorious trifler, and designed your ruin, if you were to order 
any of your occasions according to his reports, or that your latter 
informer, whom you have just reason to suspect of falsehood and de- 
ceit in other things, hath endeavoured to abuse both him and you, 
to render his veracity suspectetl, and to spoil all your designs grounded 
thereon? One of these you must certainly conclude upon. And it 
is no otherwise.in this case. The Scripture informs us that the Holy 
Ghost rules in and over the church of God, appointing overseers of 
it under him; that he discerns and judgeth all things; that he com- 
forteth them that are faint, strengthens them that are weak, is grieved 
with them and provoked by them who sin; and that in all these, 
and in other things of the like nature innumerable, he worketh, 
ordereth, and disposeth all "according to the counsel of his own will.'' 
Herjeupon it directeth us so to order our conversation towards God 
that we do not grieve him nor displease him, telling us thereon what 
great things he will do for us; on which we lay the stress of our obe- 
dience and salvation. Can any man possibly, that gives credit to 
the testimony thus proposed in the Scripture, conceive any otherwise 
of this Spirit but as of a holy, wise, intelligent person? Now, whilst 
v/e are under the power of these apprehensions, there come unto us 



72 DIVINE NATUKE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK I. 

some men, Socinians or Quakers, whom we have just cause on many 
other accounts to suspect, at least, of deceit and falsehood ; and they 
confidently tell us that what the Scripture speaks concerning the 
Holy Spirit is indeed true, but that in and by all the expressions 
which it useth concerning him, it intendeth no such person as it seems 
to do, but " an accident, a quality, an effect, or influence of the power 
of God," which figuratively doth all the things mentioned, — namely, 
that hath a will figuratively, and understanding figuratively, dis- 
cerneth and judgeth figuratively, is sinned against figuratively, and 
so of all that is said of him. Can any man that is not forsaken of 
all natural reason as well as spiritual light choose now but determine 
that either the Scripture designed to draw him into errors and. mis- 
takes about the principal concernments of his soul, and so to ruin 
him eternally; or that these persons, who would impose such a sense 
upon it, are indeed corrupt seducers, that seek to overthrow his faith 
and comforts? Such will they at last appear to be. I shall now 
proceed to confirm the argument proposed : — 

1. All things necessary to this purpose are comprised in the solemn 
form of our initiation into covenant with God. Matt, xxviii. 19, 
our Lord Jesus Christ commands his apostles to " disciple all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost." This is the foundation we lay of all our obedience 
and profession, which are to be regulated by this initial engagement. 
Now, no man will or doth deny but that the Father and the Son are 
distinct persons. Some, indeed, there are who deny the Son to be 
God ; but none are so mad as to deny him to be a person, though 
they would have him only to be a man ; — all grant him, whether 
God and man, or only man, to be a distinct person from the Father. 
Now, what confusion must this needs introduce, to add to them, and 
to joki equally with them, as to all the concerns of our faith and obe- 
dience, the Holy Ghost, if he be not a divine person even as they! 
If, as some fancy, he be a person indeed, but not one that is divine, 
but a creature, then here is openly the same honour assigned unto 
him who is no more as unto God himself. This elsewhere the 
Scripture declares to be idolatry to be detested. Gal. iv. 8, Rom. i. 25. 
And if he be not a person, but a virtue and quality in God, and 
emanation of power from him, concerning which our adversaries 
Tepa.roXoyovffi, speak things portentous and unintelligible, what sense 
can any man apprehend in the words? 

Besides, whatever is ascribed unto the other persons, either with 
respect unto themselves or our duty towards them, is eqnalhj ascrib- 
ed unto the Holy Ghost; for whatsoever is intended by the "name" 
of the Father and of the Son, he is equally with them concerned 
therein. It is not the name « Father," and the name " Son," but the 



p 



CHAP. III.] HOLT SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 73 

name of " God," that is, of them both, that is intended. It is a name 
common to them all, and distinctly applied unto them all ; but they 
have not in this sense distinct or diverse names. And by the " name" 
of God either his being or his authority is signified; for other inten- 
tion of it none have been able to invent. Take the " name" here in 
either sense, and it is sufficient as to what we intend : for if it be 
used in the first 'way, then the being of the Spirit must be acknow- 
ledged to be the same with that of the Father; if in the latter, he 
hath the same divine authority with him. He who hath the nature 
and authority of God is God, — is a divine person. 

Our argument, then, from hence is not merely from his being joined 
with the Father and the Son, for so, as to some ends and purposes, 
any creatures may be joined with them (this our adversaries prove 
from Acts xx. 32, Eph. vL 10, Phil. iii. 10, 2 Thess. i. 9, and might 
do it from other places innumerable, although the first of these will 
not confirm what it is produced to give countenance unto, — Schlich- 
ting. de Trinitat. ad Meisner., p. 605) ; but it is from the manner and 
end of his being conjoined with the Father and the Son, wherein 
their "name," — that is, their divine nature and authority, — is ascribed 
unto him, that we argue. 

Again ; We are said to be baptized s/s to hofia, "into his name." 
And no sense can be affixed unto these words but what doth un- 
avoidably include his personality ; for two things they may and do 
intend, nor any thing else but what may be reduced unto them : — 
First, Our religious owning the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in all 
our divine worship, faith, and obedience. Now, as we own and 
avow the one, so we do the other; for we are alike baptized into 
their name,^ equally submitting to their authority, and equally tak- 
ing the profession of their name upon us. If, then, we avow and 
own the Father as a distinct person, so we do the Holy Ghost. 
Again ; by being baptized into the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we are sacredly initiated and conse- 
crated, or dedicated, unto the service and worship of the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost. This we take upon us in our baptism. 
Herein lies the foundation of all our faith and profession, with that 
engagement of ourselves unto God which constitutes our Christianity. 
This is the pledge of our entrance into covenant with God, and of 
our giving up ourselves unto him in the solemn bond of religion. 
Herein to conceive that any one who is not God as the Father is, 
who is not a person as he is also, and the Son likewise, is joined with 
them /or the ends and in the manner mentioned, without the least 

^ "Baptizate gentes in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. In nomine dixit, 
non in nominibus. Non ergo aliud nomen Patris. aliud nomen Filii, aliud nomen Spi- 
ritus Sancti, quam unus Deus." — Ambros. de Spir. tSanc. lib. i. cap. 4. 



7* DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [EGOX I. 

note of difference as to deity or personality, is a strange fondness, 
destructive of all religion, and leading the minds of men towards 
polytheism. And as we engage into all religious obedience unto the 
Father and Son herein, to believe in them, trust, fear, honour, and serve 
them, so we do the same with respect unto the Holy Ghost; which 
how we can do, if he be not as they are, no man can understand. 

We do not, then, in this case, from hence merely plead our being 
baptized into the " Holy Ghost," as some pretend ; nor, indeed, are 
we said so to be. Men may figuratively be said to be baptized into 
a doctrine, when their baptism is a pledge and token of their pro- 
fession of it. So the disciples whom the apostle Paul met with at 
Ephesus, Acts xix. 3, are said to be baptized iJg rh Icudwov (Sdtris/ia, 
" into the baptism of John," — that is, the doctrine of repentance 
for the forgiveness of sins, whereof his baptism was a pledge. So 
also the Israelites are said to be baptized sig Muuffnv, " into Moses," 
1 Cor. X. 2, because he led and conducted them through the sea, 
when they were sprinkled with the waves of it as a token of their 
initiation into the rites and ceremonies which he was to deliver unto 
them. But we are said to be baptized into his " name ;" which is the 
same with that of the Father and Son. And certainly this pro- 
posal of God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be the object of 
all our faith and worship, and our engagement hereunto required 
as the foundation of all our present religion and future hopes, being 
made unto us, and that under one and the same name ; if the doc- 
trine of a Trinity of persons, subsisting in the same undivided essence, 
be not taught and declared in these words, we may justly despair 
of ever liaving any divine mystery manifested unto us. 

2. His appearance in and under a visible sign argues his personal 
existence. This is related. Matt. iii. 16; Luke iii. 22; John i. 82. 
Luke speaks first in general that he descended h ilhu (rw^a^/^cp, " in 
a bodily shape" or appearance; and they all agree that it Was the 
sliape of a dove under which he appeared. The words in Matthew 
are, E/3h to nvsu/j,cc tou Qsou xaraQaTvov usil vipisripdv xai ip^o/J^ivov k'ff 
axjTov—'' He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and light- 
ing", (or rather coming) " upon him." « He," that is John the iJap- 
tist, not Christ himself. The relative, aOro?, refers in this place to 
the more remote antecedent; for although "he," that is Christ him- 
self, also saw the descending of the Holy Spirit, yet I suppose this 
relates unto that token which was to be given of him unto John, 
whereby he should know him, John i. 32, 33. The following words 
are ambiguous: for that expression, " like a dove," may refer to 
tlie manner of his descending,— de^cQxi^ying (in a bodily shape) as a 
dove descends; or they may respect the manner of his cqypearance,— 
he appetired like a dove descending. And this sense is determined 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 75 

in the other evangelists to the bodily shape wherein he descended. 
He took the form or shape of a dove to make a. visible representa- 
tion of himself by; for a visible pledge was to be given of the com- 
ing of the Holy Ghost on the Messiah, according to the promise, and 
thereby did God direct his great forerunner to the knowledge of him. 
Now, this was no real dove. That would not have been a thing so 
miraculous as this appearance of the Holy Ghost is represented to 
be. And the text will not bear any such apprehension, though it 
was entertained by some of the ancients; for it is evident that this 
shape of a dove came out of heaven. He saw the heavens opened 
and the dove descending; that is, out of heaven, which was opened 
to make way, as it were, for him. Moreover, the expression of the 
opening of the heavens is not used but with respect unto some ap- 
pearance or manifestation of God himself. And so (or which is the 
same) the bowing of the heavens is often used: Ps. cxliv. 5, "Bow 
thy heavens, O Lord, and come down;" 2 Sam. xxii, 10; Isa. 
Ixiv. 1 ; Ezek. i. 1, " The heavens were opened, and I saw visions 
of God;" so Acts viL 56. God used not this sign but in some mani- 
festation of himself ; and had not this been an appearance of God, 
there had been no need of bowing or opening the heavens for it. 
And it is plainly said that it was not a dove, but the shape or repre- 
sentation of a dove. It was ilbog (SuiMariKov, "a bodily shape;" and 
that 'xspiffrspac,, "of a dove." 

As, then, at the beginning of the old creation, the Sj)irit of God 
'^?0"!'?j "incubabat," came and fell on the waters, cherishing the 
whole, and communicating a prolific and vivific quality unto it, as a 
fowl or dove in particular gently moves itself upon its eggs, until, 
with and by its generative warmth, it hath communicated vital 
heat unto them; so now, at the entrance of the new creation, he 
comes as a dove upon him who was the immediate author of it, and 
virtually comprised it in himself, carrying it on by virtue of his pre- 
sence with him. And so this is applied in the Syriac ritual of bap- 
tism, composed by Severinus, in the account given of the baptism of 
Christ: s''D bvi r\::>^ sin t?t^>n ^^i nnm nms wv niona NC^mpi xrini 
nam ; — " And the Spirit of Holiness descended, flying in the likeness 
of a dove, and rested upon him, and moved on the waters." And 
in the assumption of this form there may be some respect unto the 
dove that brought tidings to Noah of the ceasing of the flood of 
waters, and of the ending of the wrath of God, who thereon said 
that he would curse the earth no more. Gen. viii. 11, 21 , for herein 
also was there a significant representation of him who visited poor, 
lost mankind in their cursed condition, and proclaimed peace unto 
them that would return to God by him, the great peace-maker, 
Eph. ii. 14-17. And this work he immediately engaged into on the 



7G DIVINE NATUEE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK L 

resting of this dove upon him. Besides, there is a natural aptness 
in that creature to represent the Spirit that rested on the Lord Jesus; 
for the known nature and course of a dove is such as is meet to mind 
us of purity and harmless innocency. Hence is that direction, " Be 
harmless as doves," Matt. x. 16. So also the sharpness of its sight 
or eyes, as Cant. i. 15, iv. 1, is fixed on to represent a quick and dis- 
cerning understanding, such as was in Christ from the resting of the 
Spirit upon him, Isa. xi. 2-4. 

The shaiie thereof that appeared was that of a dove, but the sub- 
stance itself, I judge, was of a fiery nature, an ethereal substance, 
shaped into the form or resemblance of a dove. It had the shape of 
a dove, but not the appearance of feathers, colours, or the like. This 
also rendered the appearance the more visible, conspicuous, heavenly, 
and glorious. And the Holy Ghost is often compared to fire, because 
he was of old typified or represented thereby ; for on the first solemn 
offering of sacrifices there came fire from the Lord for the kindling of 
them. Hence Theodotion of old rendered <^\^] V^'!!, Gen. iv. 4, " The 
Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering," by 'Evs'Trupiciiv 6 Qsog, 
"God fired the offering of Abel;" sent down fire that kindled his 
sacrifice as a token of his acceptance. However, it is certain that at 
the first erection of the altar in the wilderness, upon the first sacrifices, 
" fire came out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar 
the burnt-offering and the fat; which when all the people saw, they 
shouted, and fell on their faces," Lev. ix. 24. And the fire kindled 
hereby was to be perpetuated on the altar, so that none was ever to 
be used in sacrifice but what was traduced from it. For a neglect of 
this intimation of the mind of God were Nadab and Abihu consumed, 
chap. X. 1-, 2. So was it also upon the dedication of the altar in the 
temple of Solomon: " Fire came down from heaven and consumed the 
burnt-offering and the sacrifices," 2 Chron. vii. 1 ; and a fire thence kin- 
dled was always kept burning on the altar. And in like manner God 
bare testimony to the ministry of Elijah, 1 Kings xviii. 38, 39. God 
by all these signified that no sacrifices were accepted with him where 
faith was not kindled in the heart of the offerer by the Holy Ghost, 
represented by the fire that kindled the sacrifices on the altar. And 
in answer hereunto is our Lord Jesus Christ said to offer himself 
" through the eternal Spirit," Heb. ix. 14. It was, therefore, most 
probably a fiery appearance that was made. And in the next bodily 
shape which he assumed it is expressly said that it was fiery : Acts 
ii. 3, "There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire;" 
which was the visible token of the coming of the Holy Ghost upon 
them. And he chose, then, that figure of tongues to denote the 
assistance which, by the miraculous gift of speaking with divers 
tongues, together with wisdom and utterance, he furnished them 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 77 

vrithal for the publication of the gospel. And thus, also, the Lord 
Christ is said to " baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire," 
Matt. iii. 11. Not two things are intended, but the latter w^ords, 
" and with fire," are added s^riyririxug, and the expression is iv diu 
hoTv, — with the Holy Ghost, who is a spiritual, divine, eternal fire. 
So God absolutely is said to be a " consuming fire," Heb. xii. 29, 
Deut. iv. 24. And as in these words, " He shall baptize with the 
Holy Ghost and wit"h fire," there is a prospect unto what came to 
pass afterward, when the apostles received the Holy Ghost with a 
visible pledge of fiery tongues, so there seems to be a retrospect, by 
way of allusion unto what is recorded, Isa. vi. 6, 7; for a living or 
"fiery coal from the altar," where the fire represented the Holy 
Ghost, or his work and grace, having touched the lips of his prophet, 
liis sin was taken away, both as to the guilt and filth of it. And 
this is the work of the Holy Ghost, who not only sanctifieth us, but, 
l>y ingenerating faith in us, and the application of the promise unto 
us, is the cause and means of our justification also, 1 Cor. vi. 11, 
Tit. iii, 4-7, whereby our sins on both accounts are taken away. So 
also his efficacy in other places is compared unto fire and burning: 
Isa. iv. 4, 5, " When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of 
the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem 
from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of 
burning." He is compared both to fire and water, with respect unto 
the same cleansing virtue in both. So also Mai. iii, 2. Hence, as 
this is expressed by " the Holy Ghost and fire " in two evangelists, 
Matt. iii. 11, Luke iii. 16; so in the other two there is mention only 
of the "Holy Ghost," Mark i. 8, John i. 38, the same thing being in- 
tended. I have added these things a little to clear the manner of 
this divine appearance, which also belongs unto the economy of the 
Spirit. 

Now, I say that this appearance of the Holy Ghost in a bodily 
shape, wherein he was represented by that which is a substance and 
hath a subsistence of its own, doth manifest that he himself is a sub- 
stance and hath a subsistence of his own ; for if he be no such thing, 
but a mere influential effect of the power of God, we are not taught 
right apprehensions of him but mere mistakes by this appearance, 
for of such an accident there can be no substantial figure or resem- 
blance made but what is monstrous. It is excepted by our adver- 
saries (Crell. de Natur. Spir. Sane), " That a dove is no person, be- 
cause not endued with an understanding, which is essentially requir- 
ed unto the constitution of a person ; and therefore," they say, " no 
argument can thence be taken for the personality of the Holy Ghost," 
But it is enough that he was represented by a subsisting substance; 
which if they will grant him to be, we shall quickly evince that he 



78 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK L 

is endued with a divine understanding, and so is completely a person. 
And whereas they farther object, " That if the Holy Ghost in the ap- 
pearance intended to manifest himself to be a divine person, he would 
have appeared as a man, who is a person, for so God, or an angel in 
liis name, appeared under the Old Testament," it is of no more im- 
portance than the preceding exception. The Holy Ghost did mani- 
fest himself as it seemed good unto him; and gome reasons for the 
instructive use of the shape of a fiery dove we have before declared. 
Neither did God of old appear only in a human shape. He did so 
sometimes in a burning fiery bush, Exod. iii. 2, 4 ; sometimes in a 
pillar of fire or a cloud, chap. xiv. 24 Moreover, the appearances of 
God, as I have elsewhere demonstrated, under the Old Testament, 
were all of them of the second person ; and he assumed a human 
shape as a preludium unto, and a signification of, his future personal 
assumption of our nature. No such thing being intended by the 
Holy Ghost, he might represent himself under what shape he pleased. 
, Yea, the representation of himself under a human shape had been 
dangerous and unsafe for us; for it would have taken off the use of 
those instructive appearances under the Old Testament teaching the 
incarnation of the Son of God. And also, that sole reason of such ap- 
pearances being removed, — namely, that they had all respect unto 
the incarnation of the second person, — as they would have been by 
the like appearance of the third, there would have been danger of 
giving a false idea of the Deity unto the minds of men; for some 
might from thence have conceived that God had a bodily shape like 
unto us, when none could ever be so fond as to imagine him to be 
like a dove. And these, with the like testimonies in general, are 
given unto the divine personality of the Holy Spirit. I shall next 
consider those personal properties which are particularly and dis- 
tinctly ascribed unto him. 

First, Understanding or wisdom, which is the first inseparable 
property of an intelUgent subsistence, is so ascribed unto him in the 
acts and effects of it: 1 Cor. ii. 10, "The Spirit searcheth all things, 
yea, the deep things of God." What Spirit it is that is intended is 
declared expressly, verse 12, "Now we have not received rh ^vsD.aa 
rou kLsi^w, the spirit of the world," are not acted by the evil spirit; 
dXXa ro nctD/xa to Jx roS GioD, " but the Spirit which is of God," — a sig- 
nal description of the Holy Ghost. So he is called " His Spirit," verse 
10, " God hath revealed these things unto us by his Spirit." Now, to 
search is an act of understanding; and the Spirit is said to search, be- 
cause he knoweth: Verse 11, " What man knoweth the things of a 
man, save the spirit of man which is in him?"— which is intimate unto 
all its own thoughts and counsels; "even so the things of God knoweth 
no man, but the Spirit of God." And by him are they revealed unto 



CHAP. III.] EOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 79 

US, for by him "we know the things that are freely given to us of God," 
verse 12. These things cannot be spoken of any but a person endued 
with understanding. And he thus "searcheth ra. ^ddrj tov 0£oS,the deep 
things of God," — that is, the mysteries of his will, counsel, and grace ; 
— and is, therefore, a divine person that hath an infinite understand- 
ing; as it is said of God, injuni? npn pN, Isa. xl. 28, " There is no end," 
measure, or investigation, " of his understanding;" Ps. cxlvii. 5, there 
is " no number of his understanding," — it is endless, boundless, in- 
finite. It is excepted (Schlichting. de Trinitat., p. 605) " That the 
Spirit is not here taken for the Spirit himself, nor doth the apostle 
express what the S[tirit himself doth, but what by the assistance 
of the Holy Ghost men are enabled to do. By that believers are 
helped to search into the deep counsels of God." But as this excep- 
tion is directly against the words of the text, so the context will by 
no means admit of it ; for the apostle giveth an account how the 
wisdom, counsels, and deep things of God, which the world could not 
understand, were now preached and declared unto the church. 
" God," saith he, " hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." 
But how Cometh the Spirit himself, the author of these revelations, 
to be acquainted with these things? This he hath from his own na- 
ture, whereby he knoweth or " searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
things of God." It is, therefore, the revelation made by the Spirit 
unto the apostles and penmen of the scripture of the New Testa- 
ment, — who were acted by the Holy Ghost in like manner as were 
the holy men of old, 2 Pet. i. 21, — which the apostle intendeth, and 
not the illumination and teaching of believers in the knowledge of 
the mysteries by them revealed, whereof the apostle treateth in 
these words. But who is tbis Spirit? The same apostle tells us that 
the "judgments of God are unsearchable, and his ways past finding- 
out," Rom. xi. 83 ; and asketh, " Who hath known the mind of the 
Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?" verse 84. And yet this 
Spirit is said to " search all things, yea, the deep things of God ; " 
such as to all creatures are absolutely unsearchable and past finding 
out. This, then, is the Spirit of God himself, who is God also; for 
so it is in the prophet from whence these words are taken, " Who 
hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath 
taught him?" Isa. xl. 13. 

It will not relieve the adversaries of the Holy Ghost, though it be 
pleaded by them that he is compared with and opposed unto the 
" spirit of a man," 1 Cor. ii. 11, which, they say, is no person; for no 
comparisons hold in all circumstances. The spirit of a man is his 
rational soul, endued with understanding and knowledge. This is an 
individual intelligent substance, capable of a subsistence in a sepa- 
rate condition. Grant the Spirit of God to be so far a person, and 



80 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [bOOK 1 

all their pretences fall to the ground. And whereas it is affirmed by 
one among ourselves, though otherwise asserting " the deity of the 
Holy Ghost" (Goodwin, p. 175), " That this expression, of 'searching 
the things of God,' cannot be applied directly to the Spirit, but must 
intend his enabling us to search into them, because to search includes . 
imperfection, and the use of means to come to the knowledge of any 
thing," it is not of weight in this matter; for such acts are ascribed 
unto God with respect unto their effects. And searching being with 
us the means of attaining the perfect knowledge of any thing, the 
l)erfection of the knowledge of God is expressed thereby. So David 
prays that God would " search him, and know his heart," Ps. cxxxix. 
23. And he is often said to " search the hearts of men," whereby his 
infinite wisdom is iutimated, whereunto all things are open and 
naked. So is his Spirit said to " search the deep things of God," 
because of his infinite understanding and the perfection of his know- 
ledge, before which they lie open. And as things are here spoken of 
the Spirit in reference unto God the Father, so are they spoken of him 
in reference unto the Spirit: Rom. viii. 27, " He that searcheth the 
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit." Add hereunto that this 
Spirit is the author of wisdom and understaading in and unto others, 
and therefore he must have them in himself; and that not virtually 
or casually only, but formally also. 1 Cor. xii. 8, wisdom and know- 
ledge are reckoned among the gifts bestowed by him. For those of 
faith and tongues, it is enough that they are in him virtually; but 
wisdom and understanding, they cannot be given by any but he that 
is wise and understandeth what he doth ; and hence is he called ex- 
jiressly a " Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and know- 
ledge," Isa. xi. 2. I might confirm this by other testimonies, where 
other effects of understanding are ascribed unto him, as 1 Tim. iv. 1; 
1 Pet. i. 11; 2 Pet. i. 21; but what hath been spoken is sufficient 
unto our purpose. 

Secondly, A ivill is ascribed unto him. This is the most eminently 
distinguishing character and property of a person. Whatever is en- 
dued with an intelligent will is a person; and it cannot by any fic- 
tion, with any tolerable congruity, be ascribed unto any thing else, 
unless the reason of the metaphor be plain and obvious. So when 
our Saviour says of the wind that it bloweth oVou SsXg/, " as it willeth," 
or listeth, John iii. 8, the abuse of the word is evident. All intended is, 
that the wind, as unto us, is uw^rsuOuvog, and not at all at our disposal, 
acts not by our guidance or direction. And no man is so foolish as 
not to apprehend the meaning of it, or once to inquire whether our 
Saviour doth properly ascribe a will to the wind or no. So James 
iii. 4. The words rendered by us, "Turned about with a very small 
helm, whithersoever the governor listeth," are in the original, "O'lrou 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 81 

oci/ i] opfj^Yj Tov svSvvo)iTog ^ovXrjrar in which the act of willing is ascribed 
to the op/xri, the impetus or inclination of the governor, which yet 
hath not a will. But the 6p/x^ in that place is not the vpuTtj xhriGig 
of the philosophers, the motus primo-primus, or the first agitation 
or inclination of the mind ; but it is the "will itself under an earnest 
inclination, such as is usual with them who govern ships by the helms 
in storms. Hereunto the act of willing is properly ascribed, and he in 
whom it is proved to be is a person. Thus, a will acting with under- 
standing and choice, as the principle and cause of his outward actions, 
is ascribed unto the Holy Ghost: 1 Cor. xii. 11, " All these worketh 
that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as 
he will." He had before asserted that he was the author and donor 
of all the spiritual gifts which he had been discoursing about, verses 
4-6. These gifts he declares to be various, as he manifests in nine 
instances, and all variously disposed of by him, verses 8-10. If now 
it be inquired what is the rule of this his distribution of them, he 
tells us that it is his oivn will, his choice and pleasure. What can 
be spoken more fully and plainly to describe an intelligent person, 
acting voluntarily with freedom and by choice, I know not. 

We may consider what is excepted hereunto. They say (Schlich- 
ting. p. 610) " That the Holy Ghost is here introduced as a person by a 
prosopopoeia, — that the distribution of the gifts mentioned is ascribed 
unto him by a metaphor; and by the same or another metaphor he 
is said to have a will, or to act as he will." But is it not evident that 
if this course of interpreting, or rather of perverting, Scripture may 
be allowed, nothing of any certainty will be left unto us therein? It 
is but saying this or that is a metaphor, and if one will not serve the 
turn, to bring in two or three, one on the neck of another, and the 
work is done ; — the sense intended is quite changed and lost. Allow 
this liberty or bold licentiousness, and you may overthrow the being 
of God himself and the mediation of Christ, as to any testimony 
given unto them in the Scripture. But the words are plain, " He 
divideth to every man severally as he will." And for the confirma- 
tion of his deity, though that be out of question on the supposition 
of his personality, I shall only add from this place, that he who hath 
the sovereign disposal of all spiritual gifts, having only his own will, 
which is infinitely wise and holy, for his rule, he is " over all, God 
blessed for ever." 

Thirdly, Another property of a living person is power. A power 
whereby any one is able to act according to the guidance of his un- 
derstanding and the determinations of his will, declares him to be a 
person. It is not the mere ascription of power absolutely, or ability 
unto any thing, that I intend ; for they may signify no more but the 
efficacy wherewith such things are attended in their proper places^ 

VOL. IIL ^ 



82 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK L 

as instruments of the effects wliereunto they are applied. In this 
sense power is ascribed to the word of God, when it is said to be 
" able to save our souls/' James i. 21 ; and Acts xx. 32, " the word of 
God's grace" is said to be "able to build us up, and to give us an inhe- 
ritance among all them which are sanctified," if that place intend the 
■word written or preached (whereinto I have made inquiry elsewhere): 
but these things are clearly interpreted in other places. The word is 
said to be " able," yea, to be the " power of God unto salvation," 
Rom. i. 1 6, because God is pleased to use it and make it effectual 
])y his grace unto that end. But where power, divine power, is ab- 
solutely ascribed unto any one, and that declared to be put forth and 
exercised by the understanding and according to the will of him to 
whom it is so ascribed, it doth undeniably prove him to be a divine 
2'>erson; for when we say the Holy Ghost is so, we intend no more but 
that he is one who by his own divine understanding puts forth his 
own divine power. So is it in this case : Job xxxiii. 4, " The Spirit 
of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given 
me life." Creation is an act of divine power, the highest we are 
capable to receive any notion of; and it is also an effect of the 
wisdom and will of him that createth, as being a voluntary act, and 
■designed unto a certain end. All these, therefore, are here ascribed 
to the Spirit of God. It is excepted (Schlichting. pp. 613-615) "That 
by the ' Spirit of God' here mentioned no more is intended but our 
own vital spirits, whereby we are quickened, called the ' Spirit of God' 
because he gave it." But this is too much confidence. The words 
are, V'.nri '^^ nipp] ^jnb-y ^x-nn. There were two distinct divine 
operations in and about the creation of man. The first was the 
forming of his body out of the dust of the earth ; this is expressed by 
•^^y and 1>'', — " he made," "he formed." And secondly, the infusion 
of a hving or quickening soul into him, called Ci''*0 ^itO^O^ or "the 
breath of life." Both these are here distinctly mentioned; the first 
ascribed to the Spirit of God, the other to his breath,— that is, the 
same Spirit considered in a peculiar way of operation in the infusion 
of the rational soul. Such is the sense of these figurative and enig- 
matical words, " God breathed into man the breath of life,"— that is, 
by his Spirit he effected a principle of life in him; as we shall see 
afterward. 

Isa. xi. 2, As he is called a " Spirit of wisdom and understanding," 
so is he also of "might" or power. And although it may be granted 
that the things there mentioned are rather effects of his operations 
than adjuncts of his nature, yet he who effecteth wisdom and power 
in others must first have them himself. To this purpose also is that 
demand, Micah ii. 7, " Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened," or 
shortened? that is, in his power, that he cannot work and operate in 



CHA.P. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 83 

the prophets and his church as in former days ; and the same pro- 
phet, chap, iii. 8, affirms that he is "full of power, and of judgment, 
and of might, by the Spirit of the Lord." These things were wrought 
in him by his power, as the apostle speaks to the same purpose, 
Eph. iii. 16. 

Tliose by whom this truth is opposed do lay out all their strength 
and skill in exceptions, I may say cavils, against some of these par- 
ticular testimonies and some expressions in them ; but as to the whole 
argument, taken from the consideration of the design and scope of the 
Scripture in them all, they have nothing to except. 

To complete this argument, I shall add the consideration of those 
ivorks and operations of all sorts which are ascribed to the Spirit of 
God; which we shall find to be such as are not capable of an assigna- 
tion unto him with the least congruity of speech or design of speak- 
ing intelligibly, unless he be a distinct, singular subsistent or person, 
endued with divine power and understanding. And here what we 
desired formerly might be observed must be again repeated. It is 
not from a single instance of every one of the works which we shall 
mention that we draw and confirm our argument; for some of them, 
singly considered, may perhaps sometimes be metaphorically ascribed 
unto other causes, which doth not prove that therefore they are 
persons also, — which contains the force of all the exceptions of our 
adversaries against these testimonies; — but as some of them, at least, 
never are nor can be assigned unto any but a divine person, so we 
take our argument from their joint consideration, or the uniform, 
constant assignation of them all unto him in the Scriptures: which 
renders it irrefragable. For the things themselves, I shall not insist 
upon them, because their particular nature must be afterward un- 
folded. 

First, He is said to teach us: Luke xii. 12, "The Holy Ghost 
shall teach you what ye ought to say." John xiv, 26, " The Com- 
forter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my 
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your re- 
membrance." 1 John ii. 27, He is the " anointing which teacheth us 
all thinofs;" how and whence he is so called shall be afterward declared. 
He is the great Teacher of the church, unto whom tlie accom})lish- 
ment of that great promise is committed, " And they shall be all 
taught of God," John vi. 45. It is sad with the church of God when 
her teachers are removed into a corner, and her eyes see them not; 
but better lose all other teachers, and that utterly, than to lose this 
great Teacher only: for although he is pleased to make use of them, 
he can teach effectually and savingly without them where they are 
removed and taken away ; but they cannot teach without him unto 
the least spiritual advantage. And those who pretend to be teachers 



84 DIVINE NATUEE AND PEESONALITT OF THE [BOOK I. 

of others, and yet despise his teaching assistance, will one day find 
that they undertook a work which was none of theirs. But as unto 
our use of this assertion, it is excepted " That the apostle affirms that 
nature also teaches us: 1 Cor. xi. 14, ' Doth not even nature itself 
teach you?' now, nature is not a person.'' This is the way and manner 
of them with whom we have to do. If any word in a testimony 
produced by us have been anywhere used metaphorically, though 
it be never so evident that it is so used in that place, instantly it 
must have the same figurative application in the testimony excepted 
against, although they can give no reason why it should so signify ! 
And if this course of exceptmg be allowed, there will be nothing 
left intelligible in the Scripture, nor in any other author, nor in 
common conversation in the world ; for there is scarce any word or 
name of [a] thing but, one where or other, is or hath been abused or 
used metaphorically. In particular, nature in this place of the apostle 
is said to teach us objectively, as the heavens and earth teach us in 
what we learn from them ; for it is said to teach us what we may 
learn from the customs and actings of them who live, proceed, and 
act, according to the principles, dictates, and inclinations of it. Every 
one sees that here is no intimation of an active teaching by instruc- 
tion, or a real communication of knowledge, but it is said figuratively 
to do what we do with respect unto it. And not only in several 
places, but in the same sentence, a word may be used properly with 
respect unto one thing and abusively with respect unto another; as 
in that saying of the poet, — 

" Disce, puer, virtutem ex me, vemmque laborem ; 
Fortimam ex aliis:" [^n., xii. 435.] 

for virtue and industry are to be learned properly, but fortune, as 
they called it, or prosperous events, are not so. These things, there- 
fore, are very different, and their difference is obvious unto all. But 
we insist not merely on this or that particular instance. Let any 
man not absolutely prepossessed with prejudice read over that dis- 
course of our Saviour unto his disciples, wherein he purposely in- 
structs them in the nature and work of the Spirit of God, on whom, 
as it were, he then devolved the care of them and the gospel, accord- 
ing unto the promise, John xiv., xv., xvL, and he will need no farther 
instruction or confirmation in this matter. He is there frequently 
called " The Comforter," the name of a person, and that vested with 
an office, with respect unto the work that he would do; and "Another 
Comforter," in answer and conformity unto the Lord Christ, who was 
one Comforter and a person, as all grant, chap. xiv. 1 6, 26. If he be 
not so, the intention of this expression with these circumstances must 
be to deceive us, and not instruct us. He tells them, moreover, that 
he is one whom the world neither sees nor knows, but who abideth 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 85 

with and dwelleth in believers, verse 1 7; one whom the Father would 
send, and who would come accordingly, and that to teach them, to 
lead and gufde them^ and to bring things to their remembrance, 
verse 26; a Comforter that should come and testify or bear witness 
unto him, chap. xv. 26; one that should be sent of him, "to reprove 
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment," chap. xvi. 
7, 8, and to abide with his disciples, to supply his own bodily absence. 
So is he said to " speak," " guide," " teach," " hear," to " receive of 
Christ's and to show it unto others," John xiv. 26, xvi. 13, 14, with 
sundry other things of the same nature and importance. And these 
things are not spoken of him occasionally or in transitu, but in a direct 
continued discourse, designed on purpose by our Lord Jesus Christ to 
acquaint his disciples who he was, and what he would do for them 
And if there were nothing spoken of him in the whole Scripture but 
what is here declared by our Saviour, all unprejudiced men must and 
would acknowledge him to be a divine person. And it is a confidence 
swelling above all bounds of modesty, to suppose that because one or 
other of these things is or may be metaphorically or metaleptically 
ascribed unto this or that thing which are not persons, when the 
figurativeness of such an ascription is plain and open, that therefore 
they are all of them in like manner so ascribed unto the Holy Ghost 
in that discourse of our Saviour unto his disciples, wherein he de- 
signed the instruction of them, as above declared. Of the same 
nature is that which we discoursed before concerning his searchinfj 
of all things, from 1 Cor. ii. 10; which as it proves him to be an un- 
derstanding agent, so it undeniably denotes a personal action. Such 
also are the things mentioned, Rom. viii. 16, 26: He "helpeth our 
infirmities," he " maketh intercession for us," he himself " beareth 
witness with our spirit;" the particular meaning of all which expres- 
sions shall be afterward inquired into. Here the only refuge of our 
adversaries is to cry up a prosopopoeia (Schlichting. p. 627 ) But how 
do they prove it? Only by saying that " these things belong properly 
to a person, which the Spirit is not." Now, this is nothing but to set 
up their own false hypothesis against our arguments, and, not being 
able to contend with the premises, to deny the conclusion. 

There are two other places of this nature, both to the same pur- 
pose, sufficient of themselves to confirm our faith in the truth pleaded 
for ; and these are. Acts xiii. 2, 4, " As they ministered unto the 
Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and 
Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. So they, being 
sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed." The other is chap. xx. 28, 
" Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the 
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers." These places hold 
a good correspondence; and what is reported in an extraordhiarj 



86 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK L 

case, as matter of fact, in the first, is doctrinally applied unto ordi- 
nary cases in the latter. And two things are remarkable iii the first 
place:— 1. The Holy Ghost's designation of hiraoelf as the person 
unto whom and whose work Barnabas and Saul were to be separat- 
ed and dedicated. Saith he, ' AcpopisaTi bn [loi, not " Separate me," as 
in our translation, making the Spirit only the author of the command, 
but " Separate unto me;" which proposeth him also as the object of 
the duty required, and the person whose work was to be attended. 
Who or what, then, is intended by that pronoun " me?" Some per- 
son is directed unto and signified thereby; nor can any instance 
b'e given where it is so much as figuratively used, unless it be in a 
professed parable. That rem.ains, therefore, to be inquired into, 
Who is intended in that word " me?" And the words are the words 
of the Holy Ghost: " The Holy Ghost said. Separate unto me;" he, 
therefore, alone is intended. All the answer which the wit and 
diligence of our adversaries can invent is, that " these words are 
ascribed unto the Holy Ghost because the prophets that were in the 
church of Antioch spake therein by his instinct and inspiration." 
But in this evasion there is no regard unto the force of our argu- 
ment; for we do not argue merely from his being said to speah, but 
from what is spoken by him, " Separate unto me," and do inquire 
whether the prophets be intended by that word or no? If so, which 
of them? for they were many by whom the Holy Ghost spake the 
same thing, and some one must be intended in common by them 
all ; and to say that this was any of the prophets is foolish, indeed 
blasphemous. 2. The close of the second verse confirms this applica- 
tion of the word, " For the work whereunto I have called them." 
This confessedly is the Holy Ghost. Now, to call men to the mi- 
nistry is a free act of authority, choice, and wisdom ; which are pro- 
perties of a person, and none other. Nor is either the Father or the 
Son in the Scripture introduced more directly clothed with personal 
properties than the Holy Ghost is in these places. And the whole 
is confirmed, verse 4, " So they, being sent forth by the Holy 
Ghost, departed." He called them, by furnishing them with ability 
and authority for their work; he commanded them to be set apart 
by tbe church, that they might be blessed and owned in their work; 
and he sent them forth, by an impression of his authority on tlieir 
minds, given them by those former acts of his. And if a divine 
person bo not hereby described, I know not how he may so be. 

The other text speaks unto the same purpose. Acts xx. 28, it 
is expressly said that the Holy Ghost made the el.ler« of the church 
the overseers of it. The same act of wisdom aiid authority is here 
again assigned unto him. And here is no room left for the evasion 
insisted on; for these words were not spoken in a way of prophecy, 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 87 

nor in the name of the Holy Ghost, but concerning him. And they 
are exphcatory of the other ; for he must be meant in these expres- 
sions, " Separate unto me those whom I have called," by whom they 
are made ministers. Now, this was the Holy Ghost; for he makes 
the overseers of the church. And we may do well to take notice, 
that if he did so then, he doth so now; for they were not persons 
extraordinarily inspired or called that the apostle intends, but the 
ordinary officers of the church. And if persons are not called and 
constituted officers, as at the first, in ordinary cases, the church is 
not the same as it was. And it is the concernment of those who 
take this work and office upon them to consider what there is iu 
their whole undertaking that they can ascribe unto the Holy Ghost. 
Persons furnished with no spiritual gifts or abilities, entering into 
the ministry in the pursuit of secular advantages, will not easily 
satisfy themselves in this inquiry when they shall be willing, or be 
forced, at the last to make it. 

There remains yet one sort of testimonies to the same purpose, 
which must briefly be passed through : and they are those where he is 
spoken of as the object of such actings and actions of men as none but 
a person can be ; for let them be applied unto any other object, and 
their inconsistency will quickly appear. Thus he is said to be tempted 
of them that sin : " How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the 
Spirit of the Lord," Acts v. 9. In what sense soever this word is used, 
— whether in that which is indifferent, to try, as God is said to tempt 
Abraham, or in that which is evil, to provoke or induce to sin, — it 
never is, it never can be, used but with respect unto a person. How 
can a quality, an accident, an emanation of power from God, be 
tempted ? None can possibly be so but he that hath an understand- 
iug to consider what is proposed unto him, and a will to determine 
upon the proposal made. So Satan tempted our first parents ; so 
men are tempted by their own lusts; so are we said to tempt God 
when we provoke him by our unbelief, or when we unwarrantably 
make experiments of his power; — so did they "tempt the Holy 
Ghost" who sinfully ventured on his omniscience, as if he would 
not or could not discover their sin; or on his holiness, that he would 
patronize their deceit. In like manner, Ananias is said to " lie to 
the Holy Ghost," verse 3 ; and none is capable of lying unto any 
other but such an one as is capable of hearing and receiving a testi- 
mony, for a lie is a false testimony given unto that which is spoken 
or uttered in it. ■ This he that is lied unto must be capable of 
judging and determining upon; which without personal properties of 
will and understanding none can be. And the Holy Ghost is here 
so declared to be a person as that he is declared to be one that is 
also divine; for so the apostle Peter declares in the exposition of 



88 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK L 

the words, verse 4, "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." 
These things are so plain and positive that the faith of believers will 
not be concerned in the sophistical evasions of our adversaries. In 
like manner, he is said to be resisted, Acts vii. 51 ; which is the 
moral reaction or opposition of one person unto another. So also 
is he said to be grieved, or we are commanded not to grieve him, 
Eph. iv. 30; as they of old were said to have "rebelled and vexed 
the Holy Spirit of God," Isa. Ixiii. 10. A figurative expression is 
allowed in these words. Properly, the Spirit of God cannot be 
grieved or vexed ; for these things include such imperfections as are 
incompetent unto the divine nature. But as God is said to " repent" , 
and to be "grieved at his heart/' Gen. vi. 6, when he would do things 
correspondent unto those which men will do or judge fit to be done 
on such 13 revocations, and when he would declare what effects they 
would produce in a nature capable of such perturbations; so on the 
same reason is the Spirit of God said to be grieved and vexed. But 
this can no way be spoken of him if he be not one whose respect 
unto sin may, from the analogy unto human persons, be represented 
by this figurative expression. To talk of grieving a virtue or an ac- 
tual emanation of power, is to speak that which no man can under- 
stand the meaning or intention of Surely he that is thus tempted, 
resisted, and grieved by sin and sinners, is one that can understand, 
judge, and determine concerning them; and these things being else- 
where absolutely spoken concerning God, it declares that he is so 
with respect unto whom they are mentioned in particular. 

The whole of the truth contended for is yet more evident in that 
discourse of Our Saviour, Matt. xii. 24. The Pharisees said, " He doth 
not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils." And Jesus 
answered, verse 28, "It I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then 
the kingdom of God is come unto you." Verses 31, 32, " Wherefore 
I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven 
unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be 
forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the 
Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh 
against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him." To the same 
purpose, see Luke xii. 8-10. The Spirit is here expressly distin- 
guished from the Son, as one person from another. They are both 
spoken of with respect unto the same things in the same manner, 
and the things mentioned are spoken concerning them universally 
m the same sense. Now, if the Holy Ghost were only the virtue 
and power of God, then present with Jesus Christ in all that he did, 
Christ and that power could not be distinctly spoken against, for 
they were but one and the same. The Pharisees blasphemed, say- 
ing, that "he cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils." 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIEIT PEOVED AND VINDICATED. 89 

A person they intended, and so expressed him by his name, nature, 
and office. To which our Saviour replies, that he cast them out by 
the Spirit of God, — a divine person, opposed to him who is diaboli- 
cal. Hereunto he immediately subjoins his instruction and caution, 
that they should take heed how they blasphemed that Holy Spirit, 
by assigning his effects and works to the prince of devils. And 
blasphemy against him directly manifests both what and who he is, 
especially such a peculiar blasphemy as carrieth an aggravation of 
guilt along with it above all that human nature in any other instance 
is capable of It is supposed that blasphemy may be against the 
person of the Father: so was it in him who "blasphemed the name 
of Jehovah and cursed" by it, Lev. xxiv. 11. The Son, as to his dis- 
tinct person, may be blasphemed ; so it is said here expressly ; — and 
thereon it is added that the Holy Ghost also may be distinctly blas- 
phemed, or be the immediate object of that sin which is declared to 
be inexpiable. To suppose now that this Holy Ghost is not a 
divine person is for men to dream whilst they seem to be awake. 

I suppose by all these testimonies we have fully confirmed what 
was designed to be proved by them, — namely, that the Holy Spirit 
is not a quality, as some speak, residing in the divine nature; not a 
mere emanation of virtue and power from God ; not the acting of 
the power of God in and unto our sanctification ; but a holy intelli- 
gent suhsistent or person. And in our passage many instances have 
been given, whence it is undeniably evident that he is a divine, 
self-sufficient, self-subsisting person, together with the Father and 
the Son equally participant of the divine nature. Nor is this dis- 
tinctly much disputed by them with whom we have to do ; for they 
confess that such things are ascribed unto him as none but God can 
effect: wherefore, denying him so to be, they lay up all their hopes of 
success in denying him to be a person. But yet, because the subject we 
are upon doth require it, and it may be useful to the faith of some, I 
will call over a few testimonies given expressly unto his deity also. 

First, he is expressly called God; and having the name of God 
properly and directly given unto him, with respect unto spiritual 
things, or things peculiar imto God, he must have the nature of 
God also. Acts v. 3, Ananias is said to "lie to the Holy Ghost." 
This is repeated and interpreted, verse 4, "Thou hast not lied unto 
men, but unto God." The declaration of the person intended by 
the " Holy Ghost" is added for the aggravation of the sin, for he is 
" God." The same person, the same object of the sin of Ananias, is 
expressed in both places; and, therefore, the Holy Ghost is God. 
The word for lying is the same in both places, •^ivdo/j.ai, only it is 
used in a various construction. Verse 8, it hath the accusative case 
joined unto it: YiUaaCixi as rh n^D/za rh ayiov, — that "thou shouldst de- 
ceive," or think to deceive, or attempt to deceive, " the Holy Ghost." 



GO DIVINE NATUEE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK I. 

How? By lying unto him, in making a profession in the church 
wherein he presides of that which is false. This is explained, verse 4, 
by e-^sUu rui Qiui, "thou hast lied unto God;" the nature of his sin 
being principally intended in the first place, and the object in the 
latter. Wherefore, in the progress of his discourse, the apostle calls 
the same sin, a "tempting of the Spirit of the Lord," verse 9 ; it 
was the Spirit of the Lord that he lied unto, when he lied unto God. 
These three expressions, "The Holy Ghost," "God," « The Spirit of 
the Lord," do denote the same thing and person, or there is no co- 
herence in the discourse. It is excepted " That what is done against 
the Spirit is done against God, because he is sent by God." It is 
true, as he is sent by the Father, what is done against him is mo- 
rally and as to the guilt of it done against the Father. And so our 
Saviour tells us with respect unto what was done against himself; 
for saith he, "He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." 
But directly and immediately, both Christ and the Spirit were sinned 
against in their own persons. He is " God " [who is] here provoked. So 
also he is called "Lord," in a sense appropriate unto God alone : 2 Cor. 
iii. 17,18, "Now the Lord is that Spirit;" and, "We are changed from 
glory to glory," octI Kvplou livvjixarog, "by the Lord the Spirit," or the 
Spirit of the Lord ; where also divine operations are ascribed unto 
him. What is affirmed to this purpose, 1 Cor. xii. 6-8, hath been 
observed in the opening of the beginning of that chapter at the be- 
ginning of our discourse. The same, also, is drawn by just conse- 
quence from the comparing of Scriptures together, wherein what is 
spoken of God absolutely in one place is applied directly and im- 
mediately unto the Holy Ghost in another. To instance in one 
or two particulars: Lev xxvi. 11, 12, "I will," saith God, "set my 
tabernacle among you; and I will walk among you, and will be 
your God, and ye shall be my people." The accomplishment of 
this promise the apostle declares, 2 Cor. vi. 16, "Ye are the temple 
of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and 
walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my 
people." How and by whom is this done? 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, 
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit 
of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him 
shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which ye are." If 
it were, then, God who of old promised to dwell in his peo])le, and 
to make them his temple thereby, then is the Holy Spirit God; for 
he it is who, according to that promise, thus dwelleth in them. So 
Deut. xxxii. 12, speaking of the people in the wilderness, he saith, 
" The Lord alone did lead him ;" and yet, speaking of the same peo- 
ple, at tlie same time, it is said, that "the Spirit of the Lord did 
lead them, and caused them to rest," Isa. Ixiii. 14. " The Spirit of 
the Lord," therefore, is Jehovah, or Jehovah alone did not lead them. 



CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 91 

That, also, which is called In the same people their " sinning against 
God, and provoking the Most High in the wilderness," Ps. Ixxviii. 
17, 18, is tenned their "rebelling against and vexing the Holy 
Spirit," Isa. Ixiii. 10, 11. And many other instances of an alike na- 
ture have been pleaded and vindicated by others. 

Add hereunto, in the last place, that divine properties are assigned 
unto him, as eternity, Heb. ix. 14, he is the " eternal Spirit;" — 
immensity, Ps. cxxxix. 7, " Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?" — 
omnipotency, Mic. ii. 7, " The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened," 
compared with Isa, xl. 28 ; " The power of the Spirit of God," Rom. 
XV. 19; — prescience, Acts i. 16, This scripture must be fulfilled, 
"which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concern- 
ing Judas;" — omniscience, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11, " The Spirit searcheth 
all things, yea, the deep things of God ; " — sovereign authority over 
the church. Acts xiii. 2, 4, xx. 28. The divine works, also, which are 
assigned unto him are usually, and to good purpose, pleaded in the 
vindication of the same truth; but these in the progress of our dis- 
course I shall have occasion distinctly to consider and inquire into, 
and, therefore, shall not in this place insist upon them. What hath 
been proposed, cleared, and confirmed, may suflSce as unto our present 
purpose, that we may know who he is concerning whom, — his works 
and grace, — we do .design to treat. « 

I have but one thing more to add concerning the "being and per- 
sonality of the Holy Spirit; and this is, that in the order of sub- 
sistence, he is the third person in the holy Trinity, So it is expressed 
in the solemn numeration of them, where their order gives great 
direction unto gospel worship and obedience: Matt, xxviii. 19, "Bap- 
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost." This order, I confess, in their numeration, because of 
the equality of the persons in the same nature, is sometimes varied. 
So, Rev. i. 4, 5, '" Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, 
and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits 
which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ." The Holy 
Spirit, under the name of the seven Spirits before the throne of God, 
because of his various and perfect operations in and towards the 
church, is reckoned up in order before the Son, Jesus Christ. And 
so in Paul's euctical conclusion unto his epistles, the Son is placed 
before the Father: 2 Cor. xiii. 14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, 
be with you all," And some think that the Holy Ghost is men- 
tioned in the first place. Col. ii, 2, " The acknowledgment of the 
mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ," In this expres- 
sion of them, therefore, we may use our liberty, they being all one, 
" God over all, blessed for ever." But in their true and natural 
order of subsistence, and consequently of operation, the Holy Spirit 



92 PECULIAR WORKS OF THE HOLT SPIRIT 

is the third person; for as to his personal subsistence, he "pro- 
ceedeth from the Father and the Son," being equally the Spirit of 
them both, as hath been declared. This constitutes the natural 
order between the persons, which is unalterable. On this depends 
the order of his operation; for his working is a consequent of the 
order of his subsistence. Thus the Father is said to send hira, and 
so is the Son also, John xiv. 16, 26, xvi. 7. And he is thus said to 
be sent by the Father and the Son, because he is the Spirit of the 
Father and Son, proceeding from both, and is the next cause in the 
application of the Trinity unto external works. But as he is thus 
sent, so his own will is equally in and imto the work for which he is 
sent; as the Father is said to send the Son, and yet it was also his 
own love and grace to come unto us and to save us. And this 
ariseth from hence, that in the whole economy of the Trinity, as to 
the works that outwardly are of God, especially the works of grace, 
the order of the subsistence of the persons in the same nature is re- 
presented unto us, and they have the same dependence on each other 
in their operations as they have in their subsistence. The Father 
is the fountain of all, as in being and existence, so in operation. The 
Son is of the Father, begotten of him, and, therefore, as unto his 
work, is sent by him ; but his own will is in and unto what he is 
^ent about. The Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the 
Son, and, therefore, is sent and given by them as to all the works 
which he immediately effecteth ; but yet his own will is the direct 
principle of all that he doth, — he divideth unto every one according 
to his own will. And thus much may suffice to be spoken about the 
being of the Holy Spirit, and the order of his subsistence in the 
blessed Trinity. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PECULIAR WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE FIRST 
OR OLD CREATION. 
Things to be observed in divine operations— The works of God, how ascribed ab- 
solutely unlo God, and how distinctly to each person— The reason hereof- 
Perfecting acts in divine works ascribed unto the Holy Spirit, and why— Pe- 
culiar works of the Spirit with respect unto the old creation— The parts of 
the old cre^ition— Heaven and its host— What the host of heaven— The host 
of the earth— The host of heaven completed by the Spirit— And of the earth 
—His moving on the old creation, Ps. civ. 30— The creation of man; the work 
of the Spirit therein— The work of the Spirit in the preservation of all things 
when created, natural and moral-Farther instar,ces thereof, in and out of 
the church- Work of the Spirit of God in the old creation, why sparingly 
dehvered. •' ^ * •' 

Intending to treat of the operations of the Holy Ghost, or those 
which are peculiar unto him, some things must be premised concern- 



CHAP. IV.] IN THE FIRST OR OLD CREATION. 93 

ing the operation of the Godhead in general, and the manner thereof; 
and they are such as are needful to guide us in many passages of 
the Scripture, and to direct us aright in the things in particular 
which now lie before us. I say, then, — 

1. That all divine operations are usually ascribed unto God ab- 
solutely. So it is said God made all things; and so of all other 
works, whether in nature or in grace. And the reason hereof is, 
because the several persons are undivided in their operations, acting 
all by the same will, the same wisdom, the same power. Every 
person, therefore, is the author of every work of God, because each 
person is God, and the divine nature is the same undivided prin- 
ciple of all divine operations;^ and this ariseth from the unity of 
the persons in the same essence. But as to the manner of subsist- 
ence therein, there is distinction, relation, and order between and 
among them; and hence there is no divine work but is distinctly 
assigned unto each person, and eminently unto one. So is it in the 
works of the old creation, and so in the new, and in all particulars 
of them. Thus, the creation of the world is distinctly ascribed to the 
Father as his work. Acts iv. 24; and to the Son as his, John i. 3; 
and also to the Holy Spirit, Job xxxiii. 4; but by the way of emi- 
nence to the Father, and absolutely to God, who is Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. 

The reason, therefore, why the works of God are thus distinctly 
ascribed unto each person is because, in the undivided operation of 
the divine nature, each person doth the same work in the order of 
their subsistence ; not one as the instrument of the other, or merely 
employed by the other, but as one common principle of authority, 
wisdom, love, and power. How come they, then, eminently to be 
assigned one to one person, another to another? as unto the 
Father are assigned opera naturce, the works of nature, or the old 
creation ; to the Son, opera gratice procuratce, all divine operations 
that belong unto the recovery of mankind by grace; and unto the 
Spirit, opera gratia} applicatce, the works of God whereby grace is 
made effectual unto us. And this is done, — (1.) When^ any espe- 
cial impression is made of the especial property of any person on any 

' Mitt afcc xa) Ik Tourav, h rrii Tpia^os hipyna, ^tixywrai. Ou yap as "Xap ixaiTTov S/a- 
(fopa, xa.) ^mpn/^'iva ra ^iSofiiva. ffnf^ahn o avoaroXoi. 'AXX' ort to, Itthofjuta, Iv Tpidoi oioorai, 
xa.) TO. vatra. \\ \tos 0iou Itrri Athanas. Epistol. [i. 31] ad Serapionem. 

Mf'av Ivipyiiav cpaifitv Varpo; xa) v'lou, xa) ay'iov rrtiVfjiaToi. — Basil. Homil. XVll., in SaBC- 
tum Baptisraa. ^ilv a\ avrai Inpytiai rouruy xa) ol/tria ftia, ivipyna t\ vUu xa) vrarfo; //.la 
&>; TO- <proiyi(ra>i/,i\> avSpu-Ttov. Kai •xaXii' a yap ai o 'jrarrip ■^oin, ravra Kui e vies t/^otas "ifoai, 
'Apa xa) ohff'ia /t'la vrarpos wt) viou. — Idem advers. Eunom., lib. iv. 

" Quicquid de Spiritu Sancto diximus hoc similiter de Patre et Filio communiter et 
indivise Yolumus intelligi ; quia sancta et inseparabilis Trinitas nunquam aliquid s© 
sigillatim operari noverit." — Ambros. in Symbol. Apost. cap. ix. 

* Uatra ra S-tO'Xpi'rZs Xtyofitva l-rt Tns v-rtpaviriov rpia'Sas xaff Ixao-rnf fuv rpiui vT»- 
VTaffiuv l^i^iavrai, xa) \vaffji.'oTTiTai, ■xXriv a Tnv •^ffoay/uytiv tovtuv, Hyovii TtlD Wofruifixilt 

yvupun ifi^oioviiTai. — Arethas, iu Apocal. Commentar. cap. 1. 



94 PECULIAR WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK L 

work ; then is that work assigned peculiarly to that person. So there 
is of the power and authority of the Father on the old creation, and 
of the grace and wisdom of the Son on the new. (2.) Where there 
is a peculiar condescension of any person unto a work, wherein the 
others have no concurrence but by approbation and consent. Such 
was the susception of the human nature by the Son, and all that he 
did therein; and such was the condescension of the Holy Ghost 
also unto his office, which entitles him peculiarly and by way of 
eminence unto his own immediate works. 

2. Whereas the order of operation among the distinct persons 
depends on the order^ of their subsistence in the blessed Trinity, in 
every great work of God, the concluding, completing, perfecting acts 
are ascribed unto the Holy Ghost.** This we shall find in all the 
instances of them that will fall under our consideration. Hence, 
the immediate actings of the Spirit are the most hidden, curious, and 
mysterious, as those which contain the perfecting part of the works 
of God. Some seem willing to exclude all thoughts or mention of 
him from the works of God; but, indeed, without him no part of 
any work of God is perfect or complete.^ The beginning of divine 
operations is assigned unto the Father, as he i&fons et origo Deitatis, 
— " the fountain of the Deity itself:" " Of him, and through him, and 
to him, are all things," Rom. xi. 36. The subsisting, establishing, 
and "upholding of all things," is ascribed unto the Son: "He is 
before all things, and by him all things consist," Col. i. 17. As he 
made all things with the Father, so he gives them a consistency, a 
permanency, in a peculiar manner, as he is the power and wisdom of 
the Father. He " upholdeth all things by the word of his power," 
Heb. i. 3. And the finishing and perfecting of all these works is 
ascribed to tlie Holy Spirit, as we shall see. I say not this as though 
one person succeeded unto another in their operation, or as though 
where one ceased and gave over a work, the other took it up and 
carried it on; for every divine work, and every part of every divine 
work, is the work of God, that is, of the whole Trinity, inseparably 
and undiyidedly: but on those divine works which outwardly are of 
God there is an especial impression of the order of the operation of 

» « Hoc non est inrequalitas substantise, sed ordo nature ; non quod alter esset prior 
altero, scJ quod alter esset ex altero."— Aug. lib. iii. contra Maxeiitium, cap. 14. 

Zo/iUfi IK Tarfos a((>o;:fiurai, xai ha. tov v'loZ •jrf'ouiri, xa) Lv tu -t^iui/.kti Tfc ay'iu TiXuaurai. 
—Grogor. Nyssen.^ ad Ablabium '£► St ^ji rdrc^, {iyyix^v) xr'xru, iniv<rov fco, ri» 
vpixaTUfKTiKri* aiTiitv tuv ytvoftivuv to» vxri^a, t»jv '^^fiiavfyix^v to> u'iov, t»v r%XiiuriKW 
«-o TtiZ f/.a. — Basil, de Spir. Sane. cap. xvi. 



^Kaiyai W/tty rrii vaXaia.; u{ ■jrfoKccrapx.rixov ruv cXay o rrartip ■Tfura); xtipirTtrai. 
KaihuTifi,! li i v'to; uf lr;fii»vpy,xc> a7r,(,v \it.(pay',Z,iTa,. Ku.) rp'iTus i,, riXiiuTixn to rrnu/aa 
nro ay„i>. To. TtXuur.Ko. yy tZ riXu (fipuiMif^u; uvafamra,, tS -rpox.o'ri, xa, av^^ffu <r«» 
Vfayyaruv xa, rZv ^ "vi-v oia ff-i(pavos avxpfvinus W) tuT; i,6XnT,Ko7; llfuiri xccTo. to TlXaf 
ivx fisli^lyoj. A]a xa)^ rov ay^puTo* -rXiffas o dio; -XfuToi dra. t'iXu wifvtv^aii t!( TO Vfi- 

rasrcv aiiTou TmiJ/ia ^urts — Jobius apud I'hotiuip lib. cxxiL cap. 18. 



CHAP. IV.] IN THE FIRST OR OLD CREATION. 95 

each person, with respect unto their natural and necessary subsist- 
ence, as also with regard unto their internal characteristical proper- 
ties, whereby we are distinctly taught to know them and adore 
them. And the due consideration of this order of things will direct 
us in the right understanding of the proposals that are made unto 
our faith concerning God in his works and word. 

These things being premised, we proceed to consider what are 
the peculiar operations of the Holy Spirit, as revealed unto us in 
the Scripture. Now, all the works of God may be referred unto two 
heads: — 1. Those of nature; 2. Those of grace; — or the works of 
the old and new creation. And we must inquire what are the 
especial operations of the Holy Spirit in and about these works, 
which shall be distinctly explained. 

The work of the old creation had two parts: — 1. That which 
concerned the inanimate part of it in general, with the influence it 
had into the production of animated or living but brute creatures 
2. The rational or intelligent part of it, with the law of its obedience 
unto God, [and] the especial uses and ends for which it was made. 
In both these sorts we shall inquire after and consider the especial 
works of the Holy Spirit. 

The general parts of the creation are the heavens and the earth: 
Gen. i. 1, " In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth." And what belongs unto them is called their "host:" chap, 
ii. 1, " The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of 
them." The host of heaven is the sun, moon, and stars, and the angels 
themselves. So are they called, 1 Kings xxii. 19, "I saw the Lord 
sitting on his throne" Ci^^^^! ^^V'^^l, "and all the host of heaven 
standing by him, on his right hand and on his left;" — that is, all 
the holy angels, as Dan. vii. 10; 2 Chron. xviii. 18. And the host 
of God: Gen. xxxii. 1, 2, "And Jacob went on his Avay, and the 
angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said. This is 
God's host." "^.^n^, the word he useth, signifieth a host encamped. 
2r^ar/a ovpdvjog, Luke ii. 13, " The heavenly host," or army. The 
sun, moon, and stars, are also called the host of heaven: Deut. 
iv. 19, " Lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when 
thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of 
heaven." So Isa. xxxiv. 4 ; Jer. xxxiii. 22. This was that host of 
heaven which the Jews idolatrously worshipped: chap. viii. 2, "They 
shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of 
heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, after 
whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom 
they have worshipped." The expressions are multiplied, to show 
that they used all ways of ascribing that divine honour unto 
them which was due to God alone, whom only they ought to have 
loved, to have served, to have walked after, to have sought and 



96 PECULIAR WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK L 

worshipped. So Jer. xix. 13. This they called O^DK^n DD^O, the 
"queen of heaven," chap. xliv. 17, because of its beauty and adorn- 
ings. The " host of the earth" is men and beasts, with all other 
creatures that either grow out of it or live upon it, and are nourished 
by it. And these things are called the host of heaven and earth 
upon a double account: — 1. Because of their order and beautiful 
disposition. A host properly is a number of men put into a certain 
order, for some certain end or purpose ; and all their strength and 
power, all their terror and beauty, consisteth in and ariseth from 
that order. Without this they are but a confused multitude. But 
a host or army with banners is beautiful and terrible. Cant, vi. 10. 
Before things were cast into this order, the universe was, as it were, 
full of confusion ; it had no beauty nor glory, for the "eartK was 
without form and void," Gen. i. 2. Hence the Vulgar Latin in this 
place renders the word by " ornatus eorum," all their beauty and 
adorning; for the creation and beautiful disposal of these hosts gave 
them beauty and ornament: and thence do the Greeks call the world 
MdiMOi, — that is, an adorned thing. 2. Because all creatures in 
heaven and earth are God's armies, to accomplish his irresistible will 
and pleasure. Hence he often styles himself " The Lord of hosts," — 
of both these hosts, that above, of the heavens, the holy angels and 
the celestial bodies, and that of all creatures beneath in the earth; 
for all these he useth and applieth at his pleasure, to do his will and 
execute his judgments. Thus, one of those angels slew a whole host 
of men in one night, Isa. xxxvii. 36. And it is said that the " stars 
in their courses fought against Sisera," Judges v. 20. God overruled 
the influences of heaven against him, though it may be angels also 
are here intended. And among the meanest creatures of the earth, 
he calls locusts and caterpillars, when he sends them to destroy a 
country for sin, his host or " army," Joel ii. 11. This by the way. 

Now, the forming and perfecting of this host of heaven and earth 
is that which is assigned peculiarly to the Spirit of God; and hereby 
the work of creation was completed and finished. First, for the 
heavens: Job xxvi. 13, " By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens; 
his hand hath formed the crooked serpent;"— or rather, " his Spirit 
hath garnished ;" for nnst^ agrees with nn/ the " Spirit," and not with 
" he ;" and the word signifies to "adorn," to make fair, to render beau- 
tiful to the eye. Thus the heavens were garnished by the Spirit of 
God, when, by the creation and disposal of the aspectable host of 
them, he rendered them so glorious and beautiful as we behold. So 
the Targum, " His Spirit beautified the face of the heavens," or gave 

' This word in the original is Hhl^a. To make it agree with rrjBtt;, Owen must have 
adopted the opinion of Aben Ezra, that a in the former word is redundant. Eminent 
critics demur to this conclusion; Simonis and others rendering the clause, " By his 
Spii'it the heavens [are] beauty." — Ed. 



CHAP. IV.] IN THE FIRST OR OLD CREATION. 07 

them that comely beauty and order wherein their face appeareth 
unto us. Hence the heavens, as adorned with the moon and stars, 
are said to be the " work of God's fingers,'' Ps. viii. 3, — that is, not 
only those which were powerfully made, but also curiously wrought 
and adorned by the Spirit of God ; for by the finger or fingers of 
God the Spirit of God is in an especial manner intended. Hence 
those words of our Saviour, Luke xi. 20, " But if I with the finger 
of God cast out devils," are, Matt. xii. 28, " If I cast out devils 
l)y the Spirit of God." By him were the heavens, as it were, curi- 
ously wrought, adorned, garnished, rendered beautiful and glorious, 
to show forth the praise of his power and wisdom, Ps. xix. 1. And 
by the " crooked serpent," which is added to the " garnishing of the 
heavens," the Hebrews understand the galaxy or milky way; which 
to the eye represents the moving or writhing of a serpent in the 
water. This, then, is peculiarly assigned to the Spirit with respect 
to the heavens and their host : The completing, finishing work is 
ascribed unto him ; which we must understand by the rules before 
mentioned, and not exclusively to the other persons. 

And thus was it also in the earth. God first out of nothing created 
the earth, which con\prised the whole inferior globe, which afterward 
divided itself into seas and dry land, as the heavens contain in that 
expression of their creation all that is above and over it. The whole 
material mass of earth and water, wherewith probably the more solid 
and firm substance was covered, and as it were overwhelmed, is in- 
tended by that "earth" which was first created ; for immediately there 
is mention made of the "deep" and the "waters," without any intima- 
tion of their production but what is contained in that of the creation 
of the earth. Gen. i. 2. This mass being thus firamed and mixed, the 
" Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters;" not taken dis- 
tinctly, but as containing that radical humour which was the mate- 
rial principle of life and being unto all creatures: '^?0~!9 ^'''"'''^ '^^"'1 
C^^O ''■!7i"''i'. The word merachepheth signifies an easy, gentle mo- 
tion, such as a dove, or other fowl, useth over its nest or young ones, 
either to communicate vital heat unto its eggs, or to cherish and de- 
fend its young. And this will no way consist with that exposition 
which some would give in this place of ^'"'P^. 0^1 . "Ruah," they say, 
" here signifies ' the wind,' as it doth sometimes ; and it is called the 
' wind of God,' because it was great and mighty : for this phrase of 
speech is usual in the sacred language to set out the greatness and sin- 
gular eminency of any thing. So a great trembling is called a ' trem- 
bhng of God,' 1 Sam. xiv. 15; great cedars, the ' cedars of God,' Ps. 
Ixxx. 10 ; and the like." But, — 1. When was this wind created? The 
meteors were not made before the fourth day, with the firmament, the 
place of their residence. And whence or what this wind should be is 

VOL. III. 7 



98 PECULIAR WOEKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK L 

not to be discovered. 2. The word here used signifies such' an " easy 
and gentle motion" as is in birds when they move themselves upon 
their nests. And it is but three times used in the Scripture,— in this 
place, and Deut. xxxii. 11, Jer. xxiii. 9. In Deuteronomy it is ex- 
pressly applied unto the motion of an eagle over her young, for their 
safety, protection, and growth: VSJS t'')^] ^ni], "As an eagle flutter- 
eth, spreading her wings over her young." And in the other place 
we render it " shake : " " All my bones shake," — that is, are in a 
trembling motion, like the feathers of a fowl over her nest. No such 
great and violent wind, therefore, as from thence should be called a 
wind of God, can be intended in this place; but it is the Spirit of 
God himself and his work that is expressed. 

This, therefore, was the work of the Holy Spirit of God in refer- 
ence unto the earth and the host thereof: The whole matter being 
created out of which all living creatures were to be educed, and of 
which they were to be made, he takes upon him the cherishing and 
preservation of it ; that as it had its subsistence by the power of the 
Word of God, it might be carried on towards that form, order, beauty, 
and perfection, that it was designed unto. To this purpose he com- 
municated unto it a quickening and prolific virtue, inlaying it with 
the seeds of animal life unto all kinds of things. Hence, upon the 
command of God, it brought forth all sorts of creatures in abundance, 
according to the seeds and principles of life which were communi- 
cated unto the rude, inform chaos, by the cherishing motion of the 
Holy Spirit. Without him all was a dead sea, a confused deep, with 
darkness upon it, able to bring forth nothing, nor more prepared to 
bring forth any one thing than another; but by the moving of the 
Spirit of God upon it, the principles of all those kinds, sorts, and 
forms of things, which, in an inconceivable variety, make up its host 
and ornament, were communicated unto it. And this is a better ac- 
count of the original of all things, in their several kinds, than any [that] 
is given by ancient or modern philosophers. And hence was the old 
tradition of all things being formed of water, which the apostle alludes 
unto, 2 Pet. iii. 5. The whole is declared by Cyprian, whose words 
I have, therefore, transcribed at large.^ And as at the first creation, 

1 " Hie Spiritus Sanctus ab ipso mundi initio aquis legitur superfusus; non materi- 
alibiis aquis quasi vehiculo egcns, quas potius ipse ferebat, et complectentibns lirma- 
mentum dabat congnium motum et limitem prfetinitum. Hujus sempiterna virtus et 
divinitas, cum in propria natura ab inquisitoribus mundi antiquis pliilosophis proprie 
invcstigari non posset, subtilissimis tamen intuiti sunt conjecturis compositionem 
mundi; compositis et distinctis elementorum afiFectibus presentera omnibus animam 
aflFuisse, quas secundum genus et ordinem singulorum vitam prseberet et motum, et 
intransgressibiles figcrct metas, et stabilitatem assignaret et usum. Banc vitam, hunc 
motum, banc rerum csscntiam, animam mundi philosophi vocaverunt, putantes coelestia 
corpora, solcm dico lunam et Stellas ipsumque firmamentum hujus animte virtute 
moven et regi, et aquas, et terram, et aerem hujus semine imprsegnari Qui si spiri- 
tum et dominum, et creatorem, et vivificatorem, et nutritorem crederent omnium quae 



CHAP. IV.] IN THE FIEST OR OLD CREATIOX. 99 

SO in the course of providence, this work of cherishing and nourishing 
the creatures is assigned in an especial manner unto the Spirit : Ps. 
civ. 30, " Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created ; and thou 
renewest the face of the earth." The making or creation of things 
here intended is not the first great work of the creation of all, but 
the daily production of creatures in and according to their kind; 
for in the verse foregoing the Psalmist treats of the decay of all 
sorts of creatures in the world, by a providential cutting off and 
finishing of their lives : Verse 29, " Thou hidest thy face, they 
are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return 
to their dust." That, under this continual decay and dying of all 
sorts of creatures, the world doth not come to emptiness and desola- 
tion, the only reason is, because the Spirit of God, whose office and 
work it is to uphold and preserve all things continually, produceth 
by his power a new supply of creatures in the room of them that fall 
off like leaves from the trees, and return to their dust every day. 
And whereas the earth itself, the common nurse of them all, seems 
in the revolution of every year to be at an end of its use and work, 
having death brought upon the face of it, and ofttimes entering deep 
into its bowels, the Spirit of God, by its influential concurrence, re- 
news it again, causing every thing afresh to bring forth fruit accord- 
ing imto its kind, whereby its face receiveth a new beauty and 
adorning. And this is the substance of what the Scripture expressly 
asserts concerning the work of the Spirit of God towards the inani- 
mate part of the creation. His actings in reference unto man, and 
that obedience which he owed to God, according to the law and 
covenant of his creation, is nextly to be considered. 

Man in his creation falleth under a twofold notion; for he may 
be considered either merely naturally, as to the essentially consti- 
tutive parts of his being, or morally also, with reference unto his 
principles of obedience, the law given unto him, and the end proposed 
as his reward. And these things are distinctly proposed unto our 
contemplation in the Scripture. The first is expressed, Gen. ii. 7, 

sub ipso sunt, convenientem haberent ad vitam accessum. Sed abscondita est a sapi- 
eiitibus, et prudentibus tantse rei majestas ; nee potuit humani fastus ingenii secretis 
interesse coelestibus, et penetrare ad supei'essentialis natuKe altitudinem; et licet iu- 
telligerent, quod vere esset cr«itrix et gubernatrix rerum Divinitas, distinguere tamen 
nullo modo potuerunt quae esset Deitatis Trinitas, vel quae unitas vel quae personarum 
propi'ietas. Hie est Spiritus vitse cujus vivificus calor animat omnia et fovet et prove- 
Lit et fecundat. Hie omnium viventium anima, ita largitate sua se omnibus abun- 
danter infundit, ut habeant omnia rationabilia et irrationabilia secundum genus suum 
ex eo quod sunt, et quod in suo ordine suse naturse competentia agunt ; non quod ipse 
sit substantialis anima singulis, sed in se singulariter manens, de plenitudine sua dis- 
tributor magnificus proprias efficientias singulis dividit et largitur ; et quasi sol omnia 
calefaciens subjecta, omnia nutrit, et absque ulla sui diminutione, integritatem suam 
de inexhausta abundantia quod satis est et sufl&cit omnibus commodat et impartit." — 
Cypr. Lib. de Spir. Sane. 



lUO PECULIAR WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK L 

" And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of Ufe; and man became a Uving 
soul." 1. There is the matter whereof he was formed; 2. The 
quickening principle added thereunto; and, 8. The effect of their 
conjunction and union. For the matter he was made of, it is said he 
was formed '^^^^.l'"!'? "^?V, [of] " dust of the ground," or dust gathered 
together on a heap from and upon the ground : ^"^^ nhsy ^ih ^ Prov. 
viii. 26. So is God, the great dri/j^/ovpyos, the universal framer of all, 
represented as an artificer, who first prepares his matter, and then 
forms it as it seemeth good unto him. And this is mentioned for 
two ends: — First, To set forth the excellency, power, and wisdom of 
God, who out of such vUe, contemptible matter as a heap of dust, 
swept as it were together on the ground, could and did make so ex- 
cellent, curious, and glorious a fabric as is the body of man, or as was 
the body of Adam before the fall. Secondly, To mind man of his 
original, that he might be kept humble and in a meet dependence 
on the wisdom and bounty of his Creator; for thence it was, and not 
from the original matter whereof he was made, that he became so 
excellent. Hereof Abraham makes his solemn acknowledgment 
before the Lord: Gen. xviii. 27, " Behold now, I have taken upon me 
to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes." He abaseth 
himself with the remembrance of his original. And this, as it were, 
God reproacheth Adam withal upon his sin and transgression: Gen. 
iii. 19, " Thou shalt return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou 
taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." He lets 
him know that he had now, by sin, lost that immortality which he 
was made in a condition to have enjoyed; and that his body, accord- 
ing to his nature and constitution, should return again into its first 
principles, or the dust of the earth. Into this formed dust, secondly, 
God breathed D'*n noc'J^ the " breath of life;" divince aurce par- 
ticulam, " a vital immortal spirit." This God breathed into him, 
as giving him something of himself, somewhat immediately of his 
own, not made out of any procreated matter. This is the rational 
soul, or intelligent spirit. Thus man became a middle creature be- 
tween the angels above and the sensitive animals below. His body 
was formed, as the beasts, from the matter made the first day, and 
digested into dry land on the third day; his soul was an immediate 
production of and emanation from the divine power, as the angels 
were. So when, in the works of the new creation, our blessed Savi- 
our bestowed the Holy Ghost on his disciples, he breathed on them, 
as a sign that he gave them something of his own. This celestial 
spirit, this heavenly breath, was unto man a quickening principle; 
for, thii'dly, the efiect hereof is, that man became n^n ^^^b a " livino- 
soul." His body was hereby animated, and capable of all vital act& 



CHAP. IV.] IN THE FIRST OR OLD CREATION. ICl 

Hence he could move, eat, see, hear, etc. ; for the natural effects of 
this breath of life are only intended in this expression. Thus the 
" first man Adam was made a living soul," 1 Cor. xv. 45. This was 
the creation of man, as unto the essentially constituting principles of 
his nature. 

With respect unto his moral condition and principle of obedi- 
ence unto God, it is expressed. Gen. i. 26, 27, " And God said. Let 
us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have 
dominion," etc. " So God created man in his own image, in the image 
of God created he him." He made him " upright," Eccles. vii. 29, 
perfect in his condition, every way complete, — fit, disposed, and able 
to and for the obedience required of him ; without weakness, dis- 
temper, disease, contrariety of principles, inclinations, or reasonings. 
A universal rectitude of nature, consisting in light, power, and order, 
in his understanding, mind, and affections, was the principal part of 
this image of God wherein he was created. And this appears, as 
from the nature of the thing itself, so from the description which the 
apostle giveth us of the renovation of that image in us by the grace 
of Christ, Eph. iv. 24, Col. iii. 10. And under both these considera- 
tions we may weigh the especial operations of the Spirit of God : — 

First, As to the essential 'principles of the nature of man, it is not 
for nothing that God expresseth his communication of a spirit of life 
by his breathing into him: "God breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life." The Spirit of God and the breath of God are the 
same, only, the one expression is proper, the other metaphorical; 
wherefore, this breathing is the especial acting of the Spirit of God. 
The creation of the human soul, a vital immortal principle and being, 
is the immediate work of the Spirit of God: Job xxxiii. 4, "The 
Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of tlie Almighty hath 
given me life." Here, indeed, the creation and production of both 
the essential parts of human nature, body and soul, are ascribed unto 
the same author; for the Spirit of God and the breath of God are 
the same, but several effects being mentioned causeth a repetition 
of the same cause under several names. This Spirit of God first 
made man, or formed his body of the dust, and then gave him that 
breath of life whereby he became a " living soul." So, then, under 
this first consideration, the creation of man is assigned unto the Holy 
Spirit, for man was the perfection of the inferior creation; and in 
order unto the glory of God, by him were all other things created. 
Here, therefore, are his operations distinctly declared, to whom the 
perfecting and completing of all divine works is peculiarly committed. 

Secondly, We may consider the moral state and condition of man, 
with the furniture of his mind and soul, in reference unto his obedi- 
ence to God and his enjoyment of him. This was the principal part 



102 PECULIAR WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK L 

of that image of God wherein he was created. Three things were 
required to render man idoneous, or fit unto that life to God for 
which he was made: — First, An ability to discern the mind and 
will of God with respect unto all the duty and obedience that God 
required of him; as also so far to know the natfire and properties of 
God as to believe him the only proper object ot all acts and duties 
of religious obedience, and an all-sufficient satisfaction and reward in 
this world and to eternity. Secondly, A free, uncontrolled, unen- 
tangled disposition to every duty of the law of his creation, in order 
imto living unto God. Thirdly, An ability of mind and will, with a 
readiness of compliance in his affections, for a due regular perform- 
ance of all duties, and abstinence from, all sin. These things be- 
longed unto the integrity of his nature, with the uprightness of the 
state and condition wherein he was made. And all these things were 
the peculiar effects of the immediate operation of the Holy Ghost; 
for although this rectitude of his nature be distinguishable and se- 
parable from the faculties of the soul of man, yet in his first creation 
they were not actually distinguished from them, nor superadded, or 
infused into them when created, but were concreated with them, — 
that is, his soul was made meet and able to live to God, as his sove- 
reign lord, chiefest good, and last end. And so they were all from 
the Holy Ghost, from whom the soul was, as hath been declared. 
Yea, suppose these abilities to be superadded unto man's natural 
faculties, as gifts supernatural (which yet is not so), they must be 
acknowledged in a peculiar manner to be from the Holy Spirit; for 
in the restoration of these abilities unto our minds, in our renovation 
unto the image of God in the gospel, it is plainly asserted that the 
Holy Ghost is the immediate operator of them. And he doth thereby 
restore his own work, and not take the work of another out of his 
hand: for in the new creation the Father, in the way of authority, 
designs it, and brings all things unto a head in Christ, Eph. i. 10, 
which retrieved his original peculiar work; and the Son gave unto 
all thiugs a new consistency, which belonged unto him from the be- 
gmnmg, Col. i. 1 7. So also the Holy Spirit renews in us the image 
of God, the original implantation whereof was his peculiar work. 
And thus Adam may be said to have had the Spirit of God in his 
innocency. He had him in these peculiar effects of his power and 
goodness; and he had him according to the tenor of that covenant 
whereby it was possible that he should utterly lose him, as accord- 
ingly it came to pass. He had him not by especial inhabitation, for 
the whole world was then the temple of God. In the covenant of 
grace, founded in the person and on the mediation of Christ, it is 
otherwise. On whomsoever the Spirit of God is bestowed for the 
renovation of the image of God in him, he abides with him for ever. 



CHAP. IV.] IX THE FIRST OR OLD CREATION. 103 

But in all men, from first to last, all goodness, righteousness, and 
truth, are the " fruits of the Spirit," Eph. v. 9. 

The works of God being thus finished, and the whole frame of 
nature set upon its wheels, it is not deserted by the Spirit of God ; 
for as the preservation, continuance, and acting of all things in the 
universe, according to their especial nature and mutual application 
of one unto another, are all from the powerful and efficacious influ- 
ences of divine Providence, so there are particular operations of the 
Holy Spirit in and about all things, whether merely natural and ani- 
mal, or also rational and moral. An instance in each kind may suf- 
fice. For the first (as we have showed), the propagation of the sue-* 
ceedinof generations of creatures and the annual renovation of the face 
of the earth are ascribed unto him, Ps. civ. 30; for as we would own 
the due and just powers and operations of second causes, so we abhor 
that atheism which ascribes unto them an original and independent 
efficacy and causality, without a previous acting in, by, and upon 
them of the power of God. And this is here ascribed unto the Spirit, 
whom God sendeth forth unto that end and purpose. As to rational 
and moral actions, such as the great affairs of the world do consist in 
and are disposed of by, he» hath in them also a peculiar efficiency. 
Thus those great virtues of wisdom, courage, and fortitude, which 
have been used for the producing of great effects in the world, are 
of his especial operation. So when God stirred up men to rule and 
govern his people of old, to fight against and to subdue their ene- 
mies, it is said the Spirit of God came upon them: Judges iii. 10, 
" The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, and he judged Israel, 
and went out to war." The Spirit of God endued him with wisdom 
for government, and with courage and skill in conduct for war. So 
chap. vi. 34. And although instances hereof are given us princi- 
pally among the people of God, yet wherever men in the world have 
been raised up to do great and wonderful things, whereby God execut- 
eth his judgments, [and] fulfilleth any of his promises or his threaten- 
ings, even they also have received of the especial gifts and assistances 
of the Holy Spirit of God. For this reason is Cjtus expressly called 
" God's anointed," Isa. xlv. 1. Cyrus had, by God's designation, a 
great and mighty work to effect. He was utterly to ruin and de- 
stroy the great, ancient, Babylonian monarchy. God had a concern 
herein as to the avenging of the quarrel of his people, and therein 
the accomplishment of many promises and threatenings. The work 
itself was great, arduous, and insuperable to ordinary human abilities. 
Wherefore God "sends his Sphit" to fill Cyrus with wisdom, cou- 
rage, skill in all military affairs, that he might go through with the 
work whereunto, in the providence of God, he was designed. Hence 
is he called " God's anointed," because the unction of kings of old 



104 PECULIAR WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ETC. [BOOK L 

was an instituted sign of the communication of tlie gifts of the Holy 
Ghost for government unto them. See Isa. xlv. 1-4 ; and other in- 
stances of the hke kind might be given. 

Thus, when the church was to have a blessed restoration of the 
worship of God, after the return of the people from their captivity, 
Zerubbabel is, in an especial manner, called to begin and carry on 
this work in the building of the temple. But the difficulties he had 
to conflict withal were great, and appeared insuperable. The people 
were few and poor, and the oppositions made unto them and their 
work great and many, especially what arose from tlje poWer of the 
•Persian monarchy, under whose rule and oppressions "they were; for 
although they had permission and encoud^gemenl from Cyrus for 
their work, yet immediately upon his ^death they •^^f^re oppressed 
again, and their " work caused to cease." This powier they could no 
way conflict withal ; yet God tells them that all this opposition shall 
be removed and conquered. " Who art thou," saith he, " O great 
mountain ? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain," Zech. iv. 7 ; 
— " All the hinderance that arose from that great mountain of the 
Persian empire shall be removed out of the way, and the progress of 
Zerubbabel in his work shall be made smooth, plain, and easy." But 
how shall this be effected and brought about? " Not by an army 
or ' by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of 
hosts,'" verse 6; — "You would suppose that it must be done by armies 
and open force, which you are altogether insufficient for; but this is 
not the way I will take in this matter. My Spirit shall work in 
their hearts, minds, and counsels, that, contrary to your fears, they 
shall themselves further that work which hitherto they have impeded ; 
and he shall work in the minds and counsels of others, to oppose 
them and entangle them where they would hinder it, until they are 
destroyed, and that great mountam be fully removed;"— as in the 
event it came to pass. So that the providential alterations that are 
wrought in the world are effects of his power and efficacy also. 

And thus have we taken a short view of the dispensation and works 
of the Spirit of God in the first creation. But the effect hereof 
being a state of things that quickly passed away, and being of no 
advantage to the church after the entrance of sin, what belonged 
unto it is but sparingly delivered in the Scriptures, the true sense of 
what IS so delivered depending much on the analogy of the following 
works of God in man s renovation and recovery. But as to the ner> 
creation (which falls under our consideration in the next place, as 
that alone which is directly intended by us), the foundation, build- 
ing up, and finishing the church of God therein, being the things 
whereon depends the principal manifestation of the glory of God, 
and wherein the great concerns of all the elect do lie, they are more 



CHAP, v.] WAY AND MANNER OF DIVINE DISPENSATION, ETC. 105 

fully and directly declared in tlie Scripture ; and in reference unto 
them we shall find a full, distinct declaration of the whole dispensa' 
tion and work of the Spirit of God. 



CHAPTER V. 

WAT AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE DISPENSATION OP THE 
HOLY SPIRIT. 

Dispensation of the Spirit to be learned from the Scripture only — General adjuncts 
thereof — The administration of the Spirit and his own application of himself 
to his work, how expressed — The Spirit, how and in what sense given and re- 
ceived — ^What is included in the giving of the Spirit — What in receiving of 
him — Privilege and advantage in receiving the Spirit — How God is said to 
send the Spirit — What is included in sending — How God ministers the Spirit 
—How God is said to put his Spirit on us — What is included in that expres- 
sion — The Spirit, how poured out — Wliat is included and mtended herein — 
The ways of the Spirit's application of himself unto his work — His proceed- 
ing from Father and Son explained — How he cometh unto us — HisfaUing on 
men — His resting — How and in what sense he is said to depart from any per- 
son — Of the distributions of the Holy Ghost, Heb. ii. 4 — Exposition of them 
vindicated. 

Before we treat of the especial operations, works, and effects of the 
Holy Ghost in and on the new creation, the order of things requires 
that we should first speak somewhat of the general nature of God's 
dispensation of him, and of his own application of himself unto his 
actings and workings in this matter; for this is the foundation of all 
that he doth, and this, for our edification, we are instructed in by the 
Scriptures. Unto them in this whole discourse we must diligently 
attend; for we are exercised in such a subject as wherein we have 
no rule, nor guide, nor any thing to give us assistance but pure reve- 
lation. And what I have to offer concerning these things consists 
upon the matter solely in the explication of those places of ScrijDture 
wherein they are revealed. We must, therefore, consider, — I. What 
we are taught on the part of God the Father with respect unto the 
Holy Spirit and his work ; and, II. What relates immediately unto 
himself. 

I. God's disposal of the Spirit unto his work is five ways expressed 
in the Scripture : for he is said, — 1. To give or bestow him ; 2. To send 
him; 3. To minister him; 4. To pour him out; 5. To put him on 
us. And his own application of himself unto his work is likewise 
five ways expressed : for he is said, — 1. To proceed; 2. To come, or 
come upon; 3. To fall on men; 4. To rest; and, 5. To depart These 



106 WAY AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE [rOOTC I. 

tilings, containing tlie general manner of his administration and dis- 
pensation, must be first spoken unto. 

First, He is said to be given of God ; that is, of God the Father, 
who is said to give him in an especial manner: Luke xi. 13, "Your 
heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him;" 
John iii. 34. 1 John iii. 24, " He hath given the Spirit unto us." 
Johnxiv. 16, "The Father shall give you another Comforter;" "which 
is the Holy Ghost," verse 26. And in answer unto this act of God, 
those on whom he is bestowed are said to receive him : John vii. 39, 
" This he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should 
receive." 1 Cor. ii. 12, " We have received the Spirit which is of 
God." 2 Cor. xi. 4, " If ye receive another Spirit, which ye have 
not received;" where the receiving of the Spirit is made a matter 
common unto all believers. So Gal. iii. 2; Acts viii. 15, 19; John 
xiv. 17, XX. 22. For these two, giving and receiving, are related, the 
one supposing the other. And this expression of the dispensation 
of the Holy Ghost is irreconcilable unto the opinion before rejected, 
— namely, that he is nothing but a transient accident, or an occa- 
sional emanation of the power of God ; for how or in what sense can 
an act of the power of God be given by him or be received by us? 
It can, indeed, in no sense be either the object of God's giving or of 
our receiving, especially as this is explained in those other expres- 
sions of the same thing before laid down, and afterward considered. 
It must be somewhat that hath a subsistence of its own that is thus 
given and received. So the Lord Christ is frequently said to be 
given of God and received by us. It is true, we may be said, in an- 
other sense, to "receive the grace of God;" which is the exception 
of the Socinians unto this consideration, and the constant practice 
they use to evade plain testimonies of the Scripture: for if they can 
find any words in them used elsewhere in another sense, they suppose 
it sufficient to contradict their plain design and proper meaning in 
another place. Thus we are exhorted " not to receive the grace of 
God in vain," 2 Cor. vi. 1. I answer. The grace of God may be con- 
sidered two ways:— 1. Objectively, for the revelati-on or doctrine of 
gi-ace; as Tit. ii. 11, 12. So we are said to receive it when we believe 
and profess it, in opposition unto them by whom it is opposed and 
rejected. And this is the same with our receiving the word preached, 
so often mentioned in the Scripture, Acts ii. 41, James i. 21 ; which 
is by faith to give it entertainment in our hearts: which is the mean- 
ing of the word in this place, 2 Cor. vi. 1. Having taken the pro- 
fession of the doctrine of grace, that is, of the gospel, upon us, we 
ought to express its power in holiness and suitable obedience, with- 
out which it will be of no use or benefit unto us. And the grace of 
God is sometimes,— 2. Taken subjectively, for the grace which God 



CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 107 

is pleased to communicate unto us, or gracious qualities that he 
works in our souls by his Spirit. In this sense, also, we are some- 
times said to receive it : 1 Cor. iv. 7, " Who maketh thee to differ 
from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" 
where the apostle speaketh both of the gifts and graces of the Spirit. 
And the reason hereof is, because in the communication of internal 
grace unto us, we contribute nothing to the procurement of it, but 
are merely capable recipient subjects. And this grace is a quality 
or spiritual habit, permanent and abiding in the soul. But in neither 
of these senses can we be said to receive the Spirit of God, nor God 
to give him, if he be only the power of God makiug an impression on 
our minds and spirits, — no more than a man can be said to receive 
the sunbeams, which cause heat in him by their natural efficacy, 
falling on him : much less can the giving and receiving of the Spirit 
be so interpreted, considering what is said of his being sent and his 
own coming, with the like declarations of God's dispensation of him ; 
whereof afterward. 

Now, this giving of the Spirit, as it is the act of him by whom he 
is given, denotes authority, freedom, and bounty; and, on the part of 
them that receive him, privilege and advantage. 

1. Authority. He that gives any thing hath authority to dispose 
of it. None can give but of his own, and that which in some sense 
he hath in his poAver. Now, the Father is said to give the Spirit, 
and that upon our request, as Luke xi. 13. This, I acknowledge, 
wants not some difficulty in its explication ; for if the Holy Ghost be 
God himself, as hath been declared, how can he be said to be given 
by the Father, as it Avere in a way of authority? But keeping our- 
selves to the sacred rule of truth, we may solve this difficulty with- 
out curiosity or danger. Wherefore, — (1.) The order of the subsistence 
of the three persons in the divine nature is regarded herein; for the 
Father, as hath been showed, is the fountain and original of the 
Trinity, the Son being of him, and the Spirit of them both. Hence, 
he is to be considered as the principal author and cause of all those 
works which are immediately wrought by either of them; for of 
whom the Son and Spirit have their essence, as to their personality, 
from him have they life and power of operation, John v. 19, 26. 
Therefore, when the Holy Spirit comes unto any, the Father is said 
to give him, for he is the Spirit of the Father. And this authority of 
the Father doth immediately respect the work itself, and not the 
person working; but the person is said to be given for the work's 
sake. (2.) The economy of the blessed Trinity in the work of our 
redemption and salvation is respected in this order of things. The 
fountain hereof lies in the love, wisdom, grace, and counsel of the 
Father. Whatever is done in the pursuit hereof is originally the 



108 WAY AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE [BOOK L 

gift of the Father, because it is designed unto no other end but to 
make his grace effectual. Hence is he said to send and give his Son 
also. And the whole work of the Holy Ghost, as our sanctifier, 
guide, comforter, and advocate, is to make the love of the Father 
effectual unto us, John xvi. 13, 14.^ As this, out of his own love and 
care, he hath condescended unto, so the fountain of it being in the 
love and purpose of the Father, and that also, or the making them 
effectual, being their end, he is rightly said to be given of him. 
(3.) In the whole communication of the Spirit, respect is had unto 
his effects, or the ends for which he is given. What they are shall 
be afterward declared. Now, the authority of this giving respects 
principally his gifts and graces, which depend on the authority of the " 
Father. 

2. This expression denotes freedom. What is given might be 
withheld. This is the " gift of God " (as he is called, John iv. 10), not 
the purchase of our endeavours, nor the reward of our desert. Some 
men delight to talk of their purchasing grace and glory ; but the 
one and the other are to be " bought without money and without 
price." Even " eternal life" itself, the end of all our obedience, is the 
" gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. vi. 23. The 
Scripture knows of no earnings that men can make of themselves 
but death; for as Austin says, " Quicquid tuum est peccatum est:" 
and the wages of sin is death. To what end or purpose soever the 
Spirit is bestowed upon us, whether it be for the communication of 
grace or the distribution of gifts, or for consolation and refresh- 
ment, it is of the mere gift of God, from his absolute and sovereign 
freedom. 

^ In answer hereunto they are said to receive him, on whom as a 
gift he is bestowed ; as in the testimonies before mentioned. And 
in receiving, two things are implied:— 1. That we contribute nothing 
thereunto which should take off from the thing received as a gift. 
Receiving answers giving, and that implies freedom in the giver. 
2. That it is their privilege and advantage; for what a man receives, 
he doth It for hLs own good. First, then, we have him freely as a 
gift of God; for to receive him in general is to be made partaker of 
him, as unto those ends for which he is given of God. Be those 
ends what they will, in respect of them they are said to receive him 
who are made partakers of him. Two things may be pleaded to 
take off the freedom of this gift and of our reception, and to cast it 
on something necessary and required on our part; for,-(l.) Our 
Saviour tells us "that the world cannot receive him, because it 
seeth him not, neither knoweth him," John xiv. 17. Now, if the 

XV.' de Fidi.^^'^°" ^"' "' '^""^" "' "''"'' *'**'"^'*-- '^'Hy^' S^^ «JTe?<,„«W.-Basil. Hohm 



CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIIilT. 105 

"world" cannot receive him, there is required an ability and prepara- 
tion in them that do so, that are "not of the world;" and so the gift 
and communication of the Spirit depends on that qualification in us. 
But all men are naturally alike the world and of it. No one man 
by nature hath more ability or strength in spiritual things than an- 
other; for all are equally " dead in trespasses and sins," all equally 
" children of wrath." It must, therefore, be inquired how some come 
to have this ability and power to receive the Spirit of God, which 
others have not. Now this, as I shall fully manifest afterward, is 
merely from the Holy Ghost himself and his grace, respect being 
had herein only unto the order of his operations in us, some being 
preparatory for and dispositive unto others, one being instituted as 
the means of obtaining another, the whole being the effect of the 
free gift of God ; for we do not make ourselves to differ from others, 
nor have we any thing that we have not received, 1 Cor. iv. 7. Where- 
fore, the receiving of the Holy Ghost intended in that expression 
of our Saviour, with respect whereunto some are able to receive him, 
some are not, is not absolute, but with respect unto some certain 
work and end ; and this, as is plain in the context, is the receiving 
of him as a comforter and a guide in spiritual truth. Hereunto faith 
in Christ Jesus, which also is an effect and fruit of the same Spirit, 
is antecedently required. In this sense, therefore, believers alone 
can receive him, and are enabled so to do by the grace which they 
have received from him in their first conversion unto God. But, 
(2.) It will be said that we are bound to pray for him before we re- 
ceive him, and therefore the bestowing of him depends on a condi- 
tion to be by -us fulfilled ; for the promise is, that " our heavenly 
Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him," Luke 
xi. 13. But this doth not prove the bestowing and receiving of him 
not to be absolutely free. Nay, it proves the contrary. It is gratia 
indehita, " undeserved grace," that is the proper object of prayer. 
And God, by these encouraging promises, doth not abridge the liberty 
of his own will, nor derogate from the freedom of his gifts and grace, 
but only directs us into the way whereby we may be made partakers 
of them, unto his glory and our own advantage. And this also be- 
longs unto the order of the communication of the grace of the Spirit 
unto us. This very praying for the Spirit is a duty which we cannot 
perform without his assistance ; for " no man can call Jesus Lord, 
but by the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor. xii. 3. He helps us, as a Spirit of 
grace and supplication, to pray for him as a Spirit of joy and con- 
solation. 

8. This is such a gift as in God proceeds from bounty; for God is 
said to give him unto us " richly," Tit. iii. 6. This will be spoken unto 
in the fourth way of his communication : only I say at present, the 



110 WAT AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE [EOOK I. 

greatness of a gift, the free mind of the giver, and want of desert or 
merit in the receiver, are that which declare bounty to be the spring 
and fountain of it; and all these concur to the height in God's 
giving of the Holy Ghost. 

Again; On the part of them who receive this gift, privilege and 
advantage are intimated. They receive a gift, and that from God, 
and that a great and singular gift, from divine bounty. Some, in- 
deed, receive him in a sort, as to some ends and purposes, without any 
advantage finally unto their own souls. So do they who " prophesy" 
and "cast out devils" by his power, in the' name of Christ, and yet, 
continuing " workers of iniquity," are rejected at the last day, Matt. 
viL 22, 23. Thus it is with all who receive his gifts only, without 
Lis grace to sanctify their persons and their gifts; and this whether 
they be ordinary or extraordinary: but this is only by accident. 
There is no gift of the Holy Ghost but is good in its own nature, 
tending to a good end, and is proper for the good and advantage of 
them by whom it is received. And although the direct end of some 
of them be not the spiritual good of them on whom they are bestowed, 
but the edification of others, — for " the manifestation of the Spirit 
is given unto every man to profit withal," 1 Cor. xii. 7, — yet there 
is that excellency and worth in them, and that use may be made of 
them, as to turn greatly to the advantage of them that receive them; 
for although they are not grace, yet they serve to stir up and give 
an edge unto grace, and to draw it out unto exercise, whereby it is 
strengthened and increased. And they have an influence into glory ; 
for it is by the abilities which they give that some are made wise 
and effectual instruments for the " turning of many to righteous- 
ness," who " shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the 
stars for ever and ever," Dan. xii. 3. But the unbelief, ingratitude, 
and lusts of men can spoil these, and any other good things what- 
ever. And these things will afterward in particular fall under our 
consideration. In general, to be made partaker of the Holy Ghost 
is an inestimable privilege and advantage, and as such is proposed 
by our Saviour, John xiv. 17. 

Secondly, God is said to send him : Ps. civ. SO, " Thou sendest 
forth thy Spirit;" John xiv. 26, "The Father will send the Holy 
Ghost in my name." This is also spoken of the Son: " I will send 
wnto you the Comforter from the Father," chap. xv. 26, xvi. 7. And 
in the accomplishment of that promise, it is said he " shed him 
forth," Acts ii. 33; Gal. iv. 6, " God hath sent forth the Spirit of his 
Son into your hearts;" and in other places the same expression is used. 
Now, this, upon the matter, is the same with the former, of giving 
him, arguing the same authority, the same freedom, the same bounty. 
Only, the word naturally includes in its signification a respect unto a 



CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Ill 

local motion. He whicli is sent removetli from the place where he 
was, from whence he is sent, unto a place where he was not, whither 
he was sent. Now, this cannot properly be spoken of the Holy 
Ghost; for he being God by nature is naturally omnipresent, and 
an omnipresence is inconsistent with a local mutation. So the 
Psahnist expressly : Ps, cxxxix, 7, 8, " Whither shall I go from thy 
Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up 
into heaven," etc. There must, therefore, a metaphor be allowed in 
this expression, but such a one as the Scripture, by the frequent use of 
it, hath rendered familiar unto us. Thus God is said to "come out of 
his place," to "bow the heavens and come down ;" to "come down and 
see what is done in the earth," Isa. xxvi. 21 ; Ps. cxliv. 5 ; Gen. xviii. 21. 
That these things are not spoken properly of God, who is immense, all 
men acknowledge. But when God begins to work in any place, in 
any kind, where before he did not do so, he is said to come thither; for 
so must we do, — we must come to a place before we can work in it. 
Thus, the sending of the Holy Ghost includeth two things as added 
unto his beinor oriven : — 1. That he was not before in or with that 
person, or amongst those persons, for that especial work and end 
which he is sent for. He may be in them and with them in one 
respect, and be afterward said to be sent unto them in another. So 
our Lord Jesus Christ promiseth to send the Holy Ghost unto his 
disciples as a comforter, whom they had received before as a sancti- 
fier. " I will," saith he, " send him unto you ; and ye know him, for 
he dwelleth with you," John xiv, 17, xvi. 7. He did so as a sanctifier 
before he came unto them as a comforter. But in every coming 
of his, he is sent for one especial work or another; and this suffi- 
ciently manifests that in his gifts and graces he is not common unto 
all. A supposition thereof would leave no place for this especial act 
of sending him, which is done by choice and distinction of the object. 
Much less is he a light which is always in all men, and which all 
men may be in if they please ; for this neither is nor can be absent 
in any semse from any one at any time. 2. It denotes an especial 
work there or on them, where and on whom there was none before 
of that kind. For this cause is he said to be sent of the Father.^ 
No local motion, then, is intended in this expression, only there is an 
allusion thereunto; for as a creature cannot produce any effects 
where it is not, until it either be sent thither or go thither of its own 
accord, so the Holy Ghost produceth not the blessed effects of his 

• " Etenim si de loco procedit Spiritus et ad locum transit, et ipse Pater in loco inve- 
nietur et Filius: si de loco exit quein Pater mittit aut Filius, utique de loco transiens 
Spiritus et progediens, et Patrem sicut corpus secundum impias interpretationes re- 
linquere videtur et Filium. Hoc secundum eos loquor qui dicunt quod habeat Spiritus 
iescensorium motum. . . . Venit non de loco in locum, sed de dispositione constitutiouis 
in salutem redemptionis." — Ambros. de Spir. Sane. lib. i. cap. 11. 



1 12 WAY AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE [BOOK L 

power and grace but in and towards them unto whom lie is given 
and sent by the Father. How, in answer hereunto, he is said himself 
to come, shall be afterward declared. And it is the person of the 
Spirit which is said to be thus sent; for this belongs unto that holy 
dispensation of the several persons of the Trinity in the work of our 
salvation. And herein the Spirit, in all his operations, is considered 
as sent of the Father, for the reasons before often intimated. 

Thirdly, God is said to minister the Spirit : Gal. iii. 5, " He that 
miuistereth to you the Spirit." 'O ouv Im^opriyuv b/jbTv rh Ilvsu/ia' — 
" He that giveth you continual or abundant supplies of the Spirit." 
Xoprjy's'jj is "to give a sufficiency of any thing;" and ^opriyla and 
X'^pnyw"' are dimensum, " a sufficiency of provision." An addition 
thereunto is iTixopnyia, whereby the communication of the Spirit is 
expressed: Phil. i. 19, " For I know that this shall turn to my salva- 
tion through your prayers," xai s'Triy^opriylag rov Uvsxjfiarog 'lyjffov XpiSrou, 
"and the additional supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." That Spirit 
and its assistance he had before received, but he yet stood in need of 
a daily farther supply. So is the word used constantly for the adding 
of one thing to another, or one degree of the same thing unto another: 
2 Pet. i. 5, 'E'TTi'^opi^y/iffare sv ttj v'ksth Ifiuv rriv aptr-^V — " Add to your 
faith virtue ;" or, " In your faith make an increase of virtue." When, 
therefore, God is thus said to " minister the Spirit," it is his continual 
giving out of additional supplies of his grace by his Spirit which is 
intended ; for the Holy Spirit is a voluntary agent, and distributes 
unto every one as he will. When, therefore, he is given and sent 
unto any, his operations are limited by his own will and the will of 
him that sends him; and therefore do we stand in need of supplies 
of him and from him; which are the principal subject-matter of our 
prayers in this world. 

Fourthly, God is said to put his Spirit in or upon men; and 
this also belongeth unto the manner of his dispensation : Isa, 
xlii. 1, " Behold my servant, whom I uphold; I have put my Spirit 
upon him." The word there, indeed, is ''^nJ ^ — « I have given my 
Spirit upon him;" but because V^y, "upon him," is joined to it, 
it is by ours rendered by "put." As also Ezek. xxxvii. 14, where 
D33, " in you," is added;—" Put my Spirit in you." The same is 
plainly intended with that, Isa. Ixiii. 11, iK'li' n^iTlX innpa Dtrn^ — 
" That put his Holy Spirit in the midst of them." Hence, ''^ri3, « I 
have given," or "I will give," Isa. xlii. 1, is rendered by a;}<ra;, Matt, 
xii. 1 8 : e^jffw rl Unvixa (lou l?r' auTov, — "I will put my Spirit upon him." 
The word IDJ, then, used in this sense, doth not denote the granting 
or donation of any thing, but its actual bestowing, as tm doth. And 
it is the effectual acting of God in this matter that is intended. He 
doth not only give and send his Spirit unto them to whom he de- 



CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION" OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 113 

signs SO great a benefit and privilege, but lie actually collates and 
bestows him upon tliem.^ 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. He 
efficaciously endows their hearts and minds with him, for the work 
and end which he is designed unto. So Exod. xxxi. 6, " I have put 
wisdom," is as much as, " I have filled them with wisdom," verse 2. 
So, then, where God intendeth unto any the benefit of his Spirit, he 
will actually and effectually collate him upon them. He doth not,, 
indeed, always do this in the same manner. Sometimes he doth it 
as it were, by a surprisal, when those who receive him are neither 
aware of it nor do desire it. So the Spirit of the Lord, as a Spirit of 
prophecy, came upon Saul, when his mind was remote and estranged 
from any such thoughts. In like manner, the Spirit of God came 
upon Eldad and Medad in the camp, when the other elders went 
forth unto the tabernacle to receive him. Num. xi. 27. And so the 
Spirit of prophecy came upon most of the prophets of old, without 
either expectation or preparation on their parts. So Amos giveth an 
account of his call unto his office, chap. vii. 14, 15. " I was,"saith 
he, " no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son ; but I was an herd- 
man,- and a gatherer of sycomore fruit : and the LoRD took me as I 
followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me. Go, prophesy." He 
was not brought up with any expectation of receiving this gift, he 
had no preparation for it; but God surprised him with his call and 
gift as he followed the flock. Such, also, was the call of Jeremiah, 
chap. i. 5-7. So vain is the discourse of Maimonides on this subject,, 
prescribing various natural and moral preparations for the receiving 
of this gift. But these things were extraordinary. Yet I no way 
doubt but that God doth yet continue to work grace in many by 
such unexpected surprisals ; the manner whereof shall be afterward 
inquired into. But sometimes, as to some gifts and graces, God doth 
bestow his Spirit where there is some preparation and co-operation, 
on our part; but wherever he designs to put or place him, he doth it 
effectually. 

Fifthly, God is said to pour him out, and that frequently : Prov. 
I 23, 'n^n n^h nv^ns n3n^_" Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto 
you." y?J signifies " ebullire more scaturiginis," — " to bubble up 
as a fountain."^ Hence, the words are rendered by Theodotion,, 

' " Quid igitur Spiritus Sancti operatione divinius, cum etiam benedictionum suarum 
prsesulem Spiritum Deus ipse testetur, dicens, Ponam Spiritum meum super semen tuum, 
et bemdidiones meat super fiUos tuos. Nulla enim potest esse plena benedictio nisi per 
infusionem Spiritus Sancti." — Ambros. de Spir. Sane. lib. i. cap. 7- 

* " Significat autem efiFusionis verbum largam et divitem muneris abundantiam ; ita- 
que cum unus quis alicubi aut duo Spiritum Sanctum accipiant non dicitur, ' ElFundanfc 
VOL. III. 8 



114 "WAT AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE [EOGK L 

'AvaZXltfu l/iTv Tlvsv/id fiov, — " Scaturire faciam," — "I will cause my 
Spirit to spring out unto you as a fountain." And it is frequently 
applied unto speaking, when it signifies " eloqui aut proferre verba 
more scaturigiuis." See Ps. Ixxviii. 2, cxlv. 7. And ^Va, also, which 
some take to be the root of i^V''^^, Prov. i. 23, hath the same sig- 
nification. And the word hath a double lively metaphor: for the 
proceeding of the Spirit from the Father is compared to the con- 
tinual rising of the waters of a living spring; and his communication 
unto us to the overflowing of those waters, yet guided by the will 
and wisdom of God: Isa. xxxii. 15, " Until the Spirit be poured upon 
us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field," — 1^7^ ^"^yiT^^ 
Diitsp nn. n^y [g^ indeed, sometimes "to pour out," but more pro- 
perly and more commonly " to uncover," " to make bare," " to re- 
veal;" — " Until the Spirit be revealed from on high." There shall be 
such a plentiful communication of the Spirit as that he and his 
work shall be made open, revealed, and plain ; or, the Spirit shall be 
bared, as God is said to make his arm bare when he will work 
mightily and effectually, chap. Hi. 10. Chap. xliv. 3, " I will pour 
my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." P^J, 
the word here, is so to pour a thing out as that it cleaveth unto and 
abideth on that which it is poured out upon ; as the Spirit of God 
abides with them unto whom he is communicated. Ezek. xxxix. 29, 
" I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel," — ''^^^'^, an- 
other word : this is properly to pour out, and that in a plentiful man- 
ner, [and is] the same word that is used in that great promise, Joel 
ii. 28, which is rendered, Acts ii. 17, by ix^ew, " effundam," — " I will 
pour out my Spirit;" and the same thing is again expressed by the 
same word, chap. x. 45, " On the Gentiles also was poured out the 
gift of the Holy Ghost," 

Let us, then, briefly consider the importance of this expression. 
And one or two things may be observed concerning it in general; 
as,— 1. Wherever it is used, it hath direct respect unto the times of 
the gosiiel. Either it is a part of the promises concerning it, or of the 
story of their accomplishment under it. But wherever it is mentioned, 
the time, state, and grace of the gospel are intended in it: for the 
Lord Christ was " in all things to have the pre-eminence," Col. i. 18 ; 
and, therefore, although God gave his Spirit in some measure be- 
fore, yet he poured him not out until he was first anointed with 
his fulness. 2. There is a tacit co7nparison in it with some other 
time and season, or some other act of God, wherein or whereby God 
gave his Spirit before, but not in the way and manner that he in- 
tended now to bestow him. A larger measure of the Spirit to be 

de Spiritu meo/ sed tunc quando in universas gentes munus Spiritus Sancti redunda. 
Tent. — Didym. de Spir. Sane. lib. I 



CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 115 

now given tlian was before, or is signified by any other expressions 
of the same gift, is intended in this word. 

Three things are therefore comprised in this expression: — 1. An 
eminent act of divine bounty. Pouring forth is the way whereby 
bounty from an all-sufiScing fulness is expressed ; as " The clouds, 
filled with a moist vapour, pour down rain," Job xxxvi. 27, until " it 
water the ridges of the earth abundantly, settling the furrows there- 
of, and making it soft with showers,'' as Ps. Ixv. 10; which, with the 
things following in that place, verses 11-13, are spoken allegorically 
of this pouring out of the Spirit of God from above. Hence, God is 
said to do this richly: Tit. iii. 6, " The renewing of the Holy Ghost," 
o£ it,i-xiiv i<p' niJ^ag irXoudictig, " which he hath poured on us richly," — 
that is, on all believers who are converted unto God ; — for the apostle 
discourseth not of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, which 
were then given forth in a plentiful manner, but of that grace of the 
Holy Ghost whereby all that believe are regenerated, renewed, and 
converted unto God; for so were men converted of old by a rich 
participation of the Holy Ghost, and so they must be still, whatever 
some pretend, or die in their sins. And by the same word is the 
bounty of God in other things expressed: " The hving God, who 
giveth us richly all things to enjoy," 1 Tim. vi. 17. 2. T\n& pouring 
out hath respect unto the gifts and graces of the Spirit, and not 
unto his person: for where he 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. Wherefore this expression is metony- 
mical, that being spoken of the cause which is proper to the effect; 
the Spirit being said to be poured forth, because his graces are so. 
8. Respect is had herein unto some especial works of the Spirit. 
Such are the purifying or sanctifying, and the comforting or refresh- 
ing [of] them on whom he is poured. With respect unto the first of 
these effects, he is compared both unto fire and water; for both fire 
and water have purifying qualities in them, though towards different 
objects, and working in a different manner. So, by fire are metals 
purified and purged from their dross and mixtures ; and by water are 
all other unclean and defiled things cleansed and purified. Hence, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, in his work by his Spirit, is at once compared 
unto a "refiner's fire" and to "fullers' soap," Mai. iii. 2, 3, because of 
the purging, purifying qualities that are in fire and water. And the 
Holy Ghost is expressly called a " Spirit of burning," Isa. iv. 4 ; for 
by him are the vessels of the house of God that are of gold and silver 
refined and purged, as those that are but of wood and stone are con- 
sumed. And when it is said of our Lord Jesus that he should " bap- 
tize with the Holy Ghost and with fire," Luke iii 16, it is but h bia. 



116 WAT AND MANNEK OF THE DIVINE [BOOK I. 

guo/V, the same tiling doubly expressed ; and, therefore, mention is 
made only of the " Holy Ghost," John i. 33. But the Holy Ghost was, 
in his dispensation, to purify and cleanse them as fire doth gold and 
silver. And on the same account is he compared to water, Ezek. 
xxxvi. 25, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be 
clean;" which is expounded, verse 26, by "A new spirit will I 
put within you;" which God calls his Spirit, verse 27. So our 
Saviour calls him " rivers of water," John vii. 38, 39 : see Isa. xliv. 3. 
And it is with regard unto his purifying, cleansing, and sanctifying 
our natures that he is thus called. With respect, therefore, in an 
especial manner, hereunto is he said to be poured out. So our 
apostle expressly declares. Tit. iii. 4-6. Again, it respects his com- 
forting and refreshing them on whom he is poured. Hence is he 
said to be poured down from above as rain that descends on the 
earth : Isa. xliv. 3, " I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and 
floods upon the dry ground," — that is, " I will pour my Spirit on 
thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring ; and they shall spring 
up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses," verse 4; 
see chap. xxxv. 6, 7. He comes upon the dry, parched, barren 
ground of the hearts of men, with his refreshing, fructifying virtue 
and blessing, causing them to spring and bring forth fruits in holi- 
ness and righteousness to God, Heb. vi. 7. And in respect unto his 
communication of his Spirit is the Lord Christ said to " come down 
like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth," 
Ps. Ixxil 6. The good Lord give us always of these waters and re- 
freshing showers! 

And these are the ways, in general, whereby the dispensation of 
the Spirit from God, for what end or purpose soever it be, is ex- 
pressed. 

II. We come nextly to consider what is ascribed unto the Spirit 
himself in a way of compliance with these acts of God whereby 
he is given and administered. Now, these are such things or ac- 
tions as manifest him to be a voluntary agent, and that not only 
as to what he acts or doth in men, but also as to the manner of his 
coming forth from God, and his application of himself unto his 
work. And these we must consider as they are declared unto us in 
the Scripture. 

The first and most general expression hereof is, that he proceedeth 
from the Father; and being the Spirit of the Son, he proceedeth 
from him also in hke manner: John xv. 26, " The Spirit of truth, 
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." There 
is a twofold ixrropsugig or " procession" of the Holy Ghost. The one 
is ^uff/xjj or uffoffrar/x^, " natural" or " personal." This expresseth his 
eternal relation to the persons of the Father and the Son. He is of 



CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION OF THE HOLT SPIRIT. 117 

them by an eternal emanation or procession} The manner hereof 
unto us, in this life, is incomprehensible; therefore it is rejected by 
some, who will believe no more than they can put their hands into 
the sides of. And yet are they forced, in things under their eyes, to 
admit of many things which they cannot perfectly comprehend ! But 
we live by faith, and not by sight.'' This is enough unto us, that we 
admit nothing in this great mystery but what is revealed. And no- 
thing is revealed unto us that is inconsistent with the being and sub- 
sistence of God ; for this procession or emanation includes no separa- 
tion or division in or of the divine nature, but only expresseth a 
distinction in subsistence, by a property peculiar to the Holy Spirit. 
But this is not that which at present I intend. The consideration of 
it belongeth unto the doctrine of the Trinity in general, and hath 
been handled elsewhere. Secondly, There is an Hiropivcig or " pro- 
cession" of the Spirit, which is oJxovo/xizri or " dispensatory." This is 
the egress of the Spirit in his application of himself unto his work. 
A voluntary act it is of his will, and not a necessary property of his 
person. And he is said thus to proceed from the Father, because he 
goeth forth or proceedeth in the pursuit of the counsels and purposes 
of the Father, and, as sent by him, to put them into execution, or to 
make them effectual. And in like manner he proceedeth from the 
Son, sent by him for the application of his grace unto the souls of 
his elect, John xv. 26. It is true, this proves his eternal relation to 
the Father and the Son, as he proceeds from them, or receives his 
peculiar personal subsistence from them, for that is the ground of 
this order of operation; but it is his own personal voluntary acting 
that is intended in the expression. And this is the general notation 
of the original of the Spirit's acting in all that he doth: — He pro- 
ceedeth or cometh forth from the Father. Had it been only said 
that he was given and sent, it could not have been known that there 
was any thing of his own will in what he did, whereas he is said to 
"divide unto every man as he will;" but in that Ix-rofeusT-a/, he 

1 " Spiritus Sanctus qui a Patre et Filio procedit, nee ipse coepit ; quia processio ejus 
continua est, et ab eo qui non coepit." — Ambros. in Symbol. Apostol., cap. 3. 

" Spiritus quidem Sauctus nee ingenitus est nee genitus alicubi dicitur, ne si ingenitus 
dieeretur sicut Pater, duo Patres in Sancta Trinitate intelligerentur ; aut si genitus 
diceretur sicut Filius, duo itidem Filii in eadcm estimarentur esse Sancta Trinitate : 
sed tantummodo procedere de Patre et Filio salva fide dicendum est. Qui tamen non 
de Patre procedit in Filium, et de Filio pi'ocedit ad sanctificandam ci'caturam, sicut 
quidam male intelligentes credendum esse putabant, sed simul de utroque procedit. 
Quia Pater talem genuit Filium, ut quemadmodum de se, ita et de illo quoque procedat 
Spiritus Sanctus." — Aug. Serm. xxxviii. de Tempore. 

2 Oi yap I'jnila.v 'Ttifi.-xa.v a.xa.rtt.XriVTi)v to &i7(>v ^la touto iron vavrui jjirthoXaii Z,nrt~v 
trip) avrou -TrpoffriKly, dW' iv patrTuvfi tov tou [iiov xccroiyaXiirxiiv ^covov Kara ot to /iirpoT 
TO fiipifi}/ IxatrrM Tapa toZ xvpiiu, Tn; yvMTias Triv l^tToiriv ipiXov'ovuis vroii7ff(ar ori fitf . 
a.Ko.Ta.Xvi'Trrov dxpiSus vi'pni<rf^ivov;- l(p' o'irov Ss ^iupi>v/x,iv S/a t?,; ^sup'ia(, tcturovi ixiiytji 
evvurToiiras. — Justin. Martyr. Expositio Fidei de recta Confess. 



11 8 WAT AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE [BOOK L 

proceedeth of his own accord unto his work, his own will and 
condescension are also asserted. And this his proceeding from the 
Father is in compliance with his sending of him to accomplish and 
make effectual the purposes of his will and the counsels of his 

grace. 

Secondly, To the same purpose he is said to come: John xv. 26, 
« When the Comforter is come." John xvi. 7, " If I go not away, 
the Comforter will not come.'' Verse 8, "And when he is come." So 
is he said to come upon persons. We so express it, 1 Chron. xii. 18, 
" The Spirit came upon Amasai,"— '^^r^^ "^^? Dl"*]. " And the 
Spirit clothed Amasai," possessed his mind as a man's clothes cleave 
unto him. Acts xix. 6, " The Holy Ghost came on them, and they 
prophesied," ^X6s. "Epxo/^ai, " to come," is, as it were, the terminus 
ad quern of Ix-ro^guo/ia/, "going forth" or "proceeding;" for there is in 
these expressions an allusion unto a local motion, whereof these two 
words denote the beginning and the end. The first intend eth his 
voluntary application of himself to his work, the other his progress 
in it; such condescensions doth God make use of in the declaration 
of his divine actings, to accommodate them unto our understandings, 
and to give us some kind of apprehension of them. He proceedeth 
from the Father, as given by him ; and cometh unto us, as sent by 
him. The meaning of both is, that the Holy Ghost, by his own will 
and consent, worketh, in the pursuit of the will of the Father, there 
and that, where and what, he did not work before.^ And as there is 
no local motion to be thought of in these things, so they can in no 
tolerable sense be reconciled to the imagination of his being only the 
inherent virtue or an actual emanation and influence of the power 
of God. And hereby are our faith and obedience regulated in our 
dealing with God about him : for we maj'' both pray the Father that 
he would give and send him unto us, according to his promise; and 
we may pray to him to come unto us to sanctify and comfort us, ac- 
cordhig to the work and office that he hath undertaken. This is 
that which we are taught hereby; for these revelations of God are 
for our instruction in the obedience of faith. 

Thirdly, He is said to fall on men: Acts x. 44, "While Peter yet 
spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the 
word." So chap. xi. 15, where Peter, repeating the same matter, 
says, " The Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning," — 
that is, Acts ii. 4. A greatness and suddenness in a surprisal is in- 
tended in this word; as, when the fire fell down from heaven (which 
was a type of him) upon the altar and sacrifice of Elijah, the people 

• " Nullus sine Deo, neque ullus non in Deo locus est. In coelis est, in inferno est, 
ultra maria est. luest interior, cxcedit exterior. Itaque cum liabet atque habetur, 
neque in aliquo ipse, neque non in omnibus est." — Hilar, lib. L de Trinitat. 



CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 119 

that saw it were amazed, and falling on their faces, cried out, " The 
Lord he is the God ! " 1 Kings xviii. 38, 39. When men are no way 
in expectation of such a gift, or when they have an expectation in 
general, but are suddenly surprised as to the particular season, it is 
thus declared. But wherever this word is used, some extraordinary 
effects evidencing his presence and power do immediately ensue, 
Acts X. 4'l-46; and so it was at the beginning of his effusion under 
the New Testament, chap. ii. 4, viii. 16. 

Fourthly, Being come, he is said to rest on the persons to whom 
he is given and sent : Isa. xi. 2, "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest 
upon him." This is interpreted by "abiding" and "remaining," John 
i. 32, S3. Num. xi. 25, 26, " The Spirit of the Lord rested upon the 
elders." So the " spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha," 2 Kings ii. 15. 
1 Pet. iv. 14, " The Spirit of glory and of God resteth on you." 
Two things are included herein: — 1. Complacency; 2. Permanency. 
First, He is well pleased in his work wherein he rests. So where God 
is said to " rest in his love," he doth it with "joy" and " singing," 
Zeph. iii. 1 7. So doth the Spirit rejoice where he rests. Secondly, He 
abides where he rests. Under this notion is this acting of the Spirit 
promised by our Saviour: "He shall abide with you for ever," John 
xiv. 1 6. He came only on some men by a sudden surprisal, to act in 
them and by them some peculiar work and duty ; to this end he only 
transiently ajBfected their minds with his power; — but where he is said 
to rest, as in the works of sanctification and consolation, there he 
abides and continues with complacency and delight. 

Fifthly, He is said to depart from some persons. So it is said of 
Saul, 1 Sam. xvi. 14, " The Spirit of the Lord departed from him." 
And David prays that God would not " take his Holy Spirit from 
him," Ps. Ii. 11. And this is to be understood answerably unto what 
we have discoursed before about his coming and his being sent. As 
he is said to come, so is he said to depart; and as he is said to be 
sent, so is he said to be taken away. His departure from men, there- 
fore, is his ceasing to work in them and on them as formerly ; and as 
far as this is penal, he is said to be taken away. So he departed 
and was taken away from Saul, when he no more helped him with 
that ability for kingly government which before he had by his assist- 
ance. And this departure of the Holy Ghost from any is either total 
or partial only. Some on whom he hath been bestowed, for the work- 
ing of sundry gifts for the good of others, with manifold convictions, 
by light and general assistance unto the performance of duties, he 
utterly deserts, and gives them up unto themselves and their own 
hearts' lusts. Examples hereof are common in the world. Men who 
have been made partakers of many " gifts of the Holy Ghost," and 
been in an especial manner enlightened, and, under the power of their 



1 20 WAT AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE [BOOK I 

convictions, carried out unto the profession of the gospel and the per- 
formance of many duties of religion, yet, being entangled by tempta- 
tions, and overcome by the power of their lusts, relinquish all their 
beginnings and engagements, and turn wholly unto sin and folly. 
From such persons the Holy Ghost utterly departs, all their gifts dry 
up and wither, their light goeth out, and they have darkness instead 
of a vision. The case of such is deplorable; for " it had been better 
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they 
have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto 
them," 2 Pet. ii. 21. And some of these add despite and contempt 
of that whole work of the Spirit of God, whereof themselves were 
made partakers, unto their apostasy. And the condition of such pro- 
fligate sinners is, for the most part, irrecoverable, Heb. vi. 4-6/ 
X. 26-30. From some he withdraweth and deY>ajcteth partially o^^ly* 
and that mostly but for a season ; and this departure respects the 
grace, light, and consolation which he administers unto believers, as 
to the degrees of them, and the sense of them in their own souls. 
On whom he is bestowed to work these things in a saving way, from 
them he never utterly or totally departs. This our blessed Saviour 
plainly promiseth and asserteth : John iv. ] 4, " 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." That this well of "living water" is his sanctify- 
ing Spirit himself declares, chap. vii. 37-39. He who hath received 
him shall never have a thirst of total want and indigence any more. 
Besides, he is given unto this end by virtue of the covenant of grace ; 
and the promise is express therein that he shall " never depart from 
■ them" to whom he is given, Isa. lix. 21 ; Jer. xxxi. 33, xxxii. 39, 40; 
Ezek. xi. 19, 20. But now, as to the degrees and sensible effects of 
these operations, he may depart and withdraw from believers for a 
season. Hence they may be left unto many spiritual decays and 
much weakness, the things of grace that remain in them being as it 
were "ready to die," Eev iii. 2; and they may apprehend them- 
selves deserted and forsaken of God,— so did Zion, Isa. xl. 27, 
xlix. 14: for therein doth God "hide himself," or "forsake his people 
for a small moment," cliap. liv. 7, 8. He " hideth himself, and is 
wroth," chap. Ivii. 1 7. These are the things which David so often and 
so bitterly complaineth of, and which with so much earnestness he 
contendeth and. wrestleth with God to be delivered from. These are 
those spiritual desertions which some of late have laden with re- 
proach, contempt, and scorn. All the apprehensions and complaints 
of the people of God about them, they would represent as nothing 
but the idle imaginations of distempered brains, or the effects of some 
disorder m their blood and animal spirits. I could, indeed, easily 



CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. ] 2] 

allow that men should despise and laugh at what is declared as the 
experience of professors at present, — their prejudice against their 
persons will not allow them to entertain any thoughts of them but 
what are suited unto folly and hypocrisy ; — but at this I acknowledge 
I stand amazed, that whereas these things are so plainly, so fully, and 
frequently declared in the Scriptures, both as to the actings of God 
and his Holy Spirit in them, and as to the sense of those concerned 
about them ; whereas the whole of God's dealings, and believers' ap- 
j)lication of themselves to him in this matter, are so graphically 
exemplified in sundry of the holy saints of old, as Job, David, Heman, 
and others ; and great and plentiful provision is made in the Scrip- 
ture for the direction, recovery, healing, and consolation of souls in 
such a condition; yet men professing themselves to be Christians, 
and to believe the word of God at least not to be a fable, should dare 
to cast such opprobrious reproaches on the ways and works of God. 
The end of these attempts can be no other but to decry all real in- 
tercourse between God and the souls of men, leaving only an outside 
form or shape of religion, not one jot better than atheism. 

Neither is it only what concerns spiritual desertions, whose nature, 
causes, and remedies, are professedly and at large handled by all 
the casuistical divines, even of the Roman church, but the whole 
work of the Spirit of God upon the hearts of men, with all the effects 
produced in them with respect unto sin and grace, that some men, 
by their odious and scurrilous expressions, endeavour to expose to 
contempt and scorn, S. P.,^ pp. 339-342. Whatever trouble befalls 
the minds of men upon the account of a sense of the guilt of sin; 
■whatever darkness and disconsolatiou they may undergo through the 
displeasure of God, and his withdrawing of the wonted influences of 
his grace, love, and favour towards them ; whatever peace, comfort, or 
joy, they may be made partakers of, by a sense of the love of God 
shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, — it is all ascribed, 
in most opprobrious language, unto melancholy reeks and vapours, 
whereof a certain and mechanical account may be given by them who 
understand the anatomy of the brain. To such a height of profane 
atheism is the daring pride and ignorance of some in our days ar- 
rived! 

There remaineth yet one general adjunct of the dispensation and 
work of the Holy Ghost, which gives a farther description ot the 
manner of it, which I have left unto a single consideration. This is 
that which is mentioned, Heb. ii. 4, "God bearing them witness, both 
with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles," xa/ HvshiMurog ' Ayiov 

• These initials refer to Samuel Parker, in whose " Defence and Continuation of thfi 
Ecclesiastical Polity," 1671, the sentiments to which Owen objects will be found. For 
an account of Parker, see yoL xiii., p. 344 of Owen's works. — Ed. 



122 WAY AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE [BOOK I. 

liipidixoTg, " and gifts," say we, " of the Holy Ghost." But fiepig/j^oi are 
"distributions" or " partitions;" and hence advantage is taken by 
some to argue against his very being. So Crellius contends that the 
Holy Ghost here is taken passively, or that the expression Uvivfiarog 
' Aylou is genitivus materice. Wherefore, he supposes that -it followeth 
that the Holy Ghost himself may be divided into parts, so that one 
may have one part and parcel of him, and another may have another 
part. How inconsistent this is with the truth of his being and per- 
sonality is apparent. But yet neither can he give any tolerable ac- 
count of the division and partition of that power of God which he 
calls the " Holy Ghost," unless he will make the Holy Spirit to be a 
quality in us and not in the divine nature, as Justin Martyr affirms 
Plato to have done, and so to be divided.^ And the interpretation 
he useth of the words is wrested, perverse, and foolish; for the con- 
texture of them requires that the Holy Ghost be here taken actively, 
as the author of the distribution mentioned. He gives out of his 
gifts and powers unto men in many parts, not all to one, not all at 
once, not all in one way; but some to one, some to another, some at 
one time, some at another, and that in great variety. The apostle, 
therefore, in this place declares that the Holy Spirit gave out various 
gifts unto the first preachers of the gospel, for the confirmation of 
their doctrine, according to the promise of our Saviour, John xv. 
26, 27. Of these he mentions in particular, first, 'Sri/MsTa, "signs;" 
that is, miraculous works, wrought to signify the presence of God by 
his power with them that wrought them, so giving out his approba- 
tion of the doctrine which they taught. Secondly, Tspara, " pro- 
digies" or "wonders," works beyond the power of nature or energy 
of natural causes, wrought to fill men with wonder and admiration, 
manifesting rh ^em, and surprising men with a sense of the presence 
of God.^ Thirdly, Avvd/j,iig, " mighty works" of several sorts, such 
as opening of the eyes of the blind, raising the dead, and the like. 
These being mentioned, there is added in general fispis/j^oi UvivfiaTog 
'Aywv, that is, ^S'-ipn nnn niJno "gifts of the Holy Ghost;" for these 
and other like things did the Holy Ghost work and effect to the end 

^ Tavra, oi/j-cu, ffa<pZs -xafa rZy Tpoip^rSv -rtp) roZ ayUv vfn6iJi.ciTos /t.if/.tih>ci>s UXdrtuv 
"f ? ^^"^ "-Jirn; oy.f^tt. fiSTCc^ii^^, (paUl-ra... 'Of^oiu; y^p ^V«^ cl hfo) ■;rp,f^ra, to Sv xa) 
ro avTO -rviv/^a. e;j s^ri -Tyiv/^a.ra. fiiplXi^^cc, (poLo-!,, oSrco k«.) eclros /jlIocv koc) rr,, aurh 

yi^ulm ccpiTnv, To^vr^, iig riff^ccpcc; dfirccs Mpilic^oc, x^yj/.— Justin. Martyr, ad Grcec. 
Coliortat., [cajj. xxxu.] i r r ^ a .; 

A liter statuit Cj'prianus seu quisquis fuit author lib. de Spir. Sane, inter opera 
( ■ypriani. ' Hic est Spiritus Sanctus quem Magi in ^gypto tertii signi ostensione con- 
vio 1, cum sua defecisse prsestigia laterentur, Dei digitum appellabant, et antiquis 
philosophis ejusintimarunt prcesentiam defuisse. Et licet de Patre et Filio aliqua sen- 
Bissent llatonici, Spiritus tamen tumidus et humani appetitor favoris santificationem 
mentis divinae nieren non potuit, et ubi ad profunditatem sacramentorum deventum 
est, oinni.^eoi-umcahgavit subtUitas, uec potuit infideUtas sanctitudini propinquare."— 



CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION OF THE HOLT SPIRIT, 123 

mentioned. And these distributions are from him as the signs and 
wonders were, — that is, effects of his power: only there is added an 
intimation how they are all wrought by him ; which is, by giving them 
a power for their operation, variously dividing them amongst those 
on whom they were bestowed, and that, as it is added, xara ttiv avroZ 
^iXriffiv, " according unto his own will." And this place is so directly 
and fully expounded, 1 Cor. xii. 7-11, that there is no room of excep- 
tion left unto the most obstinate ; and that place having been opened 
before, in the entrance of this discourse, I shall not here call it over 
again. These /xepisfj^o!, therefore, are his gifts; which, as parts and 
parcels of his work, he giveth out in great variety.^ To the same 
purpose are his operations described, Isa. xi, 2, 3, " The Spirit of the 
Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, 
the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the 
fear of the Lord." He is first called " The Spirit of the Lord," to 
express his being and nature; and then he is termed " The Spirit of 
wisdom and of counsel," etc., — that is, he who is the author of wisdom 
and counsel, and the rest of the graces mentioned, who divides and 
distributes them according to his own will. That variety of gifts 
and graces wherewith believers are endowed and adorned are these 
fispis/u,cii, or " distributions," of the Holy Spirit. Hence, the principal 
respect that we have unto him immediately, in our worship of him 
under the New Testament, is as he is the author of these various 
gifts and graces. So John, saluting the churches of Asia, prayeth 
for grace for them from God the Father, and from " the seven Spirits 
which are before his throne," Rev. i. 4 ; that is, from the Holy Spirit of 
God considered in his care of the church and his yielding supplies unto 
it, as the author of that perfection of gifts and graces which are, and 
are to be, bestowed upon it. So doth the number of "seven" denote. 
And, therefore, whereas our Lord Jesus Christ, as the foundation of 
his church, was anointed with all the gifts and graces of the Spirit 
in their perfection, it is said that upon that one stone should be 
" seven eyes," Zech. iii, 9, — all the gifts of the seven Spirits of God, 
or of that Holy Spirit which is the author of them all. 

All, therefore, that is pleaded for the division of the Holy Ghost 
from this place is built on the supposition that we have before re- 
jected, — namely, that he is not a divine person, but an arbitrary 
emanation of divine power. And yet neither so can the division of 
the Holy Ghost pleaded for be with any tolerable sense maintained. 
Crellius says, indeed, "That all divine inspirations may be considered 
as one whole, as many waters make up one sea. In this respect the 
Holy Ghost is one, — that is, one universal made up of many species ;" 

ay'iov ■siiift.a.roi ruv TriffTiu'nTuv. — Origen. Comment, in Mattliasum. 



124 WAT AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE DISPENSATION, ETC. [BOOK L 

This is totum logicum. And so he may be divided into his subordi- 
nate species ! But what ground or colour is there for any such 
notions in the Scripture? Where is it said that all the gifts of the 
Holy Ghost do constitute or make up one Holy Ghost? or the 
Holy Ghost is one in general, because many effects are ascribed unto 
him? or that the several gifts of the Spirit are so many distinct kinds 
of it? The contrary unto all these is expressly taught, — namely, 
that the one Holy Spirit worketh all these things as he pleaseth; so 
that they are all of them external acts of his will and power. And 
it is to as little purpose pleaded by the same author, " That he is 
divided as a natural whole into its parts, because there is mention of 
a measure and portion of him: so God is said not to give him to 
Jesus Christ ' by measure,' John iii. 34; and to every one of us is 
given grace 'according to the measure of the gift of Christ,' Ep. iv. 7;" 
— as though one measure of him were granted unto one, and another 
measure to another! But this " measure" is plainly of his gifts and 
graces. These were bestowed on the Lord Christ in all their fulness, 
without any limitation, either as to kinds or degrees; they were 
poured into him according unto the utmost extent and capacity of 
human nature, and that under an inconceivable advancement by its 
union unto the Son of God. Others receive his gifts and graces in a 
limited proportion, both as to their kinds and degrees. To turn this 
into a division of the Spirit himself is the greatest madness. And 
casting aside prejudices, there is no difficulty in the understanding of 
that saying of God to Moses, Num. xi. 17, "I will take of the Spirit 
which is upon thee, and I will put it upon the elders;" for it is evi- 
dently of the gifts of the Spirit, enabling men for rule and govern- 
ment, that God speaketh, and not of the Spirit himself. Without 
any diminution of that Spirit in him,— that is, of the gifts that he had 
received,— God gave unto them, as lighting their candle by his. And 
so, also, the " double portion of the spirit of Elijah," which Elisha re- 
quested for himself, was only a large and peculiar measure of pro- 
phetical light, above what other prophets which he left behind him 
had received, 2 Kings ii. 9. He asked ^'.\f''^, " os duorum" or 
" duplex ;" rh hinrXoZv /j,spos, or to, htirXa. This expression is first used, 
Deut. xxi. 1 7, where the double portion of the first- born is intended; 
so that probably it was such a portion among the other prophets as 
the first-born had among the brethren of the same family which he 
desired: and so it came to pass; whence, also, he had the rule and 
government of thero. 



CHAP. I.] OPEKATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ETC. 125 

BOOK II. 
CHAPTER I. 

PECULIAR OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UNDER THE OLD 
TESTAMENT PREPARATORY FOR THE NEW. 

The work of the Spirit of God in the new creation ; by some despised — "Works 
under the Old Testament preparatory to the new creation — Distribution of 
the works of the Spirit — The gift of prophecy; the nature, use, and end of 
it — The beginning of prophecy — The Holy Spirit the only author of it — The 
name of a "prophet;" its signification, and his work — Prophecy by inspiration; 
whence so called — Prophets, how acted by the Holy Ghost — The adjuncts of 
prophecy, or distinct ways of its communication — Of articulate voices — 
Dreams — ^Visions — Accidental adjuncts of prophecy — Symbolical actions — 
Local mutations — Whether unsanctified persons might have the gift of pro- 
phecy — The case of Balaam answered — Of wxiting the Scriptures — Three 
things required thereunto — Of miracles — Works of the Spirit of God in the 
improvement of the natural faculties of the minds of men in things political 
—In things moral — In things corporeal — In things intellectual and artificial 
—In preaching of the word. 

Having passed through these general things, which are of a 
necessary previous consideration unto the especial works of the 
Holy Ghost, I now proceed unto that which is the principal subject 
of our present design ; and this is, the dispensation and work of the 
Holy Spirit of God with respect unto the new creation, and the 
recovery of mankind or the church of God thereby. A matter this 
is of the highest importance unto them that sincerely believe, but 
most violently, and of late virulently, opposed by all the enemies of 
the grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The weight and con- 
cernment of the doctrine hereof have in part been spoken unto before. 
I shall at present add no farther considerations to the same purpose, 
but leave all that fear the name of God to make a judgment of it 
by what is revealed concerning it in the Scriptures, and the uses 
whereunto it is in them dii-ected. Many, we know, will not receive 
these things; but whilst we keep ourselves, in the handling of them, 
unto that word whereby one day both we and they must either stand 
or fall, we need not be moved at their ignorance or pride, nor at the 
fruits and effects of them, in reproaches, contempt, and scorn: for 

Now, the works of the Spirit, in reference unto the new creation, 
are of two sorts : — First, Such as were preparatory unto it, under 
the Old Testament; for I reckon that the state of the old creation, as 
■ante our living unto God, ended with the entrance of sin and giving 



126 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIEIT [bOOK IL 

the first promise. "Whatever ensued thereon, in a way of grace, was 
preparatory for and unto the new. Secondly, Such as were actually 
wrought about it under the pew. Those acts and workings of his 
which are common to hoth states of the church, — as is his effectual 
dispensation of sanctifying grace towards the elect of God, — 1 shall 
handle in common under the second head. Under the first, I shall 
only reckon up those that were peculiar unto that state. To make 
way hereunto I shall premise two general positions: — 

1. There is nothing excellent amongst men, whether it be abso- 
lutely extraordinary, and every way above the production of natural 
principles, or whether it consist in an eminent and peculiar imp7^ove- 
tnent of those principles and abilities, but it is ascribed unto the 
Holy Spirit of God, as the immediate operator and efficient cause 
of it. This we shall afterward confirm by instances. Of old he was 
all; now, some would have him nothing. 

2. "Whatever the Holy Spirit wrought in an eminent manner under 
the Old Testament, it had generally and for the most part, if not 
absolutely and always, a respect unto our Lord Jesus Christ and 
the gospel ; and so was preparatory unto the completing of the great 
work of the new creation in and by him. 

And these works of the Holy Spirit may be referred unto the two 
sorts mentioned, namely, — I. Such as were extraordinary, and ex- 
ceeding the whole compass of the abilities of nature, however im- 
proved and advanced ; and, II. Those which consist in the improving 
and exaltation of those abilities, to answer the occasions of life and 
use of the church. Those of the first sort may be reduced unto three 
heads: — 1. Prophecy. 2. Inditing of the Scripture. S. Miracles. 
Those of the other sort we shall find: — 1. In things political, as 
skill for government and rule amongst men. 2. In things moral, 
as fortitude and courage. 3. In things natural, as increase of 
bodily strength. 4. In gifts intellectiLal,—(\) For things sacred, 
as to preach the word of God ; (2.) In things artificial, as in Bezaleel 
and Aholiab. The work of grace on the hearts of men being more 
fully revealed under the New Testament than before, and of the same 
kind and nature in every state of the church since the fall, I shall 
treat of it once for all in its most proper place. 

I. 1. The first eminent gift and work of the Holy Ghost under the 
Old Testament, and which had the most direct and immediate respect 
unto Jesus Christ, was that of prophecy: for the chief and principal 
end hereof in the church was to foresignify him, his sufferings, and 
the glory that should ensue, or to appoint such things to be observed 
in divine worship as might be types and representations of him; for 
the chiefest privilege of the church of old was but to hear tidings of 
the things which we enjoy, Isa. xxxiii. 17. As Moses on the top of 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 127 

Pisgah saw the land of Canaan, and in spirit, the beauties of holi- 
ness to be erected therein, which was his highest attainment ; so the 
best of those saints was to contemplate the King of saints in the land 
that was yet very far from them, or Christ in the flesh. And this 
prospect, which by faith they obtained, was their chiefest joy and 
glory, John viil 56; yet they all ended their days as Moses did, with 
respect unto the type of the gospel state, Deut. iii. 24, 25. So did 
they, Luke x. 23, 24; " God having provided some better thing for 
ws, that they without us should not be made perfect," Heb. xi, 40. 
That this was the principal end of the gift of prophecy Peter declares, 
1 Epist. I 9-12: " Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of 
your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and 
searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come 
unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of 
Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand 
the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto 
whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did 
minister the things, which are now reported unto you." Some of the 
ancients apprehended that some things were spoken obscurely by the 
prophets, and not to be understood without great search, especially 
such as concerned the rejection of the Jews, lest they should have 
been provoked to abolish the Scripture itself;^ but the sum and sub- 
stance of the prophetical work under the Old Testament, with the 
light, design, and ministry of the prophets themselves, are declared 
in those words. The work was, to give testimony unto the truth of 
God in the first promise, concerning the coming of the blessed Seed. 
This was God's method : — First, he gave himself immediately that 
promise which was the foundation of the church, Gen. iii. 15; then 
by revelation unto the prophets he confirmed that promise; after all 
which the Lord Christ was sent to make them all good unto the 
church, Rom. xv. 8. Herewithal they received fresh revelations con- 
cerning his person and his sufferings, with the glory that was to ensue 
thereon, and the grace which was to come thereby unto the church. 
Whilst they were thus employed and acted by the Holy Ghost, or 
the Spirit of Christ, they dihgently endeavoured to come to an ac- 
quaintance with the things themselves, in their nature and efficacy, 
which were revealed unto them;^ yet so as considering that not 

^ 'Srifiliutrri V a; rivec fiiv I'l'pnTcci S/ alviyfidrav, tivo. dl (fiavipiCripov. ta f/,ty ovi oi iXix,- 
pu^ia; hyoZf/.ai tuv Ik ^ipirofiii; 'ivtxa x-ixccXXufifiivui a'T'^o-oc/r^ai, oia ra ^ttr-ril^ofiiva 
Ka.T ahrZv SKvipuxa.. Ai' avip iIko; nv xai atpansai etiirou; ttiv ypeeiphv, ti ix, tou "rpoipx- 
toZ; T«v yx'^'riv ai/Tuv a-jtoZoXni latifiaivn. — Euseb. Demonst. Evangel, lib. vi. Prooem. 

3 " Omnes prophetse ilia tantummodo sciebant quae illis fuissent a Domino revelata. 
Unde et rex Hieremiam dubio interrogat, Si in ea hora qua cum illo loqtiebatur aj>ud 
eum sermo Domini haberetur. Sed et Eliseus dicit, Quomodo hcec Dominus abscondit a 
vie; et Elias praster se esse alios qui Deum colerent ignoravit." — Hieron. Commeot, in 
Epist. ad Roman, cap. IL 



128 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLT SPIRIT [bOOK II. 

themselves, but some succeeding generations, should enjoy them in 
their actual exhibition. And whilst they were intent on these things, 
they searched also, as far as intimation was given thereof by the 
Spirit, after the time wherein all these things should be accomplished ; 
' both when it should be, and what manner of time it should be, or 
what would be the state and condition of the people of God in those 
days. This was the principal end of the gift of prophecy, and this 
the principal work and employment of the prophets: The first pro- 
mise was given by God in the person of the Son, as I have proved 
elsewhere, Gen. iii. 1 5 ; but the whole explication, confirmation, and 
declaration of it, was carried on by the gift of prophecy. 

The communication of this gift began betimes in the world, 
and continued, without any known interruption, in the possession of 
some one or more in tlie church at all times, during its preparatory 
or subservient estate. After the finishing of the canon of the Old 
Testament, it ceased in the Judaical church until it had a revival 
in John the Baptist ; who was therefore greater than any prophet 
that went before, because he made the nearest approach unto and 
the clearest discovery of the Lord Jesus Christ, the end of all pro- 
phecies. Thus God " spake by the mouth of his holy prophets," tuv 
(W aluvos, " which have been since the world began," Luke i. 70. 
Adam himself had many things revealed unto him, without which 
he could not have worshipped God aright in that state and condi- 
tion wherein to he was come ; for although his natural light was 
suflScient to diiect him unto all religious services required by the law 
of creation, yet was it not so unto all duties of that state where- 
into he was brought by the giving of the promise after the entrance 
of sin. So was he guided unto the observance of such ordinances of 
worship as were needful for him and accepted with God,— as were 
sacrifices. The prophecy of Enoch is not only remembered, but called 
over and recorded, Jude 14, 15. And it is a matter neither curious 
nor difldcult to demonstrate, that all the patriarchs of old, before the 
flood, were guided by a prophetical spirit in the imposition of names 
on those children who were to succeed them in the sacred line. 
Concerning Abraham, God expressly saith himself that he was a 
prophet, Gen. xx. 7, — that is, one who used to receive divine reve- 
lations. 

Now, this gift of prophecy was always the immediate effect of the 
operation of the Holy Spirit. So it is both affirmed in general and 
in all the particular instances of it. In the first way, we have the 
illustrious testimony of the apostle Peter: 2 Epist. i. 20, 21, " Know- 
ing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private inter- 
pretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, 
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 1 29 

This is a principle among believers, this they grant and allow in the 
first place, as that which they resolve their faith into, — namely, that 
the " sure word of prophecy," which they in all things take heed unto, 
verse 19, was not a fruit of any men's private conceptions, nor was 
subject to the wills of men, so as to attain it or exercise it by their 
own ability;^ but it was given by "inspiration of God," 2 Tim. 
iii. 16: for the Holy Ghost, by acting, moving, guiding the minds of 
holy men, enabled them thereunto. This was the sole fountain and 
cause of all true divine prophecy that ever was given or granted to 
the use of the church. And, in particular, the coming of the Spirit 
of God upon the prophets, enabling them unto their work, is fre- 
quently mentioned. Micah declares in his own instance hoAV it was 
with them all: Chap. iii. 8, " But truly I am full of power by the 
Spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto 
Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin." It was from the 
Spirit of God alone that he had all his ability for the discharge of 
that prophetical office whereunto he was called. And when God 
would endow seventy elders with a gift of prophecy, he tells Moses 
that he would " take of the Spirit that was upon him," and give 
unto them for that purpose; that is, he would communicate of the 
same Spirit unto them as was in him. And where it is said at any 
time that God spake by the prophets, or that the word of God came 
to them, or God spake to them, it is always intended that this was 
the immediate work of the Holy Ghost. So says David of himself, 
*' The Spirit of the Lord spake by me," or in me, " and his word 
was in my tongue," 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, Hence our apostle, repeating 
his words, ascribes them directly to the Holy Ghost : Heb. iii. 7, 
" Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his 
voice;" and chap. iv. 7, " Saying in David." So the words which are 
ascribed unto the "LoRD of hosts," Isa. vi. 9, 10, are asserted to be 
the words of the Holy Ghost, Acts xxviii. 25-27. He spake to them, 
or in them, by his holy inspirations; and he spake by them in his 
effectual infallible guidance of them, to utter, declare, and write 
what they received from him, without mistake or variation. 

And this prophecy, as to its exercise, is considered two ways: — 
First, precisely for the prediction or foretelling things to come ; as 
the Greek word, and the Latin traduced from thence, do signify. So 
prophecy is a divine prediction of future things, proceeding from di- 

l 07 OS Tau Qiotj av^paToi 'rviufi.iicTa(popoi TvtufiarDs ky'iov, xa,) •rptuptJTcei yivofuvoi v-jr atirev 
Tov QioZ ifiTviVV^ivTis Koi ffoipitrfivTis lyivovra 3£o2iSaxr«(, xai offioi xai oixaioi. — Iheophll, 
ad Autolycum. lib. ii. 

" Prophetce voces itemque virtutes ad fidem divinitatis edebant." — Tertul. Apol. 
cap. xviii. 

OiS' avopoi TovTo voiut, jj aa^av tnot xoa 5-iiov ; v S'So; ccv'i^oi, <pain tis av, touto to yipas*- 
Kai yaj> oh tov fcavTius, to 5;ot(, aXXa to oti fio»oii iWilv. — Plotin. Enuoad. 111. lib. o. 

VOL. III. 9 



130 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [EOOK IL 

vine revelation. But the Hebrew X?3^ — whence are *5''23^ «a pro- 
phet," and ^^'^'^}, " prophecy," — is not confined unto any such signifi- 
cation, ahhough predictions from supernatural revelation are con- 
stantly expressed by it. But in general, secondly, the word signifies no 
more but to speak out, interpret, and declare the mind or words of 
another. So God tells Moses that he would " make him a god unto 
Pharaoh/' — one that should deal with him in the name, stead, and 
power of God ; and " Aaron his brother should be his prophet," 
Exod. vii. 1, — that is, one that should interpret his meaning and de- 
clare his words unto Pharaoh, Moses having complained of the defect 
of his own utterance. So prophets are the " interpreters," the declarers 
of the word, will, mind, or oracles of God unto others. Such a one is 
described. Job xxxiii. 23. Hence, those who expounded the Scripture 
unto the church under the New Testament were called " prophets," 
and their work "prophecy," Rom. xii. 6, 1 Cor. xiv. 31, 32; and under 
the Old Testament those that celebrated the praises of God with 
singing in the temple, according to the institution of David, are said 
therein to "prophesy," 1 Chron. xxv. 2. And this name, ^'^^^, a " pro- 
phet," was of ancient use ; for so God termed Abraham, Gen. xx. 7. 
Afterward, in common use, a prophet was called "^^^l and i^jp, " a 
seer," because of their divine visions (and this was occasioned from 
those words of God concerning Moses, Num. xii. 6-8 ; and this being 
the ordinary way of his revealing himself, — namely, by dreams and 
visions, — prophets in those days, even from the death of Moses, were 
commonly called seers, which continued in use until the days of 
Samuel, 1 Sam. ix. 9); and Q^iV^^'^fr?, "a man of God/'' 1 Sam. 
ii. 27; which name Paul gives to the preachers of the gospel, 1 Tim. 
vL 11, 2 Tim. iil 17. And it is not altogether unworthy of observation 
what Kimchi notes, that the verb ^^33 is most frequently used in the 
passive conjugation niphal, because it denotes a receiving of that from 
God by way of revelation which is spoken unto others in a way of 
prophecy.^ And as it lies before us as an extraordinary gift of the Holy 
Ghost, it is neither to be confined to the strict notion of prediction and 
foretelling, nor to be extended to every true declaration of the mind 
of God, but only to that which is obtained by immediate revelation. 
TWis peculiar gift, therefore, of the Holy Spirit we may a little dis- 
tmctly inquire into ; and two things concerning it may be considered : 
—First, Its general nature; Secondly, The particular ways where- 
by especial revelation was granted unto any. First, For its nature 
in general, it consisted in inspiration.^ So the apostle speaks of the 

' " Sed et hoc notandum ex eo quod dixerat; ut videam quid loquatur, in me ; pro- 
rhetiam vis.onem et eloquium Dei non extrinsecus ad prophetas fieri, sed intrinseci^ et 
intenon homini respondere. Unde et Zacharias, et angelus inquit, qui loquebatur in 
tne. — Hieron. Comment, m Hab. cap. ii -i > -i ■» 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION". 131 

prophecies recorded in the Scripture, 2 Tim. iii. 16: S=oTi/euffr/a, 
divine inspiration, was the original and cause of it. And the actiiio- 
of the Holy Ghost in communicating his mind unto the prophets 
was called " inspiration" on a double account: — First, In answer unto 
his name and nature. The name whereby he is revealed unto us 
signifieth " breath;" and he is called the "breath of God," whereby 
his essential relation to the Father and Son, with his eternal natural 
emanation from them, is expressed. And, therefore, when our Saviour 
gave him unto his disciples, as a proper instructive emblem of what 
he gave, he breathed upon them, John xx. 22. So also in the great 
work of the infusion of the reasonable soul into the body of man, it is 
said, God " breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," Gen. ii. 7. 
From hence, I say, it is, — namely, from the nature and name of the 
Holy Spirit, — that his immediate actings on the minds of men, in 
the supernatural communication of divine revelations unto them, is 
called " inspiration" or inbreathing. And the unclean spirit, counter- 
feiting his actings, did inspire his worshippers with a preternatural 
afflatus, by ways suited unto his own filthy vileness. Secondly, 
This holy work of the Spirit of God, as it is expressed suitably to 
his name and nature, so the meekness, gentleness, facility where- 
with he works is intended hereby. He did, as it were, gently and 
softly breathe into them the knowledge and comprehension of holy 
things. It is an especial and immediate work, wherein he acts suit- 
ably unto his nature as a spirit, the spirit or breath of God, and suit- 
ably unto his peculiar, personal properties of meekness, gentleness, 
and peace. So his acting is inspiration, whereby he came within the 
faculties of the souls of men, acting them with a power that was not 
their own. It is true, when he had thus inspired any with the mind 
of God, they had no rest, nor could have, unless they declared it in 
its proper way and season : Jer. xx. 9, " Then I said, I will not make 
mention ot him, nor speak any more in his name : but his word was 
in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary 
with forbearing, and I could not stay." But this disturbance was from 
a moral sense of their duty, and not from any violent agitations of 
his upon their natures. And whereas sometimes trouble and con- 
sternation of spirit did befall some of the prophets in and under the 
revelations they received from him, it was on a double account: — 
First, Of the dreadful representations of things that were made 
unto them in visions. Things of great dread and terror were repre- 
sented unto their fancies and imaginations. Secondly, Of the great- 
ness and dread of the things themselves revealed, which sometimes 
were terrible and destructive, Dan. vii. 15, 28, viii. 27; Hab. iii. 16; 
Isa. xxi. 2-4, But his inspirations were gentle and placid. 

Secondly, The immediate effects of this inspiration were, that those 



132 OPEIIATIONS OF THE HOLT SPIRIT [bOOK U. 

inspired were moved or acted hy the Holy Ghost: " Holy men of God 
spake," lirh Uyev/Marog ' Ayiov (pipc/j!,ivoi, 2 Pet. i. 21, — "moved" or acted 
" by tiie Holy Ghost." And two things are intended hereby : — First, 
The preparation and elevation of their intellectual faculties, their 
minds and understandings, wherein his revelations were to be re- 
ceived. He prepared them for to receive the impressions he made 
upon them, and confirmed their mefnories to retain them. He did 
not, indeed, so enlighten and raise their minds as to give them a 
distinct understanding and full comprehension of all the things them- 
selves that were declared unto them ; there was more in their in- 
spirations than they could search into the bottom of.^ Hence, 
although the prophets under the Old Testament were made use of 
to communicate the clearest revelations and predictions concerning 
Jesus Christ, yet in the knowledge and understanding of the mean- 
ing of them they were all inferior to John Baptist, as he was in this 
matter to the meanest believer, or " least in the kingdom of heaven." 
Therefore, for their own illumination and edification did they dili- 
gently inquire, by the ordinary means of prayer and meditation, into 
the meaning of the Spirit of God in those prophecies which them- 
selves received by extraordinary revelation, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11. Nor 
did Daniel, who had those express representations and glorious visions 
concerning the monarchies of the world, and the providential altera- 
tions which should be wrought in them, imderstand what and how 
things would be in their accomplishment. That account he doth 
give of himself in the close of his visions, chap. xii. 8, 9. But he so 
raised and prepared their minds as that they might be capable to 
receive and retain those impressions of things which he communi- 
cated unto them. So a man tunes the strings of an instrument, that 
it may in a due manner receive the impressions of his finger, and give 
out the sound he intends. He did not speak in them or by them, 
and leave it unto the use of their natural faculties, their minds, or 
memories, to understand and remember the things spoken by him, 
and so declare them to others; but he himself acted their faculties, 

J And -ivhoroas the ancients contend, against the Ebionites, Marcionites, and Mon- 
tanists, (as Kpiphanius, Advers. fireres. lib. ii. torn. 1; Hjeres. xlviii.; Hieion. I'rooeni. 
Comment, lu Isa.,) that the prophets were not used ecstatically, but understood the 
things that were spoken to them, they did not intend that they had, by virtue of their 
inspiration, a full comprehension of the whole sense of the revelations made unto them, 
but only tliat they were not in or by prophecy deprived of the use of their intellectual 
faculties.as It beleU satanical enthusiasts. r^Zru y^^ kXr>eZ; ^p.f^rZy b «>;^ ^v..>«r,. 

iff^fiiv,,, i;^;«VT«v Tny hr,vo,ccv Ka, rh S/Sao-xaX/av xai r^, "hixXoylocv, as EpiphaniuS speaks. 

\Vherefore, upon these words of Austin, " I'er quosdam scientes, per quosdam uescieutes, 
Id quod ex adventu Chnsti usque nunc et deinceps agitur prsenunciaretur esse venturum," 
de Civitat. Dei, lib. vu. cap. 32, one well adds, " Prophette nee omnes sua vaticinia 
mtelhgebant, ncc qui intelligebant omnia intelligebant : non enim ex se loquebantur sed 
ex supenore Dei afflatu ; cujus consilia non omnia eis erant manifesta ; utebaturque Deu<J 
lUis non velut consultis futurorum, sed instrumcutis quibus homines alloqueretur." 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 133 

making use of them to express his words, not their own conceptions. 
And herein, besides other things, consists the difference between the 
inspiration of the Holy Spirit and those so called of the devil. The 
utmost that Satan can do, is to make strong impressions on the ima- 
ginations of men, or influence their faculties, by possessing, wrest- 
ing, distorting the organs of the body and spirits of the blood. The 
Holy Spirit is in the faculties, and useth them as his organs. And 
this he did, secondly, with that light and evidence of himself, of his 
power, truth, and holiness, as left them liable to no suspicion whether 
their minds were under his conduct and influence or no. Men are 
subject to fall so far under the power of their own imaginations, 
through the prevalency of a corrupt distempered fancy, as to suppose 
them supernatural revelations; and Satan may, and did of old, and 
perhaps doth so still, impose on the minds of some, and communicate 
unto them such a conception of his insinuations, as that they shall 
for a while think them to be from God himself. But in the inspi- 
rations of the Holy Spirit, and his actings of the minds of the holy 
men of old, he gave them infallible assurance that it was himself 
alone by whom they were acted, Jer. xxiii. 28. If any shall ask by 
what nnij^^pia, or infallible tokens, they might know assuredly the in- 
spirations of the Holy Spirit, and be satisfied, with such a persuasion 
as was not liable to mistake, that they were not imposed upon, I 
must say plainly that I cannot tell, for these are things whereof we 
have no experience ; nor is any thing of this nature, whatever some 
falsely and foolishly impute unto them who profess and avow an in- 
terest in the ordinary gracious workings of the Holy Ghost, pretended 
unto. What some phrenetical persons, in their distempers or under 
their delusions, have boasted of, no sober or wise man esteems worthy 
of any sedate consideration. But this I say, it was the design of the 
Holy Ghost to give those whom he did thus extraordinarily inspire 
an assurance, sufficient to bear them out in the discharge of their 
duty, that they were acted by himself alone; for in the pursuit of 
their work, which they were by him called unto, they were to en- 
counter various dangers, and some of them to lay down their lives 
for a testimony unto the truth of the message delivered by them. 
This they could not be engaged into without as full an evidence of 
his acting them as the nature of man in such cases is capable of. 
The case of Abraham fully confirms it. And it is impossible but that 
in those extraordinary workings there was such an impression of 
himself, his holiness, and authority, left on their minds, as did secure 
them from all fear of delusion. Even upon the word, as delivered 
by them unto others, he put those characters of divine truth, holiness, 
and power, as rendered, it d^/cTr/ffrov, " worthy to be believed," and 
not to be rejected without the highest sin by them unto whom it 



134 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK II. 

came. Much more was there such an evidence in it unto them who 
enjoyed its original inspiration. Secondly, He acted and guided 
tliem as to the very organs of their bodies whereby they expressed 
the revelation which they had received by inspiration from him. 
They spake as they were acted by the Holy Ghost. He guided their 
tongues in the declaration of his revelations, as the mind of a man 
guideth his hand in writing to express its conceptions. Hence David, 
having received revelations from him, or being inspired by him, 
affirms, in his expression of them,"that " his tongue was the pen of a 
ready writer," Ps. xlv. 1 ; that is, it was so guided by the Spirit of 
God to express the conceptions received from him. And on this ac- 
count God is said to speak by their mouths: " As he spake by the 
mouth of his holy prophets," Luke i. 70; — all of whom had but one 
mouth on the account of their absolute consent and agreement in the 
same predictions; for this isthe meaningof "one voice" or "one mouth" 
in a multitude, " The Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David," 
Acts i. 1 6, For whatever they received by revelation, they were but 
the pipes through which the waters of it were conveyed, without the 
least mixture with any alloy from their frailties or infirmities. So, 
when David had received the pattern of the temple, and the manner 
of the whole worship of God therein by the Spirit, 1 Chron. xxviii. 1 2, 
he says, " All this the Lord made me understand in writing by his 
hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern,"^ verse li). The 
Spirit of God not only revealed it unto him, but so guided him in 
the writing of it down as that he might understand the mind of God 
out of what himself had written ; or, he gave it him so plainly and 
evidently as if every particular had been expressed in writing by the 
finger of God. 

(L) It remaineth that, as unto this first extraordinary work and gift 
of the Holy Ghost, we consider those especial ways and means which 
he made use of in the communication of his mind unto the prophets, 
with some other accidental adjuncts of prophecy. Some, following 
Maimonides in his " More Nebuchim," have, from the several ways 
of the communication of divine revelations, distinguished the degrees 
of prophecy or of the gifts of it, preferring one above another. This I 
have elsewhere disproved, "Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews," 
chap. i. Neither, indeed, is there, either hence or from any other 
ground, the least occasion to feign those eleven degrees of prophecy 
which he thought he had found out; much less may the spirit or gift 
of prophecy be attained by the ways he prescribes, and with Tatianus 
seems to give countenance unto.'' The distinct outward manners and 

1 " Ncc aer voce pulsatus ad aures eorum perveniebat, sed Deus loquebatur in animo 
proplietannn " — Hieioii. rrooeni., in lib. i. Comment, in Isa. 

2 UnZfitt. Si ToZ ei»? vapa (tSt/v f^h olx. timy, Uapa Vi Tiffi ro7s hxaloi; voXirtv fiUoig 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 1 35 

ways of revelation mentioned in the Scriptures may be reduced unto 
three heads: — 1. Voices; 2. Dreams; S. Visions. And the accidental 
adjuncts of it are two : — 1. Symbolical actions; 2, Local mutations. 
The schoolmen, after Aquinas, xxii. q. 174, a. 1, do commonly re- 
duce the means of revelation unto three heads. For whereas there 
are three ways whereby we come to know any thing, — 1. By our 
external senses; 2. By impressions on the fantasy or imagination; 
3. By pure acts of the understanding : so God by three ways re- 
vealed his will unto the prophets, — 1. By objects of their senses, as 
by audible voices ; 2, By impressions on the imagination in dreams 
and visions ; 3. By illustration or enlightening of their minds. But 
as this last way expresseth divine inspiration, I cannot acknowledge 
it as a distinct way of revelation by itself, for it was that which was 
absolutely necessary to give an infallible assurance of mind in the 
other ways also ; and setting that aside, there is none of them but 
is obnoxious to delusion. 

First, God sometimes made use of an articulate voice, speaking 
out those things which he did intend to declare in words significant 
of them. So he revealed himself or his mind unto Moses, when he 
" spake unto him face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend," 
Exod. xxxiii. 11; Num. xii. 8. And as far as I can observe, the 
whole revelation made unto Moses was by outward, audible, articu- 
late voices, whose sense was impressed on his mind by the Holy 
Spirit; for an external voice without an inward elevation and dispo- 
sition of mind is not sufficient to give security and assurance of truth 
unto him that doth receive it. So God spake to Elijah, 1 Kings 
xix. 12-18, as also to Samuel and Jeremiah, and it may be to all the 
rest of the prophets at their first calling and entrance into their 
ministry; for words formed miraculously by God, and conveyed 
sensibly unto the outward ears of men, carry a great majesty and 
authority with them. This was not the usual way of God's reveal- 
ing his mind, nor is it signified by that phrase of speech, " The word 
of the Lord came unto me;" whereby no more is intended but an 
immediate revelation, by what way or means soever it was granted. 
Mostly this was by that secret effectual impression on their minds 
which we have before described. And these voices were either im- 
mediately created by God himself, as when he spake unto Moses, — 
wherein the eminency of the revelation made unto him principally 
consisted, — or the ministry of angels was used in the formation and 
pronunciation of them. But, as we observed before, the divine 
certainty of their minds to whom they were spoken, with their 
abilities infallibly to declare them unto others, was from an imme- 

xarayofziviDi, Kit) ffUfivXncifiivov rn -^u^n, Si« ■;rf-a.yofiiiffia)i tuTs Xoixoii; "^v^att f xl»(Uftr 
fj-ivot kinyyuXi Tatiau. Assjr. Coutia. Graeoos. 



135 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK IL 

diate internal work of the Spirit of God upon them. Without this 
the prophets might have been imposed on by external audible voices, 
nor wordd they by themselves give their minds an infallible assur- 
ance. 

Secondly, Dreams were made use of under the Old Testament to the 
same purpose, and unto them also I refer all those visions which they 
had in their slee]), though not called dreams;^ and these, in this case, 
were the immediate operation of the Holy Ghost, as to the divine and 
infallible impressions they conveyed to the minds of men. Hence, in 
the promise of the plentiful pouring out of the Spirit, or communication 
of his gifts, mention is made of dreams : Acts ii. 17, "I will pour out 
of my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your daughters shall 
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall 
dream dreams." Not that God intended much to make use of this 
way of dreams and nocturnal visions under the New Testament ; but 
the intention of the words is, to show that there should be a plenti- 
ful effusion of that Spirit which acted by these various ways and 
means then under the Old. Only, as to some particular directions 
God did sometimes continue his intimations by visions in the rest of 
the night. Such a vision had Paul, Acts xvi. 10. But of old this was 
more frequent. So God made a signal revelation unto Abraham, when 
the " deep sleep fell upon him, and horror of great darkness," Gen. xv. 
12-16 ; and Daniel " heard the voice of the words" of him that spake 
unto him " when he was in a deep sleep," Dan. x. 9. But this sleep of 
theirs I look not on as natural, but as that which God sent and cast 
them into, that therein he might represent the image of things unto 
their^ imaginations. So of old he caused a " deep sleep to fall upon 
Adam," Gen. ii. 21. The Jews distinguish between dreams and those 
visions in sleep, as they may be distinctly considered ; but I cast them 
together under one head, of revelation in sleep. And this way of reve- 
lation was so common, that one who pretended to prophesy would cry 
out, 'r\}2bn ^F\tpbn^ " i i^ave dreamed, I have dreamed," Jer. xxiii. 25. 
And by the devil's imitation of God's dealing with his church, this 
became a way of vaticination among the heathen also : Horn. i. 63, 
Kalyup T ovap Jx Aiog lariv, — "A dream is from Jupiter." And when 
the reprobate Jews were deserted as to all divine revelations, they 
pretended unto a singular skill in the interpretation of dreams ; on 
the account of their deceit wherein they were sufficiently infamous. 

• " Qualiacumque voles Judasi somnia vendunt."— [Juv., yi. 546.] 

Thirdly, God revealed himself in and by visions or representations 
of things to the iniuard or outward senses of the prophets. And 

• V' ^""*,.''"\T ™"^*.'' Sf"^'"'' proplietandi, quorum Unum est sommorum quale fuit 
in Uamele. — Hieron. m Hieremian, cap. 23. 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION'. 1S7 

this way was so frequent that it bare the name for a season of all 
prophetical revelations; for so we observed before, that a prophet 
of old tipie was called a " seer," and that because in their receivino- 
of their prophecies they saw visions also. So Isaiah terms his wliole 
glorious prophecy, ^l^ "^^'^ f^^^, " The vision which he saw," chap. 
i. 1 ; partly from the especial representations of things that were made 
unto him, chap. vi. 1-4 ; and partly, it may be, from the evidence of 
the things revealed unto him, which were cleared as fully to his mind 
as if he had had an ocular mspection of them. So, from the matter of 
them, prophecies began in common to be called " The burden of the 
Lord;" for he burdened their consciences with his word, and their 
persons with its execution. But when false prophets began to make, 
frequent use and to serve themselves of this expression, it was forbid- 
den, Jer. xxiii. 33, 36 ; and yet we find that there is mention hereof 
about the same time, it may be, by Habakkuk, chap. i. 1 ; as also after 
the return from the captivity, Zech. ix. 1, Mai. i. 1. Either, there- 
fore, this respected that only season wherein false prophets abounded, 
whom God would thus deprive of their pretence; or, indeed, the 
people, by contempt and scorn, did use that expression as that which 
was familiar unto the prophets in their denunciation of God's judg- 
ments against them, which God here rebukes them for and threatens to 
revenge. But none of the prophets had all their revelations by visions; 
nor doth this concern the communication of the gift of prophecy, but 
its exercise. And their visions are particularly recorded. Such were 
those of Isaiah, chap.vi.; Jeremiah, chap, i.11-16; Ezekiel,chap.i., and 
the like. Now, these visions were of two sorts :^ — 1. Outward repre- 
sentations of things unto the bodily eyes of the prophets; 2. Inward 
representations unto their minds. 1. There were sometimes ajopear- 
ances of persons or things made to their outward senses; and herein 
God made use of the ministry of angels. Thus three men appeared 
unto Abraham, Gen. xviii. 1, 2; one whereof was the Son of God 
himself; the other two, ministering angels; as hath been proved else- 
where. So was the burning bush which Moses saw, Exod. iii. 2; the 
appearances without similitude of any living thing on mount Sinai at 
the giving of the law, Exod. xix. ; the man that Joshua saw at the siege 
of Jericho, chap. v. 13, 14. Such were the seething-pot and almond- 

» " Propheta Deum, qui corporaliter invisibilis est, non corporaliter sed spiritualiter 
videt. Nam multa genera visionis in Scripturis Sanctis inveniuntur. Unum secun- 
dum oculos corporis, sicut vidit Abraham tres viros sub ilice Mambi-e; alteram secun- 
dvmi quod imaginamur ea quiB per corpus sentimus. Nam et pars ipsa nostra cum 
Divinitus assumitur, multa revelantur non per oculos corporis, aut aures, aliumve 
eensum carnalem, sed tamen his similia, sicut vidit Petrus discum ilium submitti a 
coelo cum variis animalibus. Tertium autem genus visionis est secundum mentis in- 
tuitum quo intellectu conspiciuntur Veritas et sapientia; sine quo genere ilia duo quae 
prius posui vel infructuosa sunt vel etiam in errorem mittunt." — August, contra Adam- 
aatum, cap. xiviiL 



138 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK XL 

rod seen by Jeremiah, chap. i. 11, 13, as also his baskets of figs, [chap, 
xxiv. 1-3;] and many more of the like kind might be instanced in. 
In these cases God made representations of things unto their outward 
senses. 2. They were made sometimes only to their minds. So it is 
said expressly that when Peter saw his vision of a sheet knit at the 
four corners, and let down from heaven to earth, he was in a " trance :" 
*E'7rt'7rs(!sv W avTov 'ixttTaeig, Acts x. 10. An " ecstasy seized on him," 
whereby for a season he was deprived of the use of his bodily senses. 
And to this head I refer Daniel's and the apocalyptical visions. Espe- 
cially I do so [refer] all those wherein a representation was made of 
God himself and his glorious throne; such as that of Micaiah, 1 Kings 
.xxii. 19-22; and Isaiah, chap, vi.; and Ezekiel, chap. i. It is evident 
that in all these there was no use of the bodily senses of the prophets, 
but only their minds were affected with the ideas and representation 
of things; but this was so effectual as that they understood not but 
that they also made use of their visive faculty. Hence Peter, when 
he was actually delivered out of prison, thought a good while that 
he had only " seen a vision," Acts xii. 9 ; for he knew how power- 
fully the mind was wont to be affected by them. Now, these visions 
of both sorts were granted unto the prophets to confirm their minds 
in the apprehension of the things communicated unto them for the 
instruction of others ; for hereby they were deeply affected with them, 
whereunto a clear idea and representation of things doth effectually 
tend. But yet two things were required to render these visions 
direct and complete parts of divine revelation: — 1. That the minds 
of the prophets were acted, guided, and raised in a due manner by 
the Holy Spirit for the receiving of them. This gave them their as- 
surance that their visions were from God. 2. His enabhng them 
faithfully to retain, and infallibly to declare, what was so represented 
unto them. For instance, Ezekiel receiveth a vision, by way of re- 
presentation unto his mind of a glorious fabric of a temple, to instruct 
the church in the spiritual glory and beauty of gospel-worship which 
was to be introduced, chap. xli.-xlvi. It seems utterly impos- 
sible for the mind of man to conceive and retain at once all the har- 
monious structure, dimensions, and laws of the fabric represented. 
This was the peculiar work of the Holy Ghost,— namely, to implant 
and preserve the idea presented unto him on his mind, and to enable 
him accurately and infallibly to declare it. So David affirms that 
the Spirit of God made him to understand the pattern of the temple 
built by Solomon, " in writing by his hand upon him." 

(2.) There were some accidental adjuncts of prophecy, which at 
some times accompanied it: — 

First, In the revelation of the will of God to the prophets, they were 
sometimes enjoined symbolical actions. So Isaiah was commanded 



CHAP. I.] PREPAEATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 139 

to " walk naked and bare-foot," chap. xx. 1-3 ; Jeremiah, to dispose 
of a " linen girdle," chap. xiii. 1-5 ; Ezekiel, to " lie in the siege," 
chap. iv. 1-3, and to remove the " stufif of his house," chap, xii. 3, 4 ; 
Hosea, to take " a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms," 
chap. i. 2. I shall be brief in what is frequently spoken unto. Some 
of these things, as Isaiah's going naked, and Hosea's taking a wife 
of whoredoms, contain things in them against the light of nature 
and the express law of God, and of evil example unto others. None 
of these, therefore, can be granted to have been actually done ; only 
these things were represented unto them in visions, to take the deeper 
impression upon them. And what they saw or did in vision they 
speak positively of their so seeing or doing: see Ezek. viii. For 
the other instances, I know nothing but that the things reported 
might be really performed, and not in vision only. And it is plain 
that Ezekiel was commanded to do the things he did in the sight of 
the people, for their more evident conviction, chap. xii. 4-6 ; and on 
the sight whereof they made inquiry what those things belonged 
unto them, chap. xxiv. 19. 

Secondly, Their revelations were accompanied with local mutations, 
or rather being carried and transported from one place unto another. 
So was it with Ezekiel, chap. viii. 3, xi. 24. And it is expressly said 
that it was "in the visions of God." Falling, by divine dispensation, into 
a trance or ecstasy, wherein their outward senses were suspended [in] 
their operation, their minds and understandings were, unto their own 
apprehension, carried in a holy rapture from one place unto another : 
which was effected only by a divine and efficacious representation of 
the things unto them which were done in the places from whence 
they were really absent. 

And these are some of those accidents of prophetical revelations 
which are recorded in the Scripture; and it is possible that some 
other instances of the like nature may be observed. And all these 
belong to the croXur/JOTr/a r^$ ^iixg emXveeus, or manifold variety of 
divine revelations, mentioned Heb. i. 1. 

But here a doubt of no small difficulty nor of less importance pre- 
sents itself unto us, — namely, whether the Holy Ghost did ever 
grant the holy inspirations, and the gift of prophecy thereby, unto 
men wicked and unsanctified ;^ for the apostle Peter tells us that 
"holy men spake of old as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 
2 Pet. i. 21, which seems to intimate that all those who were in- 
spired and moved by him, as to this gift of prophecy, were holy men 
of God.'' And yet, on the other hand, we shall find that true pro- 

J " Prophetse erant Baal, et prophetse confusionis, et alii ofifensionum, et quoscunque 
vitiosos prophetasScriptura commemorat." — Hieron. Comment. in Epist. ad Titum. cap. i. 

^ Z)iTyi(riis Ss £(' TcivTis, it ti; Tpo^riTlvii, Ik •TrvivfjMTOi ayiou TfOipiiTivii ; nru; oi ou '^riT'/i- 
ffiui a^t'o)! iffTiv, i'l'yi iiaSiS ^(Ta Tij* tiri tou Oufiov i/^afTiav tlXa^ovfUiios a,<pa.i(i6y,)ia,i a,r 



1 10 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [bOOK II. 

phecies have been given out by men seeming utterly void of all 
sanctifying grace. And, to increase the difficulty, it is certain that 
great predictions, and those with respect unto Christ himself, have 
been given and made by men guided and acted for the most part by 
the devil. So was it with Balaam, who was a sorcerer that gave 
himself to diabolical enchantments and divinations; and, as such an 
one, was destroyed by God's appointment. Yea, at or about the 
same time wherein he uttered a most glorious prophecy concerning 
the Messiah, the Star of Jacob, being left unto his own spirit and in- 
clination, he gave cursed advice and counsel for the drawing of the 
people of God into destructive and judgment-procuring sins, Num. 
xxxi. 16. And in the whole of his enterprise he thought to have 
satisfied his covetousness with a reward for cursing them by his en- 
chantments. And yet this man not only professeth of himself that 
he "heard the words of God," and "saw the vision of the Almighty," 
Num. xxiv. 4, but did actually foretell and prophesy glorious things 
concerning Christ and his kingdom. Shall we, then, think that the 
Holy Spirit of God will immix his own holy inspirations with the 
wicked suggestions of the devil in a soothsayer? or shall we sup- 
pose that the devil was the author of those predictions, whereas God 
reproacheth false gods, and their prophets acted by them, that they 
could not declare the things that should happen, nor show the 
things that were to come afterward? Isa. xli. 22, 23. So, also, it is 
said of Saul that " the Spirit of the Lord departed from him, and 
an evil spirit terrified him," 1 Sam. xvi. 14; and yet, afterward, that 
the " Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied," chap, 
xix. 23. The old prophet at Bethel who lied unto the prophet that 
came from Judah, and that in the name of the Lord, seducing him 
unto sin and destruction, and probably defiled with the idolatry aid 
false worship of Jeroboam, was yet esteemed a prophet, and did fc j- 
tell what came to pass, 1 Kings xiii. 1 1-29, 

Sundry things may be offered for the solution of this difficulty; 
for,— 1. As to that place of the apostle Peter, (1.) It may not be 
taken universally that all who prophesied at any time were person- 
ally holy, but only that for the most part so they were. (2.) He 
seems to speak particularly of them only who were pienmen of the 

a'tiToZ re Syi'tv ^viZf^a (p„^,. ^To -^nvfia. to Sywv erau f^r, avTetviXri; aV If^od .... OL'rco Tt 
Z»Tr.<rius al,iv iari ri ■;rif'i rou ay'iou -rviufiaros t'l Ima-ra., iTvai La) h ai^afTuXu -^vvTl 

Origen. Coniineiitar. in Joban. torn. 30. ' 

"Proplietiie niysterio usi sunt etiain qui exorbitaverant a vera religiOne, quia et illis 
dcdit l)cus verbuin suum ut mysteria futura pronunciarent hominibus."— Hieron. Com- 
ment, in Job. cap. xxxiii. 

"Nam et prophetare et dasmonia excludere et virtutes magnas in terris facere sub- 
limis utique et admirabilis res est, non tamen regnum cceleste consequitur quisquis m 
his omnibus invcnitur, nisi recti et justi itineris observatione gradiatur."— Cyprian. 
de Uuitat. Ecclesi;fi. 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION". 141 

Scripture, and of those prophecies wliich. remain therein for tlie in- 
struction of the church ; concerning whom I no way doubt but that 
they were all sanctified and holy. (3.) It may be that he under- 
standeth not real inherent holiness, but only a separation and dedi- 
cation unto God by especial office ; which is a thing of another na- 
ture. 2. The gift of prophecy is granted not to be in itself and its 
own nature a sanctifying grace, nor is the inspiration so whereby it 
is wrought ; for whereas it consists in an affecting of the mind with 
a transient irradiation of light in hidden things, it neither did nor 
could of itself produce faith, love, or holiness in the heart. Another 
work of the Holy Ghost was necessary hereunto. 3. There is, there- 
fore, no inconsistency in this matter, that God should grant an im- 
mediate inspiration unto some that were not really sanctified. And 
yet I would not grant this to have been actually done without a just 
limitation; for whereas some were established to be prophets unto 
the church in the whole course of their lives, after their first call 
from God, as Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, and the rest of the 
prophets mentioned in the Scripture, in like manner I no way 
doubt but they were all of them really sanctified by the Holy Spirit 
of God. But others there were who had only some occasional dis- 
coveries of hidden or future things made unto them, or fell into 
some ecstasies or raptures, with a supernatural agitation of their 
minds (as it is twice said of Saul), for a short season. And I see no 
reason why we may not grant, — yea, from Scripture testimonies we 
nmst grant, — that many such persons may be so acted by the Holy 
Spirit of God. So was it with wicked Caiapha£, who is said to " pro- 
phesy," John xi. 51; and a great prophecy indeed it was which his 
words expressed, greater than which there is none in the Scripture. 
But the wretch himself knew nothing of the importance of what was 
uttered by him. A sudden impression of the Spirit of God caused 
him, against his intention, to utter a sacred truth, and that because 
he was high priest ; whose words were of great reputation with the 
people.^ And as Balaam was over-ruled to prophesy and speak 
good of Israel, when he really designed and desired to curse them ; 
so this Caiaphas, designing the destruction of Jesus Christ, brought 
forth those words which expressed the salvation of the world by his 
death. 4 For the difficulty about Balaam himself, who was a sor- 
cerer, and the devil's prophet, I acknowledge it is of importance. 
But sundry things may be offered for the removal of it. Some do 
contend that Balaam was a prophet of God only ; that indeed he 

* Ef ri; fiiv ouv Xifo^rims itrr) vravreoi vpaPnTiiir £/' Ss t;j -rpofnTivit eh rriyrus iffri Tlfo- 

Arims Ex ?£ Tar Tipi Tov Ka/aifav dfa'yi'yptxfiiu.ivav, 'rpolfyinvffcoira mp) rou ffuTn- 

fps, 'ifrtv oTi Kn.) fio^irt^k t^u;^*! tir(S£;^eTa/ trort ri trfit>:pnTivii)i. — Origen. Coanuent. in 
Jolian. sect. 30. 



1 42 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [bOOK II. 

gave himself unto judicial astrology, and the conjecture of future 
events from natural causes, but as to his prophecies, they were all 
divine ; and the light of them, affecting only the speculative part of 
his mind, had no influence upon his will, heart, and affections, which 
were still corrupt. This Tostatus pleadeth for. But as it is ex- 
pressly said that he "sought for enchantments," Num. xxiv. 1, so 
the whole description of his course and end gives him up as a cursed 
sorcerer: and he is expressly called Cipipn^ "the soothsayer," Josh. xiii. 
22; which word though we have once rendered by "prudent," — that 
is, one who prudently conjectureth at future events according unto 
present appearing causes, Isa. iii. 2, — yet it is mostly used for a diaboli- 
cal diviner or soothsayer. And for what he said of himself, that he 
" heard the words of God," and " saw the vision of the Almighty," it 
might be only his own boasting to procure veneration to his diaboli- 
cal incantations. But in reputation we find he was in those days in 
the world ; and supposed he was to utter divine oracles unto men. 
This God in his providence made use of to give out a testimony to 
the nations concerning the coming of the Messiah, the report where- 
of was then almost lost amongst men. In this condition it may be 
granted that the good Spirit of God, without the least reflection on 
the majesty and purity of his own holiness, did over-rule the power 
of the devil, cast out his suggestions from the man's mind, and gave 
such an impression of sacred truths in the room of them as he could 
not but utter and declare : for that instant he did, as it were, take 
the instrument out of the hand of Satan, and, by his impression on 
it, caused it to give a sound according to his mind; which when he 
had done, he left it again unto his possession. And I know not but 
that he might do so sometimes with others among the Gentiles who 
were professedly given up to receive and give out the oracles of the 
devil. So he made the damsel possessed with a spirit of divination 
and soothsaying to acknowledge Paul and his companions to be " ser- 
vants of the most high God," to " show to men the way of salva- 
tion," Acts xvi. 16, 17. And this must be acknowledged by them 
who suppose that the sibyls gave out predictions concerning Jesus 
Christ, seeing the whole strain of their prophetical oracles were ex- 
pressly diabolical. And no conspiracy of men or devils shall cause 
iiira to forego his sovereignty over them, and the using of them to 
his own glory. 5. The case of Saul is plain. The Spirit of the 
Lord who departed from him was the Spirit of wisdom, moderation, 
and courage, to fit him for rule and government,— that is, the gifts of 
the Holy Ghost unto that purpose, which he withdrew from him; 
and the evil spirit that was upon him proceeded no farther but to 
the stirring up vexatious and disquieting affections of mind. And 
notwithstanding this molestation and punishment inflicted on him, 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 143 

the Spirit of God might at a season fall upon him, so as to cast him 
into a rapture or ecstasy, wherein his mind was acted and exercised 
in an extraordinary manner, and himself transported into actions 
that were not at all according unto his own inclinations. So is this 
case well resolved by Augustine.^ And [as] for the old prophet at 
Bethel, 1 Kings xiii. 11-32, although he appears to have been an evil 
man, yet he was one whom God made use of to reveal his mind some- 
times to that people; nor is it probable that he was under satanical 
delusions, like the prophets of Baal, for he is absolutely called a pro- 
phet, and the word of the Lord did really come unto him, verses 
20-22. 

2. The writing of the Scripture was another effect of the Holy 
Ghost, which had its beginning under the Old Testament. I reckon 
this as a distinct gift from prophecy in general, or rather, a distinct 
species or kind of prophecy : for many prophets there were divinely 
inspired who yet never wrote any of their prophecies, nor any thing 
else for the use of the church; and many penmen of the Scripture 
were no prophets, in the strict sense of that name. And the apostle 
tells us that the ypapri, the scripture or writing itself, was by " in- 
spiration of God," 2 Tim. iii. 1 6 ; as David affirms that he had the 
pattern of the temple from the Spirit of God in writing, because of 
his guidance of him in putting its description into writing, 1 Chron. 
xxviii. 19. Now, this ministry was first committed unto Moses, who, 
besides the five books of the Law, probably also wrote the story of 
Job. Many prophets there were before him, but he was the first 
who committed the will of God to writing after God himself, who 
wrote the law in tables of stone ; which was the beginning and pattern 
of the Scriptures. The writers of the historical books of the Old 
Testament before the captivity are unknown. The Jews call them 
D^JIl^'Xl D''K^33, "the first" or "former prophets." Who they were 
in particular is not known; but certain it is that they were of 
the number of those holy men of God who of old wrote and spake 
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Hence are they called " pro- 

1 "ISaul invidise stimulo snscit.atus et malo spiritu sgepe arreptus, cum David occi- 
dcre vellct, et ipse David tunc cum Samuelc et caeterorum prophetarum cuneo prophe- 
taret, misit Raul nuncios et ipsum interficiendum dc medio prophetarum rapere jubet. 
— Sed et ipse cum inter proplietas venerat prophetabat. — Quoniam Spiritus Bancti 
verba non dicentium merito pcnsantur, sed ipsius volurtate ubicunque voluerit profc- 
jTintur. At vero qnidam in hoc loco aestimant quod Saul non Divino Spiritu sed malo 
illo quo ssepe arripiebatur per totum ilium diem prophetaret. . . . Sed qualiter hoc 
eentiri potest cum ita scrilDitur ; et factus est super eum Spiritus Domini et ambu- 
lans prophetabat ? nisi forte sic in hoc loco accipitur Spiritus Domini quomodo et alio 
loco Spiritus Domini malus Saul arripiebat. Verumtamen ubicunque sine additamento 
Spiritus Dei vel Spiritus Domini vel Spiritus Christi in Scripturis Sanctis invenitur, 
Spiritus Sanctus esse a nullo sano sensu dubitatur. Ubicunque vero cum additamento 
Spiritus Domini malus dicitur esse, intelligitur diabolus esse, qui Domini propter 
minist^rium, malus propter vitium dictus videtur." — August, de Mirabil. Scripturse, 
lib. ii. cap. 10. 



1-14 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK II. 

phets;" for although they wrote in an historical manner, as did Moses 
also, concerning things past and gone in their days, or it may be 
presently acted in their own times, yet they did not write them 
either from their own memory nor from tradition, nor from the rolls 
or records of time (although they might be furnished with and 
skilled in these things), but by the inspiration, guidance, and direc- 
tion of the Holy Ghost. Hence are they called " prophets," in such a 
latitude as the word may be used in to signify any that are divinely 
inspired, or receive immediate revelations from God. And thus was 
it with all the penmen of the holy Scripture. As their minds were 
under that full assurance of divine inspiration which we before de- 
scribed, so their words which they wrote were under the especial 
care of the same Spirit, and were of his suggestion or inditing. 

There were, therefore, three things concurring in this work : — First, 
Theinspiration of the mindsof these prophetswith the knowledge and 
apprehension of the things communicated unto them. Secondly, The 
suggestion of words unto them to express what their minds conceiv- 
ed. Thirdly, The guidance of their hands in setting down the words 
suggested, or of their tongues in uttering them unto those by whom 
they were committed to writing, as Baruch wrote the prophecy of 
Jeremiah from his mouth, Jer. xxxvi. 4, 1 8. If either of these were 
wanting, the Scripture could not be absolutely and every way di- 
vine and infallible; for if the penmen of it were left unto them- 
selves in any thing wherein that writing was concerned, who can 
secure us that nihil humani, no human imperfection, mixed itself 
therewithal? I know some think that the matter and substance of 
things only was communicated unto them, but as for the words 
whereby it was to be expressed, that was left unto themselves and their 
own abilities: and this they suppose is evident from that variety 
of style which, according to their various capacities, education, and 
abilities, is found amongst them. " This argues," as they say, " that 
the wording of their revelations was left unto themselves, and was the 
product of their natural abilities." This, in general, I have spoken 
unto elsewhere, and manifested what mistakes sundry have run into 
about the style of the holy penmen of the Scripture. Here I shall 
not take up what hath been argued and evinced in another place. I 
only say that the variety intended ariseth mostly from the variety 
of the subject-matters treated of; nor is it such as will give any coun- 
tenance to the profaneness of this opinion, for the Holy Ghost in his 
work on the minds of men doth not put a force upon them, nor act 
them any otherwise than they are in their own natures, and with 
their present endowments and qualifications, meet to be acted and 
used. He leads and conducts them in such paths as wherein they 
are able to walk. The worda, therefore, which he suggests unto them 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 145 

are such as they are accustomed unto, and he causeth them to make 
use of such expressions as were familiar unto themselves. So he that 
useth diverse seals maketh different impressions, though the guidance 
of them all he equal and the same ; and he that toucheth skilfully- 
several musical instruments, variously tuned, maketh several notes of 
music. We may also grant, and do, that they used their own abilities 
of mind and understanding in the choice of words and expressions: 
so the Preacher " sought to find out acceptable words," Eccles. xii. 10. 
But the Holy Spirit, who is more intimate unto the minds and skill 
of men than they are themselves, did so guide, act, and operate in 
them, as that the words they fixed upon were as directly and certainly 
from him as if they had been spoken to them by an audible voice. 
Hence " that which was written was upright, even words of truth," as 
in that place. This must be so, or they could not speak as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost, nor could their writing be said to be of 
divine inspiration. Hence, ofttimes, in the original, great senses 
and significations depend on a single letter ; as, for instance, in the 
change of the name of Abraham : and our Saviour affirms that every 
apex and iota of the law is under the care of God, as that which was 
given by inspiration from himself. Matt. v. 18. But I have on other 
occasions treated of these things, and shall not, therefore, here enlarge 
upon them.^ 

3. The third sort of the immediate extraordinary operations of 
the Holy Ghost, absolutely exceeding the actings and compliance of 
human faculties, are miracles of all sorts, which were frequent under 
the Old Testament. Such were many things wrought by Moses and 
Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, with some others; those by Moses exceed- 
ing, if the Jews fail not in their computation, all the rest that are 
recorded in the Scripture. Now, these were all the immediate effects 
of the divine power of the Holy Ghost. He is the sole author of all 
real miraculous operations; for by "miracles" we understand such 
effects as are really beyond and above the power of natural causes, how- 
ever applied unto operation. Now, it is said expressly that our Lord 
Jesus Christ wrought miracles (for instance, the casting out of devils 
from persons possessed) by the Holy Ghost ; and if their immediate 
production were by him in the human nature of Jesus Christ, per- 
sonally united unto the Son of God, how much more must it be 
granted that it was he alone by whose power they were wrought in 
those who had no such relation unto the divine nature ! And, therefore, 
where they are said to be wrought by the "hand" or "finger of God," 
it is the person of the Holy Spirit which is precisely intended, as we 

' See his treatises on " The Divine Original of the Scriptures," "Vindication of Greek: 
and Hebrew Texts," and "Exercitationes adversus Fanaticos," vol. xvi. of his worka. 
—En. 

VOL. IIL ^^ 



]46 OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK II. 

have declared before. And the persons by whom they were wrought 
were never the real subjects of the power whereby they were wrought, 
as though it should be inherent and residing in them as a qualit}^ 
Acts iii. 12, 16; only, they were infallibly directed by the Holy 
Ghost by word or action to pre-signify their operation. So was it 
with Joshua when he commanded the sun and moon to stand still, 
chap. X. 12. There was no power in Joshua, no, noti[even] extra- 
ordinarily communicated to him, to have such a real influence upon 
the whole frame of nature as to effect so great an alteration therein : 
only, he had a divine warranty to speak that which God himself 
would effect ; whence it is said that therein " the LoRD hearkened 
unto the voice of a man," verse 1 4. It is a vanity of the greatest mag- 
nitude in some of the Jews, as Maimonides, (" More Nebuch.," p. 2, 
cap. XXXV.,) Levi B. Gerson on the place, and others, who deny any 
fixation of the sun and moon, and judge that it is only the speed of 
Joshua in subduing his enemies before the close of that day which is 
intended. This they contend for, lest Joshua should be thought to 
have wrought a greater miracle than Moses ! But as the prophet 
Habakkuk is express to the contrary, chap. iii. 11, and their own 
Sirachides, cap. xlv., xlvi., so it is no small prevarication in some 
Christians to give countenance imto such a putid fiction. See Grot, in 
loc. It is so in all other miraculous operations, even where the parts 
of the bodies of men were made instrumental of the miracle itself, as 
in the gift of tongues. They who had that gift did not so speak from 
any skill or ability residing in them, but they were merely organs of 
the Holy Ghost, which he moved at his pleasure. Now, the end of 
all these miraculous operations was, to give reputation to the persons, 
and to confirm the ministry of them by whom they were wrought; 
for as at first they were the occasion of wonder and astonishment, so 
upon their consideration they evidenced the respect and regard of 
God unto such persons and their work. So when God sent Moses 
to declare his will in an extraordinary manner unto the people of 
Israel, he commands him to work several miracles or signs before 
them, that they might beheve that he was sent of God, Exod. iv. 8, 9. 
And such works were called signs, because they were tokens and 
pledges of the presence of the Spirit of God with them by whom 
■they were wrought. Nor was this gift ever bestowed on any man 
alone, or for its own sake; but it was always subordinate unto the 
work of revealing or declaring the mind of God. 

And these are the general heads of the extraordinary operations 
of the Holy Spirit of God in works exceeding all human or natural 
abilities, in their whole kind. 

II. The next sort of the operations of the Holy Ghost under the Old 
Testament, whose explanation was designed, is of those whereby he 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 147 

improved, through immediate impressions of his own power, the 
natural faculties and abilities of the minds of men; and these, as 
was intimated, have respect to things political, moral, natural, and 
intellectual, with some of a mixed nature: — 

1. He had in them respect unto things political. Such were his 
gifts whereby he enabled sundry persons unto rule and civil govern- 
ment amongst men. Government, or supreme rule, is of gieat con- 
cernment unto the glory of God in the world, and of the highest 
usefulness unto mankind. Without it the whole world would be 
filled with violence, and become a stage for all wickedness visibly 
and openly to act itself upon in disorder and confusion. And all 
men confess that unto a due management hereof unto its proper 
ends, sundry peculiar gifcs and abilities of mind are required in them 
and needful for them who are called thereunto. These are they 
themselves to endeavour after, and sedulously to improve the mea- 
sures which they have attained of them, — and where this is by any 
neglected, the world and themselves will quickly feed on the fruits 
of that negligence ; — but yet, because the utmost of what men may 
of this kind obtain by their ordinary endeavours, and an ordinary 
blessing thereon, is not sufficient for some especial ends which God 
aimed at in a.nd by their rule and government, the Holy Ghost did 
oftentimes give an especial improvement unto their abilities of mind 
by his own immediate and extraordinary operation; and in some 
cases he manifested the effects of his power herein by some external, 
visible signs of his coming on them in whom he so wrought. So, in 
the first institution of the sanhedrim, or court of seventy elders, to 
bear together with Moses the burden of the people in their rule and 
government, the Lord is said to "put his Spirit upon them ;" and [it is 
said] that " the Spirit rested on them:" Num. xi. 16, 17, " And the 
Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of 
Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers 
over them. And I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will 
put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with 
thee." Verse 25, " And the Lord took of the Spirit that was upon 
Moses, and gave it unto the seventy elders, and the Spirit rested upon 
them." That which these elders were called unto was a share in the 
supreme rule and government of the people, which was before en- 
tirely in the hand of Moses. This the occasion of their call declares, 
verses 11-15. And they were t^^iob'^ "inferior officers" before, such 
as they had in Egypt, who influenced the people by their counsel 
and arbitration, Exod. iii. 16, v. 6, xxiv. 1, 9. Now they had a 
supreme power in judgment committed to them, and were thence 
called Ci''^'^.^, or " gods ;" for these were they " unto whom the 
word of God came," who were thence called gods, John x. 34-36, 



I iS OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK 11. 

Ps. Ixxxii. 6, and not the prophets, who had neither power nor rule. 
And on them the Spirit of God that was in Moses rested ; that is, 
wrouo-ht the same abilities for government in them as he had re- 
ceived, — that is, wisdom, righteousness, diligence, courage, and the 
like, that they might judge the people wisely, and look to the execu- 
tion of the law impartially. Now, when the Spirit of God thus rested 
on them, it is said " They prophesied, and did not cease," Num. xi. 25, 
26; that is, they sang or spake forth the praises of God in such a 
way and manner as made it evident unto all that they were extra- 
ordinarily acted by the Holy Ghost. So is that word used, 1 Sara. 
X. 10, and elsewhere. But this gift and work of prophecy was not 
the especial end for which they were endowed by the Spirit, for they 
were now called, as hath been declared, unto rule and government; 
but because their authority and rule was new among the people, God 
gave that visible sign and pledge of his calling them to their office, 
that they might have a due veneration of their persons, and acquiesce 
in their authority. And hence, from the ambiguity of that word 
iiSD^ N?l^ which we render " And did not cease," — " They prophesied, 
and did not cease," verse 25, — which may signify to " add" as well as 
to "cease," many of the Jews affirm that they so prophesied no more 
but that day only: " They prophesied then, and added not," — that is, 
to do so any more. So when God would erect a kingdom amongst 
them, which was a new kind of government unto them, and designed 
Saul to be the person that should reign, it is said that he " gave him 
another heart," 1 Sam. x. 9, — that is, " the Spirit of God came upon 
him," as it is elsewhere expressed, to endow him with that wisdom 
and magnanimity that might make him meet for kingly rule. And 
because he was new called from a low condition unto royal dignity, 
the communication of the Spirit of God unto him was accompanied 
with a visible sign and token, that the people might acquiesce in his 
government, who were ready to despise his person ; for he had also 
an extraordinary afflatus of the Spirit, expressing itself in a " visible 
rapture," verses 10, 11. And in like manner he dealt with others. 
For this cause, also, he instituted the ceremony of anointing at their 
inauguration ; for it was a token of the communication of the gifts 
of the Holy Ghost unto them, though respect was had therein to 
Jesus Christ, who was to be anointed with all his fulness, of whom 
they were types unto that people. Now, these gifts for government 
are natural and moral abilities of the minds of men; such as are pru- 
dence, righteousness, courage, zeal, clemency, and the like. And 
when the Holy Ghost fell \ipon any persons to enable them for poli- 
tical rule and the administration of the civil power, he did not com- 
municate gifts and abilities unto them quite of another kind, but 
only gave them an extraordinary improvement of their own ordinary 



CHAP. I.] PREPARATORY TO THE NEW CREATION. 149 

abilities. And, indeed, so great is the burden wherewith a just and 
useful government is attended, so great and many are the tempta- 
tions which power and a confluence of earthly things will invite and 
draw towards them, that without some especial assistance of the Holy 
Spirit of God, men cannot choose but either sink under the weight 
of it, or wretchedly miscarry in its exercise and management. This 
made Solomon, when God, in the beginning of his reign, gave him 
his option of all earthly desirable things, to prefer wisdom and know- 
ledge for rule before them all, 2 Chron. i. 7-12; and this he re- 
ceived from him who is the " Spirit of wisdom and understanding," 
Isa. xi. 2. And if the rulers of the earth would follow this example, 
and be earnest with God for such supplies of his Spirit as might en- 
able them unto a holy, righteous discharge of their office, it would, 
in many places, be better with them and the world than it is or can 
be where is the state of things described Hos. vii. 3-5. Now, God 
of old did carry this dispensation out of the pale of the church, for 
the effecting of sOme especial ends of his own ; and I no way question 
but that he continueth still so to do. Thus he anointed Cyrus, and 
calls him his " anointed" accordingly, Isa. xlv. 1 ; for Cyrus had a 
double work to do for God, in both parts whereof he stood in need 
of his especial assistance. He was to execute his judgments and 
vengeance on Babylon, as also to deliver his people, that they might 
re-edify the temple. For both these he stood in need of, and did re- 
ceive, especial aid from the Spirit of God, though he was in himself 
but a "ravenous bird" of prey, chap, xlvi, 11: for the gifts of this 
Holy One in this kind wrought no real holiness in them on whom 
they were bestowed ; they were only given them for the good and 
benefit of others, with their own success in what they attempted 
unto that purpose. Yea, and many on whom they are bestowed never 
consider the author of them, but sacrifice to their own nets and drags, 
and look on themselves as the springs of their own wisdom and 
ability. But it is no wonder that all regard unto the gifts of the 
Holy Ghost in the government of the world is despised, when his 
whole work in and towards the church itself is openly derided. 

2. We may add hereunto those especial endowments with some 
moral virtues, which he granted unto sundry persons for the accom- 
plishment of some especial design. So he came upon Gideon and 
upon Jephthah, to anoint them unto the work of delivering the peo- 
ple from their adversaries in battle, Judges vi. 34, xi. 29. It is said 
before of them both that they were "men of valour," chap. vL 12, 
xi. 1. This coming, therefore, of the Spirit of God upon them, and 
clothing of them, was his especial excitation of their courage, and 
his fortifying of their minds against those dangers they were to con- 
flict withal. And this he did by such an efficacious impression of 



150 OPEKATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [bCOK II. 

Lis power upon them as that both themselves received thereby a 
confirmation of their call, and others might discern the presence of 
God with tliem. Hence it is said that the "Spirit of the Lord 
clothed them/' they being warmed in themselves and known to 
others by his gifts to and actings of them. 

3. There are sundry instances of his adding unto the gifts of the 
7)iind, whereby he qualified persons for their duties, even bodily 
strength, when that also was needful for the work whereunto he 
called them. Such was his gift unto Samson. His bodily strength 
was supernatural, a mere effect of the power of the Spirit of God ; 
and, therefore, when he put it forth in his calling, it is said that 
"the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him," Judges xiv. 6, 
XV. 14, or wrought powerfully in him. And he gave him this 
strength in the way of an ordinance, appointing the growing of his 
hair to be the sign and pledge of it ; the care whereof being violated 
by him, he lost for a season the gift itself. 

4. He also communicated gifts intellectual, to be exercised in and 
about things natural and artificial. So he endowed Bezaleel and 
Aholiab with wisdom and skill in all manner of curious workman- 
ship, about all sorts of things, for the building and beautifying of the 
tabernacle, Exod. xxxi. 2, 3. Whether Bezaleel was a man that had 
before given himself unto the acquisition of those arts and sciences 
is altogether uncertain; but certain it is that his present endow- 
ments were extraordinary. The Spirit of God heightened, and im- 
proved, and strengthened the natural faculties of his mind to a per- 
ception and understanding of all the curious works mentioned in 
that place, and unto a skill how to contrive and dispose of them 
into the order designed by God himself. And, therefore, although 
the skill and wisdom mentioned differed not in the kind of it from 
that which others -attained by industry, yet he received it by an im- 
mediate afilatus or inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as to that degree, 
at least, which he was made partaker of. 

Lastly, The assistance given unto holy men for the publishing 
and preaching of the word of God to others, — as to Noah, who was 
" a preacher of righteousness," 2 Pet. ii. 5, for the conviction of the 
world and conversion of the elect, wherein the Spirit of God strove 
with men. Gen. vi. 3, and preached unto them that were disobedient, 
1 Pet. iii. 19, 20,— might here also be considered, but that the ex- 
planation of his whole work in that particular will occur unto us in 
a more proper place. 

And thus I have briefly passed through the dispensation of the 
Spirit of God under the Old Testament. Nor have I aimed therein 
to gather up his whole work and all his actings, for then everything 
that is praise- worthy in the church must have been inquired into; for 



CHAP, l] preparatory TO THE NEW CREATION. 151 

all without him is death, and darkness, and sin. All life, light, and 
power are from him alone. And the instances of things expressly 
assigned unto him which we have insisted on are sufficient to mani- 
fest that the whole being and welfare of the church depended solely 
on his will and his operations. And this will yet be more evident 
when we have also considered those other effects and operations of 
his, which being common to both states of the church, under the 
Old Testament and the New, are purposely here omitted, because 
the nature of them is more fully cleared in the gospel, wherein also 
their exemplifications are more illustrious. From him, therefore, 
was the word of promise and the gift of prophecy, whereon the 
church was founded and whereby it was built; from him was the 
revelation and institution of all the ordinances of religious worship; 
from him was that communication of gifts and gracious abilities 
which any persons received for the edification, rule, protection, and 
deliverance of the church. All these things were wrought by *'^that 
one and the self-same Spirit, which divideth to every man severally 
as he will.'" And if this were the state of things under the Old Tes- 
tament, a judgment may thence be made how it is under the New. 
The principal advantage of the present state above that which is 
past, next unto the coming of Christ in the flesh, consists in the 
pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples of Christ in a 
larger manner than formerly ; and yet I know not how it is come to 
pass that some men think that neither he nor his work is of any 
great use unto us. And whereas we find everything that is good, 
even under the Old Testament, assigned unto him as the sole imme- 
diate author of it, it is hard to persuade, with many, that he con- 
tinues now to do almost any good at all; and what he is allowed to 
have any hand in, it is sure to be so stated as that the principal 
praise of it may redound unto ourselves. So diverse, yea, so adverse, 
are the thoughts of God and men in these things, where our thoughts 
are not captivated unto the obedience of faith 1 

But we must shut up this discourse. It is a common saying 
among the Jewish masters that the gift of the Holy Ghost ceased 
under the second temple, or after the finishing of it. Their mean- 
ing must be, that it did so as to the gifts of ministerial prophecy, of 
miracles, and of writing the mind of God by inspiration for the use 
of the church. Otherwise there is no truth in their observation ; for 
there were afterward especial revelations of the Holy Ghost granted 
unto many, as unto Simeon and Anna, Liike ii. 25-38; and others 
constantly receive of his gifts and graces, to enable them unto obedi- 
ence, and fit them for their employments; for without a continuance 
of these supplies the church itself must absolutely cease. 



152 DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK H. 



CHAPTER II. 

GENERAL DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH RESPECT UNTO 
THE NEW CREATION. 

The work of the Spirit of God in the new creation proposed to consideration — 
" The importance of the doctrine hereof — The plentiful effusion of the Spirit 
the great promise respecting the times of the New Testament — Ministry of 
the gospel founded on the promise of the Spirit — How this promise is made 
unto all believers — Injunction to all to pray for the Spirit of God — The 
solemn promise of Christ to send his Spirit when he left the world — The ends 
for which he promised him — The work of the new creation the principal 
means of the revelation of God and his glory — How this revelation is made 
in particular herein. 

We are now arrived at that part of our work which was principally 
intended in the whole, and that because our faith and obedience are 
principally therein concerned ; — this is, the dispensation and work of 
the Holy Ghost with respect to the gospel, or the new creation of 
all things in and by Jesus Christ. And this, if any thing in the 
Scripture, is worthy of our most diligent inquiry and meditation; 
nor is there any more important principle and head of that religion 
which we do profess. The doctrine of the being and unity of the 
divine nature is common to us with the rest of mankind, and hath 
been so from the foundation of the world, however some, " like brute 
beasts," have herein also " corrupted themselves." The doctrine of the 
Trinity, or the subsistence of three persons in the one divine nature 
or being, was known to all who enjoyed divine revelation, even under 
the Old Testament, though to us it be manifested with more light 
and convincing evidence. The incarnation of the Son of God was 
promised and expected from the first entrance of sin, and received 
its actual accomplishment in the fulness of time, during the continu- 
ance of the Mosaical pedagogy. But this dispensation of the Holy 
Ghost whereof we now proceed to treat is so peculiar unto the New 
Testament, that the evangelist speaking of it says, " The Holy Ghost 
was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified," John vil 
Sy ; and they who were instructed in the doctrine of John the Baptist 
only, knew not " whether there were any Holy Ghost," Acts xix. 2. 
Both which sayings concerned his dispensation under the New Testa- 
ment ; for his eternal being and existence they were not ignorant of, 
nor did he then first begin to be, as we have fully manifested in our 
foregoing discourses. To stir us up, therefore, unto diligence in this 
inquiry, unto what was in general laid down before I shall add some 
considerations evidencing the greatness and necessity of this duty, 



CHAP. II.] WITH RESPECT UNTO THE NEW CREATION. 153 

and then proceed to the matter itself that we have proposed to 
handle and explain : — 

1. The plentiful effusion of the Spirit is that which was princi- 
pally prophesied of and foretold as the great privilege and pre-emi- 
nence of the gospel church-state; this was that good wine which was 
kept until the last. This all the prophets bear witness unto : see Isa. 
XXXV. 7, xliv. 3; Joel ii. 28; Ezek. xi. 19, xxxvi. 27, with other places 
innumerable. The great promise of the Old Testament was that 
concerning the coming of Christ in the flesh. But he was so to come 
as to put an end unto that whole church-state wherein his coming 
was expected. To prove this was the principal design of the apostle 
in his Epistle to the Hebrews. But this promise of the Spirit, whose 
accomplishment was reserved for the times of the gospel, was to be 
the foundation of another church-state, and the means of its con- 
tinuance. If, therefore, we have any interest in the gospel itself, or 
desire to have ; if we have either part or lot in this matter, or desire 
to be made partakers of the benefits which attend thereon, — which 
are no less than our acceptation with God here and our salvation 
hereafter, — it is our duty to search the Scriptures, and inquire dili- 
gently into these things. And let no man deceive us with vain 
words, as though the things spoken concerning the Spirit of God 
and his work towards them that do believe were fanatical and unin- 
telligible by rational men; for because of this contempt of him, the 
wrath of God will come on the children of disobedience. And if the 
" world in wisdom," and their reason, " know him not," nor can " re- 
ceive him," yet they who believe do know him; for "he dwelleth with 
them, and shall be in them," John xiv. 1 7. And the present practice 
of the world, in despising and slighting the Spirit of God and his 
work, gives light and evidence into those words of our Saviour, 
that " the world cannot receive him;" and it cannot do so, because 
it " neither seeth him nor knoweth him," or hath no experience of 
his work in them, or of his power and grace. Accordingly [so] doth it, 
[so] is it come to pass. Wherefore, not to avow the Spirit of God in 
his work, is to be ashamed of the gospel and of the promise of Christ, 
as if it were a thing not to be owned in the world. 

2. The ministry of the gospel, whereby we are begotten again, that 
we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures unto God, is from 
his promised presence with it and work in it, called the ministry of 
the Spirit, even of the Spirit that giveth life, 2 Cor. iii. 8; and it 
is so in opposition to the " ministration of the law," wherein yet 
there were a multitude of ordinances ot worship and glorious cere- 
monies. And he who knows no more of the ministry of the gospel 
but what consists in an attendance unto the letter of institutions 
and the manner of their performance knows nothing of it. Nor yet 



154) DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [bOOK IL 

is there any extraordinary afSatus or inspiration now intended or 
attended unto, as we are slanderously reported, and as some afBrm 
that we pretend; but there is that presence of the Spirit of God 
with the ministry of the gospel, in his authority, assistance, commu- 
nication of gifts and abilities, guidance, and direction, as without 
which it will be useless and unprofitable in and unto all that take 
the work thereof upon them. This will be more fully declared after- 
ward; for, — 

S. The promise and gift of the Spirit under the gospel is not 
made nor granted unto a,ny peculiar sort of persons only, but unto all 
believers, as their conditions and occasions do require. They are not, 
therefore, the especial interest of a few, but the common concern of 
all Christians. The Papists grant that this promise is continued ; 
but they would confine it to their pope or their councils, things no- 
where mentioned in the Scripture, nor the object of any one gospel 
promise whatever. It is all believers in their places and stations, 
churches in their order, and ministers in their office, unto whom the 
promise of him is made, and towards whom it is accomplished, as 
shall be shown. Others, also, grant the continuance of this gift, but 
understand no more by it but an ordinary blessing upon men's 
rational endeavours, common and exposed unto all alike. This is 
no less than to overthrow his whole work, to take his sovereignty out 
of his hand, and to deprive the church of all especial interest in the 
promise of Christ concerning him. In this inquiry, therefore, we 
look after what at present belongs unto ourselves, if so be we are dis- 
ciples of Christ, and do expect the fulfilling of his promises; for 
whatever men may pretend, unto this day, " if they have not the 
Spirit of Christ, they are none of his," Rom. viii. 9 : for our Lord 
Jesus Christ hath promised him as a comforter, to abide with his 
disciples for ever, John xiv. 16, and by him it is that he is present 
with them and among them to the end of the world. Matt, xxviii. 20, 
xviii. 20 ; — that we speak not as yet of his sanctifying work, whereby 
we are enabled to believe, and are made partakers of that holiness 
without which no man shall see God. Wherefore, without him all 
• religion is but a body without a soul, a carcase without an animating 
spirit. It is true, in the continuation of his work he ceaseth from 
putting forth those extraordinary effects of his power which were 
needful for the laying the foundation of the church in the world; 
but the whole work of his grace, according to the promise of the 
covenant, is no less truly and really carried on at this day, in and 
towards all the elect of God, than it was on the day of Pentecost and 
onwards; and so is his communication of gifts necessary for the edi- 
fication of the church, Eph. iv. 11-13. The owning, therefore, and 
avowmg the work of the Holy Ghost in the hearts and on the minds 



CHAP. II.] WITH RESPECT UNTO THE NEW CREATION. 155 

of men, according to the tenor of the covenant of . grace, is the prin- 
cipal part of that profession which at this day all believers are called 
unto. 

4. We are taught in an especial manner to pray that God would 
rnve his Holy Spirit unto us, that through his aid and assistance 
we may live unto God in that holy obedience which he requires at 
our hands, Luke xi. 9-13. Our Saviour, enjoining an importunity 
in our supplications, verses 9, 10, and giving us encouragement that 
we shall succeed in our requests, verses 11, 12, makes the subject- 
matter of them to be the Holy Spirit: '•' Your heavenly Father shall 
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him," verse 13; which in the 
other evangelist is "good things," Matt. vii. 11, because he is the 
author of them all in us and to us, nor doth God bestow any good 
thing on us but by his Spirit, Hence, the promise of bestowing the 
Spirit is accompanied with a prescription of duty unto us, that we 
should ask him or pray for him; which is included in every promise 
where his sending, giving, or bestowing is mentioned. He, therefore, 
is the great subject-matter of all our prayers. And that signal pro- 
mise of our blessed Saviour, to send him as a comforter, to abide with 
us for ever, is a directory for the prayers of the church in all gene- 
rations. Nor is there any church in the world fallen under such a 
total degeneracy but that, in their public offices, there are testimo- 
nies of their ancient faith and practice, in praying for the coming of 
the Spirit unto them, according to this promise of Christ. And 
therefore our apostle, in all his most solemn pra3'ers for the churches 
in his days, makes this the chief petition of them, that God would 
give unto them, and increase in them, the gifts and graces of the 
Holy Spirit, with the Spirit himself, for sundry especial effects and 
operations whereof they stood in need, Eph. i. 17, iii. 16; Col. ii. 2. 
And this is a full conviction of what importance the consideration of 
the Spirit of God and his work is unto us. We must deal in this 
matter with that confidence which the truth instructs us unto, and 
therefore say, that he who prayeth not constantly and diligently 
for the Spirit of God, that he may be made partaker of him for the 
ends for which he is promised, is a stranger from Christ and his gos- 
pel. This we are to attend unto, as that whereon our eternal hap- 
piness doth depend. God knows our state and condition, and we 
may better learn our wants from his prescription of what we ought 
to pray for than from our sense and experience; for we are in the 
dark unto our own spiritual concerns, througli the power of our cor- 
ruptions and temptations, and " know not what we should pray for 
as we ought," Rom. viii. 26. But our heavenly Father knows per- 
fectly what we stand in need of; and, therefore, whatever be our 
present apprehensions concerning ourselves, which are to be examined 



156 DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK II. 

by the word, our prayers are to be regulated by what God hath en- 
joined us to ask and what he hath promised to bestow. 

5. What was before mentioned may here be called over again and 
farther improved, yea, it is necessary that so it should be. This is, the 
solemn promise of Jesus Christ when he was [about] to leave this 
world by death, [John xiv. 15-1 7.] And whereas he therein made and 
confirmed his testament, Heb. ix. 15-17, he bequeathed his Spiiit 
as his great legacy unto his disciples ; and this he gave unto them as 
the great pledge of their future inheritance, 2 Cor. i. 22, which they 
were to live upon in this world. All other good things he hath, in- 
deed, bequeathed unto believers, as he speaks of peace with God 
in particular: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you/' 
John xiv. 27. But he gives particular graces and mercies for par- 
ticular ends and purposes. The Holy Spirit he bequeaths to supply 
his own absence, John xvl 13; that is, for all the ends of spiritual 
and eternal life. Let us, therefore, consider this gift of the Spirit 
either formally, under this notion that he was the principal legacy 
left unto the church by our dying Saviour, or materially, as to the 
ends and purposes for which he is so bequeathed, and it will be evident 
what valuation we ought to have of him and his work. How would 
some rejoice if they could possess any relic of any thing that be- 
longed unto our Saviour in the days of his flesh, though of no use or 
benefit unto them ! Yea, how great a part of men called Christians 
do boast in some pretended parcels of the tree whereon he suffered ! 
Love abused by superstition lies at the bottom of this vanity ; for 
they would embrace any thing left them by their dying Saviour. But 
he left them no such things, nor did ever bless and sanctify them 
unto any holy or sacred ends; and therefore hath the abuse of them 
been punished with blindness and idolatry. But this [gift of the 
Spirit] is openly testified unto in the gospel. Then when his heart was 
overflowing with love unto his disciples and care for them, when he 
took a holy prospect of what would be their condition, their work, 
duty, and temptations in the world, and thereon made provision of 
all that they could stand in need of, he promiseth to leave and give 
unto them his Holy Spirit to abide with them for ever, directing us 
to look unto him for all our comforts and supplies. According, there- 
fore, unto our valuation and esteem of him, to our satisfaction and 
acquiescency in him, is our regard to the love, care, and wisdom of 
our blessed Saviour to be measured. And, indeed, it is only in his 
word and Spirit wherein we can either honour or despise him in this 
world ; in his own person he is exalted at the right hand of God, 
far above all principalities and powers, so that nothing of ours can 
immediately reach him or affect him. But it is in our regard to 
these that he makes a trial of our faith, love, and obedience? And 



CHAP. II.] WITH RESPECT UNTO THE NEW CREATION. 157 

it is a matter of lamentation to consider the contempt and scorn that, 
on various pretences, is cast upon this Holy Spirit, and the work where- 
unto he is sent by God the Father and by Jesus Christ ; for there 
is included therein a contempt of them also. Nor will a pretence of 
honouring God in their own -way secure such persons as shall con- 
tract the guilt of this abomination ; for it is an idol, — and not the God 
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, — who doth not work effectually 
in the elect by the Holy Ghost, according to the Scriptures. And 
if we consider this promise of the Spirit to be given unto us, as to the 
ends of it, then, — 

6. He is promised and given as the sole cause and author of all 
the good that in this world we are or can be made partakers of ;^ 
for, (1.) there is no good communicated unto us from God, but it is 
bestowed on us or wrought in us by the Holy Ghost. No gift, no 
grace, no mercy, no privilege, no consolation, do we receive, possess, 
or use, but it is wrought in us, collated on us, or manifested unto us, 
by him alone. Nor, (2.) is there any good in us towards God, any 
faith, love, duty, obedience, but what is effectually wrought in us by 
him, by him alone ; for " in us, that is, in our flesh" (and by nature 
we are but flesh), " there dwelleth no good thing." All these things 
are from him and by him, as shall, God assisting, be made to appear 
by instances of all sorts in our ensuing discourse. And these con- 
siderations I thought meet to premise unto our entrance into that 
work which now lieth before us. 

(1.) The great work whereby God designed to glorify himself ulti- 
mately in this world was that of the new creation, or of the recovery 
and restoration of all things by Jesus Christ, Heb. i. 1-3; Eph. i. 10. 
And as this is in general confessed by all Christians, so I have else- 
where insisted on the demonstration of it. (2.) That which God 
ordereth and designeth as the principal means for the manifestation of 
his glory must contain the most perfect and absolute revelation and 
declaration of himself, his nature, his being, his existence, and excel- 
lencies; for from their discovery and manifestation, with the duties 
which as known they require from rational creatures, doth the glory 
of God arise, and no otherwise. (3.) This, therefore, was to be done 
in this great work ; and it was done accordingly. Hence is the Lord 
Christ, in his work of mediation, said to be " The image of the in- 
visible God," Col. i. 15 ; " The brightness of his glory, and the express 
image of his person," Heb. i. 3; in whose face the knowledge of 
the glory of God shineth forth unto us, 2 Cor. iv. 6 ; — because in 
and by him, in his work of the new creation, all the glorious pro- 
perties of the nature of God are manifested and displayed incompa- 

> " Gratias ago tibi clementissime Deus, quia quod qusesivi mane prior ipse donasti." — 
Cypr. de Baptism. Christi. 



153 DToPENSATION OF THE HOLY SriFJT, ETC. [bOOK II. 

rahly above what they were in the creation of all things in the be- 
jvinning. I say, therefore, in the contrivance, projection, production, 
carrying on, disposal, and accomplishment of this great work, God 
hath made the most eminent and glorious discovery of himself unto 
angels and men, Eph. iii. 8-10, 1 Pet. i. 10-12; that we may know, 
love, trust, honour, and obey him in all things as God, and accord- 
ino- to his will. (4.) In particular, in this new creation he hath re- 
vealed himself in an especial manner as three in one. There was no 
one more glorious mystery brought to light in and by Jesus Christ 
than that of the holy Trinity, or the subsistence of the three persons 
in the unity of the same divine nature. And this was done not so 
much in express propositions or verbal testimonies unto that pur- 
pose, — which yet is done also, as by the declaration of the mutual, 
divine, internal acts of the persons towards one another, and the 
distinct, immediate, divine, external actings of each person in the 
work which they did and do perform, — for God revealeth not himself 
unto us merely doctrinally and dogmatically, but by the declaration 
of what he doth for us, in us, and towards us, in the accomplishment of 
" the counsel of his own will;" see Eph. i. 4-12. And this revelation 
is made unto us, not that our minds might be possessed with the no- 
tions of it, but that we may know aright how to place our trust in 
him, how to obey him and live unto him, how to obtain and exer- 
cise communion with him, until we come to the enjoyment of him. 

We may make application of these things unto, and exemplify 
them yet farther in, the work under consideration. Three things in 
general are in it proposed unto our faith: — 1. The supreme purpose, 
design, contrivance, and disposal of it. 2. The purchasing and pro- 
curing cause and means of the effects of that design, with its accom- 
plishment in itself Sind with respect unto God. 3. The application 
of the supreme design and actual accomplishment of it, to make it 
effectual unto us. 

The first of these is absolutely in the Scripture assigned unto the 
Father, and that uniformly and everywhere. His will, his counsel, 
his love, his grace, his authority, his purpose, his design, are con- 
stantly proposed as the foundation of the whole work, as those which 
were to be pursued, effected, accomplished: see Isa. xlii. 1-4; Ps. 
xl. 6-8; John iii. 16; Isa. hii. 10-12; Eph. i. 4-12, and other places 
innumerable. And on this account, because the Son undertook to 
eifect whatever the Father had so designed and purposed, there were 
many acts of the will of the Father towards the Son,— [as] in sending, 
giving, appointing of him; in preparing him a body; in comforting 
and supporting him; in rewarding and giving a people unto him,— 
which belong unto the Father, on the account of the authority, love, 
9Jjd wisdom, that were in them, their actual operation belonging par- 



CHAP. III.] ■WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ETC lo9 

ticularly unto another person. And in these things is the person of the 
Father in the divine being proposed uuto us to be known and adored. 
Secondly, The Son condescendeth, consenteth, and engageth to do 
and accomphsh in his own person the whole work which, in the 
authority, counsel, and wisdom of the Father, was appointed for him, 
Phil. ii. 5-8. And in these divine operations is the person of the 
Son revealed unto us to be "honoured even as we honour the Father." 
Thirdly, The Holy Ghost doth immediately work and effect what- 
ever was to be done in reference unto the person of the Son or the 
sons of men, for the perfecting and accomplishment of the Father's 
counsel and the Son's work, in an especial application of both unto 
their especial effects and ends. Hereby is he made known unto us, 
and hereby our faith concerning him and in him is directed. 

And thus, in this great work of the new creation by Jesus Christ, 
doth God cause all his glory to pass before us, that we may both 
know him and worship him in a due manner. And what is the pe- 
cidiar work of the Holy Ghost herein we shall now declare. 



CHAPTER III. 

WORK OF THE HOLT SPIRIT WITH RESPECT UNTO THE HEAD OF THE 
NEW CREATION — THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 

The especial works of the Holy Spirit in the new creation — His work on the 
human nature of Christ — How this work could be, considering the union of 
the human nature unto and in the person of the Son of God — Assumption 
of the human nature into union, the only act of the person of the Son towards 
it — Personal union the only necessary consequent of this a-sumption — All 
other actings of the person of the Son in and on the human nature voluntary 
— The Holy Spirit the immediate efficient cause of all divine operations — Pie 
is the Spirit of the Son or of the Father — How all the works of the Trinity 
are undivided — The body of Christ formed in the womb by the Holy Ghost, 
but of the substance of the blessed Virgin ; why this was necessary — Christ 
not hence the Son of the Holy Ghost according to the human nature — Dif- 
ference between the assumption of the human nature by the Son and the 
creation of it by the Holy Ghost — The conception of Christ, how ascribed to 
the Holy Ghost, and how to the blessed Virgin — Reasons of the espousal of the 
blessed Virgin to Joseph before the conception of Christ — The actual purity 
and holiness of the soul and body of Christ from his miraculous conception. 

The dispensation and work of the Holy Ghost in this new crea- 
tion respect, first. The Head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, in 
his human nature, as it was to be, and was, united unto the person 
of the Son of God. Secondly, It concerns the members of that 
mystical body in all that belongs unto them as such. And under 
these two beads we shall consider them. 



K'O WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH RESPECT [BOOK TI. 

First, therefore, we are to inquire what are the operations of the 
Holy Ghost in reference unto Jesus Christ, the Head of the church. 
And these were of two sorts: — I. Such as whereof the person of 
Christ in his human nature was the immediate object. II. Such as 
he performs towards others on his behalf; that is, with direct respect 
unto his person and office. 

I. But yet, before we enter upon the first sort of his works which 
we shall begin withal, an objection of seeming weight and difficulty 
must be removed out of our way ; which I shall the rather do be- 
cause our answer unto it will make the whole matter treated of the 
more plain and familiar unto us. It may, therefore, be, and it is 
objected, " That whereas the human nature of Christ is assigned as 
the immediate object of these operations of the Holy Ghost, and that 
nature was immediately, inseparably, and undividedly united unto 
the person of the Son of God, there doth not seem to be any need, 
nor indeed room, for any such operations of the Spirit; for could 
not the Son of God himself, in his own person, perform all things 
requisite both for the forming, supporting, sanctifying, and preserv- 
ing of his own nature, without the especial assistance of the Holy 
Ghost ? nor is it easy to be understood how an immediate work of 
the Holy Ghost should- be interposed, in the same person, between 
the one nature and the other." And this seeming difficulty is vehe- 
mently pressed by the Socinians, who think to entangle our whole 
doctrine of the blessed Trinity and incarnation of the Son of God 
thereby. But express testimonies of Scripture, with the clear and 
evident analogy of faith, will carry us easily and safely through this 
seeming difficulty. To which end we may observe, that, — 

1. The only singular immediate act of the person of the Son on 
the human nature was the assumption of it into subsistence with 
himself. Herein the Father and the Spirit had no interest nor con- 
currence, E/ f/^ri xar iudoxiav xai (SouXrisiv, " but by approbation and 
consent," as Damascen speals: for the Father did not assume the 
human nature, he was not incarnate; neither did the Holy Spirit do 
so; but this was the peculiar act and work of the Son. See John 
i. 14; Rom. I 3; Gal. iv. 4; Phil. ii. 6, 7; Heb. ii. 14, 16; which 
places, with many others to the same purpose, I have elsewhere ex- 
pounded, and vindicated from the exceptions of the Socinians. 

2. That the only necessary consequent of this assumption of the 
human nature, or the incarnation of the Son of God, is the personal 
union of Christ, or the inseparable subsistence of the assumed na- 
ture in the person of the Son. This was necessary and indissoluble, 
so that it was not impeached nor shaken in the least by the tem- 
porary dissolution of that nature by the separation of the soul and 
body: for the union of the soul and body in Christ did not consti- 



CnAr. III.] UNTO THE HEAD OF THE NEW CREATION. 161 

tiite him a person, that the dissolution of them should destroy his 
personality ; but he was a person by the uniting of both unto the 
Son of God. 

S. That aU other actings of God in the person of the Son towards 
the human nature were voluntary, and did not necessarily ensue on 
the union mentioned ; for there was no transfusion of the properties 
of one nature into the other, nor real physical communication of di- 
vine essential excellencies unto the humanity. Those who seem to 
contend for any such thing resolve all at last into a true assignation 
by way of predication, as necessary on the union mentioned, but con- 
tend not for a real transfusion of the properties of one nature into 
the other. But these communications were voluntary. Hence were 
those temporary dispensations, when, under his great trial, the humaa 
nature complained of its desertion and dereliction by the divine, Matt.- 
xxviL 46 ; for this forsaking was not as to personal union, or necessary 
subsistence and supportment, but as to voluntary communications 
of light and consolation. Hence himself declares that the human 
nature was not the residential subject of omnisciency ; for so he speaks, 
Mark xiii. 32, " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, 
not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." 
For the exposition given by some of the ancients, that the Lord 
Christ speaks not this absolutely, but only " that he knew it not to 
declare it unto them," is unworthy of him; for no more did the 
Father so know it, seeing he hath not declared it. But this was 
the opinion only of some of them ; the more advised were otherwise 
minded. He^ speaks of himself with respect unto his human nature 
only, and thereunto all communications were voluntary. So after 
his ascension, God gave him that revelation that he made to the 
apostle. Rev. i. 1. The human nature, therefore, however inconceiv- 
ably advanced, is not the subject of infinite, essentially divine pro- 
perties ; and the actings of the Son of God towards it, consequential 
unto its assumption, and that indissoluble subsistence in its union 
which ensued thereon, are voluntary. 

4. The Holy Ghost, as we have proved before, is the immediate, 
peculiar, efficient cause of all external divine operations: for God 
worketh by his Spirit, or in him immediately applies the power and 

^ A>)Xov fiTT/v oVi xa) Triv rov vrtcuro; tiXov; ucav, a; ftlv Xoyoj yiveoirxti, us «£ avlfwros 
iyyotT. 'Av^fu-rav ykf i'3/ov to aytoilv, xai fidXirTit Tavra. ' AXXa xai thuto t»j (fiXay- 
6 ai'ff'itt.i 'thtov Tov ffUTrtpo;. 'Et£/S») yap yiyoyiv ccvSpwro;, ovk \-7rwx,^wra Oia, T»v accjixtt, tjik- 
dyvoouirat il^riTv, ohx oTSa. "Iva Ss/|>) art I't^ii; u; Seof, ayvou ffapxixus. — AtnanaS. Urat. IV. 
ad Arian. 

'Ayvou Toiyvv xara to (iy(rift,a, rtjs dv^pwriTnros, o yitunrxut tco irayra xara rmv ovvafii*- 
TTii Biornros. — ChrysoSt. torn. yii. serm. 117. 

nxhv Iffrict, on o'l TaXXe) tuv -raripuv, <r;^£S«v Se vravrif, (palvatrai Xiyavrts uvreo^ aymtiv^ 
E( yap Kara 'jea.inra Xiyirai rifiTu ofiocvirias, dytooZfiiv 3s xa) ri/itis, S?Xo» on xai avTOS tiy»»*t*- 
— Leontius Byzantinus, de Sectis. 

VOL. HI. ^1 



1 02 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH RESPECT [BOOK II. 

efficacy of the divine excellencies unto tlieir operation; whence the 
same work is equally the work of each person. 

5. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, no less than the Spirit 
of the Father. He proceedeth from the Son, as from the Father. 
He is the " Spirit of the Son/' Gal. iv. 6. And hence is he the im- 
mediate operator of all divine acts of the Son himself, even on his 
own human nature. Whatever the Son of God wrought in, by, or 
upon the human nature, he did it by the Holy Ghost, who is his 
Spirit, as he is the Spirit of the Father. 

6. To clear the whole matter, it must be yet farther observed that 
the immediate actings of the Holy Ghost are not spoken of him ab- 
solutely, nor ascribed unto him exclusively, as unto the other persons 
and their concurrence in them. It is a saying generally admitted, 
that Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa. There is no such 
division in the external operations of God that any one of them 
should be the act of one person, without the concurrence of the 
others; and the reason of it is, because the nature of God, which is 
the principle of all divine operations, is one and the same, undivided 
in them all. Whereas, therefore, they are the effects of divine power, 
and that power is essentially the same in each person, the works 
themselves belong equally unto them : as, if it were possible that three 
men might see by the same eye, the act of seeing would be but one, 
and it would be equally the act of all three. But the things we in- 
sist on are ascribed eminently unto the Holy Ghost, on the account 
of the order of his subsistence in the holy Trinity, as he is the Spirit 
of the Father and the Son; whence, in every divine act, the authority 
of the Father, the love and wisdom of the Son, with the immediate 
efficacy and power of the Holy Ghost, are to be considered. Yea, 
and there is such a distinction in their operations, that one divine act 
may produce a peculiar respect and relation unto one person, and not 
unto another ; as the assumption of the human nature did to the Son, 
for he only was incarnate. 

And such are the especial actings of the Holy Ghost towards the 
head of the church, our Lord Jesus Christ, in this work of the new 
creation, as we shall demonstrate in sundry instances: — 

First, The framing, forming, and miraculous conception of the 
body of Christ in the womb of the blessed Virgin was the peculiar 
and especial work of the Holy Ghost.' This work, I acknowledge, in 

» " Maximum in tot9, creatura testimonium de divinitate Spiritus Sancti corpus 
Domini est; quod ex Spiritu Sancto esse creditur secundum evangelistam, Matt, i., 
Eicut angolus ad Josephum dicit, Quod in ea natum est de Spiritu Sancto est."— Atha- 
nas. de Fid. Un. et Trin. 

" Creatrix virtus altissimi, superveniente Spiritu Sancto in virginem Mariam, Christi 
corpus fabricavit; quo ille usus temple sine viri natus est semine."— Didjm. de Spir. 
Sauc. lib. ii. 



cnAP. itl] unto the head of the new creation. 163 

respect of designation, and the authoritative disposal of things, is 
ascribed unto the Father; for so the Lord Christ speak eth unto him: 
" A body hast thou prepared me," Heb. x. 5. But this preparation 
does not signify the actual forming and making ready of that body, 
but the eternal designation of it: it was prepared in the counsel and 
love of the Father. As to voluntary assumption, it is ascribed to the 
Son himself: chap. ii. l-i, " Forasmuch as the children are partakers 
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ;" he 
took upon him a body and soul, entire human nature, as the chil- 
dren, or all believers, have the same, synecdochically expressed by 
" flesh and blood." Verse 16, " He took on him the seed of Abraham." 
But the immediate divine efficiency in this matter was the peculiar 
work of the Holy Ghost: Matt. i. 18, " When as his mother Mary 
was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found 
with child of the Holy Ghost." Verse 20, " That which is conceived 
in her is of the Holy Ghost." Luke i. 35, " The angel answered and 
said unto her. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power 
of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy thing 
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." 1. The 
person working is the Holy Ghost. He is the wonderful operator 
in this glorious work. And therein the power of the Most High 
was exerted ; for " The power of the Highest" is neither explica- 
tory of the former expression, " The Holy Ghost," as though he were 
only the power of the Most High, nor is it the adjoining of a dis- 
tinct agent or cause unto him, as though the Holy Ghost and the 
power of the Most High were different agents in this matter. Only 
the manner of his effecting this wonderful matter, concerning which 
the blessed Virgin had made that inquiry, verse 34, " How shall this 
be, seeing I know not a man?" is expressed. "The Holy Ghost," saith 
the angel " acting the power of the Most High," or in the infinite 
power of God, " shall accomplish it." 2. For his access unto his work, 
it is expressed by his " coming upon her." The importance of this 
expression, and what is signified thereby, hath been declared before. 
And it is often used to declare his actings with reference unto the 
production of miraculous works: Acts i. 8, " Ye shall receive power, 
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you ;" — " He will so come upon 
you as to put forth the power of the Most High in you and by you, 
in gifts and operations miraculous;" for he is said to come, with re- 
spect unto his beginning of any marvellous operation, where before 
he did not work to the hke purpose. 3. The act of the Holy Ghost 
in this matter was a creating act; not, indeed, like the first creating 
act, which produced the matter and substance of all things out of 
nothing, causing that to be which was not before, neither in matter, 
nor form, nor passive disposition; but like those subsequent acts of 



1R4! WORK OF THE HOLY SPIIIIT WITH RESPECT [BOOK II. 

creation, whereby, out of matter before made and prepared, things 
were made that which before they were not, and which of themselves 
they had no active disposition unto nor concurrence in. So man 
was created or formed of the dust of the earth, and woman of a rib 
taken from man. There was a previous matter unto their creation, 
but such as gave no assistance nor had any active disposition to the 
production of that particular kind of creature whereinto they were 
formed by the creating power of God. Such was this act of the 
Holy Ghost in forming the body of our Lord Jesus Christ; for al- 
though it was effected by an act of infinite creating power, yet it 
was formed or made of the substance of the blessed Virgin. That 
it should be so was absolutely necessary, — (1.) For the accomplish- 
ment of the promises made unto Abraham and David, that the 
Messiah should be of their seed, and proceed from their loins. (2.) 
So was it also on the account of the first original promise, that the 
" seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head : " for the 
Word was to be "made flesh," John i. 14; to be "made of a woman," 
Gal. iv. 4; or "made of the seed of David according to the flesh," Rom. 
i S ; and to take upon him "the seed of Abraham," Heb. iL 1 6. (3.) To 
confirm the truth hereof is his genealogy according to the flesh given 
us by two of the evangelists ; which were neither to the purpose nor 
true if he were not made of the substance or flesh of the blessed 
Yirgin. (4.) Besides, all our cognation and alliance unto him, whence 
he was meet to be our Saviour, suffering in the same nature wherein 
we have sinned, do depend hereon, Heb. ii. 14; for if he had not 
been made like us in all things, sin only excepted, if he had not 
been partaker of our nature, there had been no foundation for the 
imputing that unto us which he did, suffered, and wrought, Rom. 
viii. 3, 4. And hence these things are accounted unto us, and cannot 
be so unto angels, whose nature he did not take upon him, Heb. ii. 16. 
This, therefore, was the work of the Holy Ghost in reference unto 
the human nature of Christ in the womb of his mother: By his 
omnipotent power he formed it of the substance of the body of the 
holy Virgin,— that is, as unto his body. And hence sundry things do 
ensue: — 

1. That the Lord Christ could not on this account, no, not with 
respect unto his human nature only, be said to be the Son of the 
Holy Ghost, although he supplied the place and virtue of a natural 
father in generation; for the relation of filiation dependeth only 
on and ariseth from a perfect generation, and not on every effect of 
an efficient cause. When one fire is kindled by another, we do not 
say that it is the son of that other, unless it be very improperly ; 
rnuch less when a man builds a house do we say that it is his son. 
There was, therefore, no other relation between the person of the 



CHAP. IIT.] UXTO THE HEAD OF THE NEW CRExVTION. < 165 

Holy Ghost and the human nature of Christ but that of a creator 
and a creature. And the Lord Christ is, and is called, " The Son of 
God" with respect only unto the Father and his eternal, inefifable 
generation, communicating being and subsistence unto him, as the 
fountain and original of the Trinity. Filiation, therefore, is a per- 
sonal adjunct, and belongs unto Christ as he was a divine person, 
and not with respect unto his human nature. But that nature being 
assumed, whole Christ was the Son of God. 

2. That this act of the Holy Ghost, in forming of the body of 
Christ, differs from the act of the Son in assuming the human nature 
into personal union with himself: for this act of the Son was not a 
creating act, producing a being out of nothing, or making any thing 
by the same power to be what in its own nature it was not ; but it 
was an ineffable act of love and wisdom, taking the nature so formed 
by the Holy Ghost, so prepared for him, to be his own in the instant 
of its formation, and thereby preventing the singular and individual 
subsistence of that nature in and by itself. So, then, as the creating 
act of the Holy Ghost, in formmg the body of our Lord Jesus Christ 
in the womb, doth not denominate him to be his father, no, not ac- 
cording to the human nature, but he is the Son of God upon the 
account of his eternal generation only; so it doth not denote an as- 
sumption of that nature into union with himself, nor was he incar- 
nate. He made the human nature of Christ, body and soul, with, 
in, and unto a subsistence in the second person of the Trinity, not 
[in] his own. 

3. It hence also follows that the conception of Christ in the womb, 
being the effect of a creating act, was not accomplished successively 
^nd in process of time, but was perfected in an instant;^ for although 
the creating acts of infinite power, where the works effected have dis- 
tinct parts, may have a process or duration of time allotted unto them, 
as the world was created in six days, yet every part of it that was 
the object of an especial creating act was instantaneoijsly produced. 
So was the forming of the body of Christ, with the infusion of a 
rational soul to quicken it, though it increased afterwards in the 
womb unto the birth. And as it is probable that this conception 
was immediate upon the angelical salutation, so it was necessary that 
nothing of the human nature of Christ should exist of itself antece- 
dently unto its union with the Son of God: for in the very instant of 
its formation, and therein, was the "Word made flesh," John i. 14; 
and the Son of God was " made of a woman," Gal. iv. 4; so that 
the whole essence of his nature was created in the same instant. 

' E" Ti; Xiyii Tfurov vriTXairSai <ro trafta roZ xvpiou ri/^uv Itxrou Xfitrrov (V rn fttirpa rri$ 
tylas 'TrafSivov, K.ai lard raura itia)^r,vai auTu riv Oiov Xiyot, xai rh* ^v^ny ui ^fov- 
va.>l,a.cfa,v, d,\a.hfia Ihtu. — Concil. Constantinop. ad Origenistas, 



1C6 . WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH EESPECT [BOOK IT. 

Thus far the Scriptures go before, and herein it is necessary to assert 
the forming of the body and soul of Christ by the Holy Spirit. The 
curious inquiries of some of the schoolmen and others are to be left 
unto themselves, or rather, to be condemned in them ; for what was 
farther in this miraculous 'operation of the Holy Ghost, it seems pur- 
posely to be hid from us in that expression, Au'i/a/i/g 'T-^/oroo z'^tsxidau 
<fo/, — ** The power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." Under 
the secret, glorious covert hereof we may learn to adore that holy 
work here, which we hope to rejoice in and bless God for unto eter- 
nity. And I suppose, also, that there is in the word an allusion unto 
the expression of the original acting of the Holy Spirit towards the 
newly-produced mass of the old creation, whereof we spake before. 
Then it is said of him that he was ^^CTI^, as it were " hovering" and 
*' moving" over it for the formation and production of all things liv- 
ing; for both the words include in them an allusion unto a covering 
like that of a fowl over its eggs, communicating, by its cognate warmth 
and heat, a principle of life unto their seminal virtue. 

It remaineth only that we consider how the same work of the 

conception of Christ is assigned unto the Holy Ghost and to the 

blessed Virgin; for of her it is said expressly in prophecy, ^"^J} "^^^i^O, 

Isa. vii. 14, "A virgin shall conceive," — the same word that is used 

to express the conception of any other woman, Gen. iv. 1. Hence 

Khe is termed by the ancients ©foro'xoj and Dei genetrix; which last, 

at least, I wish had been forborne. Compare it with the Scripture, 

and there will appear an unwarrantable x.am(pu !a in it. So Luke 

i .31. The words of the angel to her are, "SuXXyj-^rj iv yaerpi, xa! rl^jj 

w/o'v, — "Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son;" 

where her conception of him is distinguished from her bringing of 

him forth. And yet in the ancient creed commonly called the 

Apostles', and generally received by all Christians as a summary of 

religion, it is said he was " conceived by the Holy Ghost," and only 

" born of the Virgin Mary." Ans. The same work is assigned to 

both as causes of a different kind, — unto the Holy Spirit as the 

active, efficient cause, who by his almighty power produced the effect. 

And the disputes managed by some of the ancients about " de Spiritu 

Sancto" and "ex Spiritu Sancto" were altogether needless; for 

it is his creating efficiency that is intended. And his conceiving is 

ascribed unto the holy Virgin as the passive, material cause ; for his 

body was formed of her substance, as was before declared. And this 

conception of Christ was after her solemn espousals unto Joseph, and 

that for sundry reasons; for, — 1. Under the covering of her marriage 

to him slie was to receive a protection of her spotless innocency. And 

besides, 2. God provided one that should take care of her and her 

child in his infancy. And, 3. Hereby, also, was our blessed Saviour 



CHAP, III.] UNTO THE HEAD OF THE NEW CREATION. 1^7 

freed from the imputation of an illegitimate birth, until by his own 
miraculous operations he should give testimony unto his miraculous 
conception; concerning which before his mother could not have been 
believed. 4. That he might have one on whose account his gene- 
alogy might be recorded, to manifest the accomplishment of the pro- 
mise unto Abraham and David ; for the line of a genealogy was 
not legally continued by the mother only. Hence Matthew gives us 
his genealogy by Joseph, to whom his mother was legally espoused. 
And although Luke gives us the true, natural line of his descent, by 
the progenitors of the blessed Virgin, yet he nameth her not; only 
mentioning her espousals, he begins with Heli, who was her father, 
chap. iii. 23. And this is the first thing ascribed peculiarly to the 
Holy Spirit with respect unto the head of the church, Christ Jesus. 
From this miraculous creation of the body of Christ, by the imme- 
diate power of the Holy Ghost, did it become a meet habitation for 
his holy soul, every way ready and complying with all actings of 
grace and virtue. We have not only the depravation of our natures 
in general, but the obliquity of our particular constitutions, to conflict 
withal. Hence it is that one is disposed to passion, wrath, and 
anger; another, to vanity and lightness; a third, to sensuality and 
fleshly pleasures ; and so others to sloth and idleness. And although 
this disposition, so far as it is the result of our especial constitutions 
and complexion, is not sin in itself, yet it dwells at the next door 
unto it, and, as it is excited by the moral pravity of our natures, a 
continual occasion of it. But the body of Christ being formed pure 
and exact by the Holy Ghost, there was no disposition or tendency in 
his constitution to the least deviation from perfect holiness in any 
kind. The exquisite harmony of his natural temperature made love, 
meekness, gentleness, patience, benignity, and goodness, natural and 
cognate unto him, as having an incapacity of such motions as should 
be subservient unto or compliant with any thing different from them. 
Hence, secondly, also, although he took on him those infirmities 
which belong unto our human nature as such, and are inseparable 
from it until it be glorified, yet he took none of our particular in- 
firmities which cleave unto our persons, occasioned either by the vice 
of our constitutions or irregularity in the use of our bodies. Those 
natural passions of our minds which are capable of being the means 
of affliction and trouble, as grief, sorrow, and the like, he took upon 
him ; as also those infirmities of nature which are troublesome to the 
body, as hunger, thirst, weariness, and pain, — yea, the purity of his 
holy constitution made him more highly sensible of these things than 
any of the children of men; — but as to our bodily diseases and dis- 
tempers, which personally adhere unto us, upon the disorder and 
vice of our constitutions, he was absolutely free from [them]. 



168 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND ON [BOOK IL 



CHAPTER IV. 

WORK OF THE HOLT SPIRIT IN AND ON THE HUMAN NATURE 
OF CHRIST. 

The actual sanctification of the human nature of Christ by the Holy Ghost — On 
what ground spotless and free from sin — Positively endowed with all grace — 
Original holiness and sanctification in Christ, how carried on by the Spirit 
— Exercise of grace in Christ by the rational faculties of his soul — Their im- 
provement — Wisdom and knowledge, how increased objectively in the human 
nature of Christ — The anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit with power 
and gifts — Collated eminently on him at his baptism — John iii. 34 explained 
and vindicated — Miraculous works wrought in Christ by the Holy Ghost — 
Christ guided, conducted, and supported by the Spirit in his whole work — 
Mark i. 12 opened — How the Lord Christ offered himself unto God through 
the eternal Spirit — His sanctification thereunto — Graces acting eminently 
therein — Love, zeal, submission, faith, and truth, all exercised therein — ^The 
work of the Spirit of God towards Christ whilst he was in the state of the 
dead; in his resurrection and glorification — The office of the Spirit to bear 
witness unto Christ, and its discharge — The true way and means of coming 
unto the knowledge of Christ, with the necessity thereof — Danger of mis- 
takes herein — What it is to love Christ as we ought. 

Secondly, The human nature of Christ being thus formed in 
the womb by a creating act of the Holy Spirit, was in the instant 
of its conception sanctified, and filled with grace according to the 
measure of its receptivity. Being not begotten by natural genera- 
tion, it derived no taint of origmal sin or corruption from Adam, 
that being the only way and means of its propagation; and being 
not in the loins of Adam morally before the fall, the promise of his 
incarnation being not given until afterward, the sin of Adam could 
on no account be imputed unto him, All sin was charged on him 
as our mediator and surety of the covenant; but on his own ac- 
count he was obnoxious to no charge of sin, original or actual. His 
nature, therefore, as miraculously created in the manner described, 
was absolutely innocent, spotless, and free from sin, as was Adam in 
the day wherein he was created. But this was not all ; it was by 
the Holy Spirit positively endowed with all grace. And hereof it 
was afterward only capable of farther degrees as to actual exercise, 
but not of any new kind of grace. And this work of sanctification, 
or the original infusion of all grace into the human nature of Christ, 
was the immediate work of the Holy Spirit; which was necessary 
unto him : for let the natural faculties of the soul, the mind, will, 
and affections, be created pure, innocent, undefiled,— as they cannot 
be otherwise immediately created of God,— yet there is not enough to 
enable any rational creature to live to God; much less was it all that 
was m Jesus Christ. There is, moreover, required hereunto super- 



CHAP, l\.] THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHPaST. 1G9 

natural endowments of grace, superadded unto the natural faculties 
of our souls. If we live unto God, there must be a principle of spi- 
ritual life in us, as well [as] of life natural. This was the image of 
God in Adam, and was wrought in Christ by the Holy Spirit: Isa. 
xi. 1-3, " There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and 
a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the Spirit of the Lord 
shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the 
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear 
of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the 
fear of the Lord." It is granted that the following work of the 
Spirit iu and upon the Lord Christ, in the execution of his office 
as the king and head of the church, is included in these words; but 
his first sanctifying work in the womb is principally intended: for 
these expressions, "A rod out of the stem of Jesse," and " A Branch 
out of his roots," with respect whereunto the Spirit is said to be com- 
municated unto him, do plainly regard his incarnation; and the soul 
of Christ, from the first moment of its infusion, was a subject cap- 
able of a fulness of grace, as unto its habitual residence and in-being, 
though the actual exercise of it was suspended for a while, until 
the organs of the body were fitted for it. This, therefore, it re- 
ceived by this first unction of the Spirit. Hence, from his concep- 
tion, he was "holy," as well as "harmless" and "undefiled," Heb. 
vii. 26; a "holy thing," Luke i. 35; radically filled with a perfection 
of grace and wisdom, inasmuch as the Father " gave him not the 
Spirit by measure," John iii. 34. See to this purpose our commen- 
tary on Heb. i. 1 ; see also John i. 14-17. 

Thirdly, The Spirit carried on that work whose foundation he had 
thus laid. And two things are to be here diligently observed : — 

1. That the Lord Christ, as man, did and was to exercise all 
grace by the rational faculties and powers of his soul, his understand- 
ing, will, and affections; for he acted grace as a man, "made of a 
woman, made under the law." His divine nature was not unto him 
in the place of a soul, nor did immediately operate the things which 
he performed, as some of old vainly imagined ; but being a perfect 
man, his rational soul was in him the immediate principle of all his 
moral operations, even as ours are in us. Now, in the improvement 
and exercise of these faculties and powers of his soul, he had and 
made a progress after the manner of other men ; for he was made 
like unto us " in all things," yet without sin. In their increase, en- 
largement, and exercise, there was required a progression in grace 
also; and this he had continually by the Holy Ghost: Luke ii. 40, 
"The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit." The first clause re- 
fers to his body, which grew and increased after the manner of other 
men; as verse 52, he "increased in stature." The other respects the 



170 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND ON [bOOK IL 

confirmation of the faculties of his mind, — he " waxed strong in spirit." 
So, verse 52, he is said to " increase in wisdom and stature."^ He 
was vXr}pov,aivoi ffo<plag, continually "filling and filled" with new de- 
grees " of wisdom," as to its exercise, according as the rational facul- 
ties of his mind were capable thereof; an increase in these things 
accompanied his years, verse 52. And what is here recorded by the 
evangelist contains a description of the accomplishment of the pro- 
phecy before mentioned, Isa. xi. 1-3. And this growth in grace 
and wisdom was the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit; for as the 
faculties of his mind were enlarged by degrees and strengthened, so 
the Holy Spirit filled them up with grace for actual obedience. 

2. The human nature of Christ was capable of having new objects 
proposed to its mind and understanding, whereof before it had a 
simple nescience. And this is an inseparable adjunct of human na- 
ture as such, as it is to be weary or hungry, and no vice or blaraable 
defect. Some have made a great outcry about the ascribing of igno- 
rance by some protestant divines unto the human soul of Christ: Bel- 
larm. de Anim. Christi. Take " ignorance " for that which is a moral 
defect in any kind, or an unacquaintedness with that which any one 
ought to know, or is necessary unto him as to the perfection of his 
condition or his duty, and it is false that ever any of them ascribed 
it unto him. Take it merely for a nescience of some things, and there 
is no more in it but a denial of infinite omniscience, — nothing incon- 
sistent with the highest holiness and purity of human nature. So the 
Lord Christ says of himself that he knew not the day and hour of the 
end of all things, [Mark xiii. 32]; and our apostle of him, that he 
" learned obedience by the things that he suffered," Heb. v. 8. In the 
representation, then, of things anew to the human nature of Christ, 
the wisdom and knowledge of it was objectively increased, and in new 
trials and temptations he experimentally learned the new exercise of 
grace. And this was the constant work of the Holy Spirit in the 
human nature of Christ. He dwelt in him in fulness; for he re- 
ceived him not by measure. And continually, upon all occasions, 
he giive out of his unsearchable treasures grace for exercise in all 
duties and instances of it. From hence was he habitually holy, and 

" " Quomodo proficiebat sapientia Dei ? doceat te ordo verborum. Profectus est atatis, 
profectus est sapientiaj, sed humanaa. Ideo astatem ante preemisit, ut secundum ho- 
mines credercs dictum; setas enim non divinitatis sed corporis est. Ergo si proficie- 
bat ajtate lioininis proficiebat sapientia hominis. Sapientia autem sensu proficit, quia 
a sensu sapientia."— Ambros. de Incarnat. Dom. Mysterio, chap. vii. 

" Nam et Dominus homo accepit communicationem Spiritus Sancti ; sicut in evangeliis 
legitur, 'Jesus ergo rcpletus Spiritu Sancto, regressus est a lordane." Hsec autem 
absque uUa calumniS, de dominico homine, qui totus Christus, unus est Jesus Filius 
Dei, sensu dehomns pietatis accipere. non quod alter et alter sit, sed quod de uno atque 
eodem quasi de altero, secundum naturam Dei, et hominis disputatur."— Didym de Spir 
Sane. lib. iiL "^ *^ 



CnAP. IV.] THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. ' I7l 

from hence did tie exercise holiness entirely and universally in all 
things. 

Fourthly, The Holy Spirit, in a peculiar manner, anointed hiin 
with all those extraordinary powers and gifts which were necessar)- 
for the exercise and discharging of his office on the earth :^ Isa. Ixi, 1, 
" The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord hath 
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath sent 
me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the cap- 
tives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." It 
is the prophetical office of Christ, and his discharge thereof in his 
ministry on the earth, which is intended. And he applies these 
words unto himself with respect unto his preaching of the gospel, 
Luke iv. 18, 1 9 ; for this was that office which he principally attended 
unto here in the world, as that whereby he instructed men in the 
nature and use of his other offices. For his kingly power, in his 
human nature on the earth, he exercised it but sparingly. Thereunto, 
indeed, belonged his sending forth of apostles and evangelists to 
preach with authority. And towards the end of his ministry he in- 
stituted ordinances of gospel- worship, and appointed the order of his 
church in the foundation and building of it up ; which were acts of 
kingly power. Nor did he perform any act of his sacerdotal office 
but only at his death, when he " gave himself for us an offering and 
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour," Eph. v. 2 ; wherein 
God " smelled a savour of rest," and was appeased towards us. But 
the whole course of his life and ministry was the discharge of his 
prophetical office unto the Jews, Rom. xv. 8 ; which he was to do 
according to the great promise, Deut. xviii. 18, 19: and on the 
acceptance or refusal of him herein depended the life and death of 
the church of Israel, verse 19; Acts iii. 23; Heb. ii. 3; John viii. 24 
Hereunto was he fitted by this unction of the Spirit. And here, also, 
is a distinction between the "Spirit that was upon him," and his being 
" anointed to preach," which contains the communication of the gifts 
of that Spirit unto him ; as it is said, Isa. xi. 2, 3, " The Spirit rested 
upon him as a Spirit of wisdom," to make him " of quick understand- 
ing in the fear of the Lord." Now, this was in a singular manner and 
in a measure inexpressible, whence he is said to be " anointed with 
the oil of gladness above his fellows," or those who were partakers of 
the same Spirit with him, Ps. xlv. 7; Heb. i. 8, 9; although I ac- 
knowledge that there was in that expression a peculiar respect 
unto his glorious exaltation, which afterward ensued, as hath been 
declared on that place. And this collation of extraordinary gifts for 

' EJ <ri>lvti» h ira.f^ h ^tff«i>rixri, to xuftaxov TXafffia, i %iv»s avifuven;, e evpatio;, re »ia» 
PiXa.(r-n//.a, to avo Tns ^i»>ll aihivos avStiirat, oZtos KafiSdm ri Wltjfia ayiov, CtC. — LlUySOSt. 

Homil. de Spir. Sane. 



172 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIPtlT IN AXD OX [dOOK II. 

the discharge of his prophetical office was at his baptism, Matt, iil 17. 
They were not bestowed on the Head of the church, nor are any gifts 
of the same nature in general bestowed on any of his members, but 
for use, exercise, and improvement. And that they were then col- 
lated appears; for, — 

1. Then did he receive the visible pledge which confirmed him in, 
and testified unto others his calling of God to, the exercise of his 
office; for then " the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and lighted 
upon him: and lo a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased," Matt, iii, 16, 17. Hereby 
was he " sealed of God the Father," John vi. 27, in that visible pledge 
of his vocation, setting the great seal of heaven to his commission. 
And this also was to be a testimony unto others, that they might own 
him in his office, now he had undertaken to discharge it, chap. i. 33. 

2. He now entered on his public ministry, and wholly gave him- 
self up unto his work; for before, he did only occasionally manifest 
the presence of God with him, somewhat to prepare the minds of 
men to attend unto his ministry, as when he filled them with asto- 
nishment at his discourses with the doctors in the temple, Luke 
ii. 46, 47. And although it is probable that he might be acted by 
the Spirit in and unto many such extraordinary actions during his 
couise of a private life, yet the fulness of gifts for his work he re- 
ceived not until the time of his baptism, and, therefore, before that 
he gave not himself up wholly unto his public ministry. 

3. Immediately hereon it is said that he was "full of the Holy 
Ghost," Luke iv. 1. Before, he was said to " wax strong in spirit," 
vXripcvfLtvog aopiag, chap. ii. 40, "continually filling;" but now he is 
-jrXyiprig Uviv/xaTog * Ay/ou, " full of the Holy Ghost." He was actually 
possessed of and furnished with all that fulness of spiritual gifts 
which were any way needful for him or useful unto him, or which 
human nature is capable of receiving. With respect hereunto doth the 
evangelist [baptist?] use that expression, Ov yap Ik fisTpou dldum d 0£os 
t4 UyiZ/xa, John iii. 34,— "For God giveth not the Spirit l)y measure." 
That it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is here intended, unto whom 
the Spirit is thus given, is evident from the context, althougli it be 
not express [ed] in the text. He is spoken of, and is the subject of the 
whole discourse: Verse 31, "He that cometh from above is above all: 
he that cometh from heaven is above all." None doubts but that 
this is a descrii)tion of the person of Christ. And in the beginning 
of this verse, "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God;'' 
which is the usual periphrasis of the Lord Christ, used at least 
twenty times in this Gospel. Of him this account is given, that he 
*' testifieth what he hath seen and heard," verse 32; and that he 
*" speaketh the words of God," verse 34. Dififerent events are also 



CHAP. IV,] THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHIIIST. 173 

marked upon his testimony, for many refused it, verse 32, but some 
received it, who therein " set to their seal that God is true," verse 33 ; 
for he that " beUeveth not the record that he gave of his Son hath 
made him a har," 1 John v. 10. As a reason of all this, it is added 
that " God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him ;" so that he was 
fully enabled to " speak the words of God," and those by whom his 
testimony was rejected were justly liable to "wrath," verse 36. Vain, 
therefore, is the attempt of Crellius, de Spir. Sane, followed by 
Schlichtingius in his comment on this place, who would exclude the 
Lord Christ from being intended in these words; for they would 
have them signify no more but only in general that God is not 
bound up to measures in the dispensation of the Spirit, but gives to 
one according unto one measure, and to another according to another. 
But as this gloss overthrows the coherence of the words, disturbing 
the context, so it contradicts the text itself: for God's not giving the 
Spirit sx fi'srpou, " by measure," is his giving of him d/xsrpug, " immea- 
surably," without known bounds or limits, and so the Spirit was given 
unto the Lord Christ only ; for " unto every one of us is given grace 
according to the measure of the gift of Christ," Eph. iv. 7, — that is, 
in what measure he pleaseth to communicate and distribute it. But 
the effects of this giving of the Spirit unto the Lord Christ not by 
measure belonged unto that fulness from whence we " receive grace 
for grace," John i. 16; for hereby the Father accomplished his will, 
Avhen " it pleased him that in him should all fulness dwell," that 
"in all things he might have the pre-eminence," Col. i. 18, 19. Nor 
can any difficulty of weight be cast on this interpretation from the use 
of the word in the present tense, which is by Crellius insisted on, — 
Blduai, " he giveth:" " For Christ," they say, "had before received the 
Spirit, for this is spoken of him after his baptism. If, therefore, he 
had been intended, it should rather have been, ' he hath given,' or 
* he hath not given unto him by measure.'" But, — (1.) This was 
immediately on his baptism, and therefore the collation of the ful- 
ness of the Spirit might be spoken of as a thing present, being but 
newly past; which is an ordinary kind of speech on all occasions. 
Besides, (2.) The collation of the Spirit is' a continued act, in that 
he was given him to abide with him, to rest upon him, wherein 
there was a continuance of the love of God towards and his care 
over him in his work. Hence the Lord Christ saith of himself, or 
the prophet in his person, that the Spirit sent him : " Now the Lord 
God, and his Spirit, hath sent me," Isa. xlviii. 16. The same work 
in sending of Christ is ascribed unto the " Lord God," that is, the 
Father, and to the " Spirit," but in a different manner He was sent 
by the Father authoritatively; and the furniture he received by the 
Spirit, of gifts for his work and office, is called his sending of him; 



174 "WORK OF THE HOLY SPIHIT IN AND ON [bOOK LL 

jis the same work is assigned unto different persons in the Trinity on 
different accounts. 

Fifthly, It was in an especial manner by the power of the Holy 
Spirit he wrought those great and miraculous works whereby 
his ministry was attested unto and confirmed. Hence it is said 
that God wrought miracles by him : Acts ii. 22, " Jesus of Na- 
zareth, a man approved of God by miracles and wonders and signs, 
which God did by him;" for they are all immediate effects of divine 
power. So when he cast out devils with a word of command, he 
affirms that he did it by the " finger of God," Luke xi. 20, — that is, 
by the infinite divine power of God. But the power of God acted in 
an especial manner by the Holy Spirit, as is expressly declared in the 
other evangelist, Matt. xii. 28; and, therefore, on the ascription of 
his mighty works unto Beelzebub, the prince of devils, he lets the 
Jews know that therein they blasphemed the Holy Spirit, whose 
works indeed they were, verses 31, 32. Hence these mighty works 
are called Swd/xug, " powers," because of the power of the Spirit of 
God put forth for their working and effecting: see Mark vi. 5, ix. 39; 
Luke iv. 36, v. 17, vi. 19, viii. 46", ix. 1. And in the exercise of this 
power consisted the testimony given unto him by the Spirit that he 
was the Son of God ; for this was necessary unto the conviction of 
the Jews, to whom he was sent, John x. 37, 38. 

Sixthly, By him was he guided, directed, comforted, supported, iu 
the whole course of his ministry, temptations, obedience, and suffer- 
ings. Some few instances on this head may suffice. Presently after 
his baptism, when he was full of the Holy Ghost, he was " led by 
the Spirit into the wilderness," Luke iv. 1. 1. The Holy Spirit 
guided him to begin his contest and conquest with the devil. Hereby 
he made an entrance into his ministry; and it teacheth us all what 
we must look for if we solemuly engage ourselves to follow him in 
the work of preaching the gospel. The word used in Mark to this 
purpose hath occasioned some doubt what spirit is intended in these 
words, To rrvev/ia, avrov UZdXXu sig rfiv ifrifiov, chap. L 12, " The spirit 
driveth him into the wilderness." It is evident that the same spirit 
and the same aet are intended in all the evangelists, here, and Matt. 
iv. 1, Luke iv. 1. But how the Holy Spirit should be said IxUXKuv, 
to " drive^him," is not so easy to be apprehended. But the word in 
Luke is ijytTo, which denotes a guiding and rational conduct; and 
this cannot be ascribed unto any other spirit, with respect unto our 
Lord Jesus, but only the Spirit of God. Matthew expresseth the 
same effect by avri^Sv, chap. iv. 1,— he was "carried," or "carried up," 
or " taken away," from the midst of the people. And this was Wi 
rou UnviJ-aroi, " of that Spirit,"— namely, which descended on him 
and rested on him immediately before, chap, iil 16. And the con- 



CHAP, IV.] ^ THE HmiAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 175 

tinnation of the discourse in Luke will not admit that any other 
spirit be intended: "And Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit re- 
turned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness," 
— namely, by that Spirit which he was full of. By skZuXXu, there- 
fore, in Mark, no more is intended but the sending of him forth by a 
high and strong impression of the Holy Spirit on his mind. Hence 
the same word is used with respect unto the sending of others, by 
the powerful impression of the Spirit of God on their hearts, unto 
the work of preaching the gospel : Matt. ix. 38, " Pray ye there- 
fore the Lord of the harvest," o-rwg ixQdXXri ipydrag ilg rhv ^ipi0fjt,ov 
auTou, "that he would thrust forth labourers into his harvest," — 
namely, by furnishing them with the gifts of his Spirit, and by the 
power of his grace constraining them to their duty. So also Luke 
X. 2. So did he enter upon his preparation unto his work under his 
conduct; and it were well if others would endeavour after a con- 
formity unto him within the rules of their calling. 2. By his 
assistance was he carried triumphantly through the course of his 
temptations unto a perfect conquest of his adversary as to the present 
conflict, wherein he sought to divert him from his work ; which after- 
ward he endeavoured by all ways and means to oppose and hinder. 
8. The temptation being finished, he returned again out of the wil- 
derness, to preach the gospel " in the power of the Spirit," Luke 
iv. 14, He returned h rfj 8wvdfiii rou nviv,u,aTog, " in the power of the 
Spirit" into Galilee, — that is, powerfully enabled by the Holy Spirit 
unto the discharge of his work; and hence, in his first sermon at 
Nazareth, he took these words of the prophet for his text, " The 
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach 
the gospel to the poor," verse 18, The issue was, that they " all bare 
him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded 
out of his mouth," verse 22. And as he thus began his ministry in 
the power of the Spirit, so, having received him not by measure, he 
continually on all occasions put forth his wisdom, power, grace, and 
knowledge, to the astonishment of all, and the stopping of the mouths 
of his adversaries, shutting them up in their rage and unbelief. 
4. By him was he directed, strengthened, and comforted, in his whole 
course, — in all his temptations, troubles, and sufferings, from first to 
last; for we know that there was a confluence of all these upon 
him in his whole way and work, a great part of that whereunto he 
humbled himself for our sakes consisting in these things. In and 
under them he stood in need of mighty supportment and strong 
consolation. This God promised unto him, and this he expected, 
Isa. xlii. 4, 6, xlix. 5-8, L 7, 8. Now, all the voluntary communica- 
tions of the divine nature unto the human were, as we have showed, 
by the Holy Spirit 



] 7u WOrvK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT I>T AND ON [BOOK IL 

Seventhly, He offered himself up unto God through the eternal 
Spirit, Ileb. ix. 14. I know many learned men do judge that by 
the " eternal Spirit" in that place, not the third person is intended, 
but the divine nature of the Son himself; and there is no doubt but 
that also may properly be called the eternal Spirit. There is also a 
reason in the words themselves strongly inclining unto that sense and 
acceptation of them: for the apostle doth show whence it was that 
the sacrifice of the Lord Christ had an efficacy beyond and above the 
sacrifices of the law, and whence it would certainly produce that 
great effect of "purging our consciences from dead works; " and this 
was, from the dignity of his person, on the account of his divine 
nature. It arose, I say, from the dignity of his person, his deity 
giving sustentation unto his human nature in the sacrifice of himself; 
for by reason of the indissoluble union of both his natures, his person 
became the principle of all his mediatory acts, and from thence had 
they their dignity and efficacy. Nor will I oppose this exposition of 
the words. But, on the other side, many learned persons, both of 
the ancient and modern divines, do judge that it is the person of the 
Holy Spirit that is intended. 

And because this is a matter of great importance, — namely, how 
the Lord Christ offered up himself unto God as a sacrifice by the 
eternal Spirit, — I shall farther explain it, though but briefly. Those 
who look only on the outward part of the death of Christ can see 
nothing but suffering in it. The Jews took him, and they with the 
soldiers both scourged and slew him, hanging him on the tree. But 
the principal consideration of it is his own offering himself a sacri- 
fice unto God, as the great high priest of the church, to make atone- 
ment and reconciliation for sinners, which was hid from the world 
by those outward acts of violence which were upon him; and this 
he did by the eternal Spirit, wherein we may take notice of the en- 
suing instances: — 

1. He sanctified, consecrated, or dedicated himself unto God for 
to be an offering or sacrifice: John xvii. 19, " For then- sakes," — that 
is, the elect,—" I sanctify myself." The Lord Christ was before this 
perfectly sanctified as to all inherent holiness, so that he could not 
speak of sanctifying himself afresh in that sense. Neither was it the 
consecration of himself unto his office of a priest; for this was the act 
of him who called him: " He glorified not himself to be made an 
high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son," Heb. v. 5. 
He made him a priest by his death, " after the power of an endless 
life," chap. vii. 16, 20, 21. Wherefore, he consecrated himself to be a 
sacrifice, as the beast to be sacrificed of old was first devoted unto 
that purpose. Therefore it is said that he thus sanctified or conse- 
crated himself that we might be sanctified. Now. " we are sancti- 



CHAT'. IV.] THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 177 

fied through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all," 
Heb. X. 10. This was his first sacerdotal act. He dedicated himself 
to be an offering to God; and this he did through the effectual 
operation of the eternal Spirit in him. 

2. He went voluntarily and of his own accord to the garden ; which 
answered the adduction or bringing of the beast to be sacrificed unto 
the door of the tabernacle, according to the law : for there he did not 
only give up himself into the hands of those who were to shed his 
blood, but also actually entered upon the offering up of himself unto 
God in his agony, when he " offered up prayers and supplications 
with slrong crying and tears," Heb. v. 7) which declares not the 
matter, but the manner of his offering. 

3. In all that ensued, all that followed hereon, unto his giving up 
the ghost, he offered himself to God in and by those actings of the 
grace of the Holy Spirit in him, which accompanied him to the last. 
And these are diligently to be considered, because on them depend 
the efficacy of the death of Christ as to atonement and merit, as 
they were enhanced and rendered excellent by the worth and dignity 
of his person ; for it is not the death of Christ, merely as it was 
penal and undergone by the way of suffering, that is the means of 
our deliverance, but the obedience of Christ therein, which consisted 
in his offering of himself through the eternal Spirit unto God, that 
gave efficacy and success unto it. We may, therefore, inquire what 
were those principal graces of the Spirit which he acted in this offer- 
ing of himself unto God ; and they were, — 

(1.) Love to mankind, and compassion towards sinners. This the 
holy soul of the Lord Jesus was then in the highest and most incon- 
ceivable exercise of This, therefore, is frequently expressed where 
mention is made of this offering of Christ: Gal. ii. 20, " Who loved 
me, and gave himself for me." Rev. i. 5, " Who loved us and washed 
us from our sins in his own blood." And compassion is the first grace 
required in a high priest or sacrificer, Heb. v. 2. God being now upon 
a design of love (for it was in the pursuit of eternal love that Christ 
was sent into the world, John iii. 16; Tit. iii. 4-6), this love, that was 
now in its most inconceivable advancement in the heart of Christ, was 
most grateful and acceptable unto him. And this intenseness of love- 
did also support the mind of Christ under all his sufferings ; as Jacob, 
through the greatness of his love unto Rachel, made light of the 
seven years' service that he endured for her, Gen. xx'ix. 20. And so 
did the Lord Christ "endure the cross and despise the shame for the 
joy" of saving his elect " which was set before him," Heb. xii. 2. 
And this was one grace of the eternal Spirit whereby he offered him- 
self unto God. 

(2.) That which principally acted him in the whole was his un- 
VOL. III. 12 



1 78 "WOr.K OF TUE nOLT SriRIT IN AND ON [bOOK II. 

spealcahle zeal for, and ardency of affection unto, the glory of God. 
These were the coals which with a vehement flame, as it were, con- 
sumed the sacrifice. And there were two things that he aimed at 
with respect unto the glory of God: — [1.] The manifestation of his 
righteousness, holiness, and severity against sin. His design was, to 
repair the glory of God, wherein it had seemed to suffer by sin. Ps. 
xl. 6-8, Heb. x. 5-7, He came to do that, with full desire of soul, 
(expressed in these words, " Lo, I come,") which legal sacrifices could 
not do, — namely, to make satisfaction to the justice of God for sin, 
to be " a propitiation, to declare his righteousness," Rom. iii. 25. And 
this he doth, as to the manner of it, with inexpressible ardency of 
zeal and affections: Ps. xl. 8, " I delight to do thy will, my God: 
yea, thy law is in the midst of my bowels." He doubles the expression 
of the intenseness of his mind hereon. And, therefore, when he was 
to prepare himself in his last passover for his suffering, he expresseth 
the highest engagement of heart and affections unto it: Luke xxii. 15, 
" With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I 
.suffer;" as with respect unto the same work he had before expressed 
it, " I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I strait- 
ened," or pained, " till it be accomplished ! " chap. xii. 50. His zeal to 
advance the glory of God, in the manifestation of his righteousness 
and holiness, by the offering up of himself as a sin-offering to make 
atonement, gave him no rest and ease until he was engaged in it, 
whence it wrought unto the utmost. [2.] The exercise of his grace 
and love. This he knew was the way to open the treasures of grace 
and love, that they might be poured out on sinners, to the everlasting 
glory of God ; for this was the design of God in the whole, Rom, 
iil 24-26. This zeal and affection unto the glory of God's righteous- 
ness, faithfulness, and grace, which was wrought in the heart of 
Christ by the eternal Spirit, was that wherein principally he offered 
up himself unto God. 

(3.) His holy submission and obedience unto the will of God, 
which were now in the height of their exercise, and grace advanced 
unto the utmost in them, was another especial part of this his offering 
up of himself That this was wrought in him by the holy or eternal 
Spirit was before declared. And it is frequently expressed as that 
which had an especial influence into the efficacy and merit of his 
sacrifice: Phil. ii. 8, "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto 
death, even the death of the cross." And when he "offered up prayers 
and supplications, though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience 
by the things which he suffered," Heb. v. 7, 8; that is, he experienced 
obedience in suff-ering. It is true that the Lord Christ, in the whole 
course of his life, yielded obedience unto God, as he was " made of a 
woman, made under the law," Gal. iv. 4; but now he came to the 



CHAP. IV.] THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 179 

great trial of it, with respect unto the especial command of the 
Father " to lay down his life," and to " make his soul an offering for 
sin," Isa. liii. 10. This was the highest act of obedience unto God 
that ever was, or ever shall be to all eternity ; and therefore doth 
God so express his satisfaction therein and acceptance of it, Isa. liii. 
11, 12; Phil. ii. 9, 10. This was wrought in him, this he was 
wrought unto, by the Holy Spirit; and therefore by him he offered 
himself unto God. 

(-t.) There belongs also hereunto that faith and trust in God 
which, with fervent prayers, cries, and supplications, he now acted 
on God and his promises, both with respect unto himself and to the 
covenant which he was sealing with his blood. This our apostle re- 
presents as an especial work of his, testified unto in the Old Testa- 
ment: Heb. ii 13, "I will put my trust in him." And, [1.] This 
respected himself, namely, that he should be supported, assisted, and 
carried through the work he had undertaken unto a blessed issue. 
Hereiu, I confess, he was horribly assaulted, until he cried out, " My 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Ps. xxii. 1 ; but yet, 
after and through all his dreadful trial, his faith and trust in God 
were victorious. This he expressed in the depth and extremity of 
liis trials, verses 9-1 1 ; and made such an open profession of it 
that his enemies, when they supposed him lost and defeated, re- 
proached him with it, verse 8 ; Matt, xxvii. 4.3. To this purpose he 
declares himself at large, Isa. 1. 7-9. So his faith and trust in God, 
as to his own supportment and deliverance, with the accomplishment 
of all the promises that were made unto him upon his engagement 
into the work of mediation, were victorious. [2.] This respected 
the covenant, and all the benefits that the church of the elect was to 
be made partaker of thereby. The blood that he now shed was the 
"blood of the covenant," and it was shed for his church, namely, that 
the blessings of the covenant might be communicated unto them, 
Gal. iii. 13, 14. With respect hereunto did he also exercise faith in 
God, as appears fully in his prayer which he made when he entered 
on his oblation, John xvii. 

Now, concerning these instances we may observe three things to 
our present purpose : — 

(1.) These and the like gracious actings of the soul of Christ 
were the ways and means whereby, in his death and blood-shedding, 
— which was violent and by force inflicted on him as to the outward 
instruments, and was penal as to the sentence of the law, — he volun- 
tarily and freely offered up himself a sacrifice unto God for to make 
atonement; and these were the things which, from the dignity of 
his person, became efficacious and victorious. Without these his 
death and blood-shedding had been no oblation. 



1*50 WOKK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND ON [bOOK IT. 

(2.) Tliese were the things whicli rendered his offering of himself 
a " sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savour," Eph. v. 2. God 
was so absolutely delighted and pleased with these high and glori- 
ous acts of grace and obedience in Jesus Christ that he smelled, as it 
were, a "savour of rest" towards mankind, or those for whom he offered 
himself, so that he would be angry with them no more, curse them 
no more, as it is said of the type of it in the sacrifice of Noah, Gen, 
viii. 20, 21. God was more pleased with the obedience of Christ 
than he was displeased with the sin and disobedience of Adam, Rom. 
V. 1 7-21. It was not, then, [by] the outward suffering of a violent and 
bloody death, which was inflicted on him by the most horrible 
wickedness that ever human nature brake forth into, that God was 
atoned. Acts ii. 23 ; nor yet was it merely his enduring the penalty 
of the law that was the means of our deliverance; but the voluntary 
giving up of himself to be a sacrifice in these holy acts of obedience was 
that upon which, in an especial manner, God was reconciled unto us. 

(3.) All these things being wrought in the human nature by the 
Holy Ghost, who, in the time of his offering, acted all his graces unto 
the utmost, he is said thereon to " offer himself unto God through 
the eternal Spirit," by whom, as our high priest, he was consecrated, 
spirited, and acted, thereunto. 

Eighthly, There was a peculiar work of the Holy Spirit towards the 
Lord Christ whilst he was in the state of the dead; for here our pre- 
ceding rule must be remembered, — namely, that notwithstanding 
the union of the human nature of Christ with the divine person of 
the Son, yet the communications of God unto it, beyond subsistence, 
were voluntary. Thus in his death the union of his natures in his 
person was not in the least impeached ; but yet for his soul or spirit, 
he commends that in an especial manner into the hands of God 
his Father,— Ps. xxxi. 5, Luke xxiii. 46, " Father, into thy hands I 
commend my spirit," — for the Father had engaged himself in an 
eternal covenant to take care of him, to preserve and protect him 
even in death, and to show him again the " way and path of life," 
Ps.^xvi. 11. Notwithstanding, then, the union of his person, his soul 
in its separate state was in an especial manner under the care, pro- 
tection, and power of the Father, preserved in his love until the 
hour came wherein he showed him again the path of life. His holy 
body in the grave continued under the especial care of the Spirit of 
God ; and hereby was accomplished that gi-eat promise, that " his soul 
should not be left in hell, nor the Holy One see corruption," Ps. xvi. 
10; Acts ii. 31. It is the body of Christ which is here called " The 
Holy One," as it was made a " holy thing" by the conception of it in 
the womb by the power of the Holy Ghost. And it is here spoken 
of in contradistinction unto his soul, and opposed by Peter unto the 



CHAP. IV.] THE HUMAN KATUllE OF CHRIST. 181 

body of David, which when it died saw corruption, Acts ii. 29. This 
pure and holy substance was preserved in its integrity by the over- 
shadowing power of the Holy Spirit, without any of those accidents 
of change which attend the dead bodies of others. I deny not but 
there was use made of the ministry of angels about the dead body of 
Christ whilst it was in the grave, even those which were seen sitting 
afterward in the place where he lay, John xx. 12; by these was it 
preserved from all outward force and violation; — but this also was 
under the peculiar care of the Spirit of God, who how he worketh 
by angels hath been before declared. 

Ninthly, There was a peculiar work of the Holy Spirit in his re- 
surrection, this being the completing act in laying the foundation of 
the church, whereby Christ entered into his rest, — the great testimony 
given unto the finishing of the work of redemption, with the satis- 
faction of God therein, and his acceptation of the person of the Re- 
deemer. It is, on various accounts, assigned distinctly to each per- 
son in the Trinity ; and this not only as all the external works of 
God are undivided, each person being equally concerned in their 
operation, but also upon the account of their especial respect unto 
and interest in the work of redemption, in the manner before de- 
clared. Unto the Father it is ascribed, on the account of his autho- 
rity, and the declaration therein of Christ's perfect accomplishment 
of the work committed unto him: Acts ii. 24, " Him hath God raised 
up, having loosed the pains of death : because it was not possible that 
he should be holden of it." It is the Father who is spoken of, and 
he is said, as in other places, to raise Christ from the dead; but this 
he doth with respect unto " his loosing the pains of death," — Xuaag 
Tag ujh7mi rou ^amrou. These are the A}9"''??0j which, with a little 
alteration of one vowel,^ signify the " sorrows of death," or the " cords 
of death;" for ni^'-^^fC are the " sorrows of death," and A}?'\^^n are 
the " cords of death." See Ps. xviii. 4, cxvi. 3. And the " sorrows of 
death" here intended were the " cords" of it, — that is, the power it had 
to bind the Lord Christ for a season under it; for the " pains of 
death," that is, the ud/vsg, " tormenting pains," ended in his death 
itself But the consequents of them are here reckoned unto them, 
or the continuance under the power of death, according unto the 
sentence of the law. These God loosed, when, the law being fully 
satisfied, the sentence of it was taken off, and the Lord Christ was 
acquitted from its whole charge. This was the act of God the Fa- 
ther, as the supreme rector and judge of all. Hence he is said to 

' Our author must allude to a difference in the vowel-points; Vati, as in Isa. Ixvi. 7, 
eignifying ;?ajHs, andValj, with the seghol instead of the tsere, being translated cord or 
rope. The word occurs also in composition with S, under the meaning of " cords," op 
*• fetters," as iu Job xxxvi. 8, '■iy-''-z'nz . — Ed. 



182 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND ON [bOOK TL 

" raise him from the dead," as the judge hy his order delivereth an 
acquitted prisoner or. one who hath answered the law. The same 
work he also takes unto himself: John x. 17, IS, "I lay down my 
life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay 
it down of myself I have power to lay it down, and I have power 
to take it again." For although men by violence took away his life, 
when " with wicked hands they crucified and slew him," Acts ii. 23, 
iii. 1 5, yet because they had neither authority nor ability so to do 
without his own consent, he saith no man did, or could, take away 
his life, — that is, against his will, by power over him, as the lives of 
• other men are taken away; for this neither angels nor men could do. 
So, also, although the Father is said to raise him from the dead by 
taking off the sentence of the law, which he had answered, yet he 
himself also took his life again by an act of the love, care, and power 
of his divine nature, his living again being an act of his person, al- 
though the human nature only died. But the peculiar efficiency in 
the reuniting of his most holy soul and body was an effect of the 
power of the Holy Spirit: 1 Pet. iii. 18, " He was put to death in 
the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit;" ^uovoiridslg di roD Uvivfiari, — 
" he was restored to life by the Spirit." And this was that Spirit 
whereby he preached unto them that were disobedient in the days 
of Noah, verses 19, 20; or that Spirit of Christ which was in the 
prophets from the foundation of the world, chap. i. 11; by which 
he preached in Noah unto that disobedient generation, 2 Pet, ii. 5, 
whereby the Spirit of God strove for a season with those inhabitants 
of the old world, Gen. vi. 8 ;— that is, the Holy Spirit of God. To 
the same purpose we are instructed by our apostle: Rom. viii. 11, 
" 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;"— "God shall 
quicken our mortal bodies also by the same Spirit whereby he raised 
Christ from the dead;" for so the relation of the one work to the 
other requires the words to be understood. And he asserts again 
the same expressly, Eph. i. 17-20. He prays that God would give his ' 
Holy Spirit unto them, as a Spirit of wisdom and revelation, verse 17. 
The effects thereof in them and upon them are described, verse 18. 
And this he desires that they may so be made partakers of as that, 
by the work of the Spirit of God in themselves, renewing and quick- 
ening them, they might have an experience of that exceeding great- 
ness of his power which he put forth in the Lord Christ when he 
raised him from the dead. And the evidence or testimony given 
unto his' being the Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead, is 
said to be " according to the Spirit of holiness," or the Holy Spirit, 
Pvom. i. 4. He was positively declared to be the Son of God by his 



CHAP, IV.] THE HITMAN NATURE OF CHRIST, 183 

resurrection from the dead, h duvd/xn, xard UvsZ/ia ayiueCvrig, — that 
is, by the " powerful working of the Holy Spirit" This, also, is the 
intendment of that expression, 1 Tim. iii. 16, " Justified in the 
Spirit." God was " manifest in the flesh," by his incarnation and 
passion therein; and "justified in the Spirit," by a declaration of his 
acquitment from the sentence of death and all the evils which he 
underwent, with the reproaches wherewith he was contemptuously 
used, by his quickening and resurrection from the dead, through the 
mighty and effectual working of the Spirit of God. 

Tenthly, It was the Holy Spirit that glorified the human nature [of 
Christ], and made it every way meet for its eternal residence at tlie 
right hand of God, and a pattern of the glorification of the bodies of 
them that believe on him. He who first made his nature holy, now 
made it glorious. And as we are made conformable unto him in our 
souls here, his image being renewed in us by the Spirit, so he is in his 
body, now glorified by the effectual operation of the same Spirit, the 
exemplar and pattern of that glory which in our mortal bodies we 
shall receive by the same Spirit; for "when he shall appear, we shall 
be like him," 1 John iii. 2, seeing he will " change our vile bodies, 
that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to 
the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto him- 
self," Phil. iii. 21. 

And these are some of the principal instances of the operation 
of the Holy Spirit on the human nature of the Head of the church. 
The whole of them all, I confess, is a work that we can look but 
little into ; only what is plainly revealed we . desire to receive and 
embrace, considering that if we are his, we are predestinated to be 
made conformable in all things unto him, and that by the power- 
ful and effectual operation of that Spirit which thus wrought all 
things in him, to the glory of God. And as it is ^ matter of unspeak- 
able consolation unto us to consider what hath been done in and 
upon our nature by the application of the love and grace of God 
through his Spirit unto it; so it is of great advantage, in that it 
directs our faith and supplications in our endeavours after conformity 
with him, which is our next end, under the enjoyment of God in 
glory. What, therefore, in these matters we apprehend, we embrace ; 
and for the depth of them, they are the objects of our admiration and 
praise. 

II. There is yet another work of the Holy Spirit, not immedi- 
ately in and upon the person of the Lord Christ, but toiuards him, 
and on his behalf, with respect unto his work and office; and it 
compriseth the head and fountain of the whole office of the Holy 
Spirit towards the church. This was his witness-bearing unto the 
Lord Christ, — namely, that he was the Son of God, the true Messiah, 



1S4 WORK OF THE HOLY SrirJT IX AND ON [BOOK IL 

aud tli.at the work whicli he performed in the world was committed 
unto him by God the Father to accomplish. And this same work he 
continueth to attend unto unto this day, and will do so to the consum- 
mation of all things. It is known how the Lord Christ was reproached 
Avhilst he was in this world, and how ignominiously he was sent out of 
it by death. Hereon a great contest ensued amongst mankind, where- 
in heaven and hell were deeply engaged. The greatest part of the 
world, the princes, rulers, and wise men of it, affirmed that he was 
an impostor, a seducer, a malefactor, justly punished for his evil 
deeds. He, on the other side, chose twelve apostles to bear testi- 
mony unto the holiness of his life, the truth and purity of his doc- 
trine, the accomplishment of the prophecies of the Old Testament in 
his birth, life, work, and death ; and, in especial, unto his resurrection 
from the dead, whereby he was justified and acquitted from all the 
reproaches of hell and the world, aud their calumnies refelled. But 
what could the testimony of twelve poor men, though never so honest, 
prevail against the confronting suffrage of the world? Wherefore, 
this work of bearing witness unto the Lord Christ was committed 
unto Him who is above and over all, who knoweth how, and is able, 
to make his testimony prevalent: John xv. 26, "When the Com- 
forter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the 
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of 
me." Accordingly, the apostles plead his concurring testimony: 
Acts v. 32, "We are his witnesses of these things; and so also is 
the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.'' 
And how he thus gave his testimony our apostle declares, Heb. ii. 4, 
" God also bearing witness with them" (that is, the apostles), " both 
with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the 
Holy Spirit, according to his own will." The first principal end why 
God gave the Holy Spirit to work all those miraculous effects in 
them that believed in Jesus, was, to bear witness unto his person that 
he was indeed the Son of God, owned and exalted by him; for no 
man not utterly forsaken of all reason and understanding, not utterly 
blinded, would once imagine that the Holy Spirit of God would work 
such marvellous operations in and by them who believed on him, if 
he designed not to justify his person, work, and doctrine thereby. 
And this in a short time, together with that effectual power which 
he put forth in and by the preaching of the word, carried not only 
his vindication against all the machinations of Satan and his instru- 
ments throughout the world, but also subdued the generality of man- 
kind unto faith in him and obedience unto him, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. And 
upon this testimony it is that there is real faith in him yet main- 
tained in the world. This is that which he promised unto his dis- 
ciples whilst he was yet with them in the world, when their hearts 



CHAP. IV.] THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 185 

were solicitous how they should bear up against their adversaries 
upon his absence. " I will," saith he, " send the Comforter unto you. 
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of riohte- 
ousness, and of judgment : of sin, because they believe not on me ; 
of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 
of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged," John xvi. 
7-11. The reason why the world believed not on Christ was, })ecause 
they believed not that he was sent of God, chap. ix. 29. By his testi- 
mony the Spirit was to reprove the world of their infidelity, and to 
convince them of it by evidencing the truth of his mission; for hereon 
the whole issue of the controversy between him and the world did 
depend. Whether he were righteous or a deceiver was to be deter- 
mined by his being sent or not sent of God; and, consequently, God's 
acceptance or disapprobation of him. That he was so sent, so ap- 
proved, the Holy Spirit convinced the world by his testimony, mani- 
festing that he " went to the Father," and was exalted by him; for 
it was upon his ascension and exaltation that he received and poured 
out the promise of the Spirit to this purpose. Acts ii. 83. Moreover, 
whilst he was in the world there was an unrighteous judgment, by 
the instigation of Satan, passed upon him. On this testimony of the 
Spirit, that judgment was to be reversed, and a contrary sentence 
passed on the author of it, the prince of this world ; for by the gospel 
so testified unto was he discovered, convicted, judged, condemned, 
and cast out of that power and rule in the world which, by the dark- 
ness of the minds of men within and idolatry without, he had ob- 
tained and exercised. And that the Holy Spirit continueth to do 
the same work, though not absolutely by the same means, unto this 
very day, shall be afterward declared. 

And by these considerations may we be led into that knowledge 
of and acquaintance with our Lord Jesus Christ, which is so neces- 
sary, so useful, and so much recommended unto us in the Scripture. 
And the utter neglect of learning the knowledge of Christ, and of 
the truth as it is in him, is not more pernicious unto the souls of men 
than is the learning of it by undue means, whereby false and mis- 
chievous ideas or representations of him are infused into the minds 
of men. The Papists would learn and teach him by images, the 
work of men's hands, and teachers of lies: for besides that tliey are 
forbidden by God himself to be used unto any such purposes, and 
therefore cursed with barrenness and uselessness, as to any end of 
faith or holiness, they are in themselves suited only to jngenerate 
low and carnal thoughts in depraved superstitious minds; for as 
the worshippers of such images know not what is the proper cause 
nor the proper object of that reverence and those affections they 
.find in themselves, when they approach unto them and, adore be- 



186 WOKK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND ON [BOOK TI. 

fore them, so the apprehensions which they can have hereby tend 
but to the " knowing after the flesh/' which the apostle looked on as 
no part of his duty, 2 Cor. v. 16. But the glory of the human na- 
ture, as united unto the person of the Son of God, and engaged in 
the discharge of his office of mediator, consists alone in these emi- 
nent, peculiar, ineffable communications of the Spirit of God unto 
him, and his powerful operations in him ; this is represented unto us 
in tlie glass of the gospel, which we beholding by faith, are changed 
into the same ima^e by the same Spirit, 2 Cor. iii. 18. 

Our Lord Christ himself did foretell us that there would be great 
inquiries after him, and that great deceits would be immixed there- 
withal, " If," saith he, " they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the 
desert, go not forth : behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it 
not," Matt. xxiv. 26. It is not a wilderness, low, persecuted, inglo- 
rious, and invisible condition, as to outward profession, that our 
Saviour here intendeth: for himself foretold that his church should 
be driven into the wilderness, and nourished there, and that for a 
long season, Rev. xii. 6; and where his church is, there is Christ, 
for his promise is, to be with them and among them unto the end of 
the world, Matt, xxviii. 20. Nor by "secret chambers" doth he intend 
those private places of meeting for security which all his disciples, 
for some hundreds of years, were compelled unto and did make use 
of, after his apostles, who met sometimes in an upper room, some- 
times in the night, for fear of the Jews ; and such, it is notorious, were 
all the meetings of the primitive Christians. But our Saviour here 
foretells the false ways that some would pretend he is taught by and 
found in ; for, first, some would say he was h rfl sprj/xu, " in the desert" 
or wilderness, and if men would go forth thither, there they would 
see him and find him. And there is nothing intended hereby but 
the ancient superstitious monks, who, under a pretence of religion, 
retired themselves into deserts and solitary places; for there they 
pretended great intercourse with Christ, great visions and appear- 
ances of him, being variously deluded and imposed on by Satan and 
their own imaginations. It is ridiculous on the one hand, and de- 
plorable on the other, to consider the woful follies, delusions, and 
superstitions this sort of men fell into ; yet was in those days no- 
thing more common than to say that Christ was in the desert, con- 
versing with the monks and anchorites. " Go not forth imto them," 
saith our Lord Christ; "for in so doing ye will be deceived." And 
again saith he, " If they say unto you, He is h 7o7g raiMuoig, in the 
secret chambers, believe it not." There is, or I am much deceived, 
a deep and mysterious instruction in these words. Ta/A£/a signifies 
those secret places in a house where bread and wine and cates^ of all 
* Gates, viands. — Ed. 



CHAP. IV.] THE HUMAN NATURE OF ClirvIST. 187 

sorts are laid up and stored. This is the proper signification and use 
of the word. What pretence, then, could there be for any to say that 
Christ was in such a place? Why, there ensued so great a pretence 
hereof, and so horrible a superstition thereon, that it was of divine 
wisdom to foresee it, and of divine goodness to forewarn us of it; for 
it is nothing but the popish figment of transubstantiation that is in- 
tended. Christ must be in the secret places where their wafer and 
wine were deposited, — that is, h roTc ra/xsioig. Concerning this, saith 
our Saviour, " Believe them not." All crafts, and frauds, and bloody 
violences, will be used to compel you to believe a Christ in the pix 
and repository ; but, if you would not be seduced, " believe them not." 
Such are the false ways whereby some have pretended to teach 
Christ and to learn him, which have led them from him into hurt- 
ful snares and perdition. The consideration that we have insisted 
on will guide us, if attended to, unto a spiritual and saving know- 
ledge of him. And we are to learn thus to know him, — 

First, That we may love him with a pure unmixed love. It is 
true, it is the person of Christ as God and man that is the proper 
and ultimate object of our love towards him ; but a clear distinct 
consideration of his natures and their excellencies is effectual to stir 
up and draw forth our love towards him. So the spouse in the 
Canticles, rendering a reason of her intense affections towards him, 
says that "he is white and ruddy, the chiefest of ten thousand;" 
that is, perfect in the beauty of the graces of the Holy Spirit, which 
rendered him exceeding amiable. So also Ps. xlv. 2. W^ould you, 
therefore, propose Christ unto your affections, so as that your love 
unto him may be sincere and without corruption, as it is required to 
be, Eph. vi. 24, that you may not lavish away the actings of your 
souls upon a false object, and think you love Christ, when you love 
only the imaginations of your own breasts? — consider his human 
nature, as it was rendered beautiful and lovely by the work of the 
Spirit of God upon it, before described. Do you love him because 
he was and is so full of grace, so full of holiness, because in him there 
was an all-fulness of the graces of the Spirit of God? Consider 
aright what hath been delivered concerning him, and if you can and 
do, on the account thereof, delight in him and love him, your love 
is genuine and spiritual ; but if your love be merely out of an ap- 
prehension of his being now glorious in heaven, and there able to 
do you good or evil, it differs not much from that of the Papists, 
whose love is much regulated in its actings by the good or bad 
painting of the images whereby they represent him. You are often 
pressed to direct your love unto the person of Christ, and it is that 
which is your principal duty in this world; but this you cannot do 
without a distinct notion and knowledge of him. There are, there- 



188 THE GENERAL WOEK OF THE HOLY SriRIT [bOOK IL 

fore, tlireo tilings in general that you are to consider to this pur- 
pose; — 1, The blessed union of his two natures in the same person. 
Herein he is singular, God having taken that especial state on him, 
which in no other thing or way had any consideration. This, there- 
fore, is to have a specialty in our divine love to the person of Christ. 
2. The uncreated glories of the divine nature, whence our love hath 
the same object with that which we owe unto God absolutely. 3. 
That perfection ojidi fulness of grace which dwelt in his human nature, 
as communicated unto him by the Holy Spirit, whereof we have 
treated. If we love the person of Christ, it must be on these con- 
siderations ; which whilst some have neglected, they have doted on 
their own imaginations, and whilst they have thought themselves even 
sick of love for Christ, they have only languished in their own fancies. 

Secondly, We are to know Christ so as to labour after conformity 
unto him. And this conformity consists only in a participation ot 
those graces whose fulness dwells in him. We can, therefore, no other 
way regularly press after it, but by an acquaintance with and due 
consideration of the work of the Spirit of God upon his human 
nature ; which is therefore worthy of our most diligent inquiry into. 

And so have we given a brief delineation of the dispensation and 
work of the Holy Spirit in and towards the person of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the head of the church. His preparation of a mystical body 
for him, in his powerful gracious work on the elect of God, doth 
nextly ensue. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE NEW CREATION 

WITH RESPECT UNTO THE MEMBERS OF THAT BODY 

WHEREOF CHRIST IS THE HEAD. 

Christ the head of the new creation — Things premised in general unto the re- 
maining work of the Spirit— Things presupposed unto the work of the Spirit 
towards the church— The love and grace of Father and Son— The whole work 
of the building of the church committed to the Holy Spirit— Acts ii. 33 
J opened— The foundation of the church in the promise of the Spirit, and its 
building by him alone— Christ present with his church only by his Spirit- 
Matt, xxviii. 19,20; Acts i. 9,10,iii. 21; Matt, xviii. 19,20; 2 Cor. vi. 16; I Cor. 
iii. 16, compared— The Holy Spirit works the work of Christ— John xvi 13-15 
opened— The Holy Spirit the peculiar author of all grace— The Holv Spirit 
worketh all this according to his own will— 1. His will and pleasure "is in all 
his works— 2. He works variously as to the kinds and degrees of his opera- 
tions— How he may be resisted, how not— How the saiuj work is ascribed 
unto the Spirit distinctly, and to others with him— The general heads of his 
operations towards the church. 

We liave considered the work of the Spirit of God in his laying 
the foundation of the church of the New Testament, by his dispensa- 



CHAP, v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 189 

tions towards the head of it, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the foun- 
dation-stone of this building, with seven eyes engraven on him, or 
filled with an absolute perfection of all the gifts and graces of the 
Spirit, Zech. iii. 9, which when he is exalted also as "the head- 
stone of the corner," there are shoutings in heaven and earth, crying, 
"Grace, grace unto him!" chap. iv. 7. As upon the laying of the 
foundation and placing of the corner-stone of the earth in the old 
creation, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God 
shouted for joy," Job xxxviii. 6, 7; so upon the laying of this foun- 
dation, and placing of this comer-stone in the new creation, all 
things sing together and cry, "Grace, grace unto it!" The same 
hand which laid this foundation doth also finish the building. The 
same Spirit which was given unto him, "not by measure," John iii, 
34, giveth grace unto every one of us, "according to the measure of 
the gift of Christ," Eph. iv. 7. And this falleth now under our con- 
sideration, — namely, the perfecting the work of the new creation by 
the effectual operation and distributions of the Spirit of God. And 
this belongs unto the establishment of our faith, that he who pre- 
pared, sanctified, and glorified the human nature, the natural body 
of Jesus Christ, the head of the church, hath undertaken to prepare, 
sanctify, and glorify his mystical body, or all the elect given unto 
him of the Father. Concerning which, before we come to consider 
particular instances, some things in general must be premised, which 
are these that follow: — 

First, Unto the work of the Holy Spirit towards the church some 
things are supposed, from whence it proceeds, which it is built upon 
and resolved into. It is not an original but a perfecting work. Some 
things it supposeth, and bringeth all things to perfection ; and these 
are, — 

1. The love, grace, counsel, and eternal purpose of the Father; 
2. The whole work of the mediation of Jesus Christ, (which things 
I have handled elsewhere ;) — for it is the peculiar work of the Holy 
Spirit to make those things of the Father and Son effectual unto 
the souls of the elect, to the praise of the glory of the grace of God. 
God doth all things for himself, and his supreme end is the mani- 
festation of his own glory. And in the old or first creation, he seems 
principally, or firstly, to intend the demonstration and exaltation of 
the glorious essential properties of his nature, his goodness, power, 
wisdom, and the like, as Ps. xix. 1-4, Kom. i. 19-21, Acts xiv. 
15-17, xvii. 24-28; leaving only on the works of his hands some 
obscure impressions of the distinction of persons, subsisting in the 
unity of that Being whose properties he had displayed and glorified. 
But in the work of the new creation, God firstly and principally in- 
tends the especial revelation of each person of the whole Trinity 



100 THE GENERAL WOKK OF THE HOLY SriRTT [BOOK TL 

distinctly, in their peculiar distinct operations; all which tend ulti- 
mately to the manifestation of the glory of his nature also. And 
herein consists the principal advantage of the New Testament above 
the Old ; for although the work of the new creation was begun and 
carried on secretly and virtually under the Old Testament, yet they 
had not a full discovery of the economy of the holy Trinity therein, 
which was not evidently manifest until the whole work was illus- 
triously brought to light by the gospel. Hence, although there 
appear a vigorous acting of faith and ardency of affection in the 
approaches of the saints unto God under the Old Testament, yet as 
unto a clear access to the Father through the Son by the Spirit, 
as Eph. ii. 18, wherein the life and comfort of our communion with 
God do consist, we hear nothing of it. Herein, therefore, God 
plainly declares that the foundation of the whole was laid in the 
counsel, will, and grace of the Father, chap. i. S-6; then that the 
making way for the accomplishing of that counsel of his, so that it 
might be brought forth to the praise of his glory, is by the media- 
tion of the Son, God having designed in this work to bring things 
no about, that "all men should honour the Son, even as they honour 
the Father," John v. 23. There yet remains the actual application 
of all to the souls of men, that they may be partakers of the grace 
designed in the counsel of the Father, and prepared in the media- 
tion of the Son; and herein is the Holy Spirit to be manifested 
and glorified, that he also, together with the Father and the Son, 
may be known, adored, worshipped, according unto his own will. 
Tliis is the work that he hath undertaken. And hereon, upon the 
solemn initiation of any person into the covenant of God, in answer 
unto this design and work, he is baptized into " the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," Matt, xxviii. 19. 
And these things have been discoursed of before, though necessarily 
here called over again. 

Secondly, From the 7iature and order of this work of God it is, 
that after the Son was actually exhibited in the flesh, according to 
the promise, and had fulfilled what he had taken upon him to do in 
his own person, the great promise of carrying on and finishing the 
whole work of the grace of God in our salvation concerns the send- 
ing of the Holy Spirit to do and perform what he also had under- 
taken.^ Thus, when our Lord Jesus Christ was ascended into heaven, 
and began conspicuously and gloriously to carry on the building of 
IjIs church upon himself, the rock and foundation of it, it is said, 
that, " being by the right hand of God exalted, he received of the 

Kcu fid-yirra. yi to a-rr\itvtn roSf iya-rXatrfivras red ayiair/zov, xa) hafiini* \y rj) 
avKTXdini, t5; row Tavccy'iai, vnifi-arif \tr<Ti hficufyMi t« Kai <ruvovSf.— JobiuS apui 

1 iailium. lib. cxxii. 



CHAP, v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 101 

Father the promise of the Holy Spirit," Acts ii. 33; which must be 
a little opened: — 1. Before he departed from his disciples, as hath 
been mentioned on several occasions, he comforted and cheered their 
drooping spirits with the promise of sending him unto them, which 
he often repeated and inculcated on their minds, John xiv. 15-17. 
And, 2. When he was actually leaving them, after his resurrec- 
tion, he gives them order to sit still, and not to engage in the public 
work of building the church, whereunto he had designed them, until 
that promise were actually accomplished towards them: Acts i. 4, 
" Being assembled together with them, he commanded them that 
they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of 
the Father;" and verse 8, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy 
Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in 
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utmost 
I)art of the earth." He would have them look neither for assistance 
in their work, nor success unto it, but from the promised Spirit 
alone ; and lets them know, also, that by his aid they should be en- 
abled to carry their testimony of him to the uttermost parts of the 
earth. And herein lay, and herein doth lie, the foundation of the 
ministry of the church, as also its continuance and efficacy. The 
kingdom of Christ is spiritual, and, in the animating principles of it, 
invisible. If we fix our minds only on outward order, we lose the 
rise and power of the whole. It is not an outward visible ordination 
by men, — though that be necessary, by rule and precept, — but Christ's 
communication of that Spirit, the everlasting promise whereof he 
received of the Father, that gives being, life, usefulness, and success, 
to the ministry. Wherefore, also, 3. Upon his ascension, in the 
accomplishment of the great promises given unto the church under the 
Old Testament, Isa. xliv. 3, Joel ii. 28, 29, as also of his own, newly 
given unto his disciples, he pourecTforth his Spirit on them. This 
the apostle Peter declares in this place : " Being exalted by the right 
hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the 
Holy Spirit, he shed forth what they then saw and heard," in the 
miraculous operations and effects of it. And he is said then to re- 
ceive the promise of the Father, because he then received the thing 
promised. The promise was not then first given unto him, nor did 
he then receive it for himself; for as the promise was given long 
before, so in his own person he had received the fulness of the Spirit 
from his incarnation, as hath been declared : but now he had power 
given him actually to fulfil and accomplish the promise in the colla- 
tion of the thing promised, and is thence said to receive the promise. 
So Heb. xi. 1 3, 39, it is said of all believers under the Old Testa- 
ment, that they " died in faith, not having received the promise;'* 
that is, the thing promised was not actually exhibited in their days^ 



102 THE GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [rOOK II. 

though thoy had the promise of it, as it is expressly said of Abra- 
liani, chap. vii. 6. The promise, therefore, itself was given unto the 
Lord Christ, and actually received by him in the covenant of the 
mediator, when he undertook the great work of the restoration of 
all things, to the glory of God; for herein had he the engagement of 
the Father that the Holy Spirit should be poured out on the sons of 
men, to make effectual unto their souls the whole work of his medi- 
ation: wherefore, he is said now to "receive this promise," because 
on his account, and by him as exalted, it was now solemnly accom- 
plished in and towards the church. In the same manner the same 
thing is described, Ps. Ixviii. 18, "Thou hast ascended on high, thou 
hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts for men;" which 
is rendered, Eph. iv. 8, "Thou hast given gifts unto men:" for he 
received the promise at this time only to give out the Spirit and his 
gifts unto men. And if any are so fond as to expect strength and 
assistance in the work of the ministry without him, or such success 
in their labours as shall find acceptance with God, they do but de- 
ceive their own souls and others. 

Here lay the foundation of the Christian church : The Lord Christ 
had called his apostles to the great work of building his church, and 
the propagation of his gospel in the world. Of themselves, they 
were plainly and openly defective in all qualifications and abilities 
that might contribiite any thing thereunto. But whatever is want- 
ing in themselves, whether light, wisdom, authority, knowledge, 
utterance, or courage, he promiseth to supply them withal. And 
this he would not do, nor did, any otherwise but by sending the 
Holy Spirit unto them ; on whose presence and assistance alone de- 
pended the whole success of their ministry in the world. It was 
" through the Holy Ghost that he gave commandments unto them," 
Acts i. 2. Those commandments concern the whole work in preach- 
ing the gospel and founding of the church; and these he gives unto 
them through the actings of divine wisdom in the human nature by 
the Holy Ghost. And on their part, without his assistance he for- 
bids them to attempt any thing, verses 4, 8. In this promise, 
then, the Lord Christ founded the church itself, and by it he builded 
it up. And this is the hinge whereon the whole weight of it doth 
turn and depend unto this day. Take it away, suppose it to cease 
as unto a continual accomplishment, and there will be an abso- 
lute end of the church of Christ in this world ; — no dispensation of 
the Spirit, no church. He that would utterly separate the Spirit 
from the word had as good burn his Bible. The bare letter of the 
New Testament will no more ingenerate faith and obedience in the 
souls of men, no more constitute a church-state among them who 
enjoy it, than the letter of the Old Testament doth so at this day 



CHAP, v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 1.03 

among the Jews, 2 Cor. iii. 6, 8. But blessed be God, who hath knit 
these things together towards his elect, in the bond of an everlasting 
covenant! Isa. lix. 21. Let men, therefore, cast themselves into 
what order they please, institute what forms of government and re- 
ligious worship they think good ; let them do it either by an attend- 
ance according unto the best of their understandings unto the letter ■ 
of the Scripture, or else in an exercise of their own wills, wisdom, 
and invention, — if the work of the Spirit of God be disowned or dis- 
claimed by them, if there be not in them and upon them such a work 
of his as he is promised [for] by our Lord Jesus Christ, there, is no 
church-state amongst them, nor as such is it to be owned or esteemed. 
And on the ministry and the church do all ordinary communications 
of grace from God depend. 

Thirdly, It is the Holy Spirit who supplies the bodily absence of 
Christ, and by him doth he accomplish all his promises to the 
church. Hence, some of the ancients call him " Vicarium Christi," 
" The vicar of Christ," or him who represents his person, and dis- 
chargeth his promised work : Operam navat Ghristo vicariam. When 
our Lord Jesus was leaving the world, he gave his disciples command 
to "preach the gospel," Mark xvi. 15, and to " disciple all nations" 
into the faith and profession thereof. Matt, xxviii. 19. For their en- 
couragement herein, he promiseth his own presence with them in 
their whole work, wherever any of them should be called unto it, 
and that whilst he would have the gospel preached on the earth. So 
saith he, " I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," or 
the consummation of all things, verse 20. Immediately after he 
had thus spoken unto them, " while they beheld, he was taken up, 
and a cloud received him out of their sight," and they " looked stead- 
fastly toward heaven as he went up," Acts i. 9, 10. Where now is 
the accomplishment of his promise that he would be with them unto 
the end of all things, wliich was the sole encouragement he gave 
them unto their great undertaking? It may be that after this his 
triumphant ascension into heaven, to take possession of his kingdom 
and glory, he came again unto them, and made his abode with them. 
"No," saith Peter; "the heaven must receive him until the times of 
restitution of all things," Acts iii. 21. How, then, is this promise 
of his made good, which had such a peculiar respect unto the ministry 
and ministers of the gospel, that without it none can ever honestly 
or conscientiously engage in the dispensation of it, or expect the least 
success upon their so doing? Besides, he had promised unto the 
church itself, that " wherever two or three were gathered together 
in his name, that he would be in the midst of them," Matt, xviii. 
19, 20. Hereon do all their comforts and all their acceptance with 
God depend. I say, all these promises are perfectly fulfilled by his 
VOL. II J 13 



194 THE GENERAL WOEK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK IL 

sending of the Holy Spirit. In and by him he is" present with his 
disciples in their ministry and their assemblies. And whenever Christ 
leaves the world, the church must do so too ; for it is his presence 
alone which puts men into that condition, or invests them with that 
privilege: for so he saith, " I will dwell in them, and walk in 
them ; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people," 2 Cor. 
vi. 16; Lev. xxvi. 1 2. Their being the " people of God," so as there- 
withal to be " the temple of the living God," — that is, to be brought 
into a sacred church-state for his worship, — depends on his " dwelling 
in th^m and walking in them." And this he doth by his Spirit alone; 
for, " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the 
Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" 1 Cor. iii. 16. He, therefore, so far 
represents the person, and supplies the bodily absence of Christ, that 
on his presence the being of the church, the success of the ministry, 
and the edification of the whole, do absolutely depend. And this, if 
any thing in the whole gospel, deserves our serious consideration ; 
for, — 1. The Lord Jesus hath told us that his presence with us by 
his Spirit is better and more expedient for us than the continuance 
of his bodily presence. Now, who is there that hath any affection 
for Christ but thinks that the carnal presence of the human nature 
of Christ would be of unspeakable advantage unto him? And so, 
no doubt, it would, had any such thing been designed or appointed 
in the wisdom and love of God. But so it is not ; and, on the other 
side, we are commanded to look for more advantage and benefit by 
his spiritual presence with us, or his presence with us by the Holy 
Ghost. It is, therefore, certainly incumbent on us to inquire dili- 
gently what valuation we have hereof, and what benefit we have 
hereby; for if we find not that we really receive grace, assistance, 
and consolation, from this presence of Christ with us, we have no 
benefit at all by him nor from him, for he is now no otherwise for 
these ends with any but by his Spirit. And this they will one day 
find whose profession is made up of such a sottish contradiction as 
to avow an honour for Jesus Christ, and yet blaspheme his Spirit in 
all his holy operations. 2. The Lord Christ havmg expressly pro- 
mised to be present with us to the end of all things, there are great 
inquiries how that promise is accomplished. Some say he is present 
with us by his ministers and ordinances; but how, then, is he present 
with those ministers themselves, unto whom the promise of his pre- 
sence is made in an especial manner? The Papists would have him 
carnally and bodily present in the sacrament; but he himself hath 
told us that. " the flesh," in such a sense, " profiteth nothing," John 
vi. 63, and that it is the " Spirit alone that quickeneth." The 
Lutherans fancy an omnipresence, or ubiquity of his human nature, 
]jy virtue of its personal union; but this is "destructive of that na- 



CHAP, v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 195 

ture itself, which being made to be everywhere, as such a nature, is 
truly nowhere ; and the most learned among them are ashamed of 
this imagination. The words of Schmidt on Eph. iv. 10, "ivot, -rkripugn 
TO, '^rdvra, are worthy of consideration: — "Per rd crdi/ra, aliqui intelli- 
gunt totum mundum, seu totum universum hoc, exponuntque ut omni- 
pra3sentia sua omnibus in mundo locis adesset, loca omnia implendo: 
et hi verbum 'rMpuari de physica et crassa impletione accipiunt; 
quam tamen talis irXfipuatg seu impletio locorum in mundo omnium 
quae vel expansionem corpoream in quantitate continua, vel multi- 
plication em, imo infinitam multitudinem unius ejusdemque corporis 
in discreta prsesupponit, et ex humana speculatione orta est, falsoque 
nostris ecclesiis affingitur" (wherein yet he confesseththat it is taught) ; 
"ne cogitanda quidem sit pio homini ; sed potius omniprsesentia Christi 
hominis — uti promissa est, modo nobis ineffabili credi, et multo cer- 
tius aliunde sciri possit ex ipsius promissione," Matt, xxviii. 20. This 
way, as we say with the Scripture, is by his Spirit, the perfect 
manner of whose presence and operation is ineffable. 

Fourthly, As he represents the person and supplies the room and 
place of Jesus Christ, so he worketh and effecteth whatever the 
Lord Christ hath taken upon himself to work and effect towards his 
disciples. "Wherefore, as the work of the Son was not his own work, 
but rather the " work of the Father who sent him," and in Avhose 
name he performed it, so the w^ork of the Holy Spirit is not his own 
work, but rather the work of the Son, by whom he is sent, and in 
whose name he doth accomplish it: John xvi. 13-15, " Howbeit 
when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: 
for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that 
shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall 
glorify me : for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. 
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he 
shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." He comes to reveal 
and communicate truth and grace to the disciples of Christ ; and in his 
so doing he " speaks not of himself," that is, of himself only. He comes 
not with any absolute new dispensation of truth or grace, distinct or 
different from that which is in alid by the Lord Christ, and which 
they had heard from him. The Holy Spirit being promised unto 
the disciples, and all their work and duty being suspended on the 
accomplishment of that piomise, whereas he is God, they might 
suppose that he would come with some absolute new dispensation of 
truth, so that what they had learned and received from Christ should 
pass away and be of no use unto them. To prevent any such ap- 
prehension, he lets them know that the work he had to do was only 
to carry on and build on the foundation which was laid in his per- 
son or doctrine, or the truth which he had revealed from the bosom 



196 THE GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [eOOK IL 

of the Father. And, — 1. This I take to be the meaning of that 
expression, "He shall not speak of himself;" — " He shall reveal no 
other truth, communicate no other grace, but what is in, from, and 
by myself." This was the Holy Spirit to do ; and this he did. And 
hereby may we try every spirit whether it be of God. That spirit 
which revealeth any thing, or pretendeth to reveal any thing, any 
doctrine, any grace, any truth, that is contrary unto, that is not con- 
sonant to, yea, that is not the doctrine, grace, or truth of Christ, as 
now revealed in the word, that brings any thing new, his own, or of 
himself, that spirit is not of God. So it is added, — 2. " Whatsoever 
he shall hear, that shall he speak." This which he hears is the whole 
counsel of the Father and the Son concerning the salvation of the 
church. And how is he said to " hear" it? which word, in its pro- 
per signification, hath no place in the mutual internal actings of the 
divine persons of the holy Trinity. Being the Spirit of the Father and 
the Son, proceeding from both, he is equally participant of their coun- 
sels. So the outward act of hearing is mentioned as the sign of his 
infinite knowledge of the eternal counsels of the Father and Son ; he is 
no stranger unto them. And this is a general rule, — That those words 
which, with respect unto us, express the means of any thing, as ap- 
plied unto God, intend no more but the signs of it. Hearing is the 
means whereby we come to know the mind of another who is distinct 
from us ; and when God is said to hearken or hear, it is a sign of his 
knowledge, not the means of it. So is the Holy Spirit said to "hear" 
those things, because he knows them; as he is also on the same 
account said to " search the deep things of God." Add hereunto that 
the counsel of these things is originally peculiar to the Father, and 
unto him it is everywhere peculiarly ascribed; therefore is the par- 
ticipation of the Spirit therein as a distinct person called his hear- 
ing. Hereunto, 8. His great work is subjoined: " He," saith Christ, 
" shall glorify me." This is the design that he is sent upon, this is 
the work that he comes to do ; even as it was the design and work of 
Jesus Christ to glorify the Father, by whom he was sent. And this 
are they always to bear in mind who stand in need of or pray for his 
assistance in their work or office in the church of God : He is given 
;unto them, that through him they may give and bring glory to Jesus 
Christ. And, 4. How the Holy Spirit doth glorify the Lord Christ is 
also declared : "He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." 
The communication of sphitual things from Christ by the Spirit is 
here called "/tts receiving" of them; as the communication of the 
Spirit from the Father by the Lord Christ to his disciples is called 
" his receiving of the promise." The Spirit cannot receive any thing 
subjectively which he had not, as an addition unto him; it is there- 
fore the economy of these things that is here intended. He is not 



CHAP, v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 197 

said to receive tliem, as though before he had them not; for what 
can he who is God so receive? Only, when he begins to give them 
unto us, because they are pecuharly the things of Christ, he is said 
to receive them ; for we can give nothing of another's but what we 
receive of him. Good things are given unto us from Christ by the 
Spirit ; for so it is added, " And shall show them unto you ;" — " He 
shall make them known unto you; so declare them, and manifestly 
evidence them to you and in you, that ye shall understand and 
have experience of them in yourselves; show them by revelation, 
instructing you in them, by communication imparting them to you." 
And what are those things that he shall so declare? They are 
ra i/;t,a, " my things," saith our Saviour. The things of Christ may 
be referred unto two heads, — his truth and his grace, John i. 17. 
The first he shows by revelation, the latter by effectual communica- 
tion. His truth he showed unto them by revelation, as we have de- 
clared him to be the immediate author of all divine revelations. 
This he did unto the apostles by his inspirations, enabling them in- 
fallibly to receive, understand, and declare the whole counsel of God 
in Christ; for so, according unto the promise, he led them into all 
truth. And his grace he showed unto them in his pouring out both 
of his sanctifying graces and extraordinary gifts upon them in an 
abundant measure. And so he still continues to show the truth 
and grace of Christ unto all believers, though not in the same man- 
ner as unto the former, nor unto the same degree as unto the latter: 
for he shows unto us the " truth of Christ," or the truth that " came 
by Jesus Christ," by the word as written and preached, instructing 
us in it, and enlightening our minds spiritually and savingly to un- 
dei-stand the mind of God therein; and of his grace he imparts 
unto us in our sanctification, consolation, and communication of 
spiritual gifts, according unto the measure of the gift of Christ unto 
every one of us, as the present use of the church doth require; — which 
things must be afterward declared. 5. And the reason of the asser- 
tion is added in the last place : " All things that the Father hath are 
mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show 
it unto you." Two things may be observed in these words : — 

(1.) The extent of the things of Christ, which are to be showed unto 
believers by the Spirit; and they are, "All the things that the Father 
hath," "They are mine," saith our Saviour, And these " all things" 
may be taken either absolutely and personally, or with a restriction 
unto office. [1.] All things that the Father hath absolutely were the 
Son's also; for, receiving his personality from the Father, by the 
communication of the whole entire divine nature, all the things of 
the Father must needs be his. Thus, " as the Father hath life ia him- 
self, so hath he given unto the Son to have life in himself/' John 



158 THE GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK II. 

V. 26. And the like may be said of all other essential properties of the 
Godhead. [2.] But these seem not to be the "all things" here intended. 
They are not the "all things" of the divine nature, which he had by 
eternal generation, but the "all things" of spiritual grace and power, 
which he had by voluntary donation, Matt. xi. 27; John iii. 35, "The 
Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." 
That is, all the effects of the love, grace, and will of the Father, 
whatever he had purposed in himself from eternity, and whatever his 
infinite power and goodness would produce in the pursuit thereof, 
were all given and committed unto Jesus Christ. So all things that 
the Father hath were his. 

(2.) That these things may be rightly understood and apprehended, 
we must consider a tivofold operation of God as three in one. The 
first hereof is absolute in all divine works whatever; the other re- 
spects the economy of the operations of God in our salvation. In 
those of the first sort, both the working and the work do in common 
and undividedly belong unto and proceed from each person. And 
the reason hereof is, because they are all effects of the essential pro- 
perties of the same divine nature, which is in them all, or rather, 
which is the one nature of them all. But yet as they have one nature, 
so there is an order of subsistence in that nature, and the distinct per- 
sons work in the order of their subsistence: John v. 19, 20, " Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but 
what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these 
also doeth the Son likewise." The Father doth not first work in 
order of time, and then the Son, seeing of it, work another work like 
unto it ; but the Son doth the same work that the Father doth. This 
is absolutely necessary, because of their union in nature. But yet 
in the order of their subsistence, the person of the Father is the ori- 
ginal of all divine works, in the principle and beginning of them, and 
that in order of nature antecedently unto the operation of the Son. 
Hence he is said to "see" what the Father doth ; which, according unto 
our former rule in the exposition of such expressions, when ascribed 
unto the divine nature, is the sign and evidence, and not the means, 
of his knowledge. He sees what the Father doth, as he is his eternal 
Wisdom.' The like must be said of the Holy Spirit, with respect 
both unto the Father and Son. And this order of operation in the 
Holy Trinity is not voluntary, but natural and necessary from the one 
essence and distinct subsistences thereof. Secondly, There are those 
operations which, with respect unto our salvation, the Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit do graciously condescend unto, which are those 
treated of in this place. Now, though the designing of this work was 
absolutely voluntary, yet, upon a supposition thereof, the order of its 
accomplishment was made necessary from the order of the subsist- 



OHAP. v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 199 

ence of the distinct persons in tlie Deity ; and that is here declared. 
Thus, [1.] The things to be declared unto us and bestowed on us 
are originally the Fathe7''s things. He is the peculiar fountain of 
them all. His love, his grace, his wisdom, his goodness, his counsel, 
his will, are their supreme cause and spring. Hence are they said to 
be the " things that the Father hath." [2.] They are made the things 
of the Son, — that is, they are given and granted in and unto his dis- 
posal, — on the account of his mediation; for thereby they were to be 
prepared for us and given out unto us, to the glory of God. Answer- 
able hereunto, as the Lord Christ is mediator, all the things of grace 
are originally the Father's, and then given unto him. [3.] They are 
actually communicated vinio us by the Holy Spirit: "Therefore said 
I, he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you." He doth not 
communicate them unto us immediately from the Father. We do not 
so receive any grace from God, — that is, the Father; Bor do we so 
make any return of praise or obedience unto God. We have nothing 
to do with the person of the Father immediately. It is the Son 
alcne by whom we have an access unto him, and by the Son alone 
that he gives out of his grace and bounty unto us. He that hath 
not the Son hath not the Father. With him, as the great treasurer 
of heavenly things, are all grace and mercy intrusted. The Holy 
Spirit, therefore, shows them unto us, works them in us, bestows them 
on us, as they are the fruits of the mediation of Christ, and not merely 
as effects of the divine love and bounty of the Father; and this is 
required from the order of subsistence before mentioned. Thus the 
Holy Spirit supplies the bodily absence of Jesus Christ, and effects 
what he hath to do and accomplish towards his [people] in the world ; 
so that whatever is done by him, it is the same as if it were wrought 
immediately by the Lord Christ himself in his own person, whereby 
all his holy promises are fully accomplished towards them that believe. 
And this instructs us in the way and manner of that communion, 
which we have with God by the gospel; for herein the life, power, 
and freedom of our evangelical state do consist, and an acquaintance 
herewith gives us our translation " out of darkness into the mar- 
vellous light of God." The person of the Father, in his wisdom, 
will, and love, is the original of all grace and glory. But nothing 
hereof is communicated immediately unto us from him. It is from 
the Son, whom he loves, and hath given all things into his hand. 
He iKith made way for the communication of these things unto us, 
unto the glory of God ; and he doth it immediately by the Spirit, as 
hath been declared. Hereby are all our returns unto God to be re- 
gulated. The Father, who is the original of all grace and glory, is 
ultimately intended by us in our faith, thankfulness, and obedience ; 
yet not so but that the Son and Spirit are considered as one God 



200 THE GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [bOOK XL 

with liira. But we cannot address ourselves with any of them im- 
mediately imto him. " There is no going to the Father/' saith 
Christ, " but by me," John xiv. 6. " By him we believe in God," 
1 Pet. i. 21. But yet neither can we do so unless we are enabled 
thereunto by the Spirit, the author in us of faith, prayer, praise, 
obedience, and whatever our souls tend unto God by. As the~cZe- 
scending of God towards us in love and grace issues or ends in the 
work of the Spirit in us and on us, so all our ascending towards him 
begins therein; and as the first instance of the proceeding of grace 
and love towards us from the Father is in and by the Son, so the 
first step that we take towards God, even the Father, is in and by 
the Son. And these things ought to be explicitly attended unto by 
us, if we intend our faith, and love, and duties of obedience should 
be evangelical. Take an instance of the prayers of wicked men 
imder their convictions, or their fears, troubles, and dangers, and the 
prayers of believers. The former is merely vox natiircB clamantis 
ad Dominum naturce, — an outcry that distressed nature makes to 
the God of it, — and as such alone it considers him. But the other 
is vox Spiritus adoptionis clamantis per Christum, Ahha, Pater; 
it is the voice of the Spirit of adoption addressing itself in the hearts 
of believers unto God as a Father. And a due attendance unto 
this order of things gives life and spirit unto all that we have to do 
with God. Woe to professors of the gospel who shall be seduced to 
believe that all they have to do with God consists in their attend- 
ance unto moral virtue ! It is fit for them so to do who, being weary 
of Christianity, have a mind to turn Pagans. But " our fellowship is," 
in the way described, "with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." 
It is, therefore, of the highest importance unto us to inquire into and 
secure unto ourselves the promised workings of the Holy Spirit ; for 
by them alone are the love of the Father and the fruits of the media- 
tion of the Son communicated unto us, without which we have no 
interest in them, and by them alone are we enabled to make any 
acceptable returns of obedience unto God. It is sottish ignorance 
and infidelity to suppose that, under the gospel, there is no communi- 
cation between God and us but what is, on his part, in laws, com- 
mands, and promises; and on ours, by obedience performed in our 
strength,^ and upon our convictions unto them. To exclude hence 
the real internal operations of the Holy Ghost, is to destroy the gos- 
pel. And, as we shall see f^irther afterward, this is the true ground 
and reason why there is a sin against the Holy Spirit that is irre- 
missible: for he coming unto us to make application of the love of 
the Father and grace of the Son unto our souls, in the contempt of 
him there is a contempt of the whole actings of God towards us in a 
way of grace ; for which there can be no remedy. 



CHAP, v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 201 

Fifthly, Whereas the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace, and the 
immediate efficient cause of all grace and gracious effects in men 
wherever there is mention made of them or any fruits of them, it is 
to be looked on as a part of his work, though he be not expressly 
named, or it be not particularly attributed unto him. I know not 
well, or do not well understand, what some men begin to talk about 
moral virtue. Something they seem to aim at (if they would once leave 
the old Pelagian ambiguous expressions, and learn to speak clearly and 
intelligibly) that is in their own power, and so, consequently, [in the 
power] of all other men ; at least, it is so with an ordinary blessing 
upon their own endeavours : which things we must afterward inquire 
into. But for grace, I think all men will grant that, as to our parti- 
cipation of it, it is of the Holy Spirit, and of him alone. Now, grace 
is taken two ways in the Scripture: — 1. For the gracious free love 
and favour of God towards us ; and, 2. For gracious, free, effectual 
operations in us and upon us. In both senses the Holy Spirit is the 
author of it as unto us: in the first, as to its manifestation and ap- 
plication; in the latter, as to the operation itself. For although he 
be not the principal cause nor procurer of grace in the first sense, 
which is the free act of the Father, yet the knowledge, sense, com- 
fort, and all the fruits of it, are by him alone communicated unto 
us, as we shall see afterward ; and the latter is his proper and pecu- 
liar work. This, therefore, must be taken for granted, that wherever 
any gracious actings of God in or towards men are mentioned, it is 
the Holy Spirit who is peculiarly and principally intended. 

Sixthly, It must be duly considered, with reference unto the 
whole work of the Holy Spirit, that in whatever he doth, he acts, 
works, and distributes according to his own will. This our apostle 
expressly affirmeth. And sundry things of great moment do depend 
hereon in our walking before God; as, — 

1. That the will and pleasure of the Holy Spirit is in all the \ 
goodness, grace, love, and power, that he either communicates unto 
us or worketh in us. He is not as a mere instrument or servant, 
disposing of the things wherein he hath no concern, or over which {, 
he hath no power; but in all things he worketh towards us accord- 
ing to his own will. We are, therefore, in what we receive from 
him and by him, no less to acknowledge his love, kindness, and 
sovereign grace, than we do those of the Father and the Son. 

2. That he doth not work, as a natural agent, ad ultimum virium, 
to the utmost of his power, as though in all he did he came and did 
what he could. He moderates all his operations by his will and wis- 
dom. And, therefore, whereas some are said to "resist the Hoiy 
Ghost," Acts vii. 51, and so to frustrate his work towards them, it is 
not because they can do so absolutely, but only they can do so as to 



202 THE GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK IL 

some way, kind, or degree of Lis operations. Men may resist some 
sort or kind of means that he useth, as to some certain end and pur- 
pose, but they cannot resist him as to his purpose and the end he 
aims at; for he is God, and "who hath resisted his will?" Rom. ix. 
19. Wherefore, in any work of his, two things are to be considered: 
— (1.) What the means he maketh use of tend unto in their own 
nature; and, (2.) What he intends by it. The first may be resisted 
and frustrated, but the latter cannot be so. Sometimes in and by that 
word which in its own nature tends to the conversion of sinners, he 
intendeth by it only their hardening, Isa. vi. 9, 10; John xii. 40, 41 ; 
Acts xxviii. 26, 27; Rom. xi. 8; and he can, when he pleaseth, exert 
that power and efficacy in working as shall take away all resistance. 
Sometimes he will only take order for the preaching and dispensa- 
tion of the word unto men ; for this also is his work. Acts xiii. 2. 
Herein men may resist his work, and reject his counsel concerning 
themselves; but when he will put forth his power, in and by the 
word, to the creating of a new heart in men and the opening of the 
eyes of them that are blind, he doth therein so take away the prin- 
ciple of resistance, that he is not, that he cannot be, resisted. 

8. Hence, also, it follows that his works may be of various kinds, 
and that those which are of the same kind may yet be carried on 
unequally as to degrees. It is so in the operations of all voluntary 
agents, who work by choice and judgment. They are not confined 
to one sort of works, nor to the production of the same kind of effects; 
and where they design so to do, they moderate them as to degrees, 
according to their power and pleasure. Thus we shall find some of 
the works of the Holy Spirit to be such as may be perfect in their 
kind, and men may be made partakers of the whole end and inten- 
tion of them, and yet no saving grace be wrought in them; such are 
his works of illumination, conviction, and sundry others. Men, I 
say, may have a work of the Holy Spirit on their hearts and minds, 
and yet not be sanctified and converted unto God ; for the nature 
and^ kind of his works are regulated by his own will and purpose. If 
he intend no more but their conviction and illumination, no more 
shall be effected; for he works not by a necessity of nature, so that 
all his operations should be of the same kind, and have their espe- 
cial form from his nature, and not from his will. So, also, where he 
doth work the same effect in the souls of men, I mean the same in 
the kind of it, as in their regeneration he doth, yet he doth it by 
sundry means, and carrieth it on to a great inequality, as to the 
strengthening of its principle, and increase of its fruits unto holiness; 
and hence is that great difference as to light, holiness, and fruitful- 
ness, which we find among believers, although all alike partakers of 
the same grace for the kind thereof. The Holy Spirit worketh in 



CHAP, v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 203 

all these things according to his own will, whereof there neither is 
nor can be any other rule but his own infinite wisdom. And this is 
that which the apostle minds the Corinthians of, to take away ail 
emulation and envy about spiritual gifts, that every one should or- 
derly make use of what he had received to the profit and edification 
of others. " They are," saitli he, "given and distributed by the same 
Spirit, according to his own will, to one after one manner, unto an- 
other after another; so that it is an unreasonable thing for any to 
contend about them." 

But it may be said, " That if not only the working of grace in us, 
but also the effects and fruits of it, in all its variety of degrees, is to 
be ascribed unto the Holy Spirit and his operations in us according to 
his own will, then do we signify nothing ourselves; nor is there any 
need that we should either use our endeavours and diligence, or at 
all take any care about the furtherance or growth of holiness in us, 
or attend unto any duties of obedience. To what end and purpose, 
then, serve all the commands, threatenings, promises, and exhorta- 
tions of the Scripture, which are openly designed to excite and draw 
forth our own endeavours?" And this is indeed the principal diffi- 
culty wherewith some men seek to entangle and perplex the grace 
of God. But I answer, — 

1. Let men imagine what absurd consequences they please thereon, 
yet that the Spirit of God is the author and worker of all grace iu 
us, and of all the degrees of it, of all that is spiritually good iu us, 
is a truth which we must not forego, unless we intend to part with 
our Bibles also.: for in them we are taught "that in us, that is, 
in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing," Rom. vii. 18; that "we are 
not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but 
our sufficiency is of God," 2 Cor. iii. 5, " who is able to make all 
grace abound toward us, that we may always have all sufficiency in 
all things, abounding to every good work," chap. ix. 8; that "witli- 
out Christ we can do nothing," John xv, 5, " for it is God which 
worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure," Phil. ii. 
13. To grant, therefore, that there is any spiritual good in us, or 
any degree of it, that is not wrought in us by the Spirit of God, both 
overthrows the grace of the gospel and denies God to be the only, 
first, supreme, and chiefest good, as also the immediate cause of 
what is so ; which is to deny his very being. It is therefore certain, 
whatever any pretend, that nothing can hence ensue but what is 
true and good, and useful to the souls of men ; for from truth, esjje- 
cially such great and important truths, nothing else will follow. 

2. It is brutish ignorance in any to argue in the things of God, 
from the effectual operations of the Spirit, unto a sloth and negli- 
gence of our own duty. He that doth not know that God hath 



204) THE GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK II. 

promised to " work in us" in a way of grace what he requires from 
us in a way of duty, hath either never read the Bible or doth not 
beheve it, either never prayed or never took notice of what he prayed 
for. He is a heathen, he hath nothing of the Christian in him, who 
doth not pray that God would work in him what he requires of 
him. This we know, that what God commands and prescribes unto 
us, what he encourageth us unto, we ought with all diligence and 
earnestness, as we value our souls and their eternal welfare, to at- 
tend unto and comply withal. And we do know that whatever God 
hath promised he will do himself in us, towards us, and upon us, it 
is our duty to believe that he will so do. And to fancy an incon- 
sistency between these things is to charge God foolishly. 

3. If there be an opposition between these things, it is either be- 
cause the nature of man is not meet to be commanded, or because it 
needs not to be assisted. But that both these are false and vain 
suppositions shall be afterward declared. The Holy Spirit so worketh 
in us as that he worketh by us, and what he doth in us is done by 
us. Our duty it is to apply ourselves unto his commands, according 
to the conviction of our minds; and his work it is to enable us to 
perform them. 

4. He that will indulge, or can do so, unto sloth and negligence 
in himself, on the account of the promised working of the Spirit of 
grace, may look upon it as an evidence that he hath no interest or 
concern therein ; for he ordinarily giveth not out his aids aiid assist- 
ances anywhere but where he prepares the soul with diligence in 
duty. And whereas he acts us no otherwise but in and by the facul- 
ties of our own minds, it is ridiculous, and implies a contradiction, 
for a man to say he will do nothing, because the Spirit of God doth 
all ; for where he doth nothing, the Spirit of God doth nothing, un- 
less it be merely in the infusion of the first habit or principle of 
grace, whereof we shall treat afterward. 

5. For degrees of grace and holiness which are inquired after, 
they are peculiar unto believers. Now, these are furnished with an 
ability and power to attend unto and perform those duties whereon 
the increase of grace and hohness doth depend ; for although there 
is no grace nor degree ot grace or holiness in believers but what is 
wrought in them by the Spirit of God, yet, ordinarily and regularly, 
the increase and growth of grace, and their thriving in holiness and 
righteousness, depend upon the use and improvement of grace re- 
ceived, in a diligent attendance unto all those duties of obedience 
which are required of us, 2 Pet. I 5-7. And methinks it is the 
most unreasonable and sottish thing in the world, for a man to be 
slothful and negligent in attending unto those duties which God re- 
quireth of him, which all his spiritual growth depends upon, which 



CHAP, v.] IN THE NE-VT CREATION. 205 

the eternal welfare of his soul is concerned in, on pretence of the 
efficacious aids of the Spirit, without which he can do nothing, and 
which he neither hath nor can have whilst he doth nothing. 

Here lies the ground and foundation of our exercising faith in 
particular towards him, and of our acting of it in supplications and 
thanksgivings. His participation of the divine nature is the formal 
reason of our yielding unto him divine and religious worship in gene- 
ral; but his acting towards us according to the sovereignty of his 
own will is the especial reason of our particular addresses unto him 
in the exercise of grace, for we are baptized into his name also. 

Seventhly, We may observe that, in the actings and works of the 
Holy Spirit, some things are distinctly and separately ascribed unto 
him, although some things be of the same kind wrought by the per- 
son in and by whom he acts ; or, he is said at the same time to do the 
same thing distinctly by himself, and in and by others. So John 
XV. 26, 27: "I will," saith our Saviour, "send the Spirit of truth, 
and he shall testify of me, and ye also shall bear witness." The 
witness of the Spirit unto Christ is proposed as distinct and separate 
from the witness given by the apostles: " He shall testify of me, 
and ye also shall bear witness." And yet they also were enabled to 
give their witness by him alone. So it is expressly declared. Acts 
i. 8, " Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you ; and ye shall be witnesses unto me." Their witnessing unto 
Christ was the effect of the power of the Holy Spirit upon them, and 
the effect of his work in them ; and he himself gave no other testi- 
mony but in and by them. What, then, is the distinct testimony 
that is ascribed unto him? It must be somewhat that, in or by whom- 
soever it was wrought, did of its own nature discover its relation 
unto him as his work. So it was in this matter; for it was no other 
but those signs and wonders, or miraculous effects, which he wrought 
in the confirmation of the testimony given by the apostles, all which 
clearly evidenced their own original. So our apostle, Heb. ii. 3, 4. 
The word was " confirmed, cwi'Tri/ji.apTvpoiJvTOi rov Qsoi ornMuoig n %a} 
Tspaei," — " God co-witnessing by signs and wonders." He enabled 
the apostles to bear witness unto Christ by their preaching, suffer- 
ings, holiness, and constant testimony which they gave unto his re- 
surrection. But in this he appeared not, he evidenced not himself 
unto the world, though he did so in and by them in whom he 
wrought. But, moreover, he wrought such visible, miraculous works 
by them as evidenced themselves to be effects of his power, and were 
his distinct witness to Christ. So our apostle tells us, Rom. viii. 16, 
" The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the 
children of God." The witness which our own spirits do give unto 
our adoption is the work and effect of the Holy Spirit in us. If it 



20G GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ETC. [BOOK IL 

were not, it would be false, and not confirmed by the testimony of 
the Spirit himself, who is the Spirit of truth; and none " knoweth 
the things of God but the Spirit of God," 1 Cor. ii. 11. If he declare 
not our sonship in us and to us, we cannot know it. How, then, 
doth he bear witness with our spirits? what is his distinct testimony 
in this matter? It must be some such act of his as evidenceth itself 
to be from him immediately unto them that are concerned in it, — 
that is, those unto whom it is given. What this is in particular, and 
wherein it doth consist, we shall afterward inquire. So Rev. xxii. 1 7, 
" The Spirit and the bride say, Come." The bride is the church, 
and she prayeth for the coming of Christ. This she doth by his aid 
and assistance who is the Spirit of grace and supplications. And yet 
distinctly and separately the Spirit saith, " Come;" that is, he puts 
forth such earnest and fervent desires as have upon them an impres- 
sion of his immediate efficiency. So verse 20 carrieth the sense of 
the jalace, — namely, that it is Christ himself imto whom she says 
"Come;" or they pray for the hastening of his coming. Or they say 
"Come" unto others, in their invitation of them unto Christ, as the 
end of verse 17 seems to apply it: then is it the prayers and preach- 
ing of the church for the conversion of souls that is intended; and 
with both the Spirit works eminently to make them effectual. Or 
it may be, in this place, "the Spirit" is taken for the Spirit in the 
guides and leaders of the church. They, praying by his especial 
guidance and assistance, say, "Come;" or preachers say unto others, 
" Come ; " and " the bride," or the body of the church, acted by the 
same Spirit, joins with them in this great request and supplication. 
And thereunto all believers are invited in the following words: " And 
let him that heareth say. Come." 

All these things were necessary to be premised in general, as giv- 
ing some insight into the nature of the operations of the Holy Spirit 
iu us and towards us; and hereby we have made our way plain to 
the consideration of his especial works, in the calling, building, and 
carrying on the church unto perfection. Now, all his works of this 
kind may be reduced unto three heads: — 1. Of sanctifying grace; 
2. Of especial gifts; 3. Of peculiar evangelical privileges. Only, 
we must observe that these things are not so distinguished as to be 
negatively contradistinct to each other; for the same thing, under 
several considerations, may be all these, — a grace, a gift, and a privi- 
kge. All that I intend is to reduce the operations of the Holy 
Spirit unto these heads, casting each of them under that which it is 
most eminent in, and as which it is most diiectly proposed unto us; 
and I shall begin with his work of gi-ace. 



OHAr. I.] WOEK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ETC. 207 



BOOK III. 
CHAPTER I. 

WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE NEW CREATION BY 
REGENERATION. 

The new creation completed — Regeneration the especial work of the Holy Spirit 
— Wrought under the Old Testament, hut clearly revealed in the New; and 
is of the same kind in all that are regenerate, the causes and way of it 
being the same in all — It consisteth not in baptism alone, nor in a moral , 
reformation of life; but a new creature is formed in it, whose nature is 
declared, and farther explained — Denial of the original depravation of nature 
the cause of many noxious opinions — Regeneration consisteth not in en- 
thusiastic raptures; their nature and danger — The whole doctrine necessary, 
despised, corrupted, vindicated. 

"We have formerly declared the work of the Holy Spirit in pre- 
paring and forming the natural body of Christ. This was the be- 
ginning of the new creation, the foundation of the gospel state and 
church. But this was not the whole of the work he had to do. As 
he had provided and prepared the natural body of Christ, so he was 
to prepare his mystical body also. And hereby the work of the new 
creation was to be completed and perfected. And as it was with 
respect unto him and his work in the old creation, so was it also in 
the new. All things in their first production had darkness and death 
upon them ; for " the earth was without form and void, and darkness 
was upon the face of the deep," Gen. i. 2. Neither was there any 
thing that had either life in it, or principle of life, or any disposition 
thereunto. In this condition he moved on the prepared matter, 
preserving and cherishing of it, and communicating unto all things a 
principle of life, whereby they were animated, as we have declared. 
It was no otherwise in the new creation. There was a spiritual 
darkness and death came by sin on all mankind ; neither was there 
in any man living the least principle of spiritual life, or any disposi- 
tion thereunto. In this state of things, the Holy Spirit undertaketh 
to create a new world, new heavens and a new earth, wherein right- 
eousness should dwell. And this, in the first place, was by his effec- 
tual communication of a new principle of spiritual life unto the souls 
of God's elect, who were the matter designed of God for this work 
to be wrought upon. This he doth in their regeneration, as we shall 
now manifest. 

First, .Regeneration in Scripture is everywhere assigned to be the 
proper and pecidiar work of the Holy Spirit : John iii. 3-6, " Jesus 
answered and said unto Nicodemus, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 



203 WORK OF THE HOLT SPIRIT IN THE [bOOK III. 

Except a man be born again, lie cannot see the kingdom of God. 
Kicodemus saitli unto him, How can a man be born when he is old ? 
can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born 
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 
That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of 
the Spirit is spirit." It was an ancient knowing teacher of the 
church of the Jews, a " master in Israel," whom our blessed Saviour 
here discourseth withal and instructs ; for on the consideration of his 
miracles he concluded that " God was with him," and came to in- 
quire of him about the kingdom of God. Our Saviour knowing 
how all our faith and obedience to God, and all our acceptance with 
him, depend on our regeneration, or being born again, acquaints 
him with the necessity of it; wherewith he is at first surprised. 
Wherefore he proceeds to instruct him in the nature of the work 
whose necessity he had declared ; and this he describes both by 
the cause and the effect of it. For the cause of it, he tells him it 
is wrought by "water and the Spirit;" — by the Spirit, as the princi- 
pal efficient cause; and by water, as the pledge, sign, and token^ 
of it, in the initial seal of the covenant, the doctrine whereof was 
then preached amongst them by John the Baptist: or, the same 
thing is intended in a redoubled expression, the Spirit being 
signified by the water also, under which notion he is often pro- 
mised. 

Hereof, then, or of this work, the Holy Spirit is the principal effi- 
cient cause ; whence he in whom it is wrought is said to be " born 
of the Spirit : " Verse 8, " So is every one that is born of the Spirit." 
And this is the same with what is delivered, chap. i. 18, "Who are 
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God." The natural and carnal means of blood, flesh, and the 
will of man, are rejected wholly in this matter, and the whole effi- 
ciency of the new birth is ascribed unto God alone. His work 
answers whatever contribution there is unto natural generation from 
the will and nature of man ; for these things are here compared, and 
from its analogy unto natural generation is this work of the Spirit 
called " regeneration." So in this place is the allusion and opposition 
between these things expressed by our Saviour: " That which is born 
of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," 
chap. iii. 6. And herein also we have a farther description of this Avork 
of the Holy Spirit by its effect, or the product of it; it is "spirit,"— a 
new spiritual being, creature, nature, life, as shall be declared. And 

* "Si in gratia, nonexnatur3, aqure, sed exprrosentia est Spiritus Sancti: numquid 

in aqua vivimus, sicut inSpiritu? uum^uid in aqua signamur sicut in Spiritu?" 

Ambros. de Spir. Sane. lib. i. cap. 6. 



CHAP. I.] NEW CREATION BY REGENEEATION. 209 

because there is in it a communication of a new spiritual life, it is 
called a " vivification" or " quickening," with respect unto the state 
wherein all men are before this work is wrought in them and on 
them, Eph. ii. 1, 5 ; which is the work of the Spirit alone, for " it is 
the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing," John vi. 63. 
See Rom. viii. 9, 10; Titus iii. 4-6, where the same truth is declared 
and asserted : " But after that the kindness and love of God our 
Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which 
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the wash- 
ing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit; which he 
shed on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour." 

What we have frequently mentioned occurreth here expressly, — 
namely, the whole blessed Trinity, and each person therein, acting 
distinctly in the work of our salvation. The spring or fountain of 
the whole lieth in the kindness and love of God, even the Father. 
Thereunto it is everywhere ascribed in the Scripture. See John 
iii. 16; Eph. i. 3-6. Whatever is done in the accomplishment of 
this work, it is so in the pursuit of his will, purpose, and counsel, 
and is an effect of his love and grace. The procuring cause of the 
application of the love and kindness of God unto us is Jesus Christ 
our Saviour, in the whole work of his mediation, verse 6. And the 
immediate efficient cause in the communication of the love and kind- 
ness of the Father, through the mediation of the Son, unto us, is the 
Holy Spirit. And this he doth in the renovation of our natures, by 
the washing of regeneration, wherein we are purged from our sins, 
and sanctified unto God. 

More testimonies unto this purpose need not be insisted on. This 
tiTJth, of the Holy Spirit being the author of our regeneration, which 
the ancients esteemed a cogent argument to prove his deity, even 
from the greatness and dignity of the work,^ is, in words at least, so 
far as I know, granted by all who pretend to sobriety in Christianity. 
That by some others it hath been derided and exploded is the occa- 
sion of this vindication of it. It must not be expected that I should 
here handle the whole doctrine of regeneration practically, as it may 
be educed by inferences from the Scripture, according to the analogy 

1 " Similiter ex Spiritu secundum gratiam nos renasci, Dominus ipse testatur dicens, 
Quod naium est ex carne, caro est, quia de carne natum est ; et quod natum est de Spiritu, 
Spiritus est, quia Spiritus Deus est. Clai'et igitur spiritualis quoque generationis 
authorem esse Spiritum Sanctum, quia secundum Deum creamur et Filii Dei sumus. 
Ergo cum ille nos in regnum suum per adoptionem sacrie regenerationis assumpserit, 
nos ei quod suum est denegamus? ille nos supernsae generationis hceredes fecit, no3 
haereditatem vindicamus, refutamus authorem ; sed non potest manere beneficium cum 
author excluditur, nee author sine munei'e, nee sine authore munus. Si vindicaa 
gratiam, crede potentiam; si refutas potentiam, gratiam ne requiras. Sancti igitur 
Spiritus opus est regeneratio ista praestantior, et novi hujus hominis qui creatur ad 
imaginem Dei author est Spiritus, quem utique meliorem hoc exteriori esse nostra 
homine nemo duhitaverit." — Ambros. de Spir. Sane. lib. ii. cap. 9. 

VOL. III. 14 



210 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE [BOOK III. 

of faith and the experiences of them that beheve; it hath been 
done already by others. My present aim is only to confirm the fun- 
damental principles of truth concerning those operations of the Holy 
Spirit, which at this day are opposed with violence and virulence. 
And what I shall offer on the present subject may be reduced unto 
the ensuing heads : — 

First, Although the work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit was 
wrought under the Old Testament, even from the foundation of the 
world, and the doctrine of it was recorded in the Scriptures, yet the 
revelation of it was but obscure in comparison of that light and evi- 
dence which it is brought forth into by the gospel. This is evident 
from the discourse which our blessed Saviour had with Nicodemus 
on this subject; for when he acquainted him clearly with the doctrine 
of it, he was surprised, and fell into that inquiry, which argued some 
amazement, " How can these things be?" But yet the reply of our 
Saviour manifests that he might have attained a better acquaintance 
with it out of the Scripture than he had done : " Art thou," saith he, 
"a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?" — "Dost thou 
take upon thee to teach others what is their state and condition, 
and what is their duty towards God, and art ignorant thyself of so 
great and fundamental a doctrine, which thou mightst have learned 
from the Scripture?" For if he might not so have done, there would 
have been no just cause of the reproof given him by our Saviour; 
for it was neither crime nor negligence in him to be ignorant of 
what God had not revealed. This doctrine, therefore, — namely, 
that every one who will enter into the kingdom of God must be 
born again of the Holy Spirit, — was contained in the writings of the 
Old Testament. It was so in the promises, that God would cir- 
cumcise the hearts of his people, — that he would take away their 
heart of stone, and give them a heart of flesh, with his law written 
in it, and other ways, as shall be afterward proved. 

But yet we see that it was so obscurely declared that the prin- 
cipal masters and teachers of the people knew little or nothing of it 
Some, indeed, would have this regeneration, if they knew what they 
would have, or as to what may be gathered of their minds out of 
their " great swelling words of vanity," to be nothing but reformation 
of life, according to the rules of the Scripture. But Nicodemus knew 
the necessity of reformation of hfe well enough, if he had ever read 
either Moses or the Prophets; and to suppose that our Lord Jesus 
Christ proposed unto him the thing which he knew perfectly well, 
only under a new name or notion, which he had never heard of 
before, so to take an advantage of charging him of being ignorant 
of what indeed he full well knew and understood, is a blasphemous 
imagiuatiun. How they can free themselves from the guilt hereof 



CHAP. I.] NEW CREATION BY REGENERATION. 211 

who look on "regeneration " as no more but a metaphorical expression 
of amendment of life, I know not. And if it be so, if there be no more 
in it but, as they love to speak, becommg a nev) moral mcmi, — a thing 
which all the world, Jews and Gentiles, understood, — our Lord Jesus 
was so far from bringing it forth into more light and giving it more 
perspicuity, by what he teacheth concerning regeneration, the nature, 
manner, causes, and effects of it, that he cast it thereby into more 
darkness and obscurity than ever it was delivered in, either by Jewish 
masters or Gentile philosophy; for although the gospel do really 
teach all duties of morality with more exactness and clearness, and 
press unto the observance of them on motives incomparably more 
cogent, than any thing that otherwise ever befell the mind of man to 
think or apprehend, yet if it must be supposed to intend nothing 
else in its doctrine of the new birth or regeneration but those moral 
duties and their observance, it is dark and unintelligible. I say, if 
there be not a secret, mysterious work of the Spirit of God in and 
upon the souls of men intended in the writings of the New Testa- 
ment, but only a reformation of life, and the improvement of men's 
natural abilities in the exercise of moral virtue, through the applica- 
tion of outward means unto their minds and understandings, con- 
ducting and -persuading thereunto, they must be granted to be ob- 
scure beyond those of any other writers whatsoever, as some have not 
feared already to publish unto the world concerning the epistles of 
Paul. But so long as we can obtain an acknowledgment from men 
that they are true, and in any sense the word of God, we doubt not 
but to evince that the things intended in them are clearly and pro- 
perly expressed, so as they ought to be, and so as they are capable 
to be expressed; the difficulties which seem to be in them arising 
from the mysterious nature of the things themselves contained in 
them, and the weakness of our minds in apjjrehending such things, 
and not from any obscurity or intricacy in the declaration of them. 
And herein, indeed, consists the main contest wherein to things with 
the most are reduced. Some judge tha\ all things are so expressed 
in the Scripture, with a condescension unto our capacity, as that 
there is still to be conceived an inexpressible grandeur in many of 
them, beyond our comprehension ; others judge, on the other hand, 
that under a grandeur of words and hyperbolical expressions, things 
of a meaner and a lower sense are intended and to be understood. 
Some judge the things of the gospel to be deep and mysterious, the 
words and expressions of it to be plain and proper; others think the 
words and expressions of it to be mystical and figurative, but the 
things intended to be ordinary and obvious to the natural reason of 
every man. But to return. 

Both regeneration and the doctrine of it were under the Old Tes- 



21 2 \VOnK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE [bOOK IIL 

tament. All the elect of God, in their several generations, were 
regenerate by the Spirit of God. But in that ampliation and en- 
largement of truth and grace under the gospel which came by Jesus 
Christ, who brought life and immortality to light, as more persons 
than of old were to be made partakers of the mercy of it, so the na- 
ture of the work itself is far more clearly, evidently, and distinctly 
revealed and declared. And because this is the principal and in- 
ternal remedy of that disease which the Lord Christ came to cure 
and take away, one of the first things that he preached was the doc- 
trine of it. All things of this nature before, even "from the beginning 
of the world, lay hid in God," Eph. iii. 9. Some intimations were 
given of them, in "parables" and "dark sayings," D*jr'3p nin^n^ Ps. 
Ixxviii. 2, in types, shadows, and ceremonies, so as the nature of the 
grace in them was not clearly to be discerned. But now, when the 
great Physician of our souls came, who was to heal the wound of our 
natures, whence we " were dead in trespasses and sins," he lays naked 
the disease itself, declares the greatness of it, the ruin we were under 
from it; that we might know and be thankful for its reparation. 
Hence, no doctrine is more fully and plainly declared in the gospel 
I than this of our regeneration by the effectual and ineffable operation 
of the Holy Spirit; and it is a consequent and fruit of the deprava- 
tion of our nature, that, against the full light and evidence of truth, 
now clearly manifested, this great and holy work is opposed and de- 
' spised. 

Few, indeed, have yet the confidence in plain and intelligible 
words to deny it absolutely; but many tread in the steps of him 
who first in the church of God undertook to undermine it.^ This 
was Pelagius, whose principal artifice, which he used in the intro- 
duction of his heresy, was in the clouding of his intentions with 
general and ambiguous expressions, as some would by making use of 
his very words and phrases. Hence, for a long time, when he was 
justly charged with his sacrilegious errors, he made no defence of 
them, but reviled his adversaries as corrupting his mind, and not 

' " Denique quomodo respondeat advertite, et videte latebras ambiguitatis falsitati 
praeparare ret'ugia, ita ut etiam nos cum primum ea legimus, recta vel correcta prope- 
nioduin gauderemiis." — August, de Peccat. Grig., cap. 18. 

" Mihi peiie persuaserat banc illam gratiam de qua qucestio est confiteri; quominus in 
multis ejus opusculi locis sibi ipsi contradicere videretur. Sed cum in manus meas et 
alia venisseut qute posterius latiusque sciipsit, vidi quemadmodum etiam illic gratiam 
nominare sed aiubigua generalitate quid sentiret abscondeiis, gratite tamen vocabulo 
frangens invidiam, offensionemque dcclinans."— Id. de Grat. Christ., lib. i. cap. 37. 

Vid. August. Ub. i. cont. Julianum, cap. 5, lib. iii., cap. 1, Lib. de Gest. ; Pelag., 
cap. 30, Epist. 95, ad Innocent. ; Epist. Innocent, ad August. 
_ " Ncgant etiam quam ad sacram Christi virginem Ncmebiadem in oriente conscrip- 
simus, et noverint nos ita hominis laudare naturam ut Dei semper addamus auxilium 
(verba Pelagii quibus respoudct Augustiuu.s), istaui sane lege, miliique pene persuaserat, 
hunc illam gratiam de qua quaestio est confiteri." — Id. ubi supra. 



CHAP. L] new creation BY REGENERATION. 213 

understanding liis expressions. And by this means, as he got himself 
acquitted in the judgment of some, less experienced in the sleights 
and cunning craftiness of them who lie in wait to deceive, and ^juri- 
dically freed in an assembly of bishops; so in all. probability he had 
suddenly infected the whole church with the poison of those opinions, 
which the proud and corrupted nature of man is so apt to receive and 
embrace, if God had not stirred up some few holy and learned per- 
sons, Austin especially, to discover his frauds, to refel his calumnies, 
and to confute his sophisms ; which they did with indefatigable industiy 
and good success. But yet these tares, being once sown by the en- 
vious one, found such a suitable and fruitful soil in the darkened 
minds and proud hearts of men, that from that day to this they 
could never be fully extirpated ; but the same bitter root hath still 
sprung up, unto the defiling of many, though various new colours have 
been put upon its leaves and fruit. And although those who at 
present amongst us have undertaken the same cause with Pelagius 
do not equal him either in learning or diligence, or an appearance of 
piety and devotion, yet do they exactly imitate him in declaring their 
minds in cloudy, ambiguous expressions, capable of various construc- 
tions until they are fully examined, and thereon reproaching (as ho 
did) those that oppose them as not aright representing their senti- 
ments, when they judge it their advantage so to do ; as the scurrilous, 
clamorous writings of S. P.^ do sufficiently manifest. 

Secondly, Regeneration by the Holy Sj^irit is the same worh, for 
the kind of it, and wrought by the same power of the Spirit in all 
that are regenerate, or ever were, or shall be so, from the beginning 
of the world unto the end thereof Great variety there is in the ap- 
plication of the outward means which the Holy Spirit is pleased to 
use and make effectual towards the accomplishment of this great 
work ; nor can the ways and manner hereof be reduced unto any 
certain order, for the Spirit worketh how and when he pleaseth, 
following the sole rule of his own will and wisdom. Mostly, God 
makes use of the preaching of the word; thence called " the ingrafted 
word, which is able to save our souls," James i. 21 ; and the " incor- 
ruptible seed," by which we are " born again," 1 Pet. i. 23. Some- 
§ times it is wrought without it ; as in all those who are regenerate before 
■ they come to the use of reason, or in their infancy. Sometimes men 
are called, and so regenerate, in an extraordinary manner; as was 
Paul, But mostly they are so in and by the use of ordinary means, 
instituted, blessed, and sanctified of God to that end and purpose. 

1 " Fefellit judicium Palffistinum, propterea ibi videtur purgatus ; Eomanam vero ec- 
clesiam, ubi cum esse notissimum scitis fallcie usque quaque iion potuit, quamvis et hoc 
fuerit utrumque conatus. Taiito judiccs fefellit occultius, quanto exponit ista versu- 
tius." — August. Lib. de Peccat. Grig. cap. 16. 

2 Samuel i'aiker; see paye 121 oi' tliis vol. — Ed. 



214 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE [bOOK TIL 

And great variety there is, also, in the perception and understanding 
of the work itself in them in whom it is wrought, for in itself it is 
secret and hidden, and is no other ways discoverable but in its causes 
and effects; for as "the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou 
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and 
whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit," John 
iil 8. 

In the minds and consciences of some, this is made known by in- 
fallible sisrns and tokens. Paul knew that Christ was formed and 
revealed in himself. Gal. i. 15, 16. So he declared that whoever is in 
Christ Jesus " is a new creature," 2 Cor. v. 1 7, — that is, is born again, 
— whether they know themselves so to be or no. And many are in the 
dark as to their own condition in this matter all their days ; for they 
" fear the Lord, and obey the voice of his servant" (Christ Jesus), and 
yet " walk in darkness, and have no light," Isa. 1. 10. They are 
" children of light," Luke xvi. 8, John xii. 36, Eph. v. 8, 1 Thess. 
V. 5; and yet " walk in darkness, and have no light:" which expres- 
sions have been well used and improved by some, and by others of 
late derided and blasphemed. 

And there is great variety in the carrying on of this work towards 
perfection, — in the groivth of the new creature, or the increase of grace 
implanted in our natures by it: for some, through the supplies of 
the Spirit, make a great and speedy progress towards perfection, 
others thrive slowly and bring forth little fruit; the causes and occa- 
sions whereof are not here to be enumerated. But notwithstanding 
all differences in previous dispositions, in the application of out- 
ward means, in the manner of it, ordinary or extraordinary, in the 
consequents of much or less fruit, the work -itself in its own nature is 
of the same kind, one and the same. The elect of God were not re- 
generate one way, by one kind of operation of the Holy Spirit, under 
the Old Testament, and those under the New Testament [by] another. 
They who were miraculously converted, as Paul, or who upon their 
conversion had miraculous gifts bestowed on them, as had multitudes 
of the primitive Christians, were no otherwise regenerate, nor by any 
other internal efficiency of the Holy Spirit, than every one is at this 
day who is really made partaker of this grace and privilege. Neither 
were those miraculous operations of the Holy Spirit which were visi- 
ble unto others any part of the work of regeneration, nor did they 
belong necessarily unto it; for many were the subjects of them, and 
received miraculous gifts by them, who were never regenerate, and 
many were regenerate who were never partakers of them. And it 
is a fruit of the highest ignorance and unacquaintedness imaginable 
with these things, to affirm that in the work of regeneration the 
Holy Spirit wrought of old miraculously, in and by outwardly visible 



CHAP. I.] NEW CREATION BY EEGENEP.ATION. 21 5 

operations, but now only in a human and rational way, leading our 
understanding by the rules of reason, unless the mere external mode 
and sign of his operation be intended: for all ever were, and ever 
shall be, regenerate by the same kind of operation, and the same 
effect of the Holy Spirit on the faculties of their souls; which will 
be farther manifest if we consider, — 

1. That the condition of all men, as unregenerate, is absolutely the 
same. One is not by nature more unregenerate than another. All 
men since the fall, and the corruption of our nature by sin, are in 
the same state and condition towards God. They are all alike alie- 
nated from him, and all alike under his curse, Ps. li. 5 ; John iii. 
5, S6; Rom. iii. 19, v. 15-18; Eph. ii. 3; Tit. iii. 8, 4. There are 
degrees of wickedness in them that are unregenerate, but there is no 
difference as to state and condition between them, — all are unrege- 
nerate alike; as amongst those who are regenerate there are diffe- 
rent degrees of holiness and righteousness, one, it may be, far ex- 
ceeding another, yet there is between them no difference of state and 
condition, — they are all equally regenerate. Yea, some may be in a 
greater forwardness and preparation for the Avork itself, and thereby 
in a greater nearness to the state of it than others; but the state it- 
self is incapable of such degrees. Now, it must be the same work, 
for the kind and nature of it, which relieves and translates men out 
of the same state and condition. That which gives the formal rea- 
son of the change of their state, of their translation from death to 
life, is and must be the same in all. If you can fix on any man, 
from the foundation of the world, who was not equally born in sin, 
and b}^ nature dead in trespasses and sins, with all other men, the 
man Christ Jesus only excepted, I would grant that he might have 
another kind of regeneration than others have, but that I know he 
would stand in need of none at all. 

2. The state whereinto men are brought by regeneration is the 
same. Nor is it, in its essence or nature, capable of degrees, so that 
one should be more regenerate than another. Every one that is 
born of God is equally so, though one may be more beautiful than 
another, as having the image of his heavenly Father more evidently 
impressed on him, though not more truly. Men may be more or 
less holy, more or less sanctified, but they cannot be more or less 
regenerate. All children that are born into the world are equally 
born, though some quickly outstrip others in the perfections and 
accomplishments of nature; and all born of God are equally so, 
though some speedily outgo others in the accomplishments and per- 
fections of grace. There was, then, never but one kind of regenera- 
tion in this world, the essential form of it being specifically the same 
in all. 



21 S WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE [BOOK III. 

3. That the efficient cause of this work, the grace and power 
whereby it is wrought, with the internal manner of the communica- 
tion of that grace, are the same, shall be afterward declared. To 
this standard, then, all must come. Men may bear themselves high, 
and despise this whole work of the Spirit of God, or set up an ima- 
gination of their own in the room thereof; but whether they will or 
no, they must be tried by it, and no less depends on their interest 
in it than their admission into the kingdom of God. And let them 
pretend what they please, the true reason why any despise the neio 
hirth is, because they hate a new life. He that cannot endure to 
live to God will as little endure to hear of being born of God. But 
we shall by the Scripture inquire what we are taught concerning it, 
and declare both what it is not, of things which falsely pretend there- 
unto, and then what it is indeed. 

First, Regenerp,tion doth not consist in a participation of the ordi- 
nance of baptism and a profession of the doctrine of repentance. 
This is all that some will allow unto it, to the utter rejection and 
overthrow of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ : for the dispute in 
this matter is not, whether the ordinances of the gospel, as baptism, 
do really communicate internal grace unto them that are, as to the 
outward manner of their administration, duly made partakers of 
them, whether ex opere operato, as the Papists speak, or as a. federal 
means of the conveyance and communication of that grace which they 
betoken and are the pledges of; but, whether the outward susception. 
of the ordinance, joined with a profession of repentance in them that 
are adult, be not the whole of what is called regeneration. The 
vanity of this presumptuous folly, destructive of all the gi'ace of 
the gospel, invented to countenance men in their sins, and to hide 
from them the necessity of being born again, and therein of turning 
unto God, will be laid open in our declaration of the nature of the 
work itself. For the present, the ensuing reasons will serve to re- 
move it out of our way: — 

1. Regeneration doth not consist in these things, which are only 
outward signs and tokens of it, or at most instituted means of effect- 
ing it; for the nature of things is different and distinct from the 
means and evidences or pledges of them: but such only is baptism, 
with the profession of the doctrine of it, as is acknowledged by all 
who have treated of the nature of that sacrament. 2. The apostle 
really states this co,se, 1 Pet. iii. 21, " In answer whereunto even 
baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of 
"the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ." The outward administration of this 
ordinance, considered materially, reacheth no farther but to the wash- 
ing away of " the filth of the flesh;" but more is signified thereby. 



CHAP. I.] NEW CREATION BY REGENEr.ATION. 21 7 

There is denoted in it the restipulation of a "good conscience toward 
God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" from the dead, or a " con- 
science purged from dead worlds to serve the living God," Heb. ix. 14, 
and quickened by virtue of his resurrection unto holy obedience. See 
Rom. vi. 3-7. S. The apostle Paul doth plainly distinguish between 
the outward ordinances, with what belongs unto a due participa- 
tion of them, and the work of regeneration itself: Gal. vi. 15, "In 
Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircum- 
cision, but a new creature;" — for as by "circumcision" the whole 
system of Mosaical ordinances is intended, so the state of" uncircum- 
cision," as then it was in the professing Gentiles, supposed a partici- 
pation of all the ordinances of the gospel; but from them all he 
distinguisheth the new creation, as that which they may be without, 
and which being so, they are not available in Christ Jesus. 4., If 
this were so, then all that are duly baptized, and do thereon make 
profession of the doctrine of it, — that is, of repentance for the for- 
giveness of sins, — must of necessity be regenerate. But this we 
know to be otherwise. For instance, Simon the magician was rightly 
and duly baptized, for he was so by Philip the evangelist; which he 
could not be without a profession of fiiith and repentance. Accord- 
ingly, it is said that he "believed," Acts viii. 13, — that is, made a 
profession of his faith in the gospel. Yet he was not regenerate ; for at 
the same time he had "neither part nor lot in that matter," his "heart 
not being right in the sight of God," but was "in the gall of bitterness, 
and in the bond of iniquity," verses 21, 23 ; which is not the descrip- 
tion of a person newly regenerate and born again. Hence the cabalis- 
tical Jews, who grope in darkness after the old notions of truth that 
were amoncj their forefathers, do sav, that at the same instant wherein 
a man is made "a proselyte of righteousness," there comes a new soul 
into him from heaven, his old pagan soul vanishing or being taken 
away. The introduction of a new spiritual principle to be that unto 
the soul which the soul is unto the body naturally is that which they 
understand ; or they choose thus to express the reiterated promise of 
taking away the " heart of stone," and giving a " heart of flesh" in 
the place of it. 

Secondly, Regeneration doth not consist in a moral reformation 
of life and conversation. Let us suppose such a reformation, to be 
extensive unto all known instances. Suppose a man be changed from 
sensuality unto temperance, from rapine to righteousness, from pride 
and the dominion of irregular passions unto humility and moderation, 
with all instances of the like nature which we can imagine, or are 
prescribed in the rules of the strictest moralists; suppose this change 
be laboured, exact, and accurate, and so of great use in the world ; 
suppose, also, that a man hath been brought and persuaded unto it 



218 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE [BOOK III. 

througli the preaching of the gospel, so " escaping the polhjtions that 
are in the world through lust, even hy the knowledge of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ/' or the directions of his doctrine delivered 
iu the gospel; — yet I say, all this, and all this added unto baptism, 
accompanied with a profession of faith and repentance, is not rege- 
neration, nor do they comprise it in them. And I have extended 
this assertion beyond what some nmong us, so far as I can see, do so 
much as pretend unto in their confused notions and sophistical ex- 
pressions about morality, when they make it the same with grace. 
Eut whatever there may be of actual righteousness in these things, 
they do not express an inherent, habitual righteousness; which who- 
soever denies overthrows the gospel, and all the whole work of the 
Spirit of God, and of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

But we must stay a while. This assertion of ours is by some not 
only denied but derided. Neither is that all ; but whoever maintains 
it is exposed as an enemy to morality, righteousness, and reformation 
of life. All virtue, they say, is hereby excluded, to introduce I know 
not what imaginary godliness. But whether we oppose or exclude 
moral virtue or no, by the doctrine of regeneration, or any other, 
God and Christ will in due time judge and declare. Yea, were the 
confession of the truth consistent with their interests, the decision of 
this doubt might be referred unto their own consciences. But being 
not free to commit any thing to that tribunal, unless we had better 
security of its freedom from corrupt principles and prejudices than 
we have, we shall at present leave all the world to judge of our doe- 
trine, with respect unto virtue and morality, by the fruits of it, com- 
pared with theirs by whom it is denied. In the meantime, we affirm 
that we design nothing in virtue and morality but to improve them, 
by fixing them on a proper foundation, or ingrafting them into that 
stock whereon alone they will thrive and grow, to the glory of God 
and the good of the souls of men. Neither shall we be moved in 
this design by the clamorous or calumnious outcries of ignorant or 
profligate persons. And for the assertion laid down, I desire that 
those who despise and reproach it would attempt an answer unto the 
ensuing arguments whereby it is confirmed, with those others which 
shall be insisted on in our description of the nature of the work of 
regeneration itself, and that upon such grounds and principles as are 
not destructive of Christian religion nor introductive of atheism, be- 
fore they are too confident of their success. 

If there be in and required unto regeneration, the Mnfusion of a 

' " Per inlwrcntem justitiam intelliVimus supematurale donum gratite sanctificantis, 
opposituin originali peccato, et in singulis animce facultatibus reparans et reiKjvans 
iliam Dei imaginem, qune per peccatum originale foedata ac dissipata fnit. Originale 
peccatum mentein tenebris implevit, baec infusa gratia lumine coelesti collustrat. Istud 



CHAP. I.] NEW CEEATION BY EEGENEPtATION. 219 

new, real, spiritual principle into the soul and its faculties, of spiri- 
tual life, liglit, holiness, and righteousness, disposed unto and suited 
for the destruction or expulsion of a contrary, inbred, habitual prin- 
ciple of sin and enmity against God, enabling unto all acts of holy 
obedience, and so in order of nature antecedent unto them, then it 
doth not consist in a mere reformation of life and moral virtue, be 
they never so exact or accurate. Three things are to be observed for 
the clearing of this assertion, before we come to the proof and con- 
firmation of it; as, — 1. That this reformation of life, which we say 
is not regeneration, or that regeneration doth not consist therein, is 
a necessary duty, indispensably required of all men ; for we shall 
take it here for the whole course of actual obedience unto God, and 
that according to the gospel. Those, indeed, by whom it is urged 
and pressed in the room of regeneration, or as that wherein regene- 
ration doth consist, do give such an account and description of it as 
that it is, or at least may be, foreign unto true gospel-obedience, and 
so not contain in it one acceptable duty unto God, as shall afterward 
be declared; but here I shall take it, in our present inquiry, for that 
whole course of duties which, in obedience towards God, are pre- 
scribed unto us. 2. That the principle before described, wherein 
regeneration as passively considered, or as wrought in us, consists, doth 
always certainly and infallibly produce the reformation of life in- 
tended. In some it doth it more comj)letely, in others more imper- 
fectly, in all sincerely; for the same grace in nature and kind is 
communicated unto several persons in various degrees, and is by 
them used and improved with more or less care and diligence. In 
those, therefore, that are adult, these things are inseparable. There- 
fore, 3. The difference in this matter cometh unto this head : We say 
and believe that regeneration consists in spirituali renovatione na- 
turcB, — " in a spiritual renovation of our nature ; " our modern So- 
cinians, that it doth so in morali reformatione vitce, — " in a moral 
reformation of life." Now, as we grant that this spiritual renova- 
tion of nature will infallibly produce a moral reformation of life; so 
if they will grant that this moral reformation of life doth proceed 
from a spiritual renovation of our nature, this difference will be at 
an end. And this is that which the ancients intend by first receiv- 



cor humanum obstinatione et odio Dei ac divinse legis maculavit, hsec infusa justitia 
cor emoUit et amore boni acceiidit et inflammat. Postremo illud afifectus omoes atque 
ipsura appetitum rebcllione infecit ; hsec renovata sanctitas in ordinem cogit perturbatas 
fifi'ectiones, et ipsam rebellem concupiscentiam dominio spoliat, et quasi sub jugum 
mittit." — Davenant. de Justit. Habit, cap. iii. 

"Fides tanquam radix imbre suscepto hieret in aninia3 solo; ut cum per legem Dei 
cxcoli cceperit surgant in ea rami qui fructus operum ferant. Non ergo ex operibiis 
radix justitite, sed exradice justitiaa fructus opeiiim crescit." — Origen. lib. iv. in Epist. 
ad Roman. 



220 WORK OF THE HOLY SPLl'.lT IX THE [bOOK ITL 

ing the Holy Ghost, and then all graces with hlm.^ However, if they 
only design to speak ambiguously, improperly, and unscripturally, 
confounding effects and their causes, habits and actions, faculties or 
powers and occasional acts, infused principles and acquired habits, 
spiritual and moral, grace and nature, that they may take an oppor- 
tunity to rail at others for want of better advantage, I shall not con- 
tend with them ; for allow a new spiritual principle, an infused habit 
of grace, or gracious abilities, to be required in and unto regenera- 
tion, or to be the product or the work of the Spirit therein, that 
which is " born of the Spirit being spirit," and this part of the nature 
of this work is sufficiently cleared. Now, this the Scripture abun- 
dantly testifieth unto. 

2 Cor. V, 17, " If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." 
This new creature is that which is intended, that which was before 
described, which being born of the Spirit is spirit. This is produced 
in the souls of men by a creating act of the power of God,^ or it is 
not a creature. And it is superinduced into the essential faculties 
of our souls, or it is not a new creature; for whatever is in the soul 
of power, disposition, ability, or inclination unto God, or for any 
moral actions, by nature, it belongs unto the old creation, it is no 
new creature. And it must be somewhat that hath a being and 
subsistence of its own in the soul, or it can be neither new nor a 
creature. And by our apostle it is opposed to all outward privileges. 
Gal. V. 6, vi. 15, That the production of it also is by a creating act of 
almighty power the Scripture testifieth, Ps. li. 10; Eph. ii. 10; and 
this can denote nothing but a new spiritual principle or nature wrought 
in us by the Spirit of God. " No," say some ; " a new creature is no 
more but a changed man." It is true ; but then this change is in- 
ternal also. " Yes, in the purposes, designs, and inclinations of the 
mind." But is it by a real infusion of a new principle of spiritual life 
and holiness? "No; it denotes no more but a new course of conver- 
sation, only the expression is metaphorical. A new creature is a morhl 

• "Is qui Spiritus Sancti particeps efficitur, per communionem ejus fit spiritualis pa- 
riter et sauctus."— Didym. lib. i. de Spir. Sane, p. 218, inter opera Ilieronymi. 

" Qui Spintu Sanctoplenus est statim universis donationibus Dei repletur, sapientia, 
BCientia, fide, cjieterisque virtutibus." Id. ibid. 

" Nuuquam enim accipit quisquam spirituales benedictiones Dei, nisi prsecesserit 
bpintus banctus; qui enim habet Spiritum Sanctum consequenter habebit benedic- 
tiones. — Idem, p 220. 

» " Sicut in nativitate carnali omnem nascentis hominis voluntatem pracedit operis 
divini lormatio sic in spuituali nativitate qua veterem hominem deponere incipimus." 
— ruljrciit, do Iiicarnat. et Grat. Christ, cap. 29. 

"Forma pi-ipccssit in carne Christi, quam in'nostra fide spiritualiter agnoscamus; 
nam Christus Pi lus Dei, secundum carnem de Spiritu Sancto conceptus et natus est: 
carncm autcm illam ncc concipere virgo posset nee parere, nisi ejus carnis Spiritus 
Sanctus operotur exordium. Sic etiam in hominis corde nee concipi fides potuit nee 
augeri, nisi eam Spiritus Sanctus effundat et nutriat. Ex eodem namque Spiritu reuaU 
61UUUS, ci quo Cluistus natus est." — Idem, cap. xx. •» *- 



CriAP. I.] NEW CREATION BY REGENERATION. 221 

man that hath changed his course and way; for if he were always 
a moral man, that he was never in any vicious way or course, as it 
was with him. Matt. xix. 16-22, then he was always a new creature/' 
This is good gospel, at once overthrowing original sin and the grace 
jf our Lord Jesus Christ ! This doctrine, I am sure, was not learned 
from the fathers, whereof some used to boast ; nay, it is much more 
fulsome than any thing ever taught by Pelagius himself, who, in- 
deed, ascribed more unto grace than these men do, although he de- 
nied this creation of a new princii)le of grace in us antecedent unto 
acts of obedience/ And this turning all Scripture expressions of 
spiritual things into metaphors is but a way to turn the whole into 
a fable, or at least to render the gospel the most obscure and im- 
proper way of teaching the truth of things that ever was made use 
of in the world. 

This new creature, therefore, doth not consist in a new course of 
actions, but in renewed faculties, with new dispositions, power, or 
ability to them and for them. Hence it is called the " divine na- 
ture : " 2 Pet. i. 4, " He hath given unto us exceeding great and pre- 
cious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine 
nature." This ^s/a (phaig, this "divine nature," is not the nature of 
God, whereof in our own persons we are not subjectively partakers ; 
and yet a nature it is which is a principle of operation, and that 
divine or spiritual, — namely, an habitual holy principle, wrought in 
us by God, and bearing his image. By the " promises," therefore, we 
are made partakers of a divine, supernatural principle of spiritual 
actions and operations; which is what we contend for. So the whole 
of what we intend is declared, Eph. iv. 22-24, "Put off concerning 
the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the 
deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put 
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true 
holiness." It is the work of regeneration, with respect both to its 
foundation and progress, that is here described. 1. The founda- 
tion of the whole is laid in our being "renewed in the spirit of our 
mind;" which the same apostle elsewhere calls being "transformed in 
the renovation of our minds," Rom. xii. 2. That this consists in the 
participation of a new, saving, supernatural light, to enable the mind 
unto spiritual actings, and to guide it therein, shall be afterward de- 
clared. Herein consists our "renovation in knowledge, after the image 
of him who created us," Col. iii. 10. And, 2. The principle itself infus- 
ed into us, created in us, is called the "new man," Eph. iv. 24, — that 
is, the new creature before mentioned; and it is called the " new 

» " AdjuvatnosDeus" (the words of Pelagius), "per doctrinam et revelationem suam, 
dum cordis nostri oculos aperit, dum nobis, ne prsesentibus occupemur, futura demon- 
strat, dum diaboli pandit insidias, dum nos multiformi et ineffabili dono gratise cselestis 
illuminat." — August. Lib. de Grat. cont. Pelag. et Caelest. cap. vii. 



222 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE [BOOK III. 

man/* because it consists in the universal change of the whole soul, as 
it is the principle of all spiritual and moral action. And, (1.) It is 
opposed unto the "old man," "Put off the old man, and put on the 
new man," verses 22, 24. Now, this "old man" is the corruption of 
our nature, as that nature is the principle of all religious, spiritual, 
and moral actions, as is evident, Rom. vi. 6. It is not a corrupt 
conversation, but the principle and root of it ; for it is distinguished 
both from the conversation of men, and those corrupt lusts which are 
exercised therein, as to that exercise. And, (2.) It is called the " new 
man," because it is the effect and product of God's creating power, 
and that in a way of "a new creation," see Eph. i. 1.9 ; Col. ii. 12, 13 ; 
2 Thesa i. 11; and it is here said to be "created after God," Eph. iv.24. 
Now, the object of a creating act is an instantaneous production. 
Whatever preparations there may be for it and dispositions unto it, 
the bringing forth of a new form and being by creation is in an in- 
stant. This, therefore, cannot consist in a mere reformation of life. 
So are we said herein to be the "workmanship of God, created in 
Christ Jesus unto good works," chap. ii. 10. There is a work of God 
in us preceding all our good works towards him ; for before we can 
work any of them, in order of nature, we must be the workman- 
ship of God, created unto them, or enabled spiritually for the per- 
formance of them. 

Again : This new man, whereby we are born again, is said to be 
created in righteousness and true holiness. That there is a respect 
unto man created in innocency, wherein he was made in the image 
of God, I suppose will not be denied. It is also expressed Col. iii. 10, 
*' Ye have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge 
after the image of him that created him." Look, then, what was, or 
wherein consisted, the image of God in the first man, thereunto 
answers this new man which is created of God. Now, this did not 
consist in reformation of life, no, nor in a course of virtuous actions; 
for he was created in the image of God before he had done any one 
good thing at all, or was capable of so doing. But this image of 
God consisted principally, as we have evinced elsewhere, in the up- 
rightness, rectitude, and ability of his whole soul, his mind, will, and 
affections, in, unto, and for the obedience that God required of him. 
This he was endowed withal antecedently unto all voluntary actions 
whereby he was to live to God. Such, therefore, must be our rege- 
neration, or the creation of this new man in us. It is the begetting, 
infusing, creating, of a new saving principle of spiritual life, light, 
and power in the soul, antecedent unto true evangelical reformation 
of life, in [the] order of nature, [and] enabhng men thereunto, ac- 
cording unto the mind of God. 

Hereunto accords that of our Saviour, Luke vl 43, **A good tree 



CHAP. I.J NEW CREATION BY REGENERATION. 223 

bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree hring 
forth good fruit;" compared with Matt. vii. 18. The fruit followeth 
the nature of the tree; and there is no way to change the nature of 
the fruit, but by changing the nature of the tree which brings it 
forth. Now, all amendment of life in reformation is but fruit, chap, 
iii. 10; but the changing of our nature is antecedent hereunto. 
This is the constant course and tenor of the Scripture, to distinguish 
between the grace of regeneration, which it declares to be an 'imme- 
diate supernatural work of God in us and upon us, and all that obe- 
dience, holiness, righteousness, virtue, or whatever is good in us, 
which is the consequent, product, and effect of it. Yea, God hath de- 
clared this expressly in his covenant, Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27; Jer. xxxi. 
S3, xxxii. 39, 40. The method of God's proceeding with us in his 
covenant is, that he first washeth and cleanseth our natures, takes 
away the heart of stone, gives a heart of flesh, writes his law in our 
hearts, puts his Spirit in us; wherein, as shall be evidenced, the grace 
of regeneration doth consist. The effect and consequent hereof is, 
that we shall walk in his statutes, keep his judgments and do them, 
— that is, reform our lives, and yield all holy obedience unto God. 
Wherefore these things are distinguished as causes and effects. See 
to the same purpose, Rom. vi. 3-6; Col. iii. 1-5; Eph. ii. 10, iv. 
23-25. This I insist upon still, on supposition that by " reformation 
of life" all actual obedience is intended; for as to that kind of life 
which is properly called a moral course of life, in opposition to open 
debaucheries and unrighteousness, which doth not proceed from an 
internal principle of saving grace, it is so far from being regenera- 
tion or grace, as that it is a thing of no acceptation with God abso- 
lutely, whatever use or reputation it may be of in the world. 

And yet farther : This work is described to consist in the sanctifi- 
cation of the whole spirit, soul, and body, 1 Thess. v. 23. And if this 
be that which some men intend by "reformation of life" and "moral 
virtue," they must needs win much esteem for their clearness and 
perspicuity in teaching spiritual things; for who would not admire 
them for such a definition of morality, — namely, that it is the prin- 
cipal sanctification of the whole spirit, soul, and body, of a believer, 
by the Holy Ghost? But not to dwell longer on this subject, there 
is no description of the work of regeneration in the Scripture, in its 
nature', causes, or effects, no name given unto it, no promise made 
of it, nothing spoken of the ways, means, or power, by which it is 
wrought, but is inconsistent with this bold Pelagian figment, which 
is destructive of the grace of Jesus Christ. 

The ground of this imagination, that regeneration consists in a 
moral reformation of life, ariseth from a denial of original sin, (X 
an inherent, habitual corruption of nature; for the masters unto the 



221 WOES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN" THE [BOOK III. 

men of this persuasion tell us that whatever is of vice or defilement 
in us, it is contracted by a custom of sinning only. And their con- 
ceptions hereof do regulate their opinions about regeneration; for if 
man be not originally corrupted and polluted, if his nature be not 
depraved, if it be not possessed by, and under the power of, evil dis- 
positions and inclinations, it is certain that he stands in no need of 
an inward spiritual renovation of it. It is enough for such an one 
that, by change of life, he renounce a custom of sinning, and reform 
his conversation according to the gospel; which in himself he hath 
power to do. But as it hath been in part already manifested, and 
will fully, God assisting, be evinced afterward, that in our regenera- 
tion the native ignorance, darkness, and blindness of our minds are 
dispelled, saving and spiritual light being introduced by the power 
of God's grace into them ; that the pravity and stubbornness of our 
wills are removed and taken away, a new principle of spiritual life 
and righteousness being bestowed on them; and that the disorder 
and rebellion of our affections are cured by the infusion of the love 
of God into our souls: so the corrupt imagination of the contrary 
opinion, directly opposite to the doctrine of the Scriptures, the faith 
of the ancient church, and the experience of all sincere believers, 
hath amongst us of late nothing but ignorance and ready confidence 
produced to give countenance vmto it. 

Thirdly, The woik of the Holy Spirit in regeneration doth not 
consist in enthusiastical raptures, ecstasies, voices, or any thing of 
the like kind. It may be some such things have been, by some de- 
luded persons, apprehended or pretended unto ; but the countenanc- 
ing of any such imaginations is falsely and injuriously charged on 
them who maintain the powerful and effectual work of the Holy 
Spirit in our regeneration. And this some are prone to do; wherein 
whether they discover more of their ignorance or of their malice I 
know not, but nothing is more common with them. All whom in 
this matter they dissent from, so far as they know what they say or 
whereof they affirm, do teach men to look after enthusiastic inspira- 
tions or unaccountable raptures, and to esteem them for conversion 
unto God, although, in the meanthne, they live in a neglect of 
holiness and righteousness of conversation. I answer, If there be 
those who do so, we doubt not but that, without their repentance, 
the wrath of God will come upon them, as upon other children of 
disobedience. And yet, in the meantime, we cannot but call aloud 
that others would discover their diligence in attendance unto these 
things, who, as far as I can discern, do cry up the names of virtue 
and righteousness in opposition to the grace of Jesus Christ, and that 
holiness which is a fruit thereof. But for the reproach now under 
consideration, it is, as applied, no other but a calumny and false 



CHAP, l] new creation BY REGENERATION. 225 

accusation; and that it is so, tlie writings and preachings of those 
who have most diligently laboured in the declaration of the work of 
the Holy Spirit in our regeneration will bear testimony at the great 
day of the Lord. We may, therefore, as unto this negative prmciple, 
observe three things: — 1. That the Holy Spirit in tins work doth 
ordinarily put forth his power in and by the use of means. He 
worketh also on men suitably unto their natures, even as the facul- 
ties of their souls, their minds, wills, and affections, are meet to be 
affected and wrought upon. He doth not come upon them with in- 
voluntary raptures, using their faculties and powers as the evil spirit 
wrests the bodies of them whom he possesseth. His whole work, 
therefore, is rationality to be accounted for by and unto them who 
believe the Scripture, and have received the Spirit of truth, whom 
the world cannot receive. T\iefo7'mal efficiency of the Spirit, indeed, 
in the putting forth the exceeding greatness of his power in our 
quickening, — which the ancient church constantly calleth his " inspi- 
ration of grace," both in private writing and canons of councils, — is 
no otherwise to be comprehended by us than any other creating act of 
divine power ; for as we hear the wind, but know not whence it cometh, 
and whither it goeth, " so is every one that is born of the Spirit." 
Yet these two things are certain herein: — (1.) That he worketh no- 
thing, nor any other way, nor by any other means, than what are 
determined and declared in the word. By that, therefore, may and 
must every thing really belonging, or pretended to belong, unto this 
Avork of regeneration, be tried and examined. (2.) That he acts 
nothing contrary unto, puts no force upon, any of the faculties of our 
souls, but works in them and by them suitably to their natures; and 
being more intimate unto them, as Austin speaks, than they are unto 
themselves, by an ialmighty facility he produceth the effect which he 
intendeth. 

This great work, therefore, neither in part nor whole consists in 
raptures, ecstasies, visions, enthusiastic inspirations, but in the effect of 
the power of the Spirit of God on the souls of men, by and according to 
his word, both of the law and the gospel. And those who charge these 
things on them who have asserted, declared, and preached it accord- 
ing to the Scriptures, do it, probably, to countenance tnemselves in 
their hatred of them and of the work itself. Wherefore, — 

2. Where, by reason of distempers of mind, disorder of fancy, or 
long continuance of distressing fears and sorro\vs, in and under such 
preparatory works of the Spirit, which sometimes cut men to their 
hearts in the sense of their sin, and sinful, lost condition, any do fall 
into apprehensions or imaginations of any thing extraordinary in the 
ways before mentioned, if it be not quickly and strictly brought unto 
the rule, and discarded tliert-by, it may be of great danger unto their 

VOL. III. 1^ 



226 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE [BOOK IIL 

souls, and is never of any solid use or advantage. Such apprehen- 
sions, for the most part, are either conceptions of distempered minds 
and discomposed fancies, or delusions of Satan transforming himself 
into an angel of light, which the doctrine of regeneration ought not 
to be accountable for. Yet I must say, — 

S. That so it is come to pass, that many of those who have been 
really made partakers of this gracious work of the Holy Spirit have 
been looked on in the world, which knows them not, as mad, enthu- 
siastic, and fanatical. So the captains of the host esteemed the pro- 
phet that came to anoint Jehu, 2 Kings ix. 11. And the kindred 
of our Saviour, when he began to preach the gospel, said he was 
"beside himself," or ecstatical, Mark iii. 21, and "they went out to 
lay hold on him." So Festus judged of Paul, Acts xxvi. 24, 25. And 
the author of the Book of Wisdom gives us an account what acknow- 
ledgments some will make when it shall be too late, as to their own 
advantage: Chap. v. 3-5, " They shall say, crying out, because of the 
trouble of their minds. This is he whom Ave accounted a scorn, and 
a common reproach. We fools esteemed his life madness, and his 
latter end to have been shameftd, but how is he reckoned among 
the sons of God, and his lot is among the holy ones!" From what 
hath been spoken it appears, — 

Fourthly, That the work of the Spirit of God in regenerating the 
souls of men is diligently to be inquired into by the preachers of 
the gospel, and all to whom the word is dispensed. For the former 
sort, there is a peculiar reason for their attendance unto this duty; 
for they are used and employed in the work itself by the Spirit of 
God, and are by him made instrumental for the effecting of this new 
birth and life. So the apostle Paul styles himself the father of them 
who were converted to God or regenerated through the word of his 
ministry: 1 Cor. iv. 15, "Though ye have ten thousand instructors 
in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have 
begotten you through the gospel." He was used in the ministry of 
the word for their regeneration, and therefore was their spiritual 
father, and he only, though the work was afterward carried on by 
-others. And if men are fathers in the gospel to no more than are 
converted unto God by their personal ministry, it will be no advan- 
tage unto any one day to have assumed that title, when it hath had 
Lo foundation in that work as to its effectual success. So, speaking 
<5f Onesimus, who was converted by him in prison, he calls him " his 
son, whom he had begotten in his bonds," Philem. 10. And this he 
declared to have been prescribed unto him as the principal end of 
bis ministry, in the commission he had for preaching the gospel, 
Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Christ said unto him, "I send thee unto the 
Gentiles, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and 
from the power of Satan unto God;" which is a description of the 



CHAP. I.] KEW CREATION BY REGENERATION. 227 

work under consideration. And this is the principal end of our 
ministry also. Now, certainly it is the duty of ministers to under- 
stand the work about which they are employed, as far as they are 
able, that they may not work in the dark and fight uncertainly, as 
men beating the air. What the Scripture hath revealed concerning 
it, as to its nature and the manner of its operation, as to its causes, 
effects, fruits, evidences, they ought diligently to inquire into. To 
be spiritually skilled therein is one of the principal furnishments of 
any for the work of the ministry, without which they will never be 
able to divide the word aright, nor show themselves workmen that 
need not be ashamed. Yet it is scarcely imaginable with what rage 
and perversity of spirit, with what scornful expressions, this whole 
work is traduced and exposed to contempt. Those who have laboured 
herein are said " to prescribe long and tedious trains of convei'sion, 
to set down nice and subtile processes of regeneration, to fill people's 
heads with innumerable swarms of superstitious fears and scruples 
about the due degrees of godly sorrow, and the certain symptoms of 
a thorough humiliation,"^ pp. 306, 307. Could any mistake be 
charged on particular persons in these things, or the prescribing of 
rules about conversion to God and regeneration that are not war- 
ranted by the word of truth, it were not amiss to reflect upon them 
and refute them ; but the intention of these expressions is evident, 
and the reproach in them is cast upon the work of God itself: and 
I i.^st profess that I believe the degeneracy from the truth and 
power of Christian religion, the ignorance of the principal doctrines 
of the gospel, and that scorn which is cast, in these and the like ex- 
pressions, on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, by such as not only 
profess themselves to be ministers, but of a higher degree than ordi- 
nary, will be sadly ominous unto the whole state of the reformed 
church amongst us, if not timely repressed and corrected. But what 
at present I affirm in this matter is, — 1. That it is a duty indispen- 
sably incumbent on all ministers of the gospel to acquaint themselves 
thoroughly with the nature of this work, that they may be able to 
comply with the will of God and grace of the Spirit in the effecting 
and accomplishment of it upon the souls of them unto whom they 
dispense the word. Neither, without some competent knowledge 
hereof, can they discharge any one part of their duty and office in a 
right manner. If all that hear them are born dead in trespasses and 
sins, if they are appointed of God to be the instruments of their re- 
generation, it is a madness, which must one day be accounted for, to 
neglect a sedulous inquiry into the nature of this work, and the means 
whereby it is wrought. And the ignorance hereof or negligence 
herein, with the want of an experience of the power of this work in 

' Our author quotes from Parker's " Defence and Continuation of the Ecclesiastical 
Polity," etc. See page 121 of this voliune Ed. 



228 "WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIPJT [eOOK III. 

their own souls, is one great cause of that lifeless and unprofitable 
ininistry which is among us. 

2. It is likewise the duty of all to whom the word is preached to 
inquire also into it. It is unto such to whom the apostle speaks, 
2 Cor. xiii. 5, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; 
prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus 
Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" It is the concernment 
of all individual Christians, or professors of Christian religion, to try 
and examine themselves what work of the Spirit of God there hath 
T)een upon their hearts; and none will deter them from it but those 
who have a design to hoodwink them to perdition. And, — (1.) The 
doctrine of it is revealed and taught us; for " secret things belong 
unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong 
unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words 
of the law," Deut. xxix. 29 And we speak not of curious inquiries 
into or after hidden things, or the secret, veiled actions of the Holy 
Spirit; but only of an upright endeavour to search into and com- 
prehend the doctrine concerning this work, to this very end, that we 
might understand it. (2.) It is of such importance unto all our 
duties and all our comforts to have a due apprehension of the na- 
ture of this work, and of our own concernment therein, that an 
inquiry into the one and the other cannot be neglected without the 
greatest folly and madness. Whereunto we may add, (3.) The 
danger that there is of men being deceived in this matter, which is 
the hinge whereon their eternal state and condition doth absolutely 
turn and depend. And certain it is that very many in the world do 
deceive themselves herein : for they evidently live under one of these 
pernicious mistakes, — namely, either, [1.] That men may go to hea- 
ven, or " enter into the kingdom of God," and not be " born again," 
contrary to that of our Saviour, John iii. 5 ; or, [2.] That men may 
be " bom again," and yet live in sin, contrary to 1 John iii. 9. 



CHAPTER II. 

'WORKS OF THE HOLT SPIRIT PREPARATORY UNTO REGENERATION. 

Sundry things preparatory to the work of conversion— Material and formal dis- 
positions, with their difference— Things in the power of our natural abilities 
required of us in a way of duty— Internal, spiritual effects wrought in the 
souls of men by the word — Illumination— Conviction of sin — Consequents 
thereof— These things variously taught— Power of the word and energy of 
the Spirit distinct — Subject ot this work; mind, affections, and conscience — 
Nature of this whole work, and difference from saving conversion farther de- 
clared. 

First, in reference unto the work of regeneration itself, positively 



CHAP. II.] PREPARATORY UNTO REGElSERATION. 229 

considered, we may observe, that ordinarily there are certain previous 
and preparatory works, or workings in and upon the souls of men, 
that are antecedent and dispositive unto it. But yet regeneration 
doth not consist in them, nor can it be educed out of them. This 
is, for the substance of it, the position of the divines of the church of 
England at the synod ctf Dort, two whereof died bishops, and others 
of them were dignified in the hierarchy. I mention it, that those by 
whom these things are despised may a little consider whose ashes 
they trample on and scorn. Lawful, doubtless, it is for any man, on 
just grounds, to dissent from their judgments and determinations;^ 
but to do it with an imputation of folly, with derision, contempt, 
scorn, and scoffing, at what they believed and taught, becometh only 
a generation of new divines amongst us. But to return ; I speak in 
this position only of them that are adult, and not converted until they 
have made use of the means of grace in and by their own reasons 
and understandings; and the dispositions I intend are only materially 
so, not such as contain grace of the same nature as is regeneration 
itself. A Tnaterial disposition is that which disposeth and some way 
maketh a subject fit for the reception of that which shall be com- 
municated, added, or infused into it as its form. So wood by dry- 
ness and a due composure is made fit and ready to admit of firing, 
or continual fire. A formal disposition is where one degree of the 
same kind disposeth the subject unto farther degrees of it; as the 
morning light, which is of the same kind, disposeth the air to the re- 
ception of the full light of the sun. The former we allow here, not 
the latter. Thus, in natural generation there are sundry dispositions 
of the matter before the form is introduced. So the body of Adam 
was formed before the rational soul was breathed into it ; and Ezekiel's 
bones came together with a noise and shaking before the breath of 
life entered into them. 

I shall in this place give only a summary account of \\i\& prepara- 
tory work, because in the close of these discourses I shall handle it 
practically and more at large. Wherefore what I have here to offer 
concerning it shall be reduced unto the ensuing observations: — 

First, There are some things required of us in a way of duty in 
order unto our regeneration, which are so in the power of our own 
natural abilities as that nothing but corrupt prejudices and stub- 

" " Sunt quasdam opera externa, ab hominibus ordinarie requisita, priusquam ad 
statum regenerationis, aut conversionis perducautur, qiite ab iisdcm quandoqiie libere 
fieri, quandoque libere oniitti solent ; ut adire ecclesiam, audire verbi pr^conium, et id 
genus alia. 

" Sunt qusedam effecta interna ad conversionem sive regenerationem prsevia, quse yir- 
tuto verbi, spiritusque innondumregeneratorum cordibus excitantur ; qualia suntiiotitia 
voluntatis divinse, sensus peccati, timor poeroe; cogitatio de liberationc, spos aliquave- 
nise." — Synod. Dordrec. Senteutia Theolog. iJritan. ad Artie, quaitum, thes. 1, 2, p. 139. 



230 "WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK IIL 

bornness in sinning do keep or liinder men from the performance 
of them. And these we may reduce unto two heads: — 1. An out- 
ward attendance unto the dispensation of the word of God, with 
those other external means of grace which accompany it or are ap- 
pointed therein. " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
word of God," Rom. x. 17; that is, it is hearing the word of God 
which is the ordinary means of ingenerating faith in the souls of men. 
This is required of all to whom the gospel doth come; and this they 
are able of themselves to do, as well as any other natural or civil 
action. And where men do it not, where they despise the word at a 
distance, yea, where they do it not with diligence and choice, it is 
merely from supine negligence of spiritual things, carnal security, 
and contempt of God; which they must answer for. 2. A diligent 
intension of mind, in attendance on the means of grace, to under- 
stand and receive the things revealed and declared as the mind and 
will of God. For this end hath God given men their reasons and 
understandings, that they may use and exercise them about their 
duty towards him, according to the revelation of his mind and will. 
To this purpose he calls upon them to remember that they are 
men, and to turn unto him. And there is nothing herein but what 
is in the liberty and power of the rational faculties of our souls, as- 
sisted with those common aids which God affords unto all men in 
general. And great advantages both may be and are daily attained 
hereby. Persons, I say, who diligently apply their rational abilities 
in and about spiritual things, as externally revealed in the word and 
the preaching of it, do usually attain great advantages by it, and 
excel their equals in other things; as Paul did when he was brought 
up at the feet of Gamaliel. Would men be but as intent and dili- 
gent in their endeavours after knowledge in spiritual things, as re- 
vealed in a way suited unto our capacities and understandings, as 
they are to get skill in crafts, sciences, and other mysteries of life, it 
would be much otherwise with many than it is. A neglect herein 
also is the fruit of sensuality, spiritual sloth, love of sin,' and contempt 
of God; all which are the voluntary frames and actings of the minds 
of men. 

These things are required of us in order unto our regeneration, 
and it is in the power of our own wills to comply with them. And we 
may observe concerning them that,— 1. The omission of them, the 
neglect of men in them, is the principal occasion and cause of 
the eternal ruin of the souls of the generality of them to whom or 
amongst whom the gospel is preached: "This is the condemnation, 
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than 
light, because their deeds were evil," John iii. 19. The generality of 
men know full well that they do in this matter no more what they 



CHAP. IT.] PREPARATOllY UNTO EEGENERATION. 231 

are able than what they should. All pleadable pretences of inability 
and weakness are far from them. They cannot but know here, and 
they shall be forced to confess hereafter, that it was merely from 
their own cursed sloth, with love of the world and sin, that they were 
diverted from a diligent attendance on the means of conversion and 
the sedulous exercise of their minds about them. Complaints here- 
of against themselves will make up a great part of their last dread- 
ful cry. 2. In the most diligent use of outward means, men are 7iot 
able of themselves to attain unto regeneration, or complete conversion 
to God, without an especial, effectual, internal work of the Holy 
Spirit of grace on their whole souls. This containing the substance 
of what is principally proposed unto confirmation in the ensuing dis- 
courses, need not here be insisted on. S. Ordinarily, God, in the 
effectual dispensation of his grace, meeteth with them who attend 
with diligence on the outward administration of the means of it. He 
doth so, I say, ordinarily, in comparison of them who are despisers 
and neglecters of them. Sometimes, indeed, he goeth, as it were, out 
of the way to meet with and bring home unto himself a persecuting 
Saul, taking of him in, and taking him off from, a course of open sin 
and rebellion; but ordinarily he dispenseth his peculiar especial grace 
among them who attend unto the common means of it: for he will 
both glorify his word thereby, and give out pledges of his approba- 
tion of our obedience unto his commands and institutions. 

Secondly, There are certain internal spiritual effects wrought in 
and upon the souls of men, whereof the word preached is the imme- 
diate instrumental cause, v/hich ordinarily do precede the work of 
regeneration, or real conversion unto God. And they are reducible 
unto three heads: — 1, Illumination; 2. Conviction; 8. Reforma- 
tion. The first of these respects the mind only; the second, the 
mind, conscience, and affections : and the third, the life and conver- 
sation: — 

1. The first is illumination, of whose nature and causes we must 
afterward treat distinctly. At present, I shall only consider it as it is 
ordinarily previous unto regeneration, and materially disposing the 
mind thereunto. Now, all the light which by any means we attain 
unto, or knowledge that we have in or about spiritual things, things 
of supernatural revelation, come under this denomination of illumina- 
tion. And hereof there are three degrees: — (1.) That which ariseth 
merely from an industrious application of the rational faculties of 
our souls to know, perceive, and understand the doctrines of truth as 
revealed unto us; for hereby much knowledge of divine truth may 
be obtained, which others, through their negligence, sloth, and pride, 
are unacquainted with. And this knowledge I refer unto illumina- 
tion, — that IS, a light superadded to the innate conceptions of men's 



232 WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK ITL 

minds, and beyond what of themselves they can extend unto, — be- 
cause it is concerning such thuigs as the heart of man could never of 
itself conceive, but the very knowledge of them is communicated l)y 
their revelation, 1 Cor. ii. 9, 11. And the reason why so very few 
do exercise themselves to the attaining of this knowledge, according 
to their abilities, is because of the enmity which is in the carnal 
minds of all men by nature unto the things themselves that are re- 
vealed. And within the compass of this degree I compi'ise all 
knowledge of spiritual things that is merely natural. (2.) There is 
an illumination which is an especial effect of the Holy Ghost by the 
word on the minds of men. With respect hereunto, some who fall 
totally from God and perish eternally are said to have been " once 
enlightened," Heb. vi. 4. This light variously affects the mind, and 
makes a great addition unto what is purely natural, or attainable by 
the mere exercise of our natural abilities. 

For, [1.] It adds perspicuity unto it, making the things discerned 
in it more clear and perspicuous to the mind. Hence men endowed 
with it are said to " know the way of righteousness," 2 Pet. ii. 21, — 
clearly and distinctly to apprehend the doctrine of the gospel as the 
way of righteousness. They know it not only or merely as true, but 
as a way of righteousness, — namely, the way of God's righteousness, 
which is therein "revealed from faith to faith,'' Rom. i. 17, and the 
way of righteousness for sinners in the sight of God, chap. x. 3, 4. 
[2.] It adds a greater assent unto the truth of the things revealed 
than mere natural reason can rise up unto. Hence those thus illu- 
minated are frequently said to " believe," their faith being only the 
naked assent of their minds unto the truth revealed to them. So it 
is said of Simon the magician. Acts viii. 13, and of sundry of the 
Jews, John ii. 23, xii. 42. [3.] It adds unto them some kind of 
evanidjoy. These " receive the word with joy," and yet have "no 
root in themselves," Luke viii. 13. They " rejoice in the light" of 
it, at least " for a season," John v. 35. Persons that are thus enlight- 
ened will be variously affected with the word, so as they are not 
whose natural faculties are not spiritually excited. [4.] It adds oft- 
times gifts also, whereof this spiritual light is, as it were, the com- 
mon matter, which in exercise is formed and fashioned in great 
variety. ^ I say, this kind of spiritual light, the effect of this illumi- 
nation, is the subject-matter, and contains in it the substance, of all 
spiritual gifts. One sort of gift it is when put forth and exercised 
in one way, or one kind of duty, and another as in another. And 
where it is improved into gifts, which principally it is by exercise, 
there it wonderfully affects the mind, and raiseth its apprehensions in 
and of spiritual things. Now, concerning this degree of illumination, 
I say, first, That it is not regeneration, nor doth it consist therein, 



CHAP. II.] PREPARATORY UNTO REGENERATION. 233 

nor dotli necessarily or infallibly ensue upon it. A third degree is 
required thereunto, which we shall afterward explain. Many, there- 
fore, may be thus enlightened, and yet never be converted. Secondly, 
That in order of nature it is previous unto a full and real conver- 
sion to God, and is materially preparatory and dispositive thereunto; 
for saving grace enters into the soul by light. As it is therefore a 
gift of God, so it is the duty of all men to labour after a participation 
of it, however by many it be abused. 

2. Conviction of sin is another effect of the preaching of the word 
antecedaneous unto real conversion to God. This in general the 
apostle describes, 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25, "If all prophesy, and there come in 
one that believeth not, he is convinced of all : and thus are the secrets 
of his heart made manifest ; and so falling down on his face he will 
worship God." And sundry things are included herein, or do ac- 
company it; as, — (1.) A disquieting sense of the guilt of sin -with. 
respect unto the law of God, with his threatenings and future judg- 
ment. Things that before were slighted and made a mock of do 
now become the soul's burden and constant disquietment. " Fools 
make a mock of sin;" they traverse their ways, and 'snuff up the 
wind like the wild ass; but in their month, when conviction hath 
burdened them, you may find them. And hereby are the minds of 
men variou'sly affected with fears and angtiish, in various degrees,^ 
according as impressions are made upon them by the word. And 
these degrees are not prescribed as necessary duties unto persons 
under their convictions, but only described as they usually fall out, 
to the relief and direction of such as are concerned in them; — as a 
man going to give directions unto another how to guide his course 
in a voyage at sea, he tells him that in such a place he will meet 
with rocks and shelves, storms and cross winds, so that if he steer not 
very heedfully he will be in danger to miscarry and to be cast away ; 
he doth not prescribe it unto him as his duty to go among such 
rocks and into such storms, but only directs him how to guide himself 
in them where he doth meet with them, as assuredly he will, if he 
miss not his proper course. (2.) Sorrow or grief for sin committed, 
because past and irrecoverable ; which is tiie formal reason of this 
condemning sorrow. This the Scripture calls " soitow of the world," 
2 Cor. vii. 10; divmes, usually, legal sorrow, as that which, in con- 
junction with the sense of the guilt of sin mentioned, brings men 
into bondage under fear, Rom. viii. 15. (3.) Humiliation for sin, 
which is the exercise or working of sorrow and fear in outward acts 

1 " Heu miserum, nimisque miserum quem torquet conscientia sua, quam fugcre non 
potest; nimis miserum quem expectat daninatio sua quam vitare non potest, nisi Dcus 
eripiat. Nimis est infelix cui mors seterna est sensibilis; niniis serumnosus quem terrent 
continui de sua infelicitate horrores." — August, de Contritione Cordis. 



234 WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [eOOK III. 

of confession, fasting, praying, and the like. This is the true nature 
of legal humiliation, 1 Kings xxi. 29. (4.) Unless by these things 
the soul be swallowed up in despair, it cannot be but that it will be 
filled with thoughts, desires, inquiries, and contrivances about a de- 
liverance out of that state and condition wherein it is; as Acts ii. 37, 
xvi. 80. 

3. Oftentimes a great reformation of life and change in affec- 
tions doth ensue hereon ; as Matt. xiii. 20 ; 2 Pet. ii. 20 ; Matt. xii. 44. 

All these things may be -wrought in the minds of men by the dis- 
pensation of the word, and yet the work of regeneration be never 
perfected in them. Yea, although they are good in themselves, and 
fruits of the kindness of God towards us, they may not only be lost 
as unto any spiritual advantage, but also be abused unto our great 
disadvantage. And this comes not to pass but by our own sin, whereby 
we contract a new guilt upon our souls. And it commonly so falls 
out one of these three ways; for, — 1. Some are no way careful or 
wise to improve this light and conviction unto the end whereunto 
they tend and are designed. Their message is, to turn the minds of 
men, and to take them off from their self-confidence, and to direct 
them imto Christ. Where this is not attended unto, where they are 
not used and improved unto the pursuit of this end, they insensibly 
wither, decay, and come to nothing. 2. In some they are over- 
borne by the power and violence of their lusts, the love of sin, and 
efficacy of temptation. They are sinned away every day, and leave 
the soul in ten times a worse condition than they found it. 3. 
Some rest in these things, as though they comprised the whole work 
of God towards them, and guided them in all the duties required of 
them. This is the state of many where they extend their power, in 
the last instance, unto any considerable reformation of life, and 
attendance unto duties of religious worship. But this, as was said, 
falls out through the abuse which the carnal minds of men, retaining 
their enmity against God, do put these things unto. In their own 
nature they are good, useful, and material preparations unto regene- 
ration, disposing the mind unto the reception of the grace of God. 

And the doctrine concerning these things hath been variously 
handled, distinguished, and applied, by many learned divines and 
faithful ministers of the gospel. Unto that light which they received 
into them from the infallible word of truth, they joined those ex- 
periences which they had observed in their own hearts and the 
consciences of others with whom they had to do, which were suitable 
thereunto; and in the dispensation of this truth, according to the 
« meiisure of the gift of the grace of Christ," which they severally 
received, they had a useful and fruitful ministry in the world, to the 
converting of many unto God. But we have "lived to see all these 



CHAP. II.] PREPARATORY UNTO REGENERATION". 235 

things decried and rejected. And the way which some have taken 
therein is as strange and uncouth as the thing itself; for they go no* 
about once to disprove by Scripture or reason what hath been taught 
or deHvered by any sober persons to this purpose, nor do they en- 
deavour themselves to declare from or by the Scriptures what is 
the work of regeneration, what are the causes and effects of it, in 
opposition thereunto. These and such like ways, made use of by all 
that have treated of spiritual things from the foundation of Christi- 
anity, are despised and rejected; but horrible and contemptuous re- 
proaches are cast upon the things themselves, in words heaped to- 
gether on purpose to expose them unto scorn among persons ignorant 
of the gospel and themselves. Those that teach them are " ecstatical 
and illiterate;" and those that receive them are "superstitious, giddy, 
and fanatical." All conviction, sense of and sorrow for sin ; all fear 
of the curse and wrath due unto sin; all troubles and distresses of 
mind by reason of these things, — are "foolish imaginations, the effects 
of bodily diseases and distempers, enthusiastic notions, arising from the 
disorders of men's brains," and I know not what untoward " humours 
in their complexions and constitutions." The same or the like account 
is also given concerning all spiritual desertions, or joys and refresh- 
ments ; and the whole doctrine concerning these things is branded 
with novelty, and hopes expressed of its sudden vanishing out of the 
world. This contempt and scorn of the gospel have we lived to see, 
whereof, it may be, other ages and places have not had experi- 
ence; for as all these things are plentifully taught by some of the 
ancients in their expositions of the scriptures wherein they are ex- 
pressed, especially by Austin, who had occasion partioidarly to inquire 
into them, so the doctrine concerning them is in a great measure 
retained in the church of Rome itself. Only some amongst our- 
selves are weary of them ; who, being no way able to oppose the prin- 
ciples and foundations whereon they are built, nor to disprove them 
by Scripture or reason, betake themselves to these revilings and 
reproaches ; and, as if it were not enough for them to proclaim their 
own ignorance and personal unacquaintance with those things which 
inseparably accompany that conviction of sin, righteousness, and 
judgment which our Lord Jesus Christ hath promised to send the 
Holy Spirit to work in all that should believe, they make the re- 
proaching of it in others a principal effect of that religion which they 
profess. " Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure. The 
Lord knoweth thein that are his." But we must return to our purpose. 
Thirdly, All the things mentioned as wrought instrumentally by 
the word are effects of the power of the Spirit of God. The word 
itself, under a bare proposal to the minds of men, will not so affect 
them. We need go no farther for the confirmation hereof than 



236 WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK IIL . 

merely to consider the preaching (with the effects which it had to- 
wards many) of the prophets of old, Isa. xlix. 4, Jer. xv, 20, Ezek. 
xxxiii. 81, 32; of Jesus Christ himself, John viii. 59; and of the 
apostles, Acts xiii. 41, 45, 46. Hence to this day, the Jews, who 
enjoy the letter of the Old Testament, without the administration of 
the Spirit, are as full of blindness, hardness, and obstinacy, as any 
in the world who are utterly deprived of it. Many amongst our- 
selves sit all their days under the preaching of the word, and yet 
have none of the effects mentioned wrought upon them, when others, 
their associates in hearing, are really affected, convinced, and con- 
verted. It is, therefore, the ministration of the Spirit, in and by the 
word, which produceth all or any of these effects on the minds of 
men ; he is the fountain of all illumination. Hence, they that are 
"enlightened" are said to be made " partakers of the Holy Spirit," 
Heb. vi. 4. And he is promised by our Saviour " to convince the 
world of sin," John xvi. 8 ; which, although in that place it respects 
only one kind of sin, yet it is sufficient to establish a general rule, 
that all conviction of sin is from and by him. And no wonder if 
men live securely in their sins, to whom the light which he gives 
and the convictions which he worketh are a scorn and reproach. 

There is, indeed, an objection of some moment against the ascrip- 
tion of this work unto the energy of the Holy Spirit; for " whereas it 
is granted that all these things may be wrought in the minds and 
souls of men, and yet they may come short of the saving grace of God, 
how can he be thought to be the author of such a work ? Shall we 
say that he designs only a weak and imperfect work upon the hearts 
of men? or that he deserts and gives over the work of grace which 
he hath undertaken towards them, as not able to accomplish it?" 

Ans. 1. In many persons, it may be in the most, who are thus 
affected, real conversion unto God doth ensue, the Holy Spirit by 
these preparatory actings making way for the introduction of the 
new spiritual life into the soul : so they belong unto a work that is 
perfect in its kind. 2. Wherever they fail and come short of what 
in their own nature they have a tendency unto, it is not from any 
weakness and imperfection in themselves, but from the sins of them 
in whom they are wrought. For instance, even common ilkmiina- 
tion and conviction of sin have, in their own nature, a tendency unto 
sincere conversion. They have so in the same kind as the law hath 
to bring us unto Christ. Where this end is not attained, it is always , 
from the interposition of an act of wilfulness and stubbornness in 
those enlightened and convicted. They do not sincerely improve 
what they have received, and faint not merely for want of strength 
to proceed, but, by a free act of their own wills, they refuse the grace 
which is farther tendered unto them in the gospel. This will, and 



CHAP. II.] PREPARATORY UNTO REGEXERATfON. 237 

its actual resistance unto the work of the Spirit, God is pleased in 
some to take away. It is, therefore, of sovereign grace when and 
where it is removed. But the sin of men and their guilt is in it where 
it is continued; for no more is required hereunto but that it be 
voluntary. It is will, and not power, that gives rectitude or obliquity 
unto moral actions. 3. As we observed before, the Holy Spirit in 
his whole work is a voluntary agent He worketh what, when, and 
how he pleaseth. No more is required unto his operations, that they 
may be such as become him, but these two things: — First, That in 
themselves they be good and holy. Secondly, That they be effectual 
as unto the ends whereunto by him they are designed. That he 
should always design them to the utmost length of what they have 
a moral tendency towards, though no real efficiency for, is not re- 
quired. And these things are found in these operations of the Holy 
Spirit. They are in their own nature good and holy. Illumination 
is so; so is conviction and sorrow for sin, with a subsequent change 
of affections and amendment of life. 

Again : What he worketh in any of these effectually and infallibly 
accomplisheth the end aimed at ; which is no more but that men be 
enlightened, convinced, humbled, and reformed, wherein he faileth 
not. In these things he is pleased to take on him the management 
of the law, so to bring the soul into bondage thereby, that it may be 
stirred up to seek after deliverance; and he is thence actively called 
the "Spirit of bondage unto fear," Rom. viii. 15. And this work is 
that which constitutes the third ground in our Saviour's parable of 
the sower. It receives the seed and springs up hopefully, until, by 
cares of the world, temptations, and occasions of life, it is choked and 
lost, Matt. xiii. 22. Now, because it oftentimes maketb a great ap- 
pearance and resemblance of regeneration itself, or of real conversion 
to God, so that neither the world nor the church is able to distin- 
guish between them, it is of great concernment unto all professors of 
the gospel to inquire diligently whether they have in their own souls 
been made partakers of any other work of the Spirit of God or no ; 
for although this be a good work, and doth lie in a good subserviency 
unto regeneration, yet if men attain no more, if they proceed no 
farther, they will perish, and that eternally. And multitudes do 
herein actually deceive themselves, speaking peace unto their souls 
on the effects of this work ; whereby it is not only insufficient to save 
them, as it is to all persons at all times, but also becomes a means of 
their present security and future destruction. I shall, therefore, give 
some few instances of what this work, in the conjunction of all the 
parts of it, and in its utmost improvement, cannot ieffect; whereby 
men may make a judgment how things stand in their own souls iit 
respect unto it: — 



233 WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [bOOK III. 

1. It may be observed, that we have placed all the effects of this 
work in the mind, conscience, affections, and conversation. Hence 
it follows, notwithstanding all that is or may be spoken of it, that 
the will is neither really changed nor internally renewed by it. Now, 
the will is the ruling, governing faculty of the soul, as the mind is 

■ the guiding and leading. Whilst this abides unchanged, unrenewed, 
the power and reign of sin continue in the soul, though not undis- 
turbed yet unruined. It is true, there are many checks and controls, 
from the light of the mind and reflections of conscience, cast in this 
state upon the actings of the will, so that it cannot put itself forth in 
and towards sin with that freedom, security, and licentiousness as it 
was wont to do. Its fierceness and rage, rushing into sin as the horse 
into the battle, running on God and the thick bosses of his buckler, 
may be broken and abated by those hedges of thorns which it finds 
set in its way, and those buffetings it meets withal from light and 
convictions; its delight and greediness in sinning may be calmed 
and quieted by those frequent representations of the terror of the 
Lord on the one hand, and the pleasure of eternal rest on the other, 
v/hich are made unto it: but yet still, setting aside all considera- 
tions foreign unto its own principle, the bent and inclination of the 
will itself is to sin and evil always and continually. The Avill of sin- 
ning may be restrained upon a thousand considerations, which light 
and convictions will administer, but it is not taken away. And this 
discovers itself when the very first motions of the soul towards sin- 
ful objects have a sensible complacency, until they are controlled by 
light and fear. This argues an unrenewed will, if it be constant and 
universal 

2. The effects of this work on the mind, which is the first subject 
affected with it, proceeds not so far as to give it delight, com-placency, 
and satisfaction in the lively spiritual nature and excellencies of the 
things revealed unto it. The true nature of saving illumination con- 
sists in this, that it gives the mind such a direct intuitive insight and 
jjrospect into spiritual things as that, in their own spiritual nature, 
they suit, please, and satisfy it, so that it is transformed into them, 
cast into the mould of them, and rests in them, Rom. vi. 17, xii. 2; 
1 Cor. ii. 13-15; 2 Cor. iii. 18, iv. 6. This the work we have in- 
sisted on reacheth not unto ; for, notwithstanding any discovery that 
is made therein of spiritual things unto the mind, it finds not an im- 
mediate, direct, spiritual excellency in them, but only with respect 
unto some benefit or advantage which is to be attained by means 
thereof. It will not give such a spiritual insight into the mystery of 
God's grace by Jesus Christ, called " his glory shining in the face of 
Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 6, as that the soul, in its first direct view 
of it, should, for what it is in itself, admire it, delight in it, approve 



CHAP. II.] PREPARATORY UNTO REGENERATION, 2S9 

it, and find spiritual solace with refreshment in it. But such a light, 
such a knowledge it communicates, as that a man may like it well 
in its effects, as a way of mercy and salvation. 

8. This work extends itself to the conscience also; but yet it doth 
not purge the conscience from dead works, that we shoidd serve the 
living God. This is the effect of a real application of the blood of 
Christ by faith unto our souls, Heb. ix. 14. Two things it effects 
upon the conscience: — (1.) It renders it more ready, quick, and 
sharp in the reproving and condemning of all sin than it was be- 
fore. To condemn sin, according unto its light and guidance, is 
natural unto and inseparable from the conscience of man; but its 
readiness and ability to exercise this condemning power may, by 
custom and course of sinning in the world, be variously weakened 
and impeded. But when conscience is brought under the power of 
this work, having its directing light augmented, whereby it sees 
more of the evil of sin than formerly, and having its self-reflections 
sharpened and multiplied, it is more ready and quick in putting 
forth its judging and condemning power than it was. (2.) Con- 
science is assisted and directed hereby to condemn many things in 
sin Avhich before it approved of; for its judging power is still com- 
mensurate unto its light,- and many things are thereby now dis- 
covered to be sinful which were not so by the mere natural guidance 
under which before it was. But yet, notwithstanding all this, it doth 
not purge the conscience from dead works; that is, conscience is not 
hereby wrought unto such an abhorrency of sin for itself as continu- 
ally to direct the soul unto an application to the blood of Christ for 
the cleansing of itself and the purging of it out. It contents itself 
to keep all things in a tumult, disorder, and confusion, by its con- 
stant condemning both sin and sinners. 

4. This work operates greatly on the affections. We have given 
instances in the fear, sorrow, joy, and delight about spiritual things 
that are stirred up and acted thereby. But yet it comes short in two 
things of a thorough work upon the affections themselves: for, (1.) 
it doth not j?^ them ; and, (2.) it doth not fill them. (1.) It is required 
that our affections be fixed on heavenly and spiritual things, and 
true grace will effect it: Col. iii. 1, 2, "If ye be risen with Christ, seek 
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand 
of God. Set your affection on things above." The joys, the fears, 
the hopes, the sorrows, Avith reference unto spiritual and eternal 
things, which the work before mentioned doth produce, are evanid, 
uncertain, unstable, not only as to the degrees, but as to the very 
being of them. Sometimes they are as a river ready to overflow its 
banks, — men cannot but be pouring them out on all occasions ; and 
sometimes as waters that fail, — no drop comes from them. Some- 



2i0 WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK III. 

times they are hot, and sometimes cold ; sometimes up, and some- 
times down; sometimes all heaven, and sometimes all world; with- 
out equality, without stability. But true grace fixeth the affections 
on spiritual things. As to the degrees of their exercise, there may 
be and is in them great variety, according as they may be excited, 
aided, assisted, by grace and the means of it, or obstructed and im- 
peded by the interposition of temptations and diversions. But the 
constant bent and inclination of renewed affections is unto spiritual 
things, as the Scripture everywhere testifieth and experience doth 
confirm. (2.) The forementioned work doth not fill the affections, 
however it may serve to take them up and pacify them. It comes 
like many strangers to an inn to lodge, which take up a great deal 
of room, and make an appearance as if none were in the house but 
themselves; and yet they turn not out the family which dwelleth 
there, but there they make their abode still. Light and conviction, 
with all their train and attendants, come into the mind and affec- 
tions as if they would fill them, and possess them for themselves 
alone ; but yet, when they have done all, they leave the quiet places 
of the house for the world, and sin, and self They do not thrust 
them out of the affections, and fill up their places with spiritual 
things. But saving grace fills up the affections with spiritual things, 
fills the soul with sjoiritual love, joy, and delight, and exerciseth all 
other affections about their proper objects. It denies not a room 
to any other things, relations, possessions, enjoyments, merely as they 
are natural, and are content to be subordinate unto God and spiri- 
tual things; but if they would be carnal, disorderly, or predominant, 
it casts them out. 

5. This work is oftentimes carried on very far in reformation of 
life and conversation, so that it will express the whole form of god- 
liness therein. But herein, also, it is subject unto a threefold defect 
and imperfection; for, — (1.) It will consist with and allow of raging 
and reigning sins of ignorance. The conducting light in this work 
not leading unto the abhorrency of all sin as sin, nor into a pursuit of 
holiness out of a design to be universally conformable unto Christ, 
but being gathered up from this and that particular command, it 
ofttimes leaves behind it great sins unregarded. So it left persecu- 
tion in Paul before his conversion; and so it leaves hatred and a 
desire of persecution in many at this day. And other sins of the 
like nature may escape its utmost search, to the ruin of the soul. 
(2.) Its reformation of the conversation is seldom universal as to all 
known sins, unless it be for a season, whilst the soul is under aflag- 
Q-ant pursuit of self-righteousness. Paul in that condition had pre- 
served himself so as that, according to the law, he was blameless; and 
the young man thought he had kept all the commandments from his 



CHAP. II.] PREPARA.TORY UNTO REGENERATION. 241 

youth. But setting aside this consideration, notwithstanding the 
utmost that this work can attain unto, after the efficacy of its first 
impressions begin to abate, lust will reserve some peculiar way of 
venting and discovering itself; which is much spoken unto. (3.) The 
conversatio7is of persons who live and abide under the power of this 
work only is assuredly fading and decaying. Coldness, sloth, negli- 
gence, love of the world, carnal wisdom, and security, do every day 
get ground upon them. Hence, although by a long course of absti- 
nence from open sensual sins, and stating, of a contrary interest, they 
are not given up unto them, yet, by the decays of the power of their 
convictions, and the ground that sin gets upon them, they become 
walking and talking skeletons in religion, — dry, sapless, useless, world- 
lings. But where the soul is inlaid with real saving grace, it is in a 
Btate of thriving continually. Such an one will go on from strength 
to strength, from grace to grace, from glory to glory, and will be fat 
and flourishing in old age. By these things may we learn to distin- 
guish in ourselves between the preparatory work mentioned, and 
tiiat of real saving conversion unto God. And these are some of the 
heads of those operations of the Holy Spirit on the minds of men, 
which oftentimes are preparatory unto a real conversion unto Grod; 
and sometimes, [by] their contempt and rejection, a great aggrava- 
tion of the sin and misery of them in whom they were wrought. 

And these things, as they are clearly laid down in the Scripture 
and exemplified in sundry instances, so, for the substance of them, they 
have been acknowledged (till of late) by all Christians; only some 
of the Papists have carried them so far as to make them formally 
dispositive unto justification, and to have a congruous merit thereof. 
But this the ancients denied, who would not allow that either any 
such preparation or any moral virtues did capacitate men for real 
conversion, observing that others were often called before those who 
were so qualified.^ And in them there are goads and nails, which 
have been fastened by wise and experienced masters of the assem- 
bhes, to the great advantage of the souls of men; for, observing the 
usual ways and means whereby these effects are wrought in the 
minds of the hearers of the word, with their consequences, in sorrow, 
troubles, fear, and humiliations, and the courses wliich they take to 
improve them, or to extricate themselves from the perplexity of 
them, theyhave managed the rules of Scripture with their own and 

1 "Norme advertimus multos fideles nostros ambulantes viam Dei, ex nulla parte 
ingenio comparari, non dicam quoi-undam hsereticorum, sed etiam minonim ? Item 
iionne yidemus quosdam bomines utriusque scxus in conjugali castitate viventes sine 
()uerela, et tamen vel luereticos vel Paganos, \el etiam in vera fide et vera ecclesia sic 
tepidos, ut eos miremur meretricum et histrionum subito conversorum, non solum sa- 
pientiS; et temperantia sed etiam fide, spe et charitate superari." — August, lib. ii. 
*^uaes. ad Simplician. q. 2. 

\OL. Hi. It) 



2-12 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

others' experience suitable thereunto, to the great benefit of the 
church of God. That these things are now despised and laughed to 
scorn is no part of the happiness of the age wherein we live, as the 
event will manifest 

And in the meantime, if any suppose that we will forego these 
truths and doctrines, which are so plainly revealed in the Scripture, 
the knowledge whereof is so useful unto the souls of men, and whose 
publication in preaching hath been of so great advantage to the 
church of God, merely because they understand them not, and there- 
fore reproach them, they will be greatly mistaken. Let them lay 
aside that unchristian way of treating about these things which 
they have engaged in, and plainly prove that men need not be con- 
vinced of sin, that they ought not to be humbled for it, nor affected 
with sorrow with respect unto it ; that they ought not to seek for a 
remedy or deliverance from it ; that all men are not born in a state 
of sin ; that our nature is not depraved by the fall ; that we are able to 
do all that is required of us, without the internal aids and assistances 
of the Spirit of God, — and they shall be diligently attended unto. 



CHAPTER III 

CORRUPTION, OR DEPRAVATION OF THE MIND BT SIN. 

Contempt and corruption of the doctrine of regeneration — All men in the world 
regenerate or unregenerate — General description of corrupted nature — De- 
pravation of the mind — Darkness upon it — The nature of spiritual darkness — 
Reduced unto two heads — Of darkness objective; hovsr removed — Of darkness 
subjective ; its nature and power proved — Eph. iv. 17, 18, opened and applied — 
The mind » alienated from the life of God "—The " life of God," what it is— The 
power of the mind with respect unto spiritual things examined — 1 Cor. ii. 14 
opened — "Vu^ixoc eLi^pM-ro;, or the "natural man," who — Spiritual things, what 
they are — How the natural man cannot know or receive spiritual things — 
Difference between understanding doctrines and receiving of things — A two- 
fold power and ability of mind with respect unto spiritual things explained 
— Reasons why a natural man cannot discern spiritual things— How and 
wherefore spiritual things are foolishness to natural men— Why natural men 
cannot receive the things of God— A double impotency in the mind of man 
by nature — 1 Cor. ii. 14 farther vindicated — Power of darkness in persons 
unregenerate— The mind filled with wills or lusts, and enmity thereby— The 
power and efficacy of spiritual darkness at large declared. 

We have, I hope, made our way plain for the due consideration ot 
the great work of the Spirit in the regeneration of the souls of God's 
€lect. This^ is that whereby he forms the members of the mystical 
body of Christ, and prepares living stones for the building of a temple 
wherein the living God will dwell. Now, that we may not only de- 
clare the truth in this matter, but also vindicate it from those ccr- 



CHAP. III.] OP THE MIND BY SIN. 243 

ruptions wherewith some have endeavoured to debauch it, I shall 
premise a description lately given of it, with confidence enough, and 
it may be not without too much authority; and it is in these words: 
*' What is it to be born again, and to have a new spiritual life in 
Christ, but to become sincere proselytes to the gospel, to renounce 
all vicious customs and practices, and to give an upright and uniform 
obedience to all the laws of Christ. And, therefore, if they are all but 
precepts of moral virtue, to be born again, and to have a new spiri- 
tual life, is only to become a new moral man. But their account" 
(speaking of Nonconformist ministers) " of this article is so wild and 
fantastic, that had I nothing else to make good my charge against 
them, that alone would be more than enough to expose the prodigious 
folly of their spiritual divinity," pp. 343, 344.^ I confess these are 
the words of one who seems not much to consider what he says, so 
as that it may serve his present turn in reviling and reproaching 
other men; for he considers not that, by this description of it, he 
utterly excludes the baptismal regeneration of infants, which is so 
plainly professed by the church wherein he is dignified. But this is 
publicly declared, avowed, and vended, as allowed doctrine amongst 
us, and therefore deserves to be noticed, though the person that gives 
it out be at irreconcilable feuds with himself and his church. Of 
morality and grace an account shall be given elsewhere. At present, 
the work of regeneration is that which is under our consideration. 
And concerning this, those so severely treated teach no other doc- 
trine but what, for the substance of it, is received in all the reformed 
churches in Europe, and which so many learned divines of the church 
of England confirmed with their suffrage at the synod of Dort. 
Whether this deserve all the scorn which this haughty person pours 
upon it by his swelling words of vanity will, to indifferent persons, be 
made appear in the ensuing discourse; as also what is to be thought 
of the description of it given by that author, which, whether it savour 
more of ignorance and folly, or of pride and fulsome errors, is hard 
to determine. I know some words in it are used with the old Pela- 
gian trick of ambiguity, so as to be capable of having another sense 
and interpretation put upon them than their present "use and design 
will admit of; but that artifice will be immediately rendered useless. 
There is a twofold state of men with respect unto God, which is 
comprehensive of all individuals in the world; for all men are either 
unregenerate or regenerate. There being an affirmation and a ne- 
gation concerning the state of regeneration in the Scripture, one of 
them may be used concerning every capable subject; eveiy man liv- 
ing is so, or he is not so. And herein, as I suppose, there is a general 
consent of Christians. Again, it is evident in the Scripture, and we 
' See Samuel Parker's " Defence and Continuation of the Ecclesiastical Polity." — Ed. 



244 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK in, 

have proved it in our way, that all men are born in an unregenerate 
condition. This is so positively declared by our Saviour that there 
is no rising up against it, John iii. 3-8. Now, regeneration being 
the delivery of men (or the means of it) from that state and condi- 
tion wherein they are born or are by nature, we cannot discover 
wherein it doth consist without a declaration of that state which it 
gives us deliverance from. And this, in the first place, we shall insist 
upon at large, giving an account of the state of lapsed nature under 
a loss of the original grace of God. And these things I shall handle 
practically, for the edification of all sorts of believers, and not in the 
way and method of the schools ; which yet shall be done elsewhere. 

In the declaration of the state of corrupted nature after the fall, 
and before the reparation of it by the grace of Jesus Christ, — that 
is, the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit, — the Scripture princi- 
pally insists on three things:^ — 1. The corruption and depravation 
of the mind; which it calls by the name of darkness and blindness, 
with the consequents of vanity, ignorance, and folly. 2. The depra- 
vation of the will and affections; which it expresseth several ways, as 
by weakness or impotency, and stuhhornness or obstinacy. 3. By 
the general name of death, extended to the condition of the whole 
soul. And these have various effects and consequences, as in our ex- 
planation of them will appear. 

All men by nature, not enlightened, not renewed in their minds 
by the saving, effectual operation of the Holy Spirit, are in a state of 
darkness and blindness with respect unto God and spiritual things, 
with the way of pleasing him and living unto him. Be men other- 
wise and in other things never so wise, knowing, learned, and skil- 
ful, in spiritual things they are dark, blind, ignorant, unless they are 
renewed in the spirit of their minds by the Holy Ghost. This is a 
matter which the world cannot endure to hear of, and it is ready to fall 
into a tumult upon its mention. They think it but an artifice which 
some weak men have got up, to reflect on and condemn them who are 
wiser than themselves. On the like occasion did the Pharisees ask of 
our Saviour that question with pride and scorn, "Are we blind also?" 
John ix. 40. But as he lets them know that their presumption of 
light and knowledge would serve only to aggravate their sin and 
condemnation, verse 41 ; so he plainly tells them, that notwithstand- 
ing all their boasting, " they had neither heard the voice of God at 
any time, nor seen his shape," chap. v. 37. 

Some at present talk much about the power of the intellectual 

1 " Dico vetcrcm Nativitatem atque adeo omnes vires naturce, qute naturali propaga- 
tione transfunduntur in sobolcm in scriptura damnari; malodictam cordis nostri iniagi- 
riationem, rationcm, os, manus, pedes peccatoet tenebris invohita in nobis omnia."— Johan. 
I'erus in Evang. J oil. cap. i. v. 2t!. " Fide pcrdita, spe relicta, intclligentia obccecata, vol- 
untate captiva, homo quo in se reparetur uou invenit."— De Vocat, Uent. lib. vii. cap. 3. 



CHAP. III.] OF THE JIIXD BY SIX. 245 

faculties of our souls, as though they were neither debased, corrupted, 
impaired, nor depraved. All that disadvantage which is befallen our 
nature by the entrance of sin is but in " the disorder of the affections 
and the inferior sensitive parts of the soul, which are apt to tumul- 
tuate and rebel against that pure untainted light which is in the 
mind ! " And this they speak of it without respect unto its renova- 
tion by the Holy Spirit; for if they include that also, they are in 
their discourses most notorious confused triflers. Indeed, some of 
them write as if they had never deigned once to consult with the 
Scriptures, and others are plainly gone over into the tents of the 
Pelagians. But, setting aside their modern artifices of confident 
boasting, contemptuous reproaches, and scurrilous railings, it is no 
difficult undertaking so to demonstrate the depravation of the minds 
of men by nature, and their impotency thence to discern spiritual 
things in a spiritual manner,^ without a saving, effectual work of the 
Holy Spirit in their renovation, as that the proudest and most petu- 
lant of them shall not be able to return any thing of a solid answer 
thereunto. And herein we plead for nothing but the known doc- 
trine of the ancient catholic church, declared in the writings of the 
most learned fathers and determinations of councils against the 
Pelagians, whose errors and heresies are again revived among us by 
a crew of Socinianized Arminians. 

We may to this purpose first consider the testimonies given in the 
Scripture unto the assertion as laid down in general: Matt. iv. 16, 
"The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which 
sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." Of what 
kind this darkness was in particular shall be afterward declared. 
For the present it answers what is proposed, — that before the illumi- 
nation given them by the preaching of the gospel, the people men- 
tioned " sat in darkness," or lived under the power of it. And such 
as was the light whereby they were relieved, of the same kind was 
the darkness under which they were detained. And in the same 
sense, when Christ preached the gospel, " the light shined in dark- 
ness, and the darkness comprehended it not," John i. 5, — gave not 
place to the light of the truth declared by him, that it might be re- 
ceived in the souls of men. The commission which he gave to Paul 
the apostle, when he sent him to preach the gospel, was, " To open 
the eyes of men, and to turn them from darkness to light," Acts 
xxvi. 18 ; — not to a light within them; for internal light is the eye or 
seeing of the soul, but the darkness was such as consisted in their 
blindness, in not having their eyes open: " To open their eyes, and 

1 " Si qnis per naturae vigorem evangelizanti predicationi nos consentire posse con- 
firmet absque illuminatione Spii-itus Saiicti; baeretico fallitur spiritu." — Cone. Arau- 
sic. ii. can. 7. 



246 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

turn them from darkness." Eph. v. 8, "Ye were sometimes darkness, 
but now are ye light in the Lord." What is the change and altera- 
tion made in the minds of men intended in this expression will 
afterward appear; but that a great change is proposed none can 
doubt. Col. i. 1 3, " Who hath delivered us from the power of dark- 
ness;" as also 1 Pet. ii. 9, " Who hath called us out of darkness into 
his marvellous light." And the darkness which is in these testi- 
monies ascribed unto persons in an unregenerate condition is by 
Paul compared to that which was at the beginning, before the crea- 
tion of light : Gen. i. 2, " Darkness was upon the face of the deep." 
There was no creature that had a visive faculty; there was darkness 
subjectively in all; and there was no light to see by, but all was 
objectively wrapped up in darkness. In this state of things, God 
by an almighty act of his power created light : Verse 3, " God said, 
Let there be light : and there was light." And no otherwise is it in 
this new creation : " God, who commanded the light to shine out of 
darkness, shines in the hearts of men, to give them the light of the 
knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 6. 
Spiritual darkness is in and upon all men, until God, by an almighty 
and effectual work of the Spirit, shine into them, or create light in 
them. And this darkness is that light within which some boast to 
be in themselves and others! 

To clear our way in this matter, we must consider, — first, the 
nature of this spiritual darkness, what it is, and wherein it doth con- 
sist; and then, secondly, show its efficacy and power in and on the 
minds of men, and how they are corrupted by it. 

First, The term " darkness" in this case is metaphorical, and 
borrowed from that which is natural. What natural darkness is, 
and wherein it consists, all men know ; if they know it not in its 
cause and reason, yet they know it by its effects. They know it is 
that which hinders men from all regular operations which are to be 
guided by the outward senses. And it is twofold : — 1. When men 
have not light to see by, or when the usual light, the only exter- 
nal medium for the discovery of distant objects, is taken from them. 
So was it with the Egyptians during the three days' darkness that 
was on their land. They could not see for want of light ; they had 
their visive faculty continued unto them, yet having "no light/' 
they "saw not one another, neither arose any from his place," Exod. 
X. 23 : for God, probably, to augment the terror of his judgment, re- 
strained the virtue of artificial light, as well as he did that which 
was natural. 2. There is darkness unto men when they are blind, 
either born so or made so: Ps. Ixix. 23, "Let their eyes be darkened, 
that they see not." So the angels smote the Sodomites with 
blindness, Gen. xix. 11 ; and Paul the sorcerer, Acts xiii. 11. How- 



CHAP, ill.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 247 

ever tlie sun sTiineth, it is all one perpetual night unto them that are 
blind. 

Answerable hereunto, spiriUial darkness may be referred unto 
two heads; for there is an objective darkness, a darkness that is on 
men, and a subjective darkness, a darkness that is in them. The 
first consists in the want of those means whereby alone they may be 
enlightened in the knowledge of God and spiritual things. This is 
intended, Matt. iv. 16. This means is the word of God, and the 
preaching of it. Hence it is called a " light," Ps. cxix. 105, and is 
said to " enlighten," Ps. xix. 8, or to be " a light shining in a dark 
place," 2 Pet. i. 19; and it is so termed, because it is the outward 
means of communicating the light of the knowledge of God -unto 
the minds of men. What the sun is unto the world as unto things 
natural, that is the word and the preaching of it unto men as to 
things spiritual; and hence our apostle applies what is said of the 
sun in the firmament, as to the enlightening of the world, Ps. xix. 1-4, 
unto the gospel and the preaching of it, Rom. x. 15, 18. 

And this darkness is upon many in the world, even all unto whom 
the gospel is not declared, or by whom it is not received, where it is 
or hath been so. Some, I know, have entertained a vain imagina- 
tion about a saving revelation of the knowledge of God by the works 
of creation and providence, objected^ to the rational faculties of the 
minds of men. It is not my purpose here to divert unto the con- 
futation of that fancy. Were it so, it were easy to demonstrate that 
there is no saving revelation of the knowledge of God unto sinners, 
but as he is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself; and that 
so he is not made known but by the word of reconciliation committed 
unto the dispensers of the gospel. Whatever knowledge, therefore, 
of God may be attained by the means mentioned, as he is the God 
of nature ruling over men, and requiring obedience from them ac- 
cord ing to the covenant and law of their creation, yet the knowledge 
of him as a God in Christ pardoning sin and saving sinners is attain- 
able by the gospel only. But this I have proved and confirmed 
elsewhere.^ 

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to remove and take away this 
darkness ; which until it is done no man can see the kingdom of God, 
or enter into it. And this he doth by sending the word of the gos- 
pel into any nation, country, place, or city, as he pleaseth. The 
gospel does not get ground in any place, nor is restrained from any 
place or people, by accident, or by the endeavours of men; but it is 
sent and disposed of according to the sovereign will and pleasure of 

' In the sense of "placed before," " presented." — En. 

* See treatise, " Communion with God," and his " Vindication" of it in reply to Dr 
Sherlock, vol. ii. — Ed. 



248 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK ITL 

the Spirit of God. He gifteth, calls, and sends men unto the work 
of preaching it, Acts xiii. 2, 4, and disposeth them unto the places 
where they shall declare it, either by express revelation, as of old, 
chap. xvi. 6-10, or guides them by the secret operations of his pro- 
vidence. Thus the dispensation of the " light of the gospel,'" as to 
times, places, and persons, depends on his sovereign pleasure, Ps. 
cxlvii. 19, 20. Wherefore, although we are to take care and pray 
much about the continuance of the dispensation of the gospel in any 
place, and its propagation in others, yet need we not to be over- 
solicitous about it. This work and care the Holy Ghost hath taken 
on himself, and will carry it on according to the counsel of God and 
his purposes concerning the kingdom of Jesus Christ in this world 
And thus far the dispensation of the gospel is only a causa sine qua 
non of the regeneration of men, and the granting of it depends solely 
on the will of the Spirit of God. 

It is subjective darkness which is of more direct and immediate 
consideration in this matter, the nature whereof, with what it doth 
respect, and the influence of it on the minds of men, must be declared, 
before we can rightly apprehend the work of the Holy Spirit in its 
removal by regeneration. 

This is that whereby the Scripture expresseth the natural depra- 
vation and corruption of the minds of men, with respect unto spiritual 
things and the duty that we owe to God, according to the tenor of 
the covenant. And two things must be premised to our considera- 
tion of it; as, — 

1, That I shall not treat of the depravation or corruption of the 
mind of man by the fall, with respect unto things natural, civile 
political, or moral, but merely with regard to things spiritual, hea- 
venly, and evangelical. It were easy to evince, not only by testi- 
monies of the Scripture, but by the experience of all mankind, built 
on reason and the observation of instances innumerable, that the 
whole rational soul of man since the fall, and by the entrance of sin, 
is weakened, impaired, vitiated, in all its faculties and all their ope- 
rations about their proper and natural objects. Neither is there any 
relief against these evils, with all those unavoidable perturbations 
wherewith it is possessed and actually disordered in all its working-, 
but by some secret and hidden operation of the Spirit of God, such 
as he continually exerts in the rule and government of the world. 
But it is concerning the impotency, defect, depravation, and perver- 
sity of the mind with respect unto spiritual things alone, that we 
shall treat at present. I say, then, — 

2. That, by reason of that vice, corruption, or depravation of the 
minds of all unregenerate men, which the Scripture calls darkness 
and blindness, they are not able of themselves, by their own reasona 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 249 

and understandings, however exercised and improved, to discern, 
receive, understand, or believe savingly, spiritual things, or the mys- 
tery of the gospel, when and as they are outwardly revealed unto 
them, without an effectual, powerful work of the Holy Spirit, creating, 
or by his almighty power inducing, a new saving light into them.^ 
Let it be supposed that the mind of a man be no way hurt or im- 
paired by any natural defect, such as doth not attend the whole race 
of mankind, but is personal only and accidental; suppose it free 
from contracted habits of vice or voluntary prejudices, — yet upon the 
proposal of the doctrine and mysteries of the gospel, let it be done 
by the most skilful masters of the assemblies, with the greatest evi- 
dence and demonstration of the truth, it is not able of itself, spiritu- 
ally/ and savingly, to receive, understand, and assent unto them, with- 
out the especial aid and assistance and operation of the Holy Spirit.^ 

To evince this truth, we may consider, in one instance, the de- 
scription given us in the Scripture of the mind itself, and its ope- 
rations with respect unto spiritual things. This we have, Eph. iv. 
17, 18, " This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye 
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their 
mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the 
life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the 
blindness of their heart." It is of the Gentiles that the apostle 
speaks, but the apostle speaks of them on the account of that which 
is common unto all men by nature; for he treats of their condition 
with respect unto the faculties of their minds and souls, wherein 
there is, as unto the life of God, or spiritual things, no difference 
naturally among men. And their operations and effects are, for the 
substance of them, the same. 

Some, indeed, give such an account of this text as if the apostle had 
said, "Do not ye live after the manner of the heathens, in the vilenessof 
those practices, and in their idol-worship. That long course of sin hav- 
ing blinded their understandings, so that they see not that which by the 

1 " Quomodo nempe lux incassura circumfundit oculos csecos vel clauses, ita animalis 
homo non pel cipit ca quae suut Spiritus Dei." — 1 Cor. ii. 14; Bernard. Ser. i. sup. Cantic. 

2 " Si quis per naturae vigoicm bonum aliquod quod ad salutem pertinet vitse seter- 
nas, cogitarc ut expedit, aut eligere, sive salutari, id est, Evangelicae praedicationi con- 
seutire posse coutirujat, absque illuminatione et inspii'atione tjpiritus Saucti, qui dat 
omnibus suavitatem conscutieutlo et ciedendo verit.iti, haretico fallitur spiritu." — Cone. 
Arausic. ii. can. 7. 

" Ideo dictum est quia nullus hominum illuminatur nisi illo lumine veritatis quod 
Deus est; ne quisquam putaiet ab eo .'^e ilUuuihari, a quo aliquid audit ut discat, 
non dico si quenquam magnum hominem, sed ncc si angelum ei contijigat liabere 
doctorem. Adbibetur cniin sermo veritatis extrinsecus vocis ministerio corporali; 
verumtamen neque qui plautat est aliquid, necjue qui rigat, sed qui increuientum dat 
Deus. Audit quippe homo dicentcm vel hominem vel angelum, sed ut sentiat (.t 
cognoscat verum esse quod dicitur illo lumine mens ejus intus aspergitur, quod inter- 
num manet, quod etiam in tenebris lucet." — August, de Peccat. Meritis et Eemissione, 
lib. i. cap. 25. 



250 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [bOOK III. 

light of nature they are enabled to see, and, by that gross ignorance and 
obduration of heart, run into all impiety, [they] are far removed from 
that life which God and nature require of them." It is supposed in 
this exposition, — (1.) That the apostle hath respect, in the first place, 
to the practice of the Gentiles, not to their state and condition. 
(2.) That this practice concerns only their idolatry and idol-worship. 
(3.) That what is here ascribed unto them came upon them by a long 
course of sinning. (4.) That the darkness mentioned consists in a not 
discerning of what might be seen by the light of nature. (5.) That 
their alienation from the life of God consisted in running into that im- 
piety which was distant or removed from the life that God and nature 
require. But all these sentiments are so far from being contained in 
the text as that they are expressly contrary unto it; for, — (1.) Al- 
though the apostle doth carry on his description of this state of the 
Gentiles unto the vile practices that ensued thereon, verse 19, yet it 
is their state by nature, with respect unto the "life of God," which is 
first intended by him. This is apparent from what he prescribes unto 
Christians in opposition thereunto, — namely, " The new man, which 
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," verse 24, 
(2.) The "vanity" mentioned is subjective in their minds, and so hath 
no respect to idol- worship, but as it was an effect thereof. The 
"vanity of their minds" is the principle whereof this walking, be what 
it will, was the effect and consequent. (3.) Here is no mention nor 
intimation of any long course of sinning, much less that it should be 
the cause of the other things ascribed to the Gentiles; whereof, indeed, 
it was the effect. The description given is that of the state of all 
men by nature, as is plain from chap. ii. 1-3. (4.) The " darkness" 
here mentioned is opposed unto being " light in the Lord," chap. 
V. 8; which is not mere natural light, nor can any by that light alone 
discern spiritual things, or the things that belong to the life of God. 
(5.) The life of God here is not that life which God and nature re- 
quire, but that life which God reveals in, requires, and communi- 
cates by, the gospel, through Jesus Christ, as all learned expositors 
acknowledge. Wherefore the apostle treateth here of the state of 
men by nature with respect unto spiritual and supernatural things. 
And three heads he reduceth all things in man unto: — 1. He men- 
tions rhv vovv, the "mind;" 2. Tnv didmav, the "understanding;" and, 
3. T^jK xaf.8!av, the " heart." And all these are one entire principle 
of all our moral and spiritual operations, and are all affected with 
the darkness and ignorance whereof we treat. 

1. There is o vovg, the " mind." This is the rh r,ys/xovix6v, the lead- 
ing and ruling faculty of the soul. It is that in us which looketh 
out after proper objects for the will and affections to receive and 
embrace. Hereby we have our first aiaprehensions of all things, 



CHAP. Ill ] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 251 

whence deductions are made to our practice. And hereunto is as- 
cribed /iara/orTjs, " vanity:" " They walk in the vanity of their mind." 
Things in the Scripture are said to be vain which are useless and fruit- 
less. Mara/OS, " vain," is from /idrriv, " to no purpose," Matt. xv. 9. 
Hence the apostle calls the idols of the Gentiles, and the rites used 
in their worship, fj^aTaia, "vain things," Acts xiv. 15. So he ex- 
presseth the Hebrew, ^1?'""'.?^n, Jonah ii. 8, "lying vanities," or n.^J; 
which is as much as avw^sXEj, a thing altogether useless and unpro- 
fitable, according to the description given of them, 1 Sam. xii. 21, 
nan ^nh-^2 'h^\ ^\ hfi^'^h n^■^? ^nriri,_« Vain things, which cannot 
profit nor deliver; for they are vain." There is no profit in nor use 
of that which is vain. As the mind is said to be vain, or under the 
power of vanity, two things are intended: — (1.) Its natural inclina- 
tion unto things that are vain, — that is, such as are not a proper nor 
useful object unto the soul and its affections. It seeks about to lead 
the soul to rest and satisfaction, but always unto vain things, and 
that in great variety. Sin, the world, pleasures, the satisfaction 
of the flesh, with pride of life, are the things which it naturally pur- 
sues. And in actings of this nature a vain mind abounds; it multi- 
plies vain imaginations, like the sand on the sea-shore. These are 
called "The figments of the hearts of men," Gen. vi. 5, which are found 
to be only "evil continually." These it feigns and frames, abundantly 
bringing them forth, as the earth doth grass, or as a cloud pours out 
drops of water. And herein, (2.) It is unstable; for that which is 
vain is various, inconstant, unfixed, light, as a natural mind is, so 
that it is like hell itself for confusion and disorder, or the whorish 
woman described by Solomon, Pro v. vii. 11, 12. And this hath be- 
fallen it by the loss of that fixed regularity which it was created in. 
There was the same cogitative or imaginative faculty in us in the 
state of innocency as there remains under the power of sin; but 
then all the actings of it were orderly and regular, — the mind was 
able to direct them all unto the end for which we were made. God 
was, and would have been, the principal object of them, and all other 
things in order unto him. But now, being turned off from him, the 
mind in them engageth in all manner of confusion ; and they all end 
in vanity or disappointment. They offer, as it were, their service 
unto the soul, to bring it in satisfaction. And although they are 
rejected oae after another, as not answering what they pretend unto, 
yet they constantly arise under the same notion, and keep the whole 
soul under everlasting disappointments. And from hence it is that 
the mind cannot assent unto the common principles of religion in a 
due manner, which yet it cannot deny. Tliis will be farther cleared 
afterward. Hereon in conversion unto God, we are said to have 
our minds renewed, Rom. xii. 2, and to be " renewed in the spirit 



252 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [bOOK III. 

of our mind," Epli. iv. 23. By the "mind" the faculty itself is in- 
tended, the rational principle in us of apprehension, of thinking, dis- 
coursing, and assenting. This is renewed by grace, or brought into 
another haljitude and frame, by the implantation of a ruling, guid- 
ing, spiritual light in it. The " spirit" of the mind, is the inclination 
and disposition in the actings of it ; these also must be regulated by 
grace. 

2. There is the Mvoia, the " understanding." This is the rh dia- 
xpiTixov, the directive, discerning, judging faculty of the soul, that 
leads it unto practice. It guides the soul in the choice of the no- 
tions which it receives by the mind. And this is more corrupt than 
the mind itself; for the nearer things come to practice, the more 
prevalent in them is the power of sin. This, therefore, is said to be 
"darkened;" and being so, it is wholly in vain to pretend a sufficiency 
in it to discern spiritual things without a supernatural illumination. 
Light, in the dispensation of the gospel, shines, or casts out some rays 
of itself, into this darkened understanding of men, but that receives 
it not, John i. 5. 

3. There is xapdia, the " heart." This in Scripture is rh rrpaxrixov 
in the soid, the practical principle of operation, and so includes the 
will also. It is the actual compHance of the will and affections with 
the mind and understanding, with respect unto the objects proposed 
by them. Light is received by the mind, applied by the under- 
standing, used by the heart. Upon this, saith the apostle, there is 
vuipuGig, " blindness." It is not a mere ignorance or incomprehen- 
siveness of the notions of truth that is intended, but a stubborn re- 
sistance of light and conviction. An obstinate and obdurate hard- 
ness is upon the heart, whence it rejects all the impressions that come 
upon it from notions of truth. And on these considerations men 
themselves before conversion are said to be " darkness," Eph. v. 8. 
There may be degrees in a moral privation, but when it is ex- 
pressed in the abstract, it is a sign that it is at its height, that it is 
total and absolute. And this is spoken with respect unto spiritual 
and saving light only, or a saving apprehension of spiritual truths. 
There is not in such persons so much as any disposition remaining 
to receive saving knowledge, any more than there is a disposition in 
darkness itself to receive light. The mind, indeed, remains a capa- 
ble subject to receive it, but hath no active power nor disposition in 
itself towards it; and, therefore, when God is pleased to give us a 
new ability to understand and perceive spiritual things in a due 
manner, he is said to give us a new faculty, because of the utter dis- 
ability of our minds naturally to receive them, 1 John v. 20. Let 
vain men boast whilst they please of the perfection and ability of 
their rational faculties with respect unto rehgion and the things of 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 2o3 

God, this is the state of them by nature, upon His judgment that 
must stand for ever. 

And, by the way, it may not be amiss to divert here a little unto 
the consideration of that exposition which the whole world and all 
things in it give unto this text and testimony concerning the minds 
of natural men being under the power of vanity, for this is the spring 
and inexhaustible fountain of all that vanity which the world is filled 
with. There is, indeed, a vanity which is penal, — namely, that vexa- 
tion and disappointment which men finally meet withal in the pur- 
suit of perishing things, whereof the wise man treats at large in his 
Ecclesiastes; but I intend that sinful vanity which the mind itself 
produces, and that in all sorts of persons, ages, sexes, and conditions 
in the world. This some of the heathens saw, complained of, re- 
I-)roved, and derided, but yet could never reach to the cause of it, 
nor free themselves from being under the power of the same vanity, 
though in a way peculiar and distinct from the common sort, as 
might easily be demonstrated. But the thing is apparent ; almost 
all that our eyes see or our ears hear of in the world is altogether 
vain. All that which makes such a noise, such a business, such an 
nppearance and show among men, may be reduced unto two heads: — 
(1.) The vanity that they bring into the things that are, and that 
<';re either good in themselves and of some use, or at least iudifferent. 
So men do variously corrupt their buildings and habitations, their 
trading, their conversation, their power, their wealth, their relations. 
They join innumerable vanities with them, which render them loath- 
some and contemptible, and the meanest condition to be the most 
suitable to rational satisfaction. (2.) Men find out, and as it were 
create, things to be mere supporters, countenancers, and nourishers 
of vanity. Such, in religion, are carnal, pompous ceremonies, like 
those of the church of Rome, which have no end but to bring in 
some kind of provision for the satisfaction of vain minds; stage- 
players, mimics, with innumerable other things of the same nature, 
which are nothing but theatres for vanity to act itself upon. It were 
endless but to mention the common effects of vanity in the world. 
And men are mightily divided about these things. Those engaged 
in them think it strange that others run not out into the " same 
compass of excess and riot with themselves, speaking evil of them," 
1 Pet. iv. 4. They wonder at the perverse, stubborn, and froward 
humour which befalls some men, that they delight not in, that they 
approve not of, those things and ways wherein they find so great a 
suitableness unto their own minds. Others, again, are ready to ad- 
mire whence it is that the world is mad on such vain and foolish 
things as it is almost wholly given up unto. The consideration we 
have insisted on gives us a satisfactory account of the grounds and 



254 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

reasons hereof. The mind of man by nature is wholly vain, under 
the power of vanity, and is an endless, fruitful womb of all monstrous 
births. The world is now growing towards six thousand years old, 
and yet is no nearer the bottom of the springs of its vanity, or the 
drawing out of its supplies, than it was the first day that sin entered 
into it. New sins, new vices, new vanities, break forth continually; 
and all is from hence, that the mind of man by nature is altogether 
vain. Nor is there any way or means for putting a stop hereunto in 
persons, families, cities, nations, but so far as the minds of men are 
cured and renewed by the Holy Ghost. The world may alter its 
shape and the outward appearances of things, it may change its 
scenes, and act its part in new habits and dresses, but it will still be 
altogether vain so long as natural uncured vanity is predominant in 
the minds of men ; and this will sufficiently secure them from attain- 
ing any saving acquaintance with spiritual things. 

Again : It is one of the principal duties incumbent on us, to be ac- 
quainted with, and diligently to watch over, the remainders of this 
vanity in our own minds. The sinful distempers of our natures are 
not presently cui'ed at once, but the healing and removing of them 
is carried on by degrees unto the consummation of the course of our 
obedience in this world. And there are three effects of this natural 
vanity of the mind in its depraved condition to be found among be- 
lievers themselves: — (1.) An instability in holy duties, as medita- 
tion, prayer, and hearing of the w^ord. How ready is the mind to 
wander in them, and to give entertainment unto vain and fond ima- 
ginations, at least unto thoughts and apprehensions of things unsuited 
to the duties wherein we are engaged! How difficult is it to keep 
it up unto an even, fixed, stable frame of acting spiritually in spiritual 
things! How is it ready at every breath to unbend and let down its 
intension! All we experience or complain of in this kind is from 
the uncured relics of this vanity. (2.) This is that which inclines 
and leads men towards a conformity with and unto a, vain world, in 
its customs, habits, and ordinary converse; which are all vain and 
foolish. And so prevalent is it herein, and such arguments hath it 
possessed itself withal to give it countenance, that in many instances 
of vanity it is hard to give a distinction between them and the whole 
world that lies under the power of it. Professors, it may be, will not 
comply with the world in the things before mentioned, that have no 
other use nor end but merely to support, act, and nourish vanity; 
but from other things, which, being indifferent in themselves, are yet 
filled ^yith vanity in their use, how ready are many for a compli- 
ance with the course of the world, which lieth in evil and passeth 
away! (3.) It acts itself in fond and foolish imaginations, whereby 
it secretly makes provision for the flesh and the lusts thereof; for 



CHAP, iil] of the mind BY SIK 255 

they all generally lead uoto self-exaltation and satisfaction. And 
these, if not carefully checked, will proceed to such an excess as 
greatly to taint the whole soul. And in these things lie the prin- 
cipal cause and occasion of all other sins and miscarriages. We have, 
therefore, no more important duty incumbent on us than mightily to 
oppose this radical distemper. It is so, also, to attend diligently unto 
the remedy of it; and this consists, (1.) In a holy fixedness of mind, 
and an habitual inclination unto things spiritual ; Avhich is communi- 
cated unto us by the Holy Ghost, as shall be afterward declared, 
Eph. iv. 23, 24. (2.) In the due and constant improvement of that 
gracious principle, — [1.] By constant watchfulness against the mind's 
acting itself in vain, foolisii, unprofitable imaginations, so far at least 
[as] that vain thoughts may not lodge in us; [2.] By exercising it con- 
tinually unto holy spiritual meditations, "minding always the things 
that are above," Col. iii. 2 ; [3.] By a constant, conscientious hum- 
bling of our souls, for all the vain actings of our minds that we do 
observe ; — all which might be usefully enlarged on, but that we must 
return. 

[Secondly], The minds of men unregenerate being thus depraved 
and corrupted, being thus affected with darkness, and thereby being 
brought under the power of vanity, we may yet farther consider 
what other effects and consequents are on the same account ascribed 
unto it. And the mind of man in this state may be considered, 
either, — 1. As to its dispositions and inclinations; [or], 2. As to its 
power and actings, with respect unto spiritual, supernatural things: — 

1. As to its dispositions, it is (from the darkness described) per- 
verse and depraved, whereby men are "alienated from the life of God," 
Eph. iv. 18; for this alienation of men from the divine life is from 
the depravation of their minds. Hence are they said to be " alienated 
and enemies in their mind by wicked works," or by tlieir mind in 
wicked works, being fixed on them and under the power of them, 
Col. i. 21. And that we may the better understand what is intended 
hereby, we may consider both what is this "life of God," and how the 
unregenerate mind is alienated from it : — 

(1.) All life is from God. The life which we have in common with 
all other living creatures is from him. Acts xvii. 28; Ps. civ. 30. 
And, (2.) That peculiar vital life which we have by the union of the 
rational soul with the body is from God also, and that in an especial 
manner, Gen. ii. 7; Job x. 12. But neither of these is anywhere 
called the " life of God." But it is an especial life unto God which is 
intended ; and sundry things belong thereunto, or sundry things are 
applied unto the description of it: — (1.) It is the life which God re- 
quireth of us, that we may please him here and come to the enjoy- 
ment of him hereafter; the life of faith and spiritual obedience by 



256 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

Jesus Christ, Rom. i. 17; Gal. ii. 20, "I live by the faith of the 
Son of God;" Rom. vi., vii. (2.) It is that life which God worketh in 
ns, not naturally by his power, but spiritually by his grace; and that 
both as to the principle and all the vital acts of it, Eph. ii. 1, 5 ; 
Phil. iL 13. (3.) It is that life whereby God liveth in us, that is, in 
and by his Spirit through Jesus Christ : Gal. ii. 20, " Christ liveth 
in me." And where the Son is, there is the Father; whence, also, this 
life is said to be " hid with him in God," Col. iii. 3. (4.) It is the 
life whereby we live to God, Rom. vi., vii., whereof God is the supreme 
and absolute end, as he is the principal efficient cause of it. And 
two things are contained herein: — [1.] That we do all things to his 
glory. This is the proper end of all the acts and actings of this life, 
Rom. xiv. 7, 8. [2.] That we design in and by it to come unto the 
eternal enjoyment of him as our blessedness and reward, Gen, xv. 1. 
(5.) It is the life whereof the gospel is the law and rule, John vi. 68 ; 
Acts V. 20. (6.) A life all whose fruits are holiness and spiritual, 
evangelical obedience, Rom. vi. 22; Phil. i. 11. Lastly, It is a life 
that dieth not, that is not obnoxious unto death, "eternal life," John 
xvii. 3. These things contain the chief concerns of that peculiar spi- 
ritual, heavenly life, which is called the " life of God." 

The carnal mind is alienated from this life. It hath no liking 
of it, no inclination to it, but carrieth away the whole soul with an 
aversation from it. And this alienation or aversation appears in two 
things: — (1.) In its unreadiness and unaptness to receive instruc- 
tion in and about the concernments of it. Hence are men dull and 
" slow of heart to believe," Luke xxiv. 25 ; vu6poi raTg axoaTg, Heb. 
V. 11, 12, "heavy in hearing;" and slow in the apprehension of what 
they hear. So are all men towards what they do not like, but have 
an aversation from. This God complains of in his people of old: 
" My people are foolish, they have not known me ; they are sottish 
children, and they have none understanding : they are wise to do evil, 
but to do good they have no knowledge," Jer. iv. 22. (2.) In the choice 
and preferring of any other life before it. The first choice a natural 
mind makes is of a life in sin and pleasure ; which is but a death, a 
death to God, 1 Tim. v. 6, James v. 5, — a life without the law, and 
before it comes, Rom. vii. 9. This is the life which is suited to the 
carnal mind, which it desires, delights in, and which willingly it 
would never depart from. Again, if, by afflictions or convicrions, it 
be in part or wholly forced to forsake and give up this life, it will 
choose, magnify, and extol a moral life, a life in, by, and under the 
law; though at the last it will stand it in no more stead than the life 
of sin and pleasure which it hath been forced to forego, Rom. ix. 32, 
X. 3. The thoiights of this spiritual life, this " life of God," it cannot 
away witL The notions of it are uncouth, the description of it is 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 257 

unintelligible, and the practice of it either odious folly or needless 
superstition. This is the disposition and inclination of the mind to- 
wards spiritual things, as it is corrupt and depraved. 

2. The power also of the mind with respect unto its actings to- 
wards spiritual things may be considered ; and this, in short, is 
none at all, in the sense which shall be explained immediately, Rora. 
V. 6. For this is that which we shall prove concerning the mind of a 
natural man, or of a man in the state of nature : However it may be 
excited and improved under those advantages of education and parts 
which it may have received, yet [it] is not able, hath not a power of its 
own, spiritually and savingly, or in a due manner, to receive, embrace, 
and assent unto spiritual things, when proposed unto it in the dis- 
pensation and preaching of the gospel, unless it be renewed, enlight- 
ened, and acted by the Holy Ghost. 

This the apostle plainly asserts, 1 Cor. ii. 14, "The natural man 
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness 
unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually 
discerned.'^ 

(1.) The subject spoken of is "^vx^^'k dv^puTog, " animalis homo,'' 
the "natural man," he who is a natural man. This epithet is in 
the Scripture opposed unto Ti/sy/iar/jco's, " spiritual," 1 Cor. xv. 44^ 
Jude 19, where -^v^ixoi are described by Tvsu/ia /ji^n £'%o!/r£5, such as 
have not the Spirit of God. The foundation of this distinction, and 
the distribution of men into these two sorts thereby, is laid in that of 
our apostle, 1 Cor. xv. 45, 'Eysvsro 6 irpurog dv&puirog ' Ada,u> ilg -^^v^riv 
^uffav sg^aTog ' Ahafi iig "Ti/su^a ^wo7ro/oi/i/" — "The first Adam was made 
a living soul." Hence every man who hath no more but what is 
traduced from him is called -^vxi'^t-k, — he is a " living soul," as was 
the first Adam. And, " The last Adam was made a quickening spirit." 
Hence he that is of him, partaker of his nature, that derives from 
him, is irvi\)ij.ari%dg, a " spiritual man." The person, therefore, here 
spoken of, or -^vyjMg, is one that hath all that is or can be derived 
from the first Adam, one endowed with a " rational soul," and Avho 
hath the use and exercise of all its rational faculties. 

Some who look upon themselves almost so near to advancements 
as to countenance them in magisterial dictates and scornful reflec- 
tions upon others, tell us that by this " natural man," " a man given 
up to his pleasures, and guided by brutish affections," and no other, 
is intended, — " one that gives himself up to the government of his 
inferior faculties;" but no rational man, no one that will attend 
unto the dictates of reason, is at all concerned in this assertion. But 
how is this proved? If we are not content with bare affirmations, 
we must at length be satisfied with railing and lying, and all sorts 
of reproaches. But the apostle in this chapter distributes all meD 

VOL. IIL 17 



258 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

living into mev/ManxoI and -vl/^^"""'? " spiritual" and " natural/' He 
■who is not a spiritual man, be he who and what he will, be he as 
rational as some either presume themselves to be or would beg of the 
world to believe that they are, is a natural man. The supposition of 
a mi(]dle state of men is absolutely destructive of the whole discom-se 
of the apostle as to its proper design. Besides, this of -^v-^ixog 
&v&pu'xog is the best and softest term that is given in the Scripture to 
unregenerate men, with respect unto the things of God; and there 
is no reason why it should be thought only to express the worst sort 
of them thereby. The Scripture terms not men peculiarly capti- 
vated unto brutish affections, avdpdj-zoug -^uxixovg, " natural men," but 
rather uXoya ^ua <pvGr/.d, 2 Pet. ii. 12, "natural brute beasts." And 
Austin gives us a better account of this expression, Tractat. 98, in 
Johan : — " Animalis homo, i. e., qui secundum hominem sapit, ani- 
malis dictus ab anima, carnalis a came, quia ex anima et came con- 
stat omnis homo, non percipit ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei, i. e., quid 
gratis? credentibus conferat crux Christi." And another: " Carnales 
dicimur, quando totos nos voluptatibus damus; spirituales, quando 
Spiritum Sanctum praevium sequimur ; id est, cum ipso sapimus in- 
struente, ipso ducimur auctore. Animales reor esse philosophos qui 
proprios cogitatus putant esse sapientiam, de quibus recte dicitur, 
animalis autem homo non recipit ea quse sunt Spiritus, stultitia 
quippe est ei," Hieronym. Comment, in Epist. ad Gal. cap. v. And 
another: Yv^ixog sanv 6 to Tav roTg XoyiSfioTg rJjg -•^v^rig didoiig, xot,i /xri 
vo//,l^uv avoi&sv Tivog BiTffdai' [Soridiiag, oTip idriv avoiag, xai yap i^ojxiv aur^v 
h Qilg ha [xavdavy], xai B's^yjrai to 'rap' auTov, ov^ ha savTrj aurriv apxi/v 
vofil^p. Ka! yap o'l o:pdaXfJi,oi TcaXoi xai ^prjgifi^oi, aXX' lav fSovXojvrai '/oipig 
<p(t)T<iC opav, ouSb avTO'jg to xdXXog ovivrjctiv, ouSs 7} oixiia lffx^^> aXXa xai 
vapaZXd'XTSt. "Ovtu tcivuv t] ■^\j')(ri idv jSovXridp ^upig 'ffvev/^aTog /SXste.'v, 
xai sij^wohm lavTrj yiviTai, Chrysost. in 1 Cor. ii. 1 5 ; — " The natural 
man is he who ascribes all things to the power of the reasonings of 
the mind, 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 
leam and receive what he bestows, what is from him, and not sup- 
pose that it is sufficient of itself or to itself. Eyes are beautiful and 
profitable; but if they would see without light, this beauty and 
power will not profit but hurt them. And the mind, if it would see" 
(spiritual things) " without the Spirit of God, it doth but ensnare it- 
self." And it is a sottish supposition, that there is a sort of unre- 
generate, rational men who are not under the power of corrupt 
affections in and about spiritual things, seeing the " carnal mind 
is enmity against God." This, therefore, is the subject of the apostle's 
proposition, — namely, " a natural man," every one that is so, that is 
' To7s -i'vxfoTs, ex editione Parisiensi, 1733. — Ed. 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN". 259 

no more but so, that is, every one who is not "a spiritual man,'" is 
one wlio hath not received the Spirit of God, verses 11, 12, one that 
hath [only] the spirit of a man, enabling him to searcli and know the 
things of a man, or to attain wisdom in things natural, civil, or poli- 
tical. * 

(2.) There is in the words a supposition of the projjosal of some 
things unto the mind of this "natural man;" for the apostle speaks 
with respect unto the dispensation and preaching of the gospel, 
whereby that proposal is made, verses 4-7. And these things are 
rd 7-oD Uvtv/zarog rov &sou, "the things of the Spirit of God;" which 
are variously expressed in this chapter. Verse 2, they are called 
*' Jesus Christ, and him crucified;" verse 7, the " wisdom of God in 
a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God hath ordained;" verse 
12, "the things that are freely given to us of God;" verse 16, 
" the mind of Christ ";" and sundry other ways to the same purpose. 
There are in the gospel, and belong to the preaching of it, precepts 
innumerable concerning moral duties to be observed towards God, 
ourselves, and other men; and all these have a coincidence with 
and a suitableness unto the inbred light of nature, because the prin- 
ciples of them all are indelibly ingrafted therein. These things being 
in some sense the " things of a man," may be known by the " spirit 
of a man that is in him," verse 1 1 : howbeit they cannot be ob- 
served and practised according to the mind of God without the aid 
and assistance of the Holy Ghost. But these are not the things 
peculiarly here intended, but the mysteries, which depend on mere 
sovereign supernatural revelation, and that wholly ; things that " eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
man" to conceive, verse 9 ; things of God's sovereign counsel, whereof 
there were no impressions in the mind of man in his first creation: 
see Eph. iii. 8-11. 

(3.) That which is affirmed of the natural man with respect unto 
these spiritual things is doubly expressed : — [1.] By ou dsx^rai, — 
*' He receiveth them not;" [2.] By ou duvarai yvuimi, — " He cannot 
know them." In this double assertion, — 1st. A power of receiving 
spiritual things is denied : " He cannot know them ; he cannot receive 
them ;" as Rom. viii. 7, " The carnal mind is not subject to the law of 
God, neither indeed can be." And the reason hereof is subjoined : 
" Because they are spiritually discerned ;" a thing which such a person 
hath no power to effect. 2dly. A will of rejecting them is implied : 
" He receiveth them not;" and the reason hereof is, "For they are 
foolishness unto him." They are represented unto him under such a 
notion as that he will have nothing to do with them. 3dly. Actually 
(and that both because he cannot and because he will not), he re- 
ceives them not. The natural man neither can, nor will, nor doth, 



260 COERUPTION OE DEPRAVATION [BOOK III, 

receive the things of the Spirit of God ; — is altogether incapable of 
giving them admission in the sense to be explained. 

To clear and free this assertion from objections, it must be ob- 
served, — 

(4.) That it is not the mere literal sense of doctrines or propo- 
sitions of truth that is intended.^ For instance, "That Jesus Christ 
was crucified," mentioned by the apostle, 1 Cor. ii. 2, is a proposition 
whose sense and importance any natural man may understand, and 
assent unto its truth, and so be said to receive, it. And all the doc- 
trines of the gospel may be taught and declared in propositions and 
discourses, the sense and meaning whereof a natural man may under- 
stand. And in the due investigation of -this sense, and judging 
thereon concerning truth and falsehood, lies that use of reason in 
religious things which some would ignorantly confound with an 
ability of discerning spiritual things in themselves and their own 
proper nature. This, therefore, is granted ; but it is denied that a 
natural man can receive the things themselves. There is a wide dif- 
ference between the mind's receiving doctrines notionally, and its re- 
ceiving the things taught in them really. The first a natural man can 
do. It is done by all who, by the use of outward means, do know 
the doctrine of the Scripture, in distinction from ignorance, false- 
hood, and error. Hence, men unregenerate are said to " know the 
way of righteousness," 2 Pet. ii. 21, — that is, notionally and doctrin- 
ally; for really, saith our apostle, they cannot. Hereon "they pro- 
fess that they know God," — that is, the things which they are taught 
concerning him and his will, — whilst " in works they deny him, being 
abominable and disobedient," Tit, i. 16; Kom. ii. 23, 24. In the latter 
way they only receive spiritual things in whose minds they are so im- 
planted as to produce their real and proper effects, Eom. xii. 2; Eph. 
iv. 22-24. And there are two things required unto the receiving of 
spiritual things really and as they are in themselves: — 

[1.] That we discern, assent unto them, and receive them, under 
an apprehension of their conformity and agreeableness to the wisdom, 
holiness, and righteousness of God, 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. The reason why 
men receive not Christ crucified, as preached in the gospel, is because 
they see not a consonancy in it unto the divine perfections of the 
nature of God. Neither can any receive it until they see in it an 
expression of divine power and wisdom. This, therefore, is required 
unto our receiving the things of the Spirit of God in a due manner,— 

> _" Firmissime tene et nullatcnus dubites, posse quidem hominem, quem nee igno- 
rantia literarum, neque aliqua proliibet imbocillitas vel adversitas, verba sanctse legis 
ct evangelii sive Icgerc sive ex ore cujusquam prjedicatoris audire; sed divinis man- 
datis obedire neminem posse, nisi quem Deus gratia sua prsevenerit, ut quod audit 
corpore, etiam corde percipiat et accepta divinitus bona voluntate atque virtute, man- 
data Dei facere et velit et possit."— August, de Fide ad Petrum, cap. 84. 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 2fil 

namely, that we spiritually see and discern their antwerahleness unto 
the wisdom, goodness, and holiness of God; wherein lies the principal 
rest and satisfaction of them tliat I'eally believe. This a natural man 
cannot do. 

[2.] That we discern their suitableness unto the great ends for 
which they are proposed as the means of accomplishing. Unless we 
see this clearly and distinctly, we cannot but judge them weakness and 
foolishness. These ends being the glory of God in Christ, with Aur 
deliverance from a state of sin and misery, with a translation into a 
state of grace and glory, unless we are acquainted with these things, 
and the aptness, and fitness, and power of the things of the Sphit of 
God to effect them, we cannot receive them as we ought; and this a 
natural man cannot do. And from these considerations, unto which 
sundry others of the like nature might be added, it appears how and 
whence it is that a natural man is not capable of receivmg the things 
of the Spirit of God. 

(2.) It must be observed that there is, or may be, a tiuofold capa- 
cit;i/ or ability oi receiving, knowing, or understanding spiritual things 
in the mind of a man : — 

[1.] There is a natural power, consisting in the suitableness and 
proportionableness of the faculties of the soul to receive spiritual 
things in the way that they are proposed unto us. This is supposed in 
all the exhortations, promises, precepts, and threatenings of the gospel; 
for in vain would they be proposed unto us had we not rational minds 
and understandings to apprehend their sense, use, and importance, 
and [were we not] also meet subjects for the faith, grace, and obe- 
dience which are required of us. None pretend that men are, in their 
conversion to God, like stocks and stones, or brute beasts, that have 
no understanding; for although the work of our conversion is called 
a " turning of stones into children of Abraham," because of the great- 
ness of the change, and because of ourselves we contribute nothing 
thereunto, yet if we were every way as such as to the capacity of our 
natures, it would not become the wisdom of God to apply the means 
mentioned for effecting of that work. God is said, indeed, herein to 
" give us an understanding," 1 John v. 20 ; but the natural faculty 
of the understanding is not thereby intended, but only the renova- 
tion of it by grace, and the actual exercise of tliat grace in appre- 
hending spiritual things. There are two adjuncts of the commands 
of God: — Is^. That they are equal; 'idly. That they are easy, or 
not grievous. The former they have from the nature of the things 
commanded, and the fitness of our minds to receive such commands, 
Ezek. xviii. 25; the latter they have from the dispensation of the 
Spirit and grace of Christ, which renders them not only possible unto 
us, but easy for us. 



262 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

Some pretend that whatever is required of us or prescribed unto 
us in a way of duty, we have a power in and of ourselves to perform.^ 
If by this power they intend no more but that our minds, and the 
other rational faculties of our souls, are fit and meet, as to their na- 
tural capacity, for and unto such acts as wherein those duties do 
consist, it is freely granted ; for God requires nothing of us but what 
must be acted in our minds and wills, and which they are naturally 
meet and suited for. But if they intend such an active power and 
ability as, being excited by the motives proposed unto us, can of it- 
self answer the commands of God in a due manner, they deny the 
oorraptioh of our nature by the entrance of sin, and render the grace 
of Christ useless, as shall be demonstrated. 

[2.] There is, or may be, a power in the mind to discern spiritual 
things, whereby it is so able to do it as that it can immediately 
exercise that power in the spiritual discerning of them upon their 
due proposal unto it, that is, spiritually; as a man that hath the visive 
faculty sound and entire, upon the due proposal of visible objects 
unto him can discern and see them. This power must be spiritual 
and supernatural; for whereas to receive spiritual things spiritually 
is so to receive them as really to believe them with faith divine and 
supernatural, to love them with divine love, to conform the whole 
soul and affections unto them, Rom. vi. 17, 2 Cor. iii. 18, no natural 
man hath power so to do : this is that which is denied in this place 
by the apostle. Wherefore, between the natural capacity of the 
mind and the act of spiritual discerning there must be an interpo- 
sition of an effectual work of the Holy Ghost enabling it thereunto, 
1 John V. 20; 2 Cor. iv. 6. 

Of the assertion thus laid down and explained the apostle gives 
a double reason: the first taken from the nature of the things to be 
known, with respect unto the mind and understanding of a natural 
man; the other from the way or manner whereby alone sj^iritual 
things may be acceptably discerned: — 

(1.) The first reason, taken from the nature of the things tliem- 
selves, with respect unto the mind, is, that " they are foolishness." 
In themselves they are the " wisdom of God," 1 Cor. ii. 7;— effects of 
the wisdom of God, and those which have the impress of the wisdom 
of God upon them. And when the dispensation of them was said to 

' " Magnum aliquid rolagiani se scire putant quando dicunt, non jubcret Deus qiiod 
Bciat non posse ab homine licii ; quis hoc nesciat ? sed idco jubet aliqua quae nou possu- 
nius ut noverimus quid ab illo ptere debeamus. Ipsa cnim est quaj orando impetrat, 
quod lex iniperat." — Aujiust. de Grat. et Lib. Arbit. cap. 19. 

" Mandando iniposi^ibilia, non prtcvaricatores homines fecit, sed humiles; ut omne 
OS obstruatur; ct svibditus fiat omnis nnindus Deo; quia ex operibus Icgis non justi- 
ficatiliur omuls caio coram illo. Accipientes quippe mandatum, sentientes defectum, 
clujuabimus in coelum, et misercbitui- nostri Deus." — Bernard. Serm. 50, in Cantic. 



CHAP. 111.] OF THE MIND BY SIX. 263 

be "foolishness," the apostle contends not about it, but tells them, how- 
ever, it is the " foolishness of God," chap. i. 25 ; which he doth to cast 
contempt on all the wisdom of men, whereby the gospel is despised. 
And they are the " hidden wisdom" of God; such an effect of divine 
wisdom as no creature could make any discovery of, Eph. iii. 9, 10; 
Job xxviii. 20-22. And they are the " wisdom of God in a mys- 
tery," or full of deep, mysterious wisdom. But to the natural man 
they are " foolishness," not only although they are the wisdom of God, 
but peculiarly because they are so, and as they are so; for "the carnal 
mind is enmity against God." Now, that is esteemed foolishness 
which is looked on either as weak and impertinent, or as that which 
contains or expresseth means and ends disproportionate, or as that 
which is undesirable in comparison of what may be set up in com- 
petition with it, or is on any other consideration not eligible or to 
be complied with on the terms whereon it is proposed. And for one 
or other or all of these reasons are spiritual things, — namely, those 
here intended, wherein the wisdom of God in the mystery of the 
gospel doth consist, — foolishness unto a natural man; which we shall 
demonstrate by some instances: — 

[1.] That they were so unto the learned philosophers of old, both 
our apostle doth testify and the known experience of the first ages 
of the church makes evident, 1 Cor. i. 22, 23, 26-28. Had spiritual 
things been suited unto the minds or reasons of natural men, it could 
not be but that those who had most improved their minds, and were 
raised unto the highest exercise of their reasons, must much more 
readily have received and embraced the mysteries of the gospel than 
those who were poor, illiterate, and came many degrees behind them 
in the exercise and improvement thereof. So we see it is as to the 
reception of any thing in nature or morality which, being of any 
worth, is proposed unto the minds of men ; it is embraced soonest 
by them that are wisest and know most. But here things fell out 
quite otherwise. They were the wise, the knowing, the rational, the 
learned men of the world, that made the greatest and longest opposi- 
tion unto spiritual things, and that expressly and avowedly because 
they were "foolishness unto them," and that on all the accounts before 
mentioned ; and their opposition unto them they managed with pride, 
scorn, and contempt, as they thought " foolish things" ought to be 
handled. 

The profound ignorance and confidence whence it is that some of 
late are not ashamed to preach and print that it was the learned, 
rational, wise part of mankind, as they were esteemed or professed of 
themselves, the philosophers, and such as under their conduct pre- 
tended unto a life according to the dictates of reason, who first em- 
braced the gospel, as being more disposed unto its reception than 



264 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

others, cannot be sufficiently admired or despised. Had they once 
considered what is spoken unto this purpose in the New Testament, 
or known any thing of the entrance, growth, or progress of Christian 
rehgion in the wc)rld, they would themselves be ashamed of this 
folly. But every day in this matter, " prodeunt oratores novi, stulti 
adolescentuli," who talk confidently, whilst they know neither what 
they say nor whereof they do affirm. 

[2.] The principal mysteries of the gospel, or the sp-'ritual things 
intended, are by many looked on and rejected as foolish, because 
false and untrue; though, indeed, they have^ no reason to think 
them false, but because they suppose them foolish. And they fix upon 
charging them with falsity to countenance themselves in judging 
them to be folly. "Whatever concerns the incarnation of the Son of 
God, the satisfaction that he made for sin and sinners, the imputa- 
tion of his righteousness unto them that believe, the effectual work- 
ing of his grace in the conversion of the souls of men, — which, with 
what belongs unto them, comprise the greatest part of the spiritual 
things of the gospel, — are not received by many because they are 
false, as they judge; and that which induceth them so to determine 
is, because they look on them as foolish, and unsuited unto the rational 
principles of their minds. 

[3.] Many plainly scoff at them, and despise them as the most 
contemptible notions that mankind can exercise their reasons about. 
Such were of old prophesied concerning, 2 Pet. iii, 8, 4; and things at 
this day are come to that pass. The world swarms with scoffers at 
spiritual things, as those which are unfit for rational, noble, generous 
spirits to come under a sense or power of, because they are so foolish. 
But these things were we foretold of, that whfen they came to pass 
we should not be troubled or shaken in our minds; yea, the atheism 
of some is made a means to confirm the faith (jf others! 

[4.] It is not much otherwise with some, who yet dare not engage 
into an open opposition to the gospel with them before mentioned ; 
for they profess the faith of it, and avow a subjection to the rules and 
laws of it. But the things declared in tlie gospel may be reduced 
unto two heads, as was before observed: — \st. Such as consist in the 
confirmation, direction, and improvement of the moral principles and 
precepts of the law of nature. 2dhj. Such as flow immediately from 
the sovereign will and wisdom of God, being no way commimicated 
unto us but by supernatural revelation only. Such are all the effects 
of the wisdom and grace of God, as he was in Christ reconciling the 
world unto himself; the offices of Christ, his administration of them, 
and dispensation of the Spirit; with the especial, evangelical, super- 
natural graces and duties which are required in us with respect there- 
unto. The first sort of these things many wdll greatly praise and 



CnAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 2G5 

highly extol; and they will declare how consonant they are to rea- 
son, and what expressions suitable unto them may be found in the 
ancient philosophers. But it is evident that herein also they fall 
under a double inconvenience: for, — 1st. Mostly, they visibly trans- 
gress what they boast of as their rule, and that above others; for 
where shall we meet with any, at least with many, of this sort of 
men, who in any measure comply with that modesty, humility, 
meekness, patience, self-denial, abstinence, temperance, contempt of 
the world, love of mankind, charity, and purity, which the gospel re- 
quires under this head of duties? Pride, ambition, insatiable desires 
after earthly advantages and promotions, scoffing, scorn and contempt 
of others, vanity of converse, envy, wrath, revenge, railing, are none of 
the moral duties required in the gospel. And, — 2dly. No pretence 
of an esteem for any one part of the gospel will shelter men from 
the punishment due to the rejection of the whole by whom any es- 
sential part of it is refused. And this, is the condition of many. The 
things which most properly belong to the mysteries of the gospel, or 
the unsearchable riches of the grace of God in Christ Jesus, are fool- 
ishness unto them; and the preaching of them is called "canting and 
folly." And some of these, although they go not so far as the friar at 
Rome, who said that "St Paul fell into great excesses in these things," 
yet they have dared to accuse his writings of darkness and obscurity; 
for no other reason, so far as I can understand, but because he insists 
on the declaration of these spiritual mysteries: and it is not easy to 
express what contempt and reproach is cast by some preachers on 
them. But it is not amiss that some have proclaimed their own shame 
herein, and have left it on record, to the abhorrency of posterity. 

[5.] The event of the dispensation of the gospel manifesteth that 
the spiritual things of it are foolishness to the most ; for a,s such are 
they rejected by them, Isa. liii. 1-3. Suppose a man of good repu- 
tation for wisdom and sobriety should go unto others, and inform 
them, and that with earnestness, evidence of love to them, and care 
for them, with all kinds of motives to beget a belief of what he pro- 
poseth, that by such ways as he prescribeth they may exceedingly 
mcrease their substance in this world, until they exceed the wealth 
of kings, — a thing that the minds of men in their contrivances and 
designs are intent upon; — if in this case they folloAv not his advice, 
it can be for no other reason but because they judge the things pro- 
posed by him to be no way suited or expedient unto the ends pro- 
raised, — that is, to be foolish things. And this is the state of things 
with respect unto the mysteries of the gospel. Men are informed, in 
and by the ways of God's appointment, how great and glorious they 
are, and what blessed consequents there will be of a spiritual recep- 
tion of them. The beauty and excellency of Christ, the inestimable 



266 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

privilege of divine adoption, the great and precious promises made 
unto them that do believe, the glory of the world to come, the ne- 
cessity and excellency of holiness and gospel obedience unto the 
attaining of everlasting blessedness, are preached unto men, and 
pressed on them with arguments and motives filled with divine au- 
thority and wisdom; yet after all this, we see how few eventually do 
apply themselves with any industry to receive them, or at least actu- 
ally do receive them : for " many are called, but few are chosen." 
And the reason is, because, indeed, unto their darkened minds 
these things are foolishness, whatsoever they pretend unto the con- 
trary, 

(2.) As the instance foregoing compriseth the reasons why a natural 
man will never receive the things of the Spirit of God, so the apostle 
adds a reason why he cannot; and that is taken from the manner 
whereby alone they may be usefully and savingly received, which 
he cannot attain unto, " Because they are spiritually discerned." 
In this whole chapter he insists on an opposition between a natural 
and a spiritual man, natural things and spiritual things, natural light 
and knowledge and spiritual. The natural man, he informs us, will, 
by a natural light, discern natural things : " The things of a man 
knoweth the spirit of a man." And the spiritual man, by a spiritual 
light received from Jesus Christ, discerneth spiritual things; for 
" none knoweth the things of God, but the Spirit of God, and he to 
whom he will reveal them." This ability the apostle denies unto 
a natural man; and this he proves, — [1.] Because it is the work 
of the Spirit of God to endow the minds of men with that ability, 
which there were no need of in case men had it of themselves by 
' nature; and, [2.] (as he shows plentifully elsewhere). The light itself 
whereby alone spiritual things can be spiritually discerned is wrought, 
effected, created in us, by an almighty act of the power of God, 
2 Cor. iv. 6. 

From these things premised, it is evident that there is a twofold 
impotency in the minds of men with respect unto spiritual things: — 
(1.) That which immediately affects the mind, a natural impotency, 
whence it cannot receive them for want of light in itself. (2.) That 
which affects the mind by the will and affections, a moral impotency, 
whereby it cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, because 
unalterably it will not; and that because, from the unsuitableness of 
the objects unto its will and affections, and to the mind by them, they 
are foolishness unto it. 

(1.) There is in unregenerate men a natural impotency, through 
the immediate depravation of the faculties of the mind or under- 
standing, whereby a natural man is absolutely unable, without an 
especial renovation by the Holy Ghost, to discern spiritual things in 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 267 

a saving manner.^ Neither is this impotency, although absolutely 
and naturally insuperable, and although it have in it also the nature 
of a punishment, any excuse or alleviation of the sin of men when 
they receive not spiritual things as proposed unto them ; for although 
it be our misery, it is our sin; — it is the misery of our persons, and 
the sin of our natures. As by it there is an unconformity in our 
minds to the mind of God, it is our sin ; as it is a consequent of the 
corruption of our nature by the fall, it is an effect of sin ; and as it 
exposeth us unto all the ensuing evil of sin and unbelief, it is both 
the punishment and cause of sin. And no man can plead his sin or 
fault as an excuse of another sin in any kind. This impotency is 
natural, because it consists in the deprivation of the light and power 
that were originally in the faculties of our minds or understandings, 
and because it can never be taken away or cured but by an imme- 
diate communication of a new spiritual power and ability unto the 
mind itself by the Holy Ghost in its renovation, so curing the de- 
pravation of the faculty itself. And this is consistent with what was 
before declared [concerning] the natural power of the mind to receive 
spiritTial things: for that power respects the natural capacity of the 
faculties of our minds ; this impotency, the depravation of them with 
respect unto spiritual things. 

(2.) There is in the minds of unregenerate persons a moral impo- 
tency, which is reflected on them greatly from the will and affections, 
whence the mind never will receive spiritual things, — that is, it will 
always and unchangeably reject and refuse them, — and that because 
of various lusts, conniptions, and prejudices invincibly fixed in them, 
causing them to look on them as foolishness. Hence it will come to 
pass that no man shall be judged and perish at the last day merely 
on the account of his natural impotency. Every one to whom the 
gospel hath been preached, and by whom it is refused, shall be con- 
vinced of positive actings in their minds, rejecting the gospel from the 
love of self, sin, and the world. Thus our Saviour tells the Jews 
that " no man can come unto him, except the Father draw him," 
John vi. 44. Such is their natural impotency that they cannot. Nor 
is it to be cured but by an immediate divine instruction or illumi- 
nation ; as it is written, " They shall be all taught of God," verse 45. 
But this is not all ; he tells them elsewhere, " Ye will not come to 
me, that ye might have life," chap. v. 40, The present thing in ques- 
tion was not the power or impotency of their minds, but the obsti- 

• " In nullo gloriandum, quia nihil nostrum est." — Cypr. lib. iii. ad Quirin. 

" Fide perdita, spe relicta, intelligentia obctecata, voluntate captiva, homo qua in S9 
repuretur non invenit." — Prosp. de Vocat. Gent. lib. i. cap. 7. 

" Quicunque tribuit sibi bonum quod facit, etiamsi nihil videtur mali manibus ope- 
rari, jam cordis innocentiam perdidit, in quo se largitori bonorum prsetulit." — Hieron. 
ia Frov. cap. xvL 



268 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [bOOK III. 

nacy of their wills and affections, which men shall principally be 
judged upon at the last day; for "this is the condemnation, that 
lio-ht is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than 
light, because their deeds were evil," chap. iii. 1 9. Hence it follows, — 

That the will and affections being more corrupted than the un- 
derstanding, — as is evident from their opposition unto and defeating 
of its manifold convictions, — no man doth actually apply his mind to 
the receiving of the things of the Spirit of God to the utmost of that 
ability which he hath; for all unregenerate men are invincibly im- 
peded therein by the corrupt stubbornness and perverseness of their 
wills and affections. There is not in any of them a due improvement 
of the capacity of their natural faculties, in .the use of means, for the 
discharge of their duty towards God herein. And what hath been 
pleaded may suffice for the vindication of this divine testimony con- 
cerning the disability of the mind of man in the state of nature to 
understand and receive the things of the Spirit of God in a spiritual 
and saving manner, however they are proposed unto it ; which those 
who are otherwise minded may despise whilst they please, but are 
no way able to answer or evade. 

And hence we may judge of that paraphrase and exposition of this 
place which one hath given of late: "But such things as these, they 
that are led only by the light of human reason, the learned philoso- 
phers, etc., do absolutely despise, and so hearken not after the doc- 
trine of the gospel ; for it seems folly to them. Nor can they, by any 
study of their own, come to the knowledge of them; for they are only 
to be had by understanding the prophecies of the Scripture, and 
other such means, which depend on divine revelation, the voice from 
heaven, descent of the Holy Ghost, miracles," etc. (1.) The natural 
man is here allowed to be the rational man, the learned philoso- 
pher, one walking by the light of human reason ; which complies not 
with their exception to this testimony who would have only such an 
one as is sensual and given up unto brutish affections to be intended. 
But yet neither is there any ground (though some countenance be 
given to it by Hierom) to fix this interpretation unto that expres- 
sion. If the apostle may be allowed to declare his own mind, he 
tells us that he intends every one, of what sort and condition soever, 
"who hath not received the Spirit of Christ." (2.) Ol Bkx^ra, is para- 
phrased by, "Doth absolutely despise;" which neither tlie word here, 
nor elsewhere, nor its disposal in the present connection, will allow 
of or give countenance unto. The apostle in the whole discourse 
gives an account why so few received the gospel, especially of those 
who seemed most likely so to do, being wise and learned men, and 
the gospel being no less than the wisdom of God ; and the reason 
hereof he gives from their disability to receive the things of God, 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIX. 269 

and their hatred of them, or opposition to them, neither of which 
can be cured but by the Spirit of Christ. (3.) The apostle treats 
not of what men could find out by any study of their' own, but of 
what they did and would do, and could do no otherwise, when the 
gospel was proposed, declared, and preached unto them. They did 
not, they could not, receive, give assent unto, or believe, the spiri- 
tual mysteries therein revealed. (4.) This preaching of the gos- 
pel unto them was accompanied with and managed by those evi- 
dences mentioned, — namely, the testimonies of the prophecies of 
Scripture, miracles, and the like, — in the same way and manner, and 
unto the same degree, as it was towards them by whom it was re- 
ceived and believed. In the outward means of revelation and its 
proposition there was no difference. (5.) The proper meaning of 
ou ds^srai, "receiveth not," is given us in the ensuing reason and ex- 
planation of it: Ou hvvarai yvMvat, "He Cannot know them," — that is, 
unless he be spiritually enabled thereunto by the Holy Ghost. And 
this is farther confirmed in the reason subjoined, " Because they are 
spiritually discerned." And to wrest this unto the outward means 
of revelation, which is directly designed to express the internal man- 
ner of the mind's reception of things revealed, is to wrest the Scrip- 
ture at pleasure. How much better doth the description given by 
Chrysostom of a natural and spiritual man give light unto and de- 
termine the sense of this place : '^-j^ixhi; av&pwrog, 6 dia aapxa ^Zv, 
xa! /i^'XCti (puTiffdiig rhv vovv dia TiMibixarog, uX},a, fxoni^v t'/jV i/xfjurov zai 
dvdpwTrlvrjv ahvitsiv 'i'X^(>iv, rjv tuv arrdvruv -^vy^aTg s^CdXXsi 6 Ari/jLiovpyog' — 
"A natural man is he who lives in or by the fiesh, and hath not his 
mind as yet enlightened by the Spirit, but only hath that inbred 
human understanding which the Creator hath endued the minds of 
all men with." And, 'O WBVfiarr/.hgj h dice UvivfMa t^cov, (pctiTiG&ilg tov 
vovv did 'TTvsufLarog, ou /JjOVT^v rriv 'iiJLfuTOV xa! dvdpwrrlvrjV avisffiv £%wi/, dXXd 
fiaXXov TYiv ^apiadiTffav 'XViV/xarixriv, 7]v ruv vicrcov '^■j')(a7g SfiQdAXn rh 
'Ayiov Uvsv/xa' — "The spiritual man is he who liveth by the Spirit, 
having his mind enlightened by him ; having not only an inbred 
human understanding, but rather a spiritual understanding, bestowed 
on him graciously, which the Holy Ghost endues the minds of be- 
lievers withal." But we proceed. 

3. Having cleared the impotency to discern spiritual things spiri- 
tually that is in the minds of natural men, by reason of their spiritual 
blindness, or* that darkness which is in them, it remains that we 
consider what is the power and efficacy of this darkness to keep 
them in a constant and unconquerable aversion from God and the 
gospel. To this purpose, some testimonies of Scripture must be also 
considered; for notwithstanding all other notions and disputes in 
this matter, for the most part compliant with the inclinations and 



270 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [bOOK IIL 

affections of corrupted nature, by them must our judgments be de- 
termined, and into them is our faith to be resolved. I say, then, 
that this spiritual darkness hath a power over the minds of men to 
alienate them from God ; that is, this which the Scripture so calleth 
is not a mere privation, with an impotency in the faculty ensuing 
thereon, but a depraved habit, which powerfully, and, as unto them 
in whom it is, unavoidably, influenceth their wills and affections into 
an opposition unto spiritual things, the effects whereof the world is 
visibly filled withal at this day. And this I shall manifest, first in 
general, and then in particular instances. And by the whole it will 
be made to appear that not only the act of believing and turning 
unto God is the sole work and effect of grace, — which the Pelagians 
did not openly deny, and the semi-Pelagians did openly grant, — but 
also that all power and ability for it, properly so called, is from grace 
also. 

(1.) Col. I 18, We are said to be delivered Ix rjj? s^ovsiag roZ 
sxoToug, from "the power of darkness." The word signifies such a 
power as consists in authority or rule, that bears sway, and com- 
mands them who are obnoxious unto it. Hence the sins of men, 
especially those of a greater guilt than ordinary, are called "works 
of darkness," Eph, v. ] 1 ; not only such as are usually perpetrated in 
the dark, but such as the darkness also of men's minds doth incline 
them unto and naturally produce. That, also, which is here called 
"the power of darkness" is called "the power of Satan," Acts xxvi. 
18; for I acknowledge that it is not only or merely the internal 
darkness or blindness of the minds of men in the state of nature 
that is here intended, but the whole state of darkness, with what is 
contributed thereunto by Satan and the w^orld. This the prophet 
speaks of, Isa. Ix. 2, " Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and 
gross darkness the people: but the LoRD shall arise upon thee/"" 
Such a darkness it is, as nothing can dispel but the light of the Lord 
arising on and in the souls of men. But all is resolved into internal 
darkness : for Satan hath no power in men,^ nor authority over 
them, but what he hath by means of this darkness; for by this alone 
doth that " prince of the power of the air" work effectually in " the 
children of disobedience," Eph. ii. 2. Hereby doth he seduce, pervert, 
and corrupt them; nor hath he any way to fortify and confirm their 
minds against the gospel but by increasing this blindness or dark- 
ness in them, 2 Cor. iv. 4. 

An evidence of the power and efficacy of this darkness we may 
find in the devil himself The apostle Peter tells us that the angels 
>vho sinned are "reserved unto judgment" under "chains of darkness," 
2 Pet. ii. 4. It is plain that there is an allusion in the words unto 
the dealing of men with stubborn and heinous malefactors. Thev do 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MiND BY SIN". 27l 

not presently execute them upon their offences, nor when they are 
first apprehended ; they must be kept unto a solemn day of trial and 
judgment. But yet, to secure them that they make no escape, they are 
bound with chains which they c'annot deliver themselves from. Thus 
God deals with fallen angels; for although yet they "go to and fro in 
the earth, and walk up and down in it,'' as also in the air, in a seem- 
ing liberty and at their pleasure, yet are they under such chains as 
shall securely hold them unto the great day of their judgment and 
execution. That they may not escape their appointed doom, they 
are held in "chains of darkness." They are always so absolutely 
and universally under the power of God as that they are not capable 
of the vanity of a thought for the subducting themselves from under 
it. But whence is it that, in all their wisdom, experience, and the 
long-continued prospect which they have had of their future eternal 
misery, none of them ever have attempted, nor ever will, a mitigation 
of their punishment or deliverance from it, by repentance and com- 
pliance with the will of God? This is alone from their own dark- 
ness, in the chains whereof they are so bound that although they 
believe their own everlasting ruin, and tremble at the vengeance of 
God therein, yet they cannot but continue in their course of mis- 
chief, disobedience, and rebellion. And although natural men are 
not under the same obdurateness with them, as having a way of 
escape and deliverance provided for them and proposed unto them, 
which they have not; yet this darkness is no less effectual to bind 
them in a state of sin, without the powerful illumination of the 
Holy Ghost, than it is in the devils themselves. And this may be 
f trther manifested by the consideration of the instances wherein it 
puts forth its efficacy in them : — 

(1.) It fills the mind with enmity against God, and all the 
things of God: Col. i. 21, "Ye were enemies in your mind." Rom. 
viii. 7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not sub- 
ject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." And the carnal 
mind there intended is that which is in every man who hath not 
received, who is not made partaker of, the Spirit of God, in a pecu- 
liar saving manner, as is at large declared in the whole discourse of 
tlie apostle, verses 5, 6, 9-11; so that the pretence is vain, and 
directly contradictory to the apostle, that it is only one sort of fleshly, 
sensual, unregenerate men, whom he intends. This confidence, not 
only in perverting, but openly opposing, the Scripture, is but of 
a late date, and that which few of the ancient enemies of the grace 
of God did rise up unto. Now God in himself is infinitely good and 
desirable. " How great is his goodness and how great is his beauty ! 
Zech. ix. 17. There is nothing in him but what is suited to draw 
out, to answer, and fill the affections of the soul. Unto them that 



272 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

know Lim, lie is the only delight, rest, and satisfaction. Whence, 
then, doth it come to pass that the minds of men should be filled 
and possessed with enmity against him? Enmity against and 
hatred of him who is absolute and infinite goodness seem incom- 
patible unto our human affections ; but they arise from this dark- 
ness, Avhich is the coiTuption and depravation of our nature, by the 
ways that shall be declared. 

It is pretended and pleaded by some in these days, that upon an 
apprehension of the goodness of the nature of God, as manifested in 
the works and light of nature, men may, without any other advan- 
tages, love him above all, and be accepted with him. But as this 
would render Christ and the gospel, as objectively proposed, if not 
useless, yet not indispensably necessary, so I desire to know how 
this enmity against God, which the minds of all natural men are 
filled withal, if we may believe the apostle, comes to be removed 
and taken away, so as that they should love him above all, seeing 
these things are absolute extremes and utterly irreconcilable? This 
must be either by the power of the mind itself upon the proposal of 
God's goodness unto it, or by the effectual operation in it and upon 
it of the Spirit of God. Any other way is not pretended unto ; and 
the latter is that which we contend for. And as to the former, the 
apostle supposeth the goodness of God, and the proposal of this good- 
ness of God unto the minds of men, not only as revealed in the 
works of nature, but also in the law and gospel, and yet affirms that 
" the carnal mind," which is in every man, "is enmit}^ against him;" 
and in enmity there is neither disposition nor inclination to love. In 
such persons there can be no more true love of God than is consis- 
tent with enmity to him and against him. 

All discourses, therefore, about the acceptance they shall find with 
God who love him above all for his goodness, without any farther 
communications of Christ or the Holy Spirit unto them, are vain 
and empty, seeing there never was, nor ever will be, any one dram of 
such love unto God in the world; for, whatever men may fancy con- 
cerning the love of God, where this enmity arising from darkness is 
unremoved by the Spirit of grace and love, it is but a self-pleasing 
with those fiilse notions of God which this darkness suggests unto 
them. With these they either please themselves or are terrified, as 
they represent things to their corrupt reason and fancies. Men in 
this state, destitute of divine revelation, did of old seek after God, Acts 
xvii. 27, as men groping in the dark; and although they did in some 
measure find him and know him, so far as that from the things that 
were made they came to be acquainted with " his eternal power and ' 
Godliead," Rom. i. 20, yet he was still absolutely unto them "the un- 
known God/' Acts xvii. 23, whom they " ignorantly worshipped/'— 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 273 

that is, tliey directed some worship to him in the dedication of their 
altars, but knew him not: "Ov dyvoouvrss ilxaZiTrs. And that they en- 
tertained all of them false notions of God is fi'om hence evident, that 
none of them either, by virtue of their knowledge of him, did free 
themselves from gross idolatry, which is the greatest enmity unto 
him, or did not countenance themselves in many impieties or sins 
from those notions they had received of God and his goodness, E.om. 
i. 20, 21. The issue of their disquisitions after the nature of God 
was, that " they glorified him not, but became vain in their imagina- 
tions, and their foolish hearts were darkened." Upon the common 
principles of the first Being and the chiefest good, their fancy or ima- 
ginations raised such notions of God as pleased and delighted them, 
and drew out their affections ; which was not, indeed, unto God and 
his goodness, but unto the effect and product of their own imagina- 
tions. And hence it was that those that had the most raised ap- 
prehensions concerning the nature, being, and goodness of God, with 
the highest expressions of a constant admiration of him and love 
unto him, when by any means the true God indeed was declared 
unto them as he hath revealed himself and as he will be known, 
these great admirers and lovers of divine goodness were constantly 
the greatest opposers of him and enemies unto him. And an un- 
controllable evidence this is that the love of divine goodness, which 
some do fancy in persons destitute of supernatural revelation and 
other aids of grace, was, in the best of them, placed on the products 
of their own imaginations, and not on God himself. 

But omitting them, we may consider the effects of this darkness 
working by enmity in the minds of them who have the word preached 
unto them. Even in these, until effectually prevailed on by victori- 
ous grace, either closely or openly, it exerts itself .And however 
they may be doctrinally instructed in true notions concerning God 
and his attributes, yet in the application of them unto themselves, or 
in the consideration of their own concernment in them, they " always 
err in their hearts." All the practical notions they have of God 
tend to alienate their hearts from him, and that either by contempt 
or by an undue dread and terror; for some apprehend him slow and 
regardless of what they do, at least one that is not so severely dis- 
pleased with them as that it should be necessary for them to seek 
a change of their state and condition. They think that God is such 
an one as themselves, Ps. 1. 21 ; at least, that he doth approve them, 
and will accept them, although they should continue in their sins.. 
Now, this is a fruit of the highest enmity against God, though palli- 
ated with the pretence of the most raised notions and apprehensions 
of his goodness ; for as it is a heinous crime to imagine an outward 
shape of the divine nature, and that God is like to men or beasts, 

VOL III. 18 



274 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

— the height of the sin of the most gross idolaters, Rom. i. 23, Ps. 
cvi. 20, — so it is a sin of a higher provocation to conceive him so far 
Hke unto bestial men as to approve and accept of them in their 
sins. Yet this false notion of God, even when his nature and will 
are objectively revealed in the word, this darkness doth and will 
maintain in the minds of men, whereby they are made obstinate in 
their sin to the uttermost. And where this fails, it will on the other 
hand represent God all fire and fury, inexorable and untractable. 
See Mic. vi. 6, 7; Isa. xxxiii. 14; Gen. iv. 13. 

Moreover, this darkness fills the mind with enmity against all the 
ways of God ; for as " the carnal mind is enmity against God," so " it 
is not subject unto his law, neither indeed can be." So the apostle 
informs us that men are " alienated from the life of God," or dislike 
the whole way and work of living unto him, by reason of the igno- 
rance and blindness that is in them, Eph. iv. 18; and it esteems the 
whole rule and measure of it to be "foolishness," 1 Cor. i. 18, 21. Bat 
I must not too long insist on particulars, although in these days, 
^\^erein some are so apt to boast in proud swelling words of vanity 
concerning the power and sufficiency of the mind, even with respect 
imto religion and spiritual things, it cannot be unseasonable to de- 
clare what is the judgment of the Holy Ghost, plainly expressed in the 
Scriptures, in this matter; and one testimony thereof will be of more 
weight with the disciples of Jesus Chiist than a thousand declama- 
tions to the contrary. 

(2.) This darkness fills the mind with wills or perverse lusts that 
are directly contrary to the will of God, Eph. ii. 3. There are Ss- 
>.jj/iara Biavoiuv, the wills or " lusts of the mind," — that is, the habi- 
tual inclinations of the mind unto sensual objects; it "minds 
earthly things," Phil. iii. 19. And hence the mind itself is said to be 
"fleshly," Col. ii. 1 8. As unto spiritual things, it is "born of the flesh," 
and "is flesh." It likes, savours, approves of nothing but what is car- 
nal, sensual, and vain. Nothing is suited unto it but what is eithei 
curious, or needless, or superstitious, or sensual and earthly. And 
therefore are men said to " walk in the vanity of their minds." In 
the whole course of their lives they are influenced by a predominant 
principle of vanity. And in this state the thoughts and imagina- 
tions of the mind are always set on work to provide sensual objects 
for this vain and fleshly frame; hence are they said to be "evil 
continually," Gen. vi. 5. This is the course of a darkened mind. Its 
vain frame or inclination, the fleshly will of it, stirs up vain thoughts 
and imaginations; it "minds the things of the flesh," Rom. viii. 5. 
These thoughts fix on and represent unto the mind objects suited 
unto the satisfaction of its vanity and lust. With these the mind 
committeth folly and lewdness, and the fleshly habit thereof is there- 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 275 

by heightened and confirmed, and this multiplies imaginations of its 
own kind, whereby men " inflame themselves/' Isa. Ivii. 5, waxing 
worse and worse. And the particular bent of these imaginations 
doth answer the predominancy of any especial lust in the heart or 
mind. 

It will be objected, " That although these things are so in many, 
especially in persons that are become profligate in sin, yet, proceeding 
from their wills and corrupt, sensual affections, they argue not an 
impotency in the mind to discern and receive spiritual things, but, 
notwithstanding these enormities of some, the faculty of the mind is 
still endued with a power of discerning, judging, and believing spiri- 
tual things in a due manner." 

Ans. 1. We do not now discourse concerning the weakness and 
disability of the mind in and about these things, which is as it were 
a natural imjwtency, like blindness in the eyes, which hath been 
both explained and confirmed before; but it \s, o. moral disability, 
and that as unto all the powers of nature invincible, as unto the right 
receiving of spiritual things, which ensues on that corrupt deprava- 
tion of the mind in the state of nature, that the Scripture calls " dark- 
ness" or "blindness," which we intend. 

2. Our present testimonies have sufficiently confirmed that all the 
instances mentioned do proceed from the depravation of the mind. 
And whereas this is common unto and equal in all unregenerate 
men, if it produce not in all effects to the same degree of enormity, 
it is from some beams of light and secret convictions from the Holy 
Spirit, as we shall afterward declare. 

3. Our only aim is, to prove the indispensable necessity of a sav- 
ing work of illumination on the mind, to enable it to receive spiritual 
things spiritually; which appears sufficiently from the efficacy of this 
darkness, whence a man hath no ability to disentangle or save him- 
self; for, also, — 

(3.) It fills the mind with prejudices against spiritual things, as 
proposed unto it in the gospel; and from these prejudices it hath 
neither light nor power to extricate itself No small part of its de- 
pravation consists in its readiness to embrace them, and pertinacious 
adlierence unto them. Some few of these prejudices may be in- 
stanced : — 

[1.] The mind, from the darkness that is in it, apprehends that 
spiritual things, the things of the gospel, as they are proposed, have 
an utter inconsistency with true contentment and satisfaction. These 
are the things which all men, by various ways, do seek after. This is 
the scent and chase which they so eagerly pursue, in different tracks 
and paths innumerable. Something they would attain or arrive unto 
which should satisfy their minds and fill their desires; and this 



276 COERUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK IIL 

commonly, before they have had any great consideration of the pro- 
posals of the gospel, they suppose themselves in the way at least 
imto, by those little tastes of satisfaction unto their lusts which they 
have obtained in the ways of the world. And these hopeful begin- 
nings they will not forego: Isa. Ivii. 10, "Thou art wearied in the 
greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou 
liast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved." 
They are ready ofttimes to faint in the pursuit of their lusts, because 
of the disappointments which they find in them or the evils that 
attend them ; for, which way soever they turn themselves in their 
course, they cannot but see or shrewdly suspect that the end of them 
is, or will be, vanity and vexation of spirit. But yet they give not 
over the pursuit wherein they are engaged ; they say not, " There is 
no hope." And the reason hereof is, because they " find the life of 
their hand." Something or- other comes in daily, either from the 
work that they do, or the company they keep, or the expectation 
they have, which preserves their hope alive, and makes them unwill- 
ing to forego their present condition. They find it to be none of the 
best, but do not think there can be a better; and, therefore, their 
only design is to improve or to thrive in it. If they might obtain 
more mirth, more wealth, more strength and health, more assurance 
of their lives, more poAver, more honour, more suitable objects unto 
their sensual desires, then they suppose it would be better than it is; 
but as for any thing which differeth from these in the whole kind, 
they can entertain no respect for it. In this state and condition, 
spiritual things, the spiritual, mysterious things of the gospel, are pro- 
posed unto them. At first view they judge that these things will 
not assist them in the pursuit or improvement of their carnal satis- 
factions. And so far they are in the right; they judge not amiss. 
The things of the gospel will give neither countenance nor help to 
the lusts of men. Nay, it is no hard matter for them to come to a 
discovery that the gospel, being admitted in the power of it, will 
crucify and mortify those corrupt affections which hitherto they have 
been given up to the pursuit of; for this it plainly declares, Col. 
iii. 1-5; Tit. ii. 11, 12. 

There are but two things wherein men seeking after contentment 
and satisfaction are concerned :— first, the objects of their lusts or 
desires, and then those lusts and desires themselves. The former 
may be considered in their own nature, as they are indifferent, or as 
they are capable of being abused to corrupt and sinful ends. In the 
first way, as the gospel condemns them not, so it adds nothing to 
them unto those by whom it is received. It gives not men more 
riches, wealth, or honour, than they had before in the world. It 
promises no such thing unto them that do receive it, but rather the 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN". 277 

contrary. The latter consideration of them it condemns and takes 
away. And for the desires of men themselves, the avowed work of 
the gospel is, to mortify them. And hereby the naturally corrupt re- 
lation which is between these desires and their objects is broken and 
dissolved. The gospel leaves men, unless upon extraordinary occa- 
sions, their names, their reputations, their wealth, their honours, if 
lawfully obtained and possessed; but the league that is between the 
mind and these things in all natural men must be broken. They 
must no more be looked on as the chiefest .good, or in the place 
thereof, nor as the matter of satisfaction, but must give place to spiri- 
tual, unseen, eternal things. This secretly alienates the carnal mind, 
and a prejudice is raised against it, as that which would deprive the 
soul of all its present satisfactions, and offer nothing in the room of 
them that is suitable to any of its desires or affections ; for, by reason 
of the darkness that it is under the power of, it can neither discern 
the excellency of the spiritual and heavenly things which are proposed 
unto it, nor have any affections whereunto they are proper and suited, 
so that the soul should go forth after them. Hereby this prejudice 
becomes invincible in their souls. They neither do, nor can, nor will 
admit of those things which are utterly inconsistent with all things 
wherein they hope or look for satisfaction. And men do but please 
themselves with dreams and fancies, who talk of such a reasonable- 
ness and excellency in gospel truths as that the mind of a natural 
man will discern such a suitableness in them unto itself, as thereon 
to receive and embrace them; nor do any, for the most part, give 
a greater evidence of the prevalency of the darkness and enmity that 
are in carnal minds against the spiritual things of the gospel, as to 
their life and power, than those who most pride and please them- 
selves in such discourses. 

[2.] The mind by this darkness is filled with prejudices- against the 
mystery of the gospel in a peculiar manner. The hidden spiritual 
wisdom of God in it, as natural men cannot receive, so they do de- 
spise it, and all the parts of its declaration they look upon as empty 
and unintelligible notions. And this is that prejudice whereby this 
darkness prevails in the minds of men, otherwise knowing and learned. 
It hath done so in all ages, and in none more effectually than in that 
which is present. But there is a sacred, mysterious, spiritual wisdom 
in the gospel and the doctrine of it. This is fanatical, chimerical, 
and foolish to the wisest in the world, whilst they are under the 
power of this darkness. To demonstrate the truth hereof is the de- 
sign of the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. i. ii.: for he directly affirms that tlie 
doctrine of the gospel is the wisdom of God in a mystery; that this 
wisdom cannot be discerned nor understood by the wise and learned 
men of the world, who have not received the Spirit of Ciirist, and, 



27S COrvRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [bOOK III. 

therefore, that the things of it are weakness and foolishness unto 
them. And that which is foolish is to be despised, yea, folly is the 
only object of contempt. And hence we see that some, with the 
greatest pride, scorn, and contempt imaginable, do despise the purity, 
simplicity, and whole mystery of the gospel, who yet profess they 
believe it. But to clear the whole nature of this prejudice, some few 
things may be distinctly observed: — 

There are two sorts of things declared in the gospel: — Ist Such 
as are absolutely its own, that are proper and peculiar unto it, — 
such as have no footsteps in the law or in the light of nature, but 
are of pure revelation, peculiar to the gospel. Of this nature are 
all things concerning the love and will of God in Christ Jesus. The 
mystery of liis incarnation, of his offices and whole mediation, of 
the dispensation of the Spirit, and our participation thereof, and our 
union with Christ thereby, our adoption, justification, and effectual 
sauctification, thence proceeding, in brief, every thing that belongs 
unto the purchase and application of saving grace, is of this sort. 
These things are purely and properly evangelical, peculiar to the 
gospel alone. Hence the apostle Paul, unto whom the dispensation 
of it was committed, puts that eminency upon them, that, in com- 
parison, he resolved to insist on nothing else in his preaching, 1 Cor. 
ii. 2; and to that purpose doth he describe his ministry, Eph. iii. 7-11. 
^dly. There are such things declared and enjoined in the gospel as 
have their foundation in the law and light of nature. Such are all 
the moral duties which are taught therein. And two things may be 
observed concerning them : — {1st.) That they are in some measure 
known unto men aliunde from other principles. The inl^red concre- 
ated light of nature doth, though obscurely, teach and confirm them. 
So the apostle, speaking of mankind in general, saith, Ti yvuarhv rot 
Giov (pavipCv igTiv sv avroTg, Rom. i. 19 ; — "That which may be known of 
God is manifested in themselves." The essential properties of God, 
rendering our moral duty to him necessary, are known by the light 
of nature ; and by the same light are men able to make a judgment 
of their actions whether they be good or evil, Rom. ii. 14, 15. And 
this is all the light which some boast of, as they will one day find to 
their disappointment. (2dlg.) There is on all men an obligation unto 
obedience answerable to their light concerning these things. The 
same law and light which discovereth these things doth also enjoin 
their observance. Thus is it with all men antecedently unto " the 
preaching of the gospel unto them. 

In this estate the gospel superadds two things unto the minds of 
men:— (Is^.) It directs us unto a right performance of these things, 
from a right principle, by a right rule, and to a right end and pur- 
pose; so that they, and we in them, may obtain acceptance with God. 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 279 

Hereby it gives them a new nature, and turns moral duties into 
evangelical obedience, (^dly?) By a communication of that Spirit 
which is annexed imto its dispensation, it supplies us with strength 
for their performance in the manner it prescribes. 

Hence it follows that this is the method of the gospel: — first, it 
proposeth and declareth things which are properly and peculiarly its 
own. So the apostle sets down the constant entrance of his preach- 
ing, 1 Cor. XV. 8. It reveals its own mysteries, to lay them as the 
foundation of faith and obedience. It inlays them in the mind, and 
thereby conforms the whole soul unto them. See Rom. vi. 17; Gal. 
iv. 19; Tit. ii. 11, 12; 1 Cor. iii. 11 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18. This foundation 
being laid, — without which it hath, as it were, nothing to do with 
the souls of men, nor will proceed unto any other thing with them 
by whom this its first worK is refused, — it then grafts all duties of 
moral obedience on this stock of faith in Christ Jesus. This is the 
method of the gospel, which the apostle Paul observeth in all his 
epistles: first, he declares the mysteries of faith that are peculiar to 
the gospel, and then descends unto those moral duties which are 
regulated thereby. 

But the j^'T'&judice we mentioned inverts the order of these things. 
Those who are under the power of it, when, on various accounts, they 
give admittance unto the gospel in general, yet fix their minds, firstly 
and principally, on the things which have their foundation in the 
law and light of nature. These they know and have some acquaint- 
ance with in themselves, and therefore cry them up, although not in 
their proper place, nor to their proper end. These they make the 
foundation, according to the place which they held in the law of na- 
ture and covenant of works, whereas the gospel allows them to be 
only necessary superstructions on the foundation. But resolving to 
give unto moral duties the pre-eminence in their minds, they con- 
sider afterward the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, with one or other 
of these effects; for, first, Some in a manner wholly despise them, 
reproaching those by whom they are singularly professed. What is 
contained in them is of no importance, in their judgment, compared 
with the more necessary duties of morality, which they pretend to em- 
brace; and, to acquit themselves of the trouble of a search into them, 
they reject them as unintelligible or unnecessary. Or, secondly, They 
will, by forced interpretations, enervating the spirit and perverting 
the mystery of them, square and fit them to their own low and car- 
nal apprehensions. They would reduce the gospel and all the mys- 
teries of it to their own light, as some; to reason, as others; to philo- 
sophy, as the rest; — and let them who comply not with their weak 
and carnal notions of things expect all the contemptuous reproaches 
which the proud pretenders unto science and wisdom of old cast upon 



280 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III. 

the apostles and first preachers of tlie gospel. Hereby advancing 
morality above the mystery and grace of the gospel, they at once 
reject the gospel and destroy morality also; for, taking it off from its 
proper foundation, it falls into the dirt,— whereof the conversation of 
the men of this persuasion is no small evidence. 

From this prejudice it is that the spiritual things of the gospel 
are by many despised and condemned. So God spake of Ephraim, 
Hos. viii. 12, "I have written to him the great things of my law, 
but they were counted as a, strange thing." The things intended were 
^n"niJl ^"iQ Keri] l?t!, — the "great, manifold, various things of the 
law." That which the law was then unto that people, such is the gos- 
pel now unto us. The " torah " was the entire means of God's com- 
municating his mind and will unto them, as his whole counsel is re- 
vealed unto us by the gospel. These things he wrote unto them, or 
made them in themselves and their revelation plain and perspicuous. 
But when all was done, they were esteemed by them "^l"^^-'?, as is 
also the gospel, " a thing foreign" and alien unto the minds of men, 
which they intend not to concern themselves in. They will heed 
the things that are cognate unto the principles of their nature, things 
morally good or evil; but for the hidden wisdom of God in the mys- 
tery of the gospel, it is esteemed by them as " a strange thing." And 
innumerable other prejudices of the same nature doth this darkness 
fill the minds of men withal, whereby they are powerfully, and, as 
unto any light or strength of their own, invincibly, kept off from re- 
ceiving of spiritual things in a spiritual manner. 

4. Again; the power and efficacy of this darkness in and upon the 
souls of unregenerate men will be farther evidenced by the consi- 
deration of its especial subject, or the nature and use of that faculty 
which is affected with it. This is the mind or understanding. Light 
and knowledge are intellectual virtues or perfections of the mind, 
and that in every kind whatever, whether in things natural, moral, 
or spiritual. The darkness whereof w^e treat is the privation of spi- 
ritual light, or the want of it; and therefore are they opposed unto 
one another: " Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in 
the Lord," Eph. v. 8. It is, therefore, the mind or understanding 
which is affected with this darkness, which is vitiated and depraved 
by it. 

Now, the mind maybe considered t\vo ways: — (1.) As it is theore- 
tical or contemplative, discerning and judging of things proposed 
unto it. So it is its office to find out, consider, discern, and appre- 
hend the truth of things. In the case before us, it is the duty of the 
mind to apprehend, understand, and receive, the truths of the gospel 
as they are proposed unto it, in the manner of and unto the end of 
their proposal. This, as we have manifested, by reason of its depra- 



CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 281 

vation, it neither doth nor is able to do, John i. 5; 1 Cor. ii. 14, 
(2.) It may be considered as it is practical, as to the power it hath to 
direct the whole soul, and determine the will unto actual operation, 
according to its light. I shall not inquire at present whether the 
wkl, as to the specification of its acts, do necessarily follow the deter- 
mination of the mind or practical understanding. I aim at no more 
but that it is the directive faculty of the soul as unto all moral and 
spiritual operations. Hence it follows: — 

(1.) That nothing in the soul, nor the will and affections, can will, 
desire, or cleave unto any good, but what is presented unto them by 
the mind, and as it is presented. That good, whatever it be, which 
the mind cannot discover, the will cannot choose nor the affec- 
tions cleave unto. All their actings about and concerning them 
are not such as answer their duty. This our Saviour directs us to 
the consideration of. Matt. vi. 22, 23, " The light of the body is the 
eye : if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of 
light. But if thine eye be evil, thy Avhole body shall be full of dark- 
ness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is 
that darkness!" As the eye is naturally the light of the body, or 
the means thereof, so is the mind unto the soul. And if darkness be 
in the eye, not only the eye but the whole body is in darkness, be- 
cause in the eye alone is the light of the whole; so if the mind be 
under darkness, the whole soul is so also, because it hath no light but 
by the mind. And hence both is illumination sometimes taken for 
the whole work of conversion unto God, and the spiritual actings of 
the mind, by the renovation of the Holy Ghost, are constantly pro- 
posed as those which precede any gracious actings in the will, heart, 
and life; as we shall show afterward. 

(2.) As the soul can no way, by any other of its faculties, receive, 
embrace, or adhere unto that good in a saving manner which the 
mind doth not savingly apprehend ; so where the mind is practically 
deceived, or any way captivated under the power of prejudices, the 
will and the affections can no way free themselves from entertaining 
that evil which the mind hath perversely assented unto. Thus, where 
the mind is reprobate or void of a sound judgment, so as to call good 
evil, and evil good, the heart, affections, and conversation will be 
conformable thereunto, Rom. i. 28-82. And in the Scripture the 
deceit of the mind is commonly laid down as the principle of all sin 
whatever, 1 Tim. ii. 14; Heb. iii. 12, 13; 2 Cor. xi. 3. 

And this is a brief delineation of the state of the mind of man 
whilst unregenerate, with respect unto spiritual things. And from 
what hath been spoken, we do conclude that the mind in the state 
of nature is so depraved, vitiated, and corrupted, that it is not able, 
upon the proposal of spiritual things unto it in the dispensation and 



2S2 ' LIFE AND DEATH, [bOOK III. 

preaching of the gospel, to understand, receive, and embrace them 
in a spiritual and saving manner, so as to have the sanctifying power 
of them thereby brought into and fixed in the soul, without an in- 
ternal, especial, immediate, supernatural, effectual, enlightening act 
of the Holy Ghost; which what it is, and wherein it doth consist, 
shall be declared. 



CHAPTER IV. 

LIFE AND DEATH, NATUKAL AND SPIRITUAL, COMPARED. 

Of death in sin — All unregenerate men spiritually dead — Spiritual death two- 
fold: legal; metaphorical — Life natural, what it is, and wherein it consists 
— Death natural, with its necessary consequents — The supernatural life of 
Adam in innocency, in its principle, acts, and power — Differences hetween 
it and our spiritual life in Christ — Death spiritual a privation of the life we 
had in Adam ; a negation of the life of Christ — Privation of a principle of all 
life to God — Spiritual impotency therein — Differences between death natural 
and spiritual — The use of precepts, promises, and threatenings — No man 
perihheth merely for want of power — No vital acts in an state of death — The 
way of the communication of spiritual life — Of what nature are the best 
works of persons unregenerate — No disposition unto spiritual life under the 
power of spiritual death. 

Another description that the Scripture gives of unregenerate 
men, as to their state and condition, is, that they are spiritually dead; 
and hence, in like manner, it follows that there is a necessity of an 
internal, 'powerful, effectual work of the Holy Ghost on the souls of 
men, to deliver them out of this state and condition by regeneration. 
And this principally respects their wills and affections, as the dark- 
ness and blindness before described doth their minds and understand- 
ings. There is a spiritual life whereby men live unto God ; this they 
being strangers unto and alienated from, are spiritually dead. And 
this the Scripture declares concerning all unregenerate persons, partly 
in direct words, and partly in other assertions of the same import- 
ance. Of the first sort the testimonies are many and express: Eph. 
ii. 1, "Ye were dead in trespasses and sins;" Verse 5, "When we 
were dead in sins;" Col. ii. 13, "And ye being dead in your sins, 
and the uncircumcision of your flesh;" 2 Cor. v. 14, "If one died 
for all, then were all dead;" Rom. v. 15, " Through the offence of 
one many are dead ;" Verse 12, "Death passed upon all men, for that 
all have sinned." And the same is asserted in the second way, where 
the recovery and restoration of men by the grace of Christ is called 
their "quickening," or the bestowing of a new life upon them : for this 
supposeth that they were dead, or destitute of that life which in this 
revivification is communicated unto them ; for that alone can be said to 
be quickened which was dead before. See Eph. ii. 5 ; John v. 21, vi. G3. 



CHAP. IV.] NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL, COMPARED. 283 

This death that unregenerate persons are under is twofold: — 

1, Legal, with reference unto the sentence of the law. The sanction 
of the law was, that upon sin man should die: " In the day that thou 
eatest thereof thou shalt die the death/' Gen. ii. 1 7. Upon this sen- 
tence Adam and all his posterity became dead in law, morally dead, or 
obnoxious imto death penally, and adjudged unto it. This death is 
intended in some of the places before mentioned; as Rom. v. ]2, 
and it may be also, 2 Cor. v. 14: for as Christ died, so were all dead. 
He died penally under the sentence of the law, and all were obnoxi- 
ous unto death, or dead on that account. But this is not the death 
which I intend, neither are Ave delivered from it by regeneration, 
but by justification, Rom. viii. 1. 

2. There is in them a spiritual death, called so metaphorically, 
from the analogy and proportion that it bears unto death natitral. 
Of great importance it is to know the true nature hereof, and how 
by reason thereof unregenerate men are utterly disabled from doing 
any thing that is spiritually good, until they are quickened by the 
almighty power and irresistible elficacy of the Holy Ghost. Where- 
fore, to declare this aright, we must- consider the nature of life and 
death natural, in allusion whereunto the spiritual estate of unregene- 
rate men is thus described. 

Life in general, or the life of a living creature, is " Actus vivifi- 
cantis in vivificatum^ per unionem utriusque;" — " The act of a quick- 
ening principle on a subject to be quickened, by virtue of their union." 
And three things are to be considered in it: — 

1. The jprinciple of life itself; and this in man is the rational, 
living soul, called Ci"n r\tpm ; Gen. iL 7, " God breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Having 
formed the body of man of the dust of the earth, he designed him 
a principle of life superior unto that of brute creatures, which is but 
the exurgency and spirit of their temperature and composition, 
though peculiarly educed by the formative virtue and power of the 
Holy Ghost, as hath been before declared. He creates for him, 
therefore, a separate, distinct, animating soul, and infuseth it into 
the matter prepared for its reception. And as he did thus in the 
beginning of the creation of the species or kind of the human race, in 
its first individuals, so he continueth to do the same in the ordinary 
course of the works of his providence for the continuation of it; for 
having ordained the preparation of the body by generation, he imme- 
diately infuseth into it the "living soul," the "breath of life." 

2. There is the " actus primus," or the quickening act of this prin- 
ciple on the principle quickened, in and by virtue of union. Hereby 
the whole man becomes n*n K'D3^ — a " living soul;" -\>vyjyM livOfc^'Tros, 

1 Vivificandum ? according to the translation. — Ed. 



284 LIFE AND DEATH, [BOOK IIL 

— a person quickened by a vital principle, and enabled for all naturally 
vital actions. 

3. There are the acts of this life itself; and they are of two 
sorts: — (1.) Such as flow from life as life. (2.) Such as proceed 
from it as such a life, from the principle of a rational soul. Those 
of the first sort are natural and necessary, as are all the actings and 
energies of the senses, and of the locomotive faculty, as also what be- 
longs unto the receiving and improving of nutriment. These are acts 
of life, whence the psalmist proves idols to be dead thmgs from the 
want of them ; so far are they from having a divine life, as that they 
have no life at all, Ps. cxv. 4-7. These are acts of life as life, inse- 
parable from it ; and their end is, to preserve the union of the whole 
between the quickening and quickened principles. (2.) There are 
such acts of life as proceed from the especial nature of this quicken- 
ing principle. Such are all the elicit^ and imperate^ acts of our un- 
derstandings and wills; all actions that are voluntary, rational, and 
peculiarly human. These proceed from that special kind of life which 
is given by the especial quickening principle of a rational soul. 

Hence it is evident wherein death natu7-al doth consist; and three 
things may be considered in it: — 1. The separation of the soul from 
the body. Hereby the act of infusing the living soul ceaseth unto 
all its ends; for as a principle of life unto the whole, it operates only 
by virtue of its union with the subject to be quickened by it. 2. 
A cessation of all vital actings in the quickened subject; for that 
union from whence they should proceed is dissolved. 3. As a con- 
sequent of these, there is in the body an impotency for and an inep- 
titude unto all vital operations. Not only do all operations of life 
actually cease, but the body is no more able to effect them. There 
remains in it, indeed, " potentia obedientialis," a " passive power" 
to receive life again, if communicated unto it by an external efficient 
cause, — so the body of Lazarus being dead had a receptive power of 
a living soul, — but an active power to dispose itself unto life or vital 
actions it hath not. 

From these things we may, by a just analogy, collect wherein life 
and death spiritual do consist. And to that end some things mu«t be 
previously observed; as,— 1. That Adam in the state of innocency, 
besides his natural life, whereby he was a living soul, had likewise a 
supernatural life with respect unto its end, whereby he lived unto 
God. This is called the " life of God," Eph. iv. 18, which men now 
in the state of nature are alienated from;— the life which God re- 
quires, and which hath God for its object and end. And this life 
was in him supernatural: for although it was concreated in and with 
the rational soul, as a perfection due unto it, in the state wherein 

I Elicit, brought into actual existence. 

» Jmperate, done by the direction of the mind. Ed. 



CHAP. IV.] NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL, COMPARED. 285 

and with respect unto the end for which it was made, yet it did not 
naturally flow from the principles of the rational soul; nor were the 
principles, faculties, or abilities of it, inseparable from those of the 
soul itself, being only accidental perfections of them, inlaid in them 
by especial grace. This life was necessary unto him with respect 
unto the state wherein and the end for which he was made. He was 
made to live unto the living God, and that in a peculiar manner; — 
to live unto his glory in this world, by the discharge of the rational 
and moral obedience required of him ; and to live afterward in his 
glory and the eternal enjoyment of him, as his chiefest good and 
highest reward. That whereby he was enabled hereunto was that life 
of God, which we are alienated from in the state of nature. 2. In 
this life, as in life in general, three things are to be considered: — • 
(1.) Its principle; (2.) Its operation; (3.) Its virtue; or habit, act, 
and power. 

(1.) There was a quickening principle belonging unto it; for every 
life is an act of a quickening principle. This in Adam was the image 
of God, or an habitual conformity unto God, his mind and will, 
wherein the holiness and righteousness of God himself was repre- 
sented. Gen. i. 26, 27. In this image he was created, or it was con- 
created with him, as a perfection due to his nature in the condition 
v/herein he was made. This gave him an habitual disposition unto 
all duties of that obedience that was required of him; it was the 
rectitude of all the faculties of his soul with respect unto his super- 
natural end, Eccles. vii. 29. 

(2.) There belonged unto it continual actings from, or by virtue 
of, and suitable unto, this principle. All the acts of Adam's life 
should have been subordinate unto his great moral end. In all that 
he did he should have lived unto God, according unto the law of that 
covenant wherein he walked before him. And an acting in all things 
suitably unto the light in his mind, unto the righteousness and holi- 
ness in his will and affections, that uprightness, or integrity, or order, 
that was in his soul, was his living unto God. 

(3.) He had herewithal power or ability to continue the principle 
of life in suitable acts of it, with respect unto the whole obedience 
required of him ; that is, he had a sufficiency of ability for the per- 
formance of any duty, or of all, that the covenant required. 

And in these three [things] did the supernatural life of Adam in 
innocency consist; and it is that which the life whereunto we are 
restored by Christ doth answer. It answers unto it, I say, and sup- 
plies its absence with respect unto the end of living unto God accord- 
ing unto the new covenant that we are taken into ; for neither would 
the life of Adam be sufficient for us to live unto God according to 
the terms of the new covenant, nor is the life of grace we now enjoy 
suited to the covenant wherein Adam stood before God. Wherefore, 



286 LIFE AND DEATH, [bOOK IIL 

some difFerences there are between them, the principal whereof may- 
be reduced into two heads : — 

1. The principle of this life was wholly and entirely in man 
himself. It was the effect of another cause, of that which was with- 
out him, — namely, the good -will and power of God ; but it was left 
to grow on no other root but what was in man himself. It was 
wholly implanted in his nature, and therein did its springs lie. Ac- 
tual excitations, by influence of power from God, it should have had; 
for no principle of operation can subsist in an independence of God, 
nor apply itself unto operation without his concurrence. But in the 
life whereunto we are renewed by Jesus Christ, the fountain and 
principle of it is not in ourselves, but in him, as one common head 
unto all that are made partakers of him. He is " our life;" and our 
life (as to the spring and fountain of it) is hid with him in God, Col. 
iii. 3, 4; for he quick eneth us by his Spirit, Rom. viii. 11. And our 
spiritual life, as in us, consists in the vital actings of this Spirit of his 
in us; for "without him we can do nothing," John xv. 5. By virtue 
hereof we " walk in newness of life," Rom. vi. 4. We live, there- 
fore, hereby; yet not so much we, as " Christ liveth in us," Gal. ii. 20 

2. There is a difference between these lives with respect unto 
the object of their vital acts, for the life which we now lead by the 
faith of the Son of God hath sundry objects of its actings which the 
other had not; for whereas all the actmgs of our faith and love, — 
that is, all our obedience, — doth respect the revelation that God 
makes of himself and his will unto us, there are now new revelations 
of God in Christ, and consequently new duties of obedience required 
of us ; as will afterward appear. And other such differences there 
are between them. The life which we had in Adam and that which 
we are renewed unto in Christ Jesus are so far of the same nature 
and kind, as our apostle manifests in sundry places, Eph. iv. 23, 24, 
Col. iii. 10, as that they serve to the same end and purpose. 

There being, therefore, this twofold spiritual life, or ability of liv- 
ing unto God, that which we had in A dam and that which we have 
in Christ, we must inquire with reference unto which of these it is 
that unregenerate men are said to be spiritually dead, or dead in 
trespasses and sins. Now this, in the first place, hath respect unto 
the life we had in Adam ; for the deprivation of that hfe was in the 
sanction of the law, " Thou shalt die the death." This spiritual death 
is comprised therein, and that in the privation of that spiritual life, 
or life unto God, which unregenerate men never had, neither de facto 
nor de jure, in any state or condition. Wherefore, with respect here- 
unto they are dead only negatively,— they have it not; but with re- 
spect unto the life we had in Adam, they are dead privatively, — they 
have lost that power of living unto God which they had. 



C:iAP. IV.] NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL, COMPARED. 2S7 

From what hatli been discoursed, we may discover the nature of 
this spiritual death, under the power whereof all unregenerate per- 
sons do abide: for there are three things in it: 1. K privation of a 
principle of spiritual life enabling us to live unto God ; 2. A nega- 
tion of al] spiritual, vital acts, — that is, of all acts and duties of holy 
obedience, acceptable unto God, and tending to the enjoyment of 
him ; 3. A total defect and want of power for any such acts whatever. 
All these are in that death which is a privation of life, such as this is. 

First, There is in it a, privation of a principle of spiritual life, 
namely, of that which we had before the entrance of sin, or a power 
of living unto God according to the covenant of works; and a neo^a- 
tion of that which we have by Christ, or a power of living unto God 
according to the tenor of the covenant of grace. Those, therefore, 
who are thus dead have no principle or first power of living unto 
God, or for the performance of any duty to be accepted with him, in 
order to the enjoyment of him, according to either covenant. It is 
with them, as to all the acts and ends of life spiritual, as it is with 
the body, as to the acts and ends of life natural, when the soul is de- 
parted from it. Why else are they said to be dead ? 

It is objected " That there is a wide difference between death natu- 
ral and spiritual. In death natural, the soul itself is utterly removed 
and taken from the body; but in death spiritual it continues. A 
man is still, notwithstanding this spiritual death, endowed with an 
understand ingj will, and affections; and by these are men enabled 
to perform their duty unto God, and yield the obedience required of 
them." 

Ans. 1. In life spiritual the soul is unto the principle of it as the 
body is unto the soul in life natural; for in life natural the soul is 
the quickening principle, and the body is the principle quickened. 
When the soul departs, it leaves the body with all its own natural 
properties, but utterly deprived of them which it had by virtue of its 
union with the soul. So in life spiritual, the soul is not, in and by 
its essential properties, the quickening principle of it, but it is the 
principle that is quickened. And when the quickening principle of 
spiritual life departs, it leaves the soul with all its natural properties 
entire as to their essence, though morally corrupted ; but of all the 
power and abilities which it had by virtue of its union with a quick- 
ening principle of spiritual life, it is deprived. And to deny such a 
quickening principle of spiritual life, superadded unto us by the 
grace of Christ, distinct and separate from the natural faculties of 
the soul, is, upon the matter, to renounce the whole gospel. It is all 
one as to deny that Adam was created in the image of God which 
he lost, and that we are renewed unto the image of God by Jesus 
Christ Hence, 2. Whatever the soul acts in spiritual things by its 



288 LIFE AND DEATH, [bOOK IIL 

understanding, will, and affections, as deprived of or not quipkened 
by this principle of spiritual life, it doth it naturally, not spiritually, 
as shall be instantly made to appear. 

There is, therefore, in the first place, a disability or impotency 
unto all spiritual things to be performed in a spiritual manner, in all 
persons not horn again hy the Spirit; because they are spiritually 
dead. Whatever they can do, or however men may call what they 
do, unless they are endowed with a quickening principle of grace, 
they can perform no act spiritually vital, no act of life whereby we 
live to God, or that is absolutely accepted with him. Hence it is 
said, " The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to 
the law of God, neither indeed can be," Rom. viii. 7. " So then they 
that are in the flesh cannot please God," verse 8. Men may cavil 
whilst they please about this carnal mind, and contend that it is only 
the sensitive part of the soul, or the affections, as corrupted by pre- 
judices and [by] depraved habits of vice, two things are plain in the 
text; first. That this carnal mind is in all mankind, whoever they 
be, who are not partakers of the Spirit of God and his quickening 
])0wer; secondly. That where it is, there is a disability of doing any 
thing that should please God: which is the sum of what we conteud 
for, and which men may with as little a disparagement of their modesty 
deny as reject the authority of the apostle. So our Saviour, as to 
one instance, tells us that " no man can come to him except the 
Father draw him," John vi. 44. And so is it figuratively expressed 
where, all men being by nature compared unto evil trees, it is affirmed 
of them that they cannot bring forth good fruit unless their nature 
be changed. Matt. vii. 18, xii. S3. And this disability as to good is 
also compared by the proj)het unto such effects as lie under a na- 
tural impossibility of accomplishment, Jer. xiii. 23. We contend 
not about expressions. This is that which the Scripture abundantly 
iustructeth us in : There is no power in men by nature whereby 
they are of themselves, — upon the mere proposal of their duty in 
spiritual obedience, and exhortations from the word of God unto the 
performance of it, accompanied with all the motives which are meet 
and suited to prevail with them thereunto,— [able] to perceive, 
know, will, or do any thing in such a way or manner as that it 
should be accepted with God, with respect unto our spiritual life 
unto him, according to his will, and future enjoyment of him, with- 
out the efficacious infusion into them, or creation in them, of a new 
gracious principle or habit enabling them thereunto; and that this is 
accordingly wrought in all that believe by the Holy Ghost, we shall 
afterward declare. 

But it will be objected, and hath against this doctrine been ever 
so since the days of Pelagius, " That a supposition hereof renders all 



CHAP. IV.] NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL, COMPARED. 289 

exhortations, commands, promises, and threatenings, — wliich com- 
prise the whole way of the external communication of the will of 
God unto us, — vain and useless ; for to what purpose is it to exhort 
blind men to see or dead men to live, or to promise rewards unto 
them upon their so doing? Should men thus deal with stones, 
would it not be vain and hidicrous, and that because of their im- 
potency to comply with any such proposals of our mind unto them ; 
and the same is here supposed in men as to any ability in spiritual 
things." 

Ans. 1. There is nothing, in the highest wisdom, required in the 
application of any means to the producing of an effect, but that in 
their own nature they are suited thereunto, and that the subject to 
be wrought upon by them is capable of being affected according as 
their nature requires.^ And thus exhortations, with promises and 
threatenings, are in their kind, as moral instruments, suited and 
proper to produce the effects of faith and obedience in the minds of 
men. And the faculties of their souls, their understandings, wills, 
and affections, are meet to be wrought upon by them unto that end; 
for by men's rational abilities they are able to discern their nature 
and judge of their tendency. And because these faculties are the 
principle and subject of all actual obedience, it is granted that there 
is in man a natural, remote, passive 'power to yield obedience unto 
God, which yet can never actually put forth itself without the effec- 
tual working of the grace of God, not only enabling but working in 
them to luill and to do. 

2. Exhortations, promises, and threatenings respect not primarily 
our present ability, but our duty. Their end is, to declare unto us, 
not what we can do, but what we ought to do ; and this is done fully 
in them. On the other hand, make a general rule, that what God 
commands or exhorts us unto, with promises made unto our obe- 
dience, and threatenings annexed unto a supposition of disobedience, 
we have power in and of ourselves to do, or we are of ourselves able 
to do, and you quite evacuate the grace of God, or at least make it 

' ■" Magniim aliquid Pelagiani se scire putant quando dicunt, non juberet Deus 
quod scit non posse ab homine fieri, quis hoc nesciat ? sed ideo jubet aliqua qu£B non 
J ossumus ut noverimus quid ab illo petere debeamus. Ipsa enim est fides quEe orando 
impetrat, quod lex imperat.". — August, de Grat. et Lib. Arbit. cap. xvi. 

"0 homo cognosce in praeceptione quid debeas habere; in corruptione cognosce tuo 
to vitio non habere; in oratione cognosce unde accipias quod vis habere." — Idem, de 
Corrupt, et Grat. cap. iii. 

" Mandando impossibilia, non prevaricatores homines fecit, sed humiles; ut omne os 
obstruatur ; et subditus fiat omnis mundus Deo. Accipientes nempe mandatum, sen- 
tieutes defectum, clamabimus in caelum." — Bernard. Serra. L. in Cant. 

" Quamvis dicamus Dei donum esse obedientiam, tamen homines exhortamur ad 
earn : sed illis qui veritatis cxhoi-tationem obedicnter audiunt, ipsum donum Dei datum 
est, hoc est, obedienter audire; illis autem qui non sic audiunt, non est datum.' 
August, de Dono Perseverant. cap.xiv. 

VOL. in. 19 



290 LIFE AND DEATH, [BOOK III. 

only useful for the more easy discharge of our duty, not necessary 
unto the very being of duty itself; which is the Pelagianism anathe- 
matized by so many councils of old. But in the church it hath 
hitherto been believed that the command directs our duty, but the 
promise gives strength for the performance of it. 

S. God is pleased to make these exhortations and promises to be 
".vehicula gratise," — the means of communicating spiritual life and 
strength unto men; and he hath appointed them unto this end, be- 
cause, considering the moral and intellectual faculties of the minds 
of men, they are suited thereunto. Hence, these effects are ascribed 
unto the word, which really are wrought by the grace communicated 
thereby, James i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23. And this, in their dispensation 
under the covenant of grace, is their proper end. God may, there- 
fore, wisely make use of them, and command them to be used to- 
wards men, notwithstanding all their own disability savingly to com- 
ply with them, seeing he can, will, and doth himself make them 
effectual unto the end aimed at. 

But it will be farther objected, " That if men are thus utterly de- 
void of a principle of spiritual life, of all power to live unto God, — 
that is, to repent, believe, and yield obedience, — is it righteous that 
they should perish eternally merely for their disability, or their not 
doing that which they are not able to do? This would.be to re- 
quire brick and to give no straw, yea, to require much where no- 
thing is given. But the Scripture everywhere chargeth the destruc- 
tion of men upon their wilful sin, not their weakness or disabilit}^" 

Ans. 1. Men's disability to live to God is their sin. Whatever, 
therefore, ensues thereon may be justly charged on them. It is 
that which came on us by the sin of our nature in our first parents, 
all whose consequents are our sin and our misery, Rom. v. 1 2. Had 
it befallen us without a guilt truly our own, according to the law of 
our creation and covenant of our obedience, the case would have 
been otherwise ; but on this supposition (sufficiently confirmed else- 
where), those who perish do but feed on the fruit of their own ways. 

2. In the transactions between God and the souls of men, with 
respect unto their obedience and salvation, there is none of them 
but hath a poiuer in sundry things, as to some degrees and mea- 
sures of them, to comply with his mind and will, which they volun- 
tarily neglect ; and this of itself is sufficient to bear the charge of 
their eternal ruin. But, — 

3. No man is so unable to live unto God, to do any thing for him, 
but that withal he is able to do any thing against him. There is in 
all men by nature a depraved, vicious habit of mind, wherein they 
are alienated from the life of God; and there is no command given 
unto men for evangelical faith or obedience, but they can and do 



CHAP. IV.] NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL, COMPARED. 29\ 

put forth a fret positive act of their wills in the rejection of i^, 
either directly or interpretatively, in preferring somewhat else bo • 
fore it. As " they cannot come to Christ except the Father draw 
them/' so " they will not come that they may have life;" wherefoirt 
their destruction is just and of themselves. 

This is the description which the Scripture giveth us concerning'' 
the power, ability, or disability, of men in the state of nature, as untvi 
the performance of spiritual things. By some it is traduced as f}\ • 
natical and senseless; which the Lord Christ must answer for, mlj 
we, for we do nothing but plainly represent what he hath expresse. I 
in his word ; and if it be " foolishness " unto any, the day will detei • 
mine where the blame must lie. 

Secondly, There is in this death an actual cessation of all y[U\ I 
acts. From this defect of power, or the want of a principle of spiri • 
tual life, it is that men in the state of nature can perform no vitjil 
act of spiritual obedience, — nothing that is spiritually good, or sa\ • 
ing, or acceptable with God, according to the tenor of the new covi^- 
nant; which we shall, in the second place, a little explain. 

The whole course of our obedience to God in Christ is the "U'e 
of God," Eph. iv. 18, — that life which is from him in a peculi t 
manner, whereof he is the especial author, and whereby we live un'o 
him, — which is our end. And the gospel, which is the rule of our 
obedience, is called "The words of this life," Acts v. 20, — that whi h 
guides and directs us how to live to God. Hence all the duties <f 
this life are vital acts, spiritually vital acts, acts of that life whereby 
we live to God. 

Where, therefore, this life is not, all the works of men are dei'd 
works. Where persons are dead in sin, their works are *' dead work« '' 
They are so all of them, either in their own nature, or with respect 
unto them by whom they are performed, Heb. ix. 14. They o e 
dead works because they proceed not from a principle of life, are v • l- 
profitable as dead things, Eph. v 11, and end in death etern-il, 
James i. 15. 

We may, then, consider how this spiritual life, which enableth as 
unto these vital acts, is derived and communicated unto us: — 

1. The original spring and fountain of this life is with God: Vs. 
xxxvi. 9, "With thee is the fountain of life." The sole spring of our 
spiritual life is in an especial way and manner in God. And hejiv'e 
our life is said to be "hid with Christ in God," Col. iii. 3; that is, 
as to its internal producing and preserving cause. But it is thus also 
with respect unto all life whatever. God is the "living God." All 
other things are in themselves but dead things; their life, whate^o^ 
it be, is in him efficiently and eminently, and in them it is purely 
derivative. Wherefore, — 



292 LIFE AND DEATH, [BOOK IIL 

2. Our spiritual life, as unto the especial nature of it, is specifi- 
cated and discerned from a life of any other kind, in that the ful- 
oiess of it is communicated unto the Lord Christ as mediator, CoL 
i. 19 ; and from his fulness we do receive it, John i. 16. There is a 
principle of spiritual life communicated unto us from his fulness 
thereof, whence he quick eneth whom he please th. Hence he is said 
to be "our life," Col. iii. 4. And in our life, it is not so much we 
who live, as " Christ that liveth in us," Gal. ii. 20 ; because we act 
nothing but as we are acted by virtue and power from him, 1 Cor. 
XV. 10. 

8. The fountain of this life being in God, and the fulness of it 
being laid up in Christ for us, he communicates the power and prin- 
ciple of it unto us by the Holy Ghost, Kom. viii. 11. That he is 
the immediate efficient cause hereof, we shall afterward fully evince 
and declare. But yet he doth it so as to derive it unto us from Jesus 
Christ, Eph. iv. 15, 16; for he is " the life," and " without him," or 
power communicated from him, "we can do nothing," John xv. 5. 

4. This spiritual life is communicated unto us by the Holy Ghost, 
according unto and in order for the ends of the new covenant: for 
this is the promise of it, That God will first write his law in our 
hearts, and then we shall walk in his statutes; that is, the principle 
of fife must precede all vital acts. From this principle of life, thus 
derived and conveyed unto us, are all those vital acts whereby we live 
to God. Where this is not, — as it is not in any that are "dead in sins," 
for from the want hereof are they denominated " dead," — no act of 
obedience unto God can so be performed as that it should be an act 
of the "life of God;" and this is the way whereby the Scripture doth 
express it. The same thing is intended when we say in other words, 
that without an infused habit of internal inherent grace, received 
from Christ by an efficacious work of the Spirit, no man can believe 
or obey God, or perform any duty in a saving manner, so as it should 
be accepted with him. And if we abide not in this principle, we 
let in the whole poisonous flood of Pelagianism into the church. To 
say that we have a sufficiency in ourselves so much as to think a 
good thought, or to do any thing as we ought, any power, any ability 
that is our own, or in us by nature, however externally excited and 
guided by motives, directions, reasons, encouragements, of what sort 
soever, to believe or obey the gospel savingly in any one instance, is to 
overthrow the gospel and the faith of the catholic church in all ages. 

But it may be objected, "That whereas many unregenerate per- 
sons may and do perform many duties of religious obedience, if 
there be nothing of spiritual life in them then are they all sins, and 
so differ not from the Avorst things they do in this world, which are 
but sins; and if so, unto what end should they take pains about 



CUAP. IV.] NATUEAL AND SPIRITUAL, COMPARED. 293 

tliem? Were it not as good for them to indulge unto their lusts 
and pleasures, seeing all comes to one end? It is all sin, and no- 
thing else. Why do the dispensers of the gospel press any duties on 
such as they know to be in that estate? What advantage sliall 
they have by a compliance with them? Were it not better to leave 
them to themselves, and wait for their conversion, than to spend 
time and labour about them to no purpose?'' 

Ans. 1. It must be granted that all the duties of such persons 
are in some sense sins. It was the saying of Austin,^ that the vir- 
tues of unbelievers are splendida peccata. This some are now dis- 
pleased with ; but it is easier to censure him than to confute him. 
Two things attend in every duty that is properly so: — (1.) That it is 
accepted with God ; and, (2.) That it is sanctified in them that do 
it. But neither of these is in the duties of unregenerate men ; for 
they have not faith, and "without faith it is impossible to please 
God/' Heb. xi. 6. And the apostle also assures us that unto the 
defiled and unbelieving, — that is, all unsanctified persons, not purified 
by the Spirit of grace, — all things are unclean, because their con- 
sciences and minds are defiled. Tit. i. 15. So their praying is said to 
be an " abomination," and their ploughing " sin." It doth not, there- 
fore, appear what is otherwise in them or to them. But as there are 
good duties which have sin adhering to them, Isa. Ixiv. 6, so there 
are sins which have good in them ; for bonum oritur ex integris, 
malum ex quocunque defectu. Such are the duties of men unre- 
generate. Formally, and unto them, they are sin ; materially, and 
in themselves, they are good. This gives them a difference from, 
and a preference above, such sins as are every way sinful. As they 
are duties, they are good; as they are the duties of such persons, they 
are evil, because necessarily defective in what should preserve them 
from being so. And on this ground they ought to attend unto 
them, and may be pressed thereunto. 

2. That which is good materially and in itself, though vitiated 
from the relation which it hath to the person by whom it is per- 
formed, is approved., and hath its acceptation in its proper place ; for 
duties may be performed two ways: — (1.) In hypocrisy and pretence. 
So they are utterly abhorred of God, in matter and manner. That is. 

1 " Manifcstissime patet in impiorum animis nullam habitare virtutem ; sed omnia 
opera eorum immiuida esse atque poUuta, habentium sapientiam non spiritualem scd 
animalem, non coelestem sod terrenam." — Prosper, ad Collat. cap. xiii. 
" Orane cteiiim probitatis opus nisi semine vcras 
Exoritur fidei, peccatum est, inque reatum 
Vertitur, et sterilis cuinulat sibi gloria poenam." 

Prosper, dc Ingiutis. cap. xvi. 407-409. 
"Mvltalaxidabilia atque miranda possunt in homine i-eperiri, quaj sine charitatis ine- 
dullis habent quideui pietatis similitudinem, sed non habcnt veritatem." — Idem, ad 
Rutin, de Lib. Arbit. 



294 IIFE AND DEATH, [BOOK III. 

such a poisonous ingredient as vitiates the whole, Isa. i. 11-15; 
Hos. i, 4. (2.) In integrity, according unto present light and con- 
viction; which, fertile substance of them, are approved. And no 
man is to be exhorted to do any thing in hypocrisy: see Matt. 
X. 26. And on this account also, that the duties themselves are ac- 
ceptable, men may be pressed to them. But, — 

3. It must be granted that the same duty, for the substance of it 
in general, and performed according to the same rule as to the out- 
ward manner of it, may be accepted in or from one and rejected in 
or from another. So was it with the sacrifices of Cain and Abel. 
And not only so, but the same rejected duty may have degrees of 
evil for which it is rejected, and be more sinful in and unto one than 
unto another. But we must observe, that the difference doth not relate 
merely unto the different states of the persons by whom such are 
performed, — as, because one is in the state of grace, whose duties are 
accepted, and another in the state of nature, whose duties are re- 
jected, as their persons are: for altliough the acceptation of our 
persons be a necessary condition for the acceptation of our duties, as 
God first had respect unto Abel, and then unto his offering, yet 
there is always a real specifical difference between the duties them- 
selves whereof one is accepted and the other rejected, although, it 
may be, unto us it be every way imperceptible ; as in the offerings 
of Cain and Abel, that of Abel was offered in faith, the defect whereof 
in the other caused it to be refused. Suppose duties, therefore, to 
be every way the same, as to the principles, rule, and ends, or what- 
ever is necessary to render them good in their kind, and they would 
be all equally accepted with God, by whomsoever they are performed, 
for he is " no respecter of persons." But this cannot be but where 
those that peiform them are partakers of the same grace. It is, 
therefore, the wills of men only that vitiate their duties, which are 
required of them as good; and if so, they may justly be required 
of them. The defect is not immediately in their state, but in their 
wills and their perversity. 

4. The tuill of God is the rule of all men's obedience. This they 
are all bound to attend unto; and if what they do, through their own 
defect, prove eventually sin unto them, yet the commandment is just 
and holy, and the observance of it justly prescribed unto them. The 
law is the moral cause of the performance of the duties it requires, 
but not of the sinful manner of their performance ; and God hath 
not lost his right of commanding men, because they by theii- sin 
have lost their power to fulfil his command. And if the equity of 
the command doth arise Ironi the proportioning of strength that men 
have to answer it, he that contracts the highest moial disability 
that depraved habits of mind can introduce or a course of sinning 



CHAP. IV.] NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL, COMPARED. 295 

produce in him, is freed from owing obedience unto any of God's 
commands, seeing. all confess that such a habit of sin may be con- 
tracted as will deprive them in whom it is of all power of obedience ! 
Wherefore, — 

5. Preachers of the gospel and others have sufficient warrant to 
press upon all men the duties of faith, repentance, and obedience, 
although they know that in themselves they have not a sufficiency 
of ability for their due performance; for, — (I.) It is the ivill and 
command of God that so they should do, and that is the rule of all 
our duties. They are not to consider what man can do or will do, 
but what God requires. To make a judgment of men's ability, and 
to accommodate the commands of God unto them accordingly, is not 
committed unto any of the sons of men. (2.) They have a double 
end in pressing on men the observance of duties, with a supposition 
of the state of impotency described: — [1.] To prevent them from 
such courses of sin as would harden them, and so render their con- 
version more difficult, if not desperate. [2.] To exercise a means 
appointed of God for their conversion, or the communication of 
saving grace unto them. Such are God's commands, and such are 
the duties required in them. In and by them God doth use to com- 
municate of his grace unto the souls of men ; not with respect unto 
them as their duties, but as they are ways appointed and sanctified 
by him unto such ends. And hence it follows that even such duties 
as are vitiated in their performance, yet are of advantage unto them 
by whom they are performed ; for, — 1st. By attendance unto them 
they are preserved from many sins. 2d In an especial manner from 
the great sin of despising God, which ends commonly in that which 
is unpardonable. Zd. They are hereby made useful unto others, and 
many ends of God's glory in the world. Hh. They are kept in God's 
way, wherein they may gradually be brought over unto a real con- 
version unto him. 

Thirdly, In this state of spiritual death there is not, in them 
who are under the power of it, any disposition active and inclining 
unto life spiritual. There is not so in a dead carcase unto life natural. 
It is a subject meet for an external power to introduce a living prin- 
ciple into. So the dead body of Lazarus was quickened and animated 
again by the introduction of his soul; but in itself it had not the 
least active disposition nor inclination thereunto. And no otherwise 
is it with a soul dead in trespasses and sins. There is in it potentia 
ohedientialis, a power rendering it meet to receive the con:imunica- 
tijns of grace and spiritual life; but a disposition tliereunto of its 
own it hath not. There is in it a remote power, in the nature of 
its faculties, meet to be wrought upon by the Spirit and grace of 
God; but an immediate power, disposing and enabling it unto spiri- 



296 IIFE AND DEATH, ETC. [BOOK III. 

tiial acts, it hatli not. And tlie reason is, because natural corruption 
cleaves unto it as an invincible, unmovable habit, constantly inducing 
unto evil, wherewith the least disposition unto spiritual good is not 
consistent. There is in the soul, in the Scripture language (which 
some call " canting"), " the body of the sins of the flesh," Col. ii. 1 1 ; 
which unless it be taken away by spiritual circumcision, through the 
virtue of the death of Christ, it will lie dead in to eternity. There is, 
therefore, in us that which may be quickened and saved; and this 
is all we have to boast of by nature. Though man by sin be made 
like the beasts that perish, being brutish and foolish in his mind and 
affections, yet he is not so absolutely; he retains that living soul, 
those intellectual faculties, which were the subject of original right- 
eousness, and are meet to receive again the renovation of the image 
of God by Jesus Christ. 

But this also seems obnoxious to an objection from the instances 
that are given in the Scripture, and whereof we have experience, 
concerning sundry good duties performed by men unregenerate, and 
that in a tendency unto living unto God, which argues a disposition 
to spiritual good. So Balaam desired to " die the death of the right- 
eous;" and Herod "heard John the Baptist gladly, doing many things 
willingly;" and great endeavours after conversion unto God we find 
in many who never attain thereunto. So that to say there is no dis- 
position unto spiritual life in any imregenerate person is to make 
them all equal, which is contrary to experience. 

Ans. 1. There is no doubt but that unregenerate men may per- 
form many external duties which are good in themselves, and lie i^i 
the order of the outward disposal of the means of conversion ; nor is 
it questioned but they may have real designs, desires, and endeavours 
after that which is presented unto them as their chiefest good ; — but 
so far as these desires or actings are merely natural, there is no dis- 
position in them unto spiritual life, or that which is spiritually good. 
So far as they are supernatural, they are not of themselves; for, — 

2. Although there are no 2y^'epci^'>^a,tory inclinations in men, yet 
there are prejMratory luorks upon them. Those Avho have not the 
word, yet may have convictions of good and evil, from the autho- 
rity of God in their consciences, Bora. ii. 14, 15. And the law, in 
the dispensation of it, may work men unto many duties of obedience, 
much more may the gospel so do; but whatever effects are hereby 
produced, they are wrought by the power of God, exerted in the dis- 
pensation of the word. They are not educed out of the natur;ii 
faculties of the minds of men, but are effects of the power of God in 
them and upon them, for we know that " in the flesh there dwelleth 
no good thing;" and all unregenerate men are no more, for " tliat 
which is born of the flesh is flesh." 



CHAP, v.] NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS OF REGENERATION. 297 

S. The actings thus effected and produced in men unregenerate 
are neither fruits of, nor dispositions unto spiritual life. Men that 
are spiritually dead may have designs and desires to free themselves 
from dying eternally, but such a desire to be saved is no saving dis- 
position unto life. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE NATURE^ CAUSES, AND MEANS OF REGENERATION 

Description of the state of nature necessary unto a right understanding of the 
work of the Spirit in regeneration — No possibility of salvation unto persons 
living and dying in a state of sin — Deliverance from it by regeneration only 
— The Holy Ghost the peculiar author of this work — Differences about the 
manner and nature of it — Way of the ancients in explaining the doctrine of 
grace — The present method proposed — Conversion not wrought by moral 
suasion only — The nature and efficacy of moral suasion, wherein they consist 
• — Illumination preparatory unto conversion — The nature of grace morally 
effective only, opened ; not sufficient for conversion — The first argument, dis- 
proving the working of grace in conversion to be by moral suasion only — The 
second — The third — The fourth — Wherein the work of the Spirit in regene- 
ration positively doth consist — The use and end of outward means — Real in- 
ternal efficiency of the Spirit in this work — Grace victorious and irresistible — 
The nature of it explained ; proved — The manner of God's working by grace 
on our wills farther explained — Testimonies concerning the actual collation 
of faith by the power of God — Victorious efficacy of internal grace proved by 
sundry testimonies of Scripture — From the nature of the work wrought by 
it, in vivification and regeneration — Regeneration considered with respect 
unto the distinct faculties of the soul; the mind, the will, the affections. 

Unto the description we are to give of the worh of regeneration, 
the precedent account of the subject of it, or the state and condition 
of them that are to be regenerated, vs^as necessarily to be premised ; 
for upon the knowledge thereof doth a due apprehension of tlie 
nature of that work depend. And the occasion of all the mistakes 
and errors that have been about it, either of old or of late, hath been 
a misunderstanding of the true state of men in their lapsed condi- 
tion, or of nature as depraved. Yea, and those by whom this whole 
work is derided do now countenance themselves therein by their 
ignorance of that state, which they will not learn either from the 
Scripture or experience ; for, "natura sic apparet vitiata ut hoc majoris 
vitii sit non videre," as Austin speaks. It is an evidence of the cor- 
ruption of nature, that it disenables the minds of men to discern 
their own corruption. We have previously discharged this work so 
far as it is necessary unto our present purpose. Many other things 
might be added in the explication of it, were that our direct design. 
Particularly, having confined myself to treat only concerning the de- 



238 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND JIEANS [BOOK III. 

pravatlon of the mind and will, I have not insisted on that of the 
affections, which yet is effectual to retain unregenerate men under 
the power of sin; though it be far enough from truth that the whole 
corruption of nature consists therein, as some weakly and atheolo- 
gically have imagined. Much less have I treated concerning that 
increase and heightening of the depravation of nature which is con- 
tracted by a custom of sinning, as unto all the perverse ends of it. 
Yet this also the Scripture much insists upon, as that which naturally 
and necessarily ensues in all in whom it is not prevented by the 
effectual transforming grace of the Spirit of God; and it is that which 
seals up the impossibility of their turning themselves to God, Jer. 
xiii. 23 ; Rom. iii. 10-19. But that the whole difficulty of conversion 
should arise from men's contracting a habit or custom of sinning is 
false, and openly contradictory to the Scripture. These things are 
personal evils, and befall individuals, through their own default, in 
various degrees. And we see that amongst men, under the same 
use of means, some are converted unto God who have been deeply 
immersed in an habitual course of open sins, whilst others, kept from 
them by the influence of their education upon their inclinations and 
affections, remain unconverted. So was it of old between the publi- 
cans and harlots on the one hand, and the Pharisees on the other. 
But my design was only to mention that which is common unto all, 
or wherein all men universally are equally concerned, who are par- 
takers of the same human nature in its lapsed condition. And what 
we have herein declared from the Scriptures will guide us in our 
inquiry after the work of the Holy Spirit of grace in our deliverance 
from it. 

It is evident, and needs no farther confirmation, that persons liv- 
ing and dying in this estate cannot be saved. This hitlierto hath 
been allowed by all that are called Christians; nor are we to be moved 
that some who call themselves so do begin to laugh at the disease, 
and despise the remedy of our nature. Among those who lay any 
serious and real claim unto Christianity, there is nothing more cer- 
tain nor more acknowledged than that there is no deliverance from 
a state of misery for those who are not delivered from a state of sin. 
And he who denies the necessary perishing of all that live and die 
in the state of corrupted nature, denies all the use of the incarnation 
and mediation of the Son of God : for if we may be saved without 
the renovation of our natures, there was no need nor use of the new 
creation of all things by Jesus Christ, which principally consists 
therein; and if men may be saved imder all the evils that came upon 
us by the fall, then did Christ die in vain. Besides, it is frequently 
expressed that men in that state are " enemies to God," " alienated 
from him," "chiklreu of wrath," " under the curse;" and if such may 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENEEATION. 299 

be saved, so may devils also. In brief, it is not consistent with the 
nature of God, his holiness, righteousness, or truth, with the law or 
gospel, nor possible in the nature of the thing itself, that such per- 
sons should enter into or be made possessors of glory and rest with 
God. A deliverance, therefore, out of and from this condition is in- 
dispensably necessary to make us meet for the inheritance of the 
saints in light. 

This deliveranice must be and is by regeneration. The determi- 
nation of our Saviour is positive, both in this and the necessity of it, 
before asserted : John iii. 8, " Except a man be born again," or from 
above, " he cannot see the kingdom of God." Whatever sense the 
*' kingdom of God" is taken in, either for that of grace here or of 
glory hereafter, it is all the same as unto our present purpose. There 
is no interest in it to be obtained, no participation of the benefits of 
it, unless a man be born again, unless he be regenerate. And this 
determination of our Saviour, as it is absolute and decretory, so it is 
applicable unto and equally compriseth every individual of mankind. 
And the work intended by their regeneration, or in being born again, 
which is the spiritual conversion and quickening of the souls of men, 
is everywhere ascribed unto them that shall be saved. And although 
men may have, through their ignorance and prejudices, false appre- 
hensions about regeneration and the nature of it, or wherein it doth 
consist, yet, so far as I know, all Christians are agreed that it is the 
way and means of our deliverance from the state of sin or corrupted 
nature, or rather our deliverance itself; for this both express testi- 
monies of Scripture and the nature of the thing itself put beyond 
contradiction, Tit. iii. 3-5. And those by whom it is exposed unto 
scorn, who esteem it a ridiculous thing for any one to inquire whether 
he be regenerate or no, will one day understand the necessity of it, 
although, it may be, not before it is too late to obtain any advantage 
thereby. 

The Holy Ghost is t"lie immediate author and cause of this work 
of regeneration. And herein again, as I suppose, we have in general 
the consent of all. Nothing is more in words acknowledged than 
that all the elect of God are sanctified by the Holy Ghost. And 
this regeneration is the head, fountain, or beginning of our sanctifi- 
cation, virtually comprising the whole in itself, as will afterward ap- 
pear. However, that it is a part thereof is not to be denied. Besides, 
as I suppose, it is equally confessed to be an effect or work of grace, 
the actual dispensation whereof is solely in the hand of the Holy 
Spirit. This, I say, is in words acknowledged by all, although I 
know not how some can reconcile this profession unto other notions 
and sentiments which they declare concerning it; for setting aside 
what men do herein themselves, and others do towai'ds them in the 



300 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK III. 

ministry of the word, I cannot see what remains, as they express 
their loose imaginations, to be ascribed unto the Spirit of God. But 
at present we shall make use of this general concession, that regene- 
ration is the work of the Holy Ghost, or an effect of his grace. Not 
that we have any need so to do, but that we may avoid contesting 
about those things wherein men may shroud their false opinions 
under general, ambiguous expressions; which was the constant prac- 
tice of Pelagius and those who followed him of old. But the Scripture 
is express in testimonies to our purpose. What our Saviour calls 
being " born again," John iii. 3, he calls being " born of the Spirit," 
verses 5, 6, because he is the sole, principal, efficient cause of this 
new birth ; for " it is the Spirit that quickeneth," John vi. 63 ; Rom. 
viii. 11. And God saveth us "according to his mercy, by the wash- 
ing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Tit. iii. 5. 
Whereas, therefore, we are said to be " born of God," or to be " be- 
gotten again of his own will," John i. 13, James i. 18, 1 John iii. 9, 
it is with respect unto the especial and peculiar operation of the 
Holy Spirit. 

These things are thus far confessed, even by the Pelagians them- 
selves, both those of old and those at present, at least in general; 
nor hath any as yet been so hardy as to deny regeneration to be the 
work of the Holy Spirit in us, unless Ave must except those deluded 
souls who deny both him and his work. Our sole inquiry, therefore, 
must be after the manner and nature of this work; for the nature 
of it depends on the manner of the working of the Spirit of God 
herein. This, I acknowledge, was variously contended about of old ; 
and the truth concerning it hath scarce escaped an open opposition 
in any age of the church. And at present this is the great ball of 
contention between the Jesuits and the Jansenists; the latter keep- 
ing close to the doctrine of the principal ancient writers of the church ; 
the former, under new notions, expressions, and distinctions, endea- 
vouring the re-enforcement of Pelagianism, whereunto some of the 
elder schoolmen led the way, of whom our Bradwardine so long ago 
complained. But never was it with so much impudence and igno- 
rance traduced and reviled as it is by some among ourselves; for a 
sort of men we have who, by stories of wandering Jews, rhetorical 
declamations, pert cavillings, and proud revilings of those who dissent 
from them, think to scorn and banish truth out of the world, though 
they never yet durst attempt to deal openly and plainly with any 
one argument that is pleaded in its defence and confiimation. 

The ancient writers of the church, who looked into these things 
with most diligence, and laboured in them with most success, as 
Austin, Hilary, Prosper, and Fulgentius, do represent the whole work 
of the Spirit of God towards the souls of men under certain heads or 



CHAP, V.j OF REGENERATION. SOI 

distinctions of grace; and herein were they followed by many of 
tlie more sober schoolmen, and others of late without number. Fre- 
quent mention we find in them of grace, as " preparing, preventing, 
working, co-working, and confirming." Under these heads do they 
handle the whole work of our regeneration or conversion unto God. 
And although there may be some alteration in method and ways of 
expression, — which may be varied as they are found to be of advantage 
imto them that are to be instructed, — yet, for the substance of the 
doctrine, they taught the same which hath been preached amongst us 
since the Reformation, which some have ignorantly traduced as novel. 
And the whole of it is nobly and elegantly exemplified by Austin in 
his Confessions; wherein he gives us the experience of the truth he 
had taught in his own soul. And I might follow their footsteps 
herein, and perhaps should for some reasons have chosen so to have 
done, but that there have been so many differences raised about the 
explication and application of these terms and distinctions, and the 
declaration of the nature of the acts and effects of the Spirit of grace 
intended in them, as that to carry the truth through the intricate 
perplexities which under these notions have been cast upon it, would 
be a longer work than I shall here engage into, and too much divert 
me from my principal intention. I shall, therefore, in general, refer 
the whole work of the Spirit of God with respect unto the regenera- 
tion of sinners unto two heads: — First, That which is preparatory 
for it; and, secondly, That which is effective of it. That which is 
preparatory for it is the conviction of sin ; this is the work of the 
Holy Spirit, John xvi. 8. And this also may be distinctly referred 
unto three heads: — 1. A discovery of the true nature of sin by the 
ministry of the law, Rom. vii. 7. 2. An application of that dis- 
covery made in the mind or understanding unto the conscience of 
the sinner. 3. The excitation of affections suitable unto that dis- 
covery and application. Acts ii. 37. But these things, so far as they 
belong unto our present design, have been before insisted on. Our 
principal inquiry at present is after the work itself, or the nature and 
manner of the working of the Spirit of God in and on the souls of 
men in their regeneration ; and this must be both negatively and 
positively declared: — 

First, The work of the Spirit of God in the regeneration of sinners, 
or the quickening of them who are dead in trespasses and sins, or in 
their first saving conversion to God, doth not consist in a moral sua- 
sion only. By suasion we intend such a persuasion as may or may 
not be effectual; so absolutely we call that only persuasion whereby 
a man is actually persuaded. Concerning^ this we must consider, — 
]. What it is that is intended by that expression, and wherein its 
efficacy doth consist; and, 2. Prove that the whole work of the 



302 THE ITATimE, CAtTSES, ANt> MEANS [BOOK III. 

Spirit of God in tlie conversion of sinners doth not consist therein. 
And I shall handle this matter under this notion, as that which is 
known unto those who are conversant in these things from the writ- 
ings of the ancient and modern divines; for it is to no purpose to 
endeavour the reducing of the extravagant, confused discourses of 
some present writers unto a certain and determinate stating of the 
things in difference among us. That which they seem to aim at and 
conclude may be reduced unto these heads: — (].) That God ad- 
ministers srrace unto all in the declaration of the doctrine of the law 
and gospel. (2.) That the reception of this doctrine, the belief and 
practice of it, is enforced by promises and threatenings. (3.) That 
the things revealed, taught, and commanded, are not only good in 
themselves, but so suited unto the reason and interest of mankind 
as that the mind cannot but be disposed and inclined to receive and 
obey them, unless overpowered by prejudices and a course of sin. 
(4.) That the consideration of the promises and threatenings of the 
gospel is sufficient to remove these prejudices and reform that course. 
(5.) That upon a compliance with the doctrine of the gospel and 
obedience thereunto, men are made partakers of the Spirit, with 
other privileges of the New Testament, and have a right unto all the 
promises of the present and future life. Now, this being a perfect 
system of Pelagianism, condemned in the ancient church as absolutely 
exclusive of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, will be fully removed 
out of our way in our present discourse, though the loose, confused 
expressions of some be not considered in particular ; for if the work 
of our regeneration do not consist in a moral suasion, — which, as 
we shall see, contains all that these men will allow to grace, — their 
whole fabric falls to the ground of its own accord : — 

] . As to the nature of this moral suasion, two things may be con- 
sidered: — (1.) The means, instrument, and matter of it, and this is 
the word of God ; the word of God, or the Scripture, in the doctrinal 
instructions, precepts, promises, and threatenings of it. This is that, 
and this is that alone, whereby we are commanded, pressed, per- 
suaded, to turn ourselves and live to God. And herein we comprise 
the whole, both the law and the gospel, with all the divine truths 
contained in them, as severally respecting the especial ends where- 
unto they are designed ; for although they are distinctly and pecu- 
liarly suited to produce distinct effects on the minds of men, yet they 
all jointly tend unto the general end of guiding men how to live 
unto God, and to obtain the enjoyment of him. As for those docu- 
ments and instructions which men have concerning the will of God, 
and the obedience which he requires of them from the light ot na- 
ture, with the works of creation and providence, I shall not here 
take them into consideration : for either they axe solitary, or without 



CHAP, v.] OF eegenehation. SOS 

any superaddition of instructive light by revelation, and then I utterly 
deny them to be a sufficient outward means of the conversion of any 
one soul ; or they may be considered as improved by the written 
word as dispensed unto men, and so they are comprised under it, 
and need not to be considered apart. We will, therefore, suppose that 
those unto whom the word is declared have antecedaneously there- 
unto all the help which the light of nature will afford. 

(2.) The principal way of the application of this means to pro- 
duce its effect on the souls of men is the ministry of the church. 
God hath ajDpointed the ministry for the application of the word 
unto the minds and consciences of men for their instruction and 
conversion. And concerning this we may observe two things: — [1.] 
That the word of God, thus dispensed by the ministry of the church, 
is the only ordinary outward means which the Holy Ghost maketh 
use of in the regeneration of the adult unto whom it is preached. 
[2.] That it is every way sufficient in its own kind, — that is, as an 
outward means; for the revelation which is made of God and his 
mind thereby is sufficient to teach men all that is needful for them to 
believe and do that they may be converted unto God, and yield him 
the obedience that he requires. Hence two things do ensue: — 

\st That the use of those means unto men in the state of sin, if 
they are not complied withal, is sufficient, on the grounds before laid 
down, to leave them by whom they are rejected inexcusable: so Isa, 
V. 3-5; Prov. xxix. 1; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-16. 

2d That the effect of regeneration or conversion unto God is as- 
signed unto the preaching of the word, because of its efficacy there- 
unto in its own kind and way, as the outward means thereof, 1 Cor. 
iv. 15; James i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23. 

2. We may consider what is the nature and wherein the effi- 
cacy of this moral work doth consist. To which purpose we may 
observe, — 

(1.) That in the use of this means for the conversion of men, there 
is, preparatory unto that wherein this moral persuasion doth con- 
sist, an insti'uction of the mind in the knowledge of the will of God 
and its duty towards him. The first regard unto men in the dispen- 
sation of the word unto them is their darkness and ignorance, whereby 
they are alienated from the life of God. This, therefore, is the first 
end of divine revelation, — namely, to make known the counsel and 
will of God unto us: see Matt. iv. 15, 16; Luke iv. 18, 19; Acts 
xxvi. 16-18, XX. 20, 21, 26, 27. By the preaching of the law and 
the gospel, men are instructed in the whole counsel of God and what 
he requires of them ; and in their apprehension hereof doth the illu- 
mination of their minds consist, whereof we must treat distinctly after- 
ward. Without a supposition of this illumination there is no use of 



804 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK III. 

the persuasive power of the word ; for it consists in affecting the mind 
■with its concernment in the things that it knows, or wherein it is 
instructed. Wherefore we suppose in this case that a man is taught 
by the word both the necessity of regeneration, and what is required 
of himself tliereunto. 

(2.) On this supposition, that a man is instructed in the knowledge 
of the will of God, as revealed in the law and the gospel, there is 
accompanying the word of God, in the dispensation of it, a powerful 
pei^suasive efficacy unto a compliance with it and observance of it. 
For instance, suppose a man to be convinced by the word of God of 
the nature of sin ; of his own sinful condition, of his danger from 
tlience with respect unto the sin of nature, on which account he is a 
child of wrath ; and of his actual sin, which farther renders him ob- 
noxious unto the curse of the law and the indignation of God; of his 
duty hereon to turn unto God, and the way whereby he may so do, — 
there are in the precepts, exhortations, expostulations, promises, and 
threatenings of the word, especially as dispensed in the ministry of 
the church, powerful motives to affect, and arguments to prevail 
with, the mind and will of such a man to endeavour his own regene- 
ration or conversion unto God, rational and cogent above all that can 
be objected unto the contrary. On some it is acknowledged that 
these things have no effect; they are not moved by them, they care 
not for them, they do despise them, and live and die in rebellion 
against the light of them, " having their eyes blinded by the god of 
this world." • But this is no argument that they are not powerful in 
tJtemselves, although, indeed, it is that they are not so towards us of 
themselves, but only as the Holy Spirit is pleased to act them to- 
wards us. But in these motives, reasons, and arguments, whereby men 
are, in and from the word and the ministry of it, urged and pressed 
unto conversion to God, doth this moral persuasion whereof we speak 
consist. And the efficacy of it unto the end proposed ariseth from 
the things ensuing, which are all resolved into God himself : — 

[1.] From an evidence of the t7'uth of the things from whence these 
motives and arguments were taken. The foundation of all the effi- 
cacy of the dispensation of the gospel lies in an evidence that the 
tilings proposed in it are not " cunningly- devised fables," 2 Pet. i. 16. 
V^'here this is not admitted, where it is not firmly assented unto, there 
can be no persuasive efficacy in it; but where there is, namely, a 
prevalent persuasion of the truth of the things proposed, there the 
mind is under a disposition unto the things whereunto it is persuaded. 
And hereon the whole efficacy of the word in and upon the souls of 
men is resolved into the truth and veracity of God ; for the things 
contained in the Scripture are not proposed unto us merely as true, 
but as divine truths, as immediate revelations from God, which re- 

/ 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION. S05 

quire not only a rational but a sacred religious respect imto tliem. 
They are things that the " mouth of the Lord hath spoken." 

[2.] There is a proposal unto the wills and affections of men in 
the things so assented unto, on the one hand as good, amiable, and 
excellent, wherein the chiefest good, happiness, and utmost end of 
our natures are comprised, to be pursued and attained ; and on the 
other of things evil and terrible, the utmost evil that our nature is 
obnoxious unto, to be avoided: for this is urged on them, that to 
comply with the will of God in the proposals of the gospel, to con- 
form thereunto, to do what he requires, to turn from sin unto him, 
is good unto men, best for them, — assuredly attended with present 
satisfaction and future glory. And therein is also proposed the m©«t 
noble object for our affections, even God himself, as a friend, as re- 
conciled unto us in Christ ; and that in a way suited unto his holi- 
ness, righteousness, wisdom, and goodness, which we have nothing to 
oppose unto nor to lay in the balance against. The way, also, of the 
reconciliation of sinners unto God by Jesus Christ is set out as that 
which hath such an impress of divine wisdom and goodness upon it, 
as that it can be refused by none but out of a direct enmity against 
God himself Unto the enforcing of these things on the minds of 
men, the Scripture abounds with reasons, motives, and arguments; 
the rendering whereof effectual is the principal end of the ministry. 
On the other hand, it is declared and evidenced that sin is the great 
debasement of our natures, — the ruin of our souls, the only evil in the 
world, in its guilt and punishment ; and that a continuance in a state 
of it, with a rejection of the invitation of the gospel unto conversion 
to God, is a thing foolish, unworthy of a rational creature, and that 
which will be everlastingly pernicious. Whereas, therefore, in the 
judgment of every rational creature, spiritual things are to be pre- 
ferred before natural, eternal things before temporal, and these 
things are thus disposed of in infinite goodness, love, and wisdom, 
they must needs be apt to affect the wills and take the affections of 
men. And herein the efficacy of the word on the minds and con- 
sciences of men is resolved into the authority of God. These pre- 
cepts, these promises, these threatenings are his, who hath right to 
give them and power to execute them. And with his authority, his 
glorious greatness and his infinite power come under consideration; 
so also doth his goodness and love in an especial manner, with many 
other things, even all the known properties of his holy nature ; — all 
which concur in giving weight, power, and efficacy unto these mo- 
tives and arguments. 

(3.) Great power and efficacy is added hereunto from the manage- 
ment of these motives in the preaching of the word. Herein with 
some the rhetorical faculty of them by whom it is dispensed is of 

VOL, III. 20 



506 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK IIL 

great consideration ; for hereby are they able to prevail very much 
on the minds of men. Being acquainted with the inclinations and 
dispositions of all sorts of persons, the nature of their affections and 
prejudices, Avith the topics or kinds and heads of arguments meet to 
affect them and prevail with them, as also the ways of insinuating 
persuasive motives into their minds, they express the whole in words 
elegant, proper, expressive, and suited to allure, draw, and engage 
them unto the ways and duties proposed unto them.^ Herein do 
some place the principal use and efficacy of the ministry in th^ dis- 
pensation of the word; with me it is of no consideration, fur our 
apostle rejects it utterly from any place in his ministry: 1 Cor. ii. 4. 
" My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's 
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Some 
of late have put in faint and weak exceptions unto the latter clause, 
as though not an evidence of the powerful presence of the Spirit of 
God in the dispensation of the gospel were intended therein, but the 
power of working miracles, contrary to the whole scope of the place 
and consent of the best expositors; but that, by the first clause, the 
persuasive art of human oratory is excluded from use and efficacy 
in the preaching of the gospel, none as yet hath had the impudence 
to deny. But let this also be esteemed to be as useful and effica- 
cious in this work, as to the end of preaching in the conversion of 
the souls of men, as any can imagine, it shall be granted; only I 
shall take leave to resolve the efficacy of preaching into two other 
causes : — 

[1.] The institution of God. He hath appointed the preaching 
of the word to be the means, the only outward ordinary means, for 
the conversion of the souls of men, 1 Cor. i. 1 7-20 ; Mark xvi. 1 5, 1 6 ; 
E.om. i. 16. And the power or efficacy of any thing that is used 
imto an end in spiritual matters depends solely on its divine ap- 
pointment unto that end. 

[2.] The especial gifts that the Spirit of God doth furnish the 
preachers of the gospel withal, to enable them unto an effectual dis- 
charge of their work, Eph. iv. 11-13, whereof we shall treat after- 
ward. All the power, therefore, that these things are accompanied 
withal is resolved into the sovereignty of God ; for he hath chosen 
this way of preaching^ for this end, and he bestows these gifts on 
whom he pleaseth. From these things it is that the persuasive mo- 
tives which the word abounds withal unto conversion, or turning to 
God from sin, have that peculiar efficacy on the minds of men which 
is proper unto them. 

^ T< TO ofi?..o;, >u.» iltruvh'Tot ftii o Xiyas, xaxocvyhres Si a •roo'jros ; il fAv yap <ri/pi<rr»u 
eiiafxaXiinv n h IxxXmrix, liyXurrla; rtv i Kaipig, 'ETii^ti S» TpoTuv kyiit xai xafirofo^'ia 
iri Vfoxtifiivov, xoti Tpoirioxix evfavay to ^fotioxufjiiyoi, fin ^Kvxrn Z^riTlirlu, d>^^' o t^otoj.— 

Athauas. de Senicnte. / 



CHAP, v.] OF HEGENERATION. SO 7 

(4.) We do not therefore, in this ease, suppose that the motives of 
the word are left unto a mere natural operation, with respect unto 
the ability of them by whom it is dispensed, but, moreover, that it is 
blessed of God, and accompanied with the power of the Holy S'plrit, 
for the producing of its effect and end upon the souls of men. Only, 
the operation of the Holy Ghost on the minds and wills of men in 
and by these means is supposed to extend no farther but finto 
motives, arguments, reasons, and considerations, proposed unto the 
mind, so to influence the will and the affections. Hence his ope- 
ration is herein moral, and so metaphorical, not real, proper, and 
physical. 

Now, concerning this Avhole work I affirm these two things : — 

1. That the Holy Spirit doth make use of it in the regeneration 
or conversion of all that are adidt, and that either immediately in 
and by the preaching of it, or by some other application of light and 
truth unto the mind derived from the word ; for by the reasons, mo- 
tives, and persuasive arguments' which the word affords are our minds 
affected, and our souls wrought upon in our conversion unto God, 
whence it becomes our reasonable obedience. And there are none 
ordinarily converted, but they are able to give some account by what 
considerations they were prevailed on thereunto. But, — 

2. We say that the whole work, or the tvhole of the luork of the 
Holy Ghost in our conversion, doth not consist herein ; but there is 
a real physical work, whereby he infuseth a gracious principle of 
spiritual life into all that are effectually converted and really rege- 
nerated, and without which there is no deliverance from the state of 
sin and death which we have described ; which, among others, may 
be proved by the ensuing arguments. 

The principal arguments in this case will ensue in our proofs from 
the Scriptures that there is a real physical work of the Spirit on the 
souls of men in their regeneration. That all he doth consisteth not 
in this moral suasion, the ensuing reasons do sufficiently evince : — 

First, If the Holy Spirit work no otherwise on men, in their 
regeneration or conversion, but by proposing unto them and urging 
upon them reasons, arguments, and motives to that purpose,^ then 
I 

J "Non est igitiir gratia Dei in natura liberi arbitrii, et in lege atque doctrina 
sicut Pelagius desipit, sed ad singulos actus datur illius ''voluntate de quo scriptum 
est ; pluviam voluniariavi segregahis Deus hcereditati ttice. Quia et liberum arbitrium 
ad diligendum Deum primi peccati granditate perdidimus; et lex Dei atque doctrina 
quamvis sancta et justa et bona, tamen occidit, si non vivificet Spiritus, per quern fit 
non ut audiendo sed ut obediendo, neque ut lectione sed ut dilectione teneatur. Qua- 
propter ut in Deum credamus et pie vivamus, non volentis neque currentis sed miso- 
reniis est Dei; non quia velle non deV)emus et currere, sed quia ipse in nobis et velle 
operatur et currere. Non ergo gratiam dicamus esse doctrinam, sed agnoscamus gra- 
tiam quae facit prodesse doctrinam ; quae gratia si desit, videmus etiam obesse doctri- 
nam." — August. Epist. ccxvii. ad Vitalem. 



303 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK IIL 

after his whole work, and notwithstanding, it, the will of man re- 
mains absolutely indifferent whether it will admit of them or no, or 
whether it will convert itself unto God upon them or no ; for the 
whole of this work consists in proposing objects unto the will, with 
respect whereunto it is left undetermined whether it will choose and 
close with them or no. And, indeed, this is that which some plead 
for: for they say that " in all men, at least all unto whom the gospel 
is preached, there is that grace present or with them that they are 
able to comply with the word if they please, and so believe, repent, 
or do any act of obedience unto God according to his will; and if 
they will, they can refuse to make use of this assistance, aid, power, 
or grace, and so continue in their sins/' What this grace is, or whence 
men have this power and ability, by some is not declared. Neither 
is it much to be doubted but that many do imagine that it is purely 
natural ; only they will allow it to be called grace, because it is from 
God who made us. Others acknowledge it to be the work or effect 
of grace internal, wherein part of the difference lay between the 
Pelagians and semi-Pelagians of old. But they all agree that it is 
absolutely in the power of the will of man to make use of it or not, 
— that is, of the whole effect on them, or product in them, of this 
grace communicated in the way described ; for notwithstanding any 
thing wrought in us or upon us thereby, the will is still left various, 
flexible, and undetermined. It is true, that notwithstanding the 
grace thus administered, the will hath power to refuse it and to 
abide in sin; but that there is no more grace wrought in us birt 
what may be so refused, or that the will can make use of that grace 
for conversion which it can refuse, is false. 

For, — 1. This ascribes the whole glory of our regeneration and 
conversion unto ourselves, and not to the grace of God; for that 
act of our wills, on this supposition, whereby we convert unto God, 
is merely an act of our own, and not of the grace of God. This is 
evident; for if the act itself were of grace, then would it not be in 
the power of the will to hinder it. 2. This would leave it absolutely 
uncertain, notwithstanding the purpose of God and the purchase of 
Christ, whether ever any one in the world should be converted unto 
God or no ; for when the whole work of grace is over, it is absolutely 
in the power of the will of man whether it shall be effectual or no, 
and so absolutely uncertain: which is contrary to the covenant, pro- 
mise, and oath of God unto and with Jesus Christ. 8. It is contrary 
to express testimonies of Scripture innumerable, wherein actual con- 
version unto God is ascribed unto his grace, as the immediate effect 
thereof. This will farther appear afterward. " God worketh in us both 
to will and to do," Phil. ii. 13. The act, therefore, itself of wi/ling 
in our conversion is of God's operation; and although we will' our- 

/ 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION. 809 

selves, yet it is he wlio causeth us to will, by working in us to will 
and to do. And if the act of our will, in believing and obedience, 
in our conversion to God, be not the effect of his grace in us, he 
doth not " work in us both to will and to do of his good plea- 
sure." 

Secondly, This moral persuasion, however advanced or improved, 
and supposed to be effectual, yet confers no new real siqjernahiral 
strength unto the soul; for whereas it worketh, yea, the Spirit or 
grace of -God therein and thereby, by. reasons, motives, arguments, 
and objective considerations, and no otherwise, it is able only to ex- 
cite and draw out the strength which we have, delivering the mind 
and affections from prejudices and other moral impediments. Real 
aid, and internal spiritual strength, neither are nor can be conferred 
thereby/ And he who will acknowledge that there is any such in- 
ternal spiritual strength communicated unto us must also acknow- 
ledge that there is another work of the Spirit of God in us and upon 
us than can be effected by these persuasions. But thus it is in this 
case, as some suppose : " The mind of man is affected with much 
ignorance, and usually under the power of many prejudices, which^ 
by the corrupt course of things in the world, possess it from its first 
actings in the state of infancy. The will and the affections likewise 
are vitiated with depraved habits, which by the same means are con- 
tracted. But when the gospel is proposed and preached unto them, 
the things contained in it, the duties it requires, the promises it gives, 
are so rational, or so suited unto the principles of our reason, and the 
subject-matter of them is so good, desirable, and beautiful, unto an 
intellectual appetite, that, being well conveyed unto the mind, they 
are able to discard all the prejudices and disadvantages of a corrupt 
course under which it hath suffered, and prevail with the soul to de- 
sist from sin, — that is, a course of sinning, — and to become a new man 
in all virtuous conversation." And that this is in the liberty and 
power of the will is " irrefragably proved" by that sophism of Biel^ 
out of Scotus and Occam, which contains the substance of what they 
plead in this cause. Yea, " thus to do is so suitable unto the rational 
principles of a well-disposed mind, that to do otherwise is the greatest 
folly and madness in the world." " Especially will this work of con- 
version be unquestionably wrought if the application of these means 

' " Sed quid illud est quo corporum sensus pulsantur, in agro cordis eui impcn- 
ditur ista cultura, nee radicem potest figcre nee gerineu emitterc, nisi i!le suinmus et 
verus Agricola potentia sui operis adhibuerit, et ad vitaleni profcctum ea quae sunt 
pkntata perduxerit?" — Epist. ad Demetriadem. 

' " Omni dietamini rcctas rationis potest voluntas se conformare ; sed diligere Deum 
sup'ir omnia est dictamen recta rationis; ratio enim dictat inter omnia diligcnda esse 
aliq'iid summe diligendum. Item homo errans potest diligere creaturam super omnia, 
ergoetiam Deum; mirum enim valde esset, quod voluntas se conformare possit dicta- 
mini erroneo et non recto." — Biel, ii. Sent, distinc. 27, q. art. 4. 



310 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK III. 

of it be so disposed, in the providence of God, as that they may be 
seasonable with respect unto the frame and condition of the mind 
whereunto they are apphed. And as sundry things are necessary to 
render the means of grace tlius seasonable and congruous unto the 
present frame, temper, and disposition of the mind, so in such a con- 
gruity much of its efficacy doth consist. And this," as it is said, "is the 
work of tlie Holy Ghost, and an effect of the grace of God ; for if the 
Spirit of God did not by the word prevent, excite, stir up, and pro- 
voke the minds of men, did he not help and assist them, when en- 
deavouring to turn to God, in the removal of prejudices and all sorts 
of moral impediments, men would continue and abide, as it were, 
dead in trespasses and sins, at least their endeavours after deliver- 
ance would be weak and fruitless." 

This is all the grace, all the work of the Spirit of God, in our re- 
generation and conversion, which some will acknowledge, so far as I 
can learn from their writings and discourses,^ But that there is more 
required thereunto I have before declared ; as also, it hath been mani- 
fested what is the true and proper use and efficacy of these means in 
this work. But to place the whole of it herein is that which Pelagius 
contended for of old; yea, he granted a greater use and efficacy of 
grace than I can find to be allowed in the present confused discourses 
of some on this subject.^ Wherefore it is somewhat preposterous to 
endeavour an imposition of such rotten errors upon the minds of 
men, and that by crude assertions, without any pretence of proof, as 
is the way of many. And that the sole foundation of all their 

1 " Hoc piarum mentium est, ut nihil sibi tribuant, sed totmn gratice Dei ; unde 
quantumcunque aliquis det gratise Dei, etiamsi subtrahat potestati naturae aut liberi 
arbitrii a pietate non recedit ; cum vero aliquid gratise Dei sulitraliitur et iiaturaj 
tribuitur quod gratise est, ibi potest periculum intervenire." — Cassauder. Lib. Consult. 
art. Ixviii. 

^ " Pelagiana hseresis quo dogmata catholicam fidem destruere adorta sit, et quibus 
impietatum venenis viscera ecclesioe atque ipsa vitalia corporis Christi voluerit oecupare, 
Dotiora sunt quam ut opere narrationis indigeant. Ex his tamen una est blasphemia, 
nequissimum et subtilissimum germen aliarum, qua dicunt gratiam Dei secundum 
MEuiTA HOMiNUM DAEi. Cum enim primum tantam naturae humanae vellent astniere 
sanitateni, ut per solum libcrum arbitrium posset assequi Dei regnum; eo quod tam 
plene ipso conditionis sure prjesidio juvaretur; ut habens naturaliter rationalem intel- 
Icctum facile bonum cligcret malumque vitaret, et ubi in utraque parte libera essent 
opera -voluntatis, non facultatcm his qui mali sunt ad bonum dccsse, sed studium. Cum 
ergo, ut dixi, totani justitiam liominis ex naturali vellent rectitudine ac possibilltate 
subsistere, atque lianc definitionem doctrina sana respueret, damnatum a catholicis scnJ 
sum et multis postca hrereticce fraudis varietatibus colcratum, hoc apud se ingenii 
servaverunt, ut ad incipiendum, et ad proficiendum, et ad perseverandura in bono ne- 
cessariam homini Dei gratiam profitcrentur. Sed in hac professione quo dole vasa im 
molircntur irropere, ipsa Dei gratia vasis miscricordise revelavit. Intellectum kt 
enim, saluberrimcque perspectum hoc tantum cos de gratia confiteri, quod qutec/am 
libero Arbitrio sit magistra, scque per cohortationes, per legem, per doctrinara, 'per 
creaturai-um contemplationem, per miracula, pcrque terrores extrinsecus judiciq/ejus 
ostcntet; quo unusquisque secundum voluntatis suae motum, si qmcsierit invenit/t; a 
petierit, recipiat; si pulsaverit, introeat." — Prosp. ad Eufin. de Lib. Arbit. / 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATIO:!^. SU 

harangues, — namely, the suitableness of gospel principles and promises 
unto our wisdom and reason, antecedently unto any saving work of 
the Spirit on our minds, — is directly contradictory to the doctrine of 
our apostle, shall afterward be declared. But, it may be, it will be 
said that it is not so much what is Pelagian and' what is not, as 
what is truth and what is not, that is to be inquired after; and it is 
granted that this is, and ought to be, our first and principal inquiry ; 
but it is not unuseful to know in whose steps they tread who at this 
day oppose the doctrine of the effectual grace of Christ, and what 
judgment the ancient church made of their principles and opinions. 

It is pretended yet farther, that " grace in the dispensation of the 
word doth work ideally and efficiently, especially by illumination, 
internal excitations of the mind and affections; and if thereon the 
will do put forth its act, and thereby determine itself in the choice 
of that which is good, in believing and repenting, then the grace 
thus administered concurs with it, helps and aids it in the perfecting 
of its act; so that the whole work is of grace." So pleaded the semi- 
Pelagians, and so do others continue to do. But all this while the 
way whereby grace, or the Spirit of God, worketh this illumination, 
excites the affections, and aids the will, is by moral persuasion only, 
no real strength being communicated or infused but what the will 
is at perfect liberty to make use of or to refuse at pleasure. Now 
this, in effect, is no less than to overthrow the whole grace of Jesus 
Christ, and to render it useless; for it ascribes unto man the honour 
of his conversion, his will being the principal cause of it. It makes 
a man to beget himself anew, or to be born again of himself, — to 
make himself differ from others by that which he hath not in an 
especial manner received. It takes away the analog)' that there is 
between the forming of the natural body of Christ in the womb, 
and the Jorming of his mystical body in regeneration. It makes 
the act of living unto God by faith and obedience to be a mere 
natural act, no fruit of the mediation or purchase of Christ; and 
allows the Spirit of God no more power or efficacy in or towards 
our regeneration than is in a minister who preacheth the word, or 
in an orator who eloquently and pathetically persuades to virtue and 
dehorts from vice. And all these consequences, it may be, will be 
granted by some amongst us, and allowed to be true; to that pass 
are things come in the world, tli rough the confident pride and ignorance 
of men. But not only it may be, but plainly and directly, the whole 
gospel and grace of Christ are renounced where they are admitted. 

Thirdly, This is not all that we pray for^ either for ourselves or 

' " Inaniter et perfunctorie' potius quam veraciter pro eis, ut doctrinse cui advcrsantur 
crclendo coiisentiant, Deo fundimus pieces, si ad ejus non pertinct gratiani convertere 
ad idem suam, ipsi fidei contrarias hominum voluntatcs." — August. Epist. ccxvii. 



312 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK IH. 

others, wlien we beg effectual grace for them or ourselves. There 
was no argument that the ancients more pressed the Pelagians 
withal than that the grace which they acknowledged did not 
answer the prayers of the church, or what we are taught in the 
Scripture to pray for. We are to pray only for what God hath pro- 
mised, and for the communication of it unto us in that way whereby 
he will work it and effect it. Now, he is at a great indifferency in 
this matter who only prays that God would persuade him or others 
to believe and to obey, to be converted or to convert himself. The 
church of God hath always prayed that God would work these 
things in us; and those who have a real concernment in them do 
pray continually that God would effectually work them in their 
hearts. They pray that he would convert them ; that he would create 
a clean heart and renew a right spirit in them; that he would give 
them faith for Christ's sake, and increase it in them ; and that in all 
these things he would work in them by the exceeding greatness of 
his power both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. 
And there is not a Pelagian in the world who ever once prayed for 
grace, or gracious assistance against sin and temptation, with a 
sense of his want of it, but that his prayers contradicted his profes- 
sion. To think that by all these petitions, with others innumerable 
dictated unto us in the Scripture, and which a spiritual sense of 
our wants will engage into,_ we desire nothing but only that God 
would persuade, excite, and stir us up to put forth a power and 
ability of our own in the performance of what we desire, is contrary 
unto all Christian experience. Yea, for a man to lie praying with 
importunity, earnestness, and fervency, for that which is in his own 
power, and can never be effected but by his own power, is fond and 
ridiculous ; and they do but mock God who pray unto him to do 
that for them which they can do for themselves, and which God 
cannot do for them but only when and as they do it themselves. 
Suppose a man to have a power in himself to believe and repent ; 
suppose these to be such acts of his will as God doth not, indeed can- 
not, by his grace work in him, but only persuade him thereunto, and 
show liim sufficient reason why he should so do, — to what purpose 
should this man, or with what congruity could he, pray that God 
would give him faith and repentance? This some of late, as it seems, 
wisely observing, do begin to scoff at and reproach the prayers of / 
Christians; for whereas, in all their supplications for grace, they lay/ 
the foundation of them in an humble acknowledgment of their owJ 
vileness and impotency unto any thing that is spiritually good, ye^ 
and a natural aversation from it, and a sense of the power and word- 
ing of the remainder of indwelling sin in them, hereby exciting 
themselves unto that earnestness and importunity in their requests 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION. 313 

for grace which their condition makes necessary^ (which hath been 
the constant practice of Christians since there was one in the world), 
this is by them derided and exposed to contempt. In the room, 
therefore, of such despised prayers, I shall supply them with an an- 
cient form that is better suited unto their principles.^ The preface 
unto it is, "Ille ad Deum digne elevat manus, ille orationem bona 
conscientia effundit qui potest dicere." The prayer followeth: — 
"Tu nosti Domine quam sanctse et purae et mundse sint ab omni 
malitia, et iniquitate, et rapina quas ad te extendo manus: quem- 
admodum justa et munda labia et ab omni mendacio libera quibus 
offero tibi deprecation es, ut mihi miserearis." This prayer Pelagius 
taught a widow to make, as it was objected unto him in the Diospo- 
litan synod, that is at Lydda in Palestine, cap. vi. ; only he taught 
her not to say that she had no deceit in her heart, as one among us 
doth wisely and humbly vaunt that he knoweth of none in his, so 
every way perfect is the man ! Only to balance this of Pelagius, I 
shall give these men another prayer, but in the margin,^ not declar- 
ing whose it is, lest they should censure him to the gallows. Where- 
as, therefore, it seems to be the doctrine of some that we have no grace 
from Christ but only that of the gospel teaching us our duty, and pro- 
posing a reward, I know not what they have to pray for, unless it be 
riches, wealth, and preferments, with those things that depend thereon. 
Fourthly, This kind of the operation of grace, where it is solitary, 
— that is, where it is asserted exclusively to an internal physical 
work of the Holy Spirit, — is not suited to effect and produce the work 
of regeneration or conversion unto God in persons who are really in 
that state of nature which we have before described. The most 
effectual persuasions cannot prevail with such men to convert them- 
selves, any more than arguments can prevail with a blind man to see, 
or with a dead man to rise from the grave, or with a lame man to 
walk steadily. Wherefore, the whole description before given from 
the Scripture of the state of lapsed nature must be disproved and 

' " Prima divini muneris gratia est, ut erudiat nos ad nostrge humilitatis confessio- 
nem, et agnoscere faciat, quod, si quid boni agimus, per ilium possumus, sine quo nihil 
possumus."' — Prosp. Sentent. cv. ex August. 

* " Quicunque tribuit sibi bonum quod facit etiamsi "videtur nihil mali manibus 
operari, jam cordis innocentiam perdidit in quo se largitori bonoriun prsetulit." — Hieron. 
in cap. xvi. Proverb. 

3 " bone Domine Jesu, etsi ego admisi unde me damnare potes, tu non amisisti 
imde salvare soles. — Verum est conscientia mea meretur damnationem, et pcenitentia 
mea non sufiScit ad satisfactionem. Sed certum est quod misericordia tua superat 
omnem ofFensionem. Farce ergo mihi, Domine, qui es salus vera et non vis mortem 
peccatoris : miserere, Domine, peccatrici animse meoe, solve vincula ejus, sana vulnera 
ejut. Ecce misericors Deus coram te exhibeo animam mcam virtutum muneribus de- 
solaiam, catenis vitiorum ligatam, pondere peccatorum gravatam, delictomm sordibus 
foeda'am, discissam vulncribus dajmonum, putidam et i'cetidam ulceribus criminum : 
his e. aliis gravioribus nialis quae tu melius vides quam ego obstrictam, oppressam, 
circimdatam, obvolutam, bonorum omnium relevamine destitutam," etc. 



314 THE NATUKE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [bOOK IIL 

removed out of the way before this grace can be thought to be suf- 
ficient for the regeneration and conversion of men in that estate. But 
some proceed on other principles. "Men/' they say, "have by nature 
certain notions and principles concerning God and the obedience 
due unto him, which are demonstrable by the light of reason; and 
certain abilities of mind to make use of them unto their proper end." 
But they grant, at least some of them do,^ that " however these prin- 
ciples may be improved and acted by those abilities, yet they are 
not sufficient, or will not eventually be effectual, to bring men unto 
the life of God, or to enable them so to believe in him, love him, 
and obey him, as that they may come at length unto the enjoyment 
of him ; at least, they will not do this safely and easily, but through 
much danger and confusion : wherefore God, out of his goodness and 
love to mankind, hath made a farther revelation of himself by Jesus 
Christ in the gospel, with the especial way whereby his anger against 
sin is averted, and peace made for sinners; which men had before 
only a confused apprehension and hope about. Now, the things 
received, proposed, and prescribed in the gospel, are so good, so ra- 
tional, so every way suited unto the principles of our being, the nature 
of our intellectual constitutions, or the* reason of men, and those for- 
tified with such rational and powerful motives, in the promises and 
threatenings of it, representing unto us on the one hand the chiefest 
good which our nature is capable of, and on the other the highest 
evil to be avoided that we are obnoxious unto, that they can be re- 
fused or rejected by none but out of a brutish love of sin, or the 
efficacy of depraved habits, contracted by a vicious course of living. 
And herein consists the grace of God towards men, especially as the 
Holy Ghost is pleased to make use of these things in the dispensa- 
tion of the gospel by the ministry of the church ; for when the rea- 
son of men is by these means excited so far as to cast ofi prejudices, 
and enabled thereby to make a right judgment of what is proposed 
unto it, it prevails with them to convert to God, to change their 
lives, and yield obedience according to the rule of the gospel, that 
they may be saved." 

* " Gratia qua Christi populus sumus hoc cohilietur 
Limite vobiscum, et formam banc ascribitis illi, 
Ut cunctos vocet ilia quidera invitetque; ncque uUum 
Proeteriens, studeat communem adferre salutem 
Omnibus, et totum peccato absolvere uiundum. 
Sed proprio quemque Arbitrio parere vocanti, 
Judicioque suo, mota se extendere mente 
Ad lucem oblatam, qua3 so non substraliat ulli; 
Sed cupidos recti juvet, illustretque volentes. 
Ilinc adjutoris Domini bonitate magistra 
Cresccrc virtutum studia, ut quid quisque petendum 
Mandatis didicit, jugi sectetur amore." 

Prosp. de Ingrat. cap. x. 251 -5o2. 



CHAP, v.] OF REGEXERATIOX. 815 

And no doubt t-hls were a notable system of Christian doctrine, 
especially as it is by some rhetorically blended or theatrically repre- 
sented in feigned stories and apologues, were it not defective in one 
or two things : for, first, it is exclusive of a supposition of the fall of 
man, at least as unto the depravation of our nature which ensued 
thereon, and, secondly, of all real effective grace dispensed by Jesus 
Christ;^ which render it a fantastic dream, alien from the design 
and doctrine of the gospel. But it is a fond thing to discourse with 
men about either regeneration or conversion unto God by whom 
these things are denied. 

Such a work of the Holy Spirit we must, therefore, inquire after 
as whereby the mind is effectually renewed, the heart changed, the 
affections sanctified, all actually and effectually, or no deliverance 
will be wrought, obtained, or ensue, out of the estate described; for 
notwithstanding the utmost improvement of our minds and reasons 
that can be imagined, and the most eminent proposal of the truths 
of the gospel, accompanied with the most powerful enforcements of 
duty and obedience that the nature of the things themselves will 
afford, yet the mind of man in the state of nature, without a super- 
natural elevation by grace, is not able so to apprehend them as that 
its apprehension should be spiritual, saving, or proper unto the things 
apprehended. And notwithstanding the perception which the mind 
may attain unto in the truth of gospel proposals, and the convic- 
tion it may have of the necessity of obedience, yet is not the will 
able to apply itself unto any spiritual act thereof, without an ability 
wrought immediately in it by the power of the Spirit of God ; or 
rather, unless the Spirit of God by his grace do effect the act of will- 
ing in it. Wherefore, not to multiply arguments, we conclude that 
the most effectual use of outward means alone is not all the grace 
that is necessary unto, nor all that is actually put forth in, the rege- 
neration of the souls of men. 

Having thus evidenced wherein the work of the Holy Spirit in 
the regeneration of the souls of men doth not consist, — namely, in 
a supposed congruous persuasion of their minds, where it is alone, — 

Secondly, I shall proceed to show wherein it doth consist, and 
what is the true nature of it. And to this purpose I say, — 

1. Whatever efficacy that moral operation which accompanies, or 

* " Ploremus coram Domino qui fecit nos et homines et salvos. Nam si ille nos fecit 
homines, nos autem ipsi nos fecimus salvos, aliquid illo melius fecimus; melior est 
eiim salvus homo quam quilibet homo. Si ergo te Deus fecit hominera, et tu te fe- 
cisti bonum hominem, quod tu fecisti melius est." — August, de Verb. Apost. Serm. x. 

' Natura humana, etiamsi in ilia integritate in qua est condita, permanet, nullo 
moco seipsam, creatore sua non adjuvante, servaret. Unde cum sine Dei gratia sa- 
luten non posset custodire quam accepit, quomodo sine Dei gratia potest recuperare 
quan perdidit ?" — Prosp. Sentent. 308. 



316 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK III. 

is the effect of, the preaching of the word, as blessed and used by the 
Holy Spirit, is of, or may be supposed to be of, or is possible that it 
should be of, in and towards them that are unregenei'ate, we do 
willingly ascribe unto it. We grant that in the work of regeneration, 
the Holy Spirit, towards those that are adult, doth make use of the 
word, both the law and the gospel, and the ministry of the church 
in the dispensation of it, as the ordinary means thereof; yea, this is 
ordinarily the whole external means that is made use of in this work, 
and an efficacy proper unto it it is accompanied withal Whereas, 
therefore, some contend that there is no more needful to the con- 
version of sinners but the preaching of the word unto them who are 
congruously disposed to receive it, and that the whole of the grace 
of God consists in the effectual application of it unto the minds and 
affections of men, whereby they are enabled to comply with it, and 
turn unto God by faith and repentance, they do not ascribe a 
greater power unto the word than we do, by whom this administra- 
tion of it is denied to be the total cause of conversion ; for we assign 
the same power to the word as they do, and more also, only we 
affirm that there is an effect to be wrought in this work which all 
this power, if alone, is insufficient for. But in its own kind it is 
sufficient and effectual, so far as that the effect of regeneration or 
conversion unto God is ascribed thereunto. This we have declared 
before. 

2. There is not only a moral but a phi/sical immediate operation 
of the Spirit, by his power and grace, or his powerful grace, upon the 
minds or souls of men in their regeneration.-^ This is that which we 
must cleave to, or all the glory of God's grace is lost, and the grace 
administered by Christ neglected. So is it asserted, Eph. i. 18-20, 

' " At vero omnipotens hominem cum gratia salvat, 

Ipsa suum consummat opus, cui tempus agendi 

Semper adest quse gesta velit : non moribus illi 

Fit mora, non causis anceps suspenditur ullis. 

Nee quod sola potest cura. officioque ministri 

Exequitur, famulisve vieem committit agendi. 

Qui quamvis nmlta admoveat mandata vocantis, 

Pulsant non intrant animas ; Deus ergo sepultos 

Suscitat et solvit peccati compede vinctos. 

Ille obscuratis dat cordibus intellectum : 

Ille ex injustis justos facit, indit amorem 

Quo redametur amans, et amor quern conserit, ipse est. 

Hunc itaque affectum quo sumunt mortua vitam, 

Quo tonobrte fiunt lumen, quo immunda nitescunt ; 

Quo stulti sapere incipiunt segrique valescunt 

Nemo alii dat, nemo sibi." 

Frosp. do Ingrat. cap. xv. 384-398. 
" Lcgant ergo et intelligant, intueantur atque fateantur, non logo atque doctrina ; 
Bonante forinsccus, sed interna atque occulta, mirabili atque ineffabili potestate opeiAn 
Deum in cordibus hominum non solum vcras revelationes, sed bonas etiam voluntat/s." 
— August. Lib. dc Grat. Christ, adv. Pdagium et Cielest., cap. xxiv. / 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION. SI 7 

^ That ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power 
to US-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty 
power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the 
dead." The power here mentioned hath an " exceeding greatness" 
ascribed unto it, with respect unto the effect produced by it. The 
power of God in itself is, as unto all acts, equally infinite, — he is 
omnipotent; but some effects are greater than others, and carry in 
them more than ordinary impressions of it. Such is that here in- 
tended, whereby God makes men to be believers, and preserves them 
when they are so. And unto this power of God there is an actual 
operation or eflficiency ascribed, — the "working of his mighty power." 
And the nature of this operation or efficiency is declared to be of 
the same kind with that which was exerted in the raising of Christ 
from the dead ; and this was by a real physical efficiency of divine 
power. This, therefore, is here testified, that the work of God 
towards believers, either to make them so or preserve them such, — 
for all is one as unto our present purpose, — consists in the acting 
of his divine power by a real internal efficiency. So God is said to 
" fulfil in us all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of 
faith with power," 2 Thess. i. 11; 2 Pet. i. 3. And hence the work 
of grace in conversion is constantly expressed by words denoting a 
real internal efficiency; such as creating, quickening, forming, giv- 
ing a new heart, whereof afterward. Wherever this word is spoken 
with respect unto an active efficiency, it is ascribed unto God; he 
creates us anew, he quickens us, he begets us of his own will. But 
where it is spoken with respect unto us, there it is passively ex- 
pressed ; we are created in Christ Jesus, we are new creatures, we 
are horn again, and the like; which one observation is sufficient to 
evert the whole hypothesis of Arminian grace. Unless a work 
wrought by power, and that real and immediate, be intended herein, 
such a work may neither be supposed possible, nor can be expressed. 
Wherefore, it is plain in the Scripture that the Spirit of God works 
internally, immediately, efficiently, in and upon the minds of men 
in their regeneration. The new birth is the effect of an act of his 
power and grace; or, no man is born again but it is by the inward 
efficiency of the Spirit. 

3. This internal efficiency of the Holy Spirit on the minds of men, 
as to the event, is infallible,^ victorious, irresistible, or always effica- 
cious. But in this assertion we suppose that the measure of the 

1 " Quid est, Omnis gut audivit a Paire, et didicit, venit ad me; nisi nullus est qui 
audiat a Patre, et discat et non yeniat ad me ? Si enim omnis qui audivit a Patre et 
didcit, venit, profecto omnis qui non venit non audivit a Patre nee didicit; nam si 
audsset et didicisset veniret; — hajc itaque gratia quse occulte humanis cordibus divina 
largitate tribuitur, a nullo duro corde respuitur; ideo quippe tribuitur ut cordis duritia 
primtus auferatur." — August, de Praedest. Sanct. lib. i. cap. 8. 



318 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK IIL 

efficacy of grace and the end to be attained are fixed by the will of 
God. As to that end whereunto of God it is designed, it is always 
prevalent or effectual, and cannot be resisted, or it will effectually 
work what God designs it to work: for wherein he "will work, none 
shall let him;" and "who hath resisted his will?" There are many 
motions of grace, even in the hearts of believers, which are thus far 
resisted, as that they attain not that effect which in their own nature 
they have a tendency unto. Were it otherwise, all believers would 
be perfect. But it is manifest in experience that we do not always 
answer the inclinations of grace, at least as unto the degree which it 
moves towards. But yet even such motions also, if they are of and 
from saving grace, are effectual so far, and for all those ends which 
they are designed unto in the purpose of God; for his will shall not 
be frustrated in any instance. And where any work of grace is not 
effectual, God never intended it should be so, nor did put forth that 
power of grace which was necessary to make it so. Wherefore, in or 
towards whomsoever the Holy Spirit puts forth his power, or acts his 
grace for their regeneration, he removes all obstacles, overcomes all 
oppositions, and infallibly produceth the effect intended.^ This pro- 
position being of great importance to the glory of God's grace, and 
most signally opposed by the patrons of corrupted nature and man's 
free-will in the state thereof, must be both explained and confirmed. 
We say, therefore, — 

(1.) The power which the Holy Ghost puts forth in our regenera- 
tion is such, in its acting or exercise, as our minds, wills, and affec- 
tions, are suited to be wrought upon, and to be affected by it, accord- 
ing to their natures and natural operations: "Turn thou me, and 
I shall be turned; 'draw me, and I shall run after thee." He doth 
not act in them any otherwise than they themselves are meet to 
be moved and move, to be acted and act, according to their own na- 
ture, power, and ability. He draws us with " the cords of a man." 
And the work itself is expressed by persuading, — " God shall per- 
suade Japheth;" and alluring, — " I will allure her into the wilder- 
ness, and speak comfortably unto her:" for as it is certainly effectual, 
so it carries no more repugnancy unto our faculties than a prevalent 
persuasion doth. So that, — 

(2.) He doth not, in our regeneration, possess the mind with any 
enthusiastical impressions, nor act absolutely upon us as he did in 
extraordinary prophetical inspirations of old, where the minds and 
organs of the bodies of men were merely passive instruments, moved 

' " qualis est artifex ille Spiritus! nulla ad discendum mora agitur in omne cpod 
volucrit. Mox enim ut eligeret mentem docet; solumque tetigisse docuisse est. Jam 
humanum subito ut illustrat iramutat affectum ; abnegat hoc repente quod erat, exjibet 
repente quod non ei-at." — Gregor. Horn. xxi. in EvangeL / 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION'. 819 

by liim above their own natural capacity and activity, not only as to 
the principle of working, but as to the manner of operation; but 
he works on the minds of men in and by their own natural act- 
ings, through an immediate influence and impression of his power: 
"Create in me a clean heart, God." He "worketh both to will 
and to do." 

(3.) He therefore offers no violence or compulsion unto the will/ 
This that faculty is not naturally capable to give admission unto. 
If it be compelled, it is destroyed. And the mention that is made in 
the Scripture of compelling (" Compel them to come in") respects 
the certainty of the event, not the manner of the operation on them. 
But whereas the will, in the depraved condition of fallen nature, is 
not only habitually filled and possessed with an aversion from that 
which is good spiritually ("Alienated from the life of God"), but also 
continually acts an opposition unto it, as being under the power of 
the "carnal mind," which is "enmity against God;" and whereas this 
grace of the Spirit in conversion doth prevail against all this opposi- 
tion, and is effectual and victorious over it, — it will be inquired how 
this can any otherwise be done but by a kind of violence and com- 
pulsion, seeing we have evinced already that moral persuasion and 
objective allurement is not sufficient thereunto? Ans. It is acknow- 
ledged that in the work of conversion unto God, though not in the 
very act of it, there is a reaction between grace and the will, their 
acts being contrary, and that grace is therein victorious, and yet no 
violence or compulsion is offered unto the will ; for, — 

[1.] The opposition is not ad idem. The enmity and opposition ' 
that is acted by the will against grace is against it as objectively 
2)roposed unto it. So do men " resist the Holy Ghost," — that is, in 
the external dispensation of grace by the word. And if that be alone, 
they may always resist it; the enmity that is in them will prevail 
against it: "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost." The will, there- 
fore, is not forced by any power put forth in grace, in that way where- 
in it is capable of making opposition unto it, but the prevalency of 
grace is of it as it is internal, working really and physically; which is 
not the object of the will's opposition, for it is not proposed unto it 
as that which it may accept or refuse, but worketh effectually in it. 

[2.] The will, in the first act of conversion (as even sundry of the 
schoolmen acknowledge), acts not but as it is acted, moves not but 

' " Christus non dicit, duxerit, ut illic aliquo modo intelligamus proecedere voliintatem ; 
Bed dicit, traxerit, quis autem trahitur si jam volebat; et tamen nemo venit nisi velit, 
trahitur ergo miris modis ut velit, ab illo qui novit intus in ipsis hominum cordibns 
oierari ; non ut homines, quod fieri non potest, nolentes credant, sed ut Tolentes ex no- 
leitibus fiant." — August, cont. Duas Epist. Pelag. cap. xix. 

" Certum est nos velle cum volumus, sed ille lacit ut velimus tonura, de quo dictum 
estDeus est qui operatur in nobis velk." — Idem de Grat. et Lib. Arbit. cap. xvi. 



S20 THE NATUllE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [bOOK IH 

as it is moved ; and therefore is passive therein, in the sense immedi- 
ately to be explained. And if this be not so, it cannot be avoided 
but that the act of our turning unto God is a mere natural act, and 
not spiritual or gracious; for it is an act of the will, not enabled 
thereunto antecedently by grace. Wherefore it must be granted, and 
it shall be proved, that, in order of nature, the acting of grace in the 
will in our conversion is antecedent unto its own acting; though in 
the same instant of time wherein the will is moved it moves, and 
when it is acted it acts itself, and preserves its own liberty in its 
exercise. There is, therefore, herein an inward almighty secret act of 
tlie power of the Holy Ghost, producing or effecting in us the will 
of conversion unto God, so acting our wills as that they also act 
themselves, and that freely. So Austin, cont. Duas Epistol. Pelag. 
lib. i. cap. 19: "Trahitur [homo] miris modis ut velit, ab illo qui 
novit intus in ipsis cordibus hominum operari; non ut homines, 
quod fieri non potest, nolentes credant, sed ut volentes ex nolentibus 
fiant." The Holy Spirit, who in his power and operation is more 
intimate, as it were, unto the princijoles of our souls than they are 
to themselves, doth, with the preservation and in the exercise of the 
liberty of our wills, effectually work our regeneration and conversion 
unto God. 

This is the substance of what we plead for in this cause, and which 
declares the nature of this work of regeneration, as it is an inward 
spiritual work. I shall, therefore, confirm the truth proposed with 
evident testimonies of Scripture, and reasons contained in them or 
educed from them. 

First, The work of conversion itself, and in especial the act of 
believing^ ov faith itself is expressly said to be of God, to be wrought 
in us by him, to be given unto us from him. The Scripture says 
not that God gives us ability or power to believe only, — namely, 
such a power as we may make use of if we will, or do otherwise ; 
but faith, repentance, and conversion themselves are said to be the 
Avork and effect of God. Indeed, there is nothing mentioned in the 
Scriptures concerning the communicating of power, remote or next 
unto the mind of man, to enable him to believe antecedently unto 
actual believing. A " remote power," if it may be so called, in the 
capacities of the faculties of the soul, the reason of the mind, and 
liberty of the will, we have given an account concerning; but for 

» " Restat ut ipsam fidem unde omnis justitia sumit initium, non hnmano, quo isti/ 
extolluntur, tribuanius arbitrio, nee ullis precedentibus meritis, quoniam inde inci- 
piunt bona qutecunque sunt merita, sed gratuitum Dei donum esse fateamur, si gratiaM 
veram, id est, sine meritis cogitcmus." — August. Epist. cv. 

" Nolens ergo bis tam claris testimoniis repugnare, et tamen volens a seipso sibi es^e 
quod credidit quasi componat cum Deo ut partem fidei sibi vendicet, atque illi partflb 
relinquat ; et quod est elatius, primam tollit ipse, sequentem dat illi ; et in eo quod dibit 
esse amborum, priorem se, facit posteriorem Deum." — August, de Praedest. Sanct caW iL 

/ 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION. S21 

that which some call a "next power,"^ or an ability to believe iu 
order of nature antecedent unto believing itself, wrought in us by the 
grace of God, the Scripture is silent. The apostle Paul saith of him- 
self, ndvra Iff^vu iv tui s]/dvva/j,ovvri /j,s Xpiffrui, Phil. iv. 13, — "I can do 
all things," or prevail in all things, "through Christ who enableth me ;" 
where a power or ability seems to be spoken of antecedent unto act- 
ing: but this is not a power for the first act of faith, but a power in 
them that believe. Such a power I acknowledge, wliich is acted in 
tlie co-operation of the Spirit and grace of Christ with the grace 
which believers have received, unto the performance of all acts of 
huly obedience; whereof I must treat elsewhere. Believers have a 
stock of habitual grace ; which may be called indwelling grace in the 
same sense wherein original corruption is called indwelling sin. And 
this grace, as it is necessary unto every act of spiritual obedience, so 
of itself, without the renewed co-working of the Spirit of Christ, it is 
not able or sufficient to produce any spiritual act. This working of 
Christ upon and with the grace we have received is called enabling 
of us; but with persons unregenerate, and as to the first act of faith, 
it is not so. 

But it will be objected, " That every thing which is actually accom- 
plished was m potentia before ; there must, therefore, be in us a 
power to believe before we do sp actually."' A71S. The act of God 
working faith in us is a creating act: " We are his workmanship, 
created in Christ Jesus," Eph. ii. 10; and he that is in Christ Jesus 
" is a new creature," 2 Cor, v. 1 7. Now, the effects of creating acts 
are not in potentia anywhere but in the active power of God; so was 
the world itself before its actual existence. This is termed potentia 
logica, which is no more but a negation of any contradiction to 
existence; not potentia physica, which includes a disposition unto 
actual existence. Notwithstanding, therefore, all these preparatory- 
works of the Spirit of God which we allow in this matter, there is 
not by them wrought in the minds and wills of men such a next 
2)0VJer, as they call it, as should enable them to believe without farther 
actual grace working faith itself. Wherefore, with respect to believ- 
ing, the first act of God is to work in us " to will:" Phil. ii. 13, " He 
worketh in us to will." Now, to will to believe is to believe. This 
God works in us by that grace which Austin and the schoolmen call 
gratia operans, because it worketh in us without us, the will being 
merely moved and passive therein. That there is a power or faculty 

' " Quando Deus docetper Spiritus gratiam, ita docet ut quod quisque didicerit non 
tantum cognoscendo videat, sed etiam volendo appetat agendoque perficiat. Et ipso 
divino docendi modo etiam ipsa voluntas, et ipsa operatic non sola volendi et operandi 
naiuralis possibilitas adjuvatur. Si enim solum posse nostrum hac gratia juvaretur,. 
ita diccret Dominus, Omnis qui audirit a Patre, et didicit, potest venire ad me." — August. 
de t'rrat. Christ, contra Pelagium, cap. xiv. 

VOL. III. £i 



322 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [bOOK TIL 

of bpli'^ving given unto all men unto whom the gospel is preached, 
or who are called by the outward dispensation of it, some do pretend ; 
and that "because those unto whom the word is so preached, if they 
do not actually believe, shall perish eternally, as is positively declared 
in the gospel, Mark xvi. 16; but this they could not justly do if 
they had not received a power or faculty of believing." 

Ans. 1. Those who believe not upon the proposal of Christ in 
the gospel are left without remedy in the guilt of those other sins, 
for which they must perish eternally. " If ye believe not," saith 
Christ, " that I am he, ye shall die in your sins," John viii. 24. 

2. The impotency that is in men, as to the act of believing, is 
contracted by their own fault, both as it ariseth from the original 
depravation of nature, and as it is increased by corrupt prejudices 
and contracted habits of sin: wherefore, they justly perished of whom 
yet it is said that " they could not believe," John xii. 39. 

8. There is none by whom the gospel is refused, but they put 
forth an act of the will in its rejection, which all men are free unto 
and able for: " I would have gathered you, but ye would not," 
Matt, xxiii. 37. "Ye will not come to me, that ye may have life," 
[John v. 40.] 

But the Scripture positively affirms of some to whom the gospel 
was preached that " they could not believe," John xii. 39 ; and of 
idl natural men, that " they cannot receive the things of God," 
i Cor. ii. 14. Neither is it " given" unto all to " know the mysteries 
of the kingdom of heaven," but to some only. Matt. xi. 25, xiii. 11 ; 
and those to whom it is not so given have not the power intended. 
Besides, faith is not of all, or " all have not faith," 2 Thess. iii. 2, 
but it is peculiar to the " elect of God," Tit. i. 1 ; Acts xiii. 48; and 
these elect are but some of those that are called. Matt. xx. 1 6. 

Yet farther to clear this, it may be observed, that this first act of 
willing may be considered two ways: — 1. As it is wrought in the will 
suhjectively, and so it is formally only in that faculty; and in this 
sense the will is merely passive, and only the subject moved or acted. 
And in this respect the act of God's grace in the will is an act of the 
will. But, 2. It may be considered as it is efficiently also in the 
will, as, being acted, it acts itself So it is from the will as its prin- 
ciple, and is a vital act thereof, which gives it the nature of obe- 
dience. Thus the will in its own nature is mohilis, fit and meet to 
be wrought upon by the grace of the Spirit to faith and obedience; 
with respect unto the creating act of grace working faith in us, it is 
mota, moved and acted thereby; and in respect of its own elicit act, 
as it so acted and moved, it ismovens, the next efficient cause thereof. 

These things being premised for the clearing of the nature of the 
operation of the Spirit in the first communication of grace unto us, 

/ 



CEAP. v.] OF REGENERATION- 323 

and the will's compliance therewithal, we return unto onr argiiraents 
or testimonies given unto the actual collation of faith ^ upon us by 
the Spirit and grace of God, which must needs be ettectual and irre- 
sistible; for the contrary implies a contradiction, — namely, that God 
should " work what is not wrought:" — Phil. i. 29, " To you it is given 
in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to sufier 
for his sake." To "believe on Christ" expresseth saving faith itself. 
This is "given" unto us. And how is it given us? Even by tlie power 
of God " working in us both to will and to do of his good ple;isure," 
chap. ii. 13. Our faith is our coming to Christ. "And no man," saith 
he, " can come unto me, except it be given unto him of my Father/' 
John vi. 65. All power in ourselves for this end is utterly taken 
away: "No man can come unto me."* Hovt^ever we may suppose 
men to be prepared or disposed, whatever arguments may be pro- 
posed unto them, and in what season soever, to render tilings con- 
gruous and agreeable unto their inclinations, yet no man of himself 
can believe, can come to Christ, unless faith itself be "given unto 
him," — that is, be wrought in him by the grace of the Father, Phil. 
i. 29. So it is again asserted, and that both negatively and posi- 
tively, Eph. ii. 8^ " By grace are ye saved through faith ; and that 
not of yourselves : it is the gift of God." Our own ability, be it what 
it will, however assisted and excited, and God's gift, are contradistin- 
guished. If it be "of ourselves." it is not " the gift of God ;" if it be 
" the gift of God," it is not " of ourselves." And the manner how 
God bestows this gift upon us is declared, verse 10, " We are his 
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Good 
works, or gospel obedience, are the things designed. These must 
proceed frou) faith, or they are not acceptable with God, Heb. xi- 6. 
And the way whereby this is wrought in us, or a principle of obedi- 
ence, is by a creating act of God: "We are his workmanship, created 
in Christ Jesus." In like manner God is said to " give us repent- 
ance," 2 Tim. ii. 25; Acts xi. 18. This is the whole of what we 
plead : God in our conversion, by the exceeding greatness of his 
power, as he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, 
actually worketh faith and repentance in us, gives them unto us, 

' " Si quis sine gratia Dei credentibus, volentibus, desiderantibus, conantibus miseri- 
cordiam dicit confcrri divinitus ; non autem ut credamus, velimus, per infusionem et 
inspirationem Spiritus Sancti in nobis fieri coufitetur, anathema sit." — Cone. Arausic. 
ii. can. 6. 

'■ Datur potcstas ut filii Dei fiant qui crodunt in eum, cum hoc ipsum datur ut cre- 
dant in eum. Quae potestas nisi detur a Deo nulla esse potest ex libero arbitrio, quia 
nee liberum bono erit quod liberator non liberaverit." — August, lib. i. cont. Duas Epist. 
Pelag. cap. 3. 

2 " Restat ut ipsam fidem undo omnis justitia sumit initium, non humane, quo isti 
extoUuntur, tribuamns arbitrio, nee ullis precedentibus meritis, quoniam inde incipiunt 
bona qufflcunque sunt merita, sed gratuitum Dei donum esse fateamur, si gratiam veram, 
id est, sine meritis cogitamus." — August. Epist. cv. 



824 THE NATUEE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK III. 

bestows them on us; so that they are mere effects of his grace in us. 
And his working in us infallibly produceth the effect intended, be- 
cause it is actual faith that he works, and not only a power to believe, 
which we may either put forth and make use of or suffer to be fruit- 
less, according to the pleasure of our own wills. 

Secondly, As God giveth and worketh in us faith and repentance, 
so the way whereby he doth it, or the vianner how he is said to 
effect them in us, makes it evident that he doth it by a power in- 
fallibly efficacious, and which the will of man doth never resist; for 
this way is such as that he thereby takes away all repugnancy, all 
resistance, all opposition, every thing that lieth in the way of the 
effect intended: Deut. xxx. 6, "The Lord thy God will circumcise 
thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God 
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." 
A denial of the work here intended is expressed chap. xxix. 4, " The 
Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and 
ears to hear, unto this day." What it is to have the heart circum- 
cised the apostle declares. Col. ii. IL It is the "putting off the 
body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ," — that is, 
b}^ our conversion to God. It is the giving " an heart to perceive, and 
eyes to see, and ears to hear," — that is, spiritual light and obedience, 
— by the removal of all obstacles and hinderances. This is the imme- 
diate work of the Spirit of God himself. No man ever circumcised 
his own heart. No man can say he began to do it by the power of 
his own will, and then God only helped him by his grace. As the act 
of outward circumcision on the body of a child was the act of another, 
and not of the child, who was only passive therein, but the effect was 
in the body of the child only, so is it in this spiritual circumcision, — 
it is the act of God, whereof our hearts are the subject. And whereas 
it is the blindness, obstinacy, and stubbornness in sin that is in us 
by nature, with the prejudices which possess our minds and affec- 
tions, which hinder us from conversion unto God, by this circum- 
'cision they are taken away; for by it the "body of the sins of the 
flesh is put off." And how should the heart resist the work of grace, 
when that whereby it should resist is effectually taken away? 

Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27, " A new heart also will I give you, and a new 
spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart 
out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will 
put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and 
ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." To which may be added, 
Jer. xxiv. 7, " I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the 
Lord : and they shall be my people, and I will be their God : so 
they shall return unto me with their whole heart." As also, Isa. 
xliv. 3-5, " I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods 



CHAP, v.] OF regeneration: 325 

upon the dry ground : I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my 
blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among 
the grass, as willows by the water-courses. One shall say, I am the 
Lord's," etc. So Jer. xxxi. 33, " I will put my law in their inward 
parts, and write it in their hearts." I shall first inquire two things 
about these concurrent testimonies: — 

1. Is it lawful for us, is it our duty, to pray that God would do and 
effect what he hath promised to do, and that both for ourselves and 
others? — [We may pray] for ourselves, that the work of our conversion 
may be renewed, carried on, and consummated in the way and by the 
means whereby it was begun, that so " he which hath begun the good 
work in us may perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 6; for 
those who are converted and regenerated, and are persuaded on good 
and infallible grounds that so they are, may yet pray for those things 
which God promiseth to work in their first conversion. And this is 
because the same work is to be preserved and carried on in them by the 
same means, the same power, the same grace, wherewith it was begun. 
And the reason is, though this work, as it is merely the work of con- 
version, is immediately perfected and completed as to the being of it; 
yet as it is the beginning of a work of sanctification, it is continually 
to be renewed and gone over again, because of the remainder of sin in 
us and the imperfection of our grace. [And we may pray] for others, 
that it may be both begun and finished in them. And do we not 
in such prayers desire that God would really, powerfully, effectually, 
by the internal efficiency of his Spirit, take away all hind erances, op- 
positions, and repugnancy in our minds and wills, and actually col- 
late upon lis, give unto us, and work in us, a new principle of obe- 
dience, that we may assuredly love, fear, and trust in God always? 
or do we only desire that God would so help us as to leave us ab- 
solutely undetermined whether we will make use of his help or no? 
Did ever any pious soul couch such an intention in his supplications? 
He knows not how-to pray who prays not that God would, by his 
own immediate power, work those things in him which he thus 
prayeth for. And unto this prayer, also, grace effectual is antece- 
dently required.^ Wherefore, I inquire, — 

2. Whether God doth really effect and work in any the things 
which he here promiseth that he will work and effect? If he do not, 
where is his truth and faithfulness? It is said that "he doth so, and 
will so do, provided that men do not refuse his tender of grace nor re- 
sist his operations, but comply with them." But this yields no relief, — 

' " Semper quidem adjutorium gratise nobis est a Deo poscendum, sed nee ipsum 
qtind possumiis viribus nostris assignem. Neque enira haberi potest ipse saltern oriv- 
tionis affectus nisi divinitus fuerit attributus. Ut ergo desidoreinus adjutorium gratisa, 
hoc ipsum quoque est gratiae, ipsa namque incipit eiiundi ut incipiat posci." — Fulgent. 
Epist. vi. ad Tiieod. 



326 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK III. 

For, (1.) "What is it not to refuse the grace of conversion, but to 
comply with it? Is it not to beheve, to obey, — to convert ourselves? 
So, then, God promiseth to convert us, on condition tliat we convert 
ourselves; to work faith in us, on condition that we do believe; and 
a new heart, on condition that we make our hearts new ourselves I 
To this are all the adversaries of the grace of God brought by those 
conditions which they feign of its efficacy to preserve the sovereignty 
of free-will in our conversion, — that is, unto plain and open contra- 
dictions, which have been charged sufficiently upon them by others, 
and from which they could never extricate themselves. , (2.) Where 
God promiseth^ thus to work, as these testimonies do witness, and 
doth not effectually do so, it must be either because he cannot or 
because he will not. If it be said that he doth it not because he 
will not, then this is that which is ascribed unto God, — that he pro- 
miseth indeed to take away our stony heart, and to give us a new 
heart with his law written in it, but he will not do so ; which is to 
overthrow his faithfulness, and to make him a liar. If they say it 
is because he cannot, seeing that men oppose and resist the grace 
whereby he would work this effect, then where is the wisdom of 
promising to work that in us which he knew he covld not effect 
without our compliance, and which he knew that we would not com- 
ply withal? But it will be said that God promiseth to work and 
effect these things, but in such a way as he hath appointed, — that 
is, by giving such supplies of grace as may enable us thereunto, 
— which if we refuse to make use of, the fault is merely our own. 
Ans. It is the things themselves that are promised, and not such a 
communication of means to effect them as may produce them or 
may not, as the consideration of the place will manifest; whereof 
observe, — 

[1.] The subject spoken of in these promises is the heart. And 
the heart in the Scripture is talcen for the whole rational soul, not 
absolutely, but as all the faculties of the soul are one common prin- 
ci{)le of all our moral operations. Hence it hath such properties 
assigned unto it as are peculiar to the mind or understanding, as to 
see, perceive, to be wise, and to understand; and; on the contrary, 
to be blind and foolish; and sometimes such as belong propeily to 
the will and affections, as to obey, to love, to fear, to trust in God. 
"Wherefore, the principle of all our spiritual and moral operations is 
intended hereby. 

[2.] There is a description of this heart, as it is in us antecedent 
unto the effectual working of the grace of God in us: it is said to be 

' "Hoc est enim, promittit Dens qund ipse facit; non enim ipse promittit et alius 
facit; qiKtd jam non est pioniittore sod pitcdicerc. Ideo non ex operibus sed ex vo- 
cante, ne ip.sorum sit, nou Uei." — August, de Spir. et Lit. cap. xxiv. 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION. 327 

stony, — '^ The heart of stone." It is not absolutely that it is said so 
to be, but with respect unto some certain end. This end is declared 
to be our walking in the ways of God, or our fearing of him. Where- 
fore, our hearts by nature, as unto living to God or his fear, are a 
stone, or stony; and who hath not experience hereof from the re- 
mainders of it still abiding in them? And two things are included 
in this expression: — 1st. An ineptitude unto any actings towards tha*; 
end. Whatever else the heart can do of itself, in things natural or 
civil, in outward things, as to the end of living unto God it can of 
itself, without his grace, do no more than a stone can do of itself unto 
any end whereunto it may be applied, '2,dly. An obstinate, stubborn 
opposition unto all things conducing unto that end. Its hardness 
or obstinacy, in opposition to the pliableness of a heart of flesh, is 
principally intended in this expression. And in this stubbornness 
of the heart consists all that repugnancy to the grace of God which 
is in us by nature, and hence alb that resistance doth arise, which 
some say is always sufficient to render any operation of the Spirit of 
God by his grace fruitless. 

[3.] This heart, — that is, this impotency and enmity which is in 
our natures unto conversion and spiritual obedience, — God says he 
will take away; that is, he will do so in them who are to be con- 
verted according to the purpose of his will, and whom he will turn 
unto himself.^ He doth not say that he will endeavow to take it 
away, nor that he will use such or such means for the taking of it 
away, but absolutely that he will take it away. He doth not say 
that he will persuade men to remove it or do it away, that he 
will aid and help them in their so doing, and that so far as that it 
shall wholly be their own fault if it be not done, — which no doubt it 
is where it is not removed ; but positively tliat he himself will take 
it away. Wherefore, the act of taking it away is the act of God by 
his grace, and not the act of our wills but as they are acted thereby; 
and that such an act as whose effect is necessary. It is impossible 
that God should take away the stony heart, and yet the stony heart 
not be taken away. What, therefore, God promiseth herein, in the 
removal of our natural corruption, is as unto the event infallible, 
and as to the manner of operation ir7^esistihle. 

[4.] As what God taketh from us in the cure of our original 
disease, so what he hestoweth on us or works in us is here also ex- 
pressed ; and this is, a neiu heart and a neiv spirit: "I will give 
you a new heart." And withal it is declared what benefit we do 
receive thereby: for those who have this new heart bestowed on them 

1 " Hcec gratia quae occulte humanis cordibus divina largitate tribiiitur, a nullo 
duro corde xespuitiir ; ideo quippe tribuitur, ut coidia duriticts jjiiuiitus aufwatur '' — 
August, de Prsedest. Sauct. cap. viii. 



228 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK IIL 

or wrought in them, they do actually, by virtue thereof, " fear the 
Lord and walk in his ways;" for so it is affirmed in the testimonies 
produced : and no more is required thereunto, as nothing less will 
effect it. There must, therefore, be in this new heart thus given us 
a principle of all holy obedience unto God : the creating of which 
principle in us is our conversion to him ; for God doth convert us, 
and we are converted. And how is this new heart communicated 
unto us? " I will," saith God, " give them a new heart." " That is, 
it may be, he will do what is to be done on his part that they may 
have it] but we may refuse his assistance, and go without it." No; 
saith he, " I will put a new spirit within them';" which expression 
is capable of no such limitation or condition. And to make it more 
plain yet, he affirms that he "will write his law in our hearts." It 
is confessed that this is spoken with respect unto his writing of the 
law of old in the tables of stone. As, then, he wrote the letter of 
the law in the tables of stone, so that tliereon and thereby they were 
actually engraven therein ; so by writing the law, that is, the matter 
and substance of it, in our hearts, it is as really fixed therein as the 
letter of it was of old in the tables of stone. And this can be no other- 
wise but in a py^inclple of obedience and love unto it, which is ac- 
tually wrought of God in us. And the aids or assistances which some 
men grant that are left unto the power of our own wills to use or 
not to use, have no analogy with the writing of the law in tables of 
stone. And the end of the work of God described is not a power to 
obey, which may be exerted or not; but it is actual obedience in 
conversion, and all the fruits of it. And if God do not in these 
promises declare a real efficiency of internal grace, taking away 
all repugnancy of nature unto conversion, curing its depravation 
actually and effectually, and communicating infallibly a principle of 
scriptural obedience, I know not in what words such a work may be 
expressed. And whatever is excepted as to the suspending of the 
efficacy of this work upon conditions in ourselves, it falls immediately 
into gross and sensible contradictions. An especial instance of this 
work we have, Acts xvi. 14. 

A third argument is taken from the state and condition of men 
by nature, Ijefore described; for it is such as that no man can be de- 
livered from it, but by that powerful, internal, effectual grace which we 
plead for, such as wherein the mind and will of man can act nothing 
in or towards conversion to God but as they are acted by grace. 
The reason why some despise, some oppose, some deride the work of 
the Spirit of Gotl in our regeneration or conversion, or fancy it to be 
only an outward ceremony, or a moral change of life and conversa- 
tion, is, their ignorance of the corrupted and depraved estate of the 
souls of men, in their minds, wills, and affections, by nature; for if it 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION". S-9 

be such as we have described, — that is, such as in the Scripture it is 
represented to be, — they cannot be so brutish as once to imagine that 
it may be cured, or that men may be delivered from it, without any 
other aid but that of those rational considerations which some would 
have to be the only means of our conversion to God. We shall, 
therefore, inquire what that grace is, and what it must be, whereby 
we are delivered from it: — 

1. It is called a vivification or quickening. We are by nature 
" dead in trespasses and sins," as hath been proved, and the nature of 
that death at large explained. In our deliverance from thence, we 
are said to be " quichened," Eph. ii. 5. Though dead, we " hear the 
voice of the Son of God, and live," John v. 25 ; being made " alive 
unto God through Jesus Christ," Kom. vi. 11. Now, no such work 
can be wrought in us but by an effectual communication of a prin- 
ciple of spiritual life ; and nothing else will deliver us. Some think 
to evade the power of this argument by saying that "all these expres- 
sions are metaphorical, and arguings from them are but fulsome 
metaphors:" and it is well if the whole gospel be not a metaphor 
unto them. But if there be not an impotency in us by nature unto 
all acts of spiritual life, like that which is in a dead man unto the 
acts of life natural ; if there be not an alike power of God required 
unto our deliverance from that condition, and the working in us a 
principle of spiritual obedience, as is required unto the raising of him 
that is dead, — they may as well say that the Scripture speaks not truly 
as that it speaks metaphorically. And that it is almighty power, 
the " exceeding greatness of God's power," that is put forth and 
exercised herein, we have proved from Eph. i. 19, 20; Col. ii. 12, 13; 
2 Thess. i. 11; 2 Pet. i. 3. And what do these men intend by this 
quickening, this raising us from the dead by the power of God? A 
persuasion of our minds by rational motives taken from the word, 
and the things contained in it! But was there ever heard such a 
monstrous expression, if there be nothing else in it? What could 
the holy writers intend by calling such a work as this by a *' quicken- 
ing of them who were dead in trespasses and sins through the mighty 
power of God," unless it were, by a noise of insigniticant words, to draw 
us off from a right understanding of what is' intended? And it is 
well if some are not of that mind. 

2. The work itself wrought is our regeneration. I have proved 
before that this consists in a new, spiritual, supernatural, vital prin- 
ciple or habit of grace, infused into the soul, the mind, will, and 
affections, by the power of the Holy Spirit, disposing and enabling 
them in whom it is unto spiritual, supernatural, vital acts of faith 
and obedience. Some men seem to be inclined to deny all habits of 
grace. And on such a supposition, a man is no longer a believer 



SSO THE NATUEE, CAUSES/ AND MEANS [BOOK IIL 

than he is in the actual exercise of faith; for there is nothing in him 
from whence he should be so denominated. But this would plainly 
overthrow the covenant of God, and all the grace of it. Others ex- 
pressly deny all gracious, supernatural, infused habits, though they 
may grant such as are or may be acquired by the frequent acts of 
those graces or virtues whereof they are the* habits. But the Scrip- 
ture giveth us another description of this work of regeneration, for it 
consists in the renovation of the image of God in us: Eph. iv. 23, 24, 
" Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, 
■which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." That 
Adam in innocency had a supernatural ability of living unto God 
habitually residing in him is generally acknowledged ; and although 
it were easy for us to prove that whereas he was made for a super- 
natural end, — namely, to live to God, and to come to the enjoyment 
of him, — it was utterly impossible that he should answer it or comply 
with it by the mere strength of his natural faculties, had they not 
been endued with a supernatural ability, which, with i-espect unto 
that end, was created with them and in them, yet we will not con- 
tend about terms. Let it be granted that he was created in the 
image of God, and that he had an ability to fulfil all God's commands, 
and that in himself, and no more shall be desired. This was lost by 
the fall. When this is by any denied, it shall be proved. In our 
regeneration, there is a renovation of this image of God in us: 
" Renewed in the spirit of your mind." And it is renewed in us by a 
creating act of almighty power: " Which after God," or according to 
his likeness, " is created in righteousness and true holiness/' There 
is, therefore, in it an implantation of a new principle of spiritual life, 
of a life unto God in repentance, faith, and obedience, or universal 
holiness, according to gospel truth, or the truth which came by Jesus 
Christ, John i. 17. And the effect of this work is called "spirit:" 
John iii. G, " That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." It is the 
Spirit of God of whom we are born ; that is, our new life is wrought 
in us by his efficiency. And that which in us is so born of him is 
spirit; not the natural faculties of our souls, — they are once created, 
once born, and no more,— but a new principle of spiritual obedience, 
whereby we live unto God. And this is the product of the internal 
immetliate efficiency of grace. 

This will the better appear if we consider the faculties of the soul 
distinctly, and what is the especial work of the Holy Spirit upon 
them in our regeneration or conversion to God : — - 

(1.) The leading, conducting faculty of the soul is the mind or 
understanding. Now, this is corrupted and vitiated by the fall ; and 
how it continues depraved in the state of nature hath been declared 
before. The sum is, that it is not able to dibcern spiritual things m 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION. SSI 

a spiritual manner; for it is possessed with spiritual blindness or 
darkness, and is iilled with enmity against God and his law, esteem- 
ing the things of the gospel to be foolishness; because it is alienated 
from the life of God through the ignorance that is in it. We must, 
therefore, inquire what is the work of the Holy Spirit on our minds 
in turning of us to God, whereby this depravation is removed and 
this vicious state cured, whereby we come to see and discern spiri- 
tual things in a spiritual manner, that we may savingly know God 
and his mind as revealed in and by Jesus Christ. And this is seve- 
ral ways declared in the Scripture: — • 

[1.] He is said to give us an understanding: 1 John v. 20, " The 
Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we 
may know him that is true;" which he doth by his Spirit. Man by 
sin is become like the " beasts that perish, which have no under- 
standing," Ps. xlix. 12, 20. Men have not lost their natural intel- 
lective faculty or reason absolutely. It is continued unto them, with 
the free though impaired use of it, in things natural and civil. And 
it hath an advance in sin; men are "wise to do evil:"^ but it is lost as 
to the especial use of it in the saving knowledge of God and his will, 
"To do good they have no knowledge," Jer. iv. 22; for naturally, 
"there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after 
God," Rom. iii. 11. It is corrupted not so much in the root and prin- 
ciple of its actings, as with respect unto their proper object, term, and 
end. Wherefore, although this giving of an understanding be not the 
creating in us anew of that natural faculty, yet it is that gracious 
work in it without which that faculty in us, as depraved, will no 
more enable us to know God savingly than if we had none at all. 
The grace, therefore, here asserted in the oiving of an understandincj 
is the causing of our natural understandings to understand saving]}?. 
This David prays for: Ps. cxix. 34, "Give me understanding, and I 
shall keep thy law." The whole work is expressed by the apostle, 
Eph. i. 17, 18, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father 
of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in 
the knowledge of him : the eyes of your understanding being opened ; 
that ye may know what is the hope of his calling," etc. That " the 
Spirit of wisdom and revelation" is the Spirit of God working those 
effects in us, we have before evinced. And it is plain that the " reve- 
lation" here intended is subjective, in enabling us to apprehend what 
is revealed, and not objective, in new revelations, which the apostle 
prayed not that they might receive. And this is farther evidenced 
by the ensuing description of it: "The eyes of your understanding 

I « Pi-orsus si Dei adjutorium defuerit, nihil boni agere poteris ; agis quidem illo non 
adjuvcnte libera voluntate, scd male ; ad hoc idonea est voluntas tua quaa vocatur li- 
bera, et male agendo fit danuiabilis ancilla." — August. Serm. xiii. de Verb. Apost. 



S32 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK III. 

being opened." There is an eye in the understanding of man, — that 
is, the natural power and ahihty that is in it to discern spiritual 
things. But this eye is sometimes said to be "blind," sometimes to be 
"darkness," sometimes to be "shut" or closed; and nothing but the 
impotency of our minds to know God savingly, or discern things spiri- 
tually when proposed unto us, can be intended thereby. It is the work 
of the Spirit of grace to open this eye,^ Luke iv. 18; Acts xxvi. 18; 
and this is by the powerful, effectual removal of that depravation of 
our minds, with all its effects, which we before described. And how 
are we made partakers thereof? It is of the gift of God, freely and 
effectually working it: for, first, he "giveth us the Spirit of wisdom 
and revelation" to that end; and, secondly, works the thing itself 
in us. He " giveth us a heart to know him," Jer. xxiv. 7, without 
which we cannot so do, or he would not himself undertake to work 
it in us for that end. There is, therefore, an effectual, powerful, 
creating act of the Holy Spirit put forth in the minds of men in 
their conversion unto God, enabling them spiritually to discern spiri- 
tual things; wherein the seed and substance of divinefaith is contained- 
[2.] This is called the renovation of our minds: " Renewed in the 
spirit of your mind," Eph. iv. 23; which is the same with being "re- 
newed in knowledge," Col. iii. 10. And this renovation of our minds 
hath in it a transforming power to change the whole soul into an 
obediential frame towards God, Rom. xii. 2. And the work of renew- 
ing our minds is peculiarly ascribed unto the Holy Spirit: Tit. iiu 5, 
" The renewing of the Holy Ghost." Some men seem to fancy, yea, 
do declare, that there is no such depravation in or of the mind of 
man, but that he is able, by the use of his reason, to apprehend, re- 
ceive, and discern those truths of the gospel which are objectively 
proposed unto it. But of the use of reason in these matters, and its 
ability to discern and judge of the sense of propositions and force of 
inferences in things of religion, we shall treat afterward. At present, 
I only inquire whether men unregenerate be of themselves able spi- 
ritually to discern spiritual things when they are proposed unto them 
ill the dispensation of the gospel, so as their knowledge may be sav- 
ing in and unto themselves, and acceptable unto God in Christ, and 
that without any especial, internal, effectual work of the Holy Spirit 
of grace in them and upon them? If they say they are, as they 

^ ' " Erat htmen verum qucp illuminat cmnem hominem venicntem in hunc munduin ; idco 
dictum est, quia nullus hominiim illuminatur, nisi iilo luinine veritatis quod Deus est, 
no fiui.<.]u:im putaret ab co sc illuminari a quo aliquid audit ut discat; iion dico si quen- 
qiiaui nw.irnum licuninprn, sed ncc si angeluni ei coiitingat habere doetotcra. Adliihetur 
enini sernio veritatis extriusecus vocis niinisteiio corpoialis ; verumtamen jieque qui plan- 
(at est aliquid, ncqup qui rigat, sed qui incnmentum dat Deus. Audit quippe lionio dicen- 
tern vel lu.mincm vel angelum, sod ut fcciitiat ct cognoscat verum esse quod dicitur, iilo 
lumiiie iiitusmens ejus aspergitur quod internum manet, quod etiaiu in tcnebiis lucet." 
— August, de I'eccat. Merit, et Remiss, lib. i. cap. 25. 



CHAP, v.] OF REGENERATION. 333 

plainly plead them to be, and will not content themselves with an 
ascription unto them of that notional, doctrinal knowledge which 
none deny them to be capable of, I desire to know to what purpose 
are they said to be "renewed by the Holy Ghost?" to what purpose 
are all those gracious actings of God in them before recounted ? He 
that shall consider what, on the one hand, the Scripture teacheth us 
concerning the blindness, darkness, impotency of our minds, with 
respect unto spiritual things, when proposed unto us, as in the state 
of nature; and, on the other, what it affirms concerning the work of 
the Holy Ghost in their renovation and change, in giving them new 
power, new ability, a new, active understanding, — will not be much 
moved with the groundless, confident, unproved dictates of some 
concerning the power of reason in itself to apprehend and discern 
religious things, so far as we are required in a way of duty. This is 
all one as if they should say, that if the sun shine clear and bright, 
every blind man is able to see. 

God herein is said to communicate a light unto our minds, and that 
so as that we shall see by it, or perceive by it, the things proposed 
unto us in the gospel usefully and savingly: 2 Cor. iv. 6, " God, who 
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our 
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the 
face of Jesus Christ." Did God no otherwise work on the minds of 
men but by an external, objective proposal of truth unto them, to 
what purpose doth the apostle mention the almighty act of creating 
power which he put forth and exercised in the first production of 
natural light out of darkness? What allusion is there between that 
work and the doctrinal proposal of truth to the minds of men? It 
is, therefore, a confidence not to be contended with, if any will deny 
that the act of God in the spiritual illumination of our minds be 
of the same nature, as to efficacy and efficiency, with that whereby 
he created light at the beginning of all things. And because the effect 
produced in us is called " light," the act itself is described by "shin- 
ing:" " God hath shined in our hearts," — that is, our minds. So he 
conveys light unto them by an act of omnipotent efficiency. And as 
that which is so wrought in our minds is called "light," so the apostle, 
leaving his metaphor, plainly declares what he intends thereby, — 
namely, the actual " knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ;" that is, as God is revealed in Christ by the gospel, 
as he declares, verse 4. Having, therefore, first, compared the mind 
of man by nature, with respect unto a power of discerning spiritual 
things, to the state of all things under darkness before the creation 
of light; and, secondly, the powerful working of God in illumination 
unto the act of his omnipotency in the production or creation of 
light natural, — he ascribes our ability to know, and our actual know- 



334 THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS [BOOK lit 

ledge of God in Christ, unto his real efficiency and operation. And 
these things in part direct us towards an apprehension of that work 
of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of men in their conversion unto 
God whereby their depravation is cured, and without which it will 
not so be. By this means, and no otherwise, do we who were " dark- 
ness" become " light in the Lord," or come to know God in Christ 
savingly, looking into and discerning spiritual things with a proper 
intuitive sight, whereby all the other faculties of our souls are guided 
and influenced unto the obedience of faith. 

(2.) It is principally with respect unto the will and its dej^rava- 
tion by nature that we are said to be dead in sin. And herein is 
seated that peculiar obstinacy, whence it is that no unregenerate 
person doth or can answer his own convictions, or walk up unto his 
light in obedience. For the will may be considered two ways : — 
first, As a rational, vital faculty of our souls; secondly, As a free 
principle,^ freedom being of its essence or nature. This, therefore, 
in our conversion to God, is renewed by the Holy Ghost, and that 
by an effectual implantation in it of a principle of spiritual life and 
holiness in the room of that original righteousness which it lost by 
the fall. That he doth so is proved by all the testimonies before 
insisted on: — First, This is its renovation as it is a rational, vital 
faculty; and of this vivification see before. Secondly, As it is a free 
principle, it is determined unto its acts in this case by the powerful 
operation of the Holy Ghost, without the least impeachment of its 
liberty or freedom ; as hath been declared. And that this is so might 
be fully evinced, as by others so by the ensuing arguments; for if 
the Holy Ghost do not work immediately and effectually upon the 
will, producing and creating in it a principle of faith and obedience, 
infallibly determining it in its free acts, then is all the glory of our 
conversion to be ascribed unto ourselves, and we make ourselves 
therein, by the obediential actings of our own free will, to differ from 
others who do not so comply with the grace of God ; which is denied 
by the apostle, 1 Cor. iv. 7. Neither can any purpose of God con- 
cerning the conversion of any one soul be certain and determinate, 
seeing after he hath done all that is to be done, or can be done to- 
wards it, the will, remaining undetermined, may not be converted, 
contrary to those testimonies of our Saviour, Matt. xi. 25, 26; John 
vi. 37; Rom. viii. 29. Neither can there be an original infallibi- 
lity in t]ie promises of God made to Jesus Christ concerning the 
multitudes that should believe in him, seeing it is possible no one 
may so do, if it depend on the undetermined liberty of their wills 
whether they will or no. And then, also, must salvation of necessity 
> " Libcrtas sine gratia nihil est nisi contumacia, non libertas." — August. Epist. 

Ittti'x , 



CHAP, v.] OP REGENERATION. S35 

be " of him that willeth, and of him that runneth," and not " of God, 
that showeth mercy on whom he will have mercy," contrary to the 
apostle, Rom. ix. 15, 16. And the whole efficacy of the grace of 
God is made thereby to depend on the wills of men ; which is not 
consistent with onr being the " workmanship of God, created in Christ 
Jesus unto good works," Eph. ii. 10. Nor, on this supposition, do 
men know what they pray for, when they pray for their own or other 
men's conversion to God; as hath been before declared. There is, 
therefore, necessary such a work of the Holy Spirit upon our wills as 
may cure and take away the depravation of them before described, 
freeing us from the state of spiritual death, causing us to live unto God, 
and determining them in and unto the acts of faith and obedience. 
And this he doth whilst and as he makes us new creatures, quickens 
us who are dead in trespasses and sins, gives us a new heart and puts 
a new spirit within us, writes his law in our hearts, that we may do 
the mind of God and walk in his ways, worketh in us to will and 
to do, making them who were unwilling and obstinate to become 
willing and obedient, and that freely and of choice. 

(o.) In like manner a prevailing love is implanted upon the affec- 
tions by the Spirit of grace, causing the soul with delight and com- 
placency to cleave to God and his ways. This removes and takes 
away the enmity before described, with the effects of it : Deut. xxx. 
6, " The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of 
thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all 
thy soul, that thou may est live." This circumcision of the heart 
consists in the " putting off the body of the sins of the flesh," as the 
apostle speaks. Col. ii. 11. He "crucifies the flesh, with the affec- 
tions and lusts" thereof. Some men are inclined to think that all 
the depravation of our nature consists in that of the sensitive part 
of the soul, or our affections; the vanity and folly of which opinion 
hath been before discovered. Yet it is not denied but that the affec- 
tions are signally depraved, so that by them principally the mind 
and will do act those lusts that are peculiarly seated in them, oi- by 
them do act according to their perverse and corrupt inclinations, Gal. 
v. 24 ; James i. 14, 15. Wherefore, in the circumcision of our hearts, 
wherein the flesh, with the lusts, affections, and deeds thereof, is 
crucified by the Spirit, he takes from them their enmity, carnal pre- 
judices, and depraved inclinations, really though not absolutely and 
perfectly; and instead of them he fills us with holi/ spiritual love, 
joy, fear, and delight, not changing the being of our affections, but 
sanctifying and guiding them by the principle of saving light and 
knowledge before described, and uniting them unto their proper 
object in a due manner. 

From what hath been spoken in this third argument, it is evident 



S36 NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS OF EEGENERATION. [BOOK IIL 

tliat tlie Holy Spirit, designing the regeneration or conversion of the 
souls of men, worketh therein effectually, powerfully, and irresistibly; 
which was proposed unto confirmation. 

From the whole it appears that our regeneration is a work of the 
Spirit of God, and that not any act of our own, which is only so, is 
intended thereby.^ I say it is not so our own as by outward helps 
and assistance to be educed out of the principles of our natures. 
And herein is the Scripture express; for, mentioning this work 
directl}'- with respect unto its cause, and the manner of its opera- 
tion in the effecting of it, it assigns it positively unto God or his 
Spirit: 1 Pet. i. 8, "God, according to his abundant mercy, hath 
begotten us again." James i, 18, " Of his own will begat he us with 
the word of truth." John iii. 5, 6, 8, " Born of the Spirit." 1 John 
iii. 9, " Born of God." And, on the other hand, it excludes the will 
of man from any active interest herein; I mean, as to the first be- 
ginning of it: 1 Pet. i. 23, " Born again, not of corruptible seed, but 
of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for 
ever." John i. 13, " Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of 
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." See Matt. xvi. 17; 
Tit. iii. 5; Ejih. ii. 9, 10. It is, therefore, incumbent on them who 
plead for the active interest of the will of man in regeneration to 
produce some testimonies of Scripture where it is assigned unto it, 
as the effect unto its j^roper cause. Where is it said that a man is 
born again or begotten anew by himself? And if it be granted, — as 
it must be so, unless violence be offered not only to the Scripture 
but to reason and common sense, — that whatever be our duty and 
power herein, yet these expressions must denote an act of God, and 
not ours, the substance of what we contend for is granted, as we 
slsall be ready at any time to demonstrate. It is true, God doth 
command us to circumcise our hearts and to make them new: but 
he doth therein declare our duty, not our power; for himself pro- 
miseth to work in us what he requireth of us. And that power which 
we have and do exercise in the progress of this work, in sanctifi cation 
and holiness, proceeds from the infused principle which we receive 

> " Quis istis corda mutavit, nisi qui finxit singillatim corda eorum ? Qiiis liujus 
rigoris duriticni ad obcdiendi moUivit affectum, nisi qui potcns est de lapidibus Abra- 
hse filids excitare ?" — Prosp. ad Eufin. de Lib. Aibit. 

" Ploremus coram Domiuo qui fecit nos et homines et salvos. Nam si ille nos fecit 
honuHL's. nos autem ipsi nos fecimus salvos, aliquid illo melius fecimus. Melior enim 
e:n salvus hoino quam quilibet homo. Si ergo te Deus fecit homincm et tu te lecisti 
boi.um hoininem, quod tu fecisti melius est. Noli te extollerc super Deum, . . . con- 
"fitcn-e illi qui fecit te, quia nemo recreat nisi qui creat, nemo reflcit nisi qui fecit." 
— August, de Verb. Apost. Serm. x. 

. " Nemo quisqiiam hominum sive ad cogitandum, sive ad operandum quodcunque 
boTium potest esse idoncus; nisi qui fucrit munere gratuito divinre opitulationis adju- 
tii-: ; ab ipso namque est initinm bona; voluntatis, ab ipso facultas boni operis, ab 
ipso pcrseverautia bonw convcrsatiouia." — Fulgent, lib. ' ad Mouim. 



CHAP. VI.] THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED, ETC. S3 7 

in our regeneration ; for all which ends we ought to pray for Him, 
according to the example of holy men of old.^ 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED IN THE 
INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE.^ 

The outward means and manner of conversion to God, or regeneration, with the 
degrees of spiritual operations on the minds of men and their effects, exem- 
plified in the conversion of Augustine, as the account is given thereof bv 
himself. 

As among all the doctrines of the gospel, there is none opposed 
with more violence and subtlety than that concerning our regenera- 
tion by the immediate, powerful, effectual operation of the Holy 
Spirit of grace; so there is not scarce anything more despised or 
scorned by many in the world than that any should profess that 
there hath been such a luoi^h of God upon themselves, or on any 
occasion declare aught of the way and manner whereby it was 
wrought. The very mentioning hereof is grown a derision among 
some that call themselves Christians; and to plead an interest or 
concern in this grace is to forfeit all a man's reputation with many 
who would be thought wise, and boast themselves to be rational. 
Neither is this a practice taken up of late, in these declining times 
of the world, but seems to have been started and followed from 

' " Jam divini amor Numinis, Patris omnipotentis prolisque beatissimae sancta com- 
municatio; omnipotens Paraclete Spiritus ; moerentium consolator clementissime, jam; 
cordis mei penetralibus potenti illabere virtute, et tenebrosa quteque laris neglecti lati- 
bula, corusci luminis fulgore pius habitator Ifetifica, tuique roris abundantia, longo 
ariditatis marcentia squalore, visitando fecunda." 

2 After a youth spent in vicious excess, Augustine was converted to the faith of the gos- 
pel, and admitted into the church by Ambrose at Milan, a.u. 387. Ten years afterwards 
he wrote his " Confessions," in thirteen books; of which ten are occupied with a detail 
of his sinful conduct in early life, the circumstances of his conversion, and his personal 
history up to the period of his mother's death, while the remaining three are devoted 
to an exposition of the Mosaic account of creation. The work is altogether of an unique 
aud extraordinary character, — a direct address to the Deity, sustained with consider- 
able skill and occasionally in strains of animated devotion, abounding in the most 
humble confession of the sins of the author's youth, and marked everywhere with the 
vigour of genius. As a faithful and minute i-ecord of the internal workings of his heart, 
these " Confessions" of Augustine are of great service in illustrating the nature of the 
spiritual change implied in conversion. It is on this account Owen draws from them 
so largely in this chapter. Milncr, for similar purposes, has embodied the substance 
of them in his " History of the Church." 

The quotations made by Owen have been compared with Bruder's edition of the 
" Confessions" (1837). In some instances these quotations are translated by Owen, hv^t 
wherever a formal translation is not supplied, the reader may understand that the 
substance of what is quoted is given immediately afterwards in our author's own words.- 
^Ed. 

VOL. IIL 22 



338 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK III. 

days of old, — possibly from the beginning; yea, the enmity of Cain 
against Abel was but a branch of this proud and perverse inchna- 
tion. The instance of Ishmael in the Scripture is representative of 
all such as, under an outward profession of the true religion, did or 
do scoff at those who, being, as Isaac, children of the promise, do pro- 
fess and evidence an interest in the internal power of it, which tljey 
are unacquainted withal. And the same practice may be traced in 
succeeding ages. Hence, holy Austin, entering upon the confession 
of his greater sins, designing thereby to magnify the glory and effi- 
cacy of the grace of God in his conversion, provides against this 
scorn of men, which he knew he should meet withal. " Irrideant," 
saith he, " me arrogantes et nondum salubriter prostrati et elisi a te, 
Deus mens, ego tamen confitear tibi dedecora mea, in laude tua," 
Confess, lib. iv. cap. 1 ; — " Let arrogant men deride or scorn me, who 
were never savingly cast down nor broken in pieces by thee, my God, 
yet I will [rather, let me] confess my own shame, unto thy praise." 
Let none be offended with these expressions, of being "savingly or 
wholesomely cast down and broken of God;" for, in the judgment of 
this great person, they are not fanaticaL We may not, therefore, 
think it strange if the same truth, the same practice, and profession 
of it, do still meet with the same entertainment. Let them deride 
and scorn it who were never humbled savingly, nor broken with a 
sense of sin, nor relieved by grace ; the holy work of God's Spirit is 
to be owned, and the truth to be avowed as it is in Jesus. 

Of the original depravation of our nature we have treated so 
far as is needful unto our present purpose; yet some things must 
be added concerning the effects of that depravation, which will 
conduce unto the right understanding of the way and manner 
whereby the Spirit of God proceedeth for the healing and removal 
of it, which we have now under especial consideration. And we 
may observe, — 

First, That the corrupt principle of sin, the native habitual in- 
clination that is in us unto evil, worketh early in our natures, and 
for the most part preventeth all the actings of grace in us. Though 
some may be sanctified in or from the womb, yet in order of nature 
this native corruption hath first place in them ; for a clean thing 
cannot be brought out of an unclean, but " that which is born of the 
flesh is flesh:" Ps. Iviii. 3, "The wicked are estranged from the 
womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." It is 
to no purpose to say that he speaks of wicked men,— that is, such 
who are habitually and profligately so ; for, whatever any man may 
afterward run into by a course of sin, all men are morally alike from 
the womb, and it is an aggravation of the wickedness of men that 
it begins so early, and holds on an uninterrupted course. Children 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. 839 

are not able to speak from the womb, as soon as they are born ; yet 
here are they said to sptak lies. It is, therefore, the perverse act- 
ing of depraved nature in infancy that is intended; for every thing 
that is irregular, that answers not the law of our creation and rule 
of our obedience, is a lie. And among the many instances collected 
by Austin of such irregular actings of nature in its infant state, one 
is peculiarly remarkable: Confess, lib. i. cap. 6, "Paulatim sentie- 
bam ubi essem, et voluntates meas volebam ostendere eis perquos 

implerentur, et non poteram Itaque jactabam membra, et 

voces, signa similia voluntatibus meis, pauca quae poteram, qualia 
poteram; et cum mihi non obtemperabatur, vel non intellecto, vel 
ne obesset, indignabar non subditis majoribus, et liberis non servien- 
tibus, et me de illis flendo vindicabam." This again he repeats, 
cap. 7: " An pro tempore ilia bona erant, flendo petere etiam quod 
Doxie daretur; indignari acriter non subjectis hominibus, liberis et 
majoribus, bisque a quibus genitusest; multisque prgeterea prudenti- 
oribus, non ad nutum voluntatis obtemperantibus, feriendo nocere 
niti, quantum potest, quia non obeditur imperils quibus perniciose 
obediretur? Ita imbecillitas membrorum infantilium innocens est, 
non animus infantium." Those irregular and perverse agitations of 
mind, and of the will or appetite, not yet under the conduct of rea- 
son, which appear in infants, with the indignation and little self-re- 
venges wherewith they are accompanied in their disappointments 
when all about them do not subject themselves unto their inclina- 
tions, it may be to their hurt, are from the obliquity of our nature, 
and effects of that depraved habit of sin wherewith it is wholly pos- 
sessed. And by the frequency of these lesser actings are the mind 
and will prepared for those more violent and impetuous motions 
which, by the improving of their natural capacities, and the incita- 
tion of new objects presented unto their corruptions, they are exposed 
unto and filled withal. God did not originally thus create our nature, 
— a condition worse than and inferior unto that of other creatures, 
in whose young ones there are none of these disorders, but a regular 
compliance with their natural instinct prevails in them. And as the 
dying of multitudes of infants, notwithstanding the utmost care for 
their preservation, whereas the young ones of other creatures all 
generally live, if they have whereby their nature may be sustained, 
argues the imputation of sin unto them, — for death entered by sin, 
and passed upon all, inasmuch as all have sinned, — so those irregu- 
lar actings, peculiar unto them, prove sin inherent in them, or the 
corruption of their nature from their conceptions. 

Secondly, With the increase of our natural faculties, and the 
strengthening of the members of our bodies, which by nature are 
become ready " instruments of unrighteousness unto sin," Rom, vL 



2iO THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK III. 

1 3, this perverse principle acts itself with more evidence, frequency, 
and success in the production of actual sin, or inordinate actings 
of the mind, will, and affections. So the wise man tells us that 
*' childhood and youth are vanity," Eccles. xi. 10. The mind of 
man, in the state of childhood and youth, puts itself forth in all 
kinds of vain actings, in foolish imaginations, perverse and froward 
appetites, falseness in words, with sensible effects of corrupt inclina- 
tions in every kind, Austin's first book of Confessions is an excel- 
lent comment on that text, wherein the " vanity of childhood and 
youth" are graphically described, with pathetical self-reflecting com- 
plaints concerning the guilt of sin which is contracted in them. 
Some, perhaps, may think light of those ways of folly and vanity 
•wherein childhood doth, or left alone would, consume itself; — that 
there is no moral evil in those childish innocencies. That good man 
was of another mind. " Istane est," saith he, " innocentia puerilis? 
non est, Domine, non est, oro te, Deus mens. Nam hsec ipsa sunt 
quse a pjsdagogis et magistris, a nucibus et pilulis et passeribus, ad 
prajfectos et reges, aurum, prsedia, mancipia, heec ipsa omnino quae 
succedentibus majoribus setatibus transeunt [sicuti ferulis majora 
supplicia succeduntj," lib. i. cap. 19. This is not innocency ; it is not 
so. The same principle and habit of mind, carried over unto ripei 
age and greater occasions, bring forth those greater sins which the 
lives of men are filled withal in this world. And who is there, who 
hath a serious reverence of God, with any due apprehension of his 
holiness, and a clear conviction of the nature of sin, who is not able 
to call over such actings in childhood, which most think meet to con- 
nive at, wherein they may remember that perversity whereof they 
are now ashamed? By this means is the heart prepared for a farther 
obduration in sin, by the confirmation of native obstinacy. 

Thirdly, Unto those more general irregularities actual sins do 
succeed, — such, I mean, as are against the remaining light of nature, 
or committed in rebellion unto the dictates and guidance of our 
minds and consciences, the influence of those intelligences of moral 
good and evil which are inseparable from the faculties of our souls; 
for although in some they may be stifled and overborne, yet can 
they never be utterly obliterated or extinguished, but will accom- 
pany the nature of man unto eternity, even in that condition 
wherein they shall be of no other use but to add to and increase 
its misery. Amongst those we may call over one or two instances. 
Lying is such a sin, which the depravation of nature in youth is prone 
to exert itself by, and that on sundry reasons, not now to be inquired 
into: " They go astray from the womb, speaking lies." The first in- 
ducement of our nature unto sin was by a lie, and we fell in Adam 
by giving credit thereunto j and there is in every sin a particular lie. 



CHAP. VI.J IN THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. 841 

But speaking falsely, contrary unto what they know to be true, is 
that which children are prone unto, though some more than others, 
according as other vicious ha])its prevail in them, whose actings they 
foolishly think to thatch over and cover thereby. This that holy 
person whom we instance in acknowledgeth, and bewaileth in him- 
self: " Non videbam voraginem turpitudinis in quam projectus erara 
ab oculis tuis. Nam in illis jam quid me foedius fuit, [ubi etiam talibus 
displicebam], fallendo mnumerabilibus mendaciis, et psedagogum et 
magistros et parentes amore ludendi, studio spectandi nugatoria 
[et imitandi ludicra inquietudine?]" lib. i. cap. 19; — " I saw not (O 
God) into what a gulf of filth I was cast out from before thee ; for 
what was more filthy than •!, whilst out of love of plays, and desire 
of looking after vanities, I deceived teachers and parents with innu- 
merable lies?" And this tlie good man was afterward exceedingly 
humbled for, and from it learned much of the vileness of his own 
nature. And we find by experience that a sense of this sin ofttimes 
accompanies the first real convictions that befall the souls of men; 
for when they seriously reflect upon themselves, or do view them- 
selves in the glass of the law, they are not only sensible of the nature 
of this sin, but also how much they indulged themselves therein, 
partly whilst they remember how on the least occasions they were 
surprised into it, which yet they neglected to watch against, and 
partly understanding how sometimes they made it their business, by 
premeditated falsehoods, so to cover other sins as to escape rebuke 
and connection. The mention of these things will probably be enter- 
tained with contempt and scorn in this age, wherein the most prodi- 
gious wickednesses of men are made but a sport; but God, his holi- 
ness, and his truth, are still the same, whatever alterations there may 
be in the world. And the holy jDsalmist seems to have some reflec- 
tion on this vice of youth, when he prays that God would take 
from him the " way of lying." Of the same nature are those lesser 
thefts' in despoiling their parents and governors of such things as 
they are not allowed to take and make use of for themselves: "They 
rob their father or mother, and say. It is no transgression," Prov. 
xxviii. 24. So saith the same person, " Furta etiam ' faciebam de 
cellario parentum et de mensa, vel gula imperitante, vel ut haberem 
quod darem pueris, ludum suum mihi, quo pariter delectabantur 
tamen, vendentibus," lib. i. cap. 19. He sometimes stole from his 
parents, either to gratify his own sensual appetite, or to give unto 
his companions. In such instances doth original pravity exert itself 
in youth or childhood, and thereby both increase its own power and 
fortify the mind and the affections against the light and efficacy of 
conviction. 

Fourthly, As men grow up in the state of nature, sin gets ground 



342 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK IIL 

io them and upon them, subjectively and objectively. Concupiscence 
gets strength with age, and grows in violence as persons amve to 
ability for its exercise; the instruments of it, in the faculties of the 
soul, organs of the senses, and members of the body, growing every 
day more serviceable unto it, and more apt to receive impressions 
from it or to comply with its motions. Hence some charge the sins 
of youth on the heat of blood and the restlessness of the animal 
spirits, which prompt men unto irregularities and extravagancies; — 
but these are only vehicula concupiscentice, things which it makes 
use of to exert its poison by; for sin turns every thing in this state 
unto its own advantage, and abuseth even "the commandment" itself, 
to " work in us all manner of concupiscence," Rom. vii. 8. Again, 
the objects of lust, by the occasions of life, are now multiplied. Temp- 
tations increase with years and the businesses of the world, but espe- 
cially by that corruption of conversation which is among the most. 
Hence sundry persons are in this part of their youth, one way or 
other, overtaken with some gross actual sin or sins. That all are not 
so is a mere effect of preventing grace, and not at all from them- 
selves. This the apostle respects in his charge, 2 Tim. ii. 22, " Flee 
youthful lusts;" such lusts as work effectually and prevail mightily 
in those that are young, if not subdued by the grace of God. And 
David, in a sense and from experience hereof, prays that God would 
not remember " the sins of his youth," Ps. xxv. 7. And a reflection 
from them is sometimes the torment of age. Job xx. 11: so he in 
whom we have chosen to exemplify the instances of such a course. 
He humbly confesseth unto God his falling into and being overtaken 
with great sins, such as fornication and uncleanness, in his younger 
days; in the mire whereof he was long detained. To this purpose he 
discourseth at large, lib. ii. cap. 1-3. And of the reason of this his 
humble and public acknowledgment he gives this holy account: 
" Neque enim tibi, Deus meus, sed apud te narro hjec generi meo, 
generi humane, quantulacunque ex particula incidere potest in istas 
meas literas. Et ut quid hoc? Ut videlicet ego et quisquis hsec 
legit, cogitemus de quam profundo clamandum sit ad te," cap. 3; 
— "I declare these things, my God, not unto thee, but before thee" 
(or in thy presence), " unto my own race, unto human kind, whatever 
portion thereof may fall on these writings of mine. And unto what 
end? Namely, that I and every one who shall read these things 
may consider out of what great depths we are to cry unto thee." So 
he, who lived not to see the days wherein humble confession of sin 
was made a matter of contempt and scorn. 

Now, there is commonly a twofold event of men's falling under 
the power of temptations, and thereby into great actual sins: — 

1. God sometimes takes occasion from them to awaken their con- 



CHAP. VL] in the instance OF AUGUSTINE. 343 

sciences unto a deep sense not only of that sin in particular whose 
guilt they have contracted, but of their other sins also. The great 
Physician of their souls turns this poison into a medicine, and makes 
that wound which they have given themselves to be the lancing of 
a festered sore; for whereas their oscitancy, prejudices, and custom 
of sinning, have taken away the sense of lesser sins, and secure them 
from reflections from them, the stroke on their consciences from those 
greater provocations pierceth so deep as that they are forced to en- 
tertain thoughts of looking out after a release or remedy. So did 
they of old at the sermon of Peter, when he charged them with the 
guilt of a consent to the crucifying of Jesus Christ : " They were 
pricked in their heart, and said, Men and brethren, what shall we 
do?" Acts ii. 86, 87. 

2. With others it proves a violent entrance into a farther pursuit 
of sin. The bounds of restraints, with the influence of natural lioht, 
being broken up and rejected, men's lusts being let loose, do break 
through all remainiug obstacles, and run out into the greatest com- 
pass of excess and riot ; observing no present evil to ensue on what 
they have done, according to their first fears, they are emboldened to 
greater wickedness, Eccles. viii. 11. And by this means is their con- 
version unto God rendered more difficult, and men thus wander away 
more and more from him unto the greatest distance that is recover- 
able by grace; for, — 

Fifthly, A course in, and a custom of, sinning with many ensues 
hereon. Such the apostle treats concerning, Eph. iv. 18, 19, "Being- 
past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work 
all uncleauness with greediness." Custom of sinning takes away the 
sense of it; the course of the world takes away the shame of it; and 
love to it makes men greedy in the pursuit of it. See Confess, lib. ii. 
cap. 6. And this last effect of sin, as incited, provoked, and assisted 
by temptations, hath great variety in the effects and degrees of it. 
Hence are the various courses of unhumbled sinners in the world, 
wherein the outrage and excess of some seems to justify others in 
their more sedate irregularities and less conspicuous provocations. 
Yea, some who are not in any better state and condition as to their 
interest in the covenant of God than others, will yet not only startle 
at but really abhor those outrages of sin and wickedness which they 
fall into. Now, this difference ariseth not from hence, that the na- 
ture of all men is not equally corrupt and depraved, but that God is 
pleased to make his restraining grace effectual towards some, to keep 
them within those bounds of binning which they shall not pass over, 
and to permit others so to fall under a conjunction of their lusts and 
temptations as that they proceed unto all manner of evil. More- 
over, there are peculiar inclinations unto some sins, if not inlaid 



S-14 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK III. 

in, yet much enhanced and made obiioxious unto incitations by, 
the temperature of the body ; and some are more exposed unto 
temptations in the world from their outward circumstances and oc- 
casions of hfe. Hereby are some even jDrecipitated to all manner of 
evil. But still " the old man, which is corrupt according to the de- 
ceitful lusts," is the same naturally in all. All difference as to good 
from evil, — I mean not as to the nature of the things themselves, but 
as to men's interest in them, so as to adhere to the one and avoid 
the other, — is from the will of God. Thus he secretly prepares for 
some a better teniperatiu'e of nature, docile and pliable unto such 
notices of things as may entertain their minds, and satisfy them above 
sensual delights. And some he disposeth, in their education, callings, 
societies, aims, and designs in the world, into ways inconsistent with 
open lewdness, which will much balance their inclinations, besides 
his secret internal actings on their hearts and minds, whereof after- 
ward. This is excellently expressed by Austin, Confess, lib. ii. cap. 
7: " Diligam te, Domine, et gratias agam, et confitear nomini tuo, 
quoniam tanta dimisisti mihi mala et nefaria opera mea. Gratioe 
tuse depute et misericordia tuae quod peccata mea tanquam glaciem 
solvisti, gratise tiise depute et quaecunque non feci mala ; quid enira 
non facere potui qui etiam gratuitum facinus amavi? Et omnia mihi 
dimissa esse fateor, et quse mea sponte feci mala, et quas te duce noii 
feci. Quis est hominum, qui suam cogitans infirmitatem, audet vi- 
ribus suis tribuere castitatem atque innocentiam suam, ut minus amet 
te, quasi minus ei necessaria fuerit misericordia tua, qua condonas 
peccata conversis ad te? Qui enim vocatus ad te secutus est vocem 
tuam et vitavit, et quae me de meipso recordantem et fateutem legit, 
non me derideat ab eo medico aegrum sanari, a quo sibi prestitum est 
ut non aegrotaret, vel potius ut minus aegrotaret ; et ideo te tantun- 
dem imo vero amplius diligat, quia per quem me videt tantis pecca- 
torura meorum languoribus exui, per eum se videt tantis peccatorum 
languoribus non implicari;" — " I will love thee, O Lord, and thank 
thee, and confess unto thy name, because thou hast forgiven me my 
evil and nefarious deeds. I impute it to thy grace and mercy that 
thou hast made my sins to melt away as ice, and I impute it to thy 
grace as to all the evils which I have not done; for what could not 
I have done who loved wickedness for itself ? All I acknowledge 
are forgiven me, both the evils that I have done of my own accord, 
and what through thy guidance I have not done. Who is there who, 
considering his own weakness, dare ascribe his chastity or innocency 
unto his own strength, that he may less love thee, as though thy 
mercy were less necessary unto him, whereby thou forgivest the sins 
of them that are converted to thee. For let not him who, being 
called of thee, and having heard thy voice, hath avoided the evils 



CHAP. VI.] IN" THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE, S-15 

which I have confessed, deride me that, being sick, was healed of 
that physician from whom he received the mercy not to be sick, or 
not to be so sick; [and therefore let him love thee so much the more, 
as he sees himself prevented from having fallen into the great maladies 
of sin, through that God by whom he sees me delivered from the 
great maladies of the sin into which I had actually fallen.]" 

This brief account of the actings of corrupted nature, until it 
comes unto the utmost of a recoverable alienation from God, may 
somewhat illustrate and set off the work of his grace towards, us. 
And thus far, whatever habit be contracted in, a course of sin, yet 
the state of men is absolutely recoverable by the grace of Jesus 
Christ administered in the gospel, 1 Cor. vi. 9-1 1. No state of sin 
is absolutely unhealable until God hath variously dealt with men by 
his Spirit. His word must be rejected, and he must be sinned 
against in a peculiar manner, before remission be impossible. All 
sins and blasphemies antecedent thereunto may be forgiven unto 
men, and that before their conversion unto God, Matt. xii. 81, 32; 
Luke xii. 10. Wherefore, the manner and degrees of the operations 
of this Spirit of God on the minds of men, towards and in their con- 
version, is that which we shall now inquire into, reducing what we 
have to offer concerning it unto certain heads or instances: — 

First, Under the ashes of our collapsed nature there are yet re- 
maining certain sparks of celestial fire, consisting in inbred notices 
of good and evil, of rewards and punishments, of the presence and 
all-seeing eye of God, of help and assistance to be had from him, 
with a dread of his excellencies where any thing is apprehended un- 
worthy of him or provoking unto him; and where there are any 
means of instruction from supernatural revelation, by the word 
preached, or the care of parents in private, there they are insensibly 
improved and increased. Hereby men do obtain an objective, dis- 
tinct knowledge of what they had subjectively and radically, though 
very imperfectly, before. These notices, therefore, God oftentimes 
excites and quickens even in them that are young, so that they shall 
work in them some real regard of and applications unto him. And 
those great workings about the things of God, and towards him, 
which are sometimes found in children, are not mere effects of nature; 
for that would not so act itself were it not, by one occasion or other, 
lor that end administered by the providence of God, effectually ex- 
cited. And many can call over such divine visitations in their youth, 
which now they understand to be so. To this purpose speaks the 
person mentioned : " Puer coepi rogare te auxilium et refudum 
meum, et in tuam invocationem rumpebam nodos linguoe mea?, et 
rogabam te parvus non parvo affectu, ne in schola vapularem." He 
prayed earnestly to God as a refuge, when he was afraid to be beat 



o46 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK III. 

at school. And this he resolves into instruction, or what he had ob- 
served in others : " Invenimus homines rogantes te, et didicimus ab 
eis, sentientes te ut poteramus esse magnum aliquem; qui posses 
etiam non adparens sensibus nostris, exaudire nos et subvenire nobis/' 
lib. i. cap. 9. And hereunto he adds some general instruction which 
he had from the word, cap. 11, And from the same principles, when 
lie was a little after surprised with a fit of sickness, he cried out with 
all earnestness that he might be baptized, that so he might, as he 
thought, go to heaven ; for his father was not yet a Christian, whence 
he was not baptized in his infancy: " Vidisti, Domine, cum adhuc 
puer essem, et quodam die pressus stomachi dolore repente sestuarem 
pene moriturus; vidisti, Deus mens, quoniam custos mens jam eras, 
quo motu animi et qua fide baptismum Christi tui, Dei et Domini 
mei flagitavi," cap. 11. Such affections and occasional actings of 
soul towards God are wrought in many by the Spirit. With the 
most they wear off and perish, as they did with him, Avho after this 
cast himself into many flagitious sins. But in some God doth, in 
and by the use of these means, inlay their hearts with those seeds of 
faith and grace which he gradually cherisheth and increaseth. 

Secondly, God works upon men by his Spirit in outward means, 
to cause them to take some real and steady consideration of him, 
their own distance from him, and obnoxiousness unto his righteous- 
ness on the account of sin. It is almost incredible to apprehend, but 
that it is testified unto by daily experience, how men will live even 
where the word is read and preached ; how they will get a form of 
speaking of God, yea, and of performing some duties of religion, and 
yet never come to have any steady thoughts of God, or of their rela- 
tion to him, or of their concernment in his will. Whatever they 
speak of God, " he is not in all their thoughts," Ps. x. 4. Whatever 
they do in religion, they do it not unto him, Amos v. 25. They have 
" neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape," John 
V. 37; knowing nothing /or themselves, which is their duty. Job 
V. 27. And yet it is hard to convince them that such is their condi- 
tion. But when God is pleased to carry on his work of light and 
grace in them, they can call to mind and understand how it was 
with them in their former darkness. Then will they acknowledge 
that in truth they never had serious, steady thoughts of God, but 
only such as were occasional and transient. Wherefore God begins 
here with them. And thereby to subduct them from under the ab- 
solute power of the vanity of their minds, by one means or other he 
fixeth in them steady thoiights concerning himself, and their relation 
unto him. And there are several ways which he proceedeth in for 
the effecting hereof; as, — 

1. By some sudden amazing judgments, whereby he " revealeth 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. 847 

his wrath from heaven against the ungodliness of men," Rom. i. 18. 
So Waldo was affected when his companion was stricken dead as he 
walked with him in the fields; which proved the occasion of his con- 
version unto God. So the psalmist describes the affections and 
thoughts of men when they are surprised with a storm at sea, Ps. 
cvii. 25-28; an instance whereof we have in the mariners of Jonah's 
ship, chap. i. 4-7. And that Pharaoh who despised one day, say- 
ing, " Who is the Lord, that I should regard him?" being the next 
day terrified with thunder and lightning, cries out, " Entreat the 
Lord for me that it may be so no more," Exod. ix. 28. And such 
like impressions from divine power most men, at one time or other, 
have experience of 

2. By personal afflictions, Job xxxiii. 19, 20; Ps. Ixxviii. 34, 35; 
Hos. V. 15. Affliction naturally bespeaks anger, and anger respects 
sin. It bespeaks itself to be God's messenger to call sin to remem- 
brance, 1 Kings xvii. 18; Gen. xlii. 21, 22. The time of affliction is 
a time of consideration, Eccles. vii. 14; and if men be not obdurate 
and hardened almost unto practical atheism by a course of sinning, 
they cannot but bethink themselves who sends affliction, and for 
what end it is sent. Hence great thoughts of the holiness of God 
and of his hatred of sin, with some sense of men's own guilt and 
especial crimes, will arise ; and these effects many times prove prepa- 
ratory and nfiaterially dispositive unto conversion. And not what 
these things are in themselves able to operate is to be considered, 
but what they are designed unto and made effectual for by the 
Holy Ghost. 

3. By remarkable deliverances and mercies: so it was with Naa- 
man the Syrian, 2 Kings v. 15-17. Sudden changes from great 
dangers and distresses by unexpected reliefs deeply affect the minds 
of men, convincing them of the power, presence, and goodness of 
God ; and this produceth a sense and acknowledgment of their own 
unworthiness of what they have received. Hence, also, some tem- 
porary effects of submission to the divine will and gratitude do pro- 
ceed. 

4. An observation of the conversation of others hath affected many 
to seek into the causes and ends of it; and this inclines them unto 
imitation. 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2. 

5. The word, in the reading or preaching of it, is the principal 
means hereof. This the Holy Spirit employeth and maketh use of 
in his entrance into this work, 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25; for those convic- 
tions befall not men from the word universally or promiscuously, 
but as the Holy Spirit willeth and designeth. It is by the law that 
men have the knowledge of sin, Rom. vii. 7; yet we see by expe- 
rience that the doctrine of the law is despised by the most that hear 



848 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK III. 

it. A7herefore, it hath not in itself a force or virtue always to work 
conviction of sin in them unto whom it is outwardly proposed; only 
towards some the Spirit of God is pleased to put forth an especial 
energy in the dispensation thereof. 

By these and the like means doth God ofttimes put the wildness 
of corrupted nature unto a stand, and stir up the faculties of the 
soul, by an effectual though not saving impression upon them, seri- 
ously to consider of itself, and its relation unto him and his will. 
And hereby are men ofttimes incited and engaged unto many duties 
of religion, as prayer for the pardon of sin, with resolutions of amend- 
ment. And although these things in some are subordinated unto a 
farther and more effectual work of the Spirit of God upon them, yet 
with many they prove evanid and fading, their goodness in them 
being " as a morning cloud, and as the early dew which passeth away," 
Hos. vi. 4. And the reasons whence it is that men cast off these 
warnings of God, and pursue not their own intentions under them, 
nor answer what they lead unto, are obvious; for, — 

(1.) The darkness of their minds being yet uncured, they are not 
able to discern the true nature of these divine intimations and in- 
structions, but after a while regard them not, or reject them as the 
occasions of needless scruples and fears. (2.) Presumption of their 
jiresent condition, that it is as good as it need be, or as is convenient 
in their present circumstances and occasions, makes them neglect the 
improvement of their warnings. (3.) Profane societies and rela- 
tions, such as, it may be, scoff at and deride all tremblings at divine 
Avarnings, with ignorant ministers, that undertake to teach what they 
have not learned, are great means of hardening men in their sins, 
and of forfeiting the benefit of these divine intimations. (4.) They 
will, as to all efficacy, and the motions they bring on the affections 
of men, decay and expire of themselves, if they are not diligently im- 
proved : wherefore in many they perish through mere sloth and neg- 
ligence. (5.) Satan applies all his engines to the defeatment of these 
lieginnings of any good in the souls of men. (6.) That which effec- 
tually and utterly overthrows this work, which causeth them to cast 
off these heavenly warnings, is mere love of lusts and pleasures, or 
the unconquered adherence of a corrupted heart unto sensual and 
sinful objects, that offer present satisfaction unto its carnal desires. 
By this means is this work, of the Spirit of God in the hearts and 
minds of many utterly defeated, to the increase of their guilt, an ad- 
dition to their natural hardness, and the ruin of their souls. But in 
some of them he is graciously pleased to renew his work, and by 
more efft'ctual means to carry it on to perfection, as shall be after- 
ward declared. 

How, there is scarce any of these instances of the care and watch- 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE INSTA^X'E OF AUGUKTINE. S49 

fulness of God over the souls of men whom he designs either to con- 
vince or convert, for the ends of his own glory, but the holy person 
whom we have proposed as an example gives an account of them in 
and towards himself, declaring in like manner how, by the ways and 
means mentioned, they were frustrated, and came to nothing. Such 
were the warnings which he acknowledged that God gave him by the 
persuasions and exhortations of his mother, lib. ii. cap. 3 ; such were 
those which he had in sicknesses of his own, and in the death of his 
dear friend and companion, lib. iv. cap. 5-7. And in all the several 
warnings he had from God, he chargeth the want and guilt of their 
non-improvement on his natural blindness, his mind being not illumi- 
nated, and the corruption of his nature not yet cured, with the effi- 
cacy of evil society, and the course of the world in the places where 
he lived. But it would be tedious to transcribe the particular accounts 
that he gives of these things, though all of them singularly worthy of 
consideration: for I must say, that, in my judgment, there is none 
among the ancient or modern divines unto this day, who, either in 
the declarations of their own experiences, or their directions unto 
others, have equalled, much less outgone him, in an accurate search 
and observation of all the secret actings of the Spirit of God on the 
minds and souls of men, both towards and in their recovery or con- 
version ; and in order hereunto, scarce any one not divinely inspired 
hath so traced the way of the serpent, or the effectual working of 
original sin in and on the hearts^ of men, with the efficacy commimi- 
cated thereunto by various temptations and occasions of life in this 
world. The ways, also, whereby the deceitful ness of sin, in compli- 
ance with objective temptations, doth seek to elude and frustrate the 
work of God's grace, when it begins to attempt the strongholds of 
sin in the heart, were exceedingly discovered unto him. Neither 
hath any man more lively and expressly laid open the power of effec- 
tual and victorious grace, with the manner of its operation and pre- 
valency. And all these things, by the guidance of the good Spirit of 
God and attendance unto the word, did he exemplify from his own 
experience in the whole work of God towards him; only it must be 
acknowledged that he declareth these things in such a way and 
manner, as also with such expressions, as many in our days would 
cry out on as fulsome and fanatical. 

Thirdly, In the way of calling men unto the saving knowledge of 
God, the Holy Spirit convinceth them of sin, or he brings them under 
the power of a work of conviction. 

It is not my design, nor here in my way, to handle the nature of 
the work of conviction, the means, causes, and effects of it. Besides, 
it hath been done at large by others. It is sufficient unto my pur- 
pose, — 1. To show the nature of it in general; 2. The causes of it; 



S50 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK III. 

3. The ways whereby men lose their convictions, and so become more 
and more hardened in sin ; 4. How the Holy Spirit doth carry on 
the work in some unto complete conversion unto God: — 

1. For the nature of it in general, it consists in a fixing the vain 
mind of a sinner upon a due consideration of sin, its nature, tendency, 
and end, with his own concernment therein, and a fixing of a due 
sense of sin upon the secure mind of the sinner, with suitable affec- 
tions unto its apprehensions. The warnings, before insisted on, 
whereby God excites men to some steady notices of him and them- 
selves, are like calls given unto a man in a profound sleep, whereat 
being startled he lifts up himself for a little space, but oppressed with 
the power of his deep slumber, quickly lays him down again, as 
Austin expresseth it; but this work of conviction abides with men, 
and they are no way able speedily to disentangle themselves from it. 

Now, the mind of man, which is the subject of this work of con- 
viction, hath two things distinctly to be considered in it: — first. The 
understanding, which is the active, noetical, or contemplative power 
and faculty of it; second, The affections, wherein its passive and 
sensitive power doth consist. With respect hereunto there are two 
parts of the work of conviction: — (1.) The fixing of the mind, the 
rational, contemplative power of it, upon a due consideration of sin ; 
(2.) The fixing of a due sense of sin on the practical, passive, sen- 
sible part of the mind, — that is, the conscience and affections, as was 
said before : — 

(1.) It is a great work, to fix the vain mind of an unregene- 
rate sinner on a due consideration of sin, its nature and tendency. 
The darkness of their own mind and inexpressible vanity, — wherein I 
place the principal effect of our apostasy from God, — do disenable, 
hinder, and divert them from siich apprehensions. Hence God so 
often complains of the foolishness of the people, that they would not 
consider, that they would not be wise to consider their latter end. 
We find by experience this folly and vanity in many unto an astonish- 
ment. No reasons, arguments, entreaties, by all that is naturally 
tlear to them, no necessities, can prevail with them to fix their minds 
on a due consideration of sin. Moreover, Satan now employs all his 
engines to beat off the efficacy and power of this work ; and when 
his temptations and delusions are mixed with men's natural dark- 
ness and vanity, the mind seems to be impregnably fortified against 
the power of conviction : for although it be [only] real conversion unto 
God that overthrows the kingdom of Satan in us, yet this work of con- 
viction raiseth such a combustion in it that he cannot but fear it will 
be its end ; and this strong man armed would, if possible, keep his 
goods and house in peace. Hence all sorts of persons have daily ex- 
perience, in their children, servants, relations, how difiicult, yea, how 



CHAP. VT.] IN THE INSTANCE OP AUGUSTINE, S51 

impossible, it is to fix their minds on a due consideration of sin, until 
it be wrought in them by the exceeding greatness of the pL»wer of 
the Spirit of God. Wherefore, herein consists the first part of this 
work of conviction, — it fixeth the mind on a due consideration of sin. 
So it is expressed, Ps. li. 3, " My sin is ever before me." God " re- 
proves men," and " sets their sins in order before their eyes," Ps. 
1. 2 1. Hence they are necessitated, as it were, always to behold them, 
and that which way soever they turn themselves. Fain they would 
cast them behind their backs, or cast out the thoughts of them, but 
the arrows of God stick in them, and they cannot take off their 
minds from their consideration. And whereas there are three thinsfs 
in sin, — 1st. The original of it, and its native inherence in us, as 
Ps. li. 5; 2dly. The state of it, or the obnoxiousness of men to the 
wrath of God on the account thereof, Eph. ii. 1-3; Sdly. The par- 
ticular sins of men's lives; — in the first part of the work of convic- 
tion, the minds of men are variously exercised with respect unto them, 
according as the Spirit of God is pleased to engage and fix them. 

(2.) As the mind is hereby fixed on the consideration of sin, so a 
sense of sin must also be fixed on the mind, — that is, the conscience 
and affections. A bare contemplation of the concernments of sin is 
of little use in this matter. Tlie Scripture principally evidenceth 
this work of conviction, or placeth it in this effect of a sense of sin, 
in ti-ouble, sorrow, disquietment of mind, fear of ruin, and the like: 
see Acts ii. 37, xxiv. 25. But this I must not enlarge upon. This, 
therefore, is the second thing wliich we observe in God's gracious 
actings towards the recovery of the souls of men from their apostasy 
and from under the power of sin. 

2. The principal efficient cause of this work is the Holy Ghost ; the 
preaching of the word, especially of the law, being the instrument which 
he maketh use of therein. The knowledge of sin is by the law, both the 
nature, guilt, and curse belonging to it, Rom. vii. 7. There is, there- 
fore, no conviction of sin but what consists in an emanation of light 
and knowledge from the doctrine of the law, with an evidence of its 
power and a sense of its curse. Other means, as afflictions, dangers, 
sicknesses, fears, disappointments, may be made use of to excite, stir 
up, and put an edge upon the minds and affections of men ; yet it is, 
by one means or other, from the law of God that such a discovery is 
made of sin unto them, and such a sense of it wrought upon them, 
as belong unto this work of conviction. But it is the Spirit of God 
alone that is the principal efficient cause of it, for he works these 
effects on the minds of men. God takes it upon himself, as his own 
work, to " reprove men, and set their sins in order before their eyes," 
Ps. 1. 21. And that this same work is done immediately by the 
Spirit is expressly declared, John xvi. 8. He alone it is who makes 



S52 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [bOOK III. 

all means effectual unto this end and purpose. Without his espe- 
cial and immediate actings on us to this end, we may hear the law 
preached all the days of our lives and not be once affected with it. 

And it may, by the way, be worth our observation to consider how 
Ood, designing the calling or conversion of the souls of men, doth, in 
his holy, wise providence, overrule all their outward concernments, 
so as that they shall be disposed into such circumstances as conduce 
to the end aimed at. Either by their own inclinations and choice, 
or by the intervention of accidents crossing their inclinations and 
frustrating their designs, he will lead them into such societies, ac- 
quaintances, relations, places, means, as he hath ordained to be use- 
ful unto them for the gi'eat ends of their conviction and conversion. 
So, in particular, Austin aboundeth in his contemplation on the holy, 
wise providence of God, in carrying of him from Carthage to Rome, 
and from thence to Milan, where he heard Ambrose preach every 
Lord's day; which proved at length the means of his thorough con- 
version to God. And in that whole course, by his discourse upon it, 
he discovers excellentl}^, as, on the one hand, the variety of his own 
projects and designs, his aims and ends, which ofttimes were perverse 
and froward; so, on the other, the constant guidance of divine Provi- 
dence, working powerfully through all occurrences towards the blessed 
end designed for him. And I no way doubt but that God exercised 
him unto those distinct experiences of sin and grace in his own heart 
and ways, because he had designed him to be the great champion of 
the doctrine of his grace against all its enemies, and that not only in 
his own age, wherein it met with a fierce opposition, but also in all 
succeeding ages, by his excellent labours, preserved for the use of the 
church : see Confess, lib. v. cap. 7-9, etc. " Tu spes mea [et portio 
mea] in terra viventium, ad mutandum terrarum locum pro salute 
animse mea, et Carthagini stimulos quibus inde avellerer admovebas, 
eb E-omse illecebras quibus attraherer, proponebas mihi per homines, 
qui diligunt vitam mortuam, hinc insana facientes, inde vana pol- 
licentes, et ad corrigendos gi'essus meos, utebaris occulte et illorum 
et mea perversitate," cap. 8 ; — " Thou who art my hope [and my 
portion] in the land of the living, that I might remove from one 
country to another, for the salvation of my soul, didst both apply 
goads unto me at Carthage, whereby I might be driven from thence, 
and proposedst allurements unto me at Rome, whereby I might be 
drawn thither; and this thou didst by men : who love the dead life in 
sin, here doing things outrageous, there promising things desirable to 
vain minds, whilst tliou, to correct and reform my ways, didst secretly 
make use of their frowardness and mine." 

3. It must be granted that many on whom this work hath been 
wrought, producing great resolutions of amendment and much re- 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE I^-.STANCE OF AUGUSTINE, 8o,'» 

formation of life, do lose all the power and efficacy of it, with all 
the impressions it had made on their affections. And some of these 
wax worse and more profligate in sinning than ever they were be- 
fore; for having broken down the dam of their restraints, they pour 
out their lusts like a flood, and are more senseless than ever of 
those checks and fears with which before they were bridled and 
awed, 2 Pet. ii. 20-22. So the person lately mentioned declares, 
that after many convictions which he had digested and neglected, 
he was grown so ol)durate and senseless, that falling into a fever, 
wherein he thought he should die and go immediately unto hell, he 
had not that endeavour after dehverance and mercy which he had 
many years before on lesser dangers. And this perverse effect is va- 
riously brought about: — 

(1.) It is with most an immediate product of the power of their 
own lust Especially is it so with them who together with their 
convictions receive no gifts of the Holy Ghost; for, as we observed,, 
their lusts being only checked and controlled, not subdued, they get 
new strength by their restraint, and rebel with success against con- 
viction. Such as these fall away from what they have attained 
suddenly, Matt. xiii. 5, 21. • One day they seem to lie in hell by 
the terror of their convictions, and the next to be hasting to- 
wards it by their sins and pollutions: see Luke xi. 24-26; Hos. 
vi. 4. 

(2.) This apostasy is promoted and hastened by others; as, — [1.] 
Such as undertake to be spiritual guides and instructors of men 
in their way towards rest, who being unskilful in the word of right- 
eousness, do heal their wounds slightly, or turn them out of the way. 
Seducers also, it may be, interpose their crafty deceits, whereby 
they lie in wait to deceive, and so turn men off from those good 
ways of God whereinto they would otherwise enter. So it fell out 
with Austin, who, beginning somewhat to inquire after God, fell into 
the society and heresy of the Manichees, which frustrated all the 
convictions which by any means he had received. [2.] Such as 
directly, and that perhaps with importunity and violence, will en- 
deavour to draw men back into the ways of the world and the pur- 
suit of their lusts, Prov. i. 11-14. So the same person declares with 
what earnestness and restless importunities some of his companions 
endeavoured to draw him unto the spectacles and plays at Rome. 
And it is not easily imagined with what subtlety some persons will 
entice others into sinful courses, nor what violence they will use in 
their temptations, under a pretence of love and friendship. [3.] The 
awe that is put on the minds of men in their convictions, arising 
from a dread of the terror of the law, and the judgments of God 
threatened therein, is apt of itself to wear off when the soul is a. 

VOL. IIL 23 



So-i THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK IIL 

little accustomed .unto it, and yet sees no evil actually to ensue, 
Eccles. viii. 11 ; 2 Pet. iii. 4. 

4, In some the Holy Spirit of God is pleased to carry on this 
work of conviction towards a faither blessed issue, and then two 
thingfs ensue thereon in the minds of them who are so convinced :—>- 

(1.) There will follow great and strange conflicts between their 
corruptions and their convictions. And this doth especially manifest 
itself in them who have been accustomed unto a course of sinning, 
or have any particular sin wherein they delight, and by which they 
have given satisfaction unto their lusts; for the law, coming with 
power and terror on the conscience, requires a relinquishment of all 
sins, at the eternal peril of the soul. Sin hereby is incited and pro- 
voked,^ and the soul begins to see its disability to conflict with that 
which before it thought absolutely in its own power: for men that 
indulge themselves in their sins doubt not but that they can leave 
them at their pleasure; but when they begin to make head against 
them on the command of the law, they find themselves to be in the 
power of that which they imagined to be in theirs. So doth sin 
take occasion by the commandment to work in men all manner of 
concupiscence; and those who thought themselves before to be alive 
do find that it is sin which lives, and that themselves are dead, 
Rom. vii. 7-9. Sin rising up in rebellion against the law, discovers 
its own power, and the utter impotency of them in whom it is to 
contest with it or destroy it. But yet men's convictions in this con- 
dition will discover themselves, and operate two ways, or in a twofold 
degree : — 

[1.] They will produce some endeavours and promises of amend- 
ment and reformation of life. These men are unavoidably cast upon 
or wrought unto, to pacify the voice of the law in their consciences, 
which bids them do so or perish. But such endeavours or promises, 
for the most part, hold only unto the next occasion of sinning or 
temptation. An access of the least outward advantage or provoca- 
tion unto the internal power of sin slights all such resolutions, and 
the soul gives up itself unto the power of its old ruler. Such effects 
of the word are described, Hos. vi, 4. So Austin expresseth his own 
experience after his great convictions and before his full conversion, 
lib. viii. cap. 5 : " Suspirabam ligatus non ferro alieno, sed mea ferrea 
voluntate. Velle meum tenebat inimicus, et inde mihi catenam 

> " Libera me, Dominc, ab his hostibus meis, a quibus me liberate non valeo. Per- 
Tcrsum et pcssimum est cor meum, ad deploranda propria peccata mea est lapideum 
■et aridum, ad resistcndum insultantibus molle et lutcum. ad inutilia et noxia portrac- 
tanda velox et infatigabile, ad cogitanda salubria fastidiosum et immobile. Anima 
TOea distorta et depravata est ad percipiendum bonum ; sed ad voluptatum vitia nimis 
facilis et prompta, ad salutcm reminiscendam nimis etiam difficilis et pigra." — Lib. de 
Contritioue Cordis, inter opera August, cap. iv. 



CHxVP. VI.] IN THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. S") 

fecerat et constrinxerat me. Quippe ex voluntate perversa facta est 
libido, et dum servitur libidini, facta est consuetudo; et dum consue- 
tudini non resistitur, facta est necessitas. Quibus quasi ansulis sibi- 
met innexis, unde catenam appellavi, tenebat me obstrictum dura 
eervitus." And he shows how faint and languid his endeavours were 
for reformation and amendment : " Sarcina sseculi, velut somno 
adsolet, dulciter premebar, et cogitationes quibus meditabar in te, 
similes erant conatibus expergisci volentium, qui tamen superati 
soporis altitudine remerguntur." And he eonfesseth that although, 
through the urgency of his convictions, he could not but pray that 
he might be freed from the power of sin, yet, through the prevalency 
of that power in him, he had a secret reserve and desire not to part 
with that sin which he prayed against, cap. 7 : " Petieram a te casti- 
tatem et dixeram. Da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo. 
Timebam enim ne me cito exaudires, et cito sanares a morbo concu- 
piscentias, quam malebam expleri quam extingui." 

[2.] These endeavours do arise unto great perplexities and dis- 
tresses; for after a while, the soul of a sinner is torn and divided be- 
tween the power of corruption and the terror of conviction.^ And 
this falls out upon a double account: — 1st. Upon some occasional 
sharpening of former convictions, when the sense of them has been 
ready to wear off. 2dly. From the secret insinuation of a prin- 
ciple of spiritual life and strength into the will, whose nature and 
power the soul is as yet unacquainted withal. Of both these we 
have signal instances in the person before mentioned; for after all 
the' means which God had used towards him for his conversion, 
whilst yet he was detained under the power of sin, and ready on 
every temptation to revert to his ormer courses, he occasionally 
heard one Pontitianus giving an account of the conversion of two 
eminent courtiers, who immediately renounced the world, and betook 
themselves wholly to the service of God. This discourse God was 
pleased to make use of farther to awake him, and even to amaze 
him. Lib. viiL cap. 7 : " Narrabat hoc Pontitianus ; tu autem, Domiue, 
inter verba ejus retorquebas me ad meipsum, auferens me a dorso 
meo ubi me posueram, dum nollem me attendere, et constituebas 
me ante faciem meam, ut viderem quam turpis essem, quam distor- 
tus et sordidus, m^culosus et ulcerosus: et videbam et horrebam, et 

' " Vere abyssus peccata mea sunt, quia incomprehensibilia profunditate, et inesti- 
mabilia sunt numero et immensitate. O abyssus abyssum invocans ! peccata iiiea, 
tormenta quibus me servatis abyssus sunt, quia irfinita et incomprehensibilia sunt. 
Est ct tertia abyssus, et est nimis terribilis ;• judicia Dei abyssus multa, quia super 
omnem sensum occulta. Hae omnes abyssi terribiles sunt mihi undique, quia timer 
super timorem et dolor super dolorem. Abyssus judiciorum Dei super me, abyssus 
inl'erni subtus me, abyssus peccatorum meonim est intra me. Illam quae super me 
est timeo ne in me irruat ; et me cum abysso mea, in illam quae subtus me latet, ob- 
I mat." — Lib. de Contritione Cordis, inter opera August, cap. ix. 



S"^6 THE ?,TANNETl OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK III. 

quo a me fugerem non erat. Et si conabar a me avertere aspectum 
narrabat ille quod narrabat, et tu me riirsus opponebas mihi, et im- 
piDgebas me in oculos meos, ut invenirem iniquitatem meam et 
odissem." And a little after, " Ita rodebar intus et confimdebar 
pudore horribili veliementer, cum Pontitianus talia loqueretur." The 
substance of what he says is, that in and by that discourse of Pon- 
titianus, God held him to the consideration of himself, caused him to 
see and behold his own filth and vileness, until he was horribly per- 
plexed and confounded in himself. So it often falls out in this work 
of the Spirit of God. When his first warnings are not complied 
withal, when the light he communicates is not improved, upon the 
return of them they shall be mixed with some sense of severity. 

This effect, I say, proceeds from hence, that under this work God 
is pleased secretly to communicate a principle of grace or spiritual 
life unto the will. This, therefore, being designed to rule and bear 
sway in the soul, begins its conflict effectually to eject sin out of its 
throne and dominion ; for whereas, when we come under the power 
of grace, sin can no longer have dominion over us, Rom. vi. 14; so 
the Spirit begins now to " lust against the fiesh," as Gal. v. 1 7, aim- 
ing at and intending a complete victory or conquest. There was, 
upon bare conviction, a contest before in the soul, but it was merely 
between the mind and conscience on the one hand, and the will on 
the other. The will was still absolutely bent on sin, only some head 
was made against its inclinations by the light of the mind before sin, 
and rebukes of conscience after it ; but the conflict begins now to be 
in the will itself. A new principle of grace being infused thereinto, 
opposeth those habitual inclinations unto evil which were before 
predominant in it. This fills the mind with amazement, and in 
some brings them to the very door of despair, because they see not 
how nor when they shall be delivered. So was it with the person 
instanced in. Lib. viii. cap. 5 : " Voluntas nova quae mihi esse coe- 
perat, ut te gratis colerem fruique te vellem, Deus, sola certa jucun- 
ditas, nondum erat idonea ad superandam priorem vetustate robora- 
tam. Ita duse voluntates mese, una vetus, alia nova, ilia carnalis, 
ilia spiritualis, confligebant inter se, atque discordando dissipabant 
animara meam. Sic intelligebam in me ipso experimento id quod 
legeram, quomodo ' caro concupisceret adversus Spiritum, et Spiritus 
adversus camem.' Ego quidem in utroqufe, sed magis ego in eo quod 
in me approbabam quam in eo quod in me improbabam. Ibi enim 
magis jam non ego, quia ex magna parte id patiebar invitus, quod 
faciebam volens;" — " The new will which began to be in me, whereby 
I would love thee, O my God, the only certain sweetness, was not 
yet able to overcome my former will, confirmed by long continuance. 
So my two wills, the one old, the other new, the one carnal, the other 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE INSTANCE OF AU-'USTIXE. OJ? 

spiritual^ conflicted between themselves, and rent my soul by their 
disagreement. Then did I understand by experience in myself what 
I had read, how 'the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit 
against the flesh.' I was myself on both sides, but more in that 
which I approved in myself than in what I condemned in my- 
self I was not more in that which I condemned, because for the 
most part I suffered it unwillingly, rather than did it willingly." 
This conflict between grace and sin in the will he most excellently 
expresseth, cap. 9-11, delivering those things which more or less are 
evident in the experience of those who have passed through this 
work. His fluctuations, his promises, his hopes and fears, the ground 
he got and lost, the pangs of conscience and travail of soul which he 
underwent in the new birth, are all of them graphically represented 
by him. 

In this tnnndt and distress of the soul, God oftentimes quiets it 
by some suitable word of truth, administered unto it either in the 
preaching of the gospel, or by some other means disposed in his pro- 
vidence unto the same end. In the midst of this storm and dis- 
order, he comes and says, "Peace, be still;" for, together with his 
word, he communicates some influence of his grace that shall break 
the rebellious strength, and subdue the power of sin, and give the 
mind satisfaction in a full resolution for its everlasting relinquish- 
ment. So was it with him mentioned. When in the condition de- 
scribed, he was hurried up and down almost like a distracted person, 
whilst he suffered the terrors of the Lord, sometimes praying, some- 
times weeping, sometimes alone, sometimes in the company of his 
friends, sometimes walking, and sometimes lying on the ground, he 
was, by an unusual occurrence, warned to take up a book and read. 
The book next him was that of Paul's Epistle, which taking up and 
opening, the place he first fixed his eyes upon was Rom. xiii. 13, 14, 
"Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunken- 
ness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for 
the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Immediately on the reading 
of these words, there was an end put unto his perplexing conflict. 
He found his whole soul, by the power of almighty grace, subdued 
wholly to the will of God, and fixed unto a prevalent resolution of 
adhering to him with a relinquishment of sin, with an assured com- 
posure upon the account of the success he should have therein 
through Jesus Christ. Immediately he declared what he had done, 
what had befallen him, first to his fyiend, then to his mother ; which 
proved the occasion of conversion to the one and inexpressible joy 
to the other. The end of the story deserves to be reported in his 
own words: " Arripui librum. aperui, et legi Nee ultra volui 



o-^8 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [BOOK III. 

legere, nee opus erat; statim quippe cum fine hujusce sententise, 
quasi luce securitatis infusa cordi meo, omnes dubitationis tenebraB 
diffugerunt. Turn interjecto aut digito aut nescio quo alio signo, 
codicem clausi, et tranquillo jam vultu indicavi Alypio. At ille quid 
in se ageretur, quod ego nesciebam, sic indicavit : petit videre quid 
legissem. Ostendi, et attendit etiam ultra quam ego legeram, et 
ignorabam quid sequeretur. Sequebatur vero, 'Infirmum autem in 
fide recipite/ quod ille ad se retulit, mihique aperuit. Sed tali ad- 
monitione firmatus est, placitoque ac proposito bono, et congruentis- 
simo suis raoribus, quibus a me in melius jam olim valde longeque 
distabat, sine ulla tuibulenta cunctatione conjunctus est. lude ad 
matrera irigredimur. Indicamus, gaudet. Narramus quemadmodum 
gestum sit ; exultat et triumphat, et benedicit tibi, qui potens es 
ultra quam petimus aut intelligimus facere," lib. viii. cap. 12; — 
" Having read tbese verses, I would read no more, nor was there any 
need that so I should do ; for upon the end of that sentence, as if 
a light of peace or security had been infused into my heart, all dark- 
ness of doubts fled aAvay . Marking the book with my finger put into 
it, or by some other sign, I shut it, and with a quiet countenance 
declared what was done to Alypius; and hereupon he also declared 
what was at work in himself, whereof I was ignorant. He desired 
to see what I had read ; which when I had showed him, he looked 
farther than I had read, nor did I know what followed. But it was 
this, 'Him that is weak in the faith receive;' which he applied unto 
himself, and declared it unto me. Confirmed by this admonition, 
with a firm purpose, and suitable to his manners, wherein he for- 
merly much excelled me, he was joined to me without any turbulent 
delay. We go in hereon unto my mother, and declare what was 
done ; she rejoiceth. We make known the manner of it how it was 
done; she exulteth and triumpheth, and blesseth thee, God, 
who art able to do for us more than we know how to ask or under- 
stand." And these things doth the holy man express to bear wit- 
ness, as he says, " adversus typhum humani generis," — to " repress 
the swelling pride of mankind." And in the example of Alypius we 
have an instance how variously God is pleased to effect this work in 
men, carrying some through strong convictions, deep humiliations, 
great distresses, and perplexing terrors of mind, before they come to 
peace and rest; leading others gently and quietly, v/ithout any visi- 
ble disturbances, unto the saving knowledge of himself by Jesus 
Christ. 

(2.) A second thing which befalls men under this work of convic- 
tion, is a dread and /ear as to their eternal condition. There doth 
befall them an apprehension of that wrath which is due to their sins, 
and threatened in the curse of the law to be inflicted on them. This 



CHAP, VI.] IN THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. 359 

fills them with afflictive perturbations of mind, with dread and ter- 
ror, consternation and humbling of their souls thereon. And what 
befalls the minds of men on this account is handled by some dis- 
tinctly, under the names or titles of "dolor legalis," "timer servilis," 
"attritio mentis," "compuuctio cordis," "humiliatio animse," — "legal 
sorrow," "servile fear," "attrition of mind," "compunction," and 
"humiliation," and the like. And as these things have been handled 
most of them l)y modern divines, and cast into a certain series and 
dependence on one another, with a discovery of their nature and 
degrees, and how far they are required in order unto sincere conver- 
sion and sound believing; so they are all of them treated on, in their 
way, by the schoolmen, as also they were before them by many of 
the fathers. The charge, therefore, of novelty, which is laid by some 
against the doctrine of these things, ariseth from a fulsome mixture 
of ignorance and confidence. Whether, therefore, all things that 
are delivered concerning these things be right or no, sure enough I 
am that the whole doctrine about them, for the substance of it, is 
no newer than the gospel, and that it hath been taught in all ages 
of the church. What is needful to be received concerning it I shall 
reduce to the ensuing heads: — 

[1.] Conviction of sin being ordinarily by the law, either imme- 
diately or by light and truth thence derived, there doth ordinarily 
accompany it a deep sense and apjjrehension of the eternal danger 
which the soul is liable unto on the account of the guilt of the sin 
whereof it is convinced ; for the law comes with its whole power upon 
the mind and conscience. Men may be partial in the law; the law 
will not be partial. It doth not only convince by its light, but also 
at the same time condemns by its authority; for what the law 
speaks, "it speaks unto them that are under the law." It takes 
men under its power, then, shutting them under sin, it speaks unto 
them in great severity. This is called the coming of the command- 
ment, and slaying of a sinner, Rom. vii. 9. 

[2.] This apprehension will ordinarily ingenerate disquieting and 
jierplexing affections in the minds of men ; nor can it be otherwise 
where it is fixed and prevalent; as, — \st. Sorrow and shame for 
and of what they have done. Shame was the first thing wherein con- 
viction of sin discovered itself, Gen. iii. 7. And sorrow always accom- 
panieth it. Acts ii. 37, hearing these things, TtanvbyriSav rff xapdiq,, 
— "they were pierced with perplexing grief in their heart." Their 
eyes are opened to see the guilt and sense of sin, which pierceth 
them through with dividing sorrow. 2,dly. Fear of eternal wrath. 
This keeps the soul in bondage, Heb. ii. 15, and is accompanied 
with torment. The person so convinced believes the threatening of 
the law to be true, and trembles at it; an eminent instance whereof 



oGO THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [bOOK IIT. 

we have in our first parents also, Gen. iii. 8, 10. 2dly. Perplexing 
unsatisfactory inquiries after means and ways for deliverance out 
of this present distress and from future misery. "What shall we do? 
what shall we do to be saved?" is the restless inquiry of such per- 
sons, Mic. vi. 6, 7; Acts ii. 37, xvi. 30. 

[o.] These things will assuredly put the soul on many duties, as 
prayer for deliverance, abstinence from sin, endeavours after a gene- 
ral cliange of life; in all which, and the like, this conviction puts 
forth and variously exerciseth its power. 

[4.] We do not ascribe the effects intended unto the mere work- 
ing of the passions of the minds of men upon the rational considera- 
tion of their state and condition; which yet cannot but be grievous 
and afflictive. These things may be so proposed unto men and 
pressed on them as that they shall not be able to avoid their consi- 
deration, and the conclusions which naturally follow on them ; and 
yet they may not be in the least affected with them, as we see by 
experience. Wherefore we say, moreover, that the law or the doc- 
trine of it, when the consciences of men are effectually brought 
under its power, is accompanied with a secret virtue from God, called 
a "spirit of bondage;" which causeth a sense of the curse of it to 
take a deep impression on the soul, to fill it with fear and dread, yea, 
sometimes with horror and despair. This the apostle calls the "spirit 
of bondage unto fear," Rom. viii. 15, and declares at large how all 
that are under the law, — that is, the convincing and condemning 
power of it, — are in bondage ; nor doth the law in the administration 
of it lead or gender unto any thing else but bondage, Gal. iv. 22-24. 

[5.] The substance of these things is ordinarily found in those 
who are converted unto God when grown up unto the use of reason, 
and capable of impressions from external administrations. Espe- 
cially are they evident in the minds and consciences of such as have 
been engaged in any open sinful course or practice. But yet no cer- 
tain rule or measure of them can be prescribed as necessary in or 
unto any antecedaneously unto conversion. To evince the truth 
hereof two things may be observed: — 1st. That perturbations, sor- 
rows, dejections, dread, fears, are no duty unto any; only they are 
such things as sometimes ensue or are immitted into the mind upon 
that which is a duty indispensable, namely, conviction of sin. They 
belong not to the precept of the law, but to its curse. They are no 
part of what is required of us, but of what is inflicted on us. There 
is a gospel sorrow and humiliation after beheving that is a duty, 
that is both commanded and hath promises annexed unto it ; but 
this legal sorrow is an effect of the curse of the law, and not of its 
command. 2dly. God is pleased to exercise a prerogative and sove- 
reignty in this whole matter, and deals with the souls of men in un- 



CnAx". VI.] IN TIIi: INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. 3GI 

speakable variety. Some he leads by the gates of death and hell 
unto rest in his love, like the people of old through the waste and 
liowling wilderness into Canaan; and the paths of others he makes 
plain and easy unto them. Some walk or wander long in darkness; 
in the souls of others Christ is formed in the first gracious visitation. 

[6.] There is, as was said, no certain measure or degree of these 
accidents or consequents of conviction to be prescribed unto any as 
antecedaneously 7iecessary to sincere conversion and sound believing; 
but these two things in eeneral are so: — Ist. Such a conviction of 
sin, — that is, of a state of sin, of a course of sin, of actual sins, against 
the light of natural conscience, — as that the soul is satisfied that it is 
thereby obnoxious unto the curse of the law and the wrath of God. 
Thus, at least, doth God conclude and shut up every one under sin 
on whom he will have mercy; for "every mouth must be stopped, 
and all the world become guilty before God/' Rom. iii. 19 ; Gal. iii. 22. 
Without this no man ever did, nor ever will, sincerely believe in Jesus 
Christ; for he calleth none unto him but those who in some mea- 
sure are weary or thirsty, or one way or other seek after deliverance, 
" The whole," he tells us, — that is, those who so conceit themselves,— 
" have no need of a physician ; " they will neither inquire after him nor 
cai'e to go unto him Avhen they are invited so to do. See Isa. xxxii. 2. 
2dly. A due apprehension and resolved judgment that there is no 
way within the compass of a man's own contrivance to find out, or 
his ability to make use of and to walk in, nor any other way of God's 
appointment or approbation, which will deliver the soul in and from 
the state and condition wherein it is and that which it fears, but 
only that which is proposed in the gospel by Jesus Christ. 

[7.] Where these things are, the duty of a person so convinced 
is, — 1st, To inquire after and to receive the revelation of Jesus 
Christ, and the righteousness of God in him, Jobn i. 12. And 
in order hereunto, he ought, — (Jst) To own the sentence of the law 
under which he suffereth, justifying God in his righteousness and 
the law in its holiness, whatever be the issue of this dispensation to- 
wards himself, Rom. iii. 19, 20, vii. 12, 13; for God in this work 
intends to break the stubbornness of men's hearts, and to hide pride 
from them, chap. iii. 4. {2dly.) Not hastily to believe every thing that 
will propose itself unto him as a remedy or means of relief, Micah 
vi. 6, 7. The things which will present themselves in such a case 
as means of relief are of two sorts: — [Isi.] Such as the fears and 
superstitions of men have suggested or will suggest. That which 
hath raised all the false religion which is in the world is nothing 
but a contrivance -for the satisfaction of men's consciences under 
convictions. To pass by Gentilism, this is the very life and soul of 
Fopery. What is the meaning of the sacrifice of the mass, of purga- 



oC2 TjiE Manner of conversion explained [book hi. 

tory, of pardons, penances, indulgences, abstinences, and the like 
things innumerable, but only to satisfy conscience by them, perplexed 
with a sense of sin? Hence many among them, after great and out- 
rageous wickednesses, do betake themselves to their hio-hest monas- 
tical severity. The life and soul of superstition consists in endea- 
vours to quiet and charm the consciences of men convinced of sio. 
[2dly.] That which is pressed with most vehemency and plausibility, 
being suggested by the law itself, in a way of escape from the dan- 
ger of its sentence, as the sense of what it speaks, represented in a 
natural conscience, is legal righteousness, to be sought after in 
amendment of life. This proposeth itself unto the soul, as with 
great importunity, so with great advantages, to further its accept- 
ance ; for, — First, The matter of it is unquestionably necessary, and 
without it in its proper place, and with respect unto its proper end, 
there is no sincere conversion unto God. Secondly, It is looked on as 
the sense of the law, or as that which will give satisfaction thereunto. 
But there is a deceit in all these things as to the end proposed, and 
if any amendment of life be leaned on to that purpose, it will prove 
a broken reed, and pierce the hand of him that rests upon it ; for al- 
though the law require at all times an abstinence from sin, and so for 
the future, which in a sinner is amendment of life, yet it proposeth it 
not as that which will deliver any soul from the guilt of sin already 
contracted, which is the state under consideration. And if it win 
upon the mind to accept of its terms unto that end or purpose, it can 
do no more, nor will do less, than shut up the person under its curse. 
2dly. It is the duty of persons in such a condition to beware 
of entangling temptations; as, — (1st.) That they have not attained 
such a degree of sorrow for sin and humiliation as is necessary unto 
them that are called to believe in Jesus Christ. There was, indeed, 
more reason of giving caution against temi)tations of this kind in 
former days, when preachers of the gospel dealt more severely, — I 
wish I may not also say more sincerely, — with the consciences of con- 
vinced sinners, than it is the manner of most now to do. But it is 
yet possible that herein may lie a mistake, seeing no such degrees 
of these things as some may be troubled about are prescribed for 
any such end either in the law or gospel. {2dly.) That those who per- 
suade tliem to believe know not how great sinners they are. But yet 
they know that Christ called the greatest ; and it is an undervalua- 
tion of the grace of Christ to suppose that the greatest sins should 
disappoint the effects of it in any that sincerely come unto him. 

Fourthly, The last thing, whereby this work of conversion to God 
is completed, as to the outward means of it, which is the ingenerat- 
ing and acting of faith in God by Jesus Christ, remains alone to be 
considered, wherein all possible brevity and plainness shall be con- 



CHAP. Yl] in the instance of AUGUSTINE. oG3 

Bulted; and I shall comprise what I have to offer on this head in 
the ensuing observations: — 

1. This is the proper and peculiar work of the gospel, and ever 
was so from the first giving of the promise. " The law was given 
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," John i. 17; 
Rom. i. 16; 1 Pet. i. 23; James i. 18; Eph. iii. 8-10. 

2. To this purpose it is necessary that the gospel, — that is, the doc- 
trine of it concerning redemption, righteousness, and salvation, by Jesus 
Christ, — be declared and made known to convinced sinners. And this 
also IS an effect of sovereign wisdom and grace, Rom. x. 18-15. 

3. The declaration of the gospel is accompanied with a revelation 
of the will of God with respect unto the faith and obedience of them 
unto whom it is declared. " This is the work of God," the work which 
he requii'es at our hands, " that we believe on him whom he hath 
sent," John vi. 29. And this command of God unto sinners, to be- 
Ijeve in the Lord Jesus Christ for life and salvation, the gospel 
teacheth us to press from the manifold aggravations which attend 
the sin of not complying therewith: for it is, as therein declared, — 
(1.) A rejection of the testimony of God, which he gives unto his wis- 
dom, love, and grace, with the excellency and certainty of the way 
of salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ ; which is to make God a liar, 
1 John V. 10; John iii. 33. (2.) A contempt of love and grace, with 
the way and means of their communication to lost sinners by the 
blood of the Son of God ; which is the highest provocation that can 
be offered unto the divine Majesty. 

4. In the declaration of the gospel, the Lord Christ is in an espe- 
cial manner proposed as crucified and lifted tip for the especial 
object of our faith, John iii. 14, 15; Gal. iii. 1. And this proposition 
of Christ hath included in it an invitation unto all convinced sinners 
to come unto him for life and salvation, Isa. Iv. 1-3, Ixv. 1. 

5. The Lord Christ being proposed unto sibners in the gospel, and 
their acceptance or receiving of him being urged on them, it is withal 
declared for what end he is so proposed ; and this is, in general, to 
" save them from their sins," Matt. i. 21, or " the wrath to come," 
whereof they are afraid, 1 Thess. i 10 : for in the evangelical proposi- 
tion of him there is included, — (1.) That there is a way yet remaining 
for sinners whereby they may escape the curse of the law and the 
wrath of God, which they have deserved, Ps. cxxx. 4; Job xxxiii. 24; 
Acts iv. 12. (2.) That the foundation of these ways lies in an atone- 
ment made by Jesus Christ unto the justice of God, and satisfaction 
to his law for sin, Rom. iii. 25 ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Gal. iii. 13. (3.) That 
God is well pleased with this atonement, and his will is that we 
should accept of it and acquiesce in it, 2 Cor. v. 18-20; Isa. liii. 
11, 12; Rom. v. 10, 11. 

6. It is proposed and promised that through and upon their be- 



364 THE MAXNER OF CONVEESIOK EXPLAINED [COOK IIL 

lieviiig, — that is, on Christ as proposed in the gospel, for the only way 
of redemption and salvation, — convinced sinners shall he pardoned, 
justified, and acquitted before God, discharged of the law against 
them, through the imputation unto them of what the Lord Christ 
hath done for them and suffered in their stead, Rom. viii 1, 3, 4, 
X. 3, 4; 1 Cor. i. 30, 31; 2 Cor. v. 21; Eph. ii. 8-10. • 

7. To prevail with and win over the souls of men unto a consent to 
receive Christ on the terms wherein he is proposed, — that is, to believe 
in him and trust unto him, to what he is, hath done and suffered, and 
continueth to do, for pardon of sin, life, and salvation, — the gospel is 
filled with arguments, invitations, encouragements, exhortations, -pro- 
mises, all of them designed to explain and declare the love, grace, 
faithfulness, and good-will of God herein. In the due management 
and improvement of these parts of the gospel consists the principal 
wisdom and skill of the ministers of the New Testament. 

8. Among these various ways or means of the declaration of him- 
self and his will, God frequently causeth some especial word, pro- 
mise, or passage to fix itself on the mind of a sinner; as we saw it 
in the instance before insisted on. Hereby the soul is first excited 
to exert and act the faith wherewith it is endued by the effectual 
working of the Spirit of God before described; and by this means 
are men directed unto rest, peace, and consolation, in that variety of 
degrees wherein God is pleased to communicate them. 

9. This acting of faith on Christ, through the promise of the gospel, 
for pardon, righteousness, and salvation, is inseparably accompanied 
with, and that faith is the root and infallible cause of, a universal 
engagement of heart U7ito all holy obedience to God in Christ, with 
a relinquishment of all known sin, necessarily producing a thorough 
change and reformation of life and fruitfulness in obedience: for as, 
upon a discovery of the love of God in Christ, the promises whereby 
it is exhibited unto us being mixed with faith, the soul of a poor 
sinner will be filled with godly sorrow and shame for its former sins, 
and will be deeply humbled for them ; so all the faculties of it being 
now renewed and inwardly changed, it can no more refrain from the 
love of holiness and from an engagement into a watchful course of 
imiversal obedience unto God, by such free actings as are proper unto 
it, than one that is new born can refrain from all acts of life natural, 
in motion, desire of food, and the like. Vain and foolish, therefore, 
are the reproaches of some, who, in a high course of a worldly life 
and profane, do charge others with preaching a justification by faith 
alone in Christ Jesus, unto a neglect of holiness, righteousness, and 
obedience to God, Avhich such scoffers and fierce despisers of all 
that are good do so earnestly plead for. Those whom they openly 
roflect upon do unanimously teach that the faith which doth not 
purify tlie heart and reform the life, which is not fruitful in good 



CHAP. VL] in the instance OF AUGFSTINE. Sf)5 

works, which is not an effectual cause and means of repentance and 
newness of life, is not genuine nor pleadable unto justification, but 
empty, dead, and that which, if trusted unto, will eternally deceive 
the souls of men. They do all of them press the indispensable neces- 
sity of universal holiness, godliness, righteousness, or obedience to all 
the commands of God, on surer principles, with more cogent argu- 
ments, in a more clear compliance with the will, grace, and love of 
God in Christ, than any they pretend unto who ignorantly and falsely 
traduce them as those who regard them not. And as they urge an 
obediential holiness which is not defective in any duty, either towards 
God or man, which they either plead for or pretend unto, so it con- 
tains that in it which is more sublime, spiritual, and heavenly than 
Avhat they are either acquainted with or do regard; which in its 
proper place shall be made more fully to appear. 

10. Those who were thus converted unto God in the primitive 
times of the church were, upon their confession or profession hereof, 
admitted into church-society and to a participation of all the mysteries 
thereof. And this being the common way whereby, any were added 
unto the fellowship of the faithful, it was an effectual means of in- 
tense love without dissimulation among them all, on the account of 
their joint interest in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I 
shall shut up this discourse with one instance hereof, given us by 
Austin, in the conversion and admission into church-society of Vic- 
torinus, a Platonical philosopher, as he received the story from Sim- 
plicianus, by whom he was baptized : " Ut ventum est ad horam 
profitendse fidei quae verbis certis conceptis retentisque memoriter, 
de loco eminentiore, in conspectu populi fidelis, Romse reddi solet 
ab eis qui accessuri sunt ad gratiam tuam, oblatum esse dicebat Vic- 
torino a presbyteris, ut secretins redderet, sicut nonnullis qui vere- 
cundia trepidaturi videbantur, offerri mos erat ; ilium autem maluisse 
salutem suam in conspectu sanctse multitudinis profiteri. Non enim 
erat salus, quam docebat in rhetorica, et tamen eam publico professus 
erat. Quanto minus ergo vereri debuit mansuetum gregem tuum 
pronuncians verbum tuum, qui non verebatur in verbis suis turbas 
insanorum! Itaque ubi ascendit ut redderet, omnes sibimet invi- 
cem quisque ut eum noverant, instrepuerunt nomen ejus strepitu 
gratulationis, (quis autem ibi eum non noverat?) et sonuit presso 
sonitu per ora cunctorum collcetantium, Victorinus, Victorinus. Cito 
sonuerunt exultatione quia videbant eum, et cito siluerunt intentione 
ut audirent eum. Pronunciavit ille fidem veracend prseclara fiducia, 
et volebant eum omnes rapere intro in cor suum ; et rapiebant amando 
et gaudends. Hae rapientium manus erant," lib. Viii. cap. 2. Not 
a, few things concerning the order, discipline, and fervent love of the 
primitive Christians in their church-societies are intimated and re- 
presented ia these words, which I shall not here reflect upon. 



2C)C) THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [BOOK IV. 

And tills is the second great work of the Spirit of God in the new 
creation. This is a summary description of his forming and creating 
the members of that mystical body, whose head is Christ Jesus. 
The latter part of our discourse, concerning the external manner of 
regeneration or conversion unto God, with the gradual preparation 
for it and accomplishment of it in the souls of men, is that subject 
which many practical divines of this nation have in their preaching 
and writings much insisted on and improved, to the great profit and 
edification of the church of God. But this whole doctrine, with all 
the declarations and applications of it, is now, by some among our- 
selves, derided and exposed to scorn, although it be known to have 
been the constant doctrine of the most learned prelates of the church of 
England. And as the doctrine is exploded, so all experience of the work 
itself in the souls of men is decried as fanatical and enthusiasticab 

To obviate the pride and wantonness of this filthy spirit, I have, in 
the summary representation of the work itself now given, confirmed 
the several instances of it with the experience of the great and holy 
man so often named ; for whereas some of those by whom this doc- 
trine and work are despised are puffed up with a conceit of their ex- 
cellency in the theatrical, sceptical faculty of these days, unto a 
contempt of all by whom they are contradicted in the most impor- 
tune of their dictates, yet if they should swell themselves until they 
break, like the frog in the fable, they would never prevail with their 
fondest admirers to admit them into a competition with the immortal 
wit, grace, and learning of that eminent champion of the truth and 
light of the age wherein he lived. 



BOOK IV. 
CHAPTER I. 

THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION AND GOSPEL HOLINESS EXPLAINED. 

Regeneration the way whereby the Spirit forms living members for the mystical 
body of Christ— Carried on by sanctification— 1 Thess. v. 23 opened— God 
the only author of our sanctification and holiness, and that as the God of 
peace— Sanctification described— A diligent inquiry into the nature whereof, 
with that of holiness, proved necessary— Sanctification twofold: 1. By ex- 
ternal dedication ; 2. By internal purification— Holiness peculiar to the gos- 
pel and its truth— Not discernible to the eye of carnal reason— Hardly 
understood by believers themselves— It passeth over into eternity— Hath in 
it a present glory— Is all that God requireth of us, and in what sense— Pro- 
mised unto us— How we are to improve the command for holiness. 

In the regeneration or conversion of God's elect, the nature nnd 
manner whereof we have before described, consists ihe second part 



CHAP. I.] AND GOSPEL HOLINESS EXPLAINED. SG7 

of the work of the Holy Spirit, in order unto the completing and 
perfecting of the new creation. As in the former he prepared a na- 
tural body for the Son of God, wherein he was to obey and suffer 
according to his will, so by this latter he prepares him a mystical 
body, or members spiritually living, by uniting them unto him who 
is their head and their life. Col. iii. 4. " For as the body is one, and 
hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being 
many, are one body, so also is Christ," 1 Cor. xii. 12. Nor doth he 
leave this work in that beginning of it whereof we have treated, but 
unto him also it belongs to continue it, to preserve it, and to carry 
it on to perfection ; and this he doth in our sanctification, whose na- 
ture and effects we are in the next place to inquire into. 

Our apostle, in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians, chap, v., hav- 
ing closely compiled a great number of weighty, particular, evangelical 
duties, and annexed sundry motives and enforcements unto them, 
closeth all his holy prescriptions with a fervent prayer for them: 
Verse 23, " And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and let 
your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ;" — or, as I had rather read the 
words, " And God himself, even the God of peace, sanctify you 
throughout, that your whole spirit and soul and body may be pre- 
served blameless." The reason hereof is, because all' the graces and 
duties which he had enjoined them did belong unto their sanctifica- 
tion, which, though their own duty, was not absolutely in their own 
power, but was a work of God in them and upon them. Therefore, 
that they might be able thereunto, and might actually comply with 
his commands, he prays that God would thus sanctify them through- 
out. That this shall be accomplished in them and for them, he 
gives them assurance from the faithfulness (and consequently power 
and unchangeableness, which are included therein) of him who had 
undertaken to effect it: Verse 24, " Faithful is he that calleth you, 
who also will do it." Now, whereas this assurance did not arise nor 
was taken from any thing that was peculiar unto them, but merely 
from the consideration of the faithfulness of God himself, it is equal 
with respect unto all that are effectually called. They shall all in- 
fallibly be sanctified throughout, and preserved blameless to the 
coming of Jesus Christ. This, therefore, being the great privilege 
of believers, and their eternal safety absolutely depending thereon, 
it requires our utmost diligence to search into the nature and neces- 
sity of it ; which may be done from this and the like places of Scrip- 
ture. 

And in this place, — 1 The author of our sanctification, who only 
is so, is asserted to be " God." He is the eternal spring and only 
fountain of all holiness; there is nothing of it in any creature but 



SGS THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [boOK IV. 

what is directly and immediately from him ; there was not in our first 
creation. He made us in his own image. And to suppose that we 
can now sanctify or make ourselves holy is proudly to renounce and 
cast off our principal dependence upon him. We may as wisely and 
rationally contend that we have not our being and our lives from 
God, as that we have not our holiness from him, when we have any. 
Hereunto are the proud opinions of educing a holiness out of the 
principles of nature to be reduced. I know all men will pretend that 
holiness is from God ; it was never denied by Pelagius himself: but 
many, with him, would have it to be from God in a way of nature, 
and not in a way of especial grace. It is this latter way which we 
])lead for ; — and what is from ourselves, or educed by any means out 
of our natural abilities, is not of God in that way ; for God, as the 
author of grace, and the best of corrupted nature are opposed, as we 
shall see farther afterward. 2. And, therefore, is he that is the 
author of our sanctification so emphatically here expressed: AxjTog hi 
6 &sog, " Even God himself" If he doth it not, none other can do it; 
it is no otherwise to be wrought nor effected. There is no other way 
whereby it may be brought about, nor doth it fall under the power 
or efficacy of any means absolutely whatever, but it must be wrought 
by God himself He doth it of himself, from his own grace; by 
himself, or his own power; for himself, or his own glory. 3. And 
that, under this especial consideration, as he is the " God of 
peace." 

This title is ascribed unto God only by our apostle, and by him 
frequentl}*, Rom. xv. 33, xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 11; Phil. iv. 9; Heb. 
xiii. 20. Were it unto our present purpose to discourse concerning 
the general nature of peace, I might show how it is comprehensive 
of all order, rest, and blessedness, and all that is in them. On this 
account the enclosure of it in this title unto God, as its only possessor 
and autlior, belongs to the glory of his sovereign diadem. Every 
thing that is contrary unto it is evil, and of the evil one ; yea, all that 
is evil is so, because of its contrariety unto peace. Well, therefore, 
may God be styled "The God of peace." But these things I may not 
here stay to explain, although the words are so comprehensive and 
expressive of the whole work of sanctification, and that holiness which 
is the effect thereof, as that I shall choose to found my whole dis- 
course concerning this subject upon them. That which offers itself 
unto our present design from this expression is the peculiar respect 
unto the work of our sanctification which lies in this especial property 
of God. Wherefore is he said to sanctify us as the God of peace? 
1. Because it is a fruit and effect of that peace with himself which 
he hath made and prepared for us by Jesus Christ ; for he Avas in 
Christ reconciling the world unto himself, destroying the enmity 



CHAP. I.] AND GOSPEL HOLINESS EXPLAINED. SG9 

which entered by sin, and laying the foundation of eternal peace. 
From hence it is that he will sanctify us, or make us holy; without a 
respect whereunto he would no more do so than he will sanctify 
again the angels that have sinned, for whom there is no peace made 
nor atonement. 2. God, by the sanctification of our natures and 
persons, preserves that peace with himself in its exercise which he 
made and procured by the mediation of Christ, without which it 
could not be kept or continued; for in the duties and fruits thereof 
consist all those actings towards God which a state of reconciliation, 
peace, and friendship, do require. It is holiness that keeps up a sense 
of peace with God, and prevents those spiritual breaches which the 
remainders of our enmity would occasion. Hence God, as the author 
of our peace, is the author of our holiness. God, even God himself, 
the God of peace, doth sanctify us. How this is done immediately 
by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of love and peace, and wherein the 
nature of this work doth consist, are the things which must afterward 
be more fully declared. And he is here said to sanctify us oXorsXsTg, 
that is, " universally and completely," carrying on the work until it 
comes to perfection; for two things are intended in that expres- 
sion: — First, That our whole nature is the subject of this work, and 
not any one faculty or part of it. Second, That as the work itself is 
sincere and universal, communicating all parts of real holiness unto 
our whole nature, so it is carried on to completeness and perfection. 
Both these, in the ensuing words, the apostle expresseth as the end 
and design of his prayer for them, and the effect of the work of grace 
which he prayed for: for, first, The subject of this sanctification he 
makes to be our whole natures, which he distributes unto our entire 
spirits, souls, and bodies; and, second, The end of the whole is, the 
preservation of us blameless in the peace of God unto the coming of 
Christ; — which will both of them be, immediately, more fully spoken 
unto. Wherefore, — 

Sanctification, as here described, is the immediate luorJc of God hj 
his Spirit upon our whole nature, proceeding from the peace made 
for us by Jesus Christ, whereby, being changed into his likeness, we 
are hep)t entirely in peace with God, and are preserved unblamable, 
or in a state of gracious acceptation with him, according to the 
terms of the covenant, unto the end. 

The nature of this work, and its effect, which is our holiness, with 
the necessity of them both, we must on. many accounts, with our ut- 
most diligence, inquire and search into. This both the importance 
of the truth itself, and the opposition that is made unto it, render 
necessary. Besides, whereas we are in the declaration of the especial 
operations of the Holy Ghost, although he be not so denominated ori- 
ginally from this peculiar work, as though he should be called "holy 

VOL. III. 24r 



370 THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [BOOK IV. 

merely because he is the author of holiness in all that are made par- 
takers of it, which we have before disproved, yet there is a general 
consent, in words at least, among all who are called Christians, that 
this is his immediate and proper work, or that he is the only sancti- 
fier of all them that do believe; — and this I shall take as yet for 
granted, although some among us, who not only pretend high to tlie 
preaching of holiness (whatever be their practice), but reproach others 
as weakening the necessity of it, do talk at such a rate as if in the 
holiness which they pleaded for he had nothing to do in a peculiar 
manner; for it is no news to meet with quaint and gilded discourses 
about holiness, intermixed with scoffing reflections on the work of the 
Holy Ghost therein. This work, therefore, of his, we are in an espe- 
cial manner to attend unto, imless we would be found among the 
number of such as those who own themselves, and teach their chil- 
dren, that " the Holy Ghost sanctifies all the elect of God," and yet 
not only despise the work of holiness in themselves, but deride those 
"who plead an interest therein as an effect of the sanctification of the 
Spirit; for such fruits of secret atheism doth the world abound withal. 
But our principal duty in this world is, to know aright what it is to 
be holy, and so to be indeed. 

One thing we must premise to clear our ensuing discourse from 
ambiguity; and this is, that there is mention in the Scripture of a 
twofold sanctification, and consequently of a twofold holiness. The 
first is comnion unto persons and things, consisting in the peculiar 
dedication, consecration, or separation of them unto the service of 
God by his own appointment, whereby they become holy. Thus tlie 
priests and Levites of old, the ark, the altar, the tabernacle, and the 
temple, were sanctified and made holy; and indeed in all holiness 
whatever, there is a peculiar dedication and separation unto God. 
But in the sense mentioned, this was solitary and alone. No more 
belonged unto it but this sacred separation, nor was there any other 
■effect of this sanctification. But, secondly, there is another kind 
of sanctification and holiness, wherein this separation to God is not 
the first thing done or intended, but a consequent and effect thereof. 
This is real and internal, by the communicating of a principle of 
holiness unto our natures, attended with its exercise in acts and 
duties of holy obedience unto God. This is that which, in the first 
place, we inquire after; and how far believers are therein and there- 
by peculiarly separated and dedicated unto God shall be afterward 
declared. And unto what we have to deliver concerning it we shall 
make way by the ensuing observations: — 

1. This whole matter of sanctification and holiness is peculiarly 
joined with and limited unto the doctrine, truth, and grace of the 
gospel; for holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing, and realiz- 



CHAP. I.] AND GOSPEL HOLINESS EXPLAINED. 871 

ing of the gospel in our souls. Hence it is termed '0*/«Vjj? rrjc aXjj- 
6iiag, Epli. iv. 24, — "The holiness of truth;" which the truth of the 
gospel ingenerates, and which consists in a conformity thereunta 
And the gospel itself is 'AX^hia, xar iuasCnav, Tit. i. 1, — "The truth 
which is according unto godliness;" which declares that godliness 
and holiness which God requireth. The prayer, also, of our Saviour 
for our sanctification is conformed thereunto: John xvii. 17, "Sanc- 
tify them in" (or by) " thy truth : thy word is truth." And he sancti- 
fied himself for us to be a sacrifice, that " we might be sanctified in 
the truth." This alone is that truth which makes us free, John 
viii. 32,^that is, from sin and the law, unto righteousness in holiness. 
It belongs neither to nature nor the law, so as to proceed from them 
or to be effected by them. Nature is wholly corrupted and contrary 
unto it. The "law," indeed, for certain ends, "was given by Moses," 
but all " grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." There neither is, nor 
ever was, in the world, nor ever shall be, the least dram of holiness, 
but what, flowing from Jesus Christ, is communicated by the Spirit, 
according to the truth and promise of the gospel. There may be some- 
thing like it as to its outward acts and effects (at least some of them), 
something that may wear its livery in the world, that is but the 
fruit of men's own endeavours in compliance with their convictions; 
but holiness it is not, nor of the same kind or nature with it. And 
this men are very apt to deceive themselves withal. It is the design 
of corrupted reason to debase all the glorious mysteries of the gospel, 
and all the concernments of them. There is nothing in the whole 
mystery of godliness, from the highest crown of it, which is the per- 
son of Christ, " God manifested in the flesh," unto the lowest and 
nearest effect of this grace, but it labours to deprave, dishonour, 
and debase. The Lord Christ, it would have in his whole person 
to be but a mere man, in his obedience and suffering to be but 
an example, in his doctrine to be confined unto the capacity and 
comprehension of carnal reason, and the holiness which he com- 
municates by the sanctification of his Spirit to be but that moral 
virtue which is common amonff men as the fruit of their own en- 
deavours. 

Herein some will acknowledge that men are guided and directed 
to a great advantage by the doctrine of the gospel, and thereunto 
excited by motions of the Holy Ghost himself, put forth in the dis- 
pensation of that truth; but any thing else in it more excellent, 
more mysterious, they will not allow. But these low and carnal 
imaginations are exceedingly unworthy of the grace of Christ, the 
glory of the gospel, the mystery of the recovery of our nature, and 
healing of the wound it received by the entrance of sin, with the 
whole design of God in our restoration unto a state of communion 



372 THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [BOOK IV. 

with himself. Moral virtue is, indeed, the best thing amongst men 
that is of them. It far exceeds in worth, use, and satisfaction, all 
that the honours, powers, profits, and pleasures of the world can 
extend unto. And it is admirable to consider what instructions are 
given concerning it, what expressions are made of its excellency, what 
encomiums of its use and beauty, by learned contemplative men 
among the heathen ; the wisest of whom did acknowledge that there 
was yet something in it which they could only admire, and not com- 
prehend. And very eminent instances of the practice of it were given 
in the lives and conversations of some of them; and as the examples 
of their righteousness, moderation, temperance, equanimity, in all 
conditions, rise up at present unto the shame and reproach of many 
that are called Christians, so they will be called over at the last day 
as an aggravation of their condemnation. But to suppose that this 
moral virtue, whatever it be really in its own nature, or however 
advanced in the imaginations of men, is that holiness of truth which 
"believers receive by the Spirit of Christ, is to debase it, to overthrow 
it, and to drive the souls of men from seeking an interest in it. And 
hence it is that some, pretending highly a friendship and respect 
unto it, do yet hate, despise, and reproach what is really so, pleasing 
themselves with the empty name or withered carcass of virtue, every 
way inferior, as interpreted in their practice, to the righteousness of 
heathens. And this, in the first place, should stir up our diligence 
in our inquiries after its true and real nature, that we deceive not our- 
selves with a false appearance of it, and that unto our ruin. 

2. It is our duty to inquire into the nature of evangelical holiness, 
as it is a fruit or effect in us of the Spirit of sanctijication, because 
it is abstruse and mysterious, and (be it spoken with the good leave 
of some, or whether they will or no) undiscernible unto the eye of 
carnal reason. "We may say of it in some sense as Job of wisdom: 
*' Whence cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understand- 
ing? seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from 
the fowls of heaven. Destruction and death say. We have heard the 
fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, 
and he knoweth the place thereof. And unto man he said. Behold, 
the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; and to depart from evil is 
understanding," chap, xxviii. 20-23, 28. This is that wisdom whose 
ways, residence, and paths, are so hidden from the natural reason 
and understandings of men. No man, I say, by his mere sight and 
conduct, can know and understand aright the true nature of evangeli- 
cal holiness ; and it is, therefore, no wonder if the doctrine of it bo 
despised by many as an enthusiastical fancy. It is of the things of 
the Spirit of God, yea, it is the principal effect of all his operations 
in us and towards us; and these "things of God knoweth no man. 



CHAP, l] and gospel HOLINESS EXPLAINED. 373 

but the Spirit of God," 1 Cor. ii. 11. It is by liim alone that we 
are enabled to " know the things that are freely given to us of 
God," verse 12, as this is, if ever we receive any thing of him in this 
world, or shall do so to eternity. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath 
prepared for them that love him;" the comprehension of these things 
is not the work of any of our natural faculties, but " God reveals 
them unto us by his Spirit," verses 9, 10., Hence it often falls out, 
as it did in the Jews and Pharisees of old, that those who are most 
zealous and industrious for and after a legal righteousness, walking 
in a strict attendance unto duties proportionable unto light and con- 
victions, pretending to be it, and bearing some resemblance of it, 
are the most fierce, and implacable enemies of true evangelical holi- 
ness. They know it not, and therefore hate it; they have embraced 
something else in its place and stead, and therefore despise and 
persecute it; as it befalls them who embrace error for truth in any 
kind. 

3. Believers themselves are ofttimes much unacquainted with it, 
either as to their appreliension of its true nature, causes, and effects, 
or, at least, as to their otvn interest and concernment therein. As 
we know not of ourselves the things that are wrought in us of the 
Spirit of God, so we seldom attend as we ought unto his instruct- 
ing of us in them. It may seem strange, indeed, that whereas all 
believers are sanctified and made holy, they should not under- 
stand or apprehend what is wrouglit in them and for them, and 
what abideth with them; but, alas! how little do Ave know of our- 
selves, of what we are, and whence are our powers and faculties, even 
in things natural! Do we know how the members of the body are 
fashioned in the womb? We are apt to be seeking after and giving 
reasons for all things, and to describe the progress of the production 
of our natures from first to last, so as if not to satisfy ourselves, yet 
to please and amuse others ; for " vain man would be wise, though 
he be born like the wild ass's colt." The best issues of our considera- 
tion hereof is that of the psalmist: " Thou, O LoRD, hast possessed 
my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will j^raise 
thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy 
works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not 
hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in 
the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet 
being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were Avritten, 
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of 
them," Ps. cxxxix. 13-1 6. By diligent consideration of these things 
we may obtain a firm foundation to stand on, in a holy admiration 
of the infinite wisdom and goodness of that sovereign Architect who 



374) THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [BOOK IV. 

hath raised this fabric unto his own glory; and what we farther at- 
tempt is vanity and curiosity. How Httle do we know of these souls 
of ours ! and all that we do so is by their powers and operations, 
which are consequential unto their being. Now, these things are 
our own naturally, — they dwell and abide with us; they are we, and 
we are they, and nothing else : yet is it no easy thing for us to have 
a reflex and intimate acquaintance with them. And is it strange if 
we should be much in the dark unto this new nature, this new crea- 
ture, which comes from above, from God in heaven, wherewith our 
natural reason hath no acquaintance? It is new, it is wonderful, it 
is a work supernatural, and is known only by supernatural revelation. 

Besides, there are other things which pretend to be this gospel 
holiness and are not, whereby unspeakable multitudes are deluded 
and deceived. With some, any reformation of life and abstinence 
from flagitious sins, with the performance of the common duties of 
religion, is all which they suppose is required unto this head of their 
duty. Others contend with violence to substitute moral virtues, — by 
which they know not themselves what they intend, — in the room 
thereof And there is a work of the law which, in the fruits of it, 
internal and external, in the works of righteousness and duties, 
is hardly, and not but by spiritual light and measures, to be dislin- 
giushed from it. This also adds to the difficulty of understanding it 
aright, and should to our diligent inquiry into it. 

4. We must also consider that holiness is not confined to this life, 
but passeth over into eternity and glory. Death hath no power over 
it to destroy it or divest us of it; for, — (1.) Its acts, indeed, are tran- 
sient, but lis, fruits abide for ever in their reward. They who " die 
in the Lord rest from their labours, and their works do follow them," 
Rev. xiv. 13. " God is not unriojhteous to foro-et their labour of love," 
Heb. vi. 10. There is not any effect or fruit of holiness, not the 
least, not the giving of a cup of cold water to a disciple of Christ in 
the name of a disciple, but it shall be had in everlasting remem- 
brance, and abide for ever in its eternal reward. Nothing shall be 
lost, but all the fragments of it shall be gathered up and kept safe 
for ever. Every thing else, how specious soever it be in this world, 
shall be burnt up and consumed, as hay and stubble ; when the least, 
the meanest, the most secret fruit of holiness, shall be gathered as 
gold and silver, durable substance, into God's treasury, and become 
a part of the riches of the inheritance of the saints in glory. Let no 
soul fear the loss of any labour, in any of the duties of holiness, in 
the most secret contest against sin, for inward purity, for outward 
fruitfulness; in the mortification of sin, resistance of temptations, im- 
provement of grace ; in patience, moderation, self-denial, contentment; 
— all that you do know, and what you do not know, shall be re- 



CHAP. I.] AND GOSPEL HOLINESS EXPLAINED. 375 

vived, called over, and abide eternally in yoTir reward. Our Father, 
"who now " seeth in secret," will one day reward openly ; and the 
more we abound in these things, the more will God be glorified in 
the recompense of reward. But this is not all, nor that which I intend. 
(2.) It abides for ever, and passeth over into glory in its princijyle or 
nature. The love wherewith we now adhere to God, and by which 
we act the obedience of faith towards the saints, faileth not; it ends 
not when glory comes on, but is a part of it, 1 Cor. xiii. 8. It is 
true, some gifts shall be done away, as useless in a state of perfection 
and glory, as the apostle there discourseth; and some graces shall 
cease, as to some especial acts and peculiar exercise, as faith and 
hope, so far as they respect things unseen and future; — but all those 
graces whereby holiness is constituted, and wherein it doth consist, for 
the substance of them, as they contain the image of God, as by them 
we are united and do adhere unto God in Christ, shall in their present 
nature, improved into perfection, abide for ever. In our knowledge 
of them, therefore, have we our principal insight into our eternal con- 
dition in glory; and this is, as a firm foundation of consolation, so a 
part of our chiefest joy in this world. Is it not a matter of unspeak- 
able joy and refreshment, that these poor bodies we carry about us, 
after they have been made a prey unto death, dust, worms, and cor- 
ruption, shall be raised and restored to life and immortality, freed 
from pain, sickness, weakness, weariness, and vested with those quali- 
ties, in conformity to Christ's glorious body, which yet we understand 
not? It is so, also, that these souls, which now animate and rule in 
i^s, shall be delivered from all their darkness, ignorance, vanity, in- 
stability, and alienation from things spiritual and heavenly. But this 
is not all. Those poor low graces, which now live and are acting in 
us, shall be continued, preserved, purified, and perfected ; but in their 
nature be the same as now they are, as our souls and bodies shall 
be. That love whereby we now adhere to God as our chiefest good ; 
that /ai'^A whereby we are united to Christ, our everlasting head; 
that delight in any of the ways or ordinances of God wherein he is 
enjoyed, according as he hath promised his presence in them; that 
love and good-will which we have for all those in whom is the Spirit, 
and on whom is the image of Christ; with the entire principle of spi- 
ritual life and holiness, which is now begun in any of us, — shall be all 
purified, enhanced, perfected, and pass into glory. That very holiness 
which we here attain, those inclinations and dispositions, those frames 
of mind, those powers and abilities in obedience and adherence unto 
God, which here contend with the weight of their own weakness and 
imperfection, and with the opposition that is continually made against 
them by the body of death that is utterly to be abolished, shall be 
gloriously perfected into immutable habits, unchangeably acting our 



376 THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [BOOK IV. 

souls in the enjoyment of God. And this also manifesteth of how 
much concernment it is unto us to be acquainted with the doctrine 
of it, and of how much more to be really interested in it. Yea, — 

5. There is spirittial and heavenly glory in it in this world. From 
hence is the church, the " King's daughter," said to be " all glorious 
Avithin," Ps. xlv. 13. Her inward adorning with the graces of the 
Spirit, making her beautiful in holiness, is called "glory;" and is so. 
So also the progress and increase of believers herein is called b}^ our 
apostle their being " changed from glory to glory," 2 Cor. iii. 18, — 
from one degree of glorious grace unto another. As this, next unto 
the comeliness of the righteousness of Christ, put upon us by the 
free grace of God, is our only beauty in his sight, so it is such as 
hath a real sjnritual glory in it. It is the first-fruits of heaven. And 
as the apostle argueth concerning the Jews, that if the " first-fruits" 
"were holy, then is the whole lump holy, so may we on the other 
side, if the whole " weight," as he calls it, and fulness of our future 
enjoyment be glory, then are the first-fruits in their measure so also. 
There is in this holiness, as we shall see farther afterward, a ray of 
eternal light, a principle of eternal life, and the entire nature of that 
love whereby we shall eternally adhere unto God. The divine nature, 
the new immortal creature, the life of God, the life of Christ, are all 
comprised in it. It represents unto God the glory of his own image 
renewed in us ; and unto the Lord Christ the fruits of his Spirit and 
effect of his mediation, wherein he sees of the travail of his soul, 
and is satisfied. There is, therefore, nothing more to be abhorred 
than those carnal, low, and unworthy thoughts which some men vent 
of this glorious work of the Holy Sjnrit who would have it wholly 
to consist in a legal righteousness or moral virtue. 

6. This is that which God indispensably reqtiireth of us. The full 
prosecution of this consideration we must put off unto our arguments 
for the necessity of it, which will ensue in their proper place. At 
present I shall show that not only God requireth holiness indispen- 
sably in all believers, but also that this is all which he requireth of 
them or expecteth from them ; for it compriseth the whole duty of 
man. And this surely rendereth it needful for us both to know what 
it is, and diligently to apply ourselves unto the obtaining an assured 
participation of it; for what servant who hath any sense of his rela- 
tion and duty, if he be satisfied that his master requireth but one 
thing of him, will not endeavour an acquaintance with it and the 
performance of it? Some, indeed, say that their holiness (such as it 
is) is the chief or only design of the gospel. If they intend that it 
is the first, principal design of God in and by the gospel, and that 
not only as to the preceptive part of it, but also as unto its doctrinal 
and promissory parts, whence it is principally and emphatically de- 



CHAP. L] and gospel HOLINESS EXPLAINED. 377 

Bominated, it is a fond imagination. God's great and first design, in 
and by the gospel, is eternally to glorify himself, his wisdom, good- 
ness, love, grace, righteousness, and holiness, by Jesus Christ, Eph. 
i. 5, 6. And iu order to this his great and supreme end, he hath 
designed the gospel ; and designs by the gospel (which gives the gos- 
pel its design), — (1.) To reveal that love and grace of his unto lost 
sinners, with ths way of its communication through the mediation 
of his Son incarnate, as the only means whereby he will be glorified 
and whereby they may be saved, Acts xxvi. 18. (2.) To prevail with 
men, in and by the dispensation of its truth, and encouragement of 
its promises, to renounce their sins and all other expectations of re- 
lief or satisfaction, and to betake themselves by faith unto that way 
of life and salvation which is therein declared unto them, 2 Cor. 
V. 18-21; Col. i. 25-28. (3.) To be the means and instrument of 
conveying over unto them, and giving them a title unto and a right 
in, that grace and mercy, that life and righteousness, which is re- 
vealed and tendered unto them thereby, Mark xvi. 16. (4.) To be 
the way and means of communicating the Spirit of Christ with grace 
and strength unto the elect, enabling them to believe and receive 
the atonement. Gal. iii. 2. (5.) Hereby to give them union with 
Christ as their spiritual and mystical head ; as also to fix their hearts 
and souls in their choicest actings, in their faith, trust, confidence, and. 
love, immediately on the Son of God, as incarnate, and their media- 
tor, John xiv. 1. Wherefore, the first and principal end of the gos- 
pel towards us is, to invite and encourage lost sinners unto the faith 
and approbation of the way of grace, life, and salvation, by Jesus 
Christ; without a compliance wherewith, in the first place, the gospel 
hath no more to do with sinners, but leaves them to justice, the law, 
and themselves. But now, upon a supposition of these things, and 
of our giving glory to God by faith in them, the whole that God re- 
quireth of us in the gospel in a way of duty is, that we should be 
holy, and abide in the use of those means whereby holiness may be 
attained and improved in us; for if he require any other thing of 
us, it must be on one of these four accounts: — (1.) To make atone- 
ment for our sins; or, (2.) To be our righteousness before him ; or, 
(3.) To merit life and salvation by; or, (4.) To supererogate in the 
behalf of others. No other end can be thought of, besides what are 
the true ends of holiness, whereon God should require any thing of us; 
and all the false religion that is in the world leans on a supjDOsition 
that God doth require somewhat of us with respect unto these ends. 
But, — (1.) He requires nothing of us (which we had all the reason 
iu the world to exi)ect that he would) to make atonement or satis- 
faction for our sins, that might compenseite the injuries we have done 
him by our apostasy and rebellion; for whereas we had multiplied 



S78 THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [BOOK IV. 

sins against him, lived in an enmity and opposition to him, and had 
contracted insupportable and immeasurable debts upon our own souls, 
terms of peace being now proposed, who could think but that the 
first thing required of us would be, that we should make some kind 
of satisfaction to divine justice for all our enormous and heinous pro- 
vocations? yea, who is there that indeed doth naturally think other- 
wise? So he apprehended who was contriving a way in his own mind 
how he might come to an agreement with God: Micah vi. 6, 7, 
" Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before 
the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with 
calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of 
rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first- 
born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my 
soul?" This, or something of this nature, seems to be but a very 
reasonable inquiry for a guilty self-condemned sinner, when first he 
entertains thoughts of an agreement with the holy sin-avenging God. 
And this was the foundation of all that cruel and expensive supersti- 
tion that the world was in bondage unto for so many ages. Mankind 
generally thought that the principal thing which was required of 
them in religion was to atone and pacify the wrath of the divine 
Power, and to make a compensation for what had been done against 
him. Hence were their sacrifices of hecatombs of beasts, of man- 
kind, of their children, and of themselves, as I have elsewhere de- 
clared. And the same principle is still deep rooted in the minds of 
convinced sinners : and many an abbey, monastery, college, and alms- 
house hath it founded ; for in the fruits of this superstition, the priests, 
which set it on work, always shared deeply. But quite otherwise; in 
the gospel there is declared and tendered unto sinners Siji absolute 
free 'pardon of all their sins, without any satisfaction or compensation 
made or to be made on their part, that is, by themselves, — namely, 
on the account of the atonement made for them by Jesus Christ. 
And all attempts or endeavours after works or duties of obedience in 
any respect satisfactory to God for sin or meritorious of pardon do 
subvert and overthrow the whole gospel. See 2 Cor. v. 18-21. 
Wlierefore, in answer to the inquiry before mentioned, the reply in 
the prophet is, that God looks for none of these things, and that all 
such contrivances were wholly vain: " He hath showed thee, man, 
what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do 
justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" 
Micah vi. 8; which last expression compriseth the whole of our cove- 
nant obedience. Gen. xvii. 1, as the two former are eminent instances 
of it in particular 

(2.) He requireth nothing of us in a way of righteousness for our 
justification for the future. That this also he would have done we 



CHAP. I.] AND GOSPEL HOLINESS EXPLAINED. S79 

might have justly expected ; for a righteousness we must have, or we 
cannot be accepted with him. And here, also, many are at a loss, and 
resolve that it is a thing fond and inconvenient to think of peace with 
God without some righteousness of their own, on the account v.hereof 
they may be justified before him; and rather than they will forego 
that apprehension, they will let go all other thoughts of peace and 
acceptance. " Being ignorant of the righteousness of God, they go 
about to establish their own righteousness, and do not submit them- 
selves unto the righteousness of God;" nor will they acquiesce in it 
" that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one 
that believeth," as Rom. x. 4. But so it is, that God requireth 
not this of us in the gospel; for we are "justified freely by his grace, 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," chap. iii. 24. And 
we do " therefore conclude that a man is justified by faith without 
the deeds of the law," verse 28. So chap. viii. 3, 4. Neither is there 
any mention in the whole gospel of God's requiring a righteousness 
in us upon the account whereof we should be justified before him, or 
in his sight; for the justification by works mentioned in James con- 
sists in the evidencing and declaration of our faith by them. 

(3.) God requireth not any thing of us whereby we should pur- 
chase or inerit for ourselves life and salvation : for " by grace are we 
saved through faith; not of works, lest any man should boast," Eph. 
ii. 8, 9. God doth save us neither by nor for the " works of right- 
eousness which we have done," but " according to his mercy," Tit. 
iii. 5 : so that although, on the one side, the " wages of sin is death/* 
there being a proportion in justice between sin and punishment, yet 
there is none between our obedience and our salvation; and there- 
fore " eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord," 
Horn. vi. 23. God, therefore, requires nothing at our hands under 
this notion or consideration, nor is it possible that in our condition 
any such thing should be required of us; for whatever we can do is 
due beforehand on other accounts, and so can have no prospect to 
merit what is to come. Who can merit by doing his duty? Our 
Saviour doth so plainly prove the contrary as none can farther doubt 
of it than of his truth and authority, Luke xvii. 10. Nor can we do 
any thing that is accejitable to him but what is wrought in us by 
his grace ; and this overthrows the whole nature of merit, which re- 
quires that that be every way our own whereby we would deserve 
somewhat else at the hands of another, and not his more than ours. 
Neither is there any proportion between our duties and the reward 
of the eternal enjoyment of God; for besides that they are all weak, 
imperfect, and tainted with sin, so that no one of them is able to 
make good its own station for any end or purpose, in the strictness 
of divine justice, they altogether come infinitely short of the desert 



S80 . THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [boOK IV. 

of an eternal reward by any rule of divine justice. And if any say 
" That this merit of our works depends not on, nor is measured by, 
strict justice, but wholly by the gracious condescension of God, who 
hath appointed and promised so to reward them," I answer, in the 
first place, That this perfectly overthrows the whole nature of merit; 
for the nature of merit consists entirely and absolutely in this, that 
" to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of 
debt," Rom. iv. 4. And these two are contrary and inconsistent; 
for what is " by grace is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more 
grace;" and what is " of works is no more of grace, otherwise work is 
no more work," chap. xi. 6. And those who go about to found a merit 
of ours in the grace of God do endeavour to unite and reconcile those 
things which God hath everlastingly separated and opposed. And 
I say, secondly. That although God doth freely, graciously, and boun- 
tifuUy reward our duties of obedience, and upon the account of his 
covenant and promise he is said to be, and he is, righteous in his so 
doing, yet he everywhere declares that what he so doth is an act of 
mere grace in himself, that hath not respect unto any thing but only 
the interposition and mediation of Jesus Christ. In this sense God 
in the gospel requireth of us nothing at all. 

(4.) Much less doth he require of any that they should do such 
things as, being no way necessary unto that obedience which them- 
selves personally owe unto him, may yet by their supererogation 
therein redound to the advantage and benefit of others. This mon- 
strous fiction, which hath outdone all the Pharisaism of the Jews, 
we are engaged for to the church of Rome, as a pretence given to 
the piety, or rather covering of the impiety, of their votaries. But 
seeing, on the one hand, that they are themselves who pretend to 
these works but flesh, and so cannot on their own account be " jus- 
tified in the sight of God," so it is extreme pride and cursed self- 
confidence for them to undertake to help others by the merit of those 
works whose worth they stand not in need of, concerning which it 
will be one day said unto them, " Who hath required these things at 
your hands?" 

But now, whereas God requireth none of these things of us, 
nothing with respect unto any of these ends, such is the per- 
verseness of our minds by nature, that many think that God re- 
quireth nothing else of us, or nothing of us but with respect unto 
one or other of these ends; nor can they in their hearts conceive 
why they should perform any one duty towards God unless it be 
with some kind of regard unto these things. If they may do any 
thing whereby they may make some recompense for their sins that 
are };ast, at least in their own minds and consciences, if any thing 
vhureby they may procure an acceptance with God, and the' appro- 



CHAP. T.] AND GOSPEL HOLINESS EXPLAINED. S81 

Lation of their state and condition, they have something which, as 
they suppose, may quicken and animate their endeavours. Without 
these considerations, holy obedience is unto them a thing hfeless and 
useless. Others will labour and take pains, both in ways of outwaid 
mortification and profuse munificence in any way of superstitious 
charity, whilst they are persuaded, or can persuade themselves, that 
they shall merit eternal life and salvation thereby, without much 
being beholden to the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Yea, all thtit 
hath the face or pretence of religion in the Papacy consists in a sujd- 
position that all which God requireth of us, he doth it with respect 
unto these ends of atonement, justification, merit, and supereroga- 
tion. Hereunto do they apply all that remains of the ordinances of 
God amongst them, and all their own inventions are managed with 
the same design. But by these things is the gospel and the faith of 
our Lord Jesus Christ made of none effect. Herein, then, I say, lies 
the express opposition that is between the "wisdom of God" in the 
mystery of the gospel and the p^ o'vjj/ia r^g sap-Aoc,, — the " wisdom of 
the flesh," or our carnal reason. God, in his dealing with us by the 
gospel, takes upon his own grace and wisdom the providing of an 
atonement for our sins, a righteousness whereby we may be justified 
before him, and the collation of eternal life upon us; all in and by 
him who of God is " made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and 
sanctification and redemption." But withal he indispensably requires 
of us holiness and universal obedience, for the ends that shall be de- 
clared afterward. This way, thinks the wisdom of the flesh, or car- 
nal reason, is mere "foolishness;" as our apostle testifies, 1 Cor. i. 18, 
23. But such a foolishness it is as is " wiser than men," verse 25, 
— that is, a way so excellent and full of divine wisdom that men are 
not able to comprehend it. Wherefore, in opposition hereunto, car- 
nal reason concludes that either what God requires of us is to be 
done with respect unto the ends mentioned, some or other or all of 
them, or that it is no great matter whether it be done or no. Neither 
can it discern of what use our holiness or obedience unto God should 
be if it serve not unto some of these purposes; for the necessity of 
conformity to God, of the renovation of his image in us, before we are 
brought unto the enjoyment of him in glory, the authority of his 
commands, the reverence of his wisdom, appointing the way of holi- 
ness and obedience as the means of expressing our thankfulness, 
glorifying him in the world, and of coming to eternal life, it hath no 
regard unto. But the first true saving light that shines by the gos- 
pel from Jesus Christ into our souls begins to undeceive us in this 
matter. And there is no greater evidence of our receiving an evan- 
gelical baptism, or of being baptized into the spirit of the gospel, 
than the clear compliance of our minds with the wisdom of God 



382 THE NATURE OP SANCTIFICATION [boOK IV. 

lierein. When we find such constraining motives unto holiness upon 
us as will not allow the least subducting of our souls from a univer- 
sal attendance unto it, purely on the ends of the gospel, without re- 
.spect unto those now discarded, it is an evidence that the wisdom of 
God hath prevailed against that of the flesh in our minds. 

Wherefore holiness, with the fruits of it, Avith respect unto their 
proper ends, which shall afterward be declared, is all that God re- 
quireth of us. And this he declares in the tenor of the covenant with 
Abraham, Gen. xvii .1, "I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and 
be thou perfect;" — "This is that, and this is all, that I require of thee, 
namely, thy holy obedience ; for all other things wherein thou art 
concerned, I take them all upon my own almighty power or all-suf- 
ficiency :" as he says elsewhere, that the "whole of man is to fear God 
and keep his commandments." And the consideration hereof, taken 
singly and by itself, is sufficient, with all that have any regard unto 
God or their own eternal welfare, to convince them of what import- 
ance these things are unto them. 

7. But neither yet are we left in this matter merely under the 
authority of God's command, with an expectation of our compliance 
with it from our own ability and power ; God, moreover, hath pro- 
mised to sanctify us, or to work this holiness m us, the considera- 
tion whereof will give us yet a nearer prospect into its nature. He 
that requires it of us knows that we have it not of ourselves. When 
we were in our best condition by nature, in the state of original holi- 
ness, vested with the image of God, we preserved it not ; and is it 
likely that now, in the state of lapsed and depraved nature, it is in 
our own power to restore ourselves, to re-introduce the image of God 
into our souls, and that in a far more eminent manner than it was at 
first created by God? What needed all that contrivance of infinite 
wisdom and grace for the reparation of our nature by Jesus Christ, 
if holiness, wherein it doth consist, be in our own power, and educed 
out of the natural faculties of our souls? There can no more 
fond imagination befall the minds of men than that defiled nature is 
able to cleanse itself, or depraved nature to rectify itself, or that we, 
who have lost that image of God which he created in us and with 
us, should create it again in ourselves by our own endeavours. 
Wherefore, when God commandeth and requireth us to be holy, he 
commands us to be that which by nature and of ourselves we are not ; 
and not only so, but that which we have not of ourselves a power 
to attain unto. Whatever, therefore, is absolutely in our own power 
is not of that holiness which God requireth of us; for what we can 
do ourselves, there is neither necessity nor reason why God should 
promise to work in us by his grace. And to say that what God so 
prumiseth to work, he will not work or effect indeed, but only per- 



CHAP. I.] AND GOSPEL HOLINESS EXPLAINED. S83 

suade and prevail with us to do it, is, through the pride of unbelief, 
to defy the truth and grace of God, and with the spoils of them to 
adorn our own righteousness and power. Now, God hath multiphed 
his promises to this purpose, so that we shall need to call over only- 
some of them in way of instance: Jer. xxxi. 83, "I will put my law in 
their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, 
and they shall be my people." Chap, xxxii. 39, 40, "I will give them 
one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever; and I will put 
my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Ezek. 
xxxvi. 26, 27, "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put 
within you : and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and 
I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, 
and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, 
and do them." Verse 25, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye 
shall be clean ; from all your lilthiness will I cleanse you." Verse 29, " I 
will also save you from all your uncleannesses." The whole of our sanc- 
tification and holiness is comprised in these promises. To be cleansed 
from the defilements of sin, whatever they be, to have a heart inclined, 
disposed, enabled, to fear the Lord always, and to walk in all his ways 
and statutes accordingly, with an internal habitual conformity of the 
whole soul unto the law of God, is to be sanctified or to be holy. 
And all this God promiseth directly to work in us and to accom- 
plish himself. In the faith of these promises, and for the fulfilling 
of them, the apostle prayeth for the Thessalonians, as we observed 
at our entrance, that "the God of peace himself would sanctify 
them throughout," whereby " their whole spirits, souls, and bodies, 
might be preserved blameless to the coming of Jesus Christ." And 
hence is evident what we before observed, that what is absolutely in 
our own power is not of the nature of, nor doth necessarily belong 
unto, holiness, whatever it be. The best of the intellectual or moral 
habits of our minds, which are but the natural improvement and 
exercise of our faculties, neither are nor can be our holiness ; nor do 
the best of our moral duties, as merely and only so, belong there- 
unto. By these moral habits and duties we understand the powers, 
faculties, or abilities of our souls, exercised with respect and in obe- 
dience unto the commands of God, as excited, persuaded, and guided 
by outward motives, rules, arguments, and considerations. Plainly, 
all the power we have of ourselves to obey the law of God, and all 
that we do in the pursuit and exercise of that power, upon any rea- 
sons, motives, or considerations whatever, — which may all be resolved 
into fear of punishment and hope of reward, with some present satis- 
faction of mind, on the account of ease in conscience within or out- 
ward reputation, whether in abstinence from sin or the performance 
of duties, — are intended hereby, and are not that holiness which 



S84 THE NATURE OF SANCTIFICATION [BOOK IV. 

we inquire after. And the reason is plain, even because those things 
are not wrought in us by the power of the especial grace of God, in 
the pursuit of the especial promise of the covenant, as all true holi- 
ness is. If any shall say that they are so wrought in us, they do 
expressly change the nature of them : for thereby those powers 
would be no more natural, but supernatural ; and those duties would 
be no more merely moral, but evangelical and spiritual; — which is to 
grant all we contend for. Wherefore, that which men call " moral vir- 
tue" is so far from being the whole of internal grace or holiness, that 
if it be no more than so, it belongs not at all unto it, as not being 
effected in us by the especial grace of God, according to the tenor 
and promise of the covenant. 

And we may here divert a little, to consider what ought to be the 
frame of our minds in the pursuit of holiness with respect unto these 
things, — namely, what regard we ought to have unto the command 
on the one hand, and to the promise on the other, — to our own duti/, 
and to the grace of God. Some would separate these things, as 
inconsistent. A command they suppose leaves no room for a pro- 
mise, at least not such a promise as wherein God should take on 
himself to work in us what the command requires of us; and a 
promise they think takes off all the influencing authority of the 
command. " If holiness be our dut^, there is no room for grace in 
this matter ; and if it be an effect of grace, there is no place for duty." 
But all these arguino^s are a fruit of the wisdom of the flesh before 
mentioned, and we have before disproved them. The " wisdom that 
is from above" teacheth us other things. It is true, our works and 
grace are opposed in the matter of justification, as utterly incon- 
sistent; if it be of works it is not of grace, and if it be of grace it 
is not of works, as our apostle argues, Rom. xi. 6. [But] our duty 
and God's grace are nowhere opposed in the matter of sanctification, 
yea, the one doth absolutely suppose the other. Neither can we 
perform our duty herein without the grace of God; nor doth God 
give us this grace unto any other end but that we may rightly per- 
form our duty. He that shall deny either that God commands us 
to be holy in a way of duty, or promiseth to work holiness in us 
in a way of grace, may with as much modesty reject the whole 
Bible. Both these, therefore, we are to have a due regard unto, if 
we intend to be holy. And, (1.) Our regard unto the command 
consisteth in -three things, — [1.] That we get our consciences always 
affected with the authority of it, as it is the command of God. This 
must afterward be enlarged on. Where this is not, there is no holi- 
ness. Our holiness is our obedience; and the formal nature of obe- 
dience ariseth from its respect unto the authority of the command. 
[2.] That we see and understand the reasonableness, the equity, the 



CHAP. I.] AXD GOSPEL HOLINESS EXPLAINED. oS5 

advantage of the command. Our service is a reasonable service; the 
ways of God are equal, and in the keeping of his commands there is 
great reward. If we judge not thus, if we rest not herein, and are 
thence filled with indignation against every thing within us or with- 
out us that opposeth it or riseth up against it, whatever we do in 
compliance with it in a way of duty, we are not holy. [3.] That 
hereon we love and delight in it, because it is holy, just, and good ; 
because the things it requires are upright, equal, easy, and pleasant 
to the new nature, without any regard to the false ends before dis- 
covered. And, (2.) We have a due regard unto the promise to the 
same end, [1.] When, we walk in a constant sense of our own ina- 
bility to comply with the command in any one instance from any 
power in oixrselves ; for we have no sufficiency of ourselves, our suffici- 
ency is of God. -As for him who is otherwise minded, his heart is lifted 
up. [2.] When we adore that grace which hath provided help and 
relief for us. Seeing without the grace promised we covdd never 
have attained unto the least part or degree of holiness, and seeing 
we could never deserve the least dram of that grace, how ought we 
to adore and continually praise that infinite bounty which hath freely 
provided us of this supply! [.3.] When we act faith in prayer and 
expectation on the promise for supplies of gi^ace enabling us unto 
holy obedience. And, [4.] When we have especial regaled there- 
unto with respect unto especial temptations and particular duties. 
When on all such occasions we satisfy not ourselves with a respect 
unto the promise in general, but exercise faith in particular on it 
for aid and assistance, then do we regard it in a due manner. 

8. To come yet nearer unto our principal design, I say it is the Holy 
Ghost who is the immediate pecidiar sanctifier of all believers, and 
the author of all holiness in them. I suppose I need not insist upon 
the confirmation of this assertion in general. I have proved before 
that he is the immediate dispenser of all divine grace, or the imme- 
diate operator of all divine gracious effects in us, whereof this is the 
chief Besides, it is such an avowed and owned principle among all 
that are called Christians, — namely, that the Holy Ghost is the 
sanctifier of all God's elect, — that as it is not questioned, so it need 
not in general be farther proved. Those who are less experienced in 
these things may consult Ps. li. 10-12; Ezek. xi. 19, xxxvi. 25-27; 
Kom. viii. 9-14; 1 Cor. vi. 11 ; 1 Pet i. 2 ; Isa. iv. 4, xliv. 3, 4; Titus 
iii. 4, 5. But it is the nature and manner of his work herein, with 
the effect produced thereby, that we are to inquire into ; for as this 
belongs unto our general design of declaring the nature, power, and 
efficacy of all the gracious divine o})erations of the Holy Spirit, so 
it will give us an acquaintance in particular with that work and 
the fruits of it, wherein we are so highly concerned. 

VOL. IIL 25 



SS6 SANCTIFICATION A PKOGRESSIVE WORK. [bOOK IV. 

CHAPTER II. 

SANCTIFICATION A PEOCEESSIVE WORK. 

Sanctification described, with the nature of the work of the Holy Spirit therein; 
which is progressive — The way and means whereby hohness is increased in 
believers, especially by faith and love, whose exercise is required in all duties 
of obedience ; as also those graces whose exercise is occasional — The growth 
of holiness expressed in an allusion unto that of plants, with an insensible 
progress — Renders grace therein to be greatly admired; and is discerned in 
the answerableness of the work of the Spirit in sanctification and supplication 
— Objections against the progressive nature of holiness removed. 

Having passed through the consideration of the general concern- 
ments of the work of sanctification, I shall, in the next place, give a 
description of it, and then explain it more particularly in its princi- 
pal parts. And this I shall do, but under this express caution, that 
I do not hope nor design at once to represent the life, glory, and 
beauty of it, or to comprise all things that eminently belong unto it ; 
only I shall set up some way-marks that may guide us in our pro- 
gress or future inquiry into the nature and glory of it. And so I 
say that, — 

Sanctification is an immediate work of the Spirit of God on the 
soids of believers, purifying and cleansing of their natures from 
the pollution and uncleanness of sin, renewing in them the image 
of God, and thereby enabling them, from a spiritual and habitual 
principle of grace, to yield obedience unto God, according unto the 
tenor and terms of the new covenant, by virtue of the life and death 
of Jesus Christ. Or more briefly : — It is the universal renovation 
of our natures by the Holy Spirit into the image of God, through 
Jesus Christ. 

Hence it follows that our holiness, which is the fruit and effect 
of this work, the work as terminated in us, as it compriseth the 
renewed principle or image of God wrought in us, so it consists in a 
holy obedience unto God by Jesus Christ, according to the terms of 
the covenant of grace, from the principle of a reneiued nature. Our 
' apostle expresseth the whole more briefly yet, — namely, He that is 
in Christ Jesus is a new creature, 2 Cor. v. 17; for herein he ex- 
presseth both the renovation of our natures, the endowment of them 
with a new spiritual principle of life and operation, with actings to- 
wards God suitable thereunto. I shall take up the first general 
description of it, and in the consideration of its parts give some 
account of the nature of the work and its effects, and then shall dis- 
tinctly prove and confirm the true nature of it, wherein it is opposed 
or called into question. 



CHAP. II.] SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. S87 

1. It is, as was before proved, and is by all confessed, the work in 
us of the Spirit of God. It is the renovation of the Holy Ghost 
whereby we are saved. And a real, internal, powerful, pliysical 
work it is, as we have proved before abundantly, and shall afterward 
more fully confirm. He doth not make us holy 07ili/ hy persuading 
us so to be. He doth not only require us to be holy, propose unto 
us motives unto holiness, give us convictions of its necessity, and 
thereby excite us unto the pursuit and attainment of it, though this 
he doth also by the word and ministration thereof. It is too high 
an impudency for any one to pretend an owning of the gospel, and 
yet to deny a work of the Holy Ghost in our sanctification ; and, 
therefore, both the old and new Pelagians did and do avow a work 
of his herein. But what is it that really they ascribe unto him? 
Merely the exciting our own abilities, aiding and assisting us in and 
unto the exercise of our own native power; which, when. all is done, 
leaves the work to be our own and not his, and to us must the glory 
and praise of it be ascribed. But we have already sufficiently proved 
that the things thus promised of God and so effected are really 
wrought by the exceeding greatness of the power of the Spirit of 
God ; and this will yet afterward be made more particularly to appear. 
.2. This work of sanctification differs from that of regeneration, 
as on other accounts, so especially on that of the manner of their 
being wrought. The work of regeneration is instantaneous, consist- 
ing in one single creating act. Hence it is not capable of degrees 
in any sultject. No one is more or less regenerate than another; 
every one in the world is absolutely so, or not so, and that equally, 
although there are degrees in their state on other reasons. But this 
work of sanctification is progressive, and admits of degrees. One 
may be more sanctified and more holy than another, who is yet 
truly sanctified and truly holy. It is begun at once, and carried 
on gradually. But this observation being of great importance, 
and such as, if rightly weighed, will contribute much light unto the 
nature of the whole work of sanctification and holiness, I shall divert 
in this chapter unto such an explanation and confirmation of it as 
may give an understanding and furtherance herein. 

An increase and growth in sanctification or holiness is frequently 
in the Scripture enjoined us, and frequently promised unto us. So 
speaks the apostle Peter in a way of command, 2 Pet. iii. 17, 18, "Fall 
not," be not cast down, " from your own steadfastness; but grow," or 
increase, " in grace." It is not enough that we decay not in our spiri- 
tual condition, that we be not diverted and carried off from a steady 
course in obedience by the power of temptations; but an endeavour 
after an improvement, an increase, a thriving in grace, that is, in 
holiness, is required of us. And a compliance with this command 



8S8 SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. [BOOK lY. 

is tliat wlilch our apostle so commendetli in the Thessaloinans, 
2 Epist. i. 3, — namely, the exceeding growth of their faith, and 
abounding of their love ; that is, the thriving and increase of those 
graces in them, — that which is called " increasing with the increase of 
God," Col. ii. 19, or the increase in holiness which God requires, ac- 
cepts, approves, by supplies of spiritual strength from Jesus Christ 
our head, as it is there expressed. 

The work of holiness, in its beginning, is but like seed cast into the 
earth, — namely, the seed of God, whereby we are born again. And 
it is known how seed that is cast into the earth doth grow and in- 
crease. Being variously cherished and nourished, it is in its nature to 
take root and to spring up, bringing forth fruit. So is it with the 
principle of grace and holiness. It is small at first, but being re- 
ceived in good and honest hearts, made so by the Spirit of God, and 
there nourished and cherished, it takes root and brings forth fruit. 
And both these, even the first planting and the increase of it, are 
equally from God by his Spirit. "He that begins this good work doth 
also perform it until the day of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 6. And this 
he doth two ways: — 

First, By increasing and strengthening those graces of holiness 
which we have received and been engaged in the exercise of. There 
are some graces whose exercise doth not depend on any outward oc- 
casions; but they are, and that in their actual exercise, absolutely 
necessary unto the least degree of the life of God : such are faith and 
love. No man doth, no man can, live to God, but in the exercise of 
these graces. Whatever duties towards God men may perform, if 
they are not enlivened by faith and love, they belong not unto that 
spiritual life whereby we live to God. And these graces are capable 
of degrees, and so of increase; for so we read expressly of little faith 
and great faith, weak and strong faith, both true and the same in 
the substance, but differing in degrees. So also is there fervent love, 
and that wdiich comparatively is but cold. These graces, therefore, 
in carrying on the work of sanctification, are gradually increased. So 
the disciples prayed our Saviour that he would increase their faith, 
Luke xvii. 5 ; — that is, add unto its light, confirm it in its assent, 
multiply its acts, and make it strong against its assaults, that it might 
■work more effectually in difficult duties of obedience; which they had 
an especial regard unto, as is evident from the context, for they pray 
for this increase of faith upon the occasion of our Saviour's enjoining 
frequent forgiveness of offending brethren, — a duty not at all easy nor 
1 ileasing to flesh and blood. And the apostle prays for the Ephesians, 
that they may be " rooted and grounded in love," chap. iii. 17; that 
is, that by the increase and strengthening of their love, they may be 
more established in all the duties of it. See 1 Thess. iii. 12, 13. 



CHAP. II.] SANCTIFTCATTON A PROGRESSIVE WORK. 389 

These graces being the springs and spirit of our holiness, in the 
increase of them in us the work of sanctification is carried on and 
universal holiness increased. And this is done by the Holy Spirit 
several ways: — 

First, By exciting them unto frequent actings. Frequency of 
ads doth naturally increase and strengthen the habits whence they 
proceed ; and in these spiritual habits of faith and love it is so, more- 
over, by God's appointment. They grow and thrive in and by their 
exejcise, Hos. vi. 3. The want thereof is the principal means of 
their decay. And there are two ways whereby the Holy Spirit ex- 
cites the graces of faith and love unto frequent acts : — 

(1.) He doth it morally, by proposing their objects suitably and sea- 
sonably unto them. This he doth by his ordinances of worship, espe- 
cially the preaching of the word. God in Christ, the promises of the 
covenant, and other proper objects of our faith and love, being pro- 
posed unto us, these giaces are drawn out unto their exercise. And 
this is one principal advantage which we have by attendance on the 
dispensation of the word in a due manner, — namely, that by pre- 
senting those spiritual truths which are the object of our faith unto 
our minds, and those spiritual good things which are the object of our 
love unto our affections, both these graces are drawn forth into fre- 
quent actual exercise. And we are greatly mistaken if we suppose we 
have no benefit by the word beyond what we retain in our memories, 
though we should labour for that also. Our chief advantage lies in 
the excitation which is thereby given unto our faith and love to their 
proper exercise ; and hereby are these graces kept alive, which with- 
out this would decay and wither. Herein doth the Holy Spirit " take 
the thhigs of Christ, and show them unto us," John xvi. 14, 15. He 
represents them unto us in the preaching of the word as the proper 
objects of our faith and love, and so brings to remembrance the 
things spoken by Christ, chap. xiv. 26 ; that is, in the dispensation of 
the v,'ord, he minds us of the gracious words and truths of Christ, pro- 
posing them to our faith and love. And herein lies the secret pro- 
fiting and thriving of believers under the preaching of the gospel; 
which, it may be, they are not sensible of themselves. By this means 
are many thousands of acts of faith and love drawn forth, whereby 
these graces are exercised and strengthened; and consequently holi- 
ness is increased : and the word, by the actings of faith being mixed 
with it, as Heb. iv. 2, increaseth it by its incorporation. 

(2.) The Spirit doth it really and internally. He dwelleth in believ- 
ers, preserving in them the root and principle of all their grace by his 
own immediate power. Hence all graces in their exercise are called 
*' The fruits of the Spirit," Gal. v. 22, 23. He brings them forth from 
the stock that he hath planted in the heart. And we cannot act any 



890 SANCTIFICATION A PEOGIIESSIVE WORK, [BOOK IV. 

one grace without his effectual operation therein : " God worketh in 
us both to will and to do of his good pleasure/' Phil. ii. 13; — that 
is, there is no part of our Avills singly and separately from him in 
obedience but it is the operation of the Spirit of God in us, so far as 
it is spiritual and holy. He is the immediate author of every good or 
gracious acting in us; for "in us, that is, in our flesh" (and of our- 
selves we are but flesh), " there dwelleth no good." Wherefore, the 
Spirit of God dwelHng in believers doth effectually excite and stir 
up their graces unto frequent exercise and actings, whereby they are 
increased and strengthened. And there is nothing in the whole 
course of our walking before God that we ought to be more careful 
about than that we grieve not, that we provoke not, this good and 
holy Spirit, whereon he should witlihold his gracious aids and assist- 
ances from us. Tliis, therefore, is the first way whereby the work of 
sanctification is gradually carried on, by the Holy Ghost exciting 
our graces unto frequent actings, whereby they are increased and 
strengthened. 

Secondly, He doth it by supplying believers with experiences of 
the truth, and reality, and excellency, of the things that are believed. 
Experience is the food of all grace, which it grows and thrives upon. 
Every taste that faith obtains of divine love and grace, or how gra- 
cious the Lord is, adds to its measure and stature. Two things, 
therefore, must briefly be declared : — (1.) That the experience of the 
reality, excellency, power, and efficacy of the things that are believed, 
is an effectual means of increasing faith and love; (2.) That it is the 
Holy Ghost which gives us this experience. (1.) For the first, God 
himself expostulates with the church how its faith came to be so weak, 
when it had so great experience of him, or of his power and faithful- 
ness: Isa. xl. 27, 28, " Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? 
How, then, sayest thou that God hath forsaken thee?" And our 
apostle affirms that the consolations which he had experimentally 
received from God enabled him unto the discharge of his duty to- 
wards others in trouble, 2 Cor. i. 4; for herein we prove, or do 
really approve of, as being satisfied in, "the good, and acceptable, and 
]ierfect will of God," Eom. xii. 2. And this is that which the apostle 
prayeth for in the behalf of the Colossians, chap. ii. 2. I may say 
that he who knoweth not how faith is encouraged and strengthened 
by especial experiences of the reality, power, and spiritual efficacy on 
the soul of the things believed, never was made partaker of any of 
them. How often doth David encourage his own faith and [that of] 
others from his former experiences! which were pleaded also by our 
Lord Jesus Christ to the same purpose, in his great distress, Ps. xxii. 
9, 10. (2.) That it is the Holy Ghost who giveth us all our spiritual 
experiences needs no other consideration to evince but only this, 



CHAP. II.] SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. SOI 

that in them consists all our consolation. His work and office it is 
to administer consolation unto believers, as being the only Comforter 
of the church. Now, he administereth comfort no other way but by 
giving unto the minds and souls of believers a spiritual, sensible ex- 
perience of the reality and power of the things we do believe. He 
doth not comfort us by words, but by things. Other means of spiri- 
tual consolation I know none; and I am sure this never fails. Give 
unto a soul an experience, a taste, of the love and grace of God in 
Christ Jesus, and be its condition what it will, it cannot refuse to be 
comforted. And hereby doth he " shed abroad the love of God in 
our hearts," Rom. v. 5, whereby all graces are cherished and in- 
creased. 

T/m^dly, He doth it by working immediately an actual increase 
of these graces in us. I have showed that these are capable of im- 
provement, and of an addition of degrees unto them. Now, they 
are originally the immediate work and product of the Spirit of God 
in us, as hath been abundantly evinced. And as he first works and 
creates them, so he increaseth them. Hereby they that are " feeble 
become as David," Zech. xii. 8; that is, those whose graces were 
weak, whose faith was infirm, and whose love was languid, shall, by 
the supplies of the Spirit, and the increase given by him unto them, 
become strong and vigorous. To this purpose are promises multi- 
plied in the Scripture; which in our constant supplications we prin- 
cipally respect. This is that which the schoolmen, after Austin, call 
" Gratiam corroborantem ; " that is, the working of the Holy Spirit 
in the increasing and strengthening of grace received. See Eph. 
iii. 16, 17; Col. i. 10, 11; Isa. xl. 29. And this is the principal 
cause and means of the gradual increase of holiness in us, or the 
carrying on of the work of sanctification, Ps. cxxxviii. 8. 

Secondly, There are graces whose exercise is more occasional, and 
not always actually necessary as unto the life of God; that is, it is 
not necessary that they be always in actual exercise, as faith and love 
are to be. With respect unto these, holiness is increased by the ad- 
dition of one to another, until we are brought on several occasions to 
the practice and exercise of them all; for the addition of the new 
exercise of any grace belongs unto the gradual carrying on of the 
work of sanctification. And hereunto all things that befall us in 
this world, all our circumstances, are laid in a subserviency by the 
wisdom of God. All our relations, all our afflictions, all our tempta- 
tions, all our mercies, all our enjoyments, all occurrences, are suited 
to a continual adding of the exercise of one grace to another, wherein 
holiness is increased. And if we make not use of them to that pur- 
pose, we miss of all the benefit and advantage we might have of 
them, and disappoint, what lies in us, the design of divine love and 



392 SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. [BOOK IV 

wisdom in them. This is given us in charge, 2 Pet. i. 5-7: "Be- 
sides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue'; and to vir- 
tue knowledge; aud to knowledge temperance; and to temperance 
patience ; and to patience godliness ; and to godliness brotherly -kind- 
ness; and to brotherly-kindness charity." The end why this injunc- 
tion is given us is, that we may " escape the corruption that is in the 
world through lust," verse 4; that is, have all our corruptions 
thoroughly subdued, and our souls thoroughly sanctified. To this 
end are the promises given us, and a divine, spiritual nature is be- 
stowed upon us. But will that sufSce, or is there no more required 
of us unto that end? "Yes," saith the apostle; "this great work 
will not be effected unless you use your utmost diligence, and en- 
deavour to add the exercise of all the graces of the Spirit one to an- 
other, as occasion shall require." There is a method in this conca- 
tenation of graces from first to last, and an especial reason for each 
particular, or why the apostle requires that such a grace should be 
added unto such an one in the order laid down; which at present I 
shall not inquire into. But, in general, he intends that every grace 
is to be exercised according to its proper season and especial occa- 
sion. Here])y, also, is the work of sanctification gradually carried 
on, and holiness increased. And this addition of one grace unto and 
other, with the progress of holiness thereby, is also from the Holy 
Ghost. And three ways there are whereby he accomplisheth his 
work herein: — 1. By ordering things so towards us, and bringing of 
us into such conditions as wherein the exercise of these graces shall 
be required and necessary. All the afflictions and trials which he 
bringeth the church into have no other end or design. So the 
apostle James expresseth it, chap. i. 2-4 : " My brethren, count it all 
joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the try- 
ing of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have its perfect 
work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." These 
temptations are trials upon afflictions, troubles, persecutions, and tlie 
like; but take them in any other sense, it is the same unto our pur- 
pose. These are all guided unto us by Christ and his Spirit; for it 
is he who rebukes and chastens us. But what is his end therein ? 
It is that faith may be exercised and patience employed, and one 
grace added unto another, that they may carry us on towards perfec- 
tion. So he bringeth us into that condition as wherein we shall 
assuredly miscarry if we add not the exercise of one grace unto an- 
other. 2. In this state of things he effectually minds us of our duty, 
and what graces ought to be put upon their exercise. We may dis- 
pute whether it be better to act faith, or to despond; to add patience 
under the continuance of our trials, or to trust unto ourselves, and 
irregularly to seek after deliverance or divert unto other satisfactiona 



CHAP. II.] SANCTIFICATION A niGGEESSIVE WORK. SS3 

Then doth he cause us to " hear a word behind us, saying, This is the 
way, walk ye in it, when we turn to the right hand, and when we 
turn to the left," Isa. xxx. 21. When we are at a loss, and know not 
what to do, and ai'e ready, it may be, to consult with flesh and blood, 
and to divert to irregular courses, he speaks effectually to us, saying, 
** No; that is not your way, but this is it," — namely, to act faith, pa- 
tience, submission to God, adding one grace to another, binding our 
hearts thereby to our duty. 3. He actually excites and sets all 
needful graces at ivork in the way and manner before spoken unto. 

This, then, is to be fixed, that all this increase of holiness is immedi- 
ately the work of the Holy Ghost, who therein gradually carries on 
his design of sanctifying us throughout, in our whole spirits, souls, and 
bodies. There is in our recreneration and habitual grace received a 
nature bestowed on us capable of growth and increase, and that is 
all; if it be left unto itself, it will not thrive, it will decay and die. 
The actual supplies of the Spirit are the waterings that are the im- 
mediate cause of its increase. It wholly depends on continual influ- 
ences from God. He cherisheth and improves the work he hath 
begun with new and fresh supplies of gi-ace every moment: Isa. 
xxvii. 3, " I the Lord will water it every moment." And it is the 
Spirit which is this water, as the Scripture everywhere declares. God 
the Father takes on him the care of this matter ; " he watcheth over 
his vine^^ard to keep it." The Lord Christ is the head, fountain, and 
treasure of all actual supplies; and the Spirit is the efficient cause, 
communicating them unto us from him. From hence it is that any 
grace in us is kept alive one moment, that it is ever acted in one 
single duty, that ever it receives the least measure of increase or 
strengthening. With respect unto all these it is that our apostle 
saith, " Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," Gal. 
ii. 20. Spiritual life and living by it, in all the acts of it, are imme- 
diately from Christ. 

I concern not myself much how moral virtue, that is no more, is 
preserved and sustained in the minds and lives of men, though I am 
not ignorant of the precepts, directions, and instructions, which are 
given unto that end by some of old and some of late. But for grace and 
holiness, we have infallible assurance that the being, life, continuance, 
and all the actings of it, in any of the sons of men, depend merely 
and only upon their relation unto that spring and fountain of all 
grace which is in Christ, and the continual supplies of it by the Holy 
Spirit, whose work it is to communicate them. Col. iii. 3; John xv. 5; 
Col. ii. 19. 

There is no man who hath any grace that is true and saving, that hath 
any seed, any beginnhig of sanctification or holiness, but the Holy 
Spirit, by his watchful care over it, and supplies of it, is able to preserve 



S94 SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. [bOOK IV 

it, to extricate it from difficulties, to free it from opposition, and to 
increase it unto its full measure and perfection. Wherefore, " let the 
hands that hang down be lifted up, and the feeble knees be strength- 
ened." We have to do with him who " will not quench the smok- 
ing flax nor break the bruised reed." And, on the other side, there 
is none who hath received grace in such a measure, nor hath so con- 
firmed it by constant, uninterrupted exercise, as that he can preserve 
it one moment, or act it in any one instance or duty, without the 
continual supplies of new actual grace and help from him who work- 
eth in us to will and to do ; for saith our Lord Christ unto his apos- 
tles, and in them to all believers, the best and strongest of them, 
" Without me ye can do nothing," John xv. 5. And they who of 
themselves can do nothing, — that is, in a way of living unto God, — 
cannot of themselves preserve grace, act it, and increase it; which are 
the greatest things we do or are wrought in us in this world. Where- 
fore God hath, in infinite wisdom, so ordered the dispensation of his 
love and grace unto believers, that all of them living upon the con- 
tinual supplies of his Spirit, none may have cause, on the one hand, 
to faint or despond, nor occasion, on the other, unto self-confidence 
or elation of mind ; that so " no flesh may glory in itself, but he that 
glorieth may glory in the Lord." And, therefore, as he greatly en- 
courageth the weak, the fearful, the faint, the disconsolate and 
dejected, and that by the engagement of all the holy properties of 
bis nature in and unto their assistance, Isa. xxxv. 3-6, xl. 27-31 ; so 
he warns them who suppose themselves strong, steadfast, and im- 
movable, " not to be high-minded, but to fear," Rom. xi. 20, because 
the whole issue of things depends on his sovereign supplies of grace. 
And seeing he hath promised in the covenant to continue faithfully 
these supplies unto us, there is ground of faith given unto all, and 
occasion of presumption administered unto none. 

But it will be said, "That if not only the beginning of grace, sancti- 
fication, and holiness be from God, but the carrying of it on and 
the increase of it also be from him, and not only so in general, but 
if all the actings of grace, and every act of it, be an immediate 
effect pf the Holy Spirit, then what need is there that we should 
take any pains in this thing ourselves, or use our own endeavours to 
grow in grace or holiness, as we are commanded? If God work 
all himself in us, and if without his effectual operation in us we can 
do nothing, there is no place left for our diligence, duty, or obedi- 
ence." 

Ans. 1. This objection we must expect to meet withal at every 
turn. Men will not believe there is a consistency between God's 
effectual grace and our diligent obedience; that is, they will not be- 
lieve what is plainly, clearly, distinctly revealed in the Scripture, and 



CHAP, II.] SANCTIFICATION" A PROGRESSIVE VrORK. 895 

* 

which is suited unto the experience of all that truly believe, because 
they cannot, it may be, comprehend it within the compass of car- 
nal reason. 2. Let the apostle answer this objection for this once: 
2 Pet. i. 3, " His divine power hath given unto us all things that 
pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath 
called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceedin"- 
great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of 
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world 
through lust." If all things that pertain unto life and godliness, — ■ 
among which, doubtless, is the preservation and increase of grace, — 
be given unto us by the power of God, if from him we receive that 
divine nature by virtue whereof our corruptions are subdued, then, 
I pray, what need is there of any endeavours of our own? The 
whole work of sanctification is wrought in us, it seems, and that by 
the power of God ; we, therefore, may let it alone, and leave it unto 
him whose it is, whilst we are negligent, secure, and at ease. " Nay," 
saith the apostle ; " this is not the use which the grace of God is to 
be put unto. The consideration of it is, or ought to be, the princi- 
pal motive and encouragement unto all diligence for the increase of 
holiness in us." For so he adds immediately, verse 5, Ka! auro roDro 
di, — " But also for this cause," or, because of the gracious operations 
of the divine power in us, " giving all diligence, add to your faith 
virtue," as before. These objectors and this apostle were very di- 
versely minded in these matters; what they make an insuperable 
discouragement unto diligence in obedience, that he makes the 
greatest motive and encouragement thereunto. 3. I say, from this 
consideration it will unavoidably follow that we ought continually 
to wait and depend on God for supplied of his Spirit and grace, 
without which we can do nothing. That God is more the author, by 
his grace, of the good we do than we ourselves (" Not I, but the grace 
of God which was with me") ; that we ought to be careful that by our 
negligences and sins we provoke not the Holy Spirit to withhold his 
aids and assistances, and so to leave us to ourselves, in which condition 
we can do nothing that is spiritually good ; — these things, I say, will 
unavoidably follow on the doctrine before declared ; and if any one 
be offended at them, it is not in our power to render them relief 

I shall close the discourse on this subject with some considerations 
of that similitude by which the Scripture so frequently rejDresents 
the jiradual improvement of grace and holiness; and this is the 
growth of trees and plants: Hos. xiv. 5, 6," I will be as the dew 
unto Lsrael: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as 
Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the 
olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon." Isa. xliv. 3, 4, " I will pour 
water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground : I will 



SOS SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. [BOOK IV. 

pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: 
and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the 
water-courses." And so in other places very many. And we may 
know that this similitude is singularly instructive, or it would not 
have been so frequently made use of to this purpose. Some few 
instances tending to administer light in this matter I shall briefly 
reflect upon : — 

1. These trees and plants have the principle of their growth in 
themselves. They do not grow immediately from external adven- 
titious aid and furtherance ; they grow from their own seminal virtue 
and radical moisture. It is no otherwise in the progress of sanctifi- 
cation and holiness. It hath a root, a seed, a principle of growth 
and increase, in the soul of him that is sanctified. All grace is im- 
mortal seed, and contains in it a living, growing principle. Tliat 
which hath not in itself a life and power of growth is not grace ; 
and therefore what duties soever any men do perform, whereunto 
they are either guided by natural light, or which they are urged 
unto by convictions from the word, if they proceed not from a prin- 
ciple of spiritual life in the heart, they are no fruits of holiness nor 
do belong thereunto. The water of grace which is from Christ is a 
" well of water springing up into everlasting life," in them on whom 
it is bestowed, John iv. 14. It is, therefore, the nature of holiness 
to thrive and grow, as it is of trees or plants, that have their seminal 
virtue in themselves after their kind. 

2. A tree or plant must be watered from above, or it will not 
thrive and grow by virtue of its own seminal power. If a drought 
Cometh, it will wither or decay. Wherefore, where God mentioneth 
this growth, he ascribes it unto his watering. " I will be as the 
dew," and " I will pour water," is the especial cause of it. It is so 
in this carrying on of holiness. There is a nature received capal)le 
of increase and growth; but if it be left unto itself, it will not tlirive, 
it will decay and die. Wherefore God is unto it as the dew, and 
pours water on it by the actual supplies of the Spirit, as we have 
showed before. 

3. The grotvth of trees and plants is secret and imperceptible, 
nor is discerned but in the effects and consequences of it. The most 
watchful eye can discern little of its motion. " Crescit occulto velut 
arbor sevo." It is no otherwise in the progress of holiness. It is 
not immediately discernible, either by themselves in whom it is, or 
by others that make observation of it. It lies only under the eye 
of him hj whom it is wrought ; only by the fruits and effects of it is 
it made manifest. And some, indeed, especially in some seasons, do 
plainly and evidently thrive and grow, sprindng up like the willows 
by the water-courses. Though their growth in itself is indiscernible, 



fllAP. II.] SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. S97 

yet it is plain they have grown. Such we ought all to be. The 
growth of some, I say, is manifest on every trial, on every occasion; 
their profiting is visible to all. And as some say that the growth of 
plants is not by a constant insensible progress, but they increase by 
sudden gusts and motions, which may sometimes be discerned in 
the o]:)enings of buds and flowers, so the growth of believers consists 
principally in some intense vigorous actings of grace on great occa- 
sions, as of faith, love, humility, self-denial, bounty; and he who 
hath not some experience of such actings of grace in especial in- 
stances can have little evidence of his growth. Again, there are 
trees and plants that have the principle of life and growth in them, 
but yet are so withering and unthrifty that you can only discern them 
to be alive. And so it is with too many believers. They are all "trees 
planted in the garden of God;" some thrive, some decay for a season, 
but the growth of the best is secret. 

From what hath been proved it is evident that the work of sancti- 
fication is a progressive work, that holiness is gradually carried on 
in us by it towards perfection. It is neither wrought nor completed 
at once in us, as is regeneration, nor doth it cease under any attain- 
ments or in any condition of life, but is thriving and carried on. A 
river continually fed by a living fountain may as soon end its streams 
before it come to the ocean, as a stop be put to the course and pro- 
gress of grace before it issue in glory ; for " the path of the just is as 
the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," 
Prov. iv. 18. So is their path wherein they are led and conducted by 
the Holy Spirit, even as the morning light; which after it once ap- 
pears, though it may be sometimes clouded, yet faileth not until it 
arrive unto its perfection. And as the wisdom, patience, faithful- 
ness, and power, which the Holy Spirit of God exerciseth herein are 
unutterable, so are they constantly admired by all that are interested 
in them: so are they by the psalmist, Ps. Ixvi. 8, 9, xxxi. 19. 
Who is there who hath made any diligent observation of his own 
heart and ways, and what have been the workings of the grace of 
God in him and towards him, to bring him unto the stature and 
measure whereunto he is arrived, that doth not admire the watchful 
care and powerful workings of the Spirit of God therein? The prin- 
ciple of our holiness as in us is weak and infirm, because it is in us; 
in some to so low a degree as is ofttimes unto themselves impercep- 
tible. This he preserves and cherisheth, that it shall not be over- 
powered by corruptions and temptations. Among all the glorious 
works of God, next unto that of redemption by Jesus Christ, my soul 
doth most admire this of the Spirit in preserving the seed and prin- 
ciple of holiness in us, as a spark of living fire in the midst of the 
ocean, against all corruptions and temptations wherewith it is im- 



898 SANCTIFICATION A rROGRESSIVE WORK. [P.OOK IV. 

piigned. Many breaches are made in and upon our course of obe- 
dience by the incursions of actual sins; these he cures and makes up, 
heahng our backslidings and repairing our decays. And he acts the 
grace we have received by constant fresh supplies. He wants much 
of the comfort and joy of a spiritual life who doth not diligently ob- 
serve the ways and means whereby it is preserved and promoted ; 
and it is no small part of our sin and folly when we are negligent 
herein. 

All believers are, no doubt, in some measure convinced hereof, not 
only from the testimonies given unto it in the Scripture, but also 
from their own experience; and there is nothing in themselves 
which they may more distinctly learn it from than the nature and 
course of their prayers, with the workings of their hearts, minds, and 
affections in them. Let profane persons deride it whilst they please, 
it is the Spirit of God, as a Spirit of grace, that enables believers to 
pray and make intercession according to the mind of God ; and herein, 
as he is the Spirit of supplications, he copieth out and expresseth 
what he worketh in them as the Spirit of sanctification. lii teach- 
ing us to pray, he teacheth us what and how he worketh in us; and 
if we wisely consider his working in our hearts by prayer, we may 
understand much of his working upon our hearts by grace. It is 
said that "he \yho searcheth the hearts," that is, God himself, 
" knovveth the mind of the Spirit," in the intercessions he maketh 
in us, Eom. viii. 27. There are secret powerful operations of the 
Spirit in prayer that are discernible only to the great Searcher of 
hearts. But we also ought to inquire and observe, so far as we may, 
what he leads us unto and guides us about; which is plainly his 
work in us, I do not think that the Spirit worketh supplications in 
us by an immediate, supernatural, divine afEatus, so as he inspired 
the prophets of old, who ofttimes understood not the things uttered 
by themselves, but inquired afterward diligently into them ; but I 
do say (let the proud carnal world despise it whilst they please, and 
at their peril) that the Spirit of God doth graciously, in the prayers 
of believers, carry out and act their souls and minds in desires and 
requests, which, for the matter of them, are far above their natural 
contrivances and invention. And he who hath not experience 
hereof is a greater stranger unto these things than will at length be 
unto his advantage. By a diligent observance hereof we may know 
of what kind and nature the work of the Holy Ghost in us is, and 
how it is carried on. For how in general doth the Holy Spirit teach 
us and enable us to pray? It is by these three things: — 1. By giv- 
ing us a spiritual insight into the promises of God and the grace of 
tlie covenant, whereby we know what to ask upon a spiritual view 
of the mercy and grace that God hath prepared for us. 2. By ac- 



CriAP. I!.] SAXCTIFICATIOX A PROGRESSIVE WORK. S'JO 

quainting us with and giving us an experience of our wants, with a 
deep sense of them, such as we cannot bear without rehef. 3. By 
creating and stirring up desires in the new creature for its own preser- 
vation, increase, and improvement. And in answer unto these thino-s 
ronsisteth his whole work of sanctifi cation in us; for it is his effec- 
tual communication imto us of the grace and mercy prepared in the 
]>iomi.-es of the covenant through Jesus Christ. Hereby doth he sup- 
ply our spiritual wants, and set the new creature in life and vigour. 
So are our prayers an extract and copy of the work of the Holy 
Spirit in us, given us by himself. And, therefore, by whomsoever he 
is despised as a Spirit of suiyplication, he is so as a Spirit of sanctifi- 
cation also. Now, consider what it is that in your prayers you most 
labour about? Is it not that the body, the power, the whole interest 
if sin in you may be weakened, subdued, and at length destroyed? 
Is it not that all the graces of the Spirit may be renewed daily, in- 
creased and strengthened, so as that you may be more ready and pre- 
]iared for all duties of obedience? And what is all this for, but that 
holiness may be gradually progressive in your souls, that it may be 
arried on by new supplies and additions of grace, until it come to 
perfection? 

It will be said, perhaps, by some, that they find neither in them- 
I'lves nor others, by the best of their observation, that the work of 
mctification is consioxiiXy progressive, or that holiness doth so grow 
ind thrive wherever it is. in sincerity: for as for themselves, they 
have found grace more vigorous, active, and flourishing, in former 
(lays than of late ; the streams of it were fresher and stronger at the 
> pring of conversion than since they find them to be in their course, 
Hence are those complaints among many of their leanness, their 
veakness, their deadness, their barrenness. Nor were many of the 
lints in the Scripture without such complaints. And many may 
ry, " Oh that it were with us as in our former days, in the days of 
ur youth!" Complaints of this nature do everywhere abound, and 
^ome are ready to conclude, upon this consideration, that either sin- 
cere holiness is not so growing and progressive as is pretended, or 
that, indeed, they have no interest therein. Yea, the like may be 
said upon a diligent observation of others, churches and single pro- 
fessors. What evidence do they give that the work of holiness is 
thriving in them? doth it not appear rather to be retrograde and 
under a constant decay? 

I shall so far consider and remove this objection as that the truth 
which we have asserted suffer not from it, and so be left as an empty 
notion ; nor yet those be altogether discouraged who come not uj) 
unto a full compliance with it. And this I shall do in the ensuing 
rules and observations. 



400 SAN CTIFICATION X ]*KOGRESSIVE WORK. [rOOK IV 

1. It is one thing what grace or holiness is suited unto in its own 
nature, and what is the or-dinary or regular way of the iwocedure 
of the Sjnrit in the work of sanctification, according to the tenor of 
the covenant of grace; another, what may occasionally fall out by 
indisposition and irregularity, or any other obstructing interjjosi- 
tion in them in whom the work is wrought Under the first con- 
sideration, the work is thriving and progressive; in the latter, the 
rule is liable to sundry exceptions. A child that hath a principle of 
life, a good natural constitution, and suitable food, will groiv and 
thrive; but that which hath obstructions from within, or distem- 
pers and diseases, or falls and bruises, may be weak and thriftless. 
When we a,re regenerated, we are as new-born babes, and ordina- 
rily, if we have the sincere milk of the word, we shall grow thereby. 
But if we ourselves give way to temptations, corruptions, negli- 
gences, conformity to the world, is it any wonder if we are lifeless 
and thriftless? It suffices to confirm the truth of what we have 
asserted, that every one in whom is a principle of spiritual life, who 
is born of God, in whom the work of sanctification is begun, if it be 
not gradually carried on in him, if he thrive not in grace and holi- 
riess, if he go not from strength to strength, it is ordinarily from his 
own sinful negligence and indulgence unto carnal lusts, or love of 
this present world. Considering the time we have had and the 
means we have enjoyed, what grown, what flourishing plants, in faith, 
love, purity, self-denial, and universal conformity to Christ, might 
many of us have been, who now are weak, withering, fruitless, and 
sapless, scarce to be distinguished from the thorns and briers of the 
world! It is time for us rather to be casting off every weight and 
1 he sin that doth .so easily beset us, to be by all means stirring up 
ourselves unto a vigorous recovery of our first faith and love, with an 
abundant growth in them, than to be complaining that the work of 
holiness doth not go on, and that before our wounds become in- 
curable. 

2. It is one thing to have holiness really thriving in any soul, 
another for that soul to know it and to be satisfied in it; and these 
things may be separated: whereof there are many reasons. But be- 
fore I name them, I must premise one necessary observation, and 
that is, — Whereas this rule is proposed for the relief of such as are 
at a loss about their condition, and know not whether holiness be 
thriving in them or no, those have no concernment herein who 
may at any time, if they please, give themselves an account how 
matters go with them, and on what grounds: for if men do in- 
dulge unto any predominant lust, if they live in the neglect of any 
known duty or in the practice of any way of deceit, if they suffer the 
world to devour the choicest increase of their souls, a,nd formality to 



CHAP. II.] SANCTinCATIOX A PROGRESSIVE WORK. 401 

eat out tlie spirit, vigour, and life of holy duties, or any of these 
in a remarkable manner, I have nothing to offer unto them to 
manifest that holiness may thrive in them although they discern it 
not; for undoubtedly it doth not do so, nor are they to entertain any 
hopes but that whilst they abide in such a condition it will decay 
more and more. Such are to be awaked with violence, like men 
falling into a deadly lethargy, to be snatched as brands out of the 
fire, to be warned to recover their first faith and love, to repent and 
do their first works, lest their end should be darkness and sorrow 
for evermore. But as unto those who walk with God humbly and 
in sincerity, there may be si;ndry reasons given whence it is that 
holiness may be thriving in them, and yet not be discerned by them 
so to be. And, therefore, though holiness be wrought within our- 
selves, and only there, yet there may be seasons wherein sincere, 
humble believers may be obliged to believe the increase and growth 
of it in them when they perceive it not, so as to be sensible of it; 
for, — (1.) It being the subject of so many gospel promises, it is a pro- 
per object of faith, or a thing that is to be believed. The promises 
are God's explanations of the grace of the covenant, both as to its 
nature and the manner of its operation ; and they do not abound 
in any concernment of it more than this, that those who are par- 
takers of it shall thrive and grow thereby. With what limitations 
they are bounded, and what is required on our part that we may 
have them fulfilled towards us, shall be afterward declared. But 
their accomj)lishment depends on God's faithfulness, and not on our 
sense of it. Where, therefore, we do not openly lay an obstruction 
against it, as in the case now mentioned, we may, we ought to be- 
lieve that they are fulfilled towards us, although we are not continu- 
ally sensible thereof. And, (2.) It is our duty to grow and thrive iu 
holiness ; and what God requires of us, we are to believe that he 
will help us in, and doth so, whatever be our present sense and ap- 
prehension. And he who on these grounds can believe the growth 
of holiness in himself, though he have no sensible experience thereof, 
is, in my judgment, in as good, and perhaps a more safe, condition 
than he who, through the vigorous working of spiritual affections, is 
most sensible thereof: for it is certain that such an one doth not by 
any wilful neglect, or indulgence unto any sin, obstruct the growth 
of holiness, for he that doth so cannot believe that it doth thrive in 
him or is carried on, whatever his presumptions may be; and the 
life of faith, whereof this is a part, is every way a safe life. Besides, 
such a person is not in that danger of a vain elation of mind and 
carelessness thereon, as others may be ; for wherein we live by faith, 
and not at all by sense, we shall be humble and fear always. Such 
an one not finding in himself the evidence of what he most desires, 
VOL. III. 26 



402 SAXCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE AYORK. [bOOK IV. 

Avill be continually careful that lie drive it not farther from him. 
But the reasons of this difficulty are: — 

[1.] The work itself, as hath been before declared at large, is 
secret and mysterious; and, therefore (as in some), I hope in many, 
there is the reality and essence of holiness, who yet can find nothing 
of it in themselves, nor perhaps any one else, but only Jesus Christ, 
who is of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, so it may in 
the same secret manner thrive as to its degrees in them who yet 
perceive it not. There is not any thing in our whole course that we 
ought to be more awake unto than a diligent observation of the 
progress and decays of grace; for as the knowledge of them is of the 
same importance unto us with that of our duties and comforts, so 
they are very hardly and difficultly to be discerned, nor will be so 
truly for our good and advantage, without our utmost diligence and 
spiritual wisdom in their observation. Hence, as we before observed, 
it is compared in the Scripture frequently unto the growth of 
plants and trees, Hos. xiv. 5, 6; Isa. xliv. 3, 4. Now, we know 
that in those of them which are the most thrifty and flourishing, 
though we may perceive they are grown, yet we cannot discern their 
growing. And the apostle tells us, that as the "outward man 
perisheth, so the inward man is renewed day by day," 2 Cor. iv. 16. 
The perishing of the outward man is by those natural decays where- 
by it continually tends unto death and dissolution; and we know, 
many of us, how hardly these insensible decays are discerned, unless 
some great and violent disease befall us. We rather know that we 
are enfeebled and weakened by age and infirmities than perceive 
when or how. So is the inward man renewed in grace. It is by 
such secret ways and means as that its growth and decay are hardly 
to be apprehended. And yet he who is negligent in this inquiry 
"walks at all peradventures with God, — knows not whereabout he is 
in his way, whether he be nearer or farther off from his journey's end 
than he was before. Write that man a fruitless and a thriftless 
Christian who calls not himself to an account about his increases 
and decays in grace. David knew this work to be of so great impor- 
tance as that he would not trust to himself and ordinary assistances 
for the discharge of it, but earnestly calls on God to undertake it for 
him and to acquaint him with it, Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24. 

[2.] There may some perplexing temptations befall the mind 
of a believer, or some corruption take advantage to break loose for a 
season, it may be for a long season, which may much gall the soul 
with its suggestions, and so trouble, disturb, and unquiet it, as that 
it shall not be able to make a right judgment of its grace and pro- 
gress in holiness. A ship may be so tossed in a storm at sea as that 
the most skilful mariners may not be able to discern whether they 



CHAP. II.] SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. 403 

make any way in their intended course and voyage, whilst they are 
carried on with success and speed. In such cases, grace in its exer- 
cise is principally eugaged in an opposition unto its enemy, which it 
hath to conflict withal, and so its thriving other ways is not discern- 
ible. If it should be inquired how we may discern when gi-ace is 
exercised and thrives in opposition unto corruptions and temptations, 
I say, that as great winds and storms do sometimes contribute to the 
fruit-bearing of trees and plants, so do corruptions and temptations 
unto the fruitfulness of grace and holiness. The wind comes with 
violence on the tree, ruffles its boughs, it may be breaks some of 
them, beats off its buds, loosens and shakes its roots, and threatens 
to cast the whole to the ground ; but by this means the earth is 
opened and loosed about it, and the tree gets its roots deeper into 
the earth, whereby it receives more and fresh nourishment, which 
renders it fruitful, though it bring not forth fruit visibly, it ma}' be, 
till a good while after. In the assaults of temptations and corrup- 
tions the soul is wofully ruffled and disordered, — its leaves of profes- 
sion are much blasted, and its beginnings of fruit-bearing much 
broken and retarded ; but, in the meantime, it secretly and invisibly 
casts out its roots of humility, self-abasement, [and] mourning, in a 
hidden and continual labouring of faith and love after that grace, 
whereby holiness doth really increase, and way is made for future 
visible fruitfulness: for, — 

[3.] God, who in infinite wisdom manageth the new creature or 
whole life of grace by his Spirit, doth so turn the streams of it, and 
so renew and change the especial kinds of its operations, as that we 
cannot easily trace his paths therein, and may, therefore, be often at 
a loss about it, as not knowing well what he is doing with us. For 
instance, it may be the work of grace and holiness hath greatly put 
forth and evidenced itself in the affections, which are renewed by it. 
Hence persons have great experience of readiness unto, and delight 
and cheerfulness in, holy duties, especially those of immediate inter- 
course with God ; for the affections are quick and vigorous, for the most 
part, in the youth of profession, and the operations of them being sen- 
sible unto them in whom they are, and their fruits visible, they make 
persons seem always fresh and green in the ways of holiness. But it 
may be, after a while, it seems good to the sovereign Disposer of this 
affair to turn, as it were, the streams of grace and holiness into an- 
other channel. He sees that the exercise of humility, godly sorrow, 
fear, diligent conflicting with temptations, that, it may be, strike a<", 
the very root of faith and love, are more needful for them. He will, 
therefore, so order his dispensations towards them, by afflictions, 
temptations, occasions of life in the world, as that they shall have 
new work to do, and all the grace they have be turned into a new 
exercise. Hereon, it may be, they find not that sensible vigour in 



404 SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. [bOOK IV. 

their spiritual affections, nor that delight in spiritual duties, which 
they have done formerly. This makes them sometimes ready to 
conclude that grace is decayed in them, that the springs of holiness 
?>re drying up, and they know neither where nor what they are. 
But yet, it may be, the real work of sanctification is still thriving 
and effectually carried on in them. 

8. It is acknowledged that there may he, that there are in many, 
great decays in grace and holiness; that the work of sanctification 
goeth back in them, and that, it may be, universally and for a long 
season. Many actings of grace are lost in such persons, and the 
things that remain are ready to die. This the Scripture abundantly 
testifieth unto and giveth us instances of How often doth God 
charge his people with backsliding, barrenness, decays in faith and 
love ! And the experience of the days wherein we live sufficiently 
confirm the truth of it. Are there not open and visible decays in 
many as to the whole spirit, all the duties and fruits, of holiness? 
Cannot the best among us contribute somewhat to the evidence 
hereof from our own experience? What shall we say, then? is there 
no sincere holiness where such decays are found? God forbid. But 
we must inquire the reasons whence this comes to pass, seeing this 
is contrary to the gradual progress of holiness in them that are sanc- 
tified, which we have asserted. And I answer two things unto it: — 

(1.) That these decays are occasional and preternatural as to 
the true nature and constitution of the new creature, and a disturb- 
ance of the ordinary work of grace. They are diseases in our spiri- 
tual state, which it is not to be measured by. Are you dead and 
cold in duties, backward in good works, careless of your heart and 
thoughts, addicted to the world? — these things belong not to the 
state of sanctification, but are enemies unto it, sicknesses and dis- 
eases in the spiritual constitution of the persons in whom they are. 

(2.) Although our sanctification and growth in holiness be a work 
of the Holy Spirit, as the efficient cause thereof, yet is it our own 
Avork also in a way of duty. He hath prescribed unto us what shall 
be our part, what he expects from us and requireth of us, that the 
work may be regularly carried on unto perfection, as was before de- 
clared. And there are two sorts of things which if we attend not 
unto in a due manner, the orderly progress of it will be obstmcted 
and retarded; for, — 

[1.] The power and growth of any lust or corruption, and a com- 
pliance from it with temptations, which is inseparable from the 
prevalency of any sin in us, lies directly against this progress. If we 
allow or approve of any such thing in us; if we indulge unto any act- 
ings of sin, especially when known and grown frequent, in any one 
kind ; if we neglect the use of the best means for the constant 
mortification of sin, which every enlightened soul understands to be 



riTAr. II.] SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. 405 

necessary thereunto, — there is, and will be increased, a universal decay- 
in hohness, and not only in that particular corruption which is so 
spared and indulged. A disease in any one of the vitals, or prin- 
cipal parts of the body, weakens not only the part wherein it is, but 
the whole body itself, and vitiates the whole constitution by a sym- 
pathy of parts; and any particular lust indulged unto vitiates the 
whole spiritual health, and weakens the soul in all duties of obedience. 

[2.] There are some things required of us to this end, that holi- 
ness tnay thrive and be carried on in us. Such are,' the constant use 
of all ordinances and means appointed unto that end, a due obser- 
vance of commanded duties in their season, with a readiness for the 
exercise of every especial grace in its proper circumstances. Now, 
if we neglect these things, if we walk at all perad ventures with God, 
attending neither to means nor duties, nor the exercise of grace, as 
we should, we are not to wonder if we find ourselves decaying, yea, 
ready to die. Doth any man wonder to see a person formerly of a 
sound constitution grown weak and sickly, if he openly neglect all 
means of health, and contract all sorts of diseases by his intemper- 
ance? Is it strange that a nation should be sick and faint at heart, 
that grey hairs should be sprinkled upon it, that it should be poor 
and decaying, whilst consuming lusts, with a strange neglect of all 
invigorating means, do prevail in it? No more is it that a professing 
people should decay in holy obedience whilst they abide in the 
neglect expressed. 

Having vindicated this assertion, I shall yet add a little farther 
improvement of it; and, if the Avork of holiness be such a pro- 
gressive, thriving work in its own nature ; if the design of the Holy 
Ghost, in the use of means, be to carry it on in us, and increase it 
more and more unto a perfect measure; then is our diligence still 
to be continued to the same end and purpose : for hereon depend 
our growth and thriving. It is required of us that we give all 
diligence unto the increase of grace, 2 Pet. i. 5-7, and that we 
abound therein, 2 Cor. viii. 7, "abounding in all diligence;" and 
not only so, but that we " show the same diligence unto the end," 
Heb. vi. 11. Whatever diligence you have used in the attaining or 
improving of holiness, abide in it unto the end, or we cast ourselves 
under decays and endanger our souls. If we slack or give over as 
to our duty, the work of sanctification will not be carried on in a 
way of grace. And this is required of us, this is expected from us, 
that our whole lives be spent in a course of diligent compliance with 
the progressive work of grace in us. There are three grounds on 
which men do or may neglect this duty, whereon the life of their 
obedience and all their comforts do depend : — 

(1.) A presumption or groundless persuasion that' they are already 
perfect. This some pretend unto in a proud and foolish conceit, de- 



406 BELIEVERS THE OBJECT OF SANCTIFICATION, [BOOK IV. 

structive of the whole nature and duty of evangelical holiness or 
obedience; for this, on our part, consists in our willing compliance 
with the work of grace, gradually carried on unto the measure ap- 
pointed unto us. If this be already attained, there is an end of all 
evangelical obedience, and men return again to the law unto their 
ruin. See Phil. iii. 1 2-1 4. It is an excellent description of the na- 
ture of our obedience which the apostle gives us in that place. All 
absolute perfection in this life is rejected as unattainable. The end 
proposed is blessedness and glory, with the eternal enjoyment of God ; 
and the way whereby we press towards it, which compriseth the whole 
of our obedience, is by continual, uninterrupted following after, press- 
ing, reaching out, — a constant progress, in and by our utmost diligence. 

(2.) A foolish supposition that, being interested in a state of grace, 
we need not now be so solicitous about exact holiness and obedience 
in all things as we were formerly, whilst our minds hung in suspense 
about our condition. But so much as any one hath this apprehension 
or persuasion prevailing in hiha or influencing of him, so much hath 
he cause deeply to question whether he have yet any thing of grace 
or holiness or no ; for this persuasion is not of Him who hath called 
us. There is not a more effectual engine in the hand of Satan 
either to keep us off from holiness or to stifle it when it is attained, 
nor can any thoughts arise in the hearts of men more opposite to the 
nature of grace; for which cause the apostle rejects it with detesta*- 
tion, Rom. vi. 1, 2, 

(3.) Weariness and despondencies, arising from oppositions. Some 
find so much difiiculty in and opposition to the work of holiness and 
its progress from the power of corruptions, temptations, and the oc- 
casions of life in this world, that they are ready to faint and give 
over this diligence in duties and contending against sin. But the 
Scripture doth so abound with encouragements unto this sort of per- 
sons as that we need not to insist thereon. 



CHAPTER III. 

BELIEVERS THE ONLY OBJECT OF SANCTIFICATIGN", AND SUBJECT OF 
GOSPEL HOLINESS. 

Believers the only subject of the work of sanctification — How men come to believe, 
if believers alone receive the Spirit of sanctification — The principal ends for 
which the Spirit is promised, with their order in their accomplishment — Rules 
to be observed in praying for the Spirit of God, and his operations therein — 
That believers only are sanctified or holy proved and confirmed — Mistakes 
about holiness, both notional and practical, discovered — The proper subject 
of holiness in believers. 

That which we are next to inquire into is, the personal subject of 



CHAP, III.] AND SUBJECT OY GOSPEL HOLINESS. 407 

this work of sanctification, or who, and of what sort, those persons 
are that are made holi/. Now, these are all and only believers. 
All who unfeignedly believe in God through Jesus Christ are sancti- 
fied, and no others. Unto them is evangelical holiness confined. It 
is for them and them only that our Saviour prays for this mercy, 
grace, or privilege: John xvii. 17, "Sanctify them by thy truth." 
And concerning them he affirms, " For their sakes I sanctify myself, 
that they also may be sanctified through tlie truth," verse ] 9. And 
whereas, in the verses foregoing, he had immediate respect unto his 
apostles and present disciples, that we may know that neither his 
prayer nor his grace is confined or limited unto them, he adds, 
" Neither pray I for these alone," — that is, in this manner, and for 
these ends, — " but for them also which shall believe on me throuo;h 
their word," verse 20. It was, therefore, the prayer of our Lord 
Jesus Christ that all believers should be sanctified ; and so also was 
it his promise: chap. vii. 38, 39, "He that believeth on me, as the 
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 
But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him 
should receive." And it is with respect principally unto this work 
of sanctifi cation that he is compared unto flowing and living water, 
as hath been declared before. It is for believers, the " church that 
is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ," — that is, by 
faith, — 1 Thess. i. 1, that our apostle prays that "the God of peace 
would sanctify them throughout," chap. v. 23. 

But before we proceed to a farther confirmation of this assertion, 
an objection of some importance is to be removed out of our way: 
for on this supposition, that the Spirit of sanctification is given only 
unto believers, it may be inquired how men come so to be; for if we 
have not the Spirit until after we do believe, then is faith itself of 
ourselves. And this is that which some plead for, — namely, " That 
the gift of the Holy Ghost, unto all ends and purposes for which he 
is promised, is consequential unto faith, with the profession and obe- 
dience thereof, being, as it were, its reward." See Crell. de Spin Sane, 
cap. V. To this purpose it is pleaded, " That the apostle Peter en- 
courageth men unto faith and repentance with the promise that 
thereon they should 'receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,' Acts iJ. 38; 
and so is that also of our Saviour, John xiv. 17, that 'the world,' — 
that is, unbelievers, — 'cannot receive the Spirit of truth:' so that our 
faith and obedience are required as a necessary qualification unto the 
receiving of the Holy Ghost; and if they are so absolutely, then are 
they of ourselves, and not wrought in us by the grace of God;" — 
which is express Pelagianism. 

Ans. I could dwell long on this inquiry concerning the especial 
subject of the Holy Spirit, seeing the right understanding of many 



408 BELIEVERS THE OBJECT OF SANCTIFICATION, [BOOK IV. 

places of Scripture doth depend thereon; but because I have much 
work yet before me, I will reduce what I have to offer on this head 
into as narrow a compass as possibly I may. In answer, therefore, to 
this objection, I say, — 

1. That the Holy Spirit is said to be prbmised and received with 
respect unto the ends which he is promised for, and the effects which 
he worketh when he is received ; for although he be himself but one, 
" the one and the self-same Spirit," and he himself is promised, given 
forth, and received, as we have declared, yet he hath many and 
diverse operations. And as his operations are divers, or [of] several 
sorts and kinds, so our receiving of him, as to the manner of it, is 
divers also, and suited unto the ends of his communications unto us. 
Thus, in some sense he is promised unto and received by believers; 
in another he is promised and received to make men so, or to make 
them believe. In the first way there may be some activity of faith 
in a way of duty, whereas in the latter we are passive, and receive 
him only in a way of grace. 

2. The chief and principal ends for which the Holy Spirit is pro- 
mised and received may be reduced to these four heads: — (1.) Ke- 
generation; (2.) Sanctification ; (3.) Consolation; (4.) Edification. 
Tliere are, indeed, very many distinct operations and distributions of 
the Spirit, as I have in part already discovered, and shall yet farther 
go over them in particular instances; but they may be reduced 
unto these general heads, or at least they will suffice to exemplify 
the different manner and ends of the receiving of the Spirit. And 
this is the plain order and method of these things, as the Scripture 
both plainly and plentifully testifies: — (1.) He is promised and re- 
ceived as to the work of regeneration unto the elect; (2.) As to the 
work of sanctification unto the regenerate; (8.) As to the work of 
consolation unto the sanctified ; and, (4.) As unto gifts for edification 
unto professors, according to his sovereign will and pleasure. 

(] .). He is promised unto the elect, and received by them as to his 
work of regeneration. That this is his work in us wholly and en- 
tirely I have proved before at large. Hereunto the qualifications of 
faith and obedience are no way required as previously necessary in 
us, . In order of nature, our receiving of the Spirit is antecedent to 
the very seed and principle of faith in us, as the cause is to tl:e 
effect, seeing it is wrought in us by him alone; and the promises 
concerning the communication of the Spirit unto this end have been 
before explained and vindicated. Hereby doth the Holy Ghost pre- 
pare a habitation for himself, and make way for all the following 
work which he hath to do in us and towards us, unto the glory of 
God, and the perfecting of our salvation, or the making of us "meet 
for the inheritance of the saints in light," Col. i. 12. 



CHAP. III.] AND SUBJECT OF GOSPEL HOLINESS. 409 

(2.) He is promised and received as a Spirit of sanctification unto 
and by them that are regenerate, — that is, unto believers, — and only 
unto them. This will be fully confirmed immediately. And this 
puts an issue to the principal difficulty of the foregoing objection. 
It is no way inconsistent that faith should be required previously 
unto the receiving of the Spirit as a Spirit of sanctification, though 
it be not so as he is the author of regeneration. The same Spirit first 
worketh faith in us, and then preserveth it. when it is wrought. 
Only, to clear the manner of it, we may observe, — First, That sanc- 
tification may be considered two ways: — First, As to the origi- 
nal and essential work of it, which consists in the preservation of 
the principle of spiritual life and holiness communicated unto us in 
our regeneration. Secondly, As to those renewed actual operations 
whereby it is carried on, and is gradually progressive, as hath beeiv 
declared. Secondly, Faith also, or believing, may be considered in this 
matter two ways : — First, As to its original communication, infusion, 
or creation in the soul ; for it is the gift or work of God. In this re- 
spect, — that is, as to the seed, principle, and habit of it, — it is wrought 
in us, as all other grace is, in regeneration. Secondly, As to its act- 
ings in us, or as unto actual believing, or the exercise of faith and 
the fruits of it, in a constant profession and holy obedience. Sanc- 
tification in the first sense respects faith also in the first ; that is, 
the preservation of the seed, principle, grace, habit of faith in us, 
belongs unto the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit; and so be- 
lievers only are sanctified. And in the latter sense it respects faith 
in the latter also ; that is, the progress of the work of sanctification 
in us is accompanied with the actings and exercise of faith. But both 
ways faith is a necessary qualification in and unto them that are sanc- 
tified. Believers, therefore, are the adequate subject of the work of 
sanctification ; which is all that at present is under our consideration. 

(3.) The Spirit is also promised as a comforter, or a Spirit of con- 
solation. In this sense, or for this end and work, he is not promised 
unto them that are regenerate merely as such; for many may be 
regenerate who are not capable of consolation, nor do need it, as 
infants, who may be, and are, many of them, sanctified from the 
womb. Nor is he so promised unto them that are believers abso- 
lutely, who have the grace or habit of faith wrought in them; for so 
many have who are not yet exercised nor brought into that condition 
wherein spiritual consolations are either proper or needful unto them. 
The Spirit is promised as a comforter unto believers, as engaged in 
the profession of the gospel, and meeting with conflicts inward and 
outward on the account thereof. The first promise of the Holy 
Ghost as a comforter was made to the disciples, when their hearts 
were filled with sorrow on the departure of Christ; and this is tlie 



410 BELIEVERS THE OBJECT OF SAXCTJFICATIOX, [BOOK IV. 

measure of all others, John xvi. 6, 7. And this is evident both from 
the nature of the thing itself, and from all the promises which are 
given concerning him to this end and purpose. And it will be wholly 
in vain at any time to apply spiritual consolations unto any other 
sort of persons. All men who have any interest in Christian religion, 
when they fall into troubles and distresses, be they of what sort they 
will, are ready to inquire after the things that may relieve and re- 
fresh them. And whereas there are many things in the word suited 
unto the relief and consolation of the distressed, they are apt to apply 
them unto themselves; and others also are ready to comply with 
them in the same charitable office, as they suppose. But no true 
spiritual consolation was ever administered by the word unto any but 
exercised believers, however the minds of men may be for the pre- 
sent a little relieved, and their affections refreshed, by the things that 
are spoken unto them out of the word : for the word is the instru- 
ment of the Holy Ghost, nor hath it any efficacy but as he is pleased 
to use it and apply it ; and he useth it unto this end, and unto i o 
other, as being promised as a Spirit of consolation, only to sanctifiejd 
believers. And, therefore, when persons fall under spiritual convic- 
tions and trouble of mind or conscience upon the account of sin and 
guilt, it is not our first work to tender consolation unto them, 
whereby many in that condition are deluded, but to lead them on 
to believing, that, " being justified by faith, they may have peace 
with God;" which is their proper relief. And in that state God is 
abundantly willing that they should receive " strong consolation," 
even as many as " flee for refuge to the hope that is set before them." 

(4.) The Spirit of God is promised and received as to gifts for the 
edification of the church. This is that which is intended, Acts ii. 
SS, 39. And his whole work herein we shall consider in its proper 
place. The rule and measure of the communication of the Spirit for 
regeneration is election ; the rule and measure of the communica- 
tion of the Spirit for sanctification is regeneration ; and the rule and 
measure of his communication as a Spiiit of consolation is sanctifi- 
cation, with the afflictions, temptations, Vnd troubles of them that 
are sanctified. What, then, is the rule anx^ measure of his commu- 
nication as a Spirit of edification? I answer, Profession of the truth 
of the gospel and its worship, with a call unto the benefiting of others, 
1 Cor. xii. 7. And here two rules must be observed: — [1.] Tliat he 
carries not his gifts for edification out of the pale of the church, or 
profession of the truth and worship of the gospel. [2.] That he useth 
a sovereign and not a certain rule in this communication, 1 Cor. xiL 
11, so as that he is not wanting unto any true professors, in propor- 
tion to their calls and opportunities. 

Secondly, Whereas the Spirit of sanctification is promised only 



CHAP. III.] AND SUBJECT OF GOSPEL HOLINESS. 411 

unto them that are regenerate and do believe, may we, in our prayers 
and supplications for him, plead these qualifications as arguments 
and motives for the farther communications of him unto us? Ans. 
1. We cannot properly plead any qualification in ourselves, as though 
God were obliged, with respect unto them, to give a man increase of 
grace ex congruo, much less ex condigno. When we have done all, 
we are unprofitable servants. As we begin, so we must proceed with 
God, merely on the account of sovereign grace. 2. We may plead 
the faithfulness and righteousness of God as engaged in his promises. 
We ought to pray that he would " not forsake the work of his own 
hands ;" that " he who hath begun the good work in us would perfect 
it until the day of Jesus Christ;" that with respect unto his covenant 
and promises he Would preserve that new creature, that divine na- 
ture, which he hath formed and implanted in us. 3. Upon a sense 
of the weakness of any grace, we may humbly profess our sincerity 
therein, and pray for its increase. So cried the poor man with tears, 
*' Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief," Mark ix. 24. And the 
apostles in their prayer, " Lord, increase our faith," Luke xvii. 5, 
owned the faith they had, and prayed for its increase by fresh sup- 
plies of the Holy Spirit. 

Again, Thirdly, May believers in trouble pray for the Spirit of 
consolation with respect unto their troubles, it being unto such that 
he is promised? Ans. 1. They may do so directly, and ought so to do ; 
yea, when they do it not it is a sign they turn aside unto broken cis- 
terns, that will yield them no relief 2. Troubles are of two sorts, — 
spiritual and temporal. Spiritual troubles are so either, (1.) Subjec- 
tively, such as are all inward darknesses, and distresses on the ac- 
count of sin; or, (2.) Objectively, such as are all persecutions for the 
name of Christ and the gospel. It is principally with respect unto 
these that the Spirit is promised as a comforter, and with regard 
unto them are we principally to pray for him as so promised. 8. In 
those outward troubles which are common unto believers with other 
men, as the death of relations, loss of estate or liberty, they may 
and ought to pray for the Spirit as a comforter, that the consola- 
tions of God, administered by him, may outbalance their outward 
troubles, and keep up their hearts unto other duties. 

Fourthly, May all sincere professors of the gospel pray for the 
Spirit with respect unto his gifts for the edification of others, seeing 
unto such he is promised for that end? Ans. 1. They may do so, 
but with the ensuing limitations : — (] .) They must do it with express 
submission to the sovereignty of the Spirit himself, who " dividetli 
to every man as he will." (2.) With respect unto that station and 
condition wherein they are placed in the church by the providence 
and call of God. Private persons have no warrant to pray for minis- 



412 BELIEVERS THE OBJECT OF SANCTinCATION, [bOOK IV. 

terial gifts, sucli as should carry tliem out of their stations, without 
a divine direction going before them. (3.) That their end be good 
and right, to use them in tlieir respective places unto edification. So 
ought parents and masters of families, and all menrbers of churches, 
to pray for those gifts of the Spirit whereby they may fill up the 
duties of their places and relations. 

From the consideration of this order of the dispensation of the 
Spirit we may be directed how to pray for him, which we are both 
commanded and encouraged to do, Luke xi. 13: for we are to pray 
for him with respect unto those ends and effects for which he is pro- 
mised; and these are those which are before expressed, with all those 
particular instances which may be reduced unto them. We might, 
therefore, hence give direction in some inquiries, which, indeed, de- 
serve a larger discussion if our present design would admit of it. One 
only I shall instance in: — 

May a person who is yet unregenerate pray for the Spirit of re- 
generation to effect that work in him; for whereas, as such, he is 
promised only unto the elect, such a person, not knowing his election, 
seems to have no foundation to make such a request upon? Ans. 1. 
Election is no qualification on our part, which we may consider or 
plead in our supplications, but only the secret purpose on the part 
of God of what himself will do, and is knoAvn unto us only by its 
effects. 2. Persons convinced of sin and of a state of sin may and 
ought to pray that God, by the effectual communication of his 
Spirit unto them, would deliver them from that condition. This is 
one way whereby we " flee from the wrath to come." 3. The espe- 
cial object of their supplications herein is sovereign grace, goodness, 
and mercy, as declared in and by Jesus Christ. Such persons can- 
not, indeed, plead any especial promise as made unto them; but 
they may plead for the grace and mercy declared in the promises, as 
indefinitely proposed unto sinners. It may be they can proceed no 
farther in their expectations but unto that of the prophet, " Who 
knoweth if God will come and give a blessing?" Joel ii. 14, yet is 
this a sufficient ground and encouragement to keep them waiting at 
the " throne ' of grace." So Paul, after he had received his vision 
from heaven, continued in great distress of mind, praying until he re- 
ceived the Holy Ghost, Actsix. 11, 17. 4. Persons under such con- 
victions have really sometimes the seeds of regeneration communi- 
cated unto them ; and then, as they ought so they will continue in 
their supplications for the increase and manifestation of it. 

It is evident that by these observations the foregoing objection is 
utterly removed out of the way, and that no disadvantage ariseth 
unto the doctrine of the free and effectual grace of God by confining 
this work of sanctification and holiness unto believers only. None 



CHAP. III.] AND SUBJECT OF GOSPEL HOLINESS. 413 

are sanctified, none are made holy, but those who truly and savingly 
believe in God through Jesus Christ; which I shall now farther 
confirm : — 

1. " Without faith it is impossible to please God," Heb. xi. 6. The 
faith discoursed of by the apostle is that whereby the fathers " re- 
ceived the promises, walked with God, and obtained the inheritance," 
— the faith of Abraham ; that is, true, saving, justifying faith. This 
faith constitutes all them in whom it is true believers, and without 
it it is impossible to please God, Now, holiness, wherever it is, 
pleaseth God ; and therefore without faith it is impossible we should 
have any interest in it. " This is the will of God, even our sanctifi- 
cation," 1 Thess. iv. 3 ; and walking therein we please God, verse 7. 
All that pleaseth God in us is our holiness, or some part of it, and it 
principally consists in an opposition unto all that displeaseth him. 
That which he commands pleaseth him, and that which he forbids 
displeaseth him ; and our holiness consists in a compliance with the 
one and an opposition unto the other. Wherefore, that any others 
but believers should have any thing which really belongs unto this , 
holiness, the apostle declares it to be impossible. Some would ex- 
cept against this sense of the words from the ensuing reason which the 
apostle gives of his assertion, which contains the nature of the faith 
intended : " For he that cometh unto God must believe that he is, and 
that he is a re warder of them that diligently seek him;" for " this 
is that," they say, " which the light of nature directs unto, and there- 
fore there is no other faith necessarily required that a man may please 
God, but only that which is included in the right use and exercise of 
natural reason." But this exception will no way evade the force of 
this testimony ; for the apostle discourseth concerning such a coming 
unto God, and such a belief in him, as is guided, directed, and ingene- 
rated in us, by the promises which it rests upon and is resolved into. 
Now these promises, all and every one of them, include Jesus Christ, 
with a respect unto him and his grace ; and, therefore, the faith intend- 
ed is that which is in God through Christ, as revealed and exhibited 
in the promises, and this coming unto God is a fruit and effect thereof. 

2. Our Lord. Jesus Christ affirms that men are sanctified by tJie 
faith that is in him: Acts xxvi. 18, "That they may receive for- 
giveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified 
by faith that is in me." If there were any other way or means where- 
by men might be sanctified or made holy, he would not have con- 
fined it unto the "faith that is in him;" at least, there is no other 
way to attain that holiness which may bring them unto the heavenly 
inheritance, or make them meet for it. Col. i. 12, which alone we in- 
quire after. And, indeed, there can be no greater contempt cast on 
the Lord Jesus, and on the dut^ of believing in him, whereunto he 



414 BELIEVERS THE OBJECT OF SANCTIFICATION, [cOOK IV. 

makes this one of his principal motives, than to imagine that without 
faith in him any one can be made holy. 

3. Faith is the instrumental cmise of our sanctification ; so that 
where it is not, no holiness can be wrought in us. " God purifieth 
our hearts by faith," Acts xv. 9, and not otherwise; and where the 
heart is not purified, there is no holiness. All the duties in the 
world will not denominate him holy whose heart is not purified ; nor 
will any such duties be holy themselves, seeing unto the unclean 
all things are unclean. All the obedience that is accepted with 
God is the " obedience of faith," Rom. i 5 ; thence it springs, and 
therewith is it animated. So is it expressed, 1 Pet. i. 20-22, " You 
who by Christ do believe in God, and have purified your souls in 
obeying the truth through the Spirit." It is from faith in God 
through Jesus Christ, acting itself in obedience unto the gospel, that 
v/e purify or cleanse our souls; which is our sanctification. See 
Col. ii. 12-14, iii. 7-11. 

4. All grace is originally intrusted in and with Jesus Christ. The 
image of God being lost in Adam, whatever was prepared or is used 
for the renovation of it in our natures and persons, wherein gospel 
holiness doth consist, was to be treasured up in him as the second 
Adam, by whom many are to be made alive who died in the first. 
It pleased the Father that " in him should all fulness dwell," — as the 
fulness of the Godhead, in and for his own divine personal subsist- 
ence, so the fulness of all grace for supplies unto us, that " of his 
fulness we might receive grace for grace." He is made the head 
unto the whole new creation, not only of power and rule, but of life 
and influence. God hath given him for a " covenant to the people," 
and communicates nothing that belongs properly to the covenant of 
grace, as our sanctification and holiness do, unto any, but in and 
through him. And we receive nothing by him but by virtue of re- 
lation unto him, or especial interest in him, or union with him. 
Where there is an especial communication, there must be an espe- 
cial relation whereon it doth depend and whence it doth proceed; 
as the relation of the members unto the head is the cause and means 
why vital spirits are thence derived unto them. We must be in 
Christ as the branch is in the vine, or we can derive nothing from 
him : John xv. 4, " As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except 
it abide in the vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." What- 
ever any way belongeth unto holiness is our fruit, and nothing else 
is fruit but what belongeth thereunto. Now this our Saviour affirms 
that we can bring forth nothing of, unless we are in him and do abide 
in him. Now, our being in Christ and abiding in him is by faith, 
without which we can derive nothing from him, and consequently 
never be partakers of holiness in the least degi-ee. But these things 



rnAP. III.] AND SUBJECT OF GOSPEL HOLINESS. 415 

must be afterward spoken unto more at large. It is, therefore, un- 
deniably evident that believers only are sanctified and holy; all others 
are unclean, nor is any thing they do holy, or so esteemed of God. 

And the due consideration hereof discovers many pernicious mis- 
takes that are about this matter, both notional and practical; for, — 
1. There are some who would carry holiness beyond the bounds of 
an especial relation unto Christ, or would carry that relation beyond 
the only bond of it, Avhich is faith; for they would have it to be no 
more than moral honesty or virtue, and so cannot with any modesty 
deny it unto those heathens who endeavoured after them according to 
the light of nature. And what need, then, is there of Jesus Christ? 
I can and do commend moral virtues and honesty as much as any 
man ought to do, and am sure enough there is no grace where they 
are not ; yet to make any thing to be our holiness that is not derived 
from Jesus Christ, I know not what I do more abhor. An imagina- 
tion hereof dethrones Christ from his glory, and overthrows the whole 
gospel. But we have a sort of men who plead that heathens may be 
eternally saved, so large and indulgent is their charity, and in the 
meantime endeavour, by all means possible, to destroy, temporally at 
least, all those Christians who stoop not to a compliance with all their 
imaginations. 2. Others there are who proceed much farther, and 
yet do but deceive themselves in the issue. Notions they have of 
good and evil by the light of nature, Rom. ii. 14, 15. As they come 
with men into the world, and grow up with them as they come to 
the exercise of their reason, so they are not stifled without offering 
violence to the principles of nature by the power of sin; as it comes to 
pass in many, Eph. iv. 19; 1 Tim. iv. 2; Rom. L 31. These notions, 
therefore, are in many improved in process of time by convictions 
from the law, and great effects are produced hereby ; for when the 
soul is once effectually convinced of sin, righteousness, and judg- 
ment, it cannot but endeavour after a deliverance from the one and 
an attainment of the other, that so it may be well with it at the last 
day. And here lie the springs or foundations of all the moral differ- 
ences that we see amongst mankind. Some give themselves up unto 
all abominations, lasciviousness, uncleanness, drunkenness, frauds, 
oppressions, blasphemies, persecutions, as having no bounds fixed 
unto their lusts but what are given them by their own impotency or 
dread of human laws. Others endeavour to be sober, temperate, just, 
honest and upright in their dealings, with a sedulous performance of 
]-eligious duties. This difference ariseth from the different power 
and efficacy of legal convictions upon the minds of men. And these 
convictions are in many variously improved, according to the light 
they receive in the means of knowledge which they do enjoy, or the 
errors and superstitions which they are misguided unto ; for on this 



416 BELIEVERS THE OBJECT OF SANCTIFICATION, [BOOK IV. 

latter account do they grow up in some into penances, vows, uncom- 
manded abstinences, and various self- macerations, with other pain- 
ful and costly duties. Where the light they receive is, in the general, 
according unto truth, there it will engage men into reformation of 
life, a multiplication of duties, abstinence from sin, profession, zeal, 
and a cordial engagement into one way or other in religion. Such 
persons may have good hopes themselves that they are holy ; they 
may appear to the world so to be, and be accepted in the church of 
God as such ; and yet really be utter strangers from true gospel hoh- 
ness. And the reason is, because they have missed it in the founda- 
tion ; and not having, in the first place, obtained an interest in Christ, 
have built their house on the sand, whence it will fall in the time of 
trouble. If it be said that all those who come up unto the duties 
mentioned are to be esteemed believers, if therewith they make pro- 
fession of the true faith of the gospel, I williugly grant it; but if it be 
said that necessarily they are so indeed, and in the sight of God, and 
therefore are also sanctified and hoi}'', I must say the contrary [; it] is 
expressly denied in the gospel, and especial instances given thereof. 

Wherefore let them wisely consider these things who have any 
conviction of the necessity of holiness. It may be they have done 
much in the pursuit of it, and have laboured in the duties that 
materially belong unto it. Many things they have done, and many 
tilings forborne, upon the account of it, and still continue so to do. 
It may be they think that for all the world they would not be found 
among the number of unholy persons at the last day. This may be 
the condition of some, perhaps of many, who are yet but young, and 
but newly engaged into these ways upon their convictions. It may be 
so with them who for many days and years have been so following 
after a righteousness in a way of duty. But yet they meet with these 
two evils in their way: — 1. That duties of obedience seldom or never 
prove more easy, familiar, or pleasant unto them than they did at 
first, but rather are more grievous and burdensome every day, 2. 
That they never come up unto a satisfaction in what they do, but 
still find that there is somewhat wanting. These make all they do 
burdensome and unpleasant unto them, which at length will betray 
them into backsliding and apostasy. But yet there is somewhat 
worse behind ; all they have done, or are ever able to do, on the bot- 
tom upon which they stand, will come to no account, but perish with 
them at the great day. Would we prevent all these fatal evils? 
Avould we engage in a real, thriving, everlasting holiness? — let our 
iirst business be to secure a relation unto Jesus Christ, without which 
nothing of it will ever be attained. 

To close this discourse, I shall only from it obviate a putid ca- 
lumny cast by the Papists, Quakers, and others of the same con- 



CHAP. Ill] AND SUBJECT OF GOSPEL HOLINESS. 417 

federacy, against the grace of God, upon the doctrine of the free 
justification of a sinner, through the imputation of the righteousness 
of Christ : for with a shameless impudence they clamour on all by 
whom it is asserted, as those who maintain salvation to be attainable 
through a mere external imputation of righteousness; whilst those 
so saved are " unclean and unholy," as the Quakers, or " negligent of 
the duties of righteousness and obedience," as the Papists and others, 
slanderously report: for the frontless impudence of this calumny is 
sufficiently evident from hence, that as we assert sanctification and 
holiness to be peculiar only unto believing, justified persons, — that is, 
that faith and holiness are inseparable, habitually or actually, or in 
both regards, — so, in like manner, that all such persons are infallibly 
sanctified and made holy. 

All believers, and only believers, being sanctified and made holy, 
what it is that is sanctified in them, or what is the proper seat and 
subject of this work, is, in the next place, to be declared; for it is not 
a mere external denomination, as things were called " holy" under 
the Old Testament, nor any transient act, nor any series or course 
of actions, that we plead about, but that which hath, as a 7'eal being 
and existence, so a constant abiding or residence in us. Hence, he 
that is holy is always so, whether he be in the actual exercise of the 
duties of holiness or no, though an omission of any of them in their 
proper season is contrary unto and an impeachment of holiness, as 
to its degrees. Now, this subject of sanctification is the entire na- 
ture or whole person of a believer. It is not any one faculty of the 
soul or affection of the mind or part of the body that is sanctified, 
but the whole soul and body, or the entire nature, of every believing 
person. And hereby is the work of sanctification really distinguished 
from any other mere common work which may represent it, or pre- 
tend unto it; for all such works are partial. Either they are in the 
mind only by light and notions of truth, or on the affections only in zeal 
and devotion, or on the mind and conscience in the convictions of sin 
and duty; but farther they proceed not. But true holiness consists in 
the renovation of our whole persons; which must be demonstrated. 

1. That our entire nature was originally created in the image of 
God I have proved before, and it is by all acknowledged. Our 
whole souls, in the rectitude of all their faculties and powers, in order 
unto the life of God and his enjoyment, did bear his image. Nor 
Avas it confined unto the soul only; the body also, not as to its 
shape, figure, or natural use, but as an essential part of our nature, 
was interested in the image of God by a participation of original 
righteousness. Hence the whole person was a meet principle for the 
communication of this image of God unto others, by the means of 
natural propagation, which is an act of the entire person ; for a per- 

VOL. in. 27 



418 BELIEVEES THE OBJECT OF SAXCTIFICATION, [BOOK lY, 

son created and abiding in the image of God, begetting another in 
his own image and likeness, had, by virtue of the covenant of crea- 
tion, begotten him in the image of God also, — that is, had communi- 
cated unto him a nature upright and pure. 

2. By the entrance of sin, this image of God, so far as it was our 
righteousness and holiness before him, was utterly defaced and lost. 
This also I have sufficiently evidenced before. It did not depart 
from any one power, part, or faculty of our souls, but from our whole 
nature. Accordingly, the Scripture describes, — (1.) The deprava- 
tion of our nature distinctly, in all the powers of it. In particular, 
the corruption that ensued on our minds, wills, and affections, upon 
the loss of the image of God, I have before declared and vindicated. 
And, — (2.) In reference unto the first actings of all these faculties, 
in things moral and spiritual, the Scripture adds, that "all the 
thoughts and imaginations of our hearts are evil, and that continu- 
silly, " Gen. vi 5. All the original first actings of the powers of our 
souls, in or about things rational and moral, are always evil; for 
"an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit." That which is lame and 
distorted can act nothing that is straight and regular. Hence, — (3.) 
All the outward actions of persons in this state and condition are 
evil, unfruitful works of darkness. And not only so, but, (4.) The 
Scripture, in the description of the effects of this depravation of our 
nature, calls in the body and the members of it unto a partnership 
in all this obliquity and sin: the "members" of the body are "ser- 
vants unto uncleanness and iniquity," Rom. vi. 19. And the en- 
gagement of them all in the course and actings of depraved nature 
is particularly declared by our apostle out of the psalmist, Rom. iii. 
12-15, "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become 
unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their 
throat is an open sepulchre ; with their tongues they have used de- 
ceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of 
cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood," in all 
ways of evil. 

This being the state of our whole nature in its depravation, our 
sanctification, wherein alone its reparation in this life doth consist, 
must equally respect the whole. Some su^Dpose that it is our affec- 
tions only, in their deliverance from corrupt lusts and prejudices, 
with their direction unto heavenly objects, that are the subject of 
this work; for "the mind, or rational, intellectual power of the soul, 
is in itself," they say, " pure, noble, untainted, and needs no other 
aid but to be delivered from the prejudices and obstructions of its 
operations, which are cast upon it by the engagements and inclina- 
tions of corrupt affections, and a vicious course of conversation in 
the world, received by uninterrupted tradition from our fathers, from 



CHAP. III.] AND SUBJECT OF GOSPEL HOLINESS. 41 9 

whence it is not able to extricate or deliver itself without the aid of 
grace." But they have placed their instance very unhappily; for, 
among all the things that belong unto our nature, there is not any one 
which the Scripture so chargeth this depravation of it upon as the mind. 
This, in particular, is said to be " fleshly," to be " enmity against 
God," to be filled with "vanity, folly, and blindness," as we have at 
large before evinced. Nor is there any thing concerning which the 
.vork of sanctification and renovation is so expressly affirmed as it is 
concerning the mind. It is declared by the "renovation of our 
mind," Rom. xii. 2; or "being renewed in the spirit of our mind," 
lilph. iv. 23 ; that we "put on the new man, which is renewed in know- 
dge," Col. iii. 10 ; with other expressions of the like nature. It is 
iherefore our entire nature that is the subject of evangelical holi- 
ness; for to manifest in particulars: — 

1. Hence it is called the new man: Eph. iv. 24, " Put on the new 
nian, which after God is created in righteousness and holiness." As 
die principle of sin and corrupted nature in us is called " The old man," 
iov no other reason but that it possesseth all the active powers of the 
whole man, so that he neither doth nor can do any thing but what 
is influenced thereby; so this principle of holiness in us, the renova- 
tion of our natures, is called "The new man," because it possesseth the 
whole person with resjDect unto its proper operations and ends. And 
it extends itself as large as the old man, or the depravation of our 
natures, which takes in the whole person, soul and body, with all 
their faculties and powers. 

2. The heart, in the Scripture, is taken for the wJiole soul, and 
all the faculties of it, as they are one common principle of all moral 
operations, as I have proved before ; whatever, therefore, is wrought 
in and upon the heart, under this consideration, is wrought upon the 
whole soul. Now, this is not only said to be affected with this work 
of sanctification, or to have holiness wrought in it, but the principal 
description that is given us of this work consists in this, that therein 
and thereby a " new heart" is given unto us, or created in us, as it is 
expressed in the promise of the covenant. This, therefore, can be 
nothing but the possessing of all the powers and faculties of our 
souls with a new principle of holiness and obedience unto God. 

8. There is especial mention made of the effecting of this work on 
our souls and bodies, with their poiuers and faculties distinctly. 
This I have already proved in the declaration of the work of our re- 
generation, or conversion to God ; which is only preserved, cherished, 
improved, and carried on to its proper end, in our sanctification. 
The nature, also, of that spiritual light which is communicated unto 
our minds, of life unto our wills, of love unto our affections, hath 
been declared. Therefore doth it follow thence unavoidably, that 



420 BELIEVEES THE OBJECT OF SANCTIFICATION, [BOOK lY. 

the whole person is the subject of this work, and that holiness hath 
its residence in the whole soul entirely. 

4. We need go no farther for the proof hereof than unto that 
prayer of the apostle for the Thessalonians which we insisted on at 
the beginning of this discourse : 1 Thess. v. 23, " The God of peace 
himself sanctify you o'KorO.iTg, throughout," — that is, " in your whole 
natures or persons, in all that you are and do, that you may not in 
this or that part, but be every whit clean and holy throughouJb." And 
to make this the more evident, that we may know what it is which 
he prays may be sanctified, and thereby preserved blameless to the 
comincr of Christ, he distributes our whole nature into the two 
essential parts of soul and body. And in the former he considereth 
two things: — (1.) The spirit; (2.) The soul, peculiarly so called. 
And this distinction frequently occurs in the Scripture ; wherein that 
by the " spirit" the mind or intellectual faculty is understood, and 
by the " soul" the affections, is generally acknowledged, and may evi- 
dently be proved. These, therefore, the apostle prays may be sanc- 
tified and preserved holy throughout and entirely,^ and that by the 
infusion of a habit of hohness into 'them, with its preservation and 
improvement; whereof more afterward. But this is not all. Onr 
bodies are an essential part of our natures, and by their union with 
our souls are we constituted individual persons. Now, we are the 
principles of all our operations as we are persons ; every moral act 
we do is the act of the whole person. The body, therefore, is con- 
cerned in the good and evil of it. It became a subject of the de- 
j^ravation of our nature by concomitancy and participation, and is 
considered as one entire principle with the soul of communicating 
original defilement from parents unto children. Besides, it is now 
subject, in that corruption of its constitution which it is fallen under 
as a punishment of sin, unto many disorderly motions, that are in- 
centives and provocations unto sin. Hence sin is said to " reign in 
our mortal bodies," and our " members to be servants unto unright- 
eousness," Rom. vi. 12, 19. Moreover, by its participation in the 
defilement and punishment of sin, the body is disposed and made 
obnoxious unto corruption and destruction; for death entered by sin, 
and no otherwise. On all these accounts, therefore, it is necessary, 
on the other hand, that the body should be interested in this work 
and privilege of sanctification and holiness; and so it is, — (1.) By 
participation : for it is our persons that are sanctified and made holy 
(" Sanctify them throughout"); and although our souls are the first 
proper subject of the infused habit or principle of holiness, yet our 
bodies, as essential parts of our natures, are partakers thereof. (2.) 

1 " Fieri non potest ut sanctificato Spiritu non sit sanctum etiam corpus, quo sancti- 
fioatus utitur Spiritus." — August. Lib. de Bono Viduitat. 



HAP. III.] AND SUBJECT OF GOSPEL HOLINESS. 421 

By a peculiar influence of tlie grace of God upon them also, as far 
as they have any influence into moral operations; for the apostle 
tells us that " our bodies are members of Christ," 1 Cor. vi. ] 5, and 
so, consequently, have influences of grace from him as our head. (3.) 
In the work of sanctification the Holy Ghost comes and dwells in us ; 
and hereon '* our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is 
in us;" and "the temple of God is holy," 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, — although, 
I confess, this rather belongs unto the holiness of peculiar dedication 
unto God, whereof we shall treat afterward. And, [1.] Hereby are 
the parts and members of the body made instruments and " servants 
to righteousness unto holiness," Rom. vi. 19, — do become meet and fit 
for to be used in the acts and duties of holiness, as being made clean 
and sanctified unto God. [2.] Hereby are they disposed and prepared 
unto a blessed resurrection at the last day ; which shall be wrought by 
the Spirit of Christ, which dwelt in them and sanctified them in 
this life, Rom. viii. 10, 11; Phil. iii. 20, 21; 2 Cor. iv. 14, 16, 17. 

Our whole persons, therefore, and in them our whole natures, are 
the subject of this work, and true holiness invests the whole of it. 
Now, whether this universal investiture of our nature, in all the 
faculties and powers of it, by a new principle of holiness and obedi- 
ence unto God, whereby it is renewed into his image, do belong unto 
that moral virtue which some so plead for as to substitute it in the 
room of gospel holiness, they may do well to consider who are the 
patrons of that cause; for if it do not, then doth not itself belong 
unto that holiness which the gospel teacheth, requireth, promiseth, 
and communicates, whatever else it be. And, moreover, it is practi- 
cally worthy consideration that men deceive not themselves with a 
partial work in conviction only, or change of the affections also, in- 
stead of this evangelical sanctification. It is often and truly spoken 
unto, how men may have their minds enlightened, their affections 
wrought upon, and their lives much changed, and yet come short of 
real holiness. The best trial of this work is by its universality with 
respect unto its subject. If any thing remain unsanctified in us, sin 
may there set up its throne and maintain its sovereignty. But where 
this work is true and real, however weak and imperfect it may be as 
unto its degrees, yet it possesseth the whole person, and leaveth not 
the least hold unto sin, wherein it doth not continually combat and 
conflict with it. There is saving light in the mind, and life in the 
will, and love in the affections, and grace in the conscience, suited to 
its nature; there is notliing in us whereunto the power of holiness 
doth not reach according to its measure. Men may, therefore, if they 
please, deceive themselves by taking up with some notions in their 
minds, some devotions in their affections, or some good and virtuous 
deeds in their conversations, but holiness doth not consist therein. 



422 THE DEFILE5IEXT OF SIN, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, [BOOK IV. 

And, lastly, men may hence see how vainly they excuse themselves 
in their sins, their passions, intemperances, and the like disorders of 
mind, from their constitutions and inclinations ; for true sanctification 
reacheth unto the body also. It is true, grace doth not so change the 
natural constitution as to make hirii that was sickly to be healthy and 
strong, nor so as to make him who was melancholy to be sanguine, or 
the like ; it altereth not the course of the blood, and the animal spirits, 
with the impressions they make on our minds. But consider these 
things morally, and as the whole person is a principle of spiritual and 
moral operations, and so it doth work such change and alteration on 
the whole person as to cure morally sinful distempers, as of passion, 
elation of mind, and intemperances, which men were before more 
than ordinarily inclined unto by their tempers and constitutions; 
yea, from the efficacy of it upon our whole persons, in the curing of 
such habitual inordinate and sinful distempers, lies the principal dis- 
covery of its truth and reality. Let no men, therefore, pretend that 
grace and holiness do not change men's constitutions, thereby to ex- 
cuse and palliate their disorderly passions before men, and to keep 
themselves from being humbled for them before God ; for although 
it do not so naturally and physically, yet it doth so morally, so that 
the constitution itself shall be no more such .a ybmes and incentive 
unto disorderly passions as it hath been. If grace hath not cured 
that passion, pride, causeless anger, inveterate wrath, intemperance, 
which men's constitutions peculiarly incline unto, I know not, for my 
part, what it hath done, nor what a number of outward duties do 
signify. The Spirit and grace of Christ cause " the wolf to dwell 
with the lamb, and the leopard to lie down with the kid," Isa. xi. 6. 
It will change the most wild and savage nature into meekness, 
gentleness, and kindness; examples whereof have been multiplied in 
the world. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, 
WITH ITS PURIFICATION. 

Purification the first proper notion of sanctification — Institution of baptism con- 
firming the same apprehension — A spiritual defilement and pollution in sin — 
The nature of that defilement, or wherein it doth consist — Depravations of 
nature and acts with respect unto God's holiness, how and why called '"filth" 

and " pollution" — Twofold pravity and defilement of sin — Its aggravations 

We cannot purge it of ourselves, nor could it be done by the law, nor by any 
ways invented by men for that end. 

These things being premised, we proceed to the consideration of 
sanctification itself, in a farther explication of the description before 



CHAP. IV.] WITH ITS PURIFICATIOIT. 423 

civen ; and the first thing we ascribe unto the Spirit of God herein, 
ivliich constitutes the first part of it, is the ])urifying and cleansing 
of our nature from the 'pollution of sin. Purification is the first 
}iroper notion of internal real sanctification; and although, in order 
uf time, it doth not precede the other acts and parts of this work, yet 
ill order of nature it is first proposed and apprehended. To be un- 
clean absolutely and to be holy are universally opj)osed. Not to be 
purged from sin is an expression of an unholy person, as to be 
cleansed is of him that is holy. And this purification, or the effect- 
ing of this work of cleansing, is ascribed unto all the causes and 
means of sanctification; as, — 1. Unto the Sjyirit, who is the principal 
efficient of the whole. Not that sanctification consists wholly herein, 
but firstly and necessarily it is required thereunto, Prov. xxx. 12; 
Ezek. xxxvi. 25, " I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye 
shall be clean : from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will 
I cleanse you." That this sprinkling of clean water upon us is the 
communication of the Spirit unto us for the end designed, I have 
before evinced. It hath also been declared wherefore he is called 
" water," or compared thereunto. And the 27th verse shows ex- 
pressly that it is the Spirit of God which is intended : " I will put 
my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." And 
that which he is thus in the first place promised for is the cleansing 
of us from the pollution of sin ; which, in order of nature, is proposed 
unto his enabling us to walk in God's statutes, or to yield holy obe- 
dience unto him. 

To the same purpose, among many others, is that promise, Isa. iv. 4, 
" "When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters 
of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst 
thereof by the Spirit of judgment, and by the Spirit of burning." Upon 
what ground the Spirit is compared to fire, and thence here called 
a " Spirit of burning," hath been also declared. In brief, fire and 
water were the means whereby all things were purified and cleansed 
typically in the law. Num. xxxi. 23; and the Holy Spirit being 
the principal efficient cause of all spiritual cleansing is compared to 
them both (by which his work was sigTiified), and called by their 
names. See Mai. iii. 2, 8. And "judgment " is frequently taken for 
holiness. " The Spirit of judgment," therefore, and the " Spirit of 
burning," is the Spirit of sanctification and purification. And he is 
here promised for the sanctification of the elect of God. And how 
shall he effect this work? -He shall do it, in the first place, by 
" washing away their filth and purging away their blood ; " — that is, 
all their spiritual, sinful defilements. 

2. The application of the death and hlood of Christ unto our souls, 
for our sanctification, by the Holy Ghost, is said to be for our cleans- 



42-i THE DEFILEJiIENT OF SIN, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, [BOOK IV. 

ing and purging: Eph. v. 25, 26, "Christ loved tlie church, and gave 
himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the wash- 
ing of water by the word." He " gave himself for us, that he might 
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar 
people, zealous of good works," Tit. ii. 14. " The blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth us from all sin," 1 John i. 7. " He loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in his own blood," Rev. i. 5. " The blood of 
Christ purgeth our conscience from dead works to serve the living 
God," Heb. ix. 14. Respect, I acknowledge, in some of these places, 
may be had unto the expiation of the guilt of sin by the blood ot 
Christ as offered in sacrifice, for so " by himself he purged our sins," 
chap. i. 8 ; but as they all suppose a defilement in sin, so the most 
of them respect its cleansing by the application of the virtue of the 
blood of Christ unto our souls and consciences in our sanctification. 
And, — 

S. Moreover, where sanctification is enjoined us as our duty, it is 
prescribed under this notion of cleansing ourselves from sin: "Wash 
you, make you clean," Isa. i. 16. " O Jerusalem, wash thine heart 
from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved," Jer. iv. 14. " Hav- 
ing therefore these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthi- 
ness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God," 
2 Cor. vii. 1. " Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth 
himself," 1 John iii. 3; Ps. cxix. 9; 2 Tim. ii. 21. And the like ex- 
pressions of this duty occur in other places. 

4. Answerable unto these promises and j^'^^^cepts, and in con- 
firmation of them, we have the institution of the ordinance of bap- 
tism, the outward way and means of our initiation into the Lord 
Christ and the profession of the gospel, the great representation of 
the inward "washing of regeneration," Tit. iii. 5. Now this baptism, 
in the first place, expresseth the outward "putting away of the filth of 
the flesh," by external washing with material water, 1 Pet. iii. 21. 
And that which answers hereunto can be nothing but the inward 
purifying of our souls and consciences by the grace of the Spirit 
of God; that is, saith our apostle, the " putting off the body of 
the sins of the flesh," Col. ii. 11, which contains the whole defile- 
ment and corruption of sin: and this also was typed out unto us 
by all the legal purifications of old. Wherefore, we shall do three 
things in the explication of this first branch of our sanctification: — 

1. Show that there is a spiritual pollution and defilement in sin; 

2. Declare what it is, or wherein it doth consist; and, 8. Manifest 
how it is removed or washed away, and believers made holy 
thereby. 

For the first, it needs not much to be insisted on. Our minds and 
their conceptions are in these things to be regulated by divine reve- 



CHAP IV.] WITH ITS PURIFICATION. 425 

lation and expressions. And in the whole representation made unto 
us in the Scripture of the nature of sin, of our concernment therein, 
of the respect of God towards us on the account thereof, of the way 
and means whereby we may be delivered from it, there is nothing 
so much inculcated as its being filthy, abominable, full of defilement 
and pollution; which is set forth both in plain expressions and vari- 
ous similitudes. On the account hereof is it said to be " abhorred 
of God, the abominable thing which his soul hateth, which he cannot 
behold, which he cannot but hate and detest;" and it is compared to 
"blood, wounds, sores, leprosy, scum, loathsome diseases." With re- 
spect hereunto is it so frequently declared that we must be " washed, 
purged, purified, cleansed," as in the testimonies before cited, before 
we can be accepted with him or be brought to the enjoyment of him. 
And the work of the Spirit of Christ in the application of his blood 
unto us for the taking away of sin is compared to the effects of " fire, 
water, soap, nitre," every thing that hath a purifying, cleansing faculty 
in it. These things so frequently occur in the Scripture, and testi- 
monies concerning them are so multiplied, that it is altogether need- 
less to produce particular instances. This is evident and undeniable, 
that the Scripture, which regulates our conceptions about spiritual 
things, expressly declares all sin to be " un cleanness," and every sin- 
ner to be " defiled" thereby, and all unsanctified persons to be 
"wholly unclean;" and how far these expressions are metaphorical, 
or wherein the metaphor doth consist, must be afterward declared. 

Besides, there is no notion of sin and holiness whereof believers 
have a more sensible, spiritual experience; for although they may 
not or do not comprehend the metaphysical notion or nature of this 
pollution and defilement of sin, yet they are sensible of the effects it 
produceth in their minds and consciences. They find that in sin 
which is attended with shame and self-abhorreney, and requires deep 
abasement of soul. They discern in it, or in themselves on the ac- 
count of it, an unsuitableness unto the holiness of God, and an unfit- 
ness thereon for communion with him. Nothing do they more 
earnestly labour after in their prayers and supplications than a 
cleansing from it by the blood of Christ, nor are any promises more 
precious unto them than those which express their purification and 
purging from it ; for these are they which, next unto their interest in 
the atonement made by the sacrifice of Christ, give them boldness 
in their approaches unto God. So our apostle fully expresseth it, 
Heb. X. 19-22: "Having therefore boldness to enter into the 
holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and ttving way, which he 
hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 
and having an high priest over the house of God ; let us draw near 
with a *rue heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts 



42 G THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, [cOOK IV. 

sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure 
water/' The foundation of all our confidence in our access unto 
God, the right and title we have to approach unto him, is laid in the 
blood of Christ, the sacrifice he offered, the atonement he made, and 
the remission of sins which he obtained thereby: which effect of it 
he declares, verse 19, "Having boldness by the blood of Jesus." The 
way of our access is by pleading an interest in his death and suffer- 
ing, whereby an admission and acceptance is consecrated for us: Verse 
20, " By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated." And 
our encouragement to make use of this foundation and to engage in 
. this way is taken from his discharge of the office of a high priest in 
our behalf: " Having an high priest over the house of God, let us 
draw near." 

But besides all this, when we come to an actual address unto God, 
that Ave may make use of the boldness given us in the full assurance 
of faith, it is moreover required that " our hearts be sprinkled, and 
our bodies washed;" — that is, that our whole persons be purified 
from the defilement of sin by the sanctification of the Spirit. And 
this experience of believers we can not only oppose unto and plead 
against the stupidity of such persons by whom these things are de- 
rided, but conclude from it that those who are unacquainted with it, 
in some degree of sincerity, are wholly uninterested iu that evangeli- 
cal holiness which we inquire after. We need not, therefore, farther 
labour in the confirmation of that concerning which the testimonies 
of Scripture are so multiplied, and whereof we have such undoubted 
experience. 

Secondly, The nature of this defilement of sin must be inquired 
into. 1. By some it is reckoned unto guilt; for whereas the in- 
separable effects of guilt are shame and fear, whereby it immedi- 
ately evidenced itself in our first parents, and shame, in particular, 
is from this filth of sin, it may be esteemed an adjunct thereof. 
Hence sin was said to be " purged by sacrifices" when its guilt was 
expiated ; and Christ is said to " purge our sins by himself," — that is, 
when he offered himself a sacrifice for us, Heb. i. 3. And therefore 
it is granted, that so far as the filth of sin was taken away, not by 
actual purification, but by legal expiation, it is sin with its guilt that 
was intended. But the Scripture, as we have showed, intendeth 
more hereby, even such an internal, inherent defilement as is taken 
away by real actual sanctification, and no otherwise. 2. There are 
some especial sins -v^hich have a peculiar pollution and defilement 
attending them, and which thereon are usually called " uncleanness" 
in a peculiar manner.. The ground hereof is in that of the apostle, 
1 Cor. vi. 18: "Flee fornication. Eveiy sin that a man doeth is 
without the body ; but he that coramittetb fornication sinneth against 



CHAP. IV.] • WITH ITS PURIFICATION. 427 

Lis own body/* All sins of that nature have a peculiar defilement 
and filth accompanying them. And holiness is sometimes mentioned 
in an opposition unto this especial pollution, 1 Thess. iv. 3. But yet 
this is not that which we inquire after, although it be included in it as 
one especial kind of it. That which we now consider always insepar- 
ably attends every sin as sin, as an adjunct or effect of it. It is the 
uncleanness of all sin, and not the sin of uncleanness, which we in- 
tend ; and for the discovery of its proper nature we may observe, — 

(1.) That the pollution of sin is that property of it whereby it is 
directly opposed unto the holiness of God, and which God expresseth 
his holiness to be contrary unto. Hence he is said to be " of purer 
eyes than to behold evil, or to look on iniquity," Hab. i. 13. It is a 
thing vile and loathsome unto the eyes of his holiness, Ps. v. 4-6 
So, speaking concerning it, he useth that pathetical dehortation, 
*' Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate," Jer. xliv. 4. And 
with respect unto his own holiness it is that he sets it forth by 
the names of all things which are vile, filthy, loathsome, offensive,- — 
every thing that is abominable. It is so to him, as he is infinitely 
pure and holy in his own nature. And that consideration which in- 
generates shame and self-abhorrency on the account 6f the defilement 
of sin is taken peculiarly from the holiness of God. Hence it is that 
persons are so often said to " blush," to be " ashamed," to be " filled 
with confusion of fane/' to be " v\]p:" to be " abased in their own 
sight/' under a sense and apprehension of this filth of sin. 

(2.) The holiness of God is the infinite, absolute perfection and 
rectitude of his nature, as the eternal original cause and pattern of 
truth, uprightness, and rectitude in all. And this holiness doth God 
exert, as in all he doth, naturally and necessarily, so particularly in 
his law; which is therefore good, holy, and perfect, because it repre- 
sents the holiness of God, which is impressed on it. God might not 
have made any creature nor given a law, which are free acts of his 
will ; but on supposition he would do so, it was absolutely necessary 
from his own nature that this law of his should be holy. And, 
therefore, whatever is contrary unto or different from the law of 
God is so unto and from the .holiness of God himself. Hence it 
follows, — 

(3.) That this defilement and pollution of sin is that pravity, dis- 
order, and shameful crookedness that is in it, with respect unto the 
holiness of God as expressed in the laiv. 

Sin is either original or actual. Original sin is the habitual incon- 
formity of our natures unto the holiness of God expressed in the law 
of creation. Actual sin is our inconformity to God and his holiness 
expressed in the particular commands of the law. The nature of all 
sin, therefore, consists in its enmity, its inconformity to the rule. 



428 THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, [BOOK IV. 

Now, this rule, which is the law, may be considered two ways, which 
give a twofold respect, or insej)arable consequent or adjunct, unto 
every sin: — 

[1.] As it expresseth the authority of God in its precepts and 
sanction. Hence guilt inseparably follows every sin, which is the 
respect it induceth on the sinner unto the law, upon the account of 
the authority of the Lawgiver. The act of sin passeth away, but this 
guilt abideth on the person, and must do so, until the law be satis- 
fied, and the sinner thereon absolved. This naturally produceth 
fear, which is the first expression of a sense of guilt. So Adam ex- 
pressed it upon his sin : " I heard thy voice, and I was afraid," Gen. 
iii. 10 

[2.] The law may be considered as it expresseth the holiness of 
God and his truth ; which it was necessary, from the nature of God, 
that it should do. Hence there is in sin a peculiar inconformity to 
the holiness of God ; which is the " macula," the " spot," " stain," and 
" filth" of it; which are inseparable from it whilst God is holy, unless 
it be purged and done away, as we shall show. And this is insepar- 
ably attended with shame ; which is the expression of a sense of this 
filth of sin. So Adam upon his sin had his eyes open to see his 
nailed ness, and was filled with shame. This is the order of these 
things :• — God, who is the object of our obedience and sin, is consi- 
dered as the supreme lawgiver. On his law he hath impressed his 
authority and his holiness. Sin, with respect unto his authority, is 
attended with guilt; and this, in the conscience of the sinner, pro- 
duceth fear : as it respects the holiness of God, it is attended with 
filth or uncleanness; and this produceth shame. And the ultimate 
effects of it are, on the first account, " poena sensus;" on the other, 
" poena damni." This, therefore, is the spot, the stain, the pollution 
of sin, which is purged in our sanctification, — the perverse disorder 
and shameful crookedness that is in sin with respect unto the holiness 
of God. 

And herein there is a real filthiness, hut sjnritual, which is com- 
pared with and opposed unto things materially and carnally so. 
*' Not that which goeth into a man," meat of any sort, "defileth him," 
saith our Saviour, " but that which cometh out of the heart," — that 
is, spiritually, with respect unto God, his law and holiness. And as 
men are taught the guilt of sin by their own fear, which is the in- 
separable adjunct of it, so are they taught the filth of sin by their 
own shame, which unavoidably attends it. To instruct us herein is 
one end of the law and the gospel; for in the renovation of the law, 
which was added to the promise " because of transgressions," Gal. 
iii. 19, and in the institutions annexed unto it, God designed to in- 
struct us farther in them both, with the ways whereby Ave may be 



CHAP. IV.] WITH ITS PUEIFICATIOK 429 

freed from them. In the doctrine of the law, with the sanction and 
curse of it, and the institution of sacrifices to make atonement for 
sin, God declared the nature of guilt and its remedy. By the same 
law, and by the institution of sundry ordinances for purification and 
cleansing, as also by determining sundry ceremonial defilements, he 
makes known the nature of this filth and its remedy. To what end 
were so many meats and drinks, so many diseases and natural dis- 
tempers, so many external fortuitous accidents, as touching the dead, 
and the like, made religiously unclean by the law? It was to no 
other but to teach us the nature of the spiritual defilement of sin. 
And to the same end, together with a demonstration of the relief 
and remedy thereof, were the ordinances of purification instituted; 
which, as they were outward and carnal, purged those uncleann esses, 
as they also were outward and carnal, made so by the law. But in- 
ternal and spiritual things were taught and prefigured hereby, yea, 
wrought and effected, by virtue of their t}=^jical relation to Christ, as 
the apostle teacheth: Heb. ix. 13, 14, " If the blood of bulls and of 
goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth 
to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of 
Christ purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living 
God?" And hence the whole work of sanctification is expressed by 
" opening a fountain for sin and for uncleanness;" that is, the purg- 
ing of them away, Zech. xiii. 1. So is it in the gospel, where the 
blood of Christ is said to " purge" our sins with respect to guilt, and 
to "wash" our souls with respect to filth. Yea, so inseparable is this 
filth from sin, and shame from filth, that wherever abides a sense of 
sin, there is a sense of this filth with shame. The very heathen, who 
had only the workings of their minds and consciences for their guide, 
vrere never able to quit themselves from a sense of this pollution of 
sin ; and thence proceeded all those ways of lustration, purgation, 
and cleansing, by washings, sacrifices, and mysterious ceremonious 
observances, which they had invented. It remains, therefore, only 
that we inquire a little intp the reasons and causes why this pravity 
of sin and discrepancy from the holiness of God is such a defilement 
of our natures, and so inseparably attended with shame; for without 
the consideration hereof we can never understand the true nature of 
sanctification and holiness. And it will, also, then yet farther appear 
how openly they betray their prodigious ignorance of these things 
who pretend that all grace consists in the practice of moral virtues. 
And we may to this purpose observe, — 

1. That the spiritual beauty and comeliness of the soul consists 
in its conformity unto God. Grace gives beauty. Hence it is said 
of the Lord Christ that he is " fairer," or more beautiful, " than the 
children of men," and that because " grace was poured into his lips," 



4r.O THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, [BOOK lY 

Ps. xlv. 2. And wlien the churcTi is fumislied or adorned witli his 
graces, he affirms her to be " fair and comely," Cant. i. 5, vi. 4, vii. 6. 
Christ by washing of it takes away its " spots and wrinkles," ren- 
dering it beautiful, — that is, " holy and without blemish," Eph. v. 27. 
And this beauty originally consisted in the image of God in us, which 
contained the whole order, harmony, and symmetry of our natures, 
iu all their faculties and actions, with respect unto God and our 
utmost end. That, therefore, which is contrary hereunto, as is all 
and every sin, hath a deformity in it, or brings spots, stains, and 
wrinkles on the soul. There is in sin all that is contrary to spiritual 
beauty and comeliness, to inward order and glory ; and this is the 
tilth and pollution of it. 

2. Holiness and conformity to God is the honour of our souls. 
It is that alone which makes them truly noble ; for all honour con- 
sists in an accession unto him who is the only spring and absolute 
possessor of all that is so, in whom alone is originally and perfectly 
all being and substance. Now, this we have alone by holiness, or 
that image of God wherein we are created. Whatever is contrary 
hereunto is base, vile, and unworthy. This is sin ; which is, there- 
fore, the only base thing in nature. Hence it is said of some great 
sinners that they had " debased themselves to hell," Isa. Ivii. 9. This 
belongs to the pollution of sin, — that it is base, vile, unworthy, dis- 
honouring the soul, filling it Avith shame in itself and contempt frorh 
God ; and there are no persons, who are not absolutely hardened, 
Vjut are in their own minds and consciences sensible of this baseness 
of sin, as they are also of the deformity that is in it. When men's 
eyes are opened to see their nakedness, how vile and base they have 
made themselves by sin, they will have a sense of this pollution not 
easily to be expressed. And from hence it is that sin hath the pro- 
perties and effects of uncleanness in the sight of God and in the con- 
science of the sinner: — God abhors, loathes it, accounts it an abo- 
minable thing, as that which is directly contrary to his holiness, 
which, as impressed on the law, is the rule of purity, integrity, sj^iri- 
tual beauty, and honour; and in the conscience of the sinner it is 
attended with shame, as a thing deformed, loathsome, vile, base, and 
dishonourable. See Jer. ii. 26. 

In all in whom it is, I say, unless they are blind and obdurate, it 
fills them with shame. I speak not of such as are little or not at all 
spiritually sensible of sin or any of its properties, who fear not be- 
cause of its guilt, nor are disquieted by its power, nor acquainted 
with lis, fomes or disposition to evil, and so not ashamed of its filth; 
much less of such as are given over to work all uncleanness with delight 
and greediness, wallowing in the pollution of it, like the sow in the 
mire, who not only do the things which God abhorreth, but also have 



CHAP. IV.] WITH TTS PURIFICATION". 431. 

pleasure in them that do them; but those I intend Avho have the 
least real conviction of the nature and tendency of sin, who are all 
in one degree or other, ashamed of it as a filthy thing. And a cast- 
ing off of outward shame, that is so from its object, or shame with 
respect unto the conscience and judgment of human kind, — as those 
do who "proclaim their sins as Sodom, and hide them not," — is the 
highest aggravation of sinning and contempt of God ; and the cast- 
ing out of iniuard shame, with respect unto the divine omniscience, 
is the highest evidence of a reprobate mind. But in all others, who 
have more light and spiritual sense, it produceth shame and self- 
abhorrency, which hath always a respect unto the holiness of God ; 
as Job xlii. 5, 6. They see that in sin which is so vile, base, and 
filthy, and which renders them so, that, like unto men under a loath- 
some disease, they are not able to bear the sight of their own sores, 
Ps. xxxviii. 5. God detesteth, abhorreth, and tumeth from sin as a 
loathsome thing, and man is filled with shame for it ; it is, therefore, 
filthy. Yea, no tongue can express the sense which a believiag soul 
hath of the uncleanness of sin with respect unto the holiness of God. 
And this may suffice to give a little prospect into the nature of this 
defilement of sin, which the Scripture so abundantly insisteth on, 
and which all believers are so sensible of. 

This pravity or spiritual disorder with respect unto the holiness of 
God, which is the shameful defilement of sin, is twofold: — 1. That 
which is habitual in all the faculties of our souls by nature, as they 
are the principle of our spiritual and moral operations. They are 
all shamefully and loathsomely depraved, out of order, and no way 
correspondent unto the holiness of God. Hence by nature we are 
wholly unclean ; — who can bring a clean thing out of that which is 
unclean? And this uncleanness is graphically expressed under the 
similitude of a wretched, polluted infant, Ezek. xvi. 3-5. 2. That 
which is actual in all the actings of our faculties as so defiled, and 
as far as they are so defiled ; for, — (1 .) Be any sin of what nature it 
will, there is a pollution attending it. Hence the apostle adviseth us 
to "cleanse ourselves from all. pollutions of the flesh and spirit," 2 Cor. 
vii. ]. The sins that are internal and spiritual, as pride, self-love, 
covetousness, unbelief, have a pollution attending them, as well as 
those which are fleshly and sensual. (2.) So far as any thing of this 
pravity or disorder mixeth itself with the best of our duties, it renders 
both us and them unclean: Isa. Ixiv. 6, "We are all as an unclean 
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." 

This uncleanness as it is habitual, respecting our natural defile- 
ment, is equal in and unto every one that is born into the world ; 
we are by nature all alike polluted, and that to the utmost of what 
our natui'e is capable. But with respect unto actual sins it is not 



432 THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, [BOOK IV. 

so; for in them it hath various degrees and aggravations, even as 
many as sin itself hath: — 1. The greater the sin is from its nature 
or circumstances, the greater is the defilement wherewith it is at- 
tended. Hence there is no sin expressed under such terms of filthi- 
ness and abhorrence as idolatry, which is the greatest of sins. See 
Ezek. xvi. 36, 37. Or, 2. There is an aggravation of it when the 
whole 2'>erson is defiled, as it is in the case of fornication, before in- . 
stanced in, 3. It is heightened by a continuance in sin, whereby an 
addition is made to its pollution every day, and which is called 
" wallowing in the mire," 2 Pet. ii. 22. 

I have in this whole discourse but touched upon this considera- 
tion of sin, which the Scripture so frequently mentions and inculcates ; 
for as all the first institutions of divine worship recorded therein 
had some respect hereunto, so the last rejection of obstinate sinners 
mentioned in it is, "He which is filthy," or unclean, "let him be filthy 
still," Rev. xxii, 11. Neither is there any notion of sin, whereby God 
would convey an apprehension of its nature and an abhorrency there- 
of unto our minds and consciences, so frequently insisted on as is this 
of its yoUution. And in order to our use of it unto the discovery 
of the nature of holiness, we may yet observe these three [five?] 
things : — 

1. Where this uncleanness abideth unpurged, there neither is noi 
can be any true holiness at all, Eph. iv. 22-24; for it is universally 
opposed unto it, — it is our unholiness. Where, therefore, it is abso- 
lute, and purified in no measure or degree, there is no work of sanc- 
tification, no holiness so much as begun ; for in the purging hereof 
it makes its entrance upon the soul, and its effect therein is the first 
beginning of holiness in us. I acknowledge that it is not in any at 
once absolutely and perfectly taken away in this world ; for the work 
of purging it is a continued act, commensurate unto the whole work 
of our sanctification : and, therefore, they who are truly sanctified 
and holy are yet deeply sensible of the remainder of it in themselves, 
do greatly bewail it, and earnestly endeavour after the removal of it. 
But there is an initial, real, sincere, and (as to all the faculties of 
the soul) universal purging of it, which belongs to the nature and 
essence of holiness, begun and carried on, though not absolutely per- 
fected, in this life. And men who pretend unto a grace and holiness 
that should consist in moral virtue only, without a supposition of and 
respect unto the purification of this pollution of sin, do but deceive 
iheir own souls and others, so far as any are forsaken of God to give 
credit unto them The virtues of men not purged from the unclean- 
ness of their natures are an abomination to the Lord, Tit. i 15. 

2. Unless this uncleanness of sin be purged and washed away, 
we can never come unto the enjoyment of God: "Nothing that 



CHAP. IV.] WITII ITS rURIFICATION. 433 

defileth shall in any wise enter into the new Jerusalem," Rev. 
xxi. 27. To suppose that an unpurified sinner can be brought unto 
the blessed enjoyment of God, is to overthrow both the law and the 
gospel, and to say that Christ died in vain. It is, therefore, of the 
same importance with the everlasting salvation of our souls to have 
them purged from sin. 

3. We are not able of ourselves, without the especial aid, assist- 
ance, and operation of the Spirit of God, in any measure or degree 
to free ourselves from this j^oUution, neither that which is natural 
and habitual nor that which is actual. It is true, it is frequently 
prescribed unto us as our duty, — we are commanded to " wash our- 
selves," to " cleanse ourselves from sin," to " purge ourselves" from 
all our iniquities, and the like, frequently; but to suppose that 
whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to 
do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect.- 
Our duty is our duty, constituted unalterably by the law of God, 
whether we have power to perform it or no, seeing we had so at 
our first obligation by and unto the law, which God is not obliged 
to bend unto a conformity to our warpings, nor to suit unto our sin- 
ful weaknesses. Whatever, therefore, God worketh in us in a way 
of grace, he prescribeth unto us in a way of duty, and that because 
although he do it in us, yet he also doth it by us, so as that the 
same work is an act of his Spirit and of our wills as acted thereby. 
Of ourselves, therefore, w^e are not able, by any endeavours of our 
o^vn, nor ways of our own finding out, to cleanse ourselves from the 
defilement of sin. " If I be wicked," saith Job, " why then labour 
I in vain? If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands 
never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own' 
clothes shall make me to be abhorred," chap. ix. 29-31. There may be 
ways and means used whereby an appearance of washing and cleans- 
ing may be made; but when things come to be tried in the sight 
of God, all will be found filthy and unclean. In vain, saith the- 
prophet, shalt thou take to thyself soap and much nitre, thou shalt 
not be purged, Jer, ii. 22. The most probable means of cleansing, 
and the most effectual in our judgment, however multiplied, shall 
fail in this case. Some speak much of " washing away their sins by 
the tears of repentance;" but repentance as prescribed in the Scrip- 
ture is of another nature, and assiscned unto another end. And for 
men's tears in this matter, they are but " soap and nitre," which, 
howsoever multiplied, will not produce the effect intended ; and there- 
fore doth God, in places of Scripture innumerable, take this to 
himself as the immediate effect of his Spirit and grace, — namely,. 
to " cleanse us from our sins and our iniquities." 

4. The institutions of the law for this end, to purge uncleanness>, 
VOL. IIL 28 



434 THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN, WHEREIN IT CONSISTS, [BOOK lY. 

could not of themselves reach thereunto. They did, indeed, purify 
the unclean legally, and sanctified persons as to the "purifying of the 
flesh," Heb. ix. 13, so that they should not on their account be sepa- 
rated from their privileges in the congregation and the worship of 
God ; but of themselves they could go no farther, chap. x. 1-4, only 
they did typify and signify that whereby sin was really cleansed. 
But the real stain is too deep to be taken away by any outward or- 
dinances or institutions; and therefore God, as it were, rejecting 
them all, proraiseth to open another fountain to that purpose, Zech. 
xiii. 1. Wherefore, — 

5. There is a great emptiness and vanity in all those aids and 
reliefs which the papal church hath invented in this case. Sensible 
they are of the spot and stain that accompanies sin, of its pollution 
and defilement, which none can avoid whose consciences are not 
utterly hardened and blinded; but they are ignorant of the true 
and only means and remedy thereof And, therefore, as in the work 
.of justification, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going 
about to establish their own righteousness, they submit not them- 
selves to the righteousness of God, as the apostle spake of their pre- 
decessors; so in the work of sanctification, being ignorant of the 
ways of the working of the Spirit of grace and efficacy of the blood 
■of Christ, they go about to set up their own imaginations, and sub- 
mit not themselves unto a compliance with the grace of God. Thus, 
in the first place, they would (at least the most of them would) have 
the whole uncleanness of our natures to be washed away by baptism, 
"virtute operis operati." The ordinance being administered, without 
any more to do, or any previous qualifications of the person, internal 
or external, the filth of original sin is washed away; though it fell 
not out so with Simon Magus, who, notwithstanding he was bap- 
tized by Philip the evangelist, and that upon his visible profession 
and confession, yet continued "in the gall of bitterness and bond of, 
iniquity," and was therefore certainly not cleansed from his sins. 
But there is a cleansing in profession and signification, and there is 
a cleansing in the reality of sanctification. The former doth accom- 
pany baptism when it is rightly administered. With respect here- 
unto are men said to be "purged from their old sins," — that is, to have 
made a profession, and have had a fair representation thereof in 
being made partakers of the outward sign of it, — 2 Pet. i. 9 ; as also 
to escape the " pollutions of the world" and the " lusts of the flesh," 
chap. ii. 18, 20. But all this may be, and yet sin not be really purged; 
for not only the " outward washing of regeneration" in the pledge of 
it, but the " internal renovation of the Holy Ghost," is required there- 
■Qiiio, Tit. iii. 5. But having thus shifted themselves of the filth of 
original sin, as easily as a man may put off his clothes when they are 



CHAP. IV.] WITH ITS PURIFICATION 435 

foul, they have found out many ways whereby the ensuing defile- 
ments that attend actual sins may be purged or done away. There 
is the sprinkling of holy water, confession to a priest, penances, in 
fasting and some other abstinences, that are supposed to be of won- 
derful virtue to this end and purpose. And I do acknowledge that 
the one art of confession is really the greatest invention to accom- 
modate the inclinations of all flesh that ever this world was 
acquainted withal: for as nothing is so suited unto all the carnal 
interests of the priests, be they what they will, nor so secures them 
a veneration in the midst of their looseness and worthless conversa- 
tion; so for the people, who, for the most part, have other business 
to do than long to trouble themselves about their sins, or find it 
uneasy to be conversant about their guilt and the consequences of 
it in their minds, it is such an expedite course of absolute exonera- 
tion, that they may be free for other sins or businesses, to dejDosit 
them wholly and safely with a priest, that nothing equal unto it 
could ever have been invented; — for the real way of dealing with 
God by Jesus Christ in these things, with endeavours of a participa- 
tion in the sanctifying, cleansing work of the Holy Ghost, is long, 
and very irksome to flesh and blood, besides that it is intricate and 
foolish unto natural darkness and unbelief. But yet it so falls out 
that, after all these inventions, they can come to no perfect rest or 
satisfaction in their own minds. They cannot but find by experience 
that their sores, sometimes break forth through all these sorry cover- 
ings, unto their annoyance ; and their defilements yet fill them with 
shame, as well as the guilt of sin doth with fear. Wherefore they 
betake themselves to their sheet-anchor in this storm, — in the relief 
which they have provided in another world, when, let men find 
themselves never so much mistaken, they cannot complain of their 
disappointments. This is in their purgatory, whereunto they must 
trust at last for the cancelling of all their odd scores, and purging 
away that filth of sin which they have been unwilling to part withal 
in this world. But as this whole business of purgatory is a ground- 
less fable, an invention set up in competition with and opposition 
unto the sanctification of the Spirit and cleansing virtue of the 
blood of Christ, as a matter of unspeakably more profit and secular 
advantage unto those who have its management committed unto 
them; so it is as great an encouragement unto unholiness and a 
continuance in sin for those who believe it, and at the same time 
love the pleasures of sin (which are the generality of their church), 
as ever was or can be found out or made use of: for, to come with 
a plain, downright dissuasure from holiness and encouragement 
unto sin is a design that would absolutely defeat itself, nor is capa- 
ble of making impression on them who retain the notion of a dif- 



436 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [BOOK IV. 

ference between good and evil; but this side-wind, tbat at once 
pretends to relieve men from the filth of sin, and keeps them from 
the only ways and means whereby it may be cleansed, insensibly 
leads them into a quiet pursuit of their lusts, under an expectation 
of relief when aU is past and done. Wherefore, setting aside such 
vain imaginations, we may inquire into the true causes and ways of 
our purification from the uncleanness of sin described, wherein the 
first part of our sanctification and the foundation of our holiness 
doth consist. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OP CHRIST. 

Purification of the filth of sin the first part of sanctification — How it is effected — 
The work of the Spirit therein — Efficacy of the hlood of Christ to that pur- 
pose — The blood of his sacrifice intended — How that blood cleanseth sin — 
Application unto it, and application of it by the Spirit — Wherein that appli- 
cation consists — Faith the instrumental cause of our purification, with the 
use of afflictions to the same purpose — Necessity of a due consideration of 
the pollution of sin — Considerations of the pollution and purification of sin 
practically improved — Various directions for a due application unto the blood 
of Christ for cleansing — Sundry degrees of shamelessness in sinning — Direc- 
tions for the cleansing of sin continued — Thankfulness for the cleansing of 
sin, with other uses of the same consideration — Union with Christ, how con- 
sistent with the remainders of sin — From all that, differences between evan- 
geUcal holiness and the old nature asserted. 

Thirdly, The purging of the souls of them that believe from the 
defilements of sin is, in the Scripture, assigned unto several causes of 
different kinds; for the Holy Sjnrit, the hlood of Christ, faith, and 
afflictions, are all said to cleanse us from our sins, but in several 
Avays, and with distinct kinds of efficacy. The Holy Spirit is said to 
do it as the principal efficient cause; the blood of Christ as the me- 
ritorious procuring cause; faith and afiliction as the instrumental 
causes, — the one direct and internal, the other external and occa- 
sional. 

I. That we are purged and purified from sin by the Spirit of God 
communicated unto us hath been before in general confirmed by 
many testimonies of the holy Scriptures. And we may gather, also, 
from what hath been spoken, wherein this work of his doth consist; 
for, — 

1. "Whereas the spring and fountain of all the pollution of sin lies 
in the depravation of the faculties of our natures, which ensued on 
the loss of the image of God, he renews them again by his grace. 
Tit. iii. 5. Our want of due answering unto the holiness of God, as 
represented in th^ law, and exemplified in our hearts originally, is a 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHPJST. 437 

principal part and universal cause of our whole pollution and defile- 
ment by sin ; for when our eyes are opened to discern it, this is that 
which in the first place filleth us with shame and self-abhorrency, 
and that Avhich makes us so unacceptable, yea, so loathsome to God. 
Who is there who considereth aright the vanity, darkness, and ig- 
norance of his mind, the perverseness and stubbornness of his will, 
with the disorder, irregularity, and distemper of his affections, with 
respect unto things spiritual and heavenly, who is not ashamed of, 
who doth not abhor himself? This is that which hath given our 
nature its leprosy, and defiled it throughout. And I shall crave leave 
to say, that he who hath no experience of spiritual shame and self- 
abhorrency, upon the account of this inconformity of his nature and 
the faculties of his soul unto the holiness of God, is a great stranger 
unto this whole work of sanctification. Who is there that can re- 
count the unsteadiness of his mind in holy meditation, his low and 
unbecoming conceptions of God's excellencies, his proneness to foolish 
imaginations and vanities that profit not, his aversation to spirituality 
in duty and fixedness in communion with God, his proneness to 
things sensual and evil, all arising from the spiritual irregularity 
of our natural faculties, but, if ever he had any due apprehensions 
of divine purity and holiness, is sensible of his own vileness and 
baseness, and is ofttimes deeply affected with shame thereon? Now, 
this whole evil frame is cured by the effectual working of the 
Holy Ghost in the rectifying and renovation of our natures. He 
giveth a new understanding, a new heart, new affections, renew- 
ing the whole soul into the image of God, Eph. iv. 23, 24; CoL 
iii. 10. The way whereby he doth this hath been before so fully 
declared, in our opening of the doctrine of regeneration, that it need 
not be here repeated. Indeed, our original cleansing is therein, 
where mention is made of the " washing of regeneration,'' Tit. iii. 5. 
Therein is the image of God restored unto our souls. But we con- 
sider the same work now as it is the cause of our holiness. . Look, 
then, how far our minds, our hearts, our affections, are renewed by 
the Holy Ghost, so far are we cleansed from our spiritual habitual 
pollution. Would we be cleansed from our sins, — that which is so 
frequently promised that we shall be, and so frequently prescribed 
as our duty to be, and without which we neither have nor can have 
any thing of true holiness in us, — we must labour after and endeavour 
to grow in this renovation of our natures by the Holy .Ghost. The 
more we have of saving light in our minds, of heavenly love in our 
wills and affections, of a constant readiness unto obedience in our 
hearts, the more pure are we, the more cleansed from the pollution 
of sin. The old principle of corrupted nature is unclean and defiling, 
shameful and loathsome; the new creature, the principle of grace 



438 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [BOOK IV. 

implanted in the whole soul by the Holy Ghost, is pure and purify- 
ing, clean and holy. 

2. The Holy Ghost doth purify and cleanse us by strengthening 
our souls by his grace unto all holy duties and against all actual 
sins. It is by actual sins that our natural and habitual pollution is 
increased. Hereby some make themselves base and vile as hell. 
But this also is prevented by the gracious actings of the Spirit. 
Having given us a principle of purity and holiness, he so acts it in 
duties of obedience and in opposition unto sin as that he preserves 
"the soul free from defilements, or pure and holy, according to the 
tenor of the new covenant; that is, in such measure and to such a 
degree as universal sincerity doth require. But it may be yet said 
that indeed hereby he makes us pure, and prevents many future de- 
filements, yet how is the soul freed from those it hath contracted 
before this work upon it, or those which it may and doth unavoid- 
ably afterward fall into ; for as there is no man that doeth good and 
sinneth not, so there is none who is not more or less defiled with 
sin whilst he is in the body here in this world ? The apostle answereth 
this objection or inquiry, 1 John i. 7-9, " If we say we have no sin, 
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us/' ' But if sin be in 
us we are' defiled, and how shall we be cleansed? " God is just to 
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
But how may this be done, by what means may it be accomplished? 
*' The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 

II. It is, therefore, the blood of Christ, in the second place, which 
is the meritorious procuring, and so the effective cause, that imme- 
diately purgeth us from our sins, by an especial application of it unto 
our souls by the Holy Ghost. And there is not any truth belonging . 
unto the mystery of the gospel which is more plainly and evidently 
asserted, as hath in part been made to appear before : " The blood 
of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin," 1 John i. 7; " He hath 
washed us from our sins in his own blood," Rev. i. 5 ; " The blood of 
Christ purgeth our conscience from dead works, that we may serve the 
living God," Heb. ix. 14; " He gave himself for the church, that he 
might sanctify and cleanse it," Eph. v. 25, 26; to "purify to himself a 
peculiar people," Tit. ii. 14, Besides, whatever is spoken in the 
whole Scripture concerning purifying the unclean, the leprous, the 
defiled, by sacrifices or other instruments of the Old Testament, it is 
all instructive in and directive unto the purifying nature of the 
blood of Christ, from whence alone these institutions had their effi- 
cacy; and the virtue of it is promised under that notion, Zech. xiii. 1. 
And this the faith and experience of all believers doth confirm ; for 
they are no imaginations of their own, but what, being built on the 
truth and promises of God, yield sensible spiritual relief and refresh- 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 439 

ment unto their souls. This they believe, this they pray for, and 
find the fruits and effects of it in themselves. It may be some of 
them do not, it may be few of them do, comprehend distinctly the 
way whereby and the manner how the blood of Christ, so long since 
shed and offered, should cleanse them now from their sins; but the 
thing itself they do believe as it is revealed, and find the use of it in 
all wherein they have to do with God. And I must say (let profane 
and ignorant persons, whilst they please, deride what they under- 
stand not, nor are able to disprove) that the Holy Spirit of God, 
which leadeth believers into all truth, and enableth them to pray 
according to the mind and will of God, doth guide them, in and by 
the working and experience of faith, to pray for those things the 
depths of whose mysteries they cannot comprehend. And he who 
well studieth the things which he is taught of the Spirit to ask of 
God, will find a door opened into much spiritual wisdom and know- 
ledge; for (let the world rage on) in those prayers which believers 
are taught and enabled unto by the Holy Ghost helping of them as 
a Spirit of supplication, there are two things inexpressible : — First, 
The inward labouring and spiritual working of the sanctified heart 
and affections towards God ; wherein consist those " groanings that 
cannot be uttered," Rom. viii. 26. God alone sees, and knows, 
and understands the fervent workings of the new creature, when 
acted by the Holy Ghost in supplications ; and so it is added in the 
next words, verse 27, " And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth" 
r! TO <pp6i/7}/ji,a rov Uviv/Marog, " what is the meaning of the Spirit," what 
it favours and inclines unto. It is not any distinct or separate act- 
ing of the Spirit by himself that is intended, but what and how he 
works in the hearts of believers as he is a Spmt of grace and suppli- 
cation; and this is known only unto him who is the Searcher of 
hearts, and as he is so. And he knoweth what is the bent, frame, 
inclination, and acting of the inward man in prayer, from the power 
of the Spirit ; which they themselves in whom they are wrought do 
not fathom or reach the depth of This he doth in the subject of 
prayer, the hearts and minds of believers; the effects of his operation 
in them are inexpressible. Secondly, As to the object of prayer, or 
things prayed for, he doth in and by the word so represent and ex- 
hibit the truth, reality, subsistence, power, and efficacy of spiritual, 
mysterious things, unto the faith and affections of believers, that they 
have a real and experimental sense of, do mix faith with, and are 
affected by, those things now made nigh, now realized unto them, 
which, it may be, they are not able doctrinally and distmctly to ex- 
plain in their proper notions. And thus do we ofttimes see men low 
and weak in their notional apprehension of things, yet in their 
prayers led into communion with God in the highest and holiest 



4i0 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [BOOK IT. 

mysteries of liis grace, having an experience of the life and power 
of the things themselves in their own hearts and souls; and hereby 
do their faith, love, affiance, and adherence unto God, act and ex- 
ercise themselves. So is it with them in this matter of the actual 
present purifying of the pollutions of sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, 
the way whereof we shall now briefly inquire into : — 

1. Therefore, by the hlood of Christ herein is intended the blood 
of his sacrifice, with the power, virtue, and efficacy thereof. And 
the blood of a sacrifice fell under a double consideration: — (1.) As 
it was offered unto God to make atonement and reconciliation; 
(2.) As it was sprinkled on other things for their purging and sancti- 
fication. Part of the blood in every propitiatory sacrifice was still to 
be sprinkled round about the altar, Lev. i. 11; and in the great 
sacrifice of expiation, some of the blood of the bullock was to be 
sprinkled before the mercy-seat seven times, chap. xvi. 14. This our 
apostle fully expresseth in a great and signal instance: Heb. ix. 
19, 20, 22, " When Moses had spoken every precept to all the people 
according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with 
water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and 
all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God 

hath enjoined unto you And almost all things are by the law 

purged with blood." Wherefore, the blood of Christ, as it was the 
blood of his sacrifice, hath these two effects, and falls under this 
double consideration: — (1.) As he offered himself by the eternal 
Spirit unto God to make atonement for sin, and procure eternal re- 
demption; (2.) As it is sprinkled by the same Spirit on the con- 
sciences of believers, to purge them from dead works, as Heb.ix. 12-14. 
And hence it is called, with respect unto our sanctification, " The 
blood of sprinkling," chap. xii. 24 ; for we have the " sanctifica- 
tion of the Spirit unto obedience through the sprinkling of the blood 
of Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. i. 2. 

2. The blood of Christ in his sacrifice is still always and continu- 
ally in the same condition, of the same force and efficacy, as it was 
in that hour wherein it was shed. The blood of other sacrifices was 
always to be used immediately upon its effusion ; for if it were cold 
and congealed it was of no use to be offered or to be sprinkled. 
Elood was appointed to make atonement, as the life or animal spirits 
were in it. Lev. xvii. 11. But the blood of the sacrifice of Christ is 
always hot and warm, having the same spirits of life and sanctifica- 
tion still moving in it. Hence the way of approach which Vv'e have 
to God thereby is said to be ^wca xa/ 'jrf.oa^arog, Heb. x. 20, — always 
living, and yet always as newly slain. Every one, therefore, Avho at 
any time hath an especial actual interest in the blood of Christ, as 
sacrificed, hath as real a purification from the defilement of sin as 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 441 

• 
he had typically who stood by the priest and had blood or water 
sprinkled on him ; for the Holy Ghost diligently declares that what- 
ever was done legally, carnally, or typically, by any of the sacrifices 
of old at any time, as to the expiation or purification of sin, that was 
all done really and spiritually by that one sacrifice, — that is, the 
offering and sprinkling of the blood of Christ, — and abideth to be so 
done continually. To this purpose is the substance of our apostle's 
discourse in the ninth and tenth chapters of the Epistle to the He- 
brews. And they had various sorts of sacrifices, wherein to this end 
the blood of them was sprinkled, they being propitiatory in their 
offering; as, — (1.) There was the "^''P^, or continual burnt-offering of 
a lamb or kid for the whole congregation, morning and evening, 
whose blood was sprinkled as at other times. And hereby the ha- 
bitual purification of the congregation, that they might be holy to 
the Lord, and their cleansing from the daily incursions of secret and 
unknown sins, was signified and carried on. (2.) On the Sabbath- 
day tlnsjuge sacrificiiini was doubled morning and evening, denot- 
ing a peculiar and abounding communication of mercy and purging 
grace, through the administration of instituted ordinances, on that 
day. (3.) There was the great annual sacrifice at the feast of expia- 
tion, when, by the sacrifice of the sin-offering and the scape-goat, the 
whole congregation were purged from all their known and great sins, 
and recovered into a state of legal holiness; and other stated sacri- 
fices there were. (4.)- There were occasional sacrifices for every one, 
according as he found his condition to require; for those who were 
clean one day, yea, one hour, might by some miscarriage or surprisal 
be unclean the next. But there was a way continually ready for any 
man's purification, by his bringing his offering unto that purpose. 
Now, the blood of Christ must continually, and upon all occasions, 
answer unto all these, and accomplish spiritually what they did 
legally effect and typically represent. • This our apostle asserts and 
proves, Heb. ix. 9-14. Thereby is the gradual carrying on of our 
sanctification habitually effected, which was signified by the continual 
daily sacrifice. From thence is especial cleansing virtue communi- 
cated unto us by the ordinances of the gospel, as is expressly affirmed, 
Eph. V. 25, 26, denoted by the doubling of the daily sacrifice on the 
Sabbath. By it are we purged from all our sins whatever, great or 
small, as was typified in the great sacrifice on the day of expiation. 
And unto him have we continual recourse upon all occasions of our 
spiritual defilements whatever. So was his blood, as to its purifying 
virtue, to answer and accomplish all legal institutions. Especially it 
doth so that of the " ashes of the red heifer," Num. xix., which was 
a standing ordinance, whereby every one who was any way defiled 
might immediately be cleansed; and he who would not make appli- 



442 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [BOOK. IV. 

cation thereunto was to be cut off from the people, verse 20. And 
it is no otherwise with respect unto the blood of Christ in our spiri- 
tual defilements ; thence it is called " a fountain opened for sin and 
uncleanness," Zech. xiii. 1. And he who neglects to make applica- 
tion thereunto shall perish in his uncleanness, and that eternally. 

Farther to clear this whole matter, two things are to be inquired 
into: — (1.) How the blood of Christ doth thus cleanse us from our 
sins, or what it is that is done thereby. (2.) How we come to be 
made par^talcers of the benefit thereof, or come to be interested 
therein. 

(1.) As to the first, it must be observed, what hath been declared 
before, that the uncleanness we treat of is not physical or corporeal, 
but moral and spiritual only. It is the inconformity of sin unto the 
holiness of God, as represented in the law, whence it is loathsome to 
God, and attended with shame in us. Now, wherever there is an 
interest obtained in the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ, it 
doth (by the will, law, and appointment of God) do these two 
things: — [1.] It takes away all loathsomeness in the sight of God, 
not from sin in the abstract, but from the sinner, so that he shall 
be as one absolutely washed and purified before him. See Isa. i. 
16-18; Ps. li. 7; Eph. v. 25-27. [2.] It taketh away shame out 
of tlie conscience, and gives the soul boldness in the presence of God, 
Heb. X. 19-22. When these things are done then is sin purged, and 
our souls are cleansed. 

(2.) It may be inquired how we are to apply ourselves unto the 
blood of Christ for our purification, or how we may come continually 
to partake of the virtue of it, as it is sprinkled unto that pui-pose. 
Now, because what we do herein is wrought in us by the Spirit of 
God, my principal design being to declare his work in our sanctifi- 
cation, I shall at once declare both his work and our duty in the 
following instances: — 

[1.] It is he who discovereth unto us, and spiritually convinceth 
us of, the pollution of sin, and of our defilement thereby. Some- 
thing, indeed, of this kind will be wrought by the power of natural 
conscience, awakened and excited by ordinary outward means of con- 
viction ; for wherever there is a sense of guilt, there will be some kind 
of sense of filth, as fear and shame are inseparable. But this sense 
alone will never guide us to the blood of Christ for cleansing. Such 
a sight and conviction of it as may fill us with self-abhorrency and 
abasement, as may cause us to loathe ourselves for the abomination 
that is in it, is required of us; and this is the work of the Holy 
Ghost, belonging to that peculiar convicti'on of sin which is from him 
alone, John xvi. 8. I mean that self-abhorrency, shame, and confu- 
sion of face, with respect unto the filth of sin, which is so often men- 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 443 

tioned in the Scripture as a gracious duty; as nothing is a higher 
aggravation of sin than for men to carry themselves with a carnal 
boldness with God and in his worship, whilst they are unpurged 
from theh defilements. In a sense hereof the publican stood afar 
off, as one ashamed and destitute of any confidence for a nearer ap- 
proach. So the holy men of old professed to God that they blushed, 
and were ashamed to lift up their faces unto him. Without this 
preparation, whereby we come to know the plague of our own hearts, 
the infection of our leprosy, the defilement of our souls, we shall 
never make application unto the blood of Christ for cleansing in a 
due manner. This, therefore, in the first place, is required of us as 
the first part of our duty and first work of the Holy Ghost herein. 

[2.] The Holy Ghost proposeth, declareth, and presents unto us 
the only true remedy, the only means of purification. " When 
Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then went Ephraim 
to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb : yet could he not heal you, 
nor cure you of your wound," Hos. v. 13. When men begin to dis- 
cern their defilements, they are apt to think of many ways for their 
purging. What false ways have been invented to this purpose hath 
been before declared. And every one is ready to find out a way of 
his own; every one will apply his own soap and his own nitre. 
Though the only fountain for cleansing be nigh unto us, yet we can- 
not see it until the Holy Ghost open our eyes, as he did the eyes of 
Hagar; he it is who shows it unto us and leads us unto it. This is 
an eminent part of his office and work. The principal end of his 
sending, and consequently of his whole work, was to glorify the Son ; 
as the end and work of the Son was to glorify the Father. And the 
great way whereby he glorifieth Christ is by showing such things 
unto us, John xvi. 14. And without his discovery we can know 
nothing of Christ, nor of the things of Christ; for he is not sent in 
vain, to show us the things that we can see of ourselves. And what 
is more so of Christ than his blood, and its efficacy for the purging 
of our sins? We never, therefore, discern it spiritually and in a due 
manner but by him. To have a true spiritual sense of the defile- 
ment of sin, and a gracious view of the cleansing virtue of the blood 
of Christ, is an eminent effect of the Spirit of grace. Something 
like it there may be in the workings of an awakened natural con- 
science, with some beams of outward gospel light falling on it ; but 
there is nothing in it of the work of the Spirit. This, therefore, 
secondly, we must endeavour after, if we intend to be cleansed by the 
blood of Christ. 

[3.] It is he who worketh faith in us, whereby we are actually 
interested in the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ. By faith 
we ri^i^f^ '^hrist himself, and by faith do we receive all the benefits 



44)4) THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [BOOK IV. 

of his mediation, — that is, as they are tendered unto us in the pro- 
mises of God. He is our propitiation through faith in his blood as 
offered; and he is our sauctification through faith in his blood as 
sprinkled. And particular acting of faith on the blood of Christ for 
the cleansing of the soul from sin is required of us. A renewed 
conscience is sensible of a pollution in every sin, and is not freed 
from the shame of it without a particular apjilication unto the blood 
of Christ. It comes by faith to the fountain set open for sin and 
uncleanness, as the sick man to the pool of healing waters, and wait- 
eth for a season to be cleansed in it. So David, on the defilement 
he had contracted by his great sins, addresseth himself unto God 
with that prayer, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash 
me, and I shall be whiter than snow," Ps. li. 7. He alludeth unto 
the purging of the leprous persons, the ordinance whereof is insti- 
tuted, Lev. xiv. 2-7, or to that more general institution for the purifi- 
cation of all legal uncleanness by the water of separation, made of 
the ashes of the red heifer. Num. xix. 4-6, which our apostle hath re- 
spect unto, Heb. ix. 18, 14; for both these purifications were made by 
the sprinkling of blood or water with hyssop. It is plain, I say, that 
he alludeth unto these institutions; but it is as plain they are not 
the things which he intendeth: for there was not in the law any 
purging by hyssop for persons guilty of such sins as he lay under; 
and therefore he professeth, in the close of the psalm, that " sacrifice 
and burnt-offering God would not accept" in his case, Ps. IL 16. It 
was, therefore, that which was signified by those institutions which 
he made his application unto, — namely, really to the blood of Christ, 
by which he might be "justified from all things, from which he could 
not be justified by the law of Moses," Acts xiii. 89 ; and so likewise 
purified. In like manner do all believers make an actual application 
unto the blood of Christ for the purging away of their sins ; which 
until it is done they have a " conscience of sins," — that is, condemn- 
ing them for sin, and filling them with shame and fear, Heb. x. 1-3. 
And this actual application by faith unto the blood of Christ for 
cleansing^ the mystery whereof is scorned by many as a thing fana- 
tical and unintelligible, consists iu these four things: — \st. A spiri- 
tual view and due consideration of the blood of Christ in his sacrifice, 
as proposed in the promises of the gospel for our cleansing and puri- 
fication. " Look unto me," saith he, " and be ye saved," Isa. xlv. 22 ; 
which respects the whole work of our salvation, and all the means 
thereof. Our way of coming unto our interest therein is by looking 
to him, — namely, as he is proposed unto us in the promise of the 
gospel : for as the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, 
so was he in his sacrifice on the cross lifted up, John iii. 14; and 
Bo in the gospel is he represented unto us, Gal. iii. 1. An-^ ^^'^ meaus 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 445 

whereby they were healed in the wilderness was by looking unto the 
serpent that was lifted up. Herein, then, doth faith first act itself, 
by a spiritual view and due consideration of the blood of Christ, as 
proposed unto us in the gospel for the only means of our purification ; 
and the more we abide in this contemplation, the more effectual 
will our success be in our application thereto. 2dly. Faith actually 
relieth on his blood for the real effecting of that great work and end 
for which it is proposed unto us; for God sets him forth as to be a 
propitiation through faith in his blood as offered, E.om. iii. 25, so to 
be our sanctification through faith in his blood as sprinkled. And 
the establishing of this especial faith in our souls is that which the 
apostle aims at in his excellent reasoning, Heb. ix. 13, 14; and 
his conclusion unto that purpose is so evident, that he encourageth 
us thereon to draw nigh in the full assurance of faith, chap. x. 22. 
^dly. Faith worketh herein hy fervent prayer, as it doth in its whole 
address unto God with respect* unto his promises; because for all 
these things God will be sought unto by the house of Israel. By this 
means the soul brings itself nigh unto its own mercy. And this we 
are directed unto, Heb. iv. 15, 16. Mhly. An acquiescency in the 
truth and faithfulness of God for cleansing by the blood of Christ, 
whence we are freed from discouraging, perplexing shame, and have 
boldness in the presence of God. 

[4.] The Holy Ghost actually communicates the cleansing, puri- 
fying virtue of the blood of Christ unto our souls and consciences, 
whereby we are freed from shame, and have boldness towards God; 
for the whole work of the application of the benefits of the mediation 
of Christ unto believers is his properly 

And these are the things which believers aim at and intend in all 
their fervent supplications for the purifying and cleansing of their 
souls by the sprinkling and washing of the blood of Christ, the faith 
and persuasion whereof give them peace and holy boldness in the 
presence of God, without which they can have nothing but shame 
and confusion of face in a sense of their own pollutions. 

How the blood of Christ was the meritorious cause of our purifi- 
cation as it was offered, in that thereby he procured for us eternal 
redemption, with all that was conducing or needful thereunto, and 
how thereby he expiated our sins, belongs not unto this place to de- 
clare. Nor shall I insist upon the more mysterious way of commu- 
nicating cleansing virtue unto us from the blood of Chi'ist, by virtue 
of our union with him. What hath been spoken may suffice to give 
a little insight into that influence which the blood of Christ hath 
into this first part of our sanctification and holiness. And as for 
those who affirm that it no otherwise cleanseth us from our sins, but 
only because we, believing his doctrine, confirmed by his death and 



416 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [BOOK IV 

resurrection, do amend our lives, turning from sin unto righteousness 
and holiness, they renounce the mystery of the gospel, and all the 
proper efficacy of the blood of Christ. 

III. Faith is the instriiniental cause of our purification: "Puri- 
fying their hearts by faith," Acts xv. 9. The two unfailing evi- 
dences of sincere faith are, that within it purifieth the heart, and 
without it worketh by love. These are the touch-stones whereon 
faith may, yea, ought to be tried. We "purify our souls in obeying 
the truth througli the Spirit," 1 Pet. i, 22; that is, by believing, 
which is our original obedience unto the truth. And hereby are our 
souls purified. "Unbelievers" and "unclean" are the same, Tit. i. 15; 
for they have nothing in them whereby they might be instrumentally 
cleansed. And we are purified by faith ; because, — 1. Faith itself is 
the principal grace whereby our nature is restored unto the image 
of God, and so freed from our original defilement, Col. iii. 10; 1 John 
iii. 3. 2. It is by faith on our part whereby we receive the puri- 
fying virtue and influences of the blood of Christ ; whereof we have 
before discoursed. Faith is the grace whereby we constantly adhere 
and cleave unto Christ, Deut. iv. 4; Josh, xxiii. 8; Acts xi. 22. 
And if the woman who touched his garment in faith obtained vir- 
tue from him to heal her issue of blood, shall not those who cleave 
unto him continually derive virtue from him for the healing of their 
spiritual defilements? 3. It is by the working oi ioxih. principally 
whereby those lusts and corruptions which are defiling are mortified, 
subdued, and gradually wrought out of our minds. All actual de- 
filements spring from the remainders of defiling lusts, and their 
depraved workings in us, Heb. xii. 15; James L 14. How faith 
worketh to the correcting and subduing of them, by deriving sup- 
plies of the Spirit and grace to that end from Jesus Christ, as being 
the means of our abiding in them, whereon alone those supplies do 
■depend, John xv. 3-5, as also by the acting of all other graces which 
are contrary to the polluting lusts of the flesh and destructive of 
them, is usually declared, and we must not too far enlarge on these 
things. 4. Faith takes in all the motives which are proposed unto 
us to stir us up unto our utmost endeavours and diligence, in the 
use of all means and ways, for the preventing of the defilements of 
sin, and for the cleansing of our minds and consciences from the relics 
of dead works. And these motives, which are great and many, may 
be reduced unto two heads: — (1.) A participation of the excellent 
promises of God at the present. The consideration hereof brings a 
singular enforcement on the souls of believers to endeavour after 
universal purity and holiness, 2 Cor. vii. 1. And, (2.) The future en- 
joyment of God in glory, whereunto we cannot attain without being 
purified from sin, 1 John iii. 2, 3. Now, these motives, which are the 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 4i7 

springs of bur duty in this matter, are received and made efficacious 
by faith only. 

IV. Purging from sin is Hkewise in the Scripture ascribed unto 
afflictions of all sorts. Hence they are called God's " furnace/' and his 
"fining-pot," Isa. xxxi. 9, xlviii. 10, whereby he taketh away the dross 
and filth of the vessels of his house. They are also called " fire" that 
trieth the ways and works of men, consuming their hay and stubble, 
and purifying their gold and silver, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. And this they 
do through an efficacy unto these ends communicated unto them in 
the design and by the Spirit of God ; for by and in the cross of Christ 
they were cut off from the curse of the first covenant, whereunto all 
evil and trouble did belong, and implanted into the covenant of 
grace. The tree of the cross being cast into the waters of affliction 
hath rendered them wholesome and medicinal. And as, the Lord 
Christ being the head of the covenant, all the afflictions and perse- 
cutions that befall his members are originally his, Isa. Ixiii. 9, Acts 
ix. o. Col. i. 24 ; so they all tend to work us unto a conformity unto 
him in purity and holiness. And they work towards this blessed 
end of purifying the soul several ways; for, — 1. They have in them 
some tokens of God's displeasure against sin, which those who are 
exercised by them are led by the consideration of unto a fresh view 
of the vileness of it ; for although afflictions are an effect of love, yet 
it is of love mixed with care to obviate and prevent distempers. 
Whatever they are else, they are always chastisements; and correc- 
tion respects faults. And it is our safest course, in every affliction, 
to lodge the adequate cause of it in our own deserts, as the woman 
did, 1 Kings xvii. 18; and as God directs, Ps. Ixxxix. 30-32, Lam. 
iii. 83. And this is one difference between his chastisements and 
those of the fathers of our flesh, that he doth it " not for his plea- 
sure," Heb. xii. 9, 10. Now, a view of sin under suffering makes 
men loathe and abhor themselves for it, and to be ashamed of it; 
and this is the first step towards our purifying of ourselves by any 
ways appointed for it. Self-pleasing in sin is the highest degree of 
our pollution ; and when we loathe ourselves for it, we are put into 
the way at least of seeking after a remedy. 2. Afflictions take off 
the beauty and allurements of all created good things and their com- 
forts, by which the affections are solicited to commit folly and lewd- 
ness with them; that is, to embrace and cleave unto them inordi- 
nately, whence many defilements do ensue, Gal. vi. 14. This God 
designs them for, even to wither all the flowerings of this world in 
the minds of men, by discovering their emptiness, vanity, and in- 
sufficiency to give relief. This intercepts the disorderly intercourse 
which is apt to be between them and our affections, whereby our 
minds are polluted ; for there is a pollution attending the least inor- 



448 THE FILTH OF SIN PITRGED [bOOK IV. 

dinate actings-of our minds and affections towards objects either in 
their own nature sinful, or such as may be rendered so by an excess 
in us towards them, wliilst we are imder the command of loving the 
Lord our God with all our inmds, souls, and strength, and that 
always. 8. Afflictions take off the edge and put a deadness on those 
affections whereby the corrupt lusts of the mind and flesh, which 
are the spring and cause of all our defilements, do act themselves. 
They curb those vigorous and brisk affections which were always 
ready pressed for the service of lust, and which sometimes carry the 
soul into the pursuit of sin, like the horse into the battle, with mad- 
ness and fury. They are no more such prepared channels for the 
Jomes of concupiscence to empty itself into the conversation, nor 
such vehicles for the spirits of corrupted lusts and inclinations. God, 
I say, by afflictions brings a kind of death unto the world and the 
pleasures of it upon the desires and affections of the soul, which 
render them unserviceable unto the remainder of defiling lusts and 
coiTuptions. This in some, indeed, endures but for a season, as 
when, in sickness, wants, fears, distresses, losses, sorrows, there is a 
great appearance of mortification, when yet the strength of sin and 
the vigour of carnal affections do speedily revive upon the least 
outward relief. But with believers it is not so, but by all their chas- 
tisements they are really more and more delivered from the pollu- 
tion of sin, and made partakers of God's holiness, 2 Cor. iv. 16-18. 
4. God doth by them excite, stir up, and draw forth all the graces of 
the Spirit into a constant, diligent, and vigorous exercise; and therein 
the work of cleansing the soul from the pollution of sin is carried on. 
A time of affliction is the especial season for the peculiar exercise of 
' all grace, for the soul can then no otherwise support or relieve itself; 
for it is cut short or taken off from other comforts and reliefs, every 
sweet thing being made bitter unto it. It must, therefore, live not 
only by faith, and love, and delight in God, but in some sense upon 
them ; for if in their exercise supportment and comfort be not ob- 
tained, we can have none. Therefore doth such a soul find it neces- 
sary to be constantly abounding in the exercise of grace, that it may 
in any measure be able to support itself under its troubles or suffer- 
ings. Again, there is no other way whereby a man may have a 
sanctified use of afflictions, or a good issue out of them, but by the 
assiduous exercise of grace. This God calls for, this he designs, and 
without it afflictions have no other end but to make men miserable^ 
and they will either have no deliverance from them, or such an one 
as shall tend to their farther misery and ruin. 

And so have we taken a view of the first part of our sanctification 
and holiness ; which I have the more largely insisted on, because the 
consideration of it is utterly neglected by them who frame us a hoK- 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 449 

ness to consist only in the practice of moral virtue. And I do not 
know but what hath been delivered may be looked on as fanatical 
and enthusiastical ; yet is there no other reason why it should be 
so, but only because it is taken from the Scripture. Neither doth 
that so much insist on any consideration of sin and sanctification, as- 
this of the pollution of the one and the purifying of it by the other.. 
And to whom the wisdom and words of the Holy Ghost are dis- 
pleasing, we cannot in these things give any satisfaction; and yet 
I could easily demonstrate that they were well known to the ancient 
writers of the church; and, for the substance of them, were discerned 
and discussed by the schoolmen, in their manner. But where men 
hate the practice of holiness, it is to no purpose to teach them the 
nature of it. 

But we may not pass over these things without some reflections, 
upon ourselves, and some consideration of our concernment in them.. 
And, first, hence we may take a view of our own state and condition 
by nature. It is useful for us all to be looking back into it, and it 
is necessary for them who are under it to be fully acquainted with it 
Therein are we wholly defiled, polluted, and every way unclean. 
There is a spiritual leprosy spread all over our natures, which ren- 
ders us loathsome to God, and puts us in a state of separation from 
him. They who were legally unclean were separated from the congre- 
gation, and therein from all the pledges of God's gracious presence, 
Num. V. 2, It is so virtually with all them who are spiritually de- 
filed, under 'that pollution which is natural and universal; they are- 
abhorred of God and separated from him, which was signified tliere- 
by. And the reason why so many laws, with so great severity and 
exactness, were given about the cleansing of a leprous person, and 
the judgment to be made thereon, was only to declare the certainty 
of the judgment of God, that no unclean person should app)roach 
unto him. Thus is it with all by nature ; and whatever they do of 
themselves to be quit of it, it doth but hide and not cleanse it. Adam, 
cured neither his nakedness nor the shame of it by his fig-leaves. 
Some have no other covering of their natural filth but outward orna- 
ments of the flesh; which increase it, and indeed rather proclaim it 
than hide it. The greatest filth in the world is covered with the 
greatest bravery. See Isa. iii. 16-24. Whatever we do ourselves in 
answer unto our convictions is a covering, not a cleansing; and if we 
die in this condition, unwashed, uncleansed, unpurified, it is utterly 
impossible that ever we should be admitted into the blessed pre- 
f-ence of the holy God, Rev. xxi. 27. Let no man deceive you, then,, 
witli vain words. It is not the doing of a few good works, it is not 
an outward profession of religion, that will give you an access with 
boldness and joy unto God. Shame will cover you when it will ber 

VOL. in. 29 



450 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [bOOK IV. 

too late. Unless you are washed by the Spirit of God and in the 
blood of Christ from the pollutions of your natures, you shall not 
inherit the kingdom of God, 1 Cor. vi. 9-11. Yea, you will be a 
horrid spectacle unto saints and angels, yea, to yourselves, unto one 
another, when the shame of your nakedness shall be made to ap- 
pear, Isa. Ixvi. 24. If, therefore, you would not perish, and that 
eternally ; if you would not perish as base, defiled creatures, an ab- 
horring unto all flesh, then when your pride, and your wealth, and 
your beauty, and your ornaments, and your duties, will stand you in 
no stead, — look out betimes after that only way of purifying and 
cleansing your souls which God hath ordained. But if you love your 
defilements; if you are proud of your pollutions; if you satisfy your- 
selves with your outward ornaments, whether moral, of gifts, duties, 
profession, conversation, or natural, of body, wealth, apparel, gold, 
and silver, — there is no remedy, you must perish for ever, and that 
under the consideration of the basest and vilest part of the creation. 

Seeing this is the condition of all by nature, if any one now shall 
Inquire and ask what they shall do, what course they shall take, that 
they may be cleansed according to the will of God, in answer here- 
unto I shall endeavour to direct defiled sinners, by sundry steps and 
degrees, in the way unto the cleansing fountain. There is a " foun- 
tain set open for sin and uncleanness," Zech. xiii. 1. But it falleth 
out with many, as the wise man speaketh, " The labour of the foolish 
wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to 
the city," Eccles. x. 15. Men weary themselves and pine away under 
their pollutions, because they cannot find the way; they know not 
how to go to the cleansing fountain. I shall, therefore, direct them 
from first to last, according to the best skill I have: — 

1. Labour after an acquaintance with it, to know it in its nature 
and effects. Although the Scripture so abounds in the assertion and 
declaration of it, as we have showed, and believers find a sense of it 
in their experience, yet men in common take little notice of it 
Somewhat they are affected with the guilt of sin, but little or not at 
all with its filth. So they can escape the righteousness of God, which 
they have provoked, they regard not their unanswerableness unto 
his hcliness, whereby they are polluted. How few, indeed, do inquire 
into the pravity of their natures, that vileness which is come upon 
them by the loss of the image of God, or do take themselves to be 
much concerned therein! How few do consider aright that/omes 
and filthy spring which is continually bubbling up crooked, perverse, 
defiled imaginations in their hearts, and influencing their affections 
unto the lewdness of depraved concupiscence! Who meditates upon 
the holiness of God in a due manner, so as to ponder what we our- 
selves ought to be, how holy, how upright, how clean, if we intend 



CTTAP. v.] EY THE SPIIIIT AND ELOOD OF CHRIST. 451 

to please him or enjoy him? With what appearances, what outsides 
of things, are most men satisfied! yea, how do they please them- 
t.lves in the shades of their own darkness and ignorance of these 
tilings, when yet an unacquaintedness with this pollution of sin is 
iiiavoidably ruinous unto their souls! See the danger of it. Rev. 
:ii. 16-18. Those who would be cleansed from it must first know 
it ; and although we cannot do so aright without some convincing 
light of the Spirit of God, yet are there duties required of us in older 
thereunto; as, — (1.) To search the Scripture, and to consider seri- 
ously what it declareth concerning the condition of our nature after 
the loss of the image of God. Doth it not declare that it is shame- 
fully naked, destitute of all beauty and comeliness, wholly polluted 
and defiled? And what is said of that nature which is common 
unto all is said of every one who is partaker of it. Every one is 
"gone aside," every one is become "altogether filthy," or stinking, 
Ps. liii. 3. This is the glass wherein every man ought to contemplate 
himself, and not in foolish, flattering reflections from his own proud 
imaginations; and he that will not hence learn his natural deformity 
shall live polluted and die accursed. (2.) He who hath received the 
testimony of the Scripture concerning his corrupted and polluted 
estate, if he will be at the pains to try and examine himself by the 
reasons and causes that are assigned thereof, will have a farther view 
of it. When men read, hear, or are instructed in what the Scripture 
teacheth concerning the defilement of sin, and give some assent to 
what is spoken, without an examination of their own state in parti- 
cular, or bringing their souls unto that standard and measure, they 
will have very little advantage thereby. Multitudes learn that they 
are polluted by nature, which they cannot gainsay; l)ut yet really 
find no such thing in themselves. But when men will bring their 
own souls to the glass of the perfect law, and consider how it is with 
them in respect of that image of God wherein they were at first 
created, what manner of persons they ought to be with respect unto 
the holiness of God, and what they are, — how vain are their imagina- 
tions, how disorderly are their affections, how perverse all the actings 
of their minds, — they will be ready to say, with the leprous man, 
" Unclean, unclean." But they are but few who Avill take the pains 
to search their own wounds, it being a matter of smart and trouble 
to corrupt and carnal affections. Yet, (3.) Prayer for light and di- 
rection herein is required of all as a duty. For a man to know him- 
self was of old esteemed the highest attainment of human wisdom. 
Some men will not so much as inquire into themselves, and some 
men dare not, and some neglect the doing of it from spiritual sloth, 
and other deceitful imaginations; but he that would ever be purged 
from his sins must thus far make bold with himself, and dare to be 



452 THE FILTH OF SIX PURGED [bOOK IT. 

thus far wise. And in the use of the means before prescribed, con- 
sidering his own darkness and the treacheries of his heart, he is to 
pray fervently that God by his Spirit would guide and assist him 
in his search after the pravity and defilement of his nature. With- 
out this he will never make any great or useful discoveries. And 
yet the discerning hereof is the first evidence that a man hath re- 
ceived the least ray of supernatural light. The light of a natural 
conscience will convince men of, and reprove them for, actual sins as 
to their guilt, Rom. ii. 14, 15; but the mere light of nature is dark 
and confused about its own confusion. Some of the old philosophers 
discerned, in general, that our nature was disordered, and complained 
thereof; but as the principal reason of their complaints was because 
it would not throughout serve the ends of their ambition, so of the 
causes and nature of it, with respect unto God and our eternal con- 
dition, they knew nothing of it at all. Nor is it discerned but by a 
supernatural light, proceeding immediately from the Spirit of God. 
If any, therefore, have a heart or wisdom to know their own pollu- 
tion by sin, — without which they know nothing of themselves unto 
any purpose, — let them pray for that directing light of the Spirit of 
God, without which they can never attain to any useful knowledge 
*of it. 

2. Those who would indeed be purged from the pollution of sin 
must endeavour to be affected with it, suitably to the discovery which 
they have made of it. And as the proper effect of the guilt of sin is 
fear, so the proper effect of the filth of sin is shame. No man who 
hath read the Scriptures can be ignorant how frequently God calls on 
men to be ashamed and confounded in themselves for the pollutions 
and uncleannesses of their sin. So is it expressed in answer unto what 
he requires : "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to 
thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head," Ezra ix. 
6. And by another prophet: *' We lie down in our shame, and our 
confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God," 
Jer. iii. 25. And many other such expressions are there of this affec- 
tion of the mind with respect unto the pollution of sin. But we 
must observe that there is a twofold shame with respect unto it: — 
(1.) That which is legal, or the product of a mere legal conviction of 
sin. Such was that in Adam, immediately after his fall ; and such 
is that which God so frequently calls open and profligate sinners unto, 
— a shame accompanied with dread and terror, and from which the 
sinner hath no relief, unless in such sorry evasions as our first parents 
made use of And, (2.) There is a shame which is evangelical, aris- 
ing from a mixed apprehension of the vileness of sin and the riches 
of God's grace in the pardon and purifying of it; for although this 
latter gives relief against all terrifying, discouraging effects of shame, 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 453 

yet it increaseth those which tend to genuine self-abasement and ab- 
horrency. And this God still requires to abide in us, as that which 
tends to the advancement of his grace in our hearts. This is fully ex- 
pressed by the prophet Ezekiel, chap. xvi. 60-63, "I will remember my 
covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto 
thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, 
and be ashamed. And I will establish my covenant with thee; and 
thou shalt know that I am the Lord : that thou mayest remember, 
and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of 
thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast 
done, saith the Lord God." There is a shame and confusion of face 
for sin that is a consequent, yea, an eifect of God's renewing his 
covenant, and thereby giving in the full pardon of sin, as being pa- 
cified. And the apostle asks the Romans what fruit they had in 
those things whereof they were now ashamed, chap. vi. 21. Now, 
after the pardon of them they were yet ashamed, from the consider- 
ation of their filth and vileness. But it is shame in the first sense 
that I here intend, as antecedent unto the first purification of our 
natures. This may be thought to be in all men ; but it is plainly 
otherwise, and men are not at all ashamed of their sins, which they 
manifest in various degrees: for, — 

(L) Many are senseless and stupid. No instruction, nothing that 
befalls them, will fix any real shame upon them. Of some particular 
facts they may be ashamed, but for any thing in their natures, they 
slight and despise it. If they can but preserve themselves from the 
known guilt of such sins as are punishable amongst men, as to all 
other things they are secure. This is the condition of the generality 
of men living in sin in this world. They have no inward shame for 
any thing between God and their souls, especially not for the pravity 
and defilement of their natures, no, although they hear the doctrine 
of it never so frequently. What may outwardly befall them that is 
shameful, they are concerned in ; but for their internal pollutions be- 
tween God and theJx souls, they know none. 

(2.) Some have a boldness and confidence in their condition, as 
that which is well and pure enough : " There is a generation that are 
pure in their own ej^es, yet are they not washed from their filthiness/' 
Pro v. XXX. 12. Although they were never sprinkled with the pure 
water of the covenant, or cleansed by the Holy Spirit ; although their 
consciences were never purged from dead works by the blood of 
Christ, nor their hearts purified by faith, and so are no way " washed 
from their filthiness;" yet do they please themselves in their condition 
as " pure in their own eyes," and have not the least sense of any de- 
filement. Such a generation were the Pharisees of old, who esteemed 
themselves as clean as their hands and cups, that they were continu- 



454 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED 

ally washing, though within they were filled with all manner of de- 
filements, Isa. Ixv. 4, 5. And this generation is such as indeed 
despise all that is spoken about the pollution of sin and its purifica- 
tion, and deride it as enthusiastical, or a fulsome metaphor not to be 
understood. 

(3.) Others proceed farther, and are so far from taking shame to 
themselves for what they are, or what they do, as that they openly 
hoast of and glory in the most shameful sins that human nature can 
contract the guilt of " They proclaim their sins," saith the prophet, 
"like Sodom,".where all the people consented together in the perpe- 
tration of unnatural lusts. They are not at all ashamed, but glory 
in the things which, because they do not here, will hereafter fill 
them with confusion of face, Jer. vi. 15, viii. 12. And where once 
sin gets this confidence, wherein it completes a conquest over the 
law, the inbred light of nature, the convictions of the Spirit, and in 
a word God himself, then is it ripe for judgment. And yet is there 
a higher degree of shamelessness in sin ; for, — 

(4.) Some content not themselves with boasting in their own sins, 
but also they approve and delight in all those who give up themselves 
unto the like outrage in sinning with themselves. This the apostle 
expresseth as the highest degree of shameless sinning: Rom. i. 32, 
" Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such 
things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure 
in them that do them." When open profligate sinners do, as it were, 
make themselves up into societies, encouraging and approving one 
another in their abominable courses, so that no company pleaseth 
them but such as have obtained an impudence in sinning, then is the 
greatest defiance given unto the holiness and righteousness of God. 

Now, such as these will never seek after cleansing; for why should 
they do so who are sensible of no spiritual pollution, nor have the 
least touch of shame with respect thereunto? It is necessary, there- 
fore, unto the duty of purifying our souls that we be affected with 
shame for the spiritual defilements which our nature, under the loss 
of the image of God, is even rolled in ; and where this is not, it will 
be but lost labour that is spent in the invitation of men to the cleans- 
ing fountain. 

3. Let persons so affected be fully satisfied that they can never 
cleanse or 'purify themselves by any endeavours that are merely their 
own, or by any means of their own finding out. According unto 
men's convictions of the defilements of sin, so have and always will 
their endeavours be after purification, Hos. v. 18. And, indeed, it 
is the duty of believers to purify themselves more and more, in the 
exercise of all purifying graces, and the use of all means appointed 
of God for that purpose, 2 Cor. viL 1 ; and their neglect thereof is 



CIIAF. v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 455 

the liighest disadvantage, Ps. xxxviii. 5. But men in the state of 
nature, concerning whom we now treat, are no way able to cleanse 
their natures or purge themselves. He only who can restore, re- 
pair, and renew their natures unto the likeness of God, can cleanse 
them. But here many fall into mistakes; for when, by reason of 
their convictions, they can no longer satisfy and please themselves in 
the pollution of sin, they go about by vain attempts of their own to 
"purify their souls," Hos. v. 13; Jer. ii. 22; Job ix. 80, 81. Their 
own sorrow and I'epentance, and tears of contrition, and that sorry 
amendment of life they can attain unto, shall do this work for them ; 
and every especial defiling act, or every renewed sense of it, shall 
have an especial act of duty for its cleansing ! But though these 
things are good in themselves, yet there is required more wisdom to 
the right stating of them, as to their causes, respects, ends, and use, 
than they are furnished withal. Hence are they so frequently 
abused and turned into an effectual means not only of keeping men 
off and at a distance from Christ, but also from a due and accept- 
able performance of the very duties themselves pretended unto : for 
legal sorrow or repentance, or mere legal convictions, being trusted 
unto, will infallibly keep the soul from coming up unto that evan- 
gelical repentance which alone God accepts; and mere reforma- 
tion of life rested in proves opposite to endeavours for the renovation 
of our natures. But let these duties be performed, however, in 
what manner you please, they are utterly insufficient of themselves 
to cleanse cur natural defilements; nor will any seek duly for that 
which alone is effectual unto this purpose until they are fully con- 
vinced hereof. Let, therefore, sinners hear and know, whether they 
will or will not believe it, that as by nature they are wholly defiled 
and polluted with those abominations of sin which render them 
loathsome in the sight of God, so they have no power by any endear 
vours or duties of their own to cleanse themselves; but by all they 
do to this end, they do but farther plunge themselves into the ditch, 
and increase their own defilements. Yet are all those duties neces- 
sary in their proper place and unto their proper end. 

4. It is, therefore, their duty to acquaint themselves with that 
only remedy in this case, that only means of cleansing, which God 
hath ai')pointed, and which he makes effectual. One great end of 
the revelation of the will of God, from the foundation of the world, 
of his institutions and ordinances of worship, was, to direct the souls 
and consciences of men in and unto the way of their cleansing; which 
as it argues his infinite love and care, so the great importance of the 
matter itself And one principal means which Satan from the be- 
ginning made use of to keep men in their apostasy from God, and to 
encourage them therein, was, by supplying them with innumerable 



456 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [BOOK IV. 

ways of purification, suited to tlie imaginations of their dark, unbe- 
lieving, and superstitious minds. And in like manner, when he de- 
signed to draw men off from Christ and the gospel under the Papacy, 
he did it principally by the suggestion of such present and future 
purgatories of sin as might comply with their lusts and ignorance. 
Of so great importance is it, therefore, to be acquainted with the 
only true and real way and means hereof! And there are two consi- 
derations that are suited to excite the diligence of sinners in this 
inquiry: (1.) The weight that is laid on this matter by God himself. 
(2.) The difficulty of attaining an acquaintance with it. And, — (1.) 
As hath been observed, any one by considering, [1.] The legal institu- 
tions of old will see what weight God lays hereon. No sacrifice had any 
respect unto sin but there was somewhat peculiar in it that was for 
its cleansing; and there were sundry ceremonious ordinances which 
had no other end but only to purify from uncleannesses. [2.] 
Among all the promises of the Old Testament concerning the estab- 
lishment of the new covenant and the grace thereof, which are many 
and precious, there are none more eminent than those which con- 
cern our cleansing from sin by the administration of the Spirit, 
through the blood of Christ; some of them have been mentioned 
before ; — which also farther manifests the care that God hath taken 
for our instruction herein. [3.] There is nothing more pressed on 
us, nothing more frequently proposed unto us, in the gospel, than the 
necessity of our "purification, and the only way of effecting it. If, 
therefore, either instructions, or promises, or precepts, or all concur- 
ring, may evidence the importance of a duty, then is this manifested 
to partake therein. And those who will prefer the guidance of car- 
nal reason and vain tradition before these heavenly directions shall 
live in their ignorance and die in their sins. (2.) The difficulty of 
attaining an acquaintance with it is to be duly considered. It is a 
part of the "mystery of the gospel," and such a part as is among those 
which the wisdom of the world or carnal reason esteemeth " fooUsh- 
ness." It is not easily admitted or received, that we can no other- 
wise be cleansed from our sins but by the sprinkling of that blood 
which was shed so long ago ; yet this and no other way doth the 
Scripture propose unto us. To fancy that there is any cleansing from 
sin but by the blood of Christ is to overthrow the gospel. The doc- 
trine hereof are persons, therefore, obliged to inquire after and come 
to the knowledge of, that, being satisfied with its truth, and that this 
is the only way of cleansing [from] sin, appointed and blessed by God 
himself, their minds may be exercised about it, and so be taken off" 
from resting on those vain medicines and remedies, which (having no- 
thing else to fix upon) their own hearts and others' blind devotions 
would suggest unto them. 



c;:ap. v.] by the spirit and blood of cubist. 4.") 7 

5. But now tlie great inquiry is, How a sinful, defiled soul may 
come to have an interest in, or be partaker of, the purifying virtue 
and efficacy of the blood of Christ? Ans. 1. The jyurifi/inij virtue 
and force of the blood of Christ, with the administration of the 
Sjoirit for its application to make it effectual unto our souls and con- 
sciences, is proposed and exhibited unto us in the promises of the 
covenant, 2 Pet. i. 4. This all the instances (which need not be re- 
cited} before produced do testify unto. 2. The only way to be made 
partaker of the good things presented in the promises is hy faith. So 
Abraham is said to have "received the promises," Heb. xi. 17; and 
so are we also, and to receive Christ himself. Now, this is not from 
their being proposed unto us, but from our believing of that which 
is proposed, as it is expressed of Abraham, Rom. iv. 19-21, x. 6-9. 
The whole use, benefit, and advantage of the promises depend ab- 
solutely on our mixing them with faith; as the apostle declares, 
Heb. iv. 2. Where they are " mixed with faith," there they profit us, 
- — there we really receive the thing promised. Where they are not so 
mixed, they are of no use, but to aggravate our sins and unbelief. I 
know that by some men the whole nature and work of faith is de- 
rided ; they say, " It is nothing but a strong fixing of the imagination 
upon what is said." However, we know that if a man promise us any 
thing seriously and solemnly which is absolutely in his power, we 
trust unto his word, or believe him, considering his wisdom, honesty, 
and ability. This, we know, is not a mere fixing of the imagination, 
but it is a real and useful confidence or trust. And whereas God 
hath given unto us great and precious promises, and that under seve- 
ral confirmations, especially that of his oath and covenant, if we do 
really believe their accomplishment, and that it shall be unto us ac- 
cording to his word, upon the account of his veracity, divine power, 
righteousness, and holiness, why shall this be esteemed " a fanatical 
fixing of the imagination?" If it be so, it was so in Abraham, our 
example, Eom. iv. 19-21. But this blasphemous figment, designed 
to the overthrow of the way of life and salvation by Jesus Christ, 
shall be elsewhere more fully examined. God, as was said, gives 
unto us great and precious promises, that by them we might be made 
partakers of the divine nature. These promises he requireth. us to 
receive, and to mix them with faith, — that is, trusting to and resting 
on his divine power and veracity, ascribing unto him thereby the 
glory of them, to believe that the things promised unto us shall be 
accomplished; which is the means, by God's appointment, whereby 
we shall be really made partakers of them. Such was the faith of 
Abraham, so celebrated by our apostle; and such was all the true 
and saving faith that ever was in the world from the foundation of 
it. Wherefore, 3. This is the only way and means to obtain an inte- 



453 THE FILTH OF SIX PUUGED [bOOK IV. 

rest in the cleansing virtue of tlie Llood of Christ. God hath given 
this power and efficacy unto it by the covenant. In the promise of 
the gospel it is proposed and tendered unto ns. Faith in that pro- 
mise is that alone which gives us an interest in it, makes us par- 
takers of it, and renders it actually effectual unto us; whereby we are 
really cleansed from sin. 4. There are two things which concur unto 
the efficacy of faith to this purpose: — (1.) The excellency of the grace 
or duty itself Despise their ignorance who tell you this is but a 
deceitful fixing of the imagination ; for they know not what they say. 
When men come to the real practice of this duty, they will find what 
it is to discard all other ways and pretences of cleansing; what it is 
sincerely and really to give unto God, against all difficulties and op- 
positions, the glory of his power, faithfulness, goodness, and grace; 
what it is to approve of the wisdom and love of God in finding out 
this way for us, and the infiniteness of his grace in providing it when 
we were lost and under the curse, and to be filled with a holy ad- 
miration of him on that account ; — all which belong unto the faith 
mentioned, neither is it nor can it be acted in a due manner without 
them. And when you understand these things, you will not think it 
so strange that God should appoint this way of believing only as the 
means to interest us in the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ. 
(2.) Hereby are we, as hath been shown, united unto Christ, from 
whom alone is our cleansing. He that declares another way must 
make another gospel. 

6. Faith, in this case, will act itself in and by fervent prayer. 
When David had, by sin, brought himself into that condition where- 
in he stood in need of a new universal purification, how earnest is he 
in his supplications that God would again " purge and cleanse him ! " 
Ps. IL And when any soul is really coming over to the way of God 
for his washing in the blood of Christ, he will not be more earnest and 
fervent in any supplication than in this. And herein and hereby doth 
Christ communicate of the purging efficacy of his blood unto us. 

And these things may, in some measure, suffice for the direction 
and guidance of those who are yet wholly under the pollution of 
corrupted nature, how they may proceed to get themselves cleansed 
according to the mind of God. Not that this order or method is 
presciibed unto any; only, these are the heads of those things which, 
in one degree or other, are wrought in the souls of them whom 
Christ will and doth cleanse from their sins. 

Secondly, Instruction, also, may be hence taken for them concerning 
whom our apostle says, " Such were some of you; 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," 1 Cor, vi. 9-11 ; — such as are 
freed from the general pollution of nature " by the washing of reg'e- 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPirJT AXD BLOOD OF CHPJST. 459 

neration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Tit. iii. 5; — those, I 
mean, who have been made partakers of that cleansing, pnrif3'ina' 
work of the Holy Ghost which we have described. Several duties 
are incumbent on them with respect hereunto; as, — 

1. Continual self-abasement, in the remembrance of that woful 
defiled state and condition from whence they have been delivered. 
This consideration is one of them which principally doth influence 
the minds of believers unto humility, and hideth pride from them; 
for what should creatures of such a base and defiled extraction have 
to boast of in themselves? It is usual, I confess, for vile men of the 
most contemptible beginnings, when they are greatly exalted in the 
world, to outgo others in pride and elation of mind, as they are be- 
hind them in the advantages of birth and education. But this is 
esteemed a vile thing amongst men, though it is but one potsherd of 
the earth boasting itself against another. But when believers shall 
consider what was their vile and polluted estate with respect unto 
God, when first he had regard unto them, it will cause them to walk 
humbly in a deep sense of it, or I am sure it ought so to do. God 
calls his people to self-abasement, not only from what they are, but 
from what they were and whence they came. So he ordained that 
confession to be made by him that offered the first-fruits of his fields 
and possessions, " A Syrian ready to perish was my father ; " or, " A 
Syrian" (that is, Laban) "was ready to destroy my father, a poor, 
helpless man, that went from one country to another for bread. How 
is it of sovereign mercy that I am now in this state and condition of 
plenty and peace!" Deut. xxvi. 1-5. And, in particular, God wonder- 
fully binds upon them the sense of that defiled natural extraction 
whereof we speak, Ezek. xvi. 3-5. And when David, upon his great 
sin and his repentance, took in all humbling, self-abasing considera- 
tions, here he fixeth the head of them : Ps. li. 5, " Behold, I was 
shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." His 
original natural defilement was that which, in the first place, influ- 
enced him unto self-abasoment. So our apostle frequently calls the 
saints to a remembrance of their former condition before they were 
purged, Eph. ii. 11-13; 1 Cor. vi. 9-11 ; and therewith are the minds 
of all true believers greatly affected and greatly humbled. When 
they consider what was their natural state and condition, — universally 
leprous and polluted, — with what remainders of it do still abide, it 
casts them on the earth, and causeth them to lay their mouths in the 
dust. Hence proceed their great and deep humiliations of them- 
selves, and confessions of their own vileness in their prayers and sup- 
plications. Considering the holiness of God, with whom they have 
to do, unto whom they do approach, they are no way able to express 
what low thoughts and apprehensions they have of themselves. Even 



460 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [eOOK IV. 

God himself doth teach them to use figurative expressions whereby 
to declare their own vileness by nature; whicli abound in the Scrip- 
ture. It is true, all declarations hereof, in prayer and confession of 
sin, are derided and scorned by some, who seem to understand no- 
thing of these things, yea, to glory that they do not. Whatever is 
spoken to express, as they are able, the deep sense any have of their 
natural defilement, with the remainder of it, their shame and self- 
abasement with respect unto the holiness of God, is reputed either 
as false and hypocritical, or that it containeth such things as for 
which men ought to be hanged. Sach prodigious impudence in pro- 
claiminof a senselessness of the holiness of God and of the vileness of 
sin have we lived to see and hear of! But when we have to deal 
with God, who puts no trust in his servants, and chargeth his angels 
with folly, what shall we say? What lowliness becomes them " who 
dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, and who are 
crushed before the moth!" 

2. That initial deliverance which believers have from their origi- 
nal pollution of sin is a matter and cause of everlasting thankfulness. 
When our Lord Jesus Christ cleansed the ten lepers, he manifests 
how much it was their duty to return unto him with their thankful 
acknowledgment, though nine of them failed therein, Luke xvii. J 7. 
And when of old any one was cleansed from a carnal defilement, 
there was an offering enjoined him, to testify his gratitude. And, 
indeed, the consideration hereof is that which in an eminent manner 
influenceth the minds of believers in all their grateful ascriptions of 
glory, honour, and praise to Jesus Christ. " Unto him," say they, 
" that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to 
him be glory and dominion for ever and ever," Rev. i. 5, 6. And 
there are three things which concur to this duty: — (1.) A due valua- 
tion of the causes and means of our purification, — namely, the sprink- 
ling of the blood of Christ in the sanctification of the Spirit. As 
these alone have effected this great work, so they alone were able so 
to do. Had we not been washed in the blood of Christ, we must have 
lived and died in our pollutions, and have lain under them to eter- 
nity; for the fire of hell will never purge the defilements of sin, 
much less will the fictitious fire of purgatory cleanse any from them. 
How ought we then to prize, value, and admire, both the virtue or 
efficacy of the blood of Christ, and the love from whence it was given 
for us and is applied unto us! And because this valuation and ad- 
miration are acts of faith, the very work itself, also, of cleansing our 
souls is carried on by them ; for by the exercise of faith do we con- 
tinually derive virtue from Christ to this purpose, as the woman did 
by touching of his garment for the stopping of her issue of blood. 
(2.) Inward joy and satisfaction in our freedom from that shame 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AXD ELOOD OF CHRIST. 4G1 

■which deprived us of all boldness and confidence in God. This in- 
ternal joy belongs unto the duty of thankfulness; for therein is God 
glorified when we are graciously sensible of the effects of his love 
and kindness towards us. Every grace then glorifies God, and ex- 
pressefh our thankfulness for his love, when a soul finds itself really 
affected with a sense of its being washed from all its loathsome de- 
filements in the blood of Christ, and, being thereby freed from dis- 
couraging, oppressing shame, to have filial boldness in the presence 
of God. (3.) Achioivledgment in a way of actual praise. 

Again; we have declared not only that there is in our natural 
frame and spiritual constitution a discrepancy to the holiness of God, 
and consequently a universal defilement, but that there is, from its 
pravity and disorder, a pollution attending every actual sin, whether 
internal of the heart and mind only, or external in sin perpetrated, 
averse to holiness, and contrary to the carrying on of the work of 
sanctification in us. And sundry things believers, whose concern- 
ment alone this is, may learn from hence also; as, — 

1. How they ought to watch against sin and all the motions of 
it, though never so secret. They all of them defile the conscience. 
And it is an evidence of a gracious soul, to be Avatchful against sin 
on this account. Convictions will make men wary where they are 
prevalent, by continual representations of the danger and punishment 
of sin; and these are an allowable motive to believers themselves to 
abstain from it in all known instances. The consideration of the 
terror of the Lord, the use of the threatenings both of the law and 
gospel, declare this to be our duty. Neither let any say that this is 
servile fear; that denomination is taken from the frame of our minds, 
and not from the object feared. When men so fear as thereon to be 
discouraged, and to incline unto a relinquishment of God, duty, and 
hope, that fear is servile, whatever be the object of it. And that fear 
which keeps from sin, and excites the soul to cleave more firmly to 
God, be the object of it what it will,' is no servile fear, but a holy 
fear or due reverence unto God and his word. But this is the most 
genuinely gracious fear of sin, when we dread the defilement of it, 
and that contrariety which is in it to the holiness of God. This is a 
natural fruit of faith and love. And this consideration should always 
greatly possess our minds; — and the truth is, if it do not so, there is 
no assured preservative against sin; for together with an apprehen- 
sion of that spiritual pollution wherewith sin is accompanied, thoughts 
of the holiness of God, of the care and concernment of the sanctifying 
Spirit, and of the blood of Christ, will continually abide in our minds, 
which are all efficaciously preservative against sin. I think that 
there is no more forcible argument unto watchfulness against all sin, 
unto believers, in the whole book of God, than that which is managed 



4G2 THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [BOOK IV. 

by our apostle, with especial respect unto one kind of sin, but may 
in proportion be extended unto all, 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, vL 15-19. 
Moreover, where this is not, where the soul hath no respect to the 
defilement of sin, but only considers how it may shift with the guilt 
of it, innumerable things will interpose, partly arising from the abuse 
of gi'ace, partly from carnal hopes and foolish resolutions for after- 
times, as will set it at liberty from that watchful diligence in uni- 
versal obedience which is required of us. The tnith is, I do not 
believe that any one that is awed only with respect to the guilt of sin 
and its consequents doth keep up a firm integrity with regard to in- 
ward and outward actings of his heart and life in all things. But where 
the fear of the Lord and of sin is influenced by a deep apprehension of 
the holiness of the one, and the pollution that inseparably attends the 
other, there is the soul kept always upon its best guard and defence. 
2. How we ought to walk humbly before the Lord all our days. 
Notwithstanding our utmost watchfulness and diligence against sin, 
there is yet " no man that liveth and sinneth not." Those who pre- 
tend unto a perfection here, as they manifest themselves to be utterly 
ignorant of God and themselves, and despise the blood of Christ, so for 
the most part they are left visibly and in the sight of men to confute 
their own pride and folly. But to what purpose is it to hide ourselves 
from ourselves, when we have to do with God? God knows, and our 
own souls know, that more or less we are defiled in 'all that we do. 
The best of our works and duties, brought into the presence of the 
holiness of God, are but as filthy rags; and man, even every man, of 
himself "drinketh in iniquity like water." Our own clothes are ready 
to defile us every day. Who can express the motions of lusts that 
are in the flesh; the irregular actings of affections, in their inordi- 
nate risings up to their objects; the folly of the imaginations of our 
hearts and minds, which, as far as they are not principled by grace, 
are only evil, and that continually; with the vanity of our words, 
yea, with a mixture of much cbrrupt communications; all which are 
defiling, and have defilements attending of them? I confess I know 
not that my heart and soul abhors any eruption of the diabc lical 
pride of man like that whereby they reproach and scoff at the 
deepest humiliations and self-abasements which poor sinners can at- 
tain unto in their praveis, confessions, and supplications. Alas ! that 
cur nature should be capable of such a contempt of the holiness of 
God, such an ignorance of the infinite distance that is between him 
and us, and be so senseless of our own vileness, and of the abomin- 
able filth and pollution that is in every sin, as not to tremble at the 
despising of the lowest abasements of poor sinners before the holy 
God I " Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but 
the just shall live by his faith/' Hab. ii. -i. 



CHAP, v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 463 

3. How we ought continually to endeavour after the wasting of 
sin in the root and principle of it. There is a root of sin in us, 
v/hich springs up and defiles us. "Every man is tempted" (that is, 
chiefly and principally) "of his own hist, and seduced;" and then 
" when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin." It is " the flesh 
that histeth against the Spirit," and which bringeth forth corrupted 
and corrupting, polluted and polluting fruits. This principle of sin, 
of aver.sation from God, of inclination unto things sensual and present, 
however wounded, weakened, dethroned, impaired, yet still abides 
in all believers ; and it is the foundation, the spring, the root, the 
next cause of all sin in us, which tempts, enticeth, draws aside, con- 
ceives, and brings forth. And this hath in us all more or less de- 
grees of strength, power, and activity, according as it is more or less 
mortified by grace and the application of the virtue of the death of 
Christ unto our souls; and according to its strength and power, so it 
abounds in bringing forth the defiled acts of sin. Whilst this retains 
any considerable power in us, it is to no purpose to set ourselves 
merely to watch against the eruptions of actual sins in the frames 
of our hearts, in the thoughts of our minds, or outward actions. If 
we would preserve ourselves from multiplying our defilements, if we 
would continually be perfecting the work of holiness in the fear of 
the Lord, it is this we must set ourselves against. The tree must be 
made good if we expect good fruit; and the evil root must be digged 
up, or evil fruit will be brought forth; — that is, our main design 
should be, to crucify and destroy the body of the sins of the flesh 
that is in us, the remainders of the flesh or indwelling sin, by the 
ways and means which shall afterward be declared. 

4. Hence also is manifest the necessity there is of continual ap- 
plications to Jesus Christ for cleansing virtue from his Spirit, and 
the sprinkling of his blood on our consciences, in the efiicacy of it, 
to purge them from dead works. We defile ourselves every day, 
and if we go not every day to the "fountain that is open for sin and 
for unclearmess," we shall quickly be all over leprous. Our con- 
sciences will be filled with dead works, so that we shall no way be 
able to serve the living God, unless they are daily purged out. How 

I this is done hath been at large before declared. When a soul, filled 
with self-abasement under a sense of its own defilements, applies 
itself unto Christ by faith for cleansing, and that constantly and 
continually, with a fervency answering its sense and convictions, it 
is in its way and proper course. I am persuaded no true believer 
in the world is a stranger unto this duty; and the more any one 
abounds therein, the more genuine is his faith evidenced to be, and 
the more humble is his walk before the Lord. 

But it may justly be inquired, after all that we have discoursed 



■IGl THE FILTH OF SIN PURGED [bOOK IV. 

upon this subject concerning the defilement of sin, how, if it be so, 
believers can be united unto Jesus Christ, or be members of that 
mystical body whereof he is the head, or obtain fellowship with 
him; for whereas he is absolutely jjttre, holy, and perfect, Jiow can 
he have union or communion with them who are in any thing 
defiled ? There is no fellowship between righteousness and unright- 
eousness, no communion between light and darkness, and what can 
there be between Christ and those that are defiled with sin? and be- 
cause he is " holy, harmless, and undefiled," he is said to be " sepa- 
rate from sinners." 

Many things must be returned unto this objection, all concurring 
to take away the seeming ditficulty that is in it; as, — 

1. It must be granted that where men are wholly under the power 
of their original defilement, they neither have nor can have either 
union or communion with Christ. With respect unto such persons 
the rules before mentioned are universally true and certain. There 
is no more communion between them and Jesus Christ than is be- 
tween light and darkness, as the apostle speaks expressly, 1 John 
i. 6. Whatever profession they may make of his name, whatever 
expectations they may unduly raise from him in their own minds, 
he will say unto them at the last day, " Depart from me, I never 
knew you." No person, therefore, whatever, who hath not been 
made partaker of the washing of regeneration and the renovation of 
the Holy Ghost, can possibly have any union with Christ. I do not 
speak this as though our purifying were in order of time and nature 
antecedent unto our union with Christ, for indeed it is an effect 
thereof; but it is such an effect as immediately and inseparably 
accompanieth it, so that where the one is not, there is not the other. 
The act whereby he unites us unto himself is the same with that 
whereby he cleanseth our natures. 

2. Whatever our defilements are or may be, he is not defiled by 
them. They adhere only unto a capable subject, which Christ is 
not. He was capable to have the guilt of our sins imputed to him, 
but not the filth of one sin adhering to him. A member of a body 
may have a putrefied sore; the head may be troubled at it and 
grieved with it, yet is not defiled by it. Wherefore, where there is 
a radical, original cleansing by the Spirit of regeneration and holi- 
ness, whereby any one is meet for union and communion with Christ, 
however he may be affected with our partial pollutions, he is not de- 
filed by them. He is able ffv/jj^adriffai, " compati, condolere;" he suffers 
with us in his compassion; — but he is not liable cv/ji,jxoX{)vsffdai, to be 
defiled with us or for us. The visible mystical body of Christ may 
be defiled by corrupt members, Heb. xiL 15; but the mystical body 
cannot be so, much less the head. 



CTTAP. v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 4G5 

3. The design of Christ, when he takes behevers into union with 
himself, is to purge and cleanse them absolutely and perfectly; and 
therefore the present remainders of some defilements are not abso- 
lutely inconsistent with that union. "He gave himself for the church, 
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by 
the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not 
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be 
holy and without blemish," Eph. v. 25-27. This he aims at, and 
this he will, in his own way and in his own time, perfectly accom- 
plish. But it is not done at once ; it is a progressive work, that hath 
many degrees. God did never sanctify any soul at once, unless by 
death. The body must die by reason of sin. Every believer is truly 
and really sanctified at once, but none is perfectly sanctified at once. 
It is not, therefore, necessaiy unto union that we should be completely 
sanctified, though it is that we should be truly sanctified. Complete 
sanctification is a necessary effect of union in its proper time and 
season. See John xv. 1-5. 

4. Where the work of sanctification and spiritual cleansing is 
really hegun in any, there the whole person is, and is thence deno- 
minated, holy. As, therefore, Christ the head is holy, so are all the 
members holy according to their measure; for although there may 
be defilements adhering unto their actions, yet their persons are 
sanctified: so that no unholy person hath any communion with 
Christ, no member of his body is unholy, — that is, absolutely so, in 
such a state as thence to be denominated unholy. 

5. Our union with Christ is immediately in and by the new crea- 
ture in us, by the divine nature which is from the Spirit of holiness, 
and is pure and holy. Hereunto and hereby doth the Lord Christ 
communicate himself unto our souls and consciences, and hereby 
have we all our intercourse with him. Other adherences that have 
any defilement in them, and consequently are opposite unto this 
union, he daily worketh out by virtue hereof, Rom. viii. 10. The 
whole body of Christ, therefore, and all that belongs unto it, is holy, 
though those who are members of this body ai^e in themselves oft- 
times polluted, but not in any thing which belongs to their union. 
The apostle describeth the twofold nature or principle that is in be- 
lievers, the new nature by grace and the old of sin, as a double per- 
son, Rom. vii. 19, 20; and it is the former, the renewed (and not 
the latter, which he calls " I" also, but corrects as it were that expres- 
sion, calling it " sin which dwelleth in him"), that is the subject of 
the imion with Christ, the other being to be destroyed. 

6. Where the means of purification are duly used, no defilement 
ensues, on any sin that believers fall into, which doth or can totally 
obstruct communion with God in Christ, according to the tenor of 

VOL. IIL SO 



4G6 THE FILTH OF SIN PUnGED [BOOK IV. 

the covenant. There were many things under the Old Testament 
that did typically and legally defile men that were liable unto them ; 
but for all of them were provided typical and legal purifications, 
which sanctified them as to the purifying of the flesh. Now, no man 
Avas absolutely cut off or separated from the people of God for his 
being so defiled ; but he that, being defiled, did not take care that he 
might be purified according to the law, he was to be cut off from 
among the people. It is in like manner in things spiritual and evan- 
gelical. There are many sins whereby believers are defiled ; ' but 
there is a way of cleansing still open vmto them. And it is not 
merely the incidence of a defilement, but the neglect of purifica- 
tion, that is inconsistent with their state and interest in Christ. ' 
The rule of communion with God, and consequently of union with 
Christ, in its exercise, is expressed by David, Ps. xix. 12, 13, "Who 
can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret sins. Keep 
back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have 
<lominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent 
from the great transgression." The design of the psalmist is, to be 
preserved in such a state and condition as wherein he may be up- 
right before God. To be upright before God is that which God 
requireth of us in the covenant, that we may be accepted with him 
and enjoy the promises thereof. Gen. xvii. 1. He that is so will be j 
free from that great transgression, or that abundance of sin which | 
is inconsistent with the covenant love and favour of God. And \ 
hereunto three things are required: — (1.) A constant, humble ac- 
knowledgment of sin: " Who can understand his errors?" (2.) Daily 
cleansing from those defilements which the leas* and most secret sins 
are accompanied withal: " Cleanse thou me from secret sins." And, ! 
— (3.) A preservation from " presumptuous sins," or wilful sins com- i 
mitted with a high hand. Where these things are, there a man is j 
upright, and hath the covenant-ground of his communion with God ; ' 
and whilst believers are preserved within these bounds, though they 
are defiled by sin, yet is there not any thing therein inconsistent | 
with their union with Christ | 

7. Our blessed Head is not only pure and hol^, but he is also gra- I 
cious and merciful, and will not presently cut off a member of his 
body because it is sick or hath a sore upon it. He is himself passed 
through his course of temptations, and is now above the reach of J 
them all. Doth he, therefore, reject and despise those that are 
tempted, that labour and suffer under their temptations? It is quite 
otherwise, so that, on the account of his own present state, his com- | 
passions do exceedingly abound towards all his that are tempted. It ' 
is no otherwise with him as to their sins and defilements. These he 
himself was absolutely free from ia all his temptations and suffer- 



t'lIAP. v.] BY THE SPIRIT AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. • 467 

iiigs, but we are not; and he is so far from casting us away on that 
account, while we endeavour after purification, as that it draweth out 
his compassions towards us. In brief, he doth not unite us to him- 
self because we are perfect, but that in his own way and time he may 
make us so; not because we are clean, but that he may cleanse us: 
for it is the blood of Jesus Christ, with whom we have fellowship, 
that cleanseth us from all our sins. 

Lastly, To wind up this discourse, there is hence sufficiently evi- 
denced a comprehensive difference between a spiritual life unto God 
I by evangelical holiness, and a life of moral virtue, though pretended 
unto God also. Unto the first, the original and continual purifica- 
tion of our nature and persons by the Spirit of God and blood of 
! Christ is indispensably required. Where this work is not, there 
neither is nor can be any thing of that holiness which the gospel 
prescribes, and which we inquire after. Unless the purification and 
cleansing of sin belong necessarily unto the holiness of the new 
covenant, all that God hath taught us concerning it in the Old Tes- 
Itament and the New, by his institution of legal purifying ordinances; 
by his promises to wash, purify, and cleanse us; by his precepts to 
get ourselves cleansed by the means of our purification, namely, his 
Spirit and the blood of Christ; by his instructions and directions of" 
us to make use of those means of our cleansing; by his declarations 
that believers are so washed and cleansed from all the defilements 
of their sins, — are things fanatical, enthusiastic notions, and unin- 
telligible dreams. Until men can rise up to a confidence enabling 
them to own such horrible blasi)hemies, I desire to know whether 
these things are required unto their morality? If they shall say they 
are so, they give us a new notion of morality, never yet heard of in 
the world; and we must expect until they have farther cleared it, 
there being little or no signification in the great swelling words of 
vanity which have hitherto been lavished about it. But if they do 
not belong thereunto, — as it is most certain the most improved mo- 
ralists, that are only so, whether in notion or practice, have no re- 
gard unto them, — then is their life of moral virtue (were it as real in 
them as it is with notorious vanity pretended) cast out from all con- 
sideration in a serious disquisition after evangelical holiness. And 
what hath been spoken may suflfice to give us some light into th-^ 
nature of this first act of our sanctification by the Spirit, which con- 
sists in the cleansing of our souls and consciences from the pollutions 
of sin, both original and actual 



468 . THE rOSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIEIT [BOOK IV. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN THE SANCTIFICATION OP 

BELIEVERS. 

Differences in the acts of sanctification as to order — The manner of the commu- 
nication of holiness by the Spirit — The rule and measure whereof is the re- 
vealed will of God, as the rule of its acceptance is the covenant of grace — 
The nature of holiness as inward — Righteousness habitual and actual — False 
notions of holiness removed — The nature of a spiritual habit — Applied unto 
holiness, with its rules and limitations — Proved and confirmed — Illustrated 
and practically improved — The properties of holiness as a spiritual habit de- 
clared — 1. Spiritual dispositions unto suitable acts; how expressed in the 
S^-ripture; with their effects — Contrary dispositions unto sin and holiness 
how consistent — 2. Power ; the nature thereof; or what power is required in 
believers unto holy obedience; with its properties and effects in readiness and 
facility — Objections thereunto answered, and an inquiry on these principles 
after true holiness in ourselves directed — Gospel grace distinct from morality, 
and all other habits of the mind ; proved by many arguments, especially its 
relation unto the mediation of Christ — The principal difference between evan- 
gelical holiness and all other habits of the mind, proved by the manner and 
way of its communication from the person of Christ as the head of the churchj 
and the peculiar efficiency of the Spirit therein — JVloral honesty not gospel 
holiness. 

The distinction we make between the acts of the Holy Ghost in 
the work of sanctification concerneth more the order of teaching and 
instruction than any order of precedency that is between the acts 
themselves; for that which we have passed through concerning the 
cleansing of our natures and persons doth not, in order of time, go 
before those other acts which leave a real and positive effect upon 
the soul, which we now enter upon the description of, nor absolutely 
in order of nature: yea, much of the means whereby the Holy 
Ghost purifieth us consisteth in this other work of his which now 
lies before us ; only we thus distinguish them and cast them into 
this order, as the Scripture also doth, for the guidance of our under- 
standing in them, and furtherance of our apprehension of them. 

We, therefore, now proceed unto that part of the work of the 
Holy Spirit whereby he communicates the great, permanent, posi- 
tive effect of holiness unto the souls of believers, and whereby he 
guides and assists them in all the acts, works, and duties of holiness 
whatever; without which what we do is not so, nor doth any way 
belong thereunto. And this part of his work we shall reduce unto 
two heads, which we shall first propose, and afterward clear and vin- 
dicate. 

And our first assertion is, That in the sanctification of believers, 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANXTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 4G9 

the Holy Ghost doth ivorh in them, in their tvhole souls, their minds, 
wills, and affections, a gracious, supernatural habit, principle, and 
disposition of living unto God; wherein the substance or essence, the 
life and being, of holiness doth consist. This is that spirit which is 
Lorn of the Spirit, that new creature, that new and divine nature 
which is wrought in them, and whereof they are made partakers. 
Herein consists that image of God whereunto our natures are re- 
paired by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby we are made 
conformable unto God, firmly and steadfastly adhering unto liim 
through faith and love. That there is such a divine principle, such 
a gracious, supernatural habit, wrought in all them that are born 
again, hath been fully proved in our assertioti and description of the 
work of regeneration. It is, therefore, acknowledged that the first 
supernatural infusion or communication of this principle of spiritual 
light and life, preparing, fitting, and enabling all the faculties of our 
souls unto the duties of holiness, according to the mind of God, doth 
belong unto the work of our first conversion. But the preservation, 
cherishing, and increase of it belong unto our sanctification, both its 
infusion and preservation being necessarily required unto holiness. 
Hereby is the tree made good, that the fruit of it may be good, and 
without which it will not so be. This is our new nature ; which aiiseth 
not from precedent actions of holiness, but is the root of them all. 
Habits acquired by a multitude of acts, whether in things moral or 
artificial, are not a new nature, nor can be so called, but a readiness 
for acting from use and custom. But this nature is from God, its 
parent ; it is that in us which is born of God. And it is common unto 
or the same in all believers, as to its kind and being, though not as 
to decrees and exercise. It is that which we cannot learn, which cannot 
be taught us but by God only, as he teaches other creatures in whom 
he planteth a natural instinct. The beauty and glory hereof, as it is 
absolutely inexpressible, so have we spoken somewhat to it before. 
Conformity to God, likeness to Christ, compliance with the Holy 
Spirit, interest in the family of God, fellowship with angels, separa- 
tion from darkness and the world, do all consist herein. 

Secondly, The matter of our holiness consists in our actual obe- 
dience unto God, according to the tenor of the covenant of grace; 
for God promiseth to write his law in our hearts, that we may fear 
him and walk in his statutes. And concerning this, in general, we 
may observe two things: — 

1. That there is a certain fixed ride and measure of this obe- 
dience, m a conformity and answerableness whereunto it doth con- 
sist. This is the revealed will of God in the Scripture, Micah vi. 8. 
God's will, I say, as revealed unto us in the word, is the rule of our 
obedience. A rule it must have, which nothing else can pretend to 



470 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIEIX [BOOK IV. 

be. The secret will or hidden purposes of God are not the rule of 
our obedience, Deut. xxix, 29, much less are our own imaginations, 
inclinations, or reason so; neither doth any thing, though never so 
specious, which we do in compliance with them, or Ly their direction, 
belonsr thereunto. Col. ii. 18-23. But the word of God is the ade- 
quate rule of all holy obedience: — (1.) It is so materially. All that 
is commanded in that word belongs unto our obedience, and nothing 
else doth so. Hence are we so strictly required neither to add unto 
it nor to diminish or take any thing from it, Deut. iv. 2, xii. 32; 
Josh. i. 7; Prov. xxx. 6; Rev. xxii. 18, 19. (2.) It is so formally; that 
is, we are not only to do what is commanded, all that is commanded, 
and nothing else, but whatever we do, we are to do it because it is 
commanded, or it is no part of our obedience or holiness, Deut. vi. 
24, 25, xxix. 29; Ps. cxix. 9. I know there is an inbred light of 
nature as yet remaining in us, which gives great direction as to moral 
good and evil, commanding the one and forbidding the other, Rom. 
iL 14, 15 ; but this light, however it may be made subservient and 
subordinate thereunto, is not the rule of gospel holiness as such, nor 
any part of it. The law which God by his grace writes in our hearts 
answers unto the law that is written in the word that is given unto 
us; and as the first is the only principle, so the latter is the only rule, 
of our evangelical obedience. For this end hath God promised that 
his Spirit and his word shall always accompany one another, the one 
to quicken our souls, and the other to guide our lives, Isa. lix. 21- 
And the word of God may be considered as our rule in a threefold 
respect: — (1.) As it requires the image of God in us. The habitual 
rectitude of our nature with respect unto God and our living to him 
is enjoined us in the word, yea, and wrought in us thereby. The 
whole renovation of our nature, the whole principle of holiness before 
described, is nothing but the word changed into grace in our hearts ; 
for we are born again by the incorruptible seed of the word of God. 
The Spirit worketh nothing in us but what the word first requireth 
of us. It is, therefore, the rule of the inward principle of spiritual 
life ; and the growth thereof is nothing but its increase in conformity 
to that word. (2.) With respect unto all the actual frames, designs, 
and purposes of the heart. All the internal actings of our minds, all 
the volitions of the will, all the motions of our affections, are to be 
regulated by that word which requires us to love the Lord our God 
with all our minds, all our souls, and all our strength. Hereby is 
their regularity or irregularity to be tried. All that holiness which 
is in them consists in their conformity to the revealed will of God. 
(3.) With respect unto all our outward actions and duties, private and 
public, of piety, of righteousness, towards ourselves or others, Titus 
ii. 12. This is the rule of our holiness. So far as what we are and 



1 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 47i 

what we do answer thereunto, so far are we holy, and no farther. 
Whatever acts of devotion or duties of morality may be performed 
without respect hereunto belong not to our sanctification. 

2. As there is a rule of our performance of this obedience, so there 
is a rule of the acceptance of our obedience with God; and this is 
the tenor of the new covenant. Gen. xvii. 1. What answers here- 
unto is accepted, and what doth not so is rejected, both as to the 
universality of the whole and the sincerity that accompanies each 
particular duty in it And these two things, universality and sin- 
cerity, answer now, as to some certain ends, the legal perfection at 
first required of us. In the estate of original righteousness, the rule 
of our acceptance with God in our obedience was the law and cove- 
nant of works; and this required that it should be absolutely perfect 
in parts and degrees, without the least intermixture of sin with our 
good, or interposition of it in the least instance, which was incon- 
sistent with that covenant. But now, although we are renewed again 
by grace into the image of God really and truly (yet not absolutely 
nor perfectly, but only in part), we have yet remaining in us a contrary 
principle of ignorance and sin, which we must always conflict withal. 
Gal. V. 16, 17: wherefore God in the covenant of grace is pleased 
to accept of that holy obedience which is universal as to all parts, in 
all known instances of duty, and sincere as to the manner of their 
performance. What in particular is required hereunto is not our 
present work to declare ; I only aim to fix in general the rule of 
the acceptance of this holy obedience. Now, the reason hereof is not 
that a lower and more imperfect kind of righteousness, holiness, and 
obedience, will answer all the ends of God and his glory now under 
the new covenant, than would have done so under the old. Nothing 
can be imagined more distant from the truth, or more dishonourable 
to the gospel, or that seems to have a nearer approach unto the mak- 
ing of Christ the minister of sin ; for what would he be else, if he 
had procured that God would accept of a weak, imperfect obedience, 
accompanied with many failings, infirmities, and sins, being in no- 
thing complete, in the room and stead of that which was complete, 
perfect, and absolutely sinless, which he first required of us? Yea, 
God having determined to exalt and glorify the holy properties of his 
nature in a more eminent and glorious manner under the new cove- 
nant than the old, for which cause and end alone it is so exalted and 
preferred above it, it was necessary that there should be a righteous- 
ness and obedience required therein far more complete, eminent, and 
glorious than that required in the other. But the reason of this dif- 
ference lies solely herein, that our evangelical obedience, which is 
accepted with God, according to the tenor of the new covenant, doth 
not hold the same place which our obedience should have had under 



472 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [bOOK IV. 

the covenant of works ; for therein it should have been our righteous- 
ness absolutely before God, that v/hereby we should have been justi- 
fied in his sight, even the works of the law, and for which, in a due 
proportion of justice, we should have been eternally rewarded. But 
this place is now filled up by the righteousness and obedience of 
Christ, our mediator; which, being the obedience of the Son of God, 
is far more eminent and glorious, or tends more to the manifestation 
of the properties of God's nature, and therein to the exaltation of his 
glory, than all that we should have done had we abode steadfast in 
the covenant of works. " Whereunto, then," it may be some will say, 
"serves our holiness and obedience, and what is the necessity of them?" 
I must defer the answering of this inquiry unto its proper place, where 
I shall prove at large the necessity of this holiness, and demonstrate 
it from its proper principles and ends. In the meantime I say only, 
in general, that as God requireth it of us, so he hath appointed it as 
the only means whereby we may express our subjection to him, our 
dependence on him, our fruitfulness and thankfulness; the only way 
of our communion and intercourse with him, of using and improving 
the effects of his love, the benefits of the mediation of Christ, whereby 
we may glorify him in this world ; and the only orderly way whereby 
we may be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light: which 
is sufficient, in general, to manifest both its necessity and its use. 
These things being, then, in general premised, I shall comprise what 
I have farther to offer in the declaration and vindication of gospel 
sanctification and holiness in the two ensuing assertions: — 

I. There is wrought and preserved in the minds and souls of all 
believers, by the S23irit of God, a supernatural principle or habit of 
grace and holiness, whereby they are made meet for and enabled to 
live unto God, and perform that obedience which he requireth and 
accepteth through Christ in the covenant of gi-ace ; essentially or spe- 
cifically distinct from all natural habits, intellectual and moral, how- 
ever or by what means soever acquired or improved. 

II. Tliere is an immediate work or effectual operation of the Holy 
Spirit by his grace required unto every act of holy obedience, whether 
internal only in faith and love, or external also; that is, unto all the 
holy actings of our understandings, wills, and affections, and unto all 
duties of obedience in our walking before God. 

I. The first of these assertions I affirm not only to be true, but of so 
great weight and importance that our hope of life and salvation de- 
pends thereon; and it is the second great principle constituting our 
Christian profession. And there are four things that are to be 
confirmed concerning it: — 1. That there is such a habit or principle 
svpernatural infused or created in believers by the Holy Gliost, 
and always abiding in them. 2. That, according to the natui'e of 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF EELIEVERS. 473 

all habits, it inclines and disjjoseth the mind, will, and affections, 
tiiito acts of holiness suitable unto its own nature, and with reo-ard 
unto its proper end, and to make us meet to live unto God. 8. [That] 
it doth not only incline and dispose the mind, hut gives it 'poiver, and 
enables it to live unto God in all holy obedience. 4. That it differs 
specifically from all other habits, intellectual or moral, that by any 
means we may acquire or attain, or spiritual gifts that may be con- 
ferred on any persons whatever. 

In the handhng of these things, I shall manifest the difference 
that is between a spiritual, supernatural life of evangelical holiness 
and a course of moral virtue; which some, to the rejection of the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, do endeavour to substitute in the 
room thereof Such a spiritual, heavenly, supernatural life, so de- 
nominated from its nature, causes, acts, and ends, we must be par- 
takers of in this world, if ever we mind to attain eternal life in 
another. 

And herein we shall take what view we are able of the nature, 
glory, and beauty of holiness ; and [I] do confess it is but little of them 
which I can comprehend. It is a matter, indeed, often spoken unto; 
but the essence and true nature of it are much hidden from the eyes 
of all living men. The sense of what the Scripture proposeth, what 
I believe, and what I desire an experience of, that I shall endeavour 
to declare. But as we are not in this life perfect in the duties of 
holiness, no more are we in the knowledge of its nature. 

First, therefore, I say, it is a gracious, supernatural habit, or a 
principle of spiritual life. And with respect hereunto I shall briefly 
do these three things:' — 1. Show what I mean by such a habit 2. 
Prove that there is such a habit required unto holiness, yea, that 
the nature of holiness consists therein. S. Declare in general the 
prop)erties of it. 

1. Our first inquiry is after the essence and /orw of holiness, that 
from which any one is truly and really made and denominated holy; 
or what is the formal reason of that holiness which our nature is 
partaker of in this world. This must be something peculiar, some- 
thing excellent and sacred, as that which constitutes the great and 
only difference that is between mankind, on their own part, in the 
sight of God, with respect unto eternity. Every one that hath this 
hohness pieaseth God, is accepted with him, and shall come to the 
enjoyment of him; and every one that hath it not is rejected of 
him, here and hereafter. 

And this lioliness, in the first place, doth not consist in any single 
acts of obedience unto God, though good in their own nature, and ac- 
ceptable unto him ; for such acts may be performed, yea, many of 
them, by unholy persons, with examples whereof the Scripture 



474< THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

aboundeth. Cain's sacrifice and Ahab's repentance were signal 
single acts of obedience materially, yet no acts of holiness formally, 
nor did either make or denominate them holy. And our apostle 
tells us that men may " give all their goods to feed the poor, and their 
bodies to be burned, and yet be nothing," 1 Cor. xiii. 3 ; yet in single 
acts who can go farther? Such fruits may spring from seed that 
hath no root. Single acts may evidence holiness, as Abraham's 
obedience in sacrificing his son, but they constitute none holy; nor 
will a series, a course, a multiplication of acts and duties of obedience 
either constitute or denominate any one so, Isa. i. 11-15. All the 
duties, a series and multiplication whereof are there rejected for 
want of holiness, were good in themselves, and appointed of God. 
Nor doth it consist in an habitual disposition of mind unto any out- 
ward duties of piety, devotion, or obedience, however obtain^^d or 
acquired. Such habits there are, both intellectual and moral. In- 
tellectual habits are arts and sciences. When men, by custom, usage, 
and frequent acts in the exercise of any science, art, or mystery, do 
get a ready facility in and unto all the parts and duties of it, they 
have an intellectual habit therein. It is so in things moral, as to 
virtues and vices. There are some seeds and sparks of moral virtue 
remaining in the ruins of depraved nature, as of justice, temperance, 
fortitude, and the like. Hence God calls on profligate sinners to re- 
member and " show themselves men," or not to act contrary to the 
principles and light of nature, which are inseparable from us as we 
are men, Isa. xlvi. 8. These principles may be so excited in the 
exercise of natural light, and improved by education, instruction, 
and example, until persons, by an assiduous, diligent performance of 
the acts and duties of them, may attain such a readiness unto them 
and facility in them as is not by any outward means easily changed 
or diverted ; and this is a moral habit. In like manner, in the duties 
of piety and religion, in acts of outward obedience unto God, men 
by the same means may so accustom themselves unto them as to 
have an habitutil disposition unto their exercise. I doubt not but 
that it is so unto a high degree with many superstitious persons. 
But in all these things the acts do still precede the habits of the 
same nature and kind, which are produced by them and not other- 
wise. But this holiness is such a habit or principle as is antecedent 
unto all acts of the same kind, as we shall prove. There never was 
by any, nor ever can be, any act or duty of true holiness performed, 
where there was not in order of nature antecedently a habit of holi- 
ness in the persons by whom they were performed. Many acts and 
duties, for the substance of them good and approvable, may be per- 
formed without it, but no one that hath the proper form and nature 
of holmess can be so. And the reason is, because every act of true 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 475 

holiness must have something supernatural in it, from an internal 
renewed principle of grace ; and that which hath not so, be it other- 
wise what it will, is no act or duty of true holiness. 

And I call this principle of holiness a habit, not as though it were 
absolutely of the same kind with acquired habits, and would in all 
things answer to our conceptions and descriptions of them ; but we 
only call it so because, in its effects and manner of operation, it 
agreeth in sundry things with acquired intellectual or moral habits. 
But it hath much more conformity unto a natural, unchangeable in- 
stinct than unto any acquired habit. Wherefore God charge th it on 
men, that in their obedience unto him they did not answer that in- 
stinct which is in other creatures towards their lords and benefactors, 
Isa. i, .3, and which they cordially observe, Jer. viii. 7. But herein 
God " teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us 
wiser than the fowls of heaven," Job xxxv. 11. 

This, therefore, is that which I intend, — a virtue, a power, a prin- 
ciple of spiritual life and grace, wrought, created, infused into our 
souls, and inlaid in all the faculties of them, constantly abiding and 
unchangeably residing in them, which is antecedent unto, and the 
next cause of, all acts of true holiness whatever. And this is that, as 
was said, wherein the nature of holiness doth consist, and from which, 
in those that are adult, the actual discharge of all duties and works of 
holiness is inseparable. This abideth always in and with all that are 
sanctified, whence they are always holy, and not only so when they 
are actually exercised in the duties of holiness. Hereby are they 
prepared, disposed, and enabled unto all duties of obedience, as we 
shall show immediately ; and by the influence hereof into their acts 
and duties do they become holy, and po otherwise. 

For the farther explanation of it, I shall only add three things :- 

(1.) That this habit or principle, thus wrought and abiding in us^ 
doth not, if I may so say, firm its own station, or abide and continue 
in us by its own natural efficacy, in adhering unto the faculties of our 
souls. Habits that are acquired.by many actions have a natural effi- 
cacy to presei-ve themselves, until some opposition that is too hard 
for them prevail against them ; which is frequently (though not easily) 
done. But this is preserved in us by the constant powerful actings 
and influence of the Holy Ghost. He which works it in us doth also 
preserve it in us. And the reason hereof is, because the spring of it 
is in our head, Christ Jesus, it being only an emanation of virtue 
and power from him unto us by the Holy Ghost. If this be not ac- 
tually and always continued, whatever is in us would die and wither 
of itself. See Eph. iv. 1 5, 1 6 ; Col. iii. 3 ; John iv. 1 4. It is in us as the 
fructifying sap is in a branch of the vine or olive. It is there really 
-and formally, and is the next cause of the fruit-bearing of the branch'. 



476 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [cOOK IV. 

"but it doth not live and abide by itself, but by a continual emana- 
tion and communication from the root; let that be intercepted, and 
it quickly withers. So is it with this principle in us, with respect 
unto its root, Christ Jesus. 

(2.) Though this principle or hahit of holiness be of the same kind 
or nature in all believers, in all that are sanctified, yet there are in 
them very distinct degrees of it. In some it is more strong, lively, 
vigorous, and flourishing; in others, more weak, feeble, and inactive; 
and this in so great variety and on so many occasions as cannot here 
be spoken unto. 

(3.) That although this hahit and principle is not acquired by any 
or many acts of duty or obedience, yet is it, in a way of duty, pre- 
served, increased, strengthened, and improved thereby. God hath 
appointed that we should live in the exercise of it ; and in and by the 
multiplication of its acts and duties is it kept alive and stirred up, 
without which it will be weakened and decay. 

2. This being what I intend as to the substance of it, we must, in 
the next place, show that there is such a spiritual hahit or principle 
of spiritual life wrought in believers, wherein their holiness doth 
consist. Some few testimonies of many shall suffice as to its present 
confirmation. 

Tlie work of it is expressed, Deut. xxx. 6, "The Lord thy God will 
circumcise thine heart, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 
and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." The end of holiness is, 
that we may ''live;" and the principal work of holiness is to "love the 
Lord our God with all our heart and soul;" and this is the effect of 
God's "circumcising our hearts," without which it will not be. Every 
act of love and fear, and consequently every duty of holiness what- 
ever, is consequential unto God's circumcising of our hearts. But it 
should seem that this work of God is "only a removal of hinderances," 
aiid doth not express the collation of the principle which we assert. 
I answer, that although it were easy to demonstrate that this work 
of circumcising our hearts cannot be effected without an implanta- 
tion of the pnnciple pleaded for in them, yet it shall suffice at present 
to evince from hence that this effectual work of God upon our hearts 
is antecedently necessary unto all acts of holiness in us. But here- 
withal God writes his law in our hearts: Jer. xxxi. 83, "I will put 
my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." The 
liabit or principle which we have described is nothing but a trans- 
cript of the law of God implanted and abiding in our hearts, whereby 
we comply with and answer unto the whole will of God therein. 
This is holiness in the habit and princi2:)le of it. This is more fully 
expressed, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27, "A new heart will I give you, and a 
|ie\v spirit will I put within you, and cause you to walk in my 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SAXCTIFICATIOX OF EELIEVEKS. 477 

statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." The whole 
of all that actual obedience and all those duties of holiness which 
God requireth of us is contained in these expressions, "Ye shall walk 
in my statutes, and keep my judgments to do them." Antecedent 
hereunto, and as the principle and cause thereof, God gives a "new 
heart" and a " new spirit." This new heart is a heart with the laAV 
of God written in it, as before mentioned ; and this new spirit is the 
habitual inclination of that heart unto the life of God, or all duties 
of obedience. And herein the whole of what we have asserted is 
confirmed, — namely, that antecedently unto all duties and acts of 
holiness whatever, and as the next cause of them, there is by the Holy 
Ghost a new spiritual principle or habit of grace communicated unto 
us and abiding in us, from whence we are made and denominated 
holy. ^ 

It is yet more expressly revealed and declared in the New Testa- 
ment, John iii. 6. There is a work of the Spirit of God upon us in 
our regeneration ; we are " born again of the Spirit." And there is 
the product of this work of the Spirit of God in us, that which is 
born in this new birth, and that is " spirit" also. It is something ex- 
isting in us, that is of a spiritual nature and spiritual efficacy. It 
is something abiding in us, acting in a continual opposition against 
i\ie fiesli or sin, as Gal. v. 17, and unto all duties of obedience unto 
God. And until this spirit is formed in us, — that is, our whole souls 
have a furnishment of spiritual power and ability, — we cannot perform 
any one act that is spiritually good, nor any one act of vital obedi- 
ence. This spirit, or spiritual nature, which is born of the Spirit, by 
which alone we are enabled to live to God, is that habit of grace or 
principle of holiness which we intend. And so also is it called a new 
creature : "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature," 2 Cor. v. 1 7. 
It is something that, by an almighty creating act of the power of 
God by his Spirit, hath the nature of a living creature, produced 
in the souls of all that are in Christ Jesus. And as it is called 
the " new creature," so it is also a " divine nature," 2 Pet. i. 4 ; and a 
nature is the principle of all operations. And this is what we plead 
for: The Spirit of God createth a new nature in us, which is the 
principle and next cause of all acts of the life of God. Where this 
is not, whatever else there may be, there is no evangelical holiness. 
This is that whereby we are enabled to live unto God, to fear him, 
to walk in his ways, and to yield obedience according to his mind 
and will See Eph. iv 23, 24; Col. iii. 10. This the Scripture 
plentifully testifieth unto; but withal I must add, that as to the 
pi'oper nature or essence of it, no mind can apprehend it, no tongue 
can express it, none can perfectly understand its glory. Some few 
things may be added to illustrate it. 



473 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [EOOK IV. 

(1.) This is that whereby we have union luith Jesus Christ, the 
head of the church. Originally and efficiently the Holy Spirit dwell- 
ing in him and us is the cause of this union; h\xi formally this new 
principle of grace is so. It is that whereby we become " members 
of his flesh and of his bones," Eph. v. 30. As Eve was of Adam, — 
she was one with him, because she had the same nature with him, 
and that derived from him, which the apostle alludeth unto, — so are 
we of him, partakers of the same divine nature with him. Thus he 
that is ''joined unto the Lord is one spirit," 1 Cor. vi. 17; that is, 
of one and the same spiritual nature with him, Heb. ii. 11, 14. How . 
excellent is this grace, which gives us our interest in and continuity 
unto the body of Christ, and to his person as our head! It is the 
same grace, in the kind thereof, which is in the holy nature of Christ, 
and renders us one with him. 

(2.) Our likeness and conformity unto God consists herein; for it 
is the reparation of his image in us, Eph. iv. 23, 24; Col. iii. 10. 
Something, I hope, I apprehend concerning this image of God in 
believers, and of their likeness unto him, how great a privilege it is, 
what honour, safety, and security depend thereon, what duties are 
required of us on the account thereof; but perfectly to conceive or 
express the nature and glory of it we cannot attain unto, but should 
learn to adore the grace whence it doth proceed and is bestowed on 
us, to admire the love of Christ and the efficacy of his mediation, 
whereby it is renewed in us ; — but the thing itself is ineffable. 

(3.) It is our life, our spiritual life, whereby we live to God. Life 
is the foundation and sum of all excellencies; without this we are 
dead in trespasses and sins ; and how we are quickened by the Holy 
Ghost hath been declared. But this is the internal principle of life, 
whence all vital acts in the life of God do proceed. And whereas we 
linow not well what is the true form and essence of life natural, only 
we find it, discern it, and judge of it by its effects, much less do we 
know the form and essence of life spiritual, which is far more excel- 
lent and glorious. This is that life which is " hid with Christ in 
God," Col. iii. 3 ; in which words the apostle draws a veil over it, 
as knowing that we are unable steadfastly to behold its glory and 
beauty. 

But before I proceed unto a farther description of this principle of 
holiness in its effects, as before laid down, it may not be amiss prac- 
tically to call over these general considerations of its nature; and our 
own concernment in this truth, which is no empty notion, will be 
tiierein declared. And, — 

First, We may learn hence not to satisfy ourselves, or not to rest, 
in any acts or duties of obedience, in any good works, how good and 
useful soever in themselves, or howsoever multiplied by us, unless 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 479 

til ere be a vital principle of holiness in our hearts. A few honest 
motions, a few useful duties, do satisfy some persons that they are as 
holy as they should be, or as they need to be ; and some men's reli- 
gion hath consisted in the multiplying of outward duties, that they 
might be meritorious for themselves and others. But God expressly 
j rejecteth not only such duties, but the greatest multitude of them, 
I and their most frequent reiteration, if the heart be not antecedently 
purified and sanctified, if it be not possessed with the principle of 
grace and holiness insisted on, Isa. i. 11-15. Such acts and duties 
may be the effects of other causes, the fruits of other principles. 
Mere legal convictions will produce them, and put men upon a course 
of them. Fears, afflictions, terrors of conscience, dictates of reason, 
improved by education and confirmed by custom, will direct, yea, 
compel men unto their observance. But all is lost, men do but 
labour in the fire about them, if the soul be not prepared with this 
spiritual principle of habitual holiness, wrought in it immediately by 
the Holy Ghost. Yet we must here observe these two things: — 

(].) That so far as these duties, be they of morality or religion, 
of piety or divine worship, are good in themselves, they ought to be 
approved, and men encouraged in them. There are sundry ways 
whereby the best duties may be abused and misapplied, as when 
men rest in them, as if they were meritorious, or the matter of their 
justification before God; for this, as is known, is an effectual means 
to divert the souls of sinners from faith in Christ for life and salvation, 
Rom. ix. 31, 32, x. 3, 4. And there are reasons and causes that 
render them unacceptable before God, with respect unto the persons 
by whom they are performed ; as when they are not done in faith, 
for which Cain's sacrifice was rejected; and when the heart is not 
previously sanctified and prepared with a spiritual principle of obe- 
dience. But yet on neither of these grounds or pretences can we or 
ought we to condemn or undervalue the duties themselves, which 
are good in their own nature, nor take off men from the performance 
of them ; yea, it were greatly to be desired that we could see more 
of the fruits of moral virtues and duties of religious piety among un- 
sanctified persons than we do. The world is not in a condition to 
spare the good acts of bad men. But this we may do, and as we are 
called we ought to do : When men are engaged in a course of du- 
ties and good works, on principles that will not abide and endure 
the trial, or for ends that will spoil and corrupt all they do, we may 
tell them (as our Saviour did the young man, who gave that great 
account of his diligence in all legal duties), " One thing is yet want- 
ing unto you;" — " You want faith, or you want Christ, or you want 
a spiritual principle of evangelical holiness, without which all you do 
will be lost, and come to no account at the last day." The due asser- 



480 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [bOOK IV. 

tion of grace never was nor ever can be an obstruction unto any duty 
of obedience. Indeed, when any will give up themselves unto those 
works or actings, under the name of duties and obedience unto God, 
which, although they may make a specious show and appearance in 
the world, yet are evil in themselves, or such as God requireth not 
of men, we may speak against them, deny them, and take men off 
from them. So persecution hath been looked on as a good work, 
men supposing they did God good service when they slew the disci- 
ples of Christ; and men giving their goods unto "pious uses," as they 
were called (indeed, impious abuses), to have others pray for their 
souls and expiate their sins, when they were gone out of this world. 
These and the like other innumerable pretended duties may be 
judged, condemned, ex|)loded, without the least fear of deterring men 
from obedience. 

(2.) That wherever there is this principle of holiness in the heart 
in those that are adult, there will be the fruits and effects of it 
in the life, in all duties of righteousness, godliness, and holiness; 
for the main work and end of this principle is, to enable us to com- 
ply with that " grace of God which teacheth us to deny all ungod- 
liness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly 
in this present world," Tit. ii. 11, 12. That which we press for is 
the great direction of our Saviour, " Make the tree good, and the 
fruit will be so also." And there can be no more vile and sordid 
hypocrisy than for any to pretend unto inward, habitual sanctifica- 
tion, whilst their lives are barren in the fruits of righteousness and 
duties of obedience. Wherever this root is, there it will assuredly 
bear fruit. 

Secondly, It will appear from hence whence it is that men pro- 
pose and steer such various courses with respect unto holiness. All 
men who profess themselves to be Christians are agreed, in words at 
least, that holiness is absolutely necessary unto them that would be 
saved by Jesus Christ. To deny it is all one as openly to renounce 
the gospel. But when they should come to the practice of it, some 
take one false way, some another, and some actually despise and re- 
ject it. Now, all this ariseth from ignorance of the true nature of 
evangelical holiness on the one hand, and love of sin on the other. 
There is nothing wherein we are spiritually and eternally concerned 
that is more frequently insisted on than is the true nature of sancti- 
fication and holiness. But the thing itself, as hath been declared, is 
deep and mysterious, not to be understood without the aid of spiri- 
tual light in our minds. Hence some would have moral virtue to 
be holiness, which, as they suppose, they can understand by their 
own reason and practise in their own strength ; and I heartily wish 
that we could see more of the fruits of it from them. But real 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION' OF BELIEVERS. 481 

moral virtue will hardly be abused into an opposition unto grace ; 
the pretence of it will be so easily, and is so every day. Some, on 
the other hand, place all holiness in superstitious devotions, in the 
strict observance of religious duties, which men, and not God, have 
appointed ; and there is no end of their multiplication of them, nor 
measure of the strictness of some in them. The reason why men 
give up themselves unto such soul-deceiving imaginations is, their 
ignorance and hatred of that only true, real principle of evange- 
lical holiness of which we have discoursed ; for what the world know- 
eth not in these things it always hateth. And they cannot discern 
it clearly, or in its own light and evidence; for it must be spiritually 
discerned. This the natural man cannot do; and in that false light 
of corrupted reason wherein they discern and judge it, they esteem 
it foolishness or fancy, 1 Cor. ii. 14. There is not a more foolish 
and fanatical thing in the world, with many, than that internal, ha- 
bitual holiness which we are in the consideration of; and hence are 
they led to despise and to hate it. But here the love of sin secretly 
takes place, and influenceth their minds. This universal change of 
the soul in all its principles of operation into the image and likeness 
of God, tending to the extirpation of all sins and vicious habits, is 
that which men fear and abhor. This makes them take up with 
morality and superstitious devotion, — any thing that will pacify a 
natural conscience, and please themselves or others with a reputation 
of religion. It is, therefore, highly incumbent on all that would not 
wilfully deceive their own souls unto their eternal ruin to inquire 
diligently into the true nature of evangelical holiness; S,nd, above all, 
to take care that they miss it not in the foundation, in the true root 
and principle of it, wherein a mistake will be pernicious. 

Thirdly, It is, moreover, evident from hence that it is a greater 
matter to be truly and really holy than most persons are aware of. 
We may learn eminently how great and excellent a work this of 
sanctification and holiness is from the causes of it. How emphati- 
cally doth our apostle ascribe it unto God, even the Father: 1 Thess. 
v. 23, " Even the God of peace himself sanctify you." It is so great 
a work as that it cannot be wrought by any but the God of peace 
himself What is the immediate work of the Spirit therein, what 
the influence of the mediation and blood of Christ into it, hath been 
already in part declared, and we have yet much more to add in our 
account of it. And these things do sufficiently manifest how gi-eat, 
how excellent and glorious a work it is; for it doth not become di- 
vine and infinite wisdom to engage the immediate power and efficacy 
of such glorious causes and means for the producing of any ordinary 
or common effect. It must be somewhat, as of great importance unto 
the glory of God, so of an eminent nature in itself. And that little 

VOL. III. SI 



482 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [bOOK IV. 

entrance which we have made into an inquiry after its nature mani- 
fests how great and excellent it is. Let us not, therefore, deceive 
ourselves with the shadows and appearances of things in a few duties 
of piety or righteousness; no, nor yet with many of them, if we 
find not this great work at least begun in us. It is sad to see what 
trifling there is in these things amongst men. None, indeed, is 
contented to be without a religion, and very few are willing to admit 
it in its power. 

Fourthly, Have we received this principle of holiness and of spiri- 
tual life by the gracious operation of the Holy Ghost? — there are, 
among many others, three duties incumbent on us, whereof we ought 
to be as careful as of our souls. And the first is, carefully and dili- 
gently by all means to cherish and preserve it in our hearts. This 
sacred depositum of the new creature, of the divine nature, is intrusted 
with us to take care of, to cherish and improve. If we willingly, or 
through our neglect, suffer it to be wounded by temptations, weak- 
ened by corruptions, or not exercised in all known duties of obedi- 
ence, our guilt is great, and our trouble will not be small. And 
then, secondly, it is equally incumbent on us to evince and manifest 
it by its fruits, in the mortification of corrupt lusts and affections, in 
all duties of holiness, righteousness, charity, and piety, in the world: 
for that God may be glorified hereby is one of the ends why he en- 
dues our natures with it; and without these visible fruits, we expose 
our entire profession of holiness to reproach. And in like manner is 
it required that we be thankful for what we have received. 

S. As this principle of inherent grace or holiness hath the nature 
of a habit, so also hath it the properties thereof And the first pro- 
perty of a habit is, that it inclines and disposeth the subject wherein 
it is unto acts of its own kind, or suitable unto it. It is directed 
unto a certain end, and inclines unto acts or actions which tend there- 
unto, and that with evenness and constancy. Yea, moral habits are 
nothing but strong and firm dispositions and inclinations unto moral 
acts and duties of their own kind, as righteousness, or temperance, 
or meekness. Such a disposition and inclination, therefore, there 
must be in this new spiritual nature, or principle of holiness, which 
we have described, wherewith the souls of believers are inlaid and 
furnished by the Holy Ghost in their sanctification ; for, — 

(1.) It hath a certain end, to enable us whereunto it is bestowed 
on us. Although it be a great work in itself, that wherein the reno- 
vation of the image of God in us doth consist, yet is it not wrought 
in any but with respect unto a farther end in this world ; and this 
end is, that we may live to God. We are made like unto God, that we 
may live unto God. By the depravation of our natures we are 
"alienated from this life of God," this divine, spiritual life, Eph. iv. 18 ; 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SAKCTIFICATIOX OF BELIEVERS. 483 

we like it not, but we have an aversation unto it. Yea, we are under 
the power of a death that is universally opposed unto that life ; for 
" to be carnally minded is death," Rom. viii. 6, — that is, it is so with 
respect unto the life of God, and all the acts that belong thereunto. 
And this life of God hath two parts: — [1.] The outward duties of it; 
[2.] The inward frame and actings of it. For the first, persons 
under the power of corrupted nature may perform them, and do so; 
but without delight, constancy, or permanency. The language of 
that principle whereby they are acted is, " Behold, what a weariness 
is it!" Mai. i. IS; and such hypocrites will not pray always. But as 
to the second, or the internal actings of faith and love, whereby all 
outward duties shall be quickened and animated, they are utter 
strangers unto them, utterly alienated from them. With respect 
unto this life of God, a life of spiritual obedience unto God, are our 
natures thus spiritually renewed, or furnished with this spiritual habit 
and principle of grace. It is wrought in us, that by virtue thereof 
we may " live to God:" without which we cannot do so in any one 
single act or duty whatever ; for " they that are in the flesh cannot 
please God," Rom. viii. 8. Wherefore, the first property and insepar- 
able adjunct of it is, that it inclineth and disposeth the soul wherein 
it is unto all acts and duties that belong to the life of God, or unto 
all the duties of holy obedience, so that it shall attend unto them, 
not from conviction or external impression only, but from an inter- 
nal genuine principle, so inclining and disposing it thereunto. And 
these things may be illustrated by what is contrary unto them : There 
is in the state of nature a " carnal mind," which is the principle of all 
moral and spiritual operations in them in whom it is; and this carnal 
mind hath an enmity, or is "enmity against God," — " it is not subject 
unto the law of God, neither indeed can be," Rom. viii. 7 ; that is, 
the bent and inclination of it lies directly against spiritual things, or 
the mind and will of God in all things which concern a life of obedi- 
ence unto himself. Now, as this principle of holiness is that which 
is introduced into our souls in opposition unto, and to the exclusion 
of, the carnal mind ; so this disposition and inclination of it is opposite 
and contrary unto the enmity of the carnal mind, as tending always 
unto actions spiritually good, according to the mind of God. 

(2.) This disposition of heart and soul, Avhich I place as the first 
property or effect of the principle of holiness, before declared and ex- 
plained, is in the Scripture called/ear, love, delight, and by the names 
of such other affections as express a constant regard and inclination 
unto their objects: for these things do not denote the principle of 
holiness itself, which is seated in the mind, or understanding and 
will, whereas they are the names of affections only; but they signify 
the first way whereby that principle doth act itself, in a holy inclina- 



484 THE POSITIVE WOEK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

tion of the heart unto spiritual obedience. So when the people of 
Israel had engaged themselves by solemn covenant to hear and do 
whatsoever God commanded, God adds concerning it, " that there 
were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my 
commandments always!" Deut. v. 29; that is, that the bent and in- 
clination of their hearts were always unto obedience. It is that 
which is intended in the promise of the covenant: Jer. xxxii. 39, "I 
will give them one heart, that they may fear me ;" which is the same 
with the " new spirit," Ezek. xi, 19. The new heart, as hath been de- 
clared, is the new nature, the new creature, the new, spiritual, super- 
natural principle of holiness. The first effect, the first fruit hereof is, 
the fear of God always, or a new spiritual bent and inclination of soul 
unto all the will and commands of God. And this new spirit, this 
fear of God, is still expressed as the inseparable consequent of the 
new heart, or the writing of the law of God in our hearts, which are 
the same. So it is called, " fearing the LoED and his goodness," 
Hos. iii. 5. In like manner it is expressed by "love;" which is the 
inclination of the soul unto all acts of obedience unto God and com- 
munion with him with delight and complacency. It is a regard unto 
God and his will, with a reverence due unto his nature, and a delight 
in him suited unto that covenant-relation wherein he stands unto us. 

(3.) It is, moreover, expressed by being spiritually minded : " To 
be spiritually minded is life and peace," Rom. viii 6 ; — that is, the 
bent and inclination of the mind unto spiritual things is that whereby 
we live to God and enjoy peace with him; it is "life and peace." 
By nature we savour only the things of the flesh, and " mind earthly 
things," Phil. iii. 19; our minds or hearts are set upon them, disposed 
towards them, ready for all things that lead us to the enjoyment of 
them and satisfaction in them. But hereby we mind the things that 
are above, or set our affections on them. Col. iii. 1,2. By virtue hereof 
David professeth that his " soul followed hard after God," Ps. Ixiii. 8, 
or inclined earnestly unto all those ways whereby he might live unto 
him, and come unto the enjoyment of him; like the earnestness 
which is in him who is in the pursuit of something continually in his 
eye, as our apostle expresseth it, Phil. iii. 13, 14. By the apostle 
Peter it is compared unto that natural inclination which is in those 
that are hungry unto food: 1 Pet. ii. 2, " As new-born babes, desire 
the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby;" which is 
a constant unalterable inclination. 

This, therefore, is that which I intend: — Every nature hath its 
disposition unto actings suitable unto it. The principle of holiness 
is such a nature, a new or divine nature ; wherever it is, it constantly 
inclines the soul unto duties and acts of holiness, it produceth a con- 
stant disposition unto them. And as by the principle itself the con- 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 485 

trary principle of sin and flesh is impaired and subdued, so by this 
gracious disposition the indination unto sin which is in us is weak- 
ened, impaired, and gradually taken away. 

Wherefore, wherever this holiness is, it doth dispose or incline the 
whole soul unto acts and duties of holiness; and that, — (1.) Univer- 
sally, or impartially ; (2.) Constantly, or evenly ; (3.) Permanently, 
unto the end. And where these things are not, no multiplication of 
duties will either make or denominate any person holy. 

(1.) There is no duty of holiness whatever, but there is a disposi- 
tion in a sanctified heart unto it. There is a respect unto all God's 
commands. Some of them may be more contrary unto our natural 
inclinations than others, some more cross unto our present secular 
interests, some attended with more difficulties and disadvantages 
than others, and some may be rendered very hazardous by the cir- 
cumstances of times and seasons ; but, however, if there be a graci- 
ous principle in our hearts, it will equally incline and dispose us 
unto every one of them in its proper place and season. And the 
reason hereof is, because it being a new nature, it equally inclines 
unto all that belongs unto it, as all acts of holy obedience do; for 
every nature hath an equal propensity unto all its natural operations, 
in their times and seasons. Hence our Saviour tried the rich young 
man, who gave an account of his duties and righteousness, with one 
that lay close unto his secular interests and worldly satisfactions. 
This immediately carried him off, and evidenced that all he had done 
besides was not from an internal principle of spiritual life. Any other 
principle or cause of duties and obedience will, upon solicitations, 
give way unto an habitual reserve of one thing or other that is con- 
trary thereunto. It will admit either of the omission of some duties, 
or of the commission of some sin, or of the retaining of some lust. 
So Naaman, who vowed obedience, upon his conviction of the power 
of the God of Israel, would, nevertheless, upon the solicitation of his 
worldly interest, have a reserve to bow in the house of Rimmon. So 
omission of duties that are dangerous in a way of profession, or the 
reserve of some corrupt affections, love of the world, pride of life, will 
be admitted upon any other principle of obedience, and that habitu- 
ally; for even those who have this real spiritual principle of holi- 
ness may be surprised into actual omission of duties, commission of 
sins, and a temporary indulgence unto corrupt affections. But habi- 
tually they cannot be so. An habitual reserve for any thing that is 
sinful or morally evil is eternally inconsistent with this principle of 
holiness. Light and darkness, fire and water, may as soon be recon- 
ciled in one. And hereby is it distinguished from all other prin- 
ciples, reasons, or causes, whereon men may perform any duties of 
obedience towards God. 



486 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

(2.) It thus disposeth the heart unto duties of holiness constantly 
and evenly. He in whom it is feareth always, or is in the fear of 
the Lord all the day long. In all instances, on all occasions, it 
equally disposeth the mind unto acts of holy obedience. It is true 
that the actings of grace which proceed from it are in us -sometimes 
more intense and vigorous than at other times. It is so, also, that 
we are ourselves sometimes more watchful and diligently intent on 
all occasions of acting grace, whether in solemn duties, or in our 
general course, or on particular occasions, than we are at some other 
times. Moreover, there are especial seasons wherein we meet with 
greater difficulties and obstructions from our lusts and temptations 
than ordinary, whereby this holy disposition is intercepted and im- 
peded. But notwithstanding all these things, which are contrary 
unto it and obstructive of its operations, in itself and its own nature 
it doth constantly and evenly incline the soul, at all times and on all 
occasions, unto duties of holiness. Whatever falls out otherwise is 
accidental unto it. This disposition is like a stream that ariseth 
equally from a living fountain, as our Saviour expresseth it: John 
iv. 14, "A well of water springing up into everlasting life." As this 
stream passetli on in its course, it may meet with oppositions that may 
either stop it or divert it for a season; but its waters still press for- 
ward continually. Hereby doth the soul set God always before it, 
and walk continually as in his sight. Men may perform duties of 
obedience unto God, yea, many of them, yea, be engaged into a con- 
stant course of them, as to their outward performance, on other 
grounds, from other principles, and by virtue of other motives; but 
whatever they are, they are not a new nature in and unto the soul, 
and so do not dispose men constantly and evenly unto what they lead 
unto. Sometimes their impressions on the mind are strong and 
violent, there is no withstanding of them, but the duties they require 
must instantly be complied withal. So is it when convictions are 
excited by dangers or afflictions, strong desires, or the like. And 
again, they leave the soul unto its own formality and course, with- 
out the least impression from them towards any duties whatever. 
There is no cause, or princijDle, or reason of obedience, besides this 
one insisted on, that will evenly and constantly incline unto the acts 
of it. Men proceeding only upon the power of convictions are like 
those at sea, who sometimes meet with storms or vehement winds 
which fit them for their course, and would seem immediately to drive 
them, as it were, with violence into their port or harbour, ];ut quickly 
after they have an utter calm, no breath of air stirs to help them 
forward ; and then, it may be, after a while another gust of wind 
befalls them, which they again suppose will despatch their voyage, 
but that also quickly fails them. Where this principle is, persons 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 487 

have a natural current, which carries them on quickly, evenly, and 
constantly; and although they may sometimes meet with storms, 
tempests, and cross winds, yet the stream, the current, which is na- 
tural, at length worketh its way, and holds on its course through all 
external occasional impediments. 

(3.) It is also permanent herein, and abideth for ever. It will 
never cease inclining and disposing the whole soul unto acts and 
duties of obedience, until it come unto the end of them all in the 
enjoyment of God. It is " living water," and whosoever drinketh of 
it shall never thirst any more, that is, with a total indigence of 
supplies of grace, but it is "a well of water springing up into ever- 
lasting life," John iv. 14. It springs up, and that as always, without 
intermission, because it is living water, from which vital acts are 
inseparable, so permanently, without ceasing, it springs up into ever- 
lasting life, and faileth not until those in whom it is are safely lodged 
in the enjoyment of it. This is expressly promised in the covenant, 
"I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from 
me," Jer. xxxii. 40. They shall never do so in whom is this fear, 
which is permanent and endless. It is true, that it is our duty, with 
all care and diligence, in the use of all means, to preserve, cherish, 
and improve both the principle itself and its actings in these holy 
dispositions; we are to "show all diligence unto the full assurance 
of hope unto the end," Heb. vi. 11; and in the use of means and 
the exercise of grace is it that it is infallibly kept and preserved, 
Isa. xl. 31 ; — and it is also true, that sometimes, in some persons, 
upon the fierce interposition of temptations, with the violent and 
deceitful working of lusts, the principle itself may seem for a season 
to be utterly stifled, and this property of it to be destroyed, as it 
seems to have been with David under his sad fall and decay ; — yet 
such is the nature of it that it is immortal, everlasting, and which 
shall never absolutely die; such is the relation of it unto the cove- 
nant-faithfulness of God and mediation of Christ, as that it shall 
never utterly cease or be extinguished. It abideth, disposing and in- 
clining the heart unto all duties of holy obedience, unto the grave ; 
yea, ordinarily, and where its genuine work and tendency is not in- 
terrupted by cursed negligence or love of the world, it thrives and 
grows continually unto the end. Hence, some are not only fruitful, 
but fat and flourishinoc in their old asce; and as the outward man de- 
cayeth, so in them the inward man is daily renewed in strength and 
power. But as unto all other principles of obedience whatever, as it 
is in their own nature to decay and wither, all their actings growing 
insensibly weaker and less efficacious, so, for the most part, either the 
increase of carnal wisdom, or the love of the world, or some power- 
ful temptation, at one time or other, puts an utter end unto them, 



488 THE POSITIVE "WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

and they are of no use at all. Hence there is not a more secure gene- 
ration of sinners in the world than those who have been acted by the 
power of conviction unto a course of obedience in the performance of 
many duties ; and those of them who fall not openly to profaneness, 
or lasciviousness, or neglect of all duties of religion, do continue in 
their course from what they have been habituated unto, finding it com- 
pliant with their present circumstances and conditions in the world, 
as also having been preserved from such ways and practices as are 
inconsistent with their present course by the power of their former 
convictions. But the power of these principles, of conviction, educa- 
tion, impressions from afflictions, dangers, fears, all in one, die before 
men ; and, if their eyes were open, they might see the end of them. 

In this manner, therefore, doth the new, divine nature that is in 
believers dispose and incline them, impartially, evenly, and perma- 
nently, unto all acts and duties of holy obedience. 

One thing yet remains to be cleared, that there may be no mis- 
take in this matter; and this is, that in those who are thus constantly 
inclined and disposed unto all the acts of a heavenly, spiritual life, 
there are yet remaining contrary dispositions and inclinations also. 

There are ypt in them inclinations and dispositions to sin, pro- 
ceeding from the remainders of a contrary habitual principle. This 
the Scripture calls the "flesh," "lust," the "sin that dwelleth in us," 
the "body of death;" being what yet remaineth in believers of that 
vicious, corrupted depravation of our nature, which came upon us 
by the loss of the image of God, disposing the whole soul unto all 
that is evil. This yet continueth in them, inclining them unto evil 
and all that is so, according to the power and efficacy that is remain- 
ing unto it in various degrees. Sundry things are here observably ; 
as, — (1.) This is that which is singular in this life of God: There 
are in the same mind, will, and affections, namely, of a person regene- 
rate, contrary habits and inclinations, continually opposing one an- 
other, and acting adversely about the same objects and ends. And 
this is not from any jarrings or disorder between the distinct faculties 
of the soul itself, — as in natural men there are adverse actings be- 
tween their wills and affections on the one hand, bent unto sin, and 
the light of their minds and consciences on the other, prohibiting 
the committing of sin and condemning its commission, which dis- 
order is discernible in the light of nature, and is sufficiently can- 
vassed by the old philosophers, — but these contrary habits, inclina- 
tions, and actings, are in the same faculties. (2.) As this cannot be 
apprehended but by virtue of a previous conviction and acknow- 
ledgment both of the total corruption of our nature by the fall and 
the initial renovation of it by Jesus Christ, wherein these contrary 
habits and dispositions do consist ; so it cannot be denied without 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 4S9 

an open rejecting of the gospel, and contradiction to the experience 
of all that do believe or know any thing of Avhat it is to live to God. 
We intend no more hut what the apostle so plainly asserts, Gal. 
V. 17, "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against 
the flesh;" that is, in the mind, will, and affections of believers: 
"and these are contrary the one to the other;" they are contrary 
principles, attended with contrary inclinations and actings: "so that 
ye cannot do the things that ye would." (8.) There cannot be co?i- 
trary habits, merely natural or moral, in the same subject, with re- 
spect unto the same object, at the same time, at least they cannot 
be so in any high degree, so as to incline and act contrary one to 
another with urgency or efficacy: for violent inclinations unto sin, 
and a conscience fiercely condemning for sin, whereby sinners are 
sometimes torn and even distracted, are not contrary habits in the 
same subject ; only conscience brings in from without the judgment 
of God against what the will and affections are bent upon. 

But it is, as was said, otherwise in the contrary principles or habits 
of spirit and flesh, of grace and sin, with their adverse inclinations 
and actings ; only they cannot be in the highest degree at the same 
time, nor be actually prevalent or predominant in the same instances, 
— that is, sin and grace cannot bear rule in the same heart at the 
same time, so as that it should be equally under the conduct of them 
both. Nor can they have in the same soul contrary inclinations 
equally efficacious ; for then would they absolutely obstruct all sorts 
of operations whatever. Nor have they the same influence into par- 
ticular actions, so as that they should not be justly denominated from 
one of them, either gracious or sinful. But by nature the vicious, de- 
praved habit of sin, or the flesh, is wholly predominant and univer- 
sally prevalent, constantly disposing and inclining the soul to sin. 
Hence " all the imaginations of men's hearts are evil, and that con- 
tinually," and " they that are in the flesh cannot please God." There 
dwelleth no good thing in them, nor can they do any thing that is 
good; and the flesh is able generally to subdue the rebellions of light, 
convictions, and conscience, against it. But upon the introduction of • 
the new principle of grace and holiness in our sanctification, this habit 
of sin is weakened, impaired, and so disenabled as that it cannot nor 
shall incline unto sin with that constancy and prevalency as formerly, 
nor press unto it ordinarily with the same urgency and violence. 
Hence in the Scripture it is said to be dethroned by grace, so as that 
it shall not reign or lord it over us, by hurrying us into the pursuit 
of its uncontrollable inclinations, Rom. vi. 12. Concerning these 
things the reader may consult my treatises of the " Remainder of In- 
dwelling Sin," and the " Mortification of Sin in Believers."* 
1 See vol. vi. of his works. 



490 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [bOOK IY. 

But so it is that this flesh, this principle of sin, however it may be 
dethroned, corrected, impaired, and disabled, yet is it never wholly 
and absolutely dispossessed and cast out of the soul in this life. There 
it will remain, and there it will work, seduce, and tempt, more or less, 
according as its remaining strength and advantages are. By reason 
hereof, and the opposition that hence ariseth against it, the principle 
of grace and holiness cannot, nor doth perfectly and absolutely, in- 
cline the heart and soul unto the life of God and the acts thereof, so 
as that they in whom it is should be sensible of no opposition made 
thereunto, or of no contrary motions and inclinations unto sin; for 
the flesh will lust against the spirit, as well as the spirit against the 
flesh, and these are contrary. This is the analogy that is between 
these two states : In the state of nature, the principle of sin, or the 
flesh, is predominant and bears rule in the soul; but there is a light 
remaining in the mind, and a judgment in the conscience, which, 
being heightened with instructions and convictions, do continually 
oppose it, and condemn sin both before and after its commission. In 
them that are regenerate, it is the principle of grace and holiness that 
is predominant and beareth rule; but there is in them still a principle 
of lust and sin, which rebels against the rule of grace, much in the 
proportion that light and convictions rebel against the rule of sin in 
the unregenerate : for as they hinder men from doing many evils 
which their ruling principle of sin strongly inclines them unto, and 
put them on many duties that it likes not, so do these on the other 
side in them that are regenerate; they hinder them from doing many 
good things which their ruling principle inclines unto, and carry them 
into many evils which it doth abhor. 

But this belongs imto the principle of holiness inseparably and 
necessarily, that it inclineth and disposeth the soul wherein it is 
universally unto all acts of holy obedience. And these inclinations 
are predominant unto any other, and keep the soul pointed to holi- 
ness continually; this belongs unto its nature. And where there is 
a cessation or interruption in these inclinations, it is from the prevail- 
ing reaction of the principle of sin, it may be advantaged by outward 
temptations and incentives, which a holy soul will constantly con- 
tend against. Where this is not, there is no holiness. The perfor- 
mance of duties, whether of religious worship or of morality, how 
frequently, sedulously, and usefully soever, will denominate no man 
holy, unless his whole soul be disposed and possessed with prevalent 
inclinations unto all that is spiritually good, from the principle of the 
image of God renewed in him. Outward duties, of what sort soever, 
may be multiplied upon light and conviction, when they spring from 
no root of grace in the heart ; and that which so riseth up will quickly 
wither, Matt. xiii. 20, 21. And this free, genuine, unforced inclination 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 491 

of the mind and soul, evenly and universally, unto all that is spiritually 
good, unto all acts and duties of holiness, with an inward labourino- 
to break through and to be quit of all opposition, is the first fruit and 
most pregnant evidence of the renovation of our natures by the Holy 
Ghost. 

It may be inquired, whence it is (if the habit or inherent prin- 

I ciple of holiness do so constantly incline the soul unto all duties of 
holiness and obedience) that David prays that God would incline his 
heart unto his testimonies, Ps. cxix. 36; for it should seem from hence 

I to be a new act of grace that is required thereunto, and that it doth 
not spring from the habit mentioned, which was then eminent in the 
psalmist. 

1 Ans. 1. I shall show afterward that, notwithstanding all the power 
and efficacy of habitual grace, yet there is required a new act of the 
Holy Spirit by his grace unto its actual exercise in particular in- 
stances. 2. God inclines our hearts to duties and obedience princi- 
pally by strengthening, increasing, and exciting the grace we have 
received, and which is inherent in us ; but we neither have nor ever 
shall have, in this world, such a stock of spiritual strength as to 
do any thing as we ought without renewed co-operations of grace. 
S. There is power accompanying this habit of grace, as well as pro- 
pensity or inclination. It doth not merely dispose the soul to holy 
obedience, but enables it unto the acts and duties of it. Our living unto 
God, our walking in his ways and statutes, keeping his judgments, — 
which things express our whole actual obedience, — are the effects of 
the new heart that is given unto us, whereby we are enabled unto 
them, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. But this must be somewhat farther and 
distinctly declared; and, — (1.) I shall show that there is such a 
power of holy obedience in all that have the principle of holiness 
wrougiit in them by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, which is 
inseparable from it; and, (2.) Show what that p>ower is, or wherein 
it doth consist. 

That by nature we have no power unto or for any thing that 
is spiritually good, or to any acts or duties of evangelical holiness, 
hath been sufficiently proved before: "When we were yet without 
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly," Rom. v. 6. Until 
we are made partakers of the benefits of the death of Christ, in and 
by his sanctifying grace, as we are " ungodly," so we are " without 
strength," or have no power to live to God. But, as was said, this 
hath been formerly fully and largely confirmed, in our declaration 
of the impotency of our nature by reason of its death in sin, and so 
need not here to be farther insisted on. 

(1.) The present assertion which we are to prove is, That there is, 
in and by the grace of regeneration and sanctification, a poiver and 



492 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [ROOK IV. 

ability given unto tts of living unto God, or performing all the duties 
of acceptable obedience. This is the first act of that spiritual habit, 
arising out of it and inseparable from it. It is called " strength" or 
"power:" Isa. xl. 31, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
their strength;" that is, for and unto obedience, or walking with 
God without weariness. Strength they have, and in their walking 
with God it is renewed or increased. By the same grace are we 
"strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power of 
God," Col. i. 11; or, " strengthened with might by his Spirit in the 
inner man," Eph. iii. 16; whereby "we can do all things through 
Christ which strengtheneth us," Phil. iv. 13. In our calling or con- 
version to God, "all things are given unto" us by his "divine power" 
which " pertain unto life and godliness," 2 Pet. i. 3, — every thing that 
is needful to enable us unto a holy life. The habit and principle of 
grace that is wrought in believers gives them new power and spiri- 
tual strength unto all duties of obedience. The water of the Spirit 
therein is not only a "well of water" abiding in them, but it 
"springeth up into everlasting life," John iv. 14, or enables us con- 
tinually to such gracious actings as have a tendency thereunto. There 
is a sufficiency in the grace of God bestowed on them that believe, 
to enable them unto the obedience required of them, — so God told 
our apostle, when he was ready to faint under his temptation, that 
"his grace was sufficient for him," 2 Cor. xii. 9, — or there is a power in 
all that are sanctified, whereby they are able to yield all holy obe- 
dience unto God. They are alive unto God, alive to righteousness 
and holiness. They have a principle of spiritual life; and where 
there is life, there is power in its kind and for its end. Whence 
there is in our sanctification not only a principle or inherent habit 
of grace bestowed on us, whereby we really and habitually, as to 
state and condition, differ from all unregenerate persons whatever, 
but there belongs moreover thereunto an active power, or an ability 
for and unto spiritual, holy obedience; which none are partakers of 
but those who are so sanctified. And unto this power there is a re- 
spect in all the commands or precepts of obedience that belong to 
the new covenant. The commands of each covenant respect the 
power given in and by it. Whatever God required or doth require 
of any, by virtue of the old covenant or the precepts thereof, it was 
on the account of and proportionate unto the strength given under 
and by that covenant. And that we have lost that strength by the 
entrance of sin exempts us not from the authority of the command; 
and thence it is that we are righteously obliged to do what we have 
no power to perform. So also the command of God under the new 
covenant, as to all that obedience which he requireth of us, respects 
that power which is given and communicated unto us thereby; and 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVEES. 493 

this is that power which belongs unto the new creature, the habit 
and principle of grace and holiness, which, as we have proved, is 
wrought by the Holy Ghost in all believers, 

(2.) We may, therefore, inquire into the nature of this spiritual 
power, what it is, and wherein it doth consist. Now, this cannot be 
i clearly understood without a due consideration of that impotency 
unto all spiritual good which is in us by nature, which it cures and 
i takes away. This we have before at large declared, and thither the 
reader is referred. When we know what it is to be without power 
or strength in spiritual things, we may thence learn what it is to 
have them. To this purpose we may consider that there are three 
things or faculties in our souls which are the subject of all power or 
impotency in spiritual things,— namely, our understandings, wills, 
and affections. That our spiritual impotency ariseth from their de- 
pravation hath been proved before; and what power we have for 
holy, spiritual obedience, it must consist in some especial ability, 
communicated distinctly unto all these faculties. And our inquiry 
therefore is, what is this power in the mind, what in the will, and 
what in the affections. And, — 

[1.] This power in the mind consists in a spiritual light and 
ahility to discern spiritual things in a spiritual manner; which men 
in the state of nature are utterly devoid of, 1 Cor. ii. 13, 14. The 
Holy Spirit, in the first communication of the principle of spiritual 
life and holiness, " shines in our hearts, to give us the knowledge 
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 6 ; yea, 
this strengthening of the mind by saving illumination is the mqst 
eminent act of our sanctification. Without this there is a veil with 
fear and bondage upon us, [so] that we cannot see in spiritual things. 
But " where the Spirit of the Lord is," where he comes with his 
sanctifying grace, "there is liberty;" and thereby "we all, with open 
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into 
the same image from glory to glory," 2 Cor. iii. 17, 18. See Eph. i. 
17, 18. 

Wherefore, all sanctified believers have an ability and power, in 
the renewed mind and understanding, to see, know, discern, and re- 
ceive, spiritual things, the mysteries of the gospel, the mind of Christ, 
in a due and spiritual manner. It is true, they have not all of them 
this power and ability in the same degree ; but every one of them 
hath a sufficiency of it, so as to discern what concerns themselves and 
their duties necessarily. Some of them seem, indeed, to be very low 
in knowledge, and, in comparison of others, very ignorant ; for there 
are different degrees in these things, Eph. iv. 7. And some of them 
are kept in that condition by their own negligence and sloth; they 
do not use as they ought nor impiove those means of growing in 



494 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ which God prescribes 
unto them; as Heb. vi. 1-6. But every one who is truly sanc- 
tified, and who thereby hath received the least degree of saving 
grace, hath light enough to understand the spiritual things of the 
gospel in a spiritual manner. When the mysteries of the gospel are 
preached unto believers, some of them may be so declared as that 
those of meaner capacities and abilities may not be able to compre- 
hend aright the doctrine of them, — which yet is necessary to be so 
proposed, for the edification of those who are more grown in know- 
ledge, — nevertheless there is not any, the meanest of them, but hath 
a spiritual insight into the things themselves intended, so far as 
they are necessary unto their faith and obedience in the condition 
wherein they are. This the Scripture gives such abundant testi- 
mony unto as to render it unquestionable ; for " we have received the 
Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely 
given to us of God," 1 Cor. ii. 1 2. By virtue of what we have re- 
ceived, we know or discern spiritual things; so we "know the mind of 
Christ," verse 16. This is the substance of that double testimony, 
1 John ii. 20, 27. This abiding unction is no other but that habi- 
tual inherent grace which we plead for; and by it, as it is a holy light 
in our mind, Ave "know all things," it is the understanding that is given 
us to "know him that is true," chap. v. 20. Only it is their duty con- 
tinually to endeavour the improvement and enlargement of the light 
they have, in the daily exercise of the spiritual power they have re- 
ceived, and in the use of means, Heb. v. 14. 

[2.] This power in the will consists in its liberty, freedom, and 
ability to consent unto, choose, and embrace, spiritual things. Be- 
lievers have free will unto that which is spiritually good ; for they 
are freed from that bondage and slavery unto sin which they were 
under in the state of nature. Whatever some dispute concerning the 
nature of free-will, that it consists in an indifferency unto good or 
evil, one thing or another, with a power of applying itself unto all 
its operations, whatever their objects be, as the Scripture knoweth 
nothing of it, so it is that which we cannot have ; and if we could, it 
would be no advantage at all unto us, yea, we had much better be 
without it Have it, indeed, we cannot; for a supposition of it in- 
cludes a rejection of all our dependence on God, making all the 
springs of our actions to be absolutely and formally in ourselves. 
Neither, considering the prejudices, temptations, and corruptions 
that we are possessed and exercised with, would such a flexibility of 
will be of any use or advantage unto us, but would rather certainly 
give us up to the power of sm and Satan. All that the Scrip- 
ture knows about free-will is, that in the state of nature, antecedent 
wato the converting, sanctifying work of the Spirit, all men what- 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVEES. 495 

ever are in bondage unto sin, and that in all the faculties of their souls. 
They are " sold under sin;" are " not subject unto the law of God 
neither indeed can be;" — can neither think, nor will, nor do, nor de- 
sire, nor love any thing that is spiritually good, according to the mind 
of God. But as unto what is evil, perverse, unclean, that they are free 
and open unto, — ready for, prone, and inclined, and every way able 
to do. On the other side, in those who are renewed by the Holy 
Ghost and sanctified, it acknowledgeth and teacheth a freedom of 
will, not in an indifferency and flexibility unto good and evil, but in 
a power and ability to like, love, choose, and cleave unto God and 
his will in all things. The will is now freed from its bondage unto 
sin, and, being enlarged by light and love, willeth and choosetli freely 
the tilings of God, having received spiritual power and ability so to 
do. It is the truth, — that is, faith in the gospel, the doctrine of the 
truth, — which is the means of this freedom; the " truth that makes 
us free," John viii. 82. And it is the Son of God by his Spirit 
who is the principal efficient cause of it: for " if the Son make us 
free, then are we free indeed," verse S6; and otherwise we are not, 
whatever we pretend. And this freedom unto spiritual good we 
have not of ourselves in the state of nature ; for if we have, then are 
we free indeed, and there would be no need that the Son should 
make us free. 

The difference, therefore, about free-will is reduced unto these 
heads: — 1st. Whether there be a power in man indifferently to de- 
termine himself his choice and all his actings, to this or that, good 
or evil, one thing or another, independently of the will, power, and 
providence of God, and his disposal of all future events? This, in- 
deed, we deny, as that which is inconsistent with the prescience, 
authority, decrees, and dominion of God, and as that which would 
prove certainly ruinous and destructive to ourselves, ^dly. Whether 
there be in men unregenerate, not renewed by the Holy Ghost, a 
freedom, power, and ability unto that which is spiritually good, or 
to believe and obey according to the mind and will of God? This 
also we deny, as that which is contrary to innumerable testimonies 
of Scripture, and absolutely destructive of the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, ^dly. Whether the freedom of will that is in be- 
lievers do consist in an indifferency and freedom from any determi- 
nation only, with a power equally ready for good or evil, according 
as the will shall determine itself? or whether it consist in a gracious 
freedom and ability to choose, will, and do that which is spiritually 
good, in opposition to the bondage and slavery unto sin wherein we 
were before detained? This last is that liberty and power of the 
will which we assert, with the Scripture, in persons that are sancti- 
fied. And a liberty this is every way consistent with all the ope- 



496 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [eOOK IY. 

rat Ions of God, as the sovereign first cause of all things ; every way 
compliant with and an effect of the special grace of God, and the 
operations of the Holy Ghost; a liberty whereby our obedience 
and salvation are secured, in answer to the promises of the cove- 
nant. And who that understands himself would change this real, 
useful, gracious free-will, given by Jesus Christ the Son of God, 
when he makes us free, and an effect of God's writing his law in 
our hearts, to cause us to walk in his statutes, — that property of 
the new heart whereby it is able to consent unto, choose, and em- 
brace freely, the things of God, — for that fictitious, imaginary free- 
dom, yea, for (if it were real) an indifferency unto all things, and 
an equal power unto every thing, whether it be good or evil? I 
say, thgn, that by the habit of grace and holiness infused. into us 
by the Spirit of sanctification, the will is freed, enlarged, and en- 
abled to answer the commands of God for obedience, according to 
the tenor of the new covenant. This is that freedom, this is that 
power of the will, which the Scripture reveals and regards and which 
by all the promises and precepts of it we are obliged to use and 
exercise, and no other. 

[3.] The affections, which naturally are the principal servants 
and instruments of sin, are hereby engaged unto God, Deut. 
XXX. 6. 

And from what hath been thus far discoursed, the sense of our 
former assertion is evident, as also the nature of the principle of 
holiness insisted on. The Holy Ghost in our sanctification doth work, 
effect, and create in us a new, holy, spiritual, vital principle of grace, 
residing in all the faculties of our souls, according as their especial 
nature is capable thereof, after the manner of a permanent and preva- 
lent habit, which he cherish eth,.preserveth, increaseth, and strength- 
eneth continually, by effectual supplies of grace from Jesus Christ, 
disposing, inclining, and enabling the whole soul unto all ways, acts, 
and duties of holiness, whereby we live to God, opposing, resisting, 
and finally conquering, whatever is opposite and contrary thereunto. 
This belongs essentially unto evangelical holiness, yea, herein doth 
the nature of it formally and radically consist. This is that from 
whence believers are denominated holy, and without which none are 
so, nor can be so called. 

The properties of this power are readiness and facility/. Wherever 
it is, it renders the soul ready unto all duties of holy obedience, and 
renders all duties of holy obedience easy unto the soul. 

(1.) It gives readiness by removing and taking away all those 
encumbrances which the mind is apt to be clogged with and hindered 
by from sin, the world, spiritual sloth, and unbelief. This is that 
which we are exhorted unto in a way of duty, Heb. xil 1 ; Luke 



CI TAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS, 407 

xii. 35 ; 1 Pet, i. 13, iv. 1 ; Epli. vi, 14, Herein is tlie spirit ready, though 
the flesh be weak, Mark xiv, 38. And those encumbrances which o-ive 
an unreadiness unto obedience to God may be considered two ways: 
— [1.] As they are in their full povjer and efficacy in persons unre- 
generate, whence they are " unto every good work reprobate," Tit. 
i. 1 6. Hence proceed all those prevalent tergiversations against a 
compliance with the will of God and their own convictions which bear 
sway in such persons, " Yet a little slumber, a little sleep, a little 
folding of the hands to sleep," Pro v. vi. 10. By these do men so 
often put off the calls of God, and perniciously procrastinate from 
time to time a full compliance with their convictions. And whatever 
particular duties such persons do perform, yet are their hearts and 
blinds never prepared or ready for them, but the encumbrances men- 
jpioned do influence them into spiritual disorders in all that they do. 
[2.] These principles of slotfo and unreadiness do ofttimes partially 
influence the minds of believers themselves unto great indispositions 
unto spiritual duties. So the spouse states her case, Cant, v, 2, 3. 
By reason of her circumstances in the world, she had an unreadiness 
for that converse and communion with Christ which she was called 
unto. And it is so not unfrequently with the best of men in this 
w^orld, A spiritual unreadiness unto holy duties, arising from the 
power of sloth or the occasions of life, is no small part of their sin 
ind trouble. Both these are removed by this spiritual power of the 
principle of life and holiness in believers. The total prevailing power 
Df them, such as is in persons unregenerate, is broken by the first 
infusion of it into the soul, wherein it gives an habitual fitness and 
reparation of heart unto all duties of obedience unto God. And 
y various degrees it freeth believers from the remainders of the 
ncumbrances which they have yet to conflict with. And this it doth 
hree ways; as, — 1st. It weakeneth and taketh off the bent of the 
loul from earthly things, so as they shall not possess the mind as 
brmerly, Col, iii. 2. How it doth this was declared before. And when 
this is done, the mind is greatly eased of its burden, and some way 
ready unto its duty. 2dly. It gives an insight into the beauty, 
the excellency, and glory of holiness, and all duties of obedience. 
'This they see nothing of who, being unsanctified, are under the power 
of their natural darkness. They can see no beauty in holiness, no 
form nor comeliness why it should be desired; and it is no wonder if 
they are unfree to the duties of it, which they are but as it were 
compelled unto. But the spiritual light wherewith this principle of 
grace is accompanied discovers an excellency in holiness and the 
duties of it, and in the communion with God which we have thereby, 
so as greatly to incline the mind unto them and prepare it for them. 
Sdly. It causeth the affections to cleave and adhere unto theia 
VOL. IIL 32 



498 THE POSITIVE WOEK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV, 

with deligbt. " How do I love thy law!" saith David; " my delight 
is in thy statutes ; they are sweeter unto me than the honey-comb." 
Where these three things concur, — where the mind is freed from the 
powerful influences of carnal lusts and love of this world ; where the 
heauty and excellency of holiness and the duties of obedience lie 
clear in the eyes of the soul; and where the affections cleave unto 
spiritual things as commanded, — then will be that readiness in obe- 
dience which we inquire after. 

(2.) It gives facility or easiness in the perfonnance of all duties 
of obedience. Whatever men do from a habit, they do with some 
kind of easiness. That is easy to them which they are accustomed 
unto, though hard and difficult in itself. And what is done from 
nature is done with facility. And the principle of grace, as we have 
showed, is a new nature, an infused habit with respect unto the life 
of God, or all duties of holy obedience. I grant there will be op- 
position unto them even in the mind and heart itself, from sin, and 
Satan, and temptations of all sorts; yea, and they may sometimes 
arise so high as either to defeat our purposes and intentions unto 
duties, or to clog us in them, to take off our chariot- wheels, and to 
make us drive heavily; but still it is in the nature of the principle 
of hohness to make the whole course of obedience and all the duties 
of it easy unto us, and to give us a facility in their performance : « i 
for- I 

[1.] It introduceth a suitableness between our minds and the 
duties we are to perform. By it is the law written in our hearts; 
that is, there is an answerableness in them unto all that the law of 
God requires. In the state of nature, the great things of the law of 
God are a strange thing unto us, Hos. viii. 1 2 ; there is an enmity in 
our minds against them, Rom. viii. 7; there is no suitableness be- 
tween our minds and them ; — but this is taken away by the principle 
of grace. Thereby do the mind and duty answer one another, as the 
eye and a lightsome body. Hence the " commands of Christ are not 
grievous" unto them in whom it is, 1 John v. 8. They do not appear 
to contain any thing uncouth, unreasonable, burdensome, or any way 
unsuited to that new nature whereby the soul is influenced and acted. 
Hence " all the ways of wisdom are" unto believers, as they are in 
themselves, " pleasantness, and all her paths are peace," Prov. iii. 17. 

The great notion of some in these days is about the suitableness 
of Christian religion unto reason; and to make good their asser- 
tion in the principal mysteries of it, because reason will not come to 
them, they bring them by violence unto their reason. But it is with 
respect unto this renewed principle that there is a suitableness in 
any of the things of God unto our minds and affections. 

[2.] It keeps up the heart or whole person unto a frequency of 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 4.99 

all holy acts and duties; and frequency gives facility in every kind. 
; It puts the soul upon reiterated actings of faith and love, or renewed 
'■ holy thoughts and meditations. It is a spring that is continually 
I bubbling up in them, on the frequent repetition of the daily duties 
of prayer, reading, holy discourse; as on closing with all opportunities 
I and occasions of mercy, benignity, charity, and bounty amongst men. 
! Hereby is the heart so accustomed unto the yoke of the Lord, and 
made so conversant in his ways, that it is natural and easy to it to 
bear the^ and to be engaged in them. And it will be found by 
experience that the more intermissions of duties of any sort we fall 
under, the more difficulty we shall find in the performance of them. 
[3.] It engageth the assistance of Christ and his Spirit. It is 
the divine nature, the new creature, which the Lord Christ careth 
for; in and by its actings in all duties of obedience doth its life con- 
sist; therein, also, is it strengthened and improved. For this cause 
doth the Lord Christ continually come in by the supplies of his 
Spirit unto its assistance. And when the strength of Christ is en- 
gaged, then and there is his yoke easy and his burden light. 

Some, perhaps, will say that they find not this facility or easiness 
in the course of obedience and in the duties of it. They meet with 
secret unwillingnesses in themselves, and great oppositions on other 
accounts ; whence they are apt to be faint and weary, yea, are almost 
ready to give over. It is hard to them to pray continually, and not 
to faint ; to stand in their watch night and day against the inroads of 
their spiritual adversaries; to keep themselves from the insinuations 
of the world, and up unto those sacrifices of charity and bounty that . 
are so well-pleasing to God. Many weights and burdens are upon 
them in their course, many difficulties press them, and they are ready 
to be beset round about every moment. Wherefore they think that 
the principle of grace and holiness doth not give the facility and 
easiness mentioned, or that they were never made partakers of it. 

I answer, — 1st. Let these persons examine themselves, and duly 
consider whence those obstructions and difficulties they complain of 
do arise. If they are from the inward inclinations of their souls, 
and unwillingness to bear the yoke of Christ, only they are kept up 
unto it by their convictions, which they cannot cast off", then is their 
condition to be bewailed. But 'if themselves are sensible and con- 
vinced that they arise from principles which, as far as they are 
within them, they hate and abhor, and long to be freed from, and, as 
they are from without, are such as they look on as enemies unto 
them, and do watch against them, then what they complain of is no 
more but what, in one degree or other, all that believe have experience 
of And if their impediments do arise from what they know them- 
selves to be opposite unto them, and [to] that principle whereby they 



500 THE POSITIVE WOEK OF THE SPIRIT [dOOK IV. 

are acted, then, notwithstanding this objection, it may be in the na- 
ture of the principle of holiness to give facility in all the duties of it. 

'2.dly. Let inquiry be made whether they have been constant and 
assiduous in the performance of all those duties which they now 
complain that they find so much difficulty in. The principle of 
grace and holiness gives facility in all duties of obedience, but in the 
proper way and order. It first gives constancy and assiduity, and 
then easiness. If men comply not with its guidance and inclination 
in the former, it is in vain for them to expect the latter. If we are 
not constant in all acts of obedience, none of them will ever be easy 
unto us. Let not those who can omit proper and due seasons of me- 
ditation, prayer, hearing, charity, moderation in all things, patience, 
meekness, and the like, at their pleasure, on the least occasions, ex- 
cuses, or diversions, ever think or hope to have the ways of obedience 
smooth, its paths pleasant, or its duties easy. Let him never think 
to attain any readiness, delight, or facility in any art or science, who 
is always beginning at it, touching upon it sometimes. As this is the 
way in all sorts of things, natural and spiritual, to be always learning, 
and never to come to the knowledge of the truth ; so, in the practice 
of hol}^ obedience, if men are, as it weie, always beginning, one while 
performing, another intermitting the duties of it, fearing or being 
unwilling to engage into a constant, equal, assiduous discharge of 
them, they will be always striving, but never come unto any readi- 
ness or facility in them. 

Zdly. The difficulty and burdensomeness complamed of may pro- 
ceed from the interposition of perplexing temptations, which weary, 
disquiet, and distract the mind. This may be, and frequently 
is so ; and yet our assertion is not impeached. We only say, that set 
aside extraordinary occasions and sinful neglects, this principle of 
grace and holiness doth give that suitableness to the mind unto all 
duties of obedience, that constancy in them, that love unto them, as 
make them both easy and pleasant. 

By these things we may inquire after the habit or principle of 
holiness in our own minds, that we be not deceived by any thing 
that falsely pretendeth thereunto; as, — 

First, Let us take heed that we deceive not ourselves, as though it 
would suffice unto gospel holiness that w-e have occasionally good 
purposes of leaving sin and living unto God, then when something 
urgeth upon us more than ordinary, with the effects which such pur- 
poses will produce. Afflictions, sicknesses, troubles, sense of great 
guilt, fear of death, and the like, do usually produce this frame; and 
although it is most remote from any pretence unto evangelical obedi- 
ence, yet I could not but give a caution against it, because it is that 
■whereby the generality of men in the world do delude themselves 



I 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 501 

into eternal ruin. It is rare to find any tliat are so stubbornly pro- 
fligate, but at one time or another they project and design, yea 
promise and engage unto, a change of their course and amendment 
of their lives, doing sundry things, it may be, in the pursuit of those 
designs and purposes; for they will thereon abstain from their old 
sins, with whose haunt they are much perplexed, and betake them- 
selves unto the performance of those duties from whence they expect 
most relief unto their consciences, and whose neglect doth most re- 
flect upon them. Especially will they do so when the hand of God 
is upon them in afflictions and dangers, Ps. Ixxviii. 34-37. And this 
produceth in them that kind of goodness which God says " is like 
the morning cloud or the early dew," — things that make a fair ap- 
pearance of something, but immediately vanish away, Hos. vi. 4. 
Certainly there need not much pains to convince any man how un- 
speakably this comes short of that evangelical holiness which is a 
fruit of the sanctification of the Spirit. It hath neither the root of 
it nor any fruit that doth so much as resemble it. But it is to be 
lamented that such multitudes of rational creatures, living under the 
means of light and grace, should so vaiidy and wofully delude their 
own souls. That which they aim at and intend is, to have that in 
them whereby they may be accepted with God. Now, not to insist 
on what will absolutely frustrate all the designs of such persons, — 
namely, their want of faith in Christ, and an interest in his righteous- 
ness thereby, which they are regardless of, — all that they project and 
design is as far beneath that holiness which God requireth of them, 
and which they think hereby to obtain, as the earth is beneath the 
heavens. All that they do in this kind is utterly lost; it will never 
be either a righteousness unto them or a holiness in them. But this 
deceit is frequently rebuked. God only by his grace can remove and 
take it away from the minds of men. 

Secondly, And we may learn hence not to be imposed on by gifts, 
though never so useful, with a plausible profession thereon. These 
things go a great way in the world, and many deceive both them- 
selves and others by them. Gifts are from the Holy Ghost in an 
especial manner, and therefore greatly to be esteemed. They are 
also frequently useful in and unto the church; for " the manifestation 
of the Spirit is given unto men to profit withal." And they put men 
on such duties as have a great show and appearance of holiness. By 
the help of them alone may men pray, and preach, and maintain 
spiritual communication among them with whom they do converse. 
And as circumstances may be ordered, they put sundry persons on a 
frequent performance of these duties, and so keep them up to an 
eminency in profession. But yet, when all is done, they are not 
holiness ; nor are the duties performed in the strength of them alone 



502 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIEIT [bOOK IV. 

duties of evatigelical obedience, accepted of God in them by whom 
they are performed; and they may be where there is nothing of hoh- 
ness at all. They are, indeed, not only consistent with holiness, but 
subservient unto it, and exceeding promoters of it, in souls that are 
really gracious; but they may be alone, without grace, and then are 
they apt to deceive the mind with a pretence of being and doing what 
they are not nor do. Let them be called to an account by the na- 
ture and properties of that habit and principle of grace which is in 
all true holiness, as before explained, and it will quickly appear how 
short they come thereof: for as their subject, where they have their 
residence, is the mind only, and not the will or affections, any farther 
but as they are influenced or restrained by light, so they do not renew 
or change the mind itself, so as to transform it into the image of 
God; neither do they give the soul a general inclination unto all 
acts and duties of obedience, but only a readiness for that duty which 
their exercise doth peculiarly consist in. Wherefore they answer no 
one property of true holiness ; and we have not seldom seen discoveries 
made thereof. 

Least of all can morality, or a course of moral duties, when it is 
alone, maintain any pretence hereunto. We have had attempts to 
prove that there is no specifical difference between common and 
saving grace, but that they are both of the same kind, differing only 
in degrees. But some, as though this ground Avere already gained, 
and needed no more contending about, do add, without any consider- 
ation of these " petty distinctions of common and saving grace," that 
^'morality is grace and grace is morality, and nothing else." To be 
a gracious, holy man, according to the gospel, and to be a moral man, 
is all one with them ; and as yet it is not declared whether there be 
any difference between evangelical holiness and philosophical mora- 
lity. Wherefore I shall proceed to the fourth thing proposed, — 

4. And this is farther to prove that this habit or gracious prin- 
ciple of holiness is specifically distinct from all other habits of the 
mind whatever, whether intellectual or moral, connate or acquired, 
as also from all that common grace and the effects of it whereof any 
persons not really sanctified may be made partakers. 

The truth of this assertion is, indeed, sufficiently evident from the 
description we have given of this spiritual habit, its nature and pro- 
perties; but whereas there are also other respects giving farther 
confirmation of the same truth, I shall call over the most important 
of them, after some few things have been premised: as, — 

(1.) A habit, of what sort soever it be, qualifies the subject wherein 
it is, so that it may be denominated from it, and makes the actions- 
proceeding from it to be suited unto it or to be of the same nature 
\\i\h it. As Aristotle says, " Virtue is a habit which maketh him 



I CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVEES. 503 

i 

that hath it good or virtuous, and his actions good." Now, all moral 
liabits are seated in the will. Intellectual habits are not imme- 
diately effective of good or evil, but as the will is influenced by 
them. These habits do incline, dispose, and enable the will to act ac- 
cording to their nature. And in all the acts of our wills, and so all 
external works which proceed from them, two things are considered : 
— first, The act itself, or the work done; and, secondly. The end for 
which it is done. And both these things are respected by the habit 
itself, though not immediately, yet by virtue of its acts. It is, more- 
over, necessary and natural that every act of the will, every work of 
a man, be for a certain end. Two things, therefore, are to be con- 
sidered in all our obedience: — first, The duty itself we do; and, 
secondly, The end for which we do it. If any habit, therefore, do not 
incline and dispose the will unto the proper end of duty, as well as 
unto the duty itself, it is not of that kind from whence true gospel 
obedience doth proceed ; for the end of every act of gospel obedience, 
— which is the glory of God in Jesus Christ, — is essential unto it. 
Let us, then, take all the habits of moral virtue, and we shall find 
that however they may incline and dispose the will unto such acts of 
virtue as materially are duties of obedience, yet they do it not with 
respect unto this end. If it be said that such moral habits do so 
incline the will unto duties of obedience with respect unto this end, 
then is there no need of the grace of Jesus Christ or the gospel to 
enable men to live unto God according to the tenor of the covenant 
of grace ; which some seem to aim' at. 

(2.) Whereas it is the end that gives all our duties their special 
nature, this is twofold: — 

[1.] The next; and, [2.] The ultimate; — or it is particular or 
universal. And these may be different in the same action. As a 
man may give alms to the poor, his next particular end may be to 
relieve and cherish them; this end is good, and so far the work or 
duty itself is good also. But the ultimate and general end of this 
action may be self, merit, reputation, praise, compensation for sin 
committed, and not the glory of God in Christ ; which vitiates the 
whole. Now, moral habits, acquired by endeavours answerable unto 
our light and convictions, or the dictates of enlightened reason, with 
resolutions and perseverance, may incline and dispose the will unto 
actions and works that for the substance of them are duties, and are 
capable of having particular ends that are good ; but a want of respect 
unto the general end allows them not to be any part of gospel obe- 
dience. And this is applicable unto all moral habits and duties what- 
ever. But the difference asserted is farther manifested, — 

(1.) From the especial fountain and spring of holiness, which 
constitutes its nature of another kind than any common grace or 



504j the positive work of the spirit [book IV. 

morality can pretend unto; and this is electing love, or God's purpose 
of election : Eph. i. 4, " He hath chosen us in Christ before the foun- 
dation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before 
him in love." God chooseth us from eternity that Ave should be 
holy ; that is, with a design and purpose to make us so. He sets 
some men apart in his eternal purpose, as those unto whom he will 
communicate holiness. It is, therefore, an especial work of God, in 
the pursuit of an especial and eternal purpose. This gives it its 
especial nature, and makes it, as was said, of another kind than any 
effect of common grace whatever. That is holiness which God works 
in men by his Spirit because he hath chosen them, and nothing else 
is so ; for he " chooseth us unto salvation through sanctification of 
the Spirit," 2 Thess. ii. 13. Salvation is the end that God aimeth 
at in his choosing of us, in subordination unto his own glory ; which 
is, and must be, the ultimate end of all his purposes and decrees, or 
of all the free acts of his wisdom and love. The means which he 
hath ordained whereby we shall be brought unto this salvation, so 
designed in his eternal purpose, is the " sanctification of the Spirit." 
Gospel holiness, therefore, is the effect of that sanctification of the 
Spirit, which God hath designed as the especial way and means on 
their part of bringing the elect unto salvation ; and his choosing of 
them is the cause and reason why he doth so sanctify them by his 
Spirit. And where our sanctification is comprised under our voca- 
tion, because therein and thereby we are sanctified, by the sanc- 
tifying principle of holiness communicated unto us, it is not only 
reckoned as an effect and consequent of our predestination, but is so 
conjoined thereunto as to declare that none others are partakers of 
it but those that are predestinate, Rom. viii. 29, 30. 

And this consideration is of itself suflScient to evince that this holi- 
ness whereof we treat differs essentially from all other ha])its of the 
mind and actions proceeding from them, as having an especial nature 
of its own. Whatever there may l)e in any men ol virtue and piety, 
or whatever their endeavours may be, in ways of honesty and duty 
towards God and men, if the power and principle of it in them be 
not a fruit of electing love, of the Spirit of sanctification, given of 
God for this certain end, that we may attain the salvation whereunto 
we are chosen, it belongeth not unto this holiness. Wherefore, the 
apostle Peter, giving us in charge to use " all diligence," whereby we 
may make " our calling and election sure,"' — that is, unto our souls, 
and in our own minds, — prescribes as the means of it the exercise and 
increase of those graces which are its proper effects, 2 Pet. i. 5-7, 10. 
And the reason why we see so many glorious professions of faith 
and obedience utterly to fail as we do, is because the faith so pro- 
fessed was not "the faith of God's elect," Tit. i. 1; and the obedi- 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. .f^Oo 

ence of it was not the fruit of that Spirit of sanctification which God 
gives to man to make his purpose of election infallibly effectual, that 
so the " purpose of God which is according to election might stand," 
Rom. ix. 11, and "the election," or those elected, might obtain the 
grace and glory designed for them, chap. xi. 5, 7. And it is an evi- 
dence of much spiritual sloth in us, or that which is worse, namely, 
that our graces and obedience are not genuine and of the true hea- 
venly race, if we endeavour not to satisfy ourselves that they are real 
effects of electing love. 

If any one shall inquire, how we may know whether the graces of 
holiness, which we hope are in us, and the duties that proceed from 
them, are fruits and effects of election, seeing such only are genuine 
and durable, I answer, it may be done three ways: — 

[1 .] By their growth and increase. This in ordinary cases, setting 
aside the seasons of prevalent temptations and desertions, is the best 
evidence hereof. Waters that proceed from a living fountain increase 
in their progress, because of the continual supplies which they have 
from their spring, when those which have only occasional beginnings, 
from showers of rain or the like, do continually decay until they are 
dried up. The graces that come from this eternal spring have con- 
tinual supplies from it, so that, if they meet with no violent obstruc- 
tions (as they may do sometimes for a season), they do constantly in- 
crease and thrive. And, therefore, no man can secure his spiritual 
comforts one moment under a sensible decay of grace; for such a 
decay is a very sufficient reason why he should call the truth of all 
his grace into question. Where the Spirit of sanctification is, as 
given in pursuit of the purpose of election, it is " a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life," John iv. 14. The quietness and 
satisfaction of professors under a decay of grace is a soul-ruining secu- 
rity, and hath nothing in it of spiritual peace. 

[2.] We may discern it when we are 7nuch stirred up unto dili- 
gent acting and exercise of grace, out of a sense of that electing love 
from whence all grace doth proceed. It is the nature of that grace 
that is the fruit of election greatly to affect the heart and mind 
with a sense of the love that is therein : so the apostle says expressly 
that one grace exciteth and stirreth up another, from a sense of the 
love of God, which sets them all on work, Rom. v. 2-5. So God is 
said to "draw us with loving-kindness," because "he hath loved us 
with an everlasting love," Jer. xxxi. 3 ; that is, he gives us such a 
sense of his everlasting love as thereby to draw us after him in faith 
and obedience. Those principles of duties in us which are excited 
only by fear, awe, hope, and the jealous observances of an awakened 
conscience, will scarce at any time evince this heavenly extract unto 
a spiritual understandmg. That grace which proceeds from especial 



506 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK TV. 

love will carry along with it a holy quickening sense of it, and 
thereby be excited unto its due exercise. And we do what we can 
to famish and starve our graces, when we do not endeavour their 
supplies by faith on that spring of divine love from whence they 
proceed. 

[3.] Seeing we are chosen in Christ, and predestinated to be 
like unto him, those graces of holiness have the most evident and 
legible characters of electing love upon them which are most effec- 
tual in working us unto a conformity to him. That grace is cer- 
tainly from an eternal spring which makes us like unto Jesus Christ. 
Of this sort are meekness, humility, self-denial, contempt of the 
world, readiness to pass by wrongs, to forgive enemies, to love and 
do good unto all ; which indeed are despised by the most, and duly 
regarded but by few. But I return. 

(2.) The especial procuring cause of this holiness is the me- 
diation of Christ. We are not, in this matter, concerned in any 
thing, let men call it what they please, virtue, or godliness, or holi- 
ness, that hath not an especial relation unto the Lord Christ and 
his mediation. Evangelical holiness is purchased for us by him, 
according to the tenor of the everlasting covenant, is promised unto 
us on his account, actually impetrated for us by his intercession, and 
communicated unto us by his Spirit. And hereby we do not only 
cast off all the moral virtues of the heathens from having the least 
concernment herein, but all the principles and duties of persons pro- 
fessing Christianity, who are not really and actually implanted into 
Christ, for he it is who "of God is made unto us sanctification," 
1 Cor. i. SO ; and this he is on several accounts, the heads whereof 
may be called over: — 

[1.] He is made unto us of God sanctification with respect unto 
his sacerdotal office, because we are purified, purged, washed, and 
cleansed from our sins by his blood, in the oblation of it, and the 
application of it unto our souls, as hath been at large declared, Epli. 
v. 25-27; Tit. ii. 14; 1 John i. 7; Heb. ix. 14. All that we have 
taught before concerning the purification of our minds and con- 
sciences by the blood of Christ is peculiar unto gospel holiness, and 
distinguisheth it essentially from all common grace or moral virtues. 
And they do but deceive themselves Avho rest in a multitude of 
duties, it may be animated much with zeal, and set off with a pro- 
fession of the most rigid mortification, whose hearts and consciences 
are not thus piirged by the blood of Christ. 

[2.] Because he prevails for the actual sanctification of our 
natures, in the commuydcation of holiness unto us, by his interces- 
sion. His prayer, John xvii. 1 7, is the blessed spring of our holi- 
ness: "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." There 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVEES. -507 

is not any thing of this grace wrought in us, bestowed on us, com- 
municated unto us, preserved in us, but what is so in answer unto 
and compliance with the intercession of Christ. From his prayer 
for us is hoHness begun in us: "Sanctify them," saith he, "by thy 
truth." Thence it is kept alive and preserved in us: "I have," 
saith he to Peter, "prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.'* And 
through his Intercession are we saved to the uttermost. Nothing 
belongs to this holiness but what, in the actual communication of it, 
is a peculiar fruit of Christ's intercession; what is not so, what men 
may be made partakers of upon any more general account, belongs 
not thereunto. And if we really design holiness, or intend to be 
holy, it is our duty constantly to improve the intercession of Christ 
for the increase of it ; and this we may do by especial applications 
to him for that purpose. So the apostles prayed him to "increase 
their faith," Luke xvii. 5; and we may do so for the increase of our 
holiness. But the nature of this application unto Christ for the in- 
crease of holiness, by virtue of his intercession, is duly to be consi- 
dered. We are not to pray unto him that he would intercede for 
us that we may be sanctified ; for as he needs not our minding for 
the discharge of his office, so he intercedes not orally in heaven at 
all, and always doth so virtually, by his appearance in the presence 
of God, with the virtue of his oblation or sacrifice. But whereas the 
Lord Christ gives out no supplies of grace unto us but what he re- 
ceiveth from the Father for that end by virtue of his intercession, we 
apply ourselves unto him under that consideration, — namely, as he 
who, upon his intercession with God for us, hath all stores of grace 
to give us supplies from. 

[;3.] He is so, because the rule and measure of holiness unto us, 
the instrument of working it in us, is his word and doctrine, which 
he taught the church as the great prophet of it: "The law was given 
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." The inbred 
dictates of the light and law of nature, in their greatest purity, are 
not the rule or measure of this holiness; much less are those rules 
and maxims which men deduce, partly right and partly wrong, from 
them of any such use. Nor is the written law itself so. It is the 
rule of original holiness, but not the adequate rule of that holiness 
whereunto we are restored by Christ. Neither are both these in con- 
junction, — the dictates of nature and the law written, — the instru- 
ments of working holiness in us. But it is the doctrine of the gospel 
which is the adequate rule and immediate instrument of it. My 
meaning is, that the word, the gospel, the doctrine of Christ, in the 
preceptive part of it, is so the rule of all our obedience and holiness 
as that all which it requireth belongeth thereunto, and nothing else 
but what it requireth doth so; and the formal reason of our holiness 



503 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [bOOK IV. 

consists in conformity thereunto, under this consideration, that it is 
the word and doctrine of Christ. Nothing belongeth unto hohness 
materially but what the gospel requireth ; and nothing is so in us 
formally but what we do because the gospel requireth it. And it is 
the instrument of it, because God maketh use of it alone as an exter- 
nal means for the communicating of it unto us, or the ingenerating 
of it in us. PrincijDles of natural light, with the guidance of an 
awakened conscience, do direct unto, and exact the performance of, 
many material duties of obedience; the written law requireth of us 
all duties of original obedience ; and God doth use these things vari- 
ously for the preparing of our souls unto a right receiving of the 
gospel : but there are some graces, some duties, belonging unto 
evangelical holiness, which the law knows nothing of; such are the 
mortification of sin, godly sorrow, daily cleansing of our hearts and 
minds; — not to mention the more sublime and spiritual acts of com- 
munion with God* by Christ, with all that faith and love which are 
required in us towards him; for although these things may be con- 
tained in the law radically, as it requires universal obedience unto 
God, yet are they not so formally. And it is not used as the means 
to beget faith and holiness in us; this is the effect of the gospel 
only. Hence it is said to be "the power of God unto salvation," 
Rom. i. 16, or that whereby God puts forth the greatness of his 
power unto that purpose; — "the word of his grace, which is able to 
build us up, and to give us an inheritance among all them which are 
sanctified," Acts xx. 32. It is that by whose preaching faith cometh, 
Rom. X. 1 7 ; and by the hearing whereof we receive the Spirit, Gal. 
iii. 2. It is that whereby we are begotten in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor, 
iv. 15; James i. 18; 1 Pet. i 23-25. And all that is required of 
us, in the way of external obedience, is but that our conversation be 
such as becometh the gospel. 

And this is a proper touchstone for our holiness, to try whether it 
be genuine, and of the right kind or no. If it be, it is nothing but 
the seed of the gospel quickened in our hearts, and bearing fruit in 
our lives. It is the delivery up of our souls into the mould of the 
doctrine of it, so as that our minds and the word should answer one 
another, as face doth unto face in water. And we may know whe- 
ther it be so with us or no two ways; for, — 1st. If it be so, none 
of the commands of the gospel will be grievous unto us, but easy 
and pleasant. A prmciple suited unto them all, inclining unto them 
all, connatural unto them, as proceeding from them, being implanted 
in our minds and hearts, it renders the commands themselves so 
suited unto us, so useful, and the matter of them so desirable, that 
obedience is made pleasant thereby. Hence is that satisfaction of 
mind, with rest and joy, which believers have in gospel duties, yea, 



CHAP. VT.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVEES. 509 

the most difficult of them; with that trouble and sorrow which 
ensue upon their neglect, omission, or their being deprived of oppor- 
tunities for them. But in the strictest course of duties that pro- 
ceedeth from any other principle, the precepts of the gospel, or at 
least some of them, on account of their spirituality or simplicity, are 
either esteemed grievous or despised. 2dly. None of the truths of the 
gospel will seem strange unto us. This makes up the evidence of a 
genuine principle of gospel holiness, when the commands of it are 
not grievous, nor the truths of it strange or uncouth. The mind so 
prepared receives every truth, as the eye doth every increase of light, 
naturally and pleasantly, until it come unto its proper measure. 
. There is a measure of light which is suited unto our visive faculty ; 
what exceeds it dazzles and amazes, rather than enlightens, but 
every degree of light which tends unto it is connatural and pleasant 
to the eye. So is it with the sanctified mind and spiritual truth. 
There is a measure of light issuing from spiritual truths that our 
minds are capable of: what is beyond this measure belongs to glory, 
and the gazing after it will rather dazzle than enlighten us; and such 
is the issue of overstrained speculations when the mind endeavours an 
excess as to its measure. But all light from truth which tends to the 
filling up of that" measure is pleasant and natural to the sanctified 
mind. It sees wisdom, glory, beauty, and usefulness, in the most 
spiritual, sublime, and mysterious truths that are revealed in and by 
the word, labouring more and more to comprehend them, because of 
their excellency. For want hereof, we knoAV how the truths of the 
gospel are by many despised, reproached, scorned, as those which are 
no less foolishness unto them to be believed than the precepts of it 
are grievous to be obeyed. 

[4.] He is so as he is the exemplary cause of our holiness. The 
design of God in working grace and holiness in us is, that " we may 
be conformed unto the image of his Son, that he may be the first- 
born among many brethren," Rom. viii. 29 ; and our design in the 
attaining of it is, first that we may be like him, and then that we may 
express or " show forth the virtues of him who hath called us out of 
darkness into his marvellous light," unto his glory and honour, 1 Pet. ii. 
9. To this end is he proposed, in the purity of his natures, the holiness 
of his person, the glory of his graces, the innocency and usefulness 
of his conversation in the world, as the great idea and exemj^lar, 
which in all things we ought to conform ourselves unto. And as 
the nature of evangelical holiness consists herein, — namely, in a uni- 
versal conformity unto him as he is the image of the invisible God, 
— so the proposal of his example unto us is an effectual means of in- 
generating and increasing it in us. 

It is by all confessed that examples are most efiectual ways of 



510 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

instruction, and, if seasonably proposed, do secretly solicit the 
mind unto imitation, and almost unavoidably incline it thereunto. 
But when unto this power which examples have naturally and 
morally to instruct and affect our minds, things are peculiarly 
designed and instituted of God to be our examples, he requiring 
of us that from them we should learn both what to do and what 
to avoid, their force and efficacy is increased. This the apostle 
instructs us in at large, 1 Cor. x. 6-11. Now, both these concur 
in the example of holiness that is given us in the person of Christ ; 
for, — 

\st. He is not only in himself, morally considered, the most per- 
fect, absolute, glorious pattern of all grace, holiness, virtue, obedi- 
ence, to be chosen and preferred above all others, but he only is so ; 
there is no other complete example of it. As for those examples of 
heroical virtue or stoical apathy which are boasted of among the 
heathens, it were an easy matter to find such flaws and tumours in 
them as would render them not only uncomely, but deformed and 
monstrous. And in the lives of the best of the saints there is de- 
clared what we ought expressly to avoid, as well as what we ought 
to follow ; and in some things we are left at a loss whether it be safe 
to conform unto them or no, seeing we are to be followers of none 
any farther than they were so of Jesus Christ, and wherein they 
were so ; neither, in what they were or did, were they absolutely our 
rule and example in itself, but only so far as therein they were con- 
formable unto Christ: and the best of their graces, the highest of 
their attainments, and the most perfect of their duties, have their 
spots and imperfections; so that although they should have exceeded 
v>rhat we can attain unto, and are therefore meet to be proposed unto 
our imitation, yet do they come short of what we aim at, which is to 
be holy as God is holy. But in this our great exemplar, as there 
was never the least shadow of variableness from the perfection of 
holiness (for " he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth," 
yea, "in him was light, and no darkness at all"), so were all his 
graces, all his actings of them, all his duties, so absolute and com- 
plete, as that we ought to aim no higher, nor to propose any other 
pattern unto ourselves. And who is it that, aiming at any excel- 
lency, would not design the most absolute and perfect example ? This, 
therefore, is to be found as unto holiness in Christ, and in him alone. 
And, '2.dly. He is appointed of God for this purpose. One end 
why God sent his Son to take our nature upon him, and to converse 
in the world therein, was, that he might set us an example in our 
own nature, in one who was like unto us in all things, sin only ex- 
cepied, of that renovation of his image in us, of that return unto him 
&om sin and apostasy, of that holy obedience which he requireth of 



CHAP. VI ] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 511 

US. Such an example was needful, that we might never be at a loss 
about the will of God in his commands, having a glorious represen- 
tation of it before our eyes ; and this could be given us no otherwise 
but in our own nature. The angelical nature was not suited to set 
us an example of holiness and obedience, especially as to the exercise 
of such graces as we principally stand in need of in this world ; for 
what examples could angels set unto us in themselves of patience in 
afflictions, of quietness in sufferings, seeing their nature is incapable 
of such things? Neither could we have had an example that was 
perfect and complete in our own nature, but only in one who was 
" holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." To this end, 
therefore, among others, did God send his own Son to take our na- 
ture on him, and therein to represent unto us the perfect idea of that 
holiness and obedience which he requireth of us. It is evident, 
therefore, that these two considerations of an instructive example, 
that it hath a moral aptitude to incite the mind unto imitation, and 
that it is instituted of God unto that purpose, are both found emi- 
nently in this of Christ. 

But there is yet more in this matter: for, — \st. As God hath ap- 
pointed the consideration of Christ as an especial ordinance unto the 
increase of holiness in us, so his holy obedience, as proposed unto us, 
hath a peculiar efficacy unto that purpose beyond all other instituted 
examples; for, — (\st) We are often called to behold Christ, and to 
look upon him, or it is promised that we shall do so, Isa. xlv. 22; 
Zech. xii. 10. Now, this beholding of Christ, or looking on him, is 
the consideration of him by faith unto the ends for which he is ex- 
hibited, proposed, and set forth of God in the gospel and promises 
thereof. This, therefore, is an especial ordinance of God, and is by 
his Spirit made effectual. And these ends are two: — [1st] Justifi- 
cation; [2c?/2/.] Salvation, or deliverance from sin and punishment. 
" Look unto me," saith he, " and be ye saved." This was he on the 
cross, and is still so in the preaching of the gospel, wherein he is 
" evidently crucified before our eyes," Gal. iii. 1, lifted up as the 
brazen serpent in the wilderness, John iii. 14, 15, that we, looking 
on him by faith, as " bearing our sins in his own body on the tree," 
1 Pet. ii. 24, and "receiving the atonement" made thereby, Rom. v. 
11, may through faith in him be justified from all our suis, and saved 
from the wrath to come. But this we intend not ; for, {idly) He is 
of God proposed unto us in the gospel as the great pattern and ex- 
emplar of holiness, so as that, by God's appointment, our beholding 
and looking on him, in the way mentioned, is a meians of the increase 
and growth of it in us. So our apostle declares, 2 Cor. iii. IS, 
" We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the 



512 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

Spirit of the Lord," That which is proposed unto ns is, the "glory 
of God," or the " glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ/' chap, 
iv. 6 ; that is, God gloriously manifesting himself in the person 
of Christ. This are we said to "behold with open face." The 
veil of types and shadows being taken off and removed, faith doth 
now clearly and distinctly view and consider Jesus Christ as he is 
represented unto us in the glass of the gospel; that is, the evidences 
of the presence of God in him and with him, in his work, purity, and 
holiness. And the effect hereof is, that we are, through the opera- 
tion of the Spirit of God, " changed into the same image," or made 
holy, and therein like unto him. 

^dly. There \s, peculiar force and efficacy, by the way of motive, in 
the example of Christ, to incline us unto the imitation of him, that 
is not to be found in any other example, on any occasion whatever; 
because, {\st) Whatever is proposed unto us, in what he was or what 
he did, as our pattern and example, he was it, and did it, not for his 
own sake, but out of free and mere love unto us. That pure nature 
of his, which we ought to be labouring after a conformity unto, 
1 John iii. 3, and which he will at length bring us unto, Phil. iiL 21, 
he took it upon him, by an infinite condescension, merely out of 
love unto us, Heb. ii. 14, 15;" Phil. ii. 5-8. And all the actings of 
grace in him, all the duties of obedience which he performed, all that 
glorious compliance with the will of God in his sufierings which he 
manifested, proceed all from his love unto us, John xvii. 19; Gal. 
ii. 20. These things being in themselves truly honourable and ex- 
cellent, yea, being only so, the holiness and obedience which God 
requireth of us consisting in them, and being by the appointment of 
God proposed unto our imitation in the example of Jesus Christ, how 
must it needs influence and prevail on gracious souls to endeavour a 
conformity unto him therein, to be as he was, to do as he did, seeing 
he was what he was, and did what he did, merely out of love unto 
us, and for no other end ! And, {^dly.) Every thing which we are to 
imitate in Christ is other ways also beneficial unto us; for we are, in 
its place and way, even saved thereby. By his obedience we are made 
righteous, Rom. v. 19. There is no grace nor duty of Christ which 
he did perform, but we have the advantage and benefit of it. And 
this increaseth the efficacy of his example ; for who would not strive 
to obtain those things in himself, of whose being in Christ he hath 
so great advantage? 

In this regard also, therefore, is the Lord Christ made sanctifica- 
tion unto us, and is the cause of evangelical holiness in us; and 
certainly we are, the most of us, much to blame that we do not more 
abound in the use of this means unto the end mentioned. Did we 
abide more constantly in the beholding or contemplation of the per- 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVEP.S. 51 3 

son of Christ, of the glory and beauty of his hohness, as the pattern 
and great example proposed unto us, we should be more transformed 
into his image and likeness. But it is so fallen out that many who 
are called Christians delight to be talking of, and do much admire, 
the virtuous sayings and actions of the heathen, and are ready to 
make them the object of their imitation, whilst they have no 
thoughts of the grace that was in our Lord Jesus Christ, nor do en- 
deavour after conformity thereunto; and the reason is, because the 
virtue which they seek after and desire is of the same kind with 
that which was in the heathen, and not that grace and holiness 
which was in Christ Jesus. And thence also it is that some, who, 
not out of love unto it, but to decry other important mysteries of the 
gospel thereby, do place all Christianity in the imitation of Christ, 
do yet indeed in their practice despise those qualities and duties 
wherein he principally manifested the glory of his grace. His meek- 
ness, patience, self-denial, quietness in bearing reproaches, contempt 
of the world, zeal for the glory of God, compassion to the souls of 
men, condescension to the weaknesses of all, they regard not. But 
there is no greater evidence that whatever we seem to have of any 
thing that is good in us is no part of evangelical holiness, than that 
it doth not render us conformable to Christ. 

And we should always consider how we ought to act faith on 
Christ with respect unto this end. Let none be guilty practically 
of what some are falsely charged withal as to doctrine; — let none 
divide in the work of faith, and exercise themselves but in the one 
half of it. To believe in Christ for redemption, for justification, for 
sanctification, is but one half of the duty of faith; — it respects Christ 
only as he died and suffered for us, as he made atonement for our 
sins, peace with God, and reconciliation for us, as his righteousness 
is imputed unto us unto justification. Unto these ends, indeed, is he 
firstly and principally proposed unto us in the gospel, and with respect 
unto them are we exhorted to receive him and to believe in him ; 
but this is not all that is required of us. Christ in the gospel is pro- 
posed unto us as our pattern and example of holiness; and as it is 
a cursed imagination that this was the whole end of his life and 
death, — namely, to exemplify and confirm the doctrine of holiness 
which he taught, — so to neglect his so being our example, in consider- 
ing him by faith to that end, and labouring after conformity lio him,, 
is evil and pernicious. Wherefore let us be much in the contem- 
plation of what he was, what he did, how in all instances of duties 
and trials he carried himself, until an image or idea of his perfect 
holiness is implanted in our minds, and we are made like unto him 
thereby. 

[5.] That which principally differenceth evangelical holiness, 
VOL. III. 33 



614 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [cOOK TV. 

With respect unto the Lord Christ, from all natural or moral ha- 
bits or duties, and whereby he is made sanctification unto us, is, 
that from him, his person as our head, the principle of spiritual life 
and holiness in believers is derived; and by virtue of their union 
with him, real supplies of spiritual strength and grace, whereby their 
holiness is preserved, maintained, and increased, are constantly com- 
municated unto them. On the stating and proof hereof the whole 
difference about grace and morality doth depend and will issue : for 
if that which men call morality be so derived from the Lord Christ 
by virtue of our union with him, it is evangelical grace; if it be not, 
it is either nothing or somewhat of another nature and kind, for 
grace it is not, nor holiness neither. And all that I have to prove 
herein is, that the Lord Jesus Christ is a head of influence, the 
spring or fountain of spiritual life, unto his church, — wherein I know 
myself to have the consent of the church of God in all ages; and 
I shall confine the proof of my assertion unto the ensuing positions, 
with their confirmation : — 

\st. Whatever grace God promiseth unto any, bestoweth on 
them, or worketh in them, it is all so bestowed and wrought in, by, 
and through Jesus Christ, as the mediator or middle person between 
God and them. This the very notion and nature of his office of 
mediator, and his interposition therein between God and us, doth 
require. To affirm that any good thing, any grace, any virtue, is 
given unto us, or bestov/ed on us, or wrought in us by God, and not 
immediately through Christ; or that we believe in God, yield obedi- 
ence unto him, or praise with glory, not directly by Christ, — is utterly 
to overthrow his mediation. Moses, indeed, is called a mediator 
between God and the people. Gal. iii. 19, as he was an internuntius^ 
a messenger to declare the mind of God to them, and to return their 
answers unto God ; but to limit the mediatory work of Christ unto 
such an interposition only is to leave him but one office, that of a 
prophet, and to destroy the principal uses and effects of his media- 
tion towards the church. In like manner, because Moses is called 
}.vrpuTfji, a saviour or redeemer. Acts vii. 35, metaphorically, with 
respect unto his use and employment in that mighty work of the 
deliverance of the people out of Egypt, some will not allow that the 
Lord Christ is a redeemer in any other sense, subverting the whole 
gospel, with the faith and souls of men. But, in particular, what 
there is of this nature in the mediation of Christ, in his being the 
middle person between God and us, may be declared in the ensuing 
assertions : — 

(1st.) God himself is the absolute in^mte fountain, the supreme 
efficient cause, of all grace and holiness; for he alone is originally 
and essentially holy, as he only is good, and so the first cause of 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 515 

holiness and goodness to others. Hence he is called " The God of 
all grace," 1 Pet. v. 10; the author, iDossessor, and Lestower of it. 
" He hath life in himself," and quickeneth whom he pleasqjth, John 
V. 26 ; " With him is the fountain of life," Ps. xxxvi. 9 ; as hath been 
declared before. This, I suppose, needs no farther confirmation with 
them who really acknowledge any such thing as grace and holiness. 
These things, if any, are among those "perfect gifts" which are "from 
above," coming down " from the Father of lights, witli whom is no 
variableness neither shadow of turning," James i. 1 7. 

, (2dly.) God from his own fulness communicates unto his crea- 
tures, either by the way of nature or by the way of grace. In our first 
creation God implanted his image on us, in uprightness and holiness, 
in and by the making or creation of our nature; and had we con- 
tinued in that state, the same image of God should have been com- 
municated by natural propagation. But since the fall and entrance 
of sin, God no more communicates holiness unto any by way of 
nature or natural propagation: for if he did so, there would be no 
necessity that every one who is born must be born again before he 
enter into the kingdom of God, a,s our Saviour affirmeth there is, 
John iiL 3, for he might have grace and holiness from his first 
nativity; nor could it be said of believers that they are "born not 
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 
God," chap. i. 13, for grace might be propagated unto them by those 
natural means. It was the old Pelagian figment, that what we have 
by nature we have by grace, because God is the author of nature. 
So he was as it was pure, but it is our own as it is corrupt; and 
what we have thereby we have of ourselves, in contradiction to the 
grace of God. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh;" and we 
have nothing else by natural propagation. 

(Zdly.) God communicates nothing in a way of grace unto any but iu 
and by the person of Christ, as the mediator and head of the church, 
John i. 18. In the old creation, all things were made by the eternal 
Word, the person of the Son, as the Wisdom of God, John i. 3; Col. 
i. 16. There was no immediate emanation of divine power from the 
person of the Father; for the production of all or any created beings, 
but in and by the person of the Son, their wisdom and power being 
one and the same as acted in him. And the supportation of all 
things in the course of divine providence is his immediate work also, 
whence he is said to "uphold all things by the word of his power," 
Heb. i. 3. And so it is in the new creation with respect unto his 
person as mediator. Therein was he the " image of the invisible 
God, the first-bom of every creature, having the pre-eminence in all 
things; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist, 
Col. I 15, 17, 18. In the raising of the whole new creation, which 



516 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIEIT [BOOK IV. 

is by a new spiritual life and holiness communicated unto all the 
parts of it, the work is carried on immediately by the person of 
Christ the mediator; and none hath any share therein but what is 
received and derived from him. This is plainly asserted, Eph, ii. 10. 
So the apostle disposeth of this matter: '* The head of every man is 
Christ, and the head of Christ is God," 1 Cor. xi. 3; which is so in 
respect of influence as well as of rule. As God doth not immediately 
govern the church, but in and by the person of Christ, whom he hath 
given to be head over all things thereunto, so neither doth he ad- 
minister any grace or holiness unto any but in the same order; for 
" the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God." 

(ithly.) God doth work real, effectual, sanctifying grace, spiritual 
strength and holiness, in believers, yea, that grace whereby they are 
enabled to believe and are made holy, and doth really sanctify them 
more and more, that they may be preserved " blameless to the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ." This hath been so fully confirmed in the 
whole of what hath been discoursed both concerning regeneration 
and sanctification as that it inust not be here again insisted on. 

Wherefore, all this grace, according unto the former assertion, is 
communicated unto us through and by Christ, and no otherwise. 

2dly. Whatever is wrought in believers by the Spirit of Christ, 
it is in thdr union to the person of Christ, and by virtue thereof. 
That the Holy Spirit is the immediate efficient cause of all grace 
and holiness I have sufficiently proved already, unto them to whom 
any thing in this kind will be sufficient. Now, the end why the 
Holy Spirit is sent, and consequently of all that he doth as he is so 
sent, is to glorify Christ; and this he doth by receiving from Christ, 
and communicating thereof unto others, John xvi. 13-15. And 
there are two works of this kind which he hath to do and doth effect: 
— first. To unite us to Christ; and, secondly. To communicate all 
grace unto us from Christ, by virtue of that union. 

(1st.) By him are we united unto Christ; — that is, his person, and 
not a light within us, as some think ; nor the doctrine of the gospel, 
as others with an equal folly seem to imagine. It is by the doctrine 
and grace of the gospel that we are united, but it is the person of 
Christ whereunto we are united ; for " he that is joined unto the 
Lord is one Spirit," 1 Cor. vi. 17, because by that one Spirit he 
is joined unto him; for "by one Spirit we are all baptized into 
one body," chap. xii. 13, — implanted into the body, and united unto 
the head. And therefore, " if we have not the Spirit of Christ, we 
are none of his," Rom. viii. 9. We are therefore his, — that is, united 
unto him, — by a participation of his Spirit. And hereby Christ him- 
self is in us; for "Jesus Christ is in us, except we be reprobates," 
2 Cor. xiii. 5 ; — that is, he is in us " by his Spirit that dwelleth in 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 61? 

us/' Rom. viii. 9, 11; 1 Cor. vi. 19. It may therefore be inquired, 
whether we receive the Spirit of the gospel from the persoa of 
Christ or no? And this is the inquiry which nothing but the ex- 
treme ignorance or impudence of some could render seasonable or 
tolerable, seeing formerly no Christian ever doubted of it, nor is he 
so now who doth disbelieve it. It is true, we receive him by the 
" preaching of the gospel," Gal. iil 2; but it is no less true that we 
receive him immediately from the person of Christ. For no other 
reason is he called so frequently "The Spirit of Christ;" that is, the 
Spirit which he gives, sends, bestows, or communicates. He receives 
of the Father the " proinise of the Holy Ghost," and sheddeth him 
forth. Acts ii. 33. 

But it may be said, " That if hereby we are united unto Christ, — 
namely, by his Spirit, — then we must be holy and obedient before we 
so receive him, wherein our union doth consist; for certainly Christ 
doth not unite ungodly and impure sinners unto himself, which 
would be the greatest dishonour unto him imaginable. We must, 
therefore, be holy, obedient, and like unto Christ, before we can be 
united unto him, and so, consequently, before we receive his Spirit, 
if thereby we are united to him." 

Ans. 1. If this be so, then indeed are we not beholden in the least 
unto the Spirit of Christ that we are holy, and obedient, and like to 
Christ ; for he that hath the Spirit of Christ is united unto him, and 
he who is united to him hath his Spirit, and none else. Whatever, 
therefore is in any man of holiness, righteousness, or obedience, 
antecedent unto union with Christ, is no especial effect of his Spirit 
Wherefore in this case we must purify ourselves without any appli- 
cation of the blood of Christ unto our souls, and we must sanctify 
ourselves without any especial work of the Spirit of God on our 
nature. Let them that can, satisfy themselves with these things. 
For my part, I have no esteem or valuation of that holiness, as holi- 
ness, which is not the immediate effect of the Spirit of sanctification 
in us. 

2. It is granted that ordinarily the Lord Christ, by the dispensa- 
tion of his word, by light and convictions thence ensuing, doth pre- 
pare the souls of men in some measure for the inhabitation of his 
Spirit. The way and manner hereof hath been fully before declared. 

3. It is denied that, on this supposition, the Lord Christ doth iinite 
impure or ungodly sinners unto himself, so as that they should be 
so united, and continue impure and ungodly : for in the same instant 
wherein any one is united unto Christ, and by the same act whereby 
he is so united, he is really and habitually purified and sanctified,' 
for where the Spirit of God is, there is libefty, and purity, and holi- 
ness. All acts and duties of holiness are in order of nature conse- 



518 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

quential hereunto, but the person is quickened, purified, and sancti- 
fied in its union. 

Whereas, therefore, the Spirit of Christ, communicated from him 
for our union with him, is the cause and author of all grace and 
evangeHcal hohness in us, it is evident that we receive it directly 
from Christ himself; which gives it the difference from all other 
habits and acts pleaded for. 

{2dl7/.) The second work of the Spirit is, to communicate all grace 
unto us from Christ by virtue of that union. I shall take it for grant- 
ed, until all that hath been before discoursed about the work of the 
Holy Spirit in our regeneration and sanctification be disproved, that 
he is the author of all grace and holiness; and when that is disproved, 
we may part with our Bibles also, as books which do openly and 
palpably mislead us. And what he so works in us, he doth it in 
pursuit of his first communication unto us, whereby we are united 
unto Christ, even for the edification, preservation, and farther sanc- 
tification of the mystical body, making every member of it meet for 
the " inheritance of the saints in light." And in those supplies of 
grace which he so gives, acted by us in all duties of obedience, con- 
sists all the holiness which I desire any acquaintance withal or a 
participation of 

(Sdly.) There is a mystical, spiritual body, whereof Christ is the 
head, and his church are the members of it. There is, therefore, a union 
between them in things spiritual, like unto that which is between the 
head and members of the body of a man in things natural. And this 
the Scripture, because of the weight and importance of it, with its 
singular use unto the faith of believers, doth frequently express. " God 
hath given him to be the head over all things to the church, which 
is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all," Eph. i. 22, 23. 
" For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the mem- 
bers of that body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ," 1 Cor. 
xii. 12. " Christ is the head, from whom the whole body fitly joined 
together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according 
to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase 
of the body unto the edifying of itself in love," Eph. iv. 1 5, 1 6. And 
the same apostle speaks again to the same purpose, Col. ii. 19, " Not 
holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands hav- 
ing nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the 
increase of God." Now, it hath been always granted by all them who 
acknowledge the divine person of the Son of God, or the union of 
the human nature unto the divine in his person, that the Lord Jesus 
is the head of his church, in the double sense of that word; for he 
is the political head of it in a way of rule and government, and he is 
the really spiritual head, as unto vital influences of grace, unto all his 



I 

I CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFI CATION OF BELIEVERS. 519 

members. The Romanists, indeed, cast some disturbance on the 
former, by interposing another immediate, ruling, governing head, 
between him and the cathoHc church; yet do they not deny but that 
the Lord Christ, in his own person, is the absolute, supreme king, 
head, and ruler of the church. And the latter the Socinians cannot 
grant; for denying his divine person, it is impossible to conceive how 
the human nature, subsisting alone by itself, should be such an 
immense fountain of grace as from whence there should be an ema- 
nation of it into all the members of the mystical body. But by all 
other Christians this hath hitherto been acknowledged ; and, there- 
fore, there is nothing belongs unto gospel grace or holiness but what 
is originally derived from the person of Christ, as he is the head of 
the church. And this is most evidently expressed in the places 
before alleged; for, 1 Cor. xii. 12, it is plainly affirmed that it is 
between Christ and the church as it is between the head and the 
members of the same natural body. Now, not only the whole body 
hath guidance and direction in the disposal of itself from the head, 
but every member in particular hath influences of life actually and 
strength from thence, without which it can neither act, nor move, nor 
discharge its place or duty in the body. " So also is Christ," saith 
the apostle. Not only hath the whole mystical body of the church 
guidance and direction from him, in his laws, rules, doctrine, and 
precepts, but spiritual life and motion also ; and so hath every mem- 
ber thereof, — they all receive from him grace for holiness and obe- 
dience, without which they would be but withered and dead mem- 
bers in the body. But he hath told us that " because he liveth we 
shall live also," John xiv. 19: for the Father having given him to 
have "life in himself," chap. v. 26, whereon "he quickeneth" with 
spiritual life " whom he will," verse 21, from that fountain of spiri- 
tual life which is in him supplies of the same life are given unto 
the church; and, therefore, because he liveth we live also, — that 
is, a spiritual life here, without which we shall never live eter- 
nally hereafter. And, Eph. iv. 15, 16, the relation of believers unto 
Christ being stated exactly to answer the relation and union of the 
members of the body unto the head, it is expressly affirmed that 
as in the natural body there are supplies of nourishment and natural 
spirits communicated from the head unto the members, by the sub- 
serviency of all the parts of the body, designed unto that purpose, to 
the growth and increase of the whole in every part: so from Christ, 
the head of the church, which he is in his divine person as God and 
man, there is a supply of spiritual life, strength, and nourishment, 
made unto every member of the body, unto its increase, growth, and 
edification ; for " we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his 
bones," chap. v. SO, being made out of him as Eve was out of Adam, 



520 THE rOSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

yet so continuing in liim as to have all our supplies from him ; " we 
in him, and he in us," as he speaks, John xiv. 20. And, Col. ii. 19, 
it is expressly affirmed that from him, the head, there is nourishment 
ministered unto the body, unto its increase with the increase of God. 
And what this spiritual nourishment, supplied unto the souls of be- 
lievers for their increase and growth from Christ their head, can be, 
but the emanation from his person and communication with them 
of that grace which is the principle and spring of all holiness and 
duties of evangelical obedience, none has as yet undertaken to de- 
clare; and if any do deny it, they do what lies in them to destroy 
the life and overthrow the faith of the whole church of God. Yea, 
upon such a blasphemous imagination, that there could be an inter- 
cision for one moment of influences of spiritual life and grace from 
the person of Christ unto the church, the whole must be supposed to 
die and perish, and that eternally. 

(ithly.) The whole of what we assert is plainly and evidently pro- 
posed in sundry instructive allusions, which are made use of to this 
purpose. The principal of them is that both laid down and declared 
by our Saviour himself: John xv. 1, 4, 5, "I am the true vine, and 
my Father is the husbandman. Abide in me, and I in you. As the 
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ; no more 
can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, and ye are the 
branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth 
forth much fruit: for without me" (or, severed from me, apart from 
me) " ye can do nothing." The natural in-being of the vine and 
branches in each other is known unto all, with the reason of it; and 
so is the way whereby the in-being of the branches in the vine is the 
cause and means of their fruit-bearing. It is no otherwise but by the 
communication and derivation of that swcctts,— that is, juice and 
nourishment, — which alone is the preservative of vegetative life, and 
the next cause of fruit-bearing. In this juice and nourishment all 
fruit is virtually, yea, also, as to the first matter and substance of it ; 
in and by the branch it is only formed into its proper kind and per- 
fection. Let any thing be done to intercept this communication 
from the vine unto any branch, and it not only immediately loseth 
all its fniit-bearing power and virtue, but itself also withereth and 
dieth away. And there is a mutual acting of the vine and branches 
in this matter. Unto the vine itself it is natural from its own fulness 
to communicate nourishment unto the branches, — it doth it from the 
principle of its nature ; and unto the branches it is also natural to 
'Iiaw and derive their nourishment from the vine. " Thus is it," saith 
*he Lord Christ unto his disciples, " between me and you. ' I am the 
yme/" saith he, " 'and ye are the branches.' And there is a mutual 
in-being between us; I am in you, and ye are in me, by virtue of 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. .^21 

our union. That now which is expected from you is, that ye brint^ 
forth fruit ; that is, that ye live in hoHness and obedience, unto the 
glory of God. Unless ye do so ye are no true, real branches in 
me, whatever outward profession ye may make of your so beino-." 
But how shall this be effected? how shall they be able to brino- 
forth fruit? This can be no otherwise done but by their abiding in 
Christ, and thereby continually deriving spiritual nourishment, — 
that is, grace and supplies of holiness, — from him ; " for," saith he, 
;^wf /'s £,aou, " separate," or apart, " from me, ye can do nothing of 
this kind." And that is, because nothing becomes fruit in the branch 
that was not nourishment from the vine. Nothing is duty, nothing 
is obedience in believers, but what is grace from Christ communi- 
cated unto them. The preparation of all fructifying grace is in 
Christ, as the fruit of the branches is naturally in the vine. And the 
Lord Christ doth spiritually and voluntarily communicate of this 
grace unto all believers, as the vine communicates its juice unto the 
branches naturally; and it is in the new nature of believers to derive 
it from him by faith. This being done, it is in them turned into 
particular duties of holiness and obedience. Therefore, it is evident 
that there is nothing of evangelical holiness in any one person what- 
ever but what is, in the virtue, power, and grace of it, derived imme- 
diately from Jesus Christ, by virtue of relation unto him and union 
with him; and it may be inquired whether this be so with moral 
virtue or no. The same is taught by our apostle under the similitude 
of an olive-tree and its branches, Rom. xi. 16-24 ; as also where he is 
affirmed to be a living stone, and believers to be built on him, as 
lively stones, into a spiritual house, 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5. 

Particular testimonies do so abound in this case as that I shall 
only name some few of them: John i. 14, 16, He is " full of grace and 
truth. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." 
It is of the person of Christ, or the " Word made flesh," the Sun of 
God incarnate, that the Holy Ghost speaketh. He was made flesh, 
and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. It is not the fulness of 
the Deity, as it dwelt in him personally, that is here intended, but 
that which was in him as he was made flesh, — that is, in his human 
nature, as inseparably united unto the divine ; an all-fulness that he 
received by the good pleasure or voluntary disposal of the Father, 
Col. i. 19, and, therefore, belongeth not unto the essential fulness of 
the Godhead. And as to the nature of this fulness, it is said to con- 
sist in " grace and truth," — that is, the perfection of holiness,— and 
knowledge of the v/hole mind, counsel, and mystery of the will of God. 
Of this fulness do we "receive grace for go-ace,"— all the grace, in every 
kind, whereof we are made partakers in this world. That this fuhiess 
in Christ expresseth the inconceivable fulness of his human nature, 



622 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV. 

by virtue of his indissolute personal union, with all graces in their 
perfection, wherein he received not the Spirit by measure, John 
iii. 34, is, as I suppose, by all Christians acknowledged; I am sure 
cannot be denied without the highest impiety and blasphemy. 
Hence, therefore, the Holy Ghost being witness, do we derive and 
receive all our grace, every one according to his measure, Eph. iv. 7. 
Wherefore, grace is given unto the Lord Christ in an immeasurable 
perfection by virtue of his personal union, Col. ii. 9 ; and from him 
is it derived unto us by the gracious inhabitation of his Spirit in us, 
1 Cor. vi. 19, Eph. iv. 7, according unto the degree of participa- 
tion allotted unto us. This, in the substance of it, is contained in 
this testimony. There was and is in Jesus Christ a fulness and per- 
fection of all grace ; in us of ourselves, or by any thing that we have 
by nature or natural generation, by blood, or the flesh, or the will of 
man, John i. 13, there is none at all. Whatever we have is received 
and derived unto us from the fulness of Christ, which is an inex- 
haustible fountain thereof, by reason of his personal union. 

To the same purpose is he said to be " our life," and " our life to 
be hid with him in God," Col. iii. 3, 4. Life is the principle of all 
power and operation. And the life here intended is that whereby 
we live to God, the life of grace and holiness; for the actings of it 
consist in the setting of our affections on heavenly things, and mor- 
tifying our members that are on the earth. This life Christ is. He 
is not so formally ; for if he were, then it would not be our life, but 
his only. He is, therefore, so efficiently, as that he is the immediate 
cause and author of it, and that as he is now with God in glory. 
Hence it is said that we live, that is, this life of God, yet so as that we 
live not of ourselves, but " Christ liveth in us," Gal. ii. 20. And he 
doth no otherwise live in us but by the communication of vital prin- 
ciples and a power for vital acts ; that is, grace and holiness from 
himself unto us. If he be our life, we have nothing that belongs 
thereunto, — that is, nothing of grace or holiness, — but what is derived 
unto us from him. 

To conclude, we have all grace and holiness from Christ, or we 
have it of ourselves. The old Pelagian fiction, that we have them 
from Christ because we have them by yielding obedience unto his 
doctrine, makes ourselves the only spring and author of them, and, 
on that account [it was] very justly condemned by the church of old, 
not only as false, but as blasphemous. Whatever, therefore, is not 
thus derived, thus conveyed unto us, belongs not unto our sanctifica- 
tion or holiness, nor is of the same nature or kind with it. What- 
f?ver ability of mind or will may be supposed in us ; what application 
soever of means may be made for the exciting and exercise of that 
ability ; whatever effects, in virtues, duties, all offices of humanity, and 



CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 523 

honesty, or religious observances, may be produced thereby from 
them, and wrought by us, — if it be not all derived from Christ as the 
head and principle of spiritual life unto us, it is a thing of another 
nature than evangelical holiness. 

(S.) The immeiliate efficient caiise of all gospel holiness is the 
Spirit of God. This we have sufficiently proved already. And al- 
though many cavils have been raised against the manner of his 
operation herein, yet none has been so hardy as openly to deny 
that this is indeed his work; for so to do is, upon the matter, ex- 
pressly to renounce the gospel. Wherefore, we have in our foregoing 
iscourses at large vindicated the manner of his operations herein, 
nd proved that he doth not educe grace by moral applications unto 
the natural faculties of our mind.?, but that he creates grace in us by 
an immediate efficiency of almighty power. And what is so wrought 
and produced differeth essentially from any natural or moral habits 
of our minds, however acquired or improved. 

(4.) This evangelical holiness is a fruit and effect of the cove- 
nant of grace. The promises of the covenant unto this purpose we 
have before, on other occasions, insisted on. In them doth God de- 
clare that he will cleanse and purify our natures, that he will write 
his law in our hearts, put his fear in our inward parts, and cause us 
to walk in his statutes; in which things our holiness doth consist. 
Whoever, therefore, hath any thing of it, he doth receive it in the 
accomplishment of these promises of the covenant: for there are not 
two ways whereby men may become holy, one by the sanctification 
of the Spirit according to the promise of the covenant, and the other 
by their own endeavours without it; though indeed Cassianus, with 
some of the semi-Pelagians, dreamed somewhat to that purpose. 
Wherefore, that which is thus a fruit and effect of the promise of the 
covenant hath an especial nature of its own, distinct from whatever 
hath not that relation unto the same covenant. No man can ever 
be made partaker of any the least degree of that grace or holiness 
which is promised in the covenant, unless it be by virtue and as a 
fruit of that covenant; for if they might do so, then were the cove- 
nant of God of none effect, for what it seems to promise in a peculiar 
manner may, on this supposition, be attained without it, which ren- 
ders it an empty name. 

(5.) Herein consists the image of God, whereunto we are to be 
renewed. This I have proved before, and shall afterward have 
occasion to insist upon. Nothing less than the entire renovation of 
the image of God in our souls will constitute us evangehcally holy. 
No series of obediential actings, no observance of religious duties, no 
attendance unto actions amongst men as morally virtuous and useful, 
how exact soever they may be, or how constant soever we may be 



524 THE POSITIVE -U'ORK OF THE SriRIT [bOOK IV. 

unto tliem, will ever render us lovely or holy in the sight of God, un- 
less they all proceed from the renovation of the image of God in us, 
or that habitual principle of spiritual life and power which renders 
us conformable unto him. 

From what hath been thus briefly discoursed, we may take a pro- 
spect of that horrible mixture of ignorance and impudence wherewith 
some contend that the practice of moral virtue is all the holiness 
which is required of us in the gospel, neither understanding what: 
they say nor whereof they do affirm. But yet this they do with so 
great a confidence as to despise and scoff sA any thing else which 
is pleaded to belong thereunto. But this pretence, notwithstanding 
all the swelling words of vanity wherewith it is set off and vended, 
will easily be discovered to be weak and frivolous; for, — 

1. The name or expression itself is foreign to the Scripture, not 
once used by the Holy Ghost to denote that obedience which God 
requireth of us in and according to the covenant of grace. Nor is 
there any sense of it agreed upon by them who so magisterially im- 
pose" it on others: yea, there are many express contests about the 
signification of these words, and what it is that is intended by them, 
which those who contend about them are not ignorant of; and yet 
have they not endeavoured to reduce the sense they intend unto any 
expression used concerning the same matter in the gospel. But all 
men must needs submit unto it, that at least the main part, if not 
the whole of religion, consists in moral virtue, though it be altogether 
uncertain what they intend by the one or the other ! These are they 
who scarce think any thing intelligible when declared in the words 
of the Scripture, which one hath openly traduced as a " ridiculous 
jargon." They like not, they seem to abhor, the speaking of spiritual 
things in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth: the only reason 
whereof is, because they understand not the things themselves; and 
whilst they are "foolishness" unto any, it is no wonder the terms 
whereby they are declared seem also so to be. But such as have 
received the Spirit of Christ, and do know the mind of Christ (which 
profane scoffers are sufficiently remote from), do best receive the truth 
and apprehend it, when declared not in " the words which man's 
wisdom teacheth, but which are taught by the Holy Ghost." It is 
granted to be the wisdom and skill of men farther to explain and 
declare the truths that are taught in the gospel, by sound and whole- 
some words of their own; which yet all of them, as to their propriety 
and significancy, are to be tried and measured by the Scripture it- 
self. But we have a new way of teaching spiritual things, sprung up 
among some, who, being ignorant of the whole mystery of the gospel, 
and therefore despising it, would debase all the glorious truths of it, 
and the declaration made of them, into dry, barren, sapless, philoso- 



CHAP. YI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATIOX OF BELIEYEKS. 525 

pliical notions and terms, and those the most common, obvious and 
vulgar that ever obtained among the heathen of old. "Virtuous liv- 
ing," they tell us, "is the way to heaven ;" but what this virtue is, or 
what is a life of virtue, they have added as little in the declaration 
of as any persons that ever made such a noise about them. 

2. That ambiguous term moral hath, by usage, obtained a double 
signification, with respect unto an opposition unto other things, which 
either are not so or are more than so ; for sometimes it is applied 
unto the worship of God, and so is opposed unto instituted. That 
religious worship which is prescribed in the decalogue or required 
by the law of creation is commonly called " moral," and that in oppo- 
sition unto those rites and ordinances which are of a superadded, ar- 
bitrary institution. Again, it is opposed unto things that are more 
than merely moral, — namely, spiritual, theological, or divine. So 
the graces of the Spirit, as faith, love, hope, in all their exercise, 
whatever they may have of morality in them, or however they may 
be exercised in and about moral things and duties, yet because of 
sundry respects wherein they exceed the sphere of morality, are 
called graces and duties, theological, spiritual, supernatural, evan- 
gelical, divine; in opposition unto all such habits of the mind and 
■duties as, being required by the law of nature, and as they are so re- 
quired, are merely moral. In neither sense can it with any tolerable 
congruity of speech be said that moral virtue is our holiness, espe- 
cially the whole of it. But because the duties of holiness have, the 
most of them, a morality in them, as moral is opposed to instituted, 
some would have them have nothing also in them, as moral is op- 
posed to supernatural and theological. But that the principle and 
acts of holiness are of another special nature hath been sufficiently 
now declared. 

3. It is, as was before intimated, somewhat uncertain what the 
great pleaders for moral virtue do intend by it. Many seem to de- 
sign no more but that honesty and integrity of life which was found 
among some of the heathens in their virtuous lives and actions; 
and, indeed, it were heartily to be wished that we might see more 
of it amongst some that are called Christians, for many things they 
did were materially good and useful unto mankind. But let it be 
supposed to be never so exact, and the course of it most diligently 
attended unto, I defy it as to its being the holiness required of us in 
the gospel, according imto the terms of the covenant of grace; and 
that because it hath none of those qualifications which we have proved 
essentially to belong thereunto. And I defy all the men in the world 
to prove that this moral virtue is the sum of our obedience to God, 
whilst the gospel is owned for a declaration of his will and our duty. 
It is true, all the duties of this moral virtue are required of us, but ia 



o2G THE POSITIVE WOEK OF THE SPIRIT, ETC. [COOK IVi 

the exercise of every one of them there is more required of us than be- 
longs unto their morality, — as, namely, that they be done in faith anc 
love to God through Jesus Christ; and many things are required of uS 
as necessary parts of our obedience which belong not thereunto at all. 

4. Some give us such a description of morality as that " it shoulc 
be of the same extent with the light and law of nature, or the dic- 
tates of it as rectified and declared unto us in the Scripture;" and 
this, I confess, requires of us the obedience which is due towards God 
by the law of our creation, and according to the covenant of works 
materially and formally. But what is this unto evangelical holiness 
and obedience? Why, it is alleged that "religion before the entrance 
of sin and under the gospel is one and the same; and therefore there 
is no difiference between the duties of obedience required in the one 
and the other." And it is true that they are so far the same as that 
they have the same Author, the same object, the same end ; and so 
£ilso had the religion under the law, which was, therefore, so far the 
same with them ; but that they are the same as to all the acts of our 
obedience and the manner of their performance is a vain imagina- 
tion. Is there no alteration made in religion by the interposition of 
the person of Christ to be incarnate, and his mediation? no aug- 
mentation of the object of faith? no change in the abolishing of 
the old covenant and the establishment of the new, the covenant- 
between God and man being that which gives the especial form and 
kind unto religion, the measure and denomination of it? no altera- 
tion in the principles, aids, assistances, and whole nature of ouf 
obedience unto God? The whole mystery of godliness must be re- 
nounced if we intend to give way unto such imaginations. Be it so, 
then, that this moral virtue and the practice of it do contain and ex- 
press all that obedience, materially considered, which was required by 
the law of nature in the covenant of works, yet I deny it to be our 
holiness or evangelical obedience; and that, as for many other rea- 
sons, so principally because it hath not that respect unto Jesus Christ 
which our sanctification hath. 

5. If it be said that by this moral virtue they intend no exclusion' 
of Jesus Christ, but include a respect unto him, I desire only to ask 
whether they design by it sudh a habit of mind, and such acts thence ' 
proceeding, as have the properties before described, as to their causes, 
rise, effects, use, and relation unto Christ and the covenant, such as are 
expressly and plainly in the Scripture assigned unto evangelical holi- 
ness? Is this moral virtue that which God hath predestinated or 
chosen us unto before the foundation of the world? Is it that which 
he wcrketh in us in the pursuit of electing love? Is it that which 
gives us a new heart, with the law of God written in it? Is it a 
principle of spiritual life, disposing, inclining, enabling us to live to 



CHAP. VII.] OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. 527 

God, according to the gospel, produced in us by the effectual opera- 
tion of the Holy Ghost, not educed out of the natural powers of our 
own souls by the mere application of external means? Is it that 
which is purchased and procured for us by Jesus Christ, and the in- 
crease whereof in us he continueth to intercede for? Is it the imacre 
of God in us, and doth our conformity unto the Lord Christ consist 
therein ? If it be so, if moral virtue answer all these properties and 
adjuncts of holiness, then the whole contest in this matter is, whether 
the Holy Spirit or these men be wisest, and know best how to ex- 
press the things of God rationally and significantly. But if the moral 
virtue they speak of be unconcerned in these things, if none of them 
belongs unto it, if it may and doth consist without it, it will appear 
at length to be no more, as to our acceptance before God, than what 
one of the greatest moralists in the world complained that he found 
it when he was dying, — " a mere empty name." But this fulsome Pe- 
lagian figment of a holiness, or evangelical righteousness, whose prin- 
ciple should be natural reason, and whose rule is the law of nature 
as explained in the Scripture, whose use and end is acceptation with 
God and justification before him, — whereby those who plead for it, 
the most of them, seem to understand no more but outward acts of 
honesty, nor do practise so much, — being absolutely opposite unto 
and destructive of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, being the 
mere doctrine of the Quakers, by whom it is better and more intel- 
ligibly expressed than by some new patrons of it amongst us, will 
not, in the examination of it, create any great trouble unto such as 
look upon the Scripture to be a revelation of the mind of God in 
these things. 



CHAPTER VII. 

OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. 

Actual inherent righteousness in duties of holiness and obedience explained — The 
work of the Holy Spirit with respect thereunto — Distribution of the positive 
duties of holiness — Internal duties of holiness — External duties and their 
difference — Effectual operation of the Holy Spirit necessary unto every act of 
holiness — Dependence on providence with respect unto things natural, and on 
grace with respect unto things supernatural, compared — Arguments to prove 
the necessity of actual grace unto every duty of holiness — Contrary designs 
and expressions of the Scripture and some men about duties of holiness. 

II. The second part of the work of the Spirit of God in our sanc- 
tification respects the acts and duties of holy obedience ; for what we 
have before treated of chiefly concerns the principle of it as habitu- 
ally resident in our souls, and that both as unto its first infusion into 



628 OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. [P>OOK IV. 

US, as also its preservation and increase in us. But we are not en- 
dued with such a principle or power to act it at our pleasure, or as 
we see good, but God, moreover, " worketh in us both to will and 
to do of his good pleasure." And all these acts and duties of holi- 
ness or gospel obedience are of two sorts, or may be referred unto 
two heads: — First, Such as have the will of God in positive com- 
mands for their object, which they respect in duties internal and 
external, wherein we do what God requireth. Secondly, Such as 
respect divine prohibitions, which consist in the actings of grace or 
holiness in an opposition unto or the mortification of sin. And 
what is the work of the Holy Spirit, what is the aid which he affords 
us, in both these sorts of duties, must be declared : — 

1. The acts and duties of the first sort, respecting positive divine 
commands, fall under a double distinction; for they are in their 
own nature either, (1.) Internal only, or, (2.) External also. There 
may be internal acts of holiness that have no external effects ; but 
no external acts or duties are any part of holiness which are only so 
and no more : for it is required thereunto that they be quickened 
and sanctified by internal actings of grace. Two persons may, there- 
fore, at the same time, perform the same commanded duties, and in 
the same outward manner, yet may it be the duty of evangelical 
holiness in the one and not in the other; as it was with Cain and 
Abel, with the other apostles and Judas: for if faith and love be not 
acted in either of them, what they do is duty but equivocally, pro- 
perly it is not so. 

(1.) By the duties of holiness that are internal only, I intend all 
acts of faith, love, trust, hope, fear, reverence, delight, that have 
God for their immediate object, but go not forth nor exert them- 
selves in any external duties. And in these doth our spiritual life 
unto God principally consist; for they are as the first acts of life, 
which principally evidence the strength or decays of it. And from 
these we may take the best measure of our spiritual health and in- 
terest in holiness; for we may abound in outward duties, and yet 
our hearts be very much alienated from the life of God : yea, some- 
times men may endeavour to make up what is wanting with them 
by a multitude of outward duties, and so have "a name to live" 
when they are " dead," wherein the true nature of hypocrisy and su- 
perstition doth consist, Isa. L 11-15. But when the internal actings 
of faith, — fear, trust, and love, — abound and are constant in us, they 
evidence a vigorous and healthy condition of soul. 

(2.) Duties that are external, also, are of two sorts, or are distin- 
guished with respect unto their objects and ends; for, — [1.] God 
him.self is the ohject and end of some of them, as of prayer and 
praises, whether private or more solemn. And of this nature are 



CTTAP. VII.] OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINErS. 52f) 

all those which are commonly called "duties of the first table;" all 
such as belong unto the sanctification of the name of God in his 
worship. [2.] Some respect men of all sorts in their various capa- 
cities, and our various relations unto them, or have men for their 
object, but God for their end. And among these, also, I include 
those which principally regard ourselves, or our own persons. The 
whole of what we intend is summarily expressed by our apostle, 
Tit. ii. 12. 

Concerning all these acts and duties, whether internal only or 
external also, whether their proper object be God, ourselves, or 
other men, so far as they are acts of holiness and are accepted with 
God, they proceed from a peculiar operation of the Holy Spirit in 
us. And herein, to make our intention the more evident, we may 
distinctly observe, — 

(1.) That there is in the minds, wills, and affections of all believers, 
a meetness, fitness, readiness, and habitual disposition unto the per- 
foj^mance of all acts of obedience towards God, all duties of piety, 
charity, and righteousness, that are required of them ; and hereby are 
they internally and habitually distinguished from them that are not 
so. That it is so with them, and whence it comes to be so, we have 
before declared. This power and disposition is wrought and pre- 
served in them by the Holy Ghost. 

(2.) No believer can of himself act, — that is, actually exert or exer- 
cise, — this princip)le or power of a spiritual life, in any one instance 
of any duty, internal or external, fowards God or men, so as that it 
shall be an act of holiness, or a duty accepted with God. He can- 
not, I say, do so' of himself, by virtue of any power habitually in- 
herent in him. We are not in this world intrusted with any such 
spiritual ability from God, as without farther actual aid and assist- 
ance to do any thing that is good. Therefore, — 

(3.) That which at present I design to prove is, That the actual 
aid, assistance, and internal operation of the Spirit of God is ne- 
cessary, required, and granted, unto the producing of every holy 
act of our minds wills, and affections, in every duty ivhatever; 
or, That notwithstanding the power or ability which believers have 
received in or by habitual grace, they still stand in need of actual 
grace, in, for, and unto every single gracious, holy act or duty to- 
wards God. And this I shall now a little farther explain, and then 
confirm. 

As it is in our natural lives with respect unto God's providence^ 
so it is in our spiritual lives with respect unto his grace. He hath 
in the works of nature endowed us with a vital principle, or an act 
of the quickening soul upon the body, which is quickened thereby. 
By virtue hereof we are enabled unto all vital acts, whether natural 

VOL. III. ^* 



520 OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. [BOOK TV. 

and necessary or voluntary, according to the constitution of our 
being, which is intellectual, "God breathed into man the breath of 
life; and man became a living soul," Gen. ii. 7. Giving him a principle 
of life, he was fitted for and enabled unto all the proper acts of that 
life ; for a principle of life is an ability and disposition unto acts of life. 
But yet, whosoever is thus made a living soul, whosoever is endued 
with this principle of life, he is not able originally, without any motion 
or acting from God as the first cause, or independently of him, to 
exert or put forth any vital act. That which hath not this principle, 
as a dead carcass, hath no meetness unto vital actions, nor is capable 
either of motion or alteration, but as it receives impressions from an 
outward principle of force or an inward principle of corruption. 
But he in whom it is hath a fitness, readiness, and habitual power 
for all vital actions, yet so as without the concurrence of God in hiS' 
energetical providence, moving and acting of him, he can do no- 
thing; for "in God we live, and move, and have our being," Acts 
xvii. 28. And if any one could of himself perform an action with- 
out any concourse of divine operation, he must himself be absolutely 
the first and only cause of that action, — that is, the creator of a new 
being. 

It is so as unto our spiritual life. "We are, by the grace of God 
through Jesus Christ, furnished with a principle of it, in the way, 
and for the ends before described. Hereby are we enabled and dis-' 
posed to live unto God, in the exercise of spiritually vital acts, or 
the performance of duties of holiness. And he who hath not this 
principle of spiritual life is spiritually dead, as we have at large be- 
fore manifested, and can do nothing at all that is spiritually good. 
He may be moved unto, and, as it were, compelled by the power 
of convictions, to do many things that are materially so; but that 
which is on all considerations spiritually good and accepted with 
God, he can do nothing of The inquiry is, what believers them- 
selves, who have received this principle of spiritual life and are; 
habitually sanctified, can do as to actual duties by virtue thereof, 
without a new immediate assistance and working of the Holy Spirit 
in them ; and I say, they can no more do any thing that is spiri-i 
tually good, without the particular concurrence and assistance of the 
•grace of God unto every act thereof, than a man can naturally act, 
or move, or do any thing in an absolute independency of God, his 
power and providence. And this proportion between the works of 
God's providence and of his grace the apostle expresseth, Eph. ii 
10, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good" 
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in 
them." God at the beginning made all things by a creating power, 
producing them out of nothing, and left them not merely to them-| 



CHAP. VII.] OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. 531 

jselves and their own powers when so created, but he upholds, sup- 
ports, sustains, and preserves thera in the principles of their being 
find operations, acting powerfully in and by them, after their several 
kinds. Without his supportment of their being, by an actual in- 
cessant emanation of divine power, the whole fabric of nature would 
dissolve into confusion and nothing; and without his influence 
into and concurrence with their ability for operation by the same 
power, all things would be dead and deformed, and not one act of 
nature be exerted. So also is it in this work of the new creation 
iof all things by Jesus Christ. "We are God's workmanship;" he 
jhath formed and fashioned us for himself, by the renovation of his 
Image in us. Hereby are we fitted for good works and the fruits of 
righteousness, which he appointed as the way of our living unto him. 
This new creature, this divine nature in us, he supporteth and pre- 
erveth, so as that without his continual influential power, it would 
)erish and come to nothing. But this is not all ; he doth moreover 
|act it, and effectually concur to every singular duty, by new supplies 
of actual grace. So, then, that which we are to prove is, that there 
is an actual operation of the Holy Ghost in us, necessary unto every 
act and duty of holiness whatever, without which none either will 
or can be produced or performed by us; which is the second part of 
his work in our sanctification. And there are several ways whereby 
fchis is confirmed unto us: — 

[1.] The Scripture declares that we ourselves cannot, in and by 
ourselves, — that is, by virtue of any strength or poiuer that we have 
received, — do any thing that is spiritually good. So our Saviour tells 
his apostles when they were sanctified believers, and in them all 
that are so, "Without me ye can do nothing," John xv, 5; — xoip}i 
ifj.ov, so "without me;" seorsim a me, so "separated from me," as a 
'branch may be from the vine. If a branch be so separated from 
the root and body of the vine as that it receives not continual sup- 
plies of nourishment from them, if their influence into it be by any 
means intercepted, it proceeds not in its growth, it brings forth no 
fruit, but is immediately under decay. It is so, saith our Saviour, 
With believers in respect unto him. Unless they have continual, un- 
interrupted influences of grace and spiritually vital nourishment from 
him, they can do nothing. "Without me," expresseth a denial of 
lall the spiritual aid that we have from Christ. On supposition hereof 
"we can do nothing," — that is, by our own power, or by virtue of any 
ihabit or principle of grace we have received ; for when we have re- 
ceived it, what we can do thereby without farther actual assistance, 
we can do of ourselvea "Ye can do nothing," that is, which ap- 
pertains to fruit-bearing unto God. In things natural and civd we 
can do somewhat, and in things sinful too much; we need no aid or 



J32 OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. [BOOK IT. 

assistance for any such purpose;— but in fruit-bearing unto God we 
can do nothing. Now, every act of faith and love, every motion of our 
minds or affections towards God, is a part of our fruit-bearing ; and 
so, unquestionably, are all external works and duties of holiness and 
obedience. Wherefore, our Saviour himself being judge, believers, 
who are really sanctified and made partakers of habitual grace, yet 
cannot of themselves, without new actual aid and assistance of grace 
from him, do any thing that is spiritually good or acceptable with 
God. 

Our apostle confirmeth the same truth, 2 Cor. iii. 4, 5, " And such 
trust have we through Christ to God-ward : not that we are sufficient 
of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is 
of God." It is a great and eminent grace which he declareth that 
he was acting, — namely, trust in God through Christ in the discharge 
of his ministry, and for the blessed success thereof; but he had no 
sooner expressed it than he seems to be jealous lest he should appear 
to have assumed something to himself in this work, or the trust he 
hrd for its success. This no man was ever more cautious against; 
and indeed it was incumbent on him so to be, because he was ap- 
pointed to be the principal minister and preacher of the grace of 
Jesus Christ. Therefore, I say, he adds a caution against any such 
apprehensions, and openly renounceth any such power, ability, or 
sufficiency in himself, as that by virtue thereof he could act so ex- 
cellent a grace or perform so great a duty : " Not that we are suffi- 
cient of ourselves." And in this matter he hath not only, in places 
innumerable, asserted the necessity and efficacy of grace, with our 
impotency without it, but in his own instance he hath made such a 
distinction between what was of himself and what of grace, with 
such an open disclaimer of any interest of his own in what was spiri- 
tually good, distinct from grace, as should be sufficient with all sober 
persons to determine all differences in this casg. See 1 Cor. xv. 10, 
Gal. ii. 20, and this place. I assume no such thing to mj^-self, I 
ascribe no such thing unto any other, as that I or they should have 
in ourselves a sufficiency unto any such purpose; for our apostle 
knew nothing of any sufficiency that needed any other thing to make 
it effectual. And he doth not exclude such a sufficiency in ourselves 
with respect unto eminent actings of grace and greater duties, but 
with respect unto every good thought, or whatever may have a ten- 
dency unto any spiritual duty. We cannot conceive, we cannot en- 
gage in the beginning of, any duty by our own sufficiency; for it is 
the beginning of duties which the apostle expresseth by " thinking," 
our thoughts and projections being naturally the first thing that be- 
longs unto our actions. And this he doth as it were on purpose to 
obviate that Pelagian fiction, that the beginning of good was from 



CHAP. VII.] OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. 533 

ourselves, but we had the help of grace to perfect it. "But what 
then? if we have no such sufficiency, to what purpose should we set 
alwut the thinking or doing of any thing that is good? Who will 
he so unwise as to attempt that which he hath no strength to accom- 
plish? And doth not the apostle hereby deny tliat he'' himself had 
performed any holy duties, or acted any gi-ace, or dohe any thin- 
that was good, seeing he had no sufficiency of himself so to do V To 
obviate this cavil, he confines this denial of a sufficiency unto " our- 
selves ;" we have it not of ourselves. "But," saith he, "our sufficiency 
is of God,"— that is, we have it by actual supplies of grace, necessary 
unto every duty. And how God communicates this sufficiency, and 
how we receive it, he declares, 2 Cor. ix. 8, " God is able to make all 
grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in 
all things, may abound to every good work." God manifests the 
abounding of grace towards us when he works an effective sufficiency 
in us; which he doth so as to enable us to abound in good works or 
duties of holiness. These are those supplies of grace which God 
gives us unto all our duties, as he had promised unto him in his own 
case, chap. xii. 9. 

And this is the first demonstration of the truth proposed unto con- 
sideration, — namely, the testimonies given in the Scripture that be- 
lievers themselves cannot of themselves perform any acts or duties of 
holiness, any thing that is spiritually good. Therefore, these things 
are effects of grace, and must be wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, 
who is the immediate author of all divine operations. 

[2.] All actings of grace, all good duties, are actually ascribed 
unto the operation of the Holy Ghost. The particular testimonies 
hereunto are so multiplied in the Scripture as that it is not con- 
venient nor indeed possible to call them over distinctly; some of 
them, in a way of instance, may be insisted on, and reduced unto 
three heads: — 

1st. There are many places wherein Ave are said to be led, guided, 
acted by the Spirit, to live in the Spirit, to walk after the Spirit, to 
do things by the Spirit, that dwelleth in us: for nothing in general 
can be intended in these expressions but the actings of the Holy 
S[)irit of God upon our souls; in a compliance wherewith, as acting 
when we are acted by him, our obedience unto God according to the 
gospel doth consist: Gal. v 16, "Walk in the Spirit." To walk in 
the Spirit is to walk in obedience unto God, according to the supplies 
of grace which the Holy Ghost administers unto us; for so it is added, 
that " we shall not then fulfil the lusts of the flesh,"— that is, we 
shall be kept up unto holy obedience and the avoidance of sin. So 
are we said to be " led of the Spirit," verse 18, being acted by him, 
and not by the vicious, depraved principles of our corrupted nature. 



534; OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. [BOOK IV. 

Rom. viii. 4, " Walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." To 
walk after the flesh is to have the principle of indwelling sin acting 
itself in us unto the production and perpetration of actual sins. 
Wherefore, to walk after the Spirit Is to have the Spirit acting in us, to 
the effecting of all gracious acts and duties. And this is given unto 
us in command, that we neglect not his motions in us, but comply 
with them in a way of diligence and duty: see verses 14, 15. So 
are we enjoined to attend unto particular duties through " the Holy 
Ghost which dwelleth in us," 2 Tim. i. 14; that is, through his assist- 
ance, without which we can do nothing. 

2dly. As we are said to be led and acted by him, so he is declared 
to be the author of all gracious actings in us: Gal. v. 22, 23, "The 
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good- 
ness, faith, meekness, temperance." All these things are wrought and 
brought forth in us by the Spirit, for they are his fruits. And not 
only the habit of them, but all their actings, in all their exercise, are 
from him. Every act of faith is faith, and every act of love is love, 
and consequently no act of them is of ourselves, but every one of 
them is a fruit of the Spirit of God. So in another place he adds a 
universal affirmative, comprehending all instances of particular graces 
and their exercise : Eph. v. 9, " The fruit of the Spirit is in all 
goodness and righteousness and truth." Unto these three heads 
all actings of grace, all duties of obedience, all parts of holiness, may 
be reduced. And it is through the supplies of the Spirit that he 
trusteth for a good issue of his obedience, Phil. i. 19. So is it ex- 
pressly in the promise of the covenant, Ezek. xxxvi. 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." This is the whole that 
God requireth of us, and it is all wrought in us by his Spirit. So 
also, chap. xi. 19, 20; Jer. xxxii. 39, 40. All the obedience and 
holiness that God requires of us in the covenant, all duties and act- 
ings of grace, are promised to be wrought in us by the Spirit, after 
we are assured that of ourselves we can do nothing. 

Mly. Particular graces and their exercise are assigned unto his 
acting and working in us: Gal. v. 5, "We through the Spirit wait for 
the hope of righteousness by faith." The hope of the righteousness 
of faith is the thing hoped for thereby. All that we look for or ex- 
pect in this world or hereafter is by the righteousness of faith. Our 
quiet waiting for this is an especial gospel grace and duty. Tiiis 
we do not of ourselves, but " through the Spirit:" We "worship 
God in the Spirit," Phil. iii. 3; love the brethren " in the Spirit," Col. 
L 8; we "purify our souls iu obeying the truth through the Spirit 
unto unfeigned love of the brethren," 1 Pet. i. 22. See Eph. i. 1 7 ; 
Acts ix. 31; Rom. v. 5, viiL 15, 23, 26; 1 Thess. i. 6; Rom. xiv. 17,' 



CHAP. VII.J OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. .535 

XV. ] 3, 1 6. Of faith it is said expressly that it is " not of ourselves • it 
is the gift of God," Eph. ii. 8. 

[3.] There are testimonies that are express unto the position as 
before laid down: Phil. ii. 13, " It is God who worketh in you both 
to will and to do of his good pleasure." The things thus wrought 
are all things that appertain unto our obedience and salvation, as is 
evident from the connection of the words with verse 12, " Work out 
your salvation with fear and trembling.'-' Hereunto two things are 
required:— Is^. Power for such operations, or for all the duties of 
holiness and obedience that are required of us. That this we are 
endued withal, that this is wrought in us, bestowed upon us, by the 
Holy (Jhost, hath been before abundantly coniBrmed. But when this 
is done for us, is there aught else yet remaining to be done? Yea, 
2dl7/. There is the actual exercise of the grace we have received. How 
may this be exercised ? All the whole work of grace consists in the 
internal acts of our wills, and external operations in duties suitabh 
thereunto. This, therefore, is incumbent on us, this we are to look unto 
in ourselves, it is our duty so to do, — namely, to stir up and exercise 
the grace we have received in and unto its proper operations. But 
it is so our duty as that of ourselves we cannot perform it. It is 
God who worketh effectually in us all those gracious acts of our wills, 
and all holy operations in a way of duty. Every act of our wills, 
so far as it is gracious and holy, is the act of the Spirit of God effi- 
ciently; he "worketh in us to will," or the very act of willing. To 
say he doth only persuade us, or excite and stir up our wills by his 
grace, to put forth their own acts, is to say he doth not do what the 
apostle affirms him to do; for if the gracious actings of our wills be so 
our own as not to be his, he doth not work in us to will, but only 
persuadeth us so to do. But the same apostle utterly excludeth this 
pretence: 1 Cor. xv. 10, " I laboured abundantly; yet not I, but the 
grace of God which was with me." He had a necessity incumbent 
on him of declaring the great labour he had undergone, and the 
pains he had taken in " preaching of the gospel;" but yet immedi- 
ately, lest any one should apprehend that he ascribed any thing to 
himself, any gracious, holy actings in those labours, he adds his usual 
epanorthosis, "Not I;" — "Let me not be mistaken; it was not I, by 
any power of mine, by any thing in me, but it was all wrought in me 
by the free grace of the Spirit of God." " Not I, but grace," is the 
apostle's assertion. Suppose now that God by his grace doth no 
more but aid, assist, and excite the will in its actings, that he doth 
not effectually work all the gracious actings of our souls in all our 
duties, the proposition would hold on the other hand, " N(^t grace, 
but I," seeing the principal relation of the effect is unto the next 
and immediate cause, and thence hath it its denomination. And as 



CZG OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. [BOOK TV, 

lie worlceth them " to will" in us, so also " to do," — that is, effectu- 
ally to perform those duties whereunto the gracious actings of our 
wills are required. 

And what hath been spoken may suffice to prove that the Holy 
Spirit, as the author of our sanctification, worketh also in us all 
gracious acts of faith, love, and obedience, wherein the first part of 
our actual holiness and righteousness doth consist. And the truth 
thus confirmed may be farther improved unto our instruction and 
edification. 

(1.) It is easily hence discernible how contrary are the designs and 
expressions of the Scripture and the notions of some men among 
us. There is not any thing that is good in us, nothing that is done 
well by us in the way of obedience, but the Scripture expressly and 
fi-eqnently assigns it unto the immediate operations of the Holy 
Spirit in us. It doth so in general as to all gracious actings what- 
ever ; and not content therewith, it proposeth every grace and every 
holy duty, distinctly affirming the Holy Ghost to be the immediate 
author of them. And when it comes to make mention of us, it posi- 
tively, indeed, prescribes our duty to us, but as plainly lets us know 
that we have no po'v^er in or from ourselves to perform it. But some 
men speak, and preach, and write, utterly to another purpose. The 
freedom, liberty, power and ability of our own wills; the light, 
guidance, and direction of our own minds or reasons ; and from all, 
our own performance of all the duties of faith and obedience, — are 
the subjects of their discourses, and that in opposition unto what is 
ascribed in the Scriptures unto the immediate operations of the 
Holy Ghost. They are all for grace : " Not I, but grace ; not I, but 
Christ; without him we can do nothing." These are all for our wills: 
" Not grace, but our wills do all." It is not more plainly affirmed 
in the Scripture that God created heaven and earth, that he sustains 
and preserves all things by his power, than that he creates grace in 
the hearts of believers, preserves it, acts it, and makes it effectual, 
working all our works for us and all our duties in us. But evasions 
must be found out, — strange, forced, uncouth senses must be put 
upon plain, frequently-repeated expressions, — to secure the honour of 
our wills, and to take care that all the good we do may not be as- 
signed to the grace of God. To this purpose distinctions are coined, 
evasions invented, and such an explanation is given of all divine 
operations as renders them useless and insignificant. Yea, it is 
almost grown, if not criminal, yet weak and ridiculous, in the judg- 
ment of some, that any should assign those works and operations to 
the Spirit of God which the Scripture doth, in the very words that 
the Scripture useth. To lessen the corruption and depravation of 
our nature by sin; to extol the integrity and power of our reason; 



CHAP. VIL] of the acts AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. 527 

to maintain the freedom and ability of our wills in and unto tliincrg 
spiritually good ; to resolve the conversion of men unto God into the°ir 
natural good dispositions, inclinations, and the right use of their rea- 
son ; to render holiness to be only a probity of life or honesty of con- 
versation, upon rational motives and considerations,— are tlie things 
that men are now almost wearied with the repetition of Scarce 
a person that hath confidence to commence for reputation in the 
world, but immediately he furnisheth himself with some new tink- 
ling ornaments for these old Pelagian figments. But whoever shall 
take an impartial view of the design and constant doctrine of the 
Scripture in this matter will not be easily carried away with the 
plausible pretences of men exalting their own wills and abilities, in 
oi3position to the Spirit and grace of God by Jesus Christ. 

(2.) From what hath been discoursed, a farther discovery is made 
of the nature of gosj^el obedience, of all the acts of our souls therein, 
and of the duties that belong thereunto. It is commonly granted 
that there is a great difference between the acts and duties that are 
truly gracious, and those which are called by the same name that 
are not so, as in any duties of faith, of prayer, of charity. But this 
difference is supposed generally to be in the adjuncts of those duties, 
in some properties of them, but not in the kind, nature, or substance 
of the acts of our minds in them. Nay, it is commonly said tiuit 
whereas wicked men are said to believe, and do many things gladly 
in a way of obedience, what they so do is, for the substance of the 
acts they perform, the same with those of them who are truly re- 
generated and sanctified; they may differ in their principle ami end, 
but as to their substance or essence they are the same. But there 
is no small mistake herein. All gracious actings of our minds and 
souls, whether internal only, in faith, love, or delight, or whether 
they go oi;t unto external duties required in the gospel, being 
wrought in us by the immediate efficacy of the Spirit of grace, differ 
in their kind, in their essence and substance of the acts themselves, 
from whatever is not so wrought or effected in us; for whatever 
may be done by any one, in any acting of common grace or per- 
formance of any duty of obedience, being educed out of the power 
of the natural faculties of men, excited by convictions, as directed 
and enforced by reasons and exhortations, or assisted by common aids, 
of what nature soever, they are natural as to their kind, and they 
have no other substance or being but what is so. But that which is 
wrought in us by the especial grace of the Holy Ghost, in the way 
mentioned, is sujyernatural, as being not educed out of the powers of 
our natural faculties, but an immediate effect of the almighty su|)er- 
natural efficacy of the grace of God. And, therefore, the sole rea- 
son why God accepts and rewards duties of obedience ii> them that 



538 MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [BOOK IV. 

are sanctified, and regardeth not those which for the outward matter 
and manner of performance are the same with them (as unto Abel 
and his offering he had respect, but he had no respect unto Cain 
and his offering, Gen. iv. 4, 5), is not taken from the state and con- 
dition of the persons that perform them only, though that also has 
an influence thereinto, but from the nature of the acts and duties 
themselves also. He never accepts and rejects duties of the same 
kind absolutely with respect unto the persons that do perform them. 
The duties themselves are of a different kind. Those which he ac- 
cepts are supernatural effects of his own Spirit in us, whereon he re- 
wardeth and crown eth the fruits of his own grace; and as for what 
he rejects, whatever appearance it may have of a compliance with 
the outward command, it hath nothing in it that is supernaturally 
gracious, and so is not of the same kind with what he doth accept. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MORTIFICATION OF SIN, THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 

Mortification of sin, the second part of sanctification — Frequently prescribed and 
enjoined as a duty — What the name signifies, witli the reason thereof; as also 
that of crucifying sin — The nature of the mortification of sin explained — In- 
dwelling sin, in its principle, operations, and effects, the object of mortifica- 
tion — Contrariety between sin and grace — Mortification a part-taliing with 
the whole interest of grace against sin — How sin is mortified, and why the 
subduing of it is so called — Directions for the right discharge of this duty — 
Nature of it unknown to many — The Holy Spirit the author and cause of 
mortification in us — The manner of the operation of the Spirit in the morti- 
fication of sin — Particular means of the mortification of sin — Duties neces- 
sary unto the mortification of sin, directed unto hy the Holy Ghost — Mistakes 
and errors of persons failing in this matter — How spiritual duties are to be 
managed, that sin may be mortified — Influence of the virtue of the death of 
Christ, as applied by the Holy Spirit, into the mortification of sin. 

2. There is yet another part or effect of our sanctification by the 
Holy Ghost, which consisteth in and is called mortification of sin. 
As what we have already insisted on concerneth the improvement 
and practice of the principle of grace, wherewithal believers are en- 
dued ; so what we noAV propose concerneth the weakening, impairing, 
and destroying of the contrary principle of sin, in its root and fruits, 
in its principle and actings. And whereas the Spirit of God is 
everywhere said to sanctify us, we ourselves are commanded and 
said constantly to mortify our sins: for sanctification expresseth 
grace communicated and received in general; mortification, grace as 
BO received, improved, and acted unto a certain end. And I shall 



CHAP. VIIT.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 



nr,o 



be brief in the handling of it, because I have formerly published a 
small discourse on the same subject.^ And there are two thin<^ that 
I shall speak unto:— First, The nature of the duty itself; SerondW, 
The manner how it is wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, which I 
principally intend. 

It is known that this duty is frequently enjoined and prescribed 
unto us: Col. iii. 5, " Mortify therefore your members which are upon 
the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concu- 
piscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." 'Ev rp pvyuv, may be 
supplied, " 'Mortify your members which are upon the earth,' — that 
is, your carnal, earthly affections; avoiding (or 'by avoiding') 'forni- 
cation,'" etc.: and so a distinction is made between carnal affections 
and their fruits. Or, the special sins mentioned are instances of these 
carnal affections: "Mortify your carnal affections," — namely, forni- 
cation and the like ; wherein there is a metonymy of the effect for 
the cause. And they are called "our members," — (1.) Because, as 
the whole principle of sin, and course of sinning which proceedeth 
from it, is called the " body of sin," Rom. vi. 6, or the " body of 
the sins of the flesh," Col. ii. 1 1, with respect thereunto these par- 
ticular lusts are here called the members of that body, " Mortify your 
members;" for that he intends not the parts or members of our 
natural bodies, as though they were to be destroyed, as they seem to 
imagine who place mortification in outward afflictions and macera- 
tions of the body, he adds, ra, i'jrl r^j y^s, "that are on the eartli," 
— that is, earthly, carnal, and sensual. (2.) These affections and lusts, 
the old man, — that is, our depraved nature, — useth naturally and 
readily, as the body doth its members ; and, which adds efficacy 
unto the allusion, by them it draws the very members of the body 
into a compliance with it and the service of it, against which we 
are cautioned by our apostle: Rom. vi. 12, "Let not sin^ therefore 
reign in your mortal bodies" (that is, our natural bodies), "that ye 
should obey it in the lusts thereof;" — which exhortation he pursues, 
verse 19, "As ye have yielded your members servants to unclean- 
ness and to itiiquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your membcre 
servants to righteousness unto holiness;" which some neglecting, do 
take "the members of Christ,"— that is, of their own bodies, wliich 
are the members of Christ,— and make them the " membei-s of an 
harlot," 1 Cor. vi. 15. And many other commands there are to tlie 
same purpose, which will afterward occur. 

And concerning this great duty we may consider three thmgsr— 
(1.) The name of it, whereby it is expressed; (2.) The nature of it, 
wherein it consists; (3.) The means and way whereby it is ellected 
and wrought. 

» See vol. vi. of his works. 



5-iO MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [BOOK IV. 

(1.) For the naine, it is two ways expressed, and both of them 
metai^horical : — [1.] By vixpouv and ^avarouv, which we render "to mor- 
tify ourselves." The first is used, Col. iii. 5, viTtpuxxaTt, which is 
" mortify," — that is, extinguish and destroy all that force and vigour 
of corrupted nature which inclines to earthly, carnal things, opposite 
unto that spiritual, heavenly life and its actings which we have in 
and from Clirist, as was before declared. NsxpJw is eneco, morte macto, 
— " to -kill," " to affect with or destroy by death." But yet this 
word is used by our apostle not absolutely to destroy and to kill, so 
as that that which is so mortified or killed should no more have any 
being, but that it should be rendered useless as unto what its strength 
and vigour would produce. So he expresseth the effects of it in the 
passive word, Ou xarsvoriffs ri savrou ffZ,u,a tidr) vivsxpu/isvov, Rom. iv. 19; 
— " He considered not his own body now dead," " now mortified." 
The body of Abraham was not then absolutely dead, only the natu- 
ral force and vigour of it was exceedingly abated. And so he seems 
to mollify this expression, Heb. xi. 12, 'Ap' bhg sysvvrjSrieav, xai TauTo. 
vivi7<.pu/j,svov, which we well render, "Of one, and him as good as dead," 
ravra intimating a respect unto the thing treated of. So that vixpovv, 
" to mortify," signifies a continued- act, in taking away the power 
and force of any thing until it come to be vivexpufisvov, " dead," unto 
some certain ends or purposes, as we shall see it is in the mortifica- 
tion of sin. Kom. viii. 13, " If ye through the Spirit do mortify the 
deeds of the body, ye shall live," — ^amrours, another word to the 
same purpose. It signifies, as the other doth, " to put to death;" 
but it is used in the present tense, to denote that it is a work 
which must be always doing: " If ye do mortify," — that is, " If ye 
are always and constantly employed in that work," And what the 
apostle here calls Tag irpd^ng roD eu/iarog, " the deeds of the body," 
he therein expresseth the effect for the cause metonymically ; for he 
intends rnv aupxa. euv roTg 'Tra.DrtfxaSi xai raTg i'jtidvfj.iaig, as he expresseth 
the same thing, Gal. v. 24, " The flesh with the affections and lusts," 
whence all the corrupt deeds wherein the body is instrumental do arise. 

[2.] The same^ duty with relation unto the death of Christ, as the 
meritorious, efficient, and exemplary cause, is expressed by crucify- 
incj: Rom. vi. 6, " Our old man is crucified with him." Gal. ii. 20, 
" I am crucified with Christ." Chap. v. 24, " They that are Christ's 
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Chap. vi. 14, 
By the Lord Jesus Christ " the world is crucified unto me, and I 
unto the world." Now, as perhaps there may be something inti- 
mated herein of the manner of mortification of sin, which is gradu- 
ally carried on unto its final destruction, as a man dies on the cross, 
yet that which is principally intended is the relation of this work and 
duty to the death of Chiist, whence we and our sins are said to be 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 511 

crucified with him, because we and they are so by virtue of his deatl 
And herein do we « always bear about in the body" r^v ,hf,o,m "the 
dying of the Lord Jesus," 2 Cor. iv. 10, representing the manner of 
it, and expressing its efficacy. 

(2.) Thus is this duty expressed, whose nature, in the next place, 
we shall more particularly inquire into, and declare in the ensuin-' 
observations : — ° 

[1.] Mortification of sin is a duty ahvays incumbent on us m the 
Avhole course of our obedience. This the command testifieth, which 
represents it as an always present duty. When it is no longer a duty 
to grow in grace, it is so not to mortify sin. No man under heaven 
can at any time say that he is exempted from this command, nor 
on any pretence; and he who ceaseth from this duty lets go all en- 
deavours after holiness. And as for those who pretend unto an 
absolute perfection, they are of all persons living the most impu- 
dent, nor do they ever in this matter open their mouths but they 
give themselves the lie ; for, — 

[2.] This duty being ahuays incumbent on us, argues undeniably 
the abiding in us of a 'prinoiple of sin whilst we are in the flesh, 
which, with its fruits, is that which is to be mortified. Tliis the 
Scripture calleth the " sin that dwelleth in us," the " evil that is 
present with us," the " law in our members," " evil concupiscence," 
" lust," the " flesh," and the like. And thereunto are the properties 
and actings of folly, deceit, tempting, seducing, rebelling, warring, 
captivating, ascribed. This is not a place to dispute the truth of this 
assertion, which cannot, with any reputation of modesty, be denied 
by any who own the Scripture or pretend to an acquaintance with 
themselves. But yet, through the craft of Satan, with the pride and 
darkness of the minds of men, it is so fallen out that the want of a 
true understanding hereof is the occasion of most of those pernicious 
errors wherewith the church of God is at present pestered, and which 
practically keep men off from being seriously troubled for their sins, 
or seeking out for relief by Jesus Christ. Thus, one hath not feared 
of late openly to profess that he knows of no deceit or evil in his 
own heart, though a wiser than he hath informed us that " he that 
trusteth in his own heart is a fool," Prov. xxviii. 26. 

[3.] Indwelling sin, which is the object of this duty oi mortification, 
falls under a threefold consideration: — \st. Of its root and j^rinciple; 
2dly. Of its disposition and operations; Sdly. Of its effects. These 
in the Scripture are frequently distinguished, though mostly under 
metaphorical expressions. So are they mentioned together distinctly, 
Kom. vi. 6, " Our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of 
sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sm." 
1st. The root or principle of sin, which by nature pos.scssoth all the 



54.2 MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [bOOK IV. 

faculties of the soul, and as a depraved habit inclines unto all that is 
evil, is the " old man," so called in opposition unto the " new man," 
which " after God is created in righteousness and true holiness/' 
2dly. There is the inclination, actual disposition, and operations of 
this principle or habit, which is called the body of sin, with the mem- 
bers of it ; for under these expressions sin is proposed as in procinctu, 
in a readiness to act itself, and inclining unto all that is evil. And this 
also is expressed by "The flesh with the affections and lusts," Gal. v. 24; 
*' Deceitful lusts," Eph. iv, 22, "The old man is corrupt, according to the 
deceitful lusts;" " The wills of the flesh and of the mind," chap. ii. 3. 
Sdly. There are the effects, fnaits, and products of these things, which 
are actual sins ; whereby, as the apostle speaks, we serve sin, as bring- 
ing forth the fruits of it: "That henceforth we should not serve sin," 
Rom. vi. 6. And these fruits are of two sorts: — {1st.) Internal, in the 
figments and imaginations of the heart; which is the first way whereby 
the lusts of the old man do act themselves. And, therefore, of those 
that are under the power or dominion of sin, it is said that " every 
figment or imagination of their hearts is evil continually," Gen. vi. 
5 ; for they have no other principle whereby they are acted but that 
of sin, and therefore all the figments of their hearts must be neces- 
.sarily evil. And with respect hereunto our Saviour afifirms that all 
actual sins "proceed out of the heart," Matt. xv. 19, because there 
is their root, and there are they first formed and framed, (2,dly.) Ex- 
ternal, in actual sins, such as those enumerated by our apostle. Col. 
iii. 5; Gal. v. 19-21. All these things together make up the com- 
plete object of this duty of mortification. The old man, the body of 
death, with its members, and the works of the flesh, or the habit, 
operations, and effects of sin, are all of them intended and to be re- 
spected herein. 

[ 4.] This principle, and its operations and effects, are opposed and 
directly contrary unto the principle, operations, and fruits of holi- 
ness, as wrought in us by the Spirit of God, which we have before 
described. 1st. They are opposed in their principle; for "the flesh 
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these 
are contrary the one to the other," Gal. v. 17. These are those two 
adverse principles wdiich maintain such a conflict in the souls of 
believers whilst they are in this world, and which is so graphically 
described by our apostle, Rom. vii. So the old and new man are op- 
posed and contrary. 2dly. In their actings. The lusting of the flesh 
and tlie liisting or desires of the Spirit, walking after the flesh and 
walking after the Spirit, living after the flesh and living in the 
Spirit, are opposed also. This is the opposition that is between 
the body of sin with its members and the life of grace : " Who 
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," Rom. viil 1, 4, 5. 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 543 

"We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 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," verses 12, 13. By this "walkini 
after the flesh " I understand not, at least not principally, the com"^ 
mittmg of actual sins, but a compliance with the principl'e or habit 
of sin prevailing in depraved, unsanctified nature, allowing it a pre- 
dominancy in the heart and affections. It is when men are dis- 
posed to act according to the inclinations, lustings, motions, wills, 
and desires of it; or it is to bend that way habitually, in our course 
and conversation, which the flesh inclines and leads unto. This prin- 
ciple doth not, indeed, equally bring forth actual sins in all, but hath 
various degrees of its efiicacy, as it is advantaged by temptations, 
controlled by light, or hampered by convictions. Hence all that 
are under the power of sin are not equally vicious and sinful ; but 
after the flesh goes the bent of the soul and the generality of its 
actings. To " walk after the Spirit" consists in our being given up 
to his rule and conduct, or walking according to the dispositions and 
inclinations of the Spirit, that which is born of the Spirit,— namely, a 
principle of grace implanted in us by the Holy Ghost; which hath 
been at large insisted on before. And, Sdli/. The external fruits and 
effects of these two principles are contrary also, as our apostle ex- 
pressly and at large declares. Gal. v. 19-24; for whereas, in the enu- 
meration of the " works of the flesh," he reckons up actual sins, as 
adultery, fornication, and the like, in the account he gives of the 
"fruits of the Spirit," he insists on habitual graces, as love, joy, peace. 
He expresseth them both metaphorically. In the former he hath re- 
spect unto the vicious habits of those actual sins, and in the latter 
unto the actual effects and duties of those habitual graces. 

[5.] There being this universal contrariety, opposition, contending, 
and warfare, between grace and sin, the Spirit and the flesh, in their 
inward principles, powers, operations, and outward effects, the work 
and duty of mortificatioii consists in a constant taking part with 
grace, in its principle, actings, and fruits, against the principle, actings, 
and fruits of sin; for the residence of these contrary principles being 
in, and their actings being by, the same faculties of the soul, as the 
one is increased, strengthened, and improved, the other must of ne- 
cessity be weakened and decay. Wherefore, the viortification of 
sin must consist in these three things: — \st. The cherishing and 
improving of the principle of grace and holiness which is implanted 
in us by the Holy Ghost, by all the ways and means which Cod hath 
appointed thereunto; which we have spoken unto before. This is 
that which alone can undermine and ruin the power of sin, without 
which all attempts to weaken it are vain and fruitlesa Let men take 
never so much pains to mortify, crucify, or subdue their sius, unless 



.Ki 4) ' MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [BOOK IV. 

they endeavour in the first place to weaken and impair its strength 
by the increase of grace and growing therein, they will labour in the 
fire, where their work will be consumed. 2dly. In frequent actings 
of the principle of grace in all duties, internal and external ; for where 
the inclinations, motions, and actings of the Spirit, in all acts, duties, 
and fruits of holy obedience, are vigorous, and kept in constant ex- 
ercise, the contrary motions and actings of the flesh are defeated. 
Mly. In a due aiyplication of the principle, power, and actings of grace, 
by way of opposition unto the principle, power, and actings of sin. 
As the whole of grace is opposed unto the whole of sin, so there is no 
particular lust whereby sin can act its power, but there is a particu- 
lar grace ready to make effectual opposition unto it, whereby it is 
mortified. And in this application of grace, in its actings in opposi- 
tion unto all tlie actings of sin, consists the mystery of this great duty 
of mortification. And where men, being ignorant hereof, have yet 
fallen under a conviction of the power of sin, and been perplexed 
therewith, they have found out foolish ways innumerable for its 
mortification, wickedly opposing external, natural, bodily force and 
exercise, unto an internal, moral, depraved principle, which is no way 
concerned therein. But hereof we must treat more afterward under 
the third head, concerning the manner how this work is to be carried 
on or this duty performed. 

[6.] This duty of weakening sin by the growth and improvement 
of grace, and the opposition which is made unto sin in all its actings 
thereby, is called mortification, killing, or 'putting to death, on sun- 
dry accounts: — First and principally, from that life which, because 
of its power, efficacy, and operation, is ascribed unto indwelling sin. 
The state of the soul by reason of it is a state of death; but where- 
as power and operations are the proper adjuncts or effects of life, for 
their sakes life is ascribed unto sin, on whose account sinners are 
dead. Wherefore this corrupt principle of sin in our depraved na- 
ture, having a constant, powerful inclination and working actually 
towards all evil, it is said metaphorically to live, or to have a life of 
its own. Therefore is the opposition that is made unto it for its 
ruin and destruction called mortification or killing, being its depriva- 
tion of that strength and efficacy whereby and wherein it is said to 
live. Secondly, It may be so called because of the violence of that 
contest which the soul is put unto in this duty. All other duties 
that we are called unto in the course of our obedience may be per- 
formed in a more easy, gentle, and plain manner. Though it is our 
work and duty to conflict with all sorts of temptations, yea, to wrestle 
with "principalities and powers, and spiritual wickednesses in high 
places," yet in this which we have with ourselves, which is wholly 
withm us and from us, there is more of warring, fighting, captivating, 



rt 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 

wounding, crying out for help and assistance, a deep sense of such a 
violence as is used in taking away the life of a mortal enemy than 
m any thing ehe we are called unto. And, thirdly, the end aimed 
at m this duty is destruction, as it is of all killing. Sin, as was said 
hath a life, and that such a life as wherehy it not only lives but riiles 
and reigns in all that are not born of God. By the entrance of grace 
into the soul it loseth its dominion, but not its being,— its rule, but 
not its life. The utter ruin, destruction, and gradual annihilation of 
all the remainders of this cursed life of sin is our design and aim in 
this work and duty; which is, therefore, called mortification. The 
design of this duty, wherever it is in sincerity, is to leave sin neither 
being, nor life, nor operation. 

And some directions, as our manner is, may be taken from what 
we have discoursed concerning the nature of this duty, directive ot 
our own practices. And, — 

First, It is evident, from what hath been discoursed, that it is 
a work which hath a gradual progress, in the proceed whereof we 
must continually be exercised; and this respects, in the first place, 
the principle of sin itself Every day, and in every duty, an especial 
^ye is to be had unto the abolition and destruction of this principle. 
It will no otherwise die but by being gradually and constantly weak- 
ened; spare it, and it heals its wounds, and recovers strength. Hence 
many who have attained to a great degree in the mortification of 
sin do by their negligence suflfer it, in some instance or other, so to 
take head again that they never recover their former state whilst 
they live. 

And this is the reason why we have so many withering professors 
among us, decayed in their graces, fruitless in their lives, and every 
way conformed to the world. There are some, indeed, who, being 
under the power of that blindness and darkness which is a principal 
part of the depravation of our nature, do neither see nor discern the 
inward secret actings and motions of sin, its deceit and restlessness, 
its mixing itself one way or other in all our duties, Avith the defile- 
ment and guilt wherewith these things are accompanied; who judge 
that God scarce takes notice of any thing but outward actions, and 
it may be not much of them neither, so as to be displeased with them, 
unless they are very foul indeed, which yet he is easily entreated to 
pass by and excuse; who judge this duty superfluous, despising both 
the confession and mortification of sin, in this root and principle of 
it. But those who have received most grace and power from above 
against it are of all others the most sensible of its power and guilt, 
and of the necessity of applying themselves continually unto its 
destruction. 

Secondly, With respect unto its {nclinations and operations, 
VOL. III. "^^ 



5 1-5 MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [bOOK IV. 

^vhe^c^n it variously exerts its power, in all particular instances, we 
r.re continually to watch against it and to subdue it. And this con- 
cf'ms us in all that we are and do, — in our duties, in our calling, in 
our conversation with others, in our retirements, in the frames of 
our spirits, in our straits, in our mercies, in the use of our enjoyments, 
in our temptations. If we are negligent unto any occasion, we shall 
suffer by it. This is our enemy, and this is the war we are engaged 
in. Every mistake, every neglect, is perilous. And, — 

Thirdly, The end of this duty, with respect unto us, expressed by 
the apostle, is, that henceforth we should not serve sin, Rom. vi. 6; 
which refers unto the perpetration of actual sins, the bringing forth of 
the actual fruits of the flesh, internal or external also. In whomsoever 
the old man is not crucified with Christ, let him think what he will of 
himself, he is a servant of sin. If he have not received virtue from 
the death of Christ, if he be not wrought unto a conformity to him 
therein, whatever else he may do or attain, however he may in any 
thing, in many things, change his course and reform his life, he 
serves sin, and not God. Our great design ought to be, that we 
should no longer serve sin ; which the apostle in the ensuing verses 
gives us many reasons for. It is, indeed, the worst service that a 
rational creature is capable of, and will have the most doleful end. 
What, therefore, is the only way and means whereby we may attain 
this end, — namely, that although sin will abide in us, yet that we 
may not serve it, which will secure us from its danger? This is that 
mortification of it which we insist upon, and no other. If we expect 
to be freed from the service of sin by its own giving over to press 
its dominion upon us, or by any composition with it, or any other 
way but by being always killing or destroying of it, we do but deceive 
our own souls. 

And, indeed, it is to be feared that the nature of this duty is not 
sufficiently understood or not sufficiently considered. Men look 
upon it as an easy task, and as that which will be carried on with a 
little diligence and ordinary attendance. But do we think it is for 
nothmg that the Holy Ghost expresseth the duty of opposing sin, 
and weakening its power by mortification, killing, or putting to 
death? Is there not somewhat peculiar herein, beyond any other 
act or duty of our lives? Certainly there is intimated a great con- 
tost of sin for the preservation of its life. Every thing will do its 
utmost to preserve its life and being. So will sin do also ; and if it 
be not constantly pursued with diligence and holy violence, it will 
escape our assaults. Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or 
gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow 
not on his blow until he be slain, may repent that ever he began the 
quarrel And so will he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pur- 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 547 

sues it not constantly to death. Sin will after a while revive and the 
man must die. It is a great and fatal mistake if we suppose this 
work will admit of any remissness or intermission. Again, the prin- 
ciple to be slain is in ourselves, and so possessed of our faculties as 
that it is called ourselves. It cannot be killed without a 6en.se of 
pain and trouble. Hence it is compared to the cutting off of right 
hands, and the plucking out of right eyes. Lust.- that pretend to be 
useful to the state and condition of men, that are pleasant and satis- 
factory to the flesh, will not be mortified without such a violence as 
the whole soul shall be deeply sensible of. And sundry other tilings 
might be insisted on to manifest how men deceive themselves, ii" they 
suppose this duty of mortification is that which they may carry on 
in a negligent, careless course and manner. Is there no danger in 
this warfare? no watchfulness, no diligence required of us? Is it so 
easy a thing to kill an enemy who hath so many advantages of force 
and fraud? Wherefore, if we take care of our souls, we are to attend 
unto this duty with that care, diligence, watchfulness, and earnest 
contention of spirit, which the nature of it doth require. 

And, moreover, there is no less fatal mistake where we make the 
object of this duty to be only some particular lusts, or the fruits of 
them in actual sins, as was before observed. This is the way with 
many. They will make head against some sins, which on one account 
or other they find themselves most concerned in; but i^ thev will 
observe their course, they shall find with how little success thev do 
it. For the most part, sin gets ground upon them, and they continu- 
ally groan under the power of its victories; and the reason m, be- 
cause they mistake their business. Contests against particular sins 
are only to comply with light and convictions. Mortification, with a 
design for holiness, respects the body of sin, the root and all its 
branches. The first will miscarry, and the latter will be successful. 
And herein consists the difference between that mortification which 
men are put upon by convictions from the law, which always proves 
fruitless, and that wherein we are acted by the spirit of the gospel. 
The first respects only particular sins, as the guilt of them reflects 
upon conscience ; the latter, the whole interest of sin, as opposed to 
the renovation of the image of God in us. 

(0.) That which remains farther to be demonstrated is, that the 
Holy Spirit is the author of this work in us, so that although it 
is our duty, it is his grace and strength whereby it is perfonnod ; as 
also the manner how it is wrought by him, which is princi]ially in- 
tended: — 

[1.] For the first, we have the truth of it asserted, Rom. viii. U, "If 
ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh." It is we that 
are to mortify the deeds of the flesh. It is our duty, but of ourselves 



^51S MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [bOOK: IV. 

y:e cannot do it; it must be done in or by the Spirit. 'VVliether we 
take "the Spirit" here for the person of the Holy Ghost, as the context 
seems to require, or take it for the gracious principle of spiritual life 
in the renovation of our nature,— not the Spirit himself, but that 
which is " born of the Spirit,"— it is all one as to our purpose; the 
v^ork is taken from our own natural power or ability, and resolved 
into the grace of the Spirit. 

And, that we go no farther for the proof of our assertion, it may 
suffice to observe, that the confirmation of it is the principal design 
of the apostle, from the second verse of that chapter unto the end 
of the thirteenth. That the power and reign of sin, its interest and 
prevalency in the minds of believers, are weakened, impaired, and 
finally destroyed (so as that all the pernicious consequences of it shall 
be avoided) by the Holy Ghost, and that these things could no other- 
wise be effected, he both affirms and proves at large. In the fore- 
going chapter, from the seventh verse unto the end, he declares the 
imture, properties, and efficacy of inchvelling sin, as the remainders 
of it do still abide in believers. And whereas a twofold conclusion 
might be made from the description he gives of the power and act- 
ings of this sin, or a double question arise, unto the great disconsola- 
tion of believers, he doth in this chapter remove them both, mani- 
festing that there was no cause for such conclusions or exceptions 
from any thing by him delivered. The first of these is, " That if such, 
if this be the power and prevalency of indwelling sin, if it so obstruct 
us in our doing that which is good, and impetuously incline us unto 
evil, what will become of us in the end, how shall we answer for all 
the sin and guilt which we have contracted thereby ? We must, we 
shall, therefore, perish under the guilt of it." And the second con- 
clusion which is apt to arise from the same consideration is, " That 
seeing the power and prevalency of sin is so great, and that we in 
ourselves are no way able to make resistance unto it, much less to 
overcome it, it cannot be but that at length it will absolutely prevail 
against us, and bring us under its dominion, unto our everlasting 
ruin." Both these conclusions the apostle obviates in this chapter, or 
removes them if laid as objections against what he had delivered. 
And this he doth, — 

1st. By a tacit concession that they will both of them be found true 
towards all who live and die under the law, without an interest in 
Jesus Christ; for, affirming that " there is no condemnation to 
them which are in Christ Jesus," he grants that those who are not so 
cannot avoid it. Such is the guilt of this sin, and such are the fruits 
of it, in all in whomsoever it abides, that it makes them obnoxious 
unto condemnation. But, — 

2dly. There is a deliverance from this condemnation and from all 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. C'3 

liaUeness thereunto, by free justification in the blood of Christ 
RotQ. viii. 1. For those who have an interest in him, and are made 
partakers thereof, although sin may grieve them, trouble and perplex 
them, and, by its deceit and violence, cause them to contract much 
guilt in their surprisals, yet they need not despond or be utterly cast 
down; there is a stable ground of consolation provided for them, in 
that " there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." 

odhj. That none may abuse this consolation of the gospel to counte- 
nance themselves unto a continuance in the service of sin, he gives 
a limitation of the subjects unto whom it doth belong, — namelv, all 
them, and only them, wAo walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, 
verse 1. As for those who give up themselves unto the conduct of 
this principle of indwelHng sin, who comply with its motions and in- 
clinations, being acted wholly by its power, let them neither flatter 
nor deceive themselves; there is nothing in Christ nor the gospel to 
free them from condemnation. It is they only who give up them- 
selves to the conduct of the Spirit of sanctification and holiness that 
have an interest in this privilege. 

4thli/. As to the other conclusion, taken from the consideration of the 
power and prevalency of this principle of sin, he prevents or removes 
it by a full discovery how and by what means that power of it shall 
be so broken, its strength abated, its prevalency disappointed, and 
itself destroyed, as that we need not fear the consequents of it before 
mentioned, but rather may secure ourselves that we shafl be the 
death thereof and not that the death of our souls. Now this is, saith 
he, " by the law" or power " of the Spirit of life which is in Christ 
Jesus," verse 2. And thereon he proceeds to declare, that it is by the 
eflectual working of this Spirit in us alone that we are enabled to 
overcome this spiritual adversary. This being sufficiently evident, it 
remaineth only that we declare, — 

[2.] The way and manner how he produceth this effect of his grace. 

\st. The foundation of all mortification of sin is from the inhabi- 
tation of the Spirit in us. He dwells in the persons of believers as 
in his temple, and so he prepares it for himself Those defilements 
or pollutions which render the souls of men unmeet habitations for 
the Spirit of God do all of them consist in sin inherent and its 
effects. These, therefore, he will remove and subdue, that he may 
dwell in us suitably unto his holiness: verse 11, "If the Spirit 
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he tliat 
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies 
by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Our "mortal bodies" are our 
bodies as obnoxious unto death by reason of sin, as verse 10; and the 
"quickening" of these mortal bodies is their being freed from the prin- 
ciple of sin, or death and its power, by a contrary principle of life uud 



5,'0 



MOnTIFICATION OY SIN, [bOOK IV. 



righteousness. It is the freeing of us from being " in the flesh," that 
we may be " in the Spirit," verse 9. And by what means is this effected ? 
It is by "the Spirit of him that raise(3 up Jesus from the dead," verse 
11,— that is, of the Father; which also is called the "Spirit of God," 
and the " Spirit of Christ," verse 9, for he is equally the Spirit of the 
Father and the Son. And he is described by this periphrasis, both 
because there is a similitude between that work, as to its greatness 
and power, which God wrought in Christ when he raised him from 
the dead, and what he worketh in believers in their sanctification, 
Eph. i. 19, 20, and because this work is wrought in us by virtue of 
the resurrection of Christ. But under what especial consideration 
doth he effect this work of mortifying sin in us? It is as he dwelleth 
in us. God doth it ''by his Spirit that dwelleth in us," Rom. viii. 11. 
As it is a work of grace, it is said to be wrought by the Spirit; and 
as it is our duty, Ave are said to work it " through the Spirit," verse 13. 
And let men pretend what they please, if they have not the Spirit of 
Christ dwelling in them, they have not mortified any sin, but do yet 
walk after the flesh, and, continuing so to do, shall die. 

Moreover, as this is the only spring of mortification in us as it is 
a grace, so the consideration of it is the principal motive unto it as 
it is a duty. So our apostle pressing unto it doth it by this argu- 
ment: "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God?" 1 Cor. vi. 19. To 
which we may add that weighty caution which he gives us to the 
same purpose: chap. iii. 16, 17, "Know ye not that ye are the temple 
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man 
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of 
God is holy, which temple ye are." 

Whereas, therefore, in every duty two things are principally con- 
sidered, — first. The life and spring of it, as it is wrought in us by 
grace; secondly, The principal reason for it and motive unto it, 
as it is to be performed in ourselves by the way of duty; both these, 
as to this matter of m^ortification, do centre in this inhahitation of 
the Spirit. For, — {1st.) It is he who mortifies and subdues our cor- 
ruptions, who quickens us unto life, holiness, and obedience, as he 
" dwelleth in us," that he may make and prepare a habitation meet 
for himself. And, (2dlg.) The principal reason and motive which we 
have to attend unto it with all care and diligence as a duty is, that 
we may thereby preserve his diveUing-place so as becometh his grace 
and holiness. And, indeed, whereas (as our Saviour tells us) they 
are things which arise from and come out of the heart that defile 
us, there is no greater nor more forcible motive to contend against 
all the defiling actings of sin, which is our mortification, than this, 
that by the neglect hereof the temple of the Spirit will be defiled, 



CHAP. VIII.] TUE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT r " 1 

which we are commanded to watch against, under the severe comnn 
nation of being destroyed for our neglect therein. 

If it be said, that "whereas we do acknowledge that there are still 
remainders of this sin iu us, and they are accompanied with the^- 
defilements, how can it be supposed that the Holy Ghost will dwdl 
m us, or m any one that is not perfectly Iwly?" I answer,— (Uf) That 
the great matter which the Spirit of God considereth in his oppo^i- 
tion unto sin, and that of sin to his work, is dominion and rule. 
This the apostle makes evident, Rom. vi. 12-14, Who or what 
shall have the principal conduct of the mind and soul (chap. viii. 
7-9) is the matter in question. Where sin hath the rule, there the 
Holy Ghost will never dwell. He enters into no soul as iiis habita- 
tion, but at the same instant he dethrones sin, spoils it of its domi- 
nion, and takes the rule of the soul into the hand of his own grace. 
Where he hath effected this work, and brought his adversary into 
subjection, there he will dwell, though sometimes his habitation be 
troubled by his subdued enemy. (2%) The souls and minds of them 
who are really sanctified have continually such a sjjrinkiing with the 
blood of Christ, and are so continually 'purified by virtue from his 
sacrifice and oblation, as that they are never unmeet habitations for 
the Holy Spirit of God. 

^dly. The manner of the actual operation of the Spirit of God in 
effecting this work, or how he mortifies sin, or enables us to mortify 
it, is to be considered; and an acquaintance herewith dependeth on 
the knowledge of the sin that is to be mortified, which we have be- 
fore described. It is the vicious, cornipt habit and inclination unto 
sin, which is in us by nature, that is the principal object of this duty; 
or, " the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." 
When this is weakened in us as to its power and efficacy, when its 
strength is abated and its prevalency destroyed, then is this duty in 
its proper discharge, and mortification carried on iu the soul. 

Now, this the Holy Ghost doth, — 

(1st.) By implanting in our minds and all their faculties a con- 
trary habit and principle, with contrary mclinations, dispositions, 
and actings, — namely, a principle of spiritual life and holiness, 
bringing forth the fruits thereof. By means hereof is this work 
effected; for sin will no otherwise die but by being killed and slain. 
And whereas this is gradually to be done, it must be by v.'arring and 
conflict. There must be something in us that is contrary unto it, 
which, opposing it, conflicting with it, doth insensibly and by de- 
grees (for it dies not at once) work out its ruin and destruction. As 
in a chronical distemper, the disease continually combats, and con- 
flicts with the powers of nature, until, having insensibly improved 
them, it prevails unto its dissolution, so is it in this matter. Tiieso 



352 MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [BOOK IV. 

adverse principles, witli their contrariety, opposition, and conflict, the 
apostle expressly asserts and describes, as also their contrary fruits 
and actings, with the issue of the whole, Gal. v. 16-25. The con- 
trary priticiples are the flesh and Spirit; and their contrary actings 
are in lusting and warring one against the other: Verse 16, " Walk 
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Not to 
lulfil the lusts of the flesh is to mortify it; for it neither will nor can 
Le hept alive if its lusts be not fulfilled. And he gives a fuller ac- 
count hereof, verse 17, "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and 
the Spirit against the flesli : and these are contrary the one to the 
other." If by the "Spirit," the Spirit of God himself be intended, yet 
he " lusteth" not in us but by virtue of that spirit which is born of 
him ; tliat is, the new nature, or holy principle of obedience which he 
v/orketh in us. And the way of their jxiutual opposition unto one 
auotlier the apostle describes at large in the following verses, by in- 
stancing in the contrary effects of the one and the other. But the 
iosue of the whole is, verse 24, "They that are Christ's have crucified 
the flesh with the affections and lusts." They have " crucified " it; that 
is, fastened it unto that cross where at length it may expire. And 
tills is the way of it, — namely, the actings of the Spirit against it, 
and the fruits produced thereby. Hence he shuts up his discourse 
with that exhortation, "If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the 
Spirit;" that is, "If we are endowed with this spiritual principle of 
life, which is to live in the Spirit, then let us act, work, and improve 
that spiritual principle unto the ruin and mortification of sin." 

This, therefore, is the first way whereby the Spirit of God morti- 
fieth sin in us; and in a compliance with it, under his conduct, do 
we regularly carry on this work and duty, — that is, we mortify sin 
by cherishing the principle of holiness and sanctification in our souls, 
labouring to increase and strengthen it by growing in grace, and by 
a constancy and frequency in acting of it in all duties, on all occa- 
sions, abounding in the fruits of it. Growing, thriving, and improv- 
ing in universal holiness, is the great way of the mortification of sin. 
The more vigorous the principle of holiness is in us, the more weak, 
infirm, and dying will be that of sin. The more frequent and lively 
are the actings of grace, the feebler and seldomer will be the actings 
of sin. Tlie more we abound in the " fruits of the Spirit," the less 
shall we be concerned in the " works of the flesh." And we do but 
deceive ourselves if we think sin will be mortified on any other 
terms. Men when they are galled in their consciences and dis- 
quieted in their minds with any sin or temptation thereunto, wherein 
their lusts or corruptions are either influenced by Satan, or en- 
tangled by objects, occasions, and opportimities, do set themselves 
oiLtimes in good earnest to oppose and subdue it, by all the ways 



CHAP. VIll.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 



.so 



and means^ they can think upon. But all they do is in vain • and ,c 
they find it at last, unto their cost and sorrow. The reason is be 
cause they neglect this course, without which never any one sin' was 
truly mortified in the world, nor ever will so bo. The course I intend 
IS that of labouring universally toimi^rove a principle of holiness not 
m this or that way, but in all instances of holy obedience. This is 
that which will ruin sin, and without it nothing else will contril)ut6 
any thing thereunto. Bring a man unto the law, urge him with 
the purity of its doctrines, the authority of its commands, the severity 
of its threatenings, the dreadful consequences of its transgression; 
suppose him convinced hereby of the evil and danger of sin, of the 
necessity of its mortification and destruction, will he be able' hereon 
to discharge this duty, so as that sin may die and his soul may live? 
The apostle assures us of the contrary, Rom. vii. 7-9. The whole 
effect of the application of the law in its power unto indwelling sin 
is but to irritate, provoke, and increase its guilt. And what other 
probable way besides this unto this end can any one fix upon? 

(2dly.) The Holy Ghost carrieth on this work in us as a grace, 
and enableth us unto it as our dutij, by those actual supplies and 
assistances of ^race which he continually communicates unto us; 
for the same divine operations, the same supplies of grace, which are 
necessary unto, the positive acts and duties of holiness, are necessary 
also unto this end, that sin in the actual motions and lustings of it 
may be mortified. So the apostle issues his long account of the con- 
flict between sin and the soul of a believer, and his complaint there- 
on, with that good word, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our 
Lord," Rom. vii. 25, — namely, who supplies me with gracious assist- 
ance against the power of sin. Temptation is successful only by 
sin, James i. 14. And it was with respect unto an especial tempta- 
tion that the Lord Christ gives that answer unto the apostle, "My 
grace is sufficient for thee," 2 Cor. xii. 9. It is the actual supply of 
the Spirit of Christ that doth enable us to withstand our tempta- 
tions and subdue our corruptions. This is the iviyjif^riyia. to\j ncEu- 
/iaros, Phil. i. 19, — an "additional supply," as occa.sion reciuireth, 
beyond our constant daily provision; or y^apig ik eitxaipov ^o^iiitf, 
Heb. iv. 16, — grace given in to help seasonably, upon our cry made 
for it. Of the nature of these supplies we have discoursed before. 
I shall now only observe, that in the life of faith and depemlence on 
Christ, the expectation and derivation of these supplies of grace and 
spiritual strength is one principal part of our duty. These things 
are not empty notions, as some imagine. If Christ be a head of m- 
fluence unto us as well as of rule, as the head natural is to the 
body; if he be our life, if our hfe be in him, and we have notliing 
but what we do receive from him; if he give unto us supplies of liifl 



554 MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [bOOK IV. 

S})rrit and increases of grace; and if it be our duty by faith to look 
for :V^ these things from him, and that be the means of receiving 
them,— which things are all expressly and frequently affirmed in 
the Scripture; — then is this expectation and derivation of spiritual 
stren<^th continually from him the way we are to take for the actual 
mortification of sin. And, therefore, if we would be found in a suc- 
cessful discharge of this duty, it is required of us, — [1st.] That we 
endeavour diligently, in the whole course of our lives, after these con- 
tinual supplies of gr-ace, — that is, that we wait for them in all those 
ways and means whereby they are communicated ; for although the 
Lord Christ giveth them out freely and bountifully, yet our dili- 
gence in duty will give the measure of receiving them. If we are 
neo-li'i^ent in prayer, meditation, reading, hearing of the word, and 
other ordinances of divine worship, we have no ground to expect any 
great supplies to this end. And, [2dly.] That we live and abound 
in the actual exercise of all those graces which are most directly 
opposite unto those peculiar lusts or corruptions that we are most 
exercised withal or obnoxious unto; for sin and grace do try their 
interest and prevalency in particular instances. If, therefore, any 
are more than ordinarily subject unto the power of any corruption, — 
as passion, inordinate aflfections, love of the world, distrust of God, 
— unless they be constant in the exercise of those graces which are 
diametrically opposed unto them, they will continually suffer under 
the power of sin. 

(Sdly.) It is the Holy Spirit which directs us unto, and helps 
us in, the performance of those duties, which are appointed of God 
unto this end, that they may be means of the mortification of sin. 
Unto the right use of those duties (for such there are), two things are 
required: — [Ist] That we k7iow them aright in their nature and use, 
as also that they are appointed of God unto this end; and then, 
["^dbj.] That we perform them in a due manner. And both these we 
must have from the Spirit of God. He is given to believers "to lead 
them into all truth;" he teacheth and instructs them by the word, 
not only what duties are incumbent on them, but also how to per- 
form them, and with respect unto what ends: — 

\\st.\ It is required that we know them aright, in their nature, use, 
and ends. For want hereof, or through the neglect of looking after 
it, all sorts of men have wandered after foolish imaginations about 
this work, either as to the nature of the work itself, or as to the 
means whereby it may be effected; for it being a grace and duty of 
the gospel, thence only is it truly to be learned, and that by the 
teachings of the Spirit of God. And it may not be amiss to give 
some instances of the darkness of men s minds and their mistakes 
hereia. 



IS ne- 



CIIAP. YIII.J THE x\ATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 

First, A general apprehension that somewhat of this nature 
cessary, arising from the observation of the disorder of our ms.s/o«l 
and the exorbitancy of the lives of most in the worhl, is suited even 
to the hght of nature, and was from thence variously improved by the 
philosophers of old. To this purpose did they give many instructions 
about denymg and subduing the disorderly affections of the mind, 
conquering passions, moderating desires, and the like. But whilst 
their discoveries of sin rose no higher than the actual disorder they 
found in the affections and passions of the mind,— whilst they knew 
nothing of the depravation of the mind itself, and had nothing to 
oppose unto what they did discover but moral considerations, °and 
those most of them notoriously influenced by vain-glory and ap- 
plause,— they never attained unto any thing of the same kind with 
the due mortification of sin. 

Secondly, We may look into the Papacy, and take a view of the 
great appearance of this duty which is therein, and we shall find it 
all disappointed; because they are not led unto nor taught the duties 
whereby it may be brought about by the Spirit of God. They have, 
by the light of the Scripture, a far clearer discovery of the nature 
and power of sin than had the philosophers of old. The command- 
ment, also, being variously brought and applied unto their consciences, 
they may be, and doubtless are and have been, many of them, made 
deeply sensible of the actings and tendency of indwelling sin. Hereon 
ensues a terror of death and eternal judgment. Things being so 
stated, persons who were not profligate nor had their consciences 
seared could not refrain from contriving ways and means how sin 
might be mortified and destroyed. But whereas they had lost a true 
apprehension of the only way whereby this might be effected, they 
betook themselves unto innumerable false ones of their own. Tliis 
was the spring of all the austerities, disciplines, fastings, self-macera- 
tions, and the like, which are exercised or in use among them : for 
although they are now in practice turned mostly to the benefit of 
the priests, and an indulgence unto sin in the penitents, yet they 
were invented and set on foot at first with a design to use them as 
engines for the mortification of sin ; and they have a great appear- 
ance in the flesh unto that end and purpose. But yet, when all was 
done, they found by experience that they were insufficient hereunto: 
sin was not destroyed, nor conscience pacified by them. This made 
them betake themselves to purgatory. Here they have hopes all 
will be set right when they are gone out of this world; from whence 
none could come back to complain of their disappointments. These 
things are not spoken to condemn even external severities and aus- 
terities, in fastings, watchings, and abstinences, in their jiroper jdace. 
Our nature is apt to run into extremes. Because we see the vanity 



C'Q MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [bOOK IV. 

of tLe Papists in placing mortification of sin in an outward shadow 
and appearance of it, in that bodily exercise which profiteth not, we 
are apt to thiidc tliat all things of that nature are utterly needless, 
and cannot be subordinate unto spiritual ends. But the truth is, I 
shall much suspect their internal mortification (pretend what they 
will) who always pamper the flesh, indulge to their sensual appetite, 
conform to the world, and lead their lives in idleness and pleasures; 
yea, it is high time that professors, by joint consent, should re- 
trench that course of life, in fulness of diet, bravery of apparel, ex- 
pense of time in vain conversation, which many are fallen into. But 
these outward austerities of thetnselves, I say, will never effect the 
end aimed at; for as to the most of them, they being such, as God 
never appointed unto any such end or purpose, but being the fruit 
of men's own contrivances and inventions, let them be insisted on 
and pursued unto the most imaginable extremities, being not blessed 
of God thereunto, they will not contribute the least towards the 
mortification of sin. Neither is there either virtue or efficacy in the 
residue of them, but as they are subordinated unto other spiritual 
duties. So Hierom gives us an honest instance in himself, tell- 
ing us that whilst he lived in his horrid wilderness in Judea, and 
lodged in his cave, his mind would be in the sports and revels at 
Rome! 

Thirdly, The like may be said of the Quakers amongst ourselves. 
That which first recommended them was an appearance of mortifica- 
tion ; which it may be also some of them really intended, though it is 
evident they never understood the nature of it: for in the height of 
their outward appearances, as they came short of the sorry weeds, 
begging habits, macerated countenances, and severe looks, of many 
monks in the Roman church, and dervises among the Mohammedans; 
so they were so far from restraining or mortifying their real inclina- 
tions, as that they seemed to excite and provoke themselves to exceed 
all others in clamours, railings, evil-speakings, reproaches, calum- 
nies, and malicious treating of those who dissented from them, with- 
out the least discovery of a heart filled with kindness and benignity 
unto mankind, or love unto any but themselves; in which frame and 
state of things sin is as secure from mortification as in the practice 
of open lusts and debaucheries. But supposing that they made a 
real industrious attempt for the mortification of sin, what success 
have they had, what have they attained unto? Some of them have 
very wisely slipped over the whole work and duty of it into a pleasing 
dream of perfection ; and generally, finding the fruitlessness of their 
attempt, and that indeed sin will not be mortified by the power of 
their liglit within, nor by their resolutions, nor by any of their aus- 
tere outward appearances, nor peculiar habits or looks, which iu this 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 5-7 

matter are openly pharisaical, they begin to give over their de.si«n- 
for who, among all that pretend to any reverence of God, do more 
openly mdulge themselves unto covetousness, love of the world 
emulation, strife, contentions among themselves, severe revenee.s 
agamst others, than they do,— not to mention the filth and unclean- 
ness they begin mutually to charge one another withal? And so 
will all self-devised ways of mortification end. It is the Spirit of 
God alone who leads us into the exercise of those duties whereby it 
may be carried on. 

[2dhj.] It is required that the diities to be used unto this end Ije 
rightl>/ performed, in faith, unto the glory of God. Without this a 
multiplication of duties is an increase of burden and bondage, and that 
is all. Now, that we can perform no duty in this way or manner with- 
out the especial assistance of the Holy Spirit hath been sufficiently 
before evinced. And the duties which are appointed of God in an 
especial manner unto this end are, prayer, meditation, watch fulnes.s, 
abstinence, wisdom or circumspection with reference unto tempta- 
tions and their prevalency. Not to go over these duties in part?- 
cular, nor to show wherein their especial efficacy unto this end and 
purpose doth consist, I shall only give some general rules concern- 
ing the exercising of our souls in them, and some dhections for their 
right performance : — 

First, All these duties are to be designed and managed with an es- 
pecial respect unto this end. It will not suffice that we are exercised 
in them in general, and with regard only unto this general end. We 
are to aj^ply them unto this particular case, designing in and by 
them the mortification and ruin of sin, especially when, by it.s 
especial actings in us, it discovers itself in a peculiar manner unto us. 
No man who wisely considereth himself, his state and condition, his 
occasions and temptations, can be wholly ignorant of his especial 
corruptions and inclinations, whereby he is ready for halting, as tlie 
psalmist speaks. He that is so lives in the dark to himself, and walks 
at peradventures with God, not knowing how he walketh nor whi- 
ther he goeth. David probably had respect hereunto when he said, 
" I have kept the ways of the LoRD, and have not wickedly departeil 
from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not 
put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, ant! 
I kept myself from mine iniquity," Ps. xviii. 21-23. He could hav' 
done nothing of all this, nor have preserved his integrity in walking 
with God, had he not known and kept a continual watch upon his 
own iniquity, or that working of sin in him which most peculiarly 
inclined and disposed him unto evil. Upon this discovery, we are 
to apply these duties in a particular manner to the weakening and 
ruin of the power of sin. As they are all useful and necessary, so 



C'3 MOIITIFICATION OF SIN, [cOOK IV. 

the circumstances of our condition will direct us which of them in 
particular we ought to be most conversant in. Sometimes prayer 
and meditation claim this place, as when our danger ariseth solely 
from ourselves, and our own perverse inclinations, disorderly affec- 
tions, or unruly passions; sometimes watchfulness and abstinence, 
M'hen sin takes occasion from temptations, concerns, and businesses in 
the world; sometimes wisdom and circumspection, when the avoid- 
ance of temptations and opportunities for sin is in an especial manner 
required of us. These duties, I say, are to be managed with a peculiar 
design to oppose, defeat, and destroy the power of sin, into which they 
have a powerful influence, as designed of God unto that end; for, — 

Secondly, All these duties, rightly improved, work two ways to- 
wards the end designed: first. Morally, and by way of impetration, — 
namely, of help and assistance; secondly. Really, by an immediate 
opposition unto sin and its power, whence assimilation unto holiness 
doth arise: — 

(First.) These duties work morally and by way of impetration. I 
shall instance only in one of them, and that is prayer. There are 
two parts of prayer with respect unto sin and its power: first, Com- 
plaints; secondly, Petitions: — 

[First.] Complaints. So is the title of Psalm cii., "A prayer of the 
afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint be- 
fore the Lord." So David expresseth himself, Ps. Iv. 2, " Attend 
imto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a 
noise." His prayer was a doleful lamentation. And Ps. cxlii. 2, 
" I poured out my complaint before him ; I showed before him my 
trouble." This is the first work of prayer with respect unto sin, its 
power and pre valency. The soul therein pours out its complaints 
unto God, and showeth before him the trouble it undergoes on the 
account thereof And this it doth in an humble acknowledgment 
of its guilt, crying out of its deceit and violence; for all just and 
due complaint respecteth that which is grievous, and which is be- 
yond the power of the complainer to relieve himself against. Of 
this sort there is nothing to be compared with the power of sin, 
as to believera 

This therefore is, and ought to be, the principal matter and subject 
of their complaints in prayer; yea, the very nature of the whole case 
is such as that the apostle could not give an account of it without 
great complaints, Rom. vii. 24. This part of prayer, indeed, is with 
profligate persons derided and scorned, but it is acceptable with God, 
and that wherein believers find ease and rest unto their souls; for, 
let the world scoff while it pleaseth, what is more acceptable unto 
God than for his children, out of pure love unto him and holiness, 
out of fervent desires to comply with his mind and will, and thereby 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 559 

to attain conformity unto Jesus Christ, to come with their complaints 
unto him of the distance they are kept from these things by the 
captivating power of sin, bewailing their frail condition, and humbly 
acknowledging all the evils they are liable unto upon the account 
tliereof? Would any man have thought it possible, had not experi- 
ence convinced him, that so much Luciferian pride and atheism 
should possess the minds of any who would be esteemed Ciiristians 
as to scoff at and deride these things? that any one should ever 
read the Bible, or once consider what he is, and with whom he hath 
to do, and be ignorant of this duty? But we have nothing to do 
with such persons, but to leave them to please themselves whilst 
they may with these fond and impious imaginations. They will 
come either in this world (which we hope and pray for), in their re- 
pentance, to know their folly, or in another. I say, these complaints 
of sin, poured out before the Lord, these cryings out of deceit and 
violence, are acceptable to God, and prevalent with him to give out 
aid and assistance. He owns believers as his children, and hath the 
bowels and compassion of a father towards them. Sin he knows to be 
their greatest enemy, and which fights directly against their souls. 
Will he, then, despise their complaints, and their bemoaning of them- 
selves before him? will he not avenge them of that enemy, and that 
speedily? See Jer. xxxi. 18-20. Men who think they have no 
other enemies, none to complain of, but such as oppose them, or 
obstruct them, or oppress them, in their secular interests, advantages, 
and concerns, are strangers unto these things. Believers look on sin 
as their greatest adversary, and know that they suffer more from it 
than from all the world; suffer them, therefore, to make their com- 
plaints of it unto him who pities them, and who will relieve them 
and avenge them, 

[Secondly.] Prayer is directlj petitions to this purpose. It consists 
of petitions unto God for supplies of grace to conflict and conquer sin 
withal. I need not prove this. No man prays as he ought, no man 
joins in prayer with another who prays as he ought, but these peti- 
tions are a part of his prayer. Especially will they be so, and ought 
they so to be, when the mind is peculiarly engaged in the design of 
destroying sin. And these petitions or requests are, as far as they 
are gracious and effectual, wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, wiio 
therein "maketh intercession for us, according to the will of God;" 
and hereby doth he carry on this work of the mortification of sin, 
for his work it is. He makes us to put up prevalent requests unto 
God for such continual supplies of grace, whereby it may be con- 
stantly kept under, and at length destroyed. 

And this is the first way whereby this duty hath an influence into 
mortification,— namely, morally and by way of impetration. 



5 CO MORTIFICATION OF SIN, f JIOOK IV. 

(Secondly.) This duty hath a real efficiency unto the same end. It 
doth itself (when rightly performed and duly attended unto) mightily 
prevail unto the weakening and destruction of sin; for in and by 
fervent prayer, especially when it is designed unto this end, the habit, 
frame, and inclinations of the soul unto universal holiness, with a 
detestation of all sin, are increased, cherished, and strengthenpd. 
The soul of a believer is never raised unto a higher intension of spirit 
in the pursuit of, love unto, and delight in holiness, nor is more con- 
formed unto it or cast into the mould of it, than it is in prayer. And 
frequency in this duty is a principal means to fix and consolidate the 
mind in the form and likeness of it; and hence do believers ofttimes 
continue in and come off from prayer above all impressions from sin, 
as to inclinations and compliances. Would such a frame always 
continue,' how hap})y were we! But abiding in the duty is the best 
way of reaching out after it. I say, therefore, that this duty is really 
efficient of the mortification of sin, because therein all the graces 
whereby it is opposed and weakened are excited, exercised, and im- 
proved unto that end, as also the detestation and abhorrency of sin 
is increased in us; and where this is not so, there are some secret 
flaws in the prayers of men, which it will be their wisdom to find out 
and heal. 

{^thly) The Holy Spirit carrieth on this work by applying in an 
especial manner the death of Christ unto us for that end. And this 
is another thing which, because the world understandeth. not, it doth 
despise. But yet in whomsoever the death of Christ is not the death 
of sin, he shall die in his sins. To evidence this truth we may ob- 
serve, — [Isi.] In general, That the death of Christ hath an especial 
influence into the mortification of sin, without which it will not be 
mortified. This is plainly enough testified unto in the Scripture. By 
his cross, — that is, his death on the cross, — "we are crucified unto the 
world," Gal. vi. 14. "Our old man is crucified with him, that the body 
of sin might be destroyed," Kom. vi. 6; that is, sin is mortified in us 
by virtue of the death of Christ. [2dly.] In the death of Christ 
with respect unto sin there may be considered, — First, His oUation 
of himself; and. Secondly, The application thereof unto us. By 
the first it is that our sins are expiated as unto their guilt; but from 
the latter it is that they are actually subdued as to their power; for 
it is by an interest in, and a participation of the benefits of his death, 
which we call the application of it unto us. Hereon are we said to 
be " buried with him" and to "rise with him," whereof our baptism 
is a pledge, chap. vi. 3, 4; not in an outward representation, as some 
imagine, of being dipped into the water and taken up again (which 
were to make one sign the sign of another), but in a powerful parti- 
cipation of the virtue of the death and life of Christ, iu a death unto 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT rr^ 

sin and newness of life in holy obedience, which baptism is a pledge 
of, as It IS a token of our initiation and implantin- into hini S,. 
are we said to be - baptized into his death," or into the likeness .,f 
It, that IS, in its power, verse 3. Thirdly, The old man is said to be 
crucified with Christ, or sin to be mortified by the death of Christ 
as was in part before observed, on two accounts:— 

(First.) Of conformity. Christ is the head, the beginning or idcn 
of the new creation, the first-born of every creature. What'ever God 
designeth unto us therein, he first exemplified in Jesus Christ; and 
we are "predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son," 
Rom. viii. 29. Hereof the apostle gives us an express instance in tlie 
resurrection: « Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's 
at his coming," 1 Cor. xv. 23. It is so in all things; all that is 
wrought in us, it is in resemblance and conformity unto Christ Par- 
ticularly, we are by grace " planted in the likeness of his death," 
Eom. vi. 5, being "made conformable unto his death," Phil. iii. 10; 
and so " dead with Christ," Col. ii. 20. Now, this conformity is 
not in our natural death, nor in our being put to death as he was; 
for it is that which we are made partakers of in this life, and that in 
a way of grace and mercy. But Christ died for sin, for our sin, 
which was the meritorious procuring cause thereof; and he lived af^aia 
by the power of God. A likeness and conformity hereunto God will 
work in all believers. There is by nature a life of sin in them, as 
hath been declared. This life must be destroyed, sin must die in us; 
and we thereby become dead unto sin. And as he rose again, so are 
we to be quickened in and unto newness of life. In this death of si a 
consists that mortification which we treat about, and without which 
we cannot be conformed unto Christ in his death, which we are 
designed unto. And the same Spirit which wrought these things iu 
Christ will, in the pursuit of his design, work that which answers 
unto them in all his members. 

(Secondly.) In respect of ejfficacy. Virtue goeth forth from the 
death of Christ for the subduing and destruction of sin. It was not 
designed to be a dead, inactive, passive example, but it is accompanied 
with a power conforming and changing us into his own likeness. It 
is the ordinance of God unto that end ; which he therefore gives efii- 
cacy unto. It is by a fellowship or participation in liis sufferings 
that we are "made conformable unto his death," Phil. iii. 10; — this 
xoivuvla Tuv rraSniJ'aroiv is an interest in the benefit of his sufferings; we 
also are made partakers thereof This makes us conformable to lii.s 
death, in the death of sin in us. The death of Christ is designed to 
be the death of sin, let them who are dead in sin deride it whil.st 
they please. If Christ had not died, sin had never died in any sinner 
unto eternity. Wherefore, that there is a virtue and efificacy in the 

t)6 



VOL. III. 



5(52 MORTIFICATION OF SIN, [BOOK IV, 

('eath of Christ unto this purpose cannot be denied without a re- 
nunciation of all the benefits thereof. On the one hand, the Scripture 
tells us that he is " our life," our spiritual life, the spring, fountain, 
and cause of it; we have nothing, therefore, that belongs thereunto 
but what is derived from him. They cast themselves out of the 
A-ero-e of Christianity who suppose that the Lord Christ is no other- 
wise our life, or the author of life unto us, but as he hath revealed 
and taught the way of life unto us; he is our life as he is our head. 
And it would be a sorry head that should only teach the feet to go, 
and not communicate strength to the whole body so to do. And 
that we have real influences of life from Christ I have sufficiently 
];roved before. Unto our spiritual life doth ensue the death of sin; 
for this, on the other hand, is peculiarly assigned unto his death in 
the testimonies before produced. This, therefore, is by virtue derived 
from Christ, — that is, in an especial manner from his death, as the 
Scripture testifies. 

All the inquiry is, How the death of Christ is applied unto us, or, 
which is the same, How we apply ourselves to the death of Christ 
for this purpose. And I answer, Ave do it two ways: — 

[1st] 'By faith. The way to derive virtue from Christ is by touch- 
ing of him. So the diseased woman in the gospel touched but the 
hem of his garment, and virtue went forth from him to stay her 
bloody issue, Matt. ix. 20-22. It was not her touching him outwardly, 
but her faith, which she acted then and thereby, that derived virtue 
from him ; for so our Saviour tells her in his answer, " Daughter, be 
of good comfort ; thy faith hath made thee whole." But unto what 
■end was this touching of his garment? It was only a pledge and 
token of the particular application of the healing power of Christ 
unto her soul, or her faith in him in particular for that end : for at 
the same time many thronged upon him in a press, so as his disciples 
marvelled he should ask who touched his clothes, Mark v, 30, 31 ; 
} et was not any of them advantaged but the poor sick woman. A 
great emblem it is of common profession on the one hand, and espe- 
cial faith on the other. Multitudes press and throng about Christ 
in a profession of faith and obedience, and in the real performance 
of many duties, but no virtue goetli forth from Christ to heal them. 
But when any one, though poor, though seemingly at a distance, 
gets but the least touch of him by especial faith, this soul is healed. 
This is our way with respect unto the mortification of sin. The 
Scripture assures us that there is virtue and efficacy in the death of 
Christ unto that end. The means whereby we derive this virtue 
from him is by touching of him,— that is, by acting faith on him in 
his death for the death of sin. 

But how will this effect it? how will sin be mortified hereby? I 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 563 

say, How, by what power and virtue, were they healed in tlie wilder- 
ness who looked unto the brazen serpent? was it not because that 
was an ordinance of God, which by his almighty power he made 
effectual unto that purpose? The death of Christ being so as to the 
crucifying of sin, when it is looked on or applied unto by faith, shall 
not divine virtue and power go forth unto that end ? Tlie Scripture 
and experience of all believers give testimony unto the truth and 
reality thereof. Besides, faith itself, as acted on the death of Christ, 
hath a peculiar efficacy unto the subduing of sin: for, " beholdiniT" 
him thereby " as in a glass, we are changed into the same image," 
2 Cor. iii. 18; and that which we peculiarly behold, we are peculi- 
arly transformed into the likeness of. And, moreover, it is the only 
means whereby we actually derive from Christ the benefits of our 
union with him. From thence we have all grace, or there is no such 
thing in the world; and the communication of it unto us is in and 
by the actual exercise of faith principally. So it being acted with 
respect unto his death, we have grace for the killing of sin, and 
thereby become dead with him, crucified with him, buried with liim, 
as in the testimonies before produced. This is that which we call 
the application of the death of Christ unto us, or our application of 
ourselves to the death of Christ for the mortification of sin. And 
they by whom this means thereof is despised or neglected, wlio are 
ignorant of it or do blaspheme it, must live under the power of sin, 
unto what inventions soever they turn themselves for deliverance. 
According as we abide and abound herein will be our success. Tho.se 
who are careless and remiss in the exercise of faith, by prayer and 
meditation, in the way described, will find that sin will keep its 
ground, and maintain so much power in them as shall issue in their 
perpetual trouble ; and men who are much conversant with the death 
of Christ, — not in notions and lifeless speculations, not in natural 
or carnal affections, like those which are raised in weak persons by 
images and crucifixes, but by holy actings of faith with respect unto 
what is declared in the Scripture as to its power and efficacy,— will 
be implanted into the likeness of it, and experience the death of siu 
in them continually. 

[2dly.] We do it by love. Christ as crucified is the great object of 
our love, or should so be; for he is therein unto sinners "altogether 
lovely." Hence one of the ancients cried out, 'O tfui (/j.oi etfravfurai; 

« My love is crucified, and why do I stay behind i" In the death 

of Christ do his love, his grace, his condescension, most gloriously 
shine forth. We may, therefore, consider three things with respi'ot 
unto this love:— first. The object of it; secondly, The means of the 
representation of that object unto our minds and affections; thndly, 
The effects of it as to the case in hand. 



534 MORTIFICATION OF SIX, [cOOK IV. 

First, The ohjed of it is Christ himself, in his unsearchable grace, 
his unspeakable love, his infinite condescension, his patient suffer- 
ing, and victorious power, in his death or dying for us. It is not 
his death absolutely, but himself, as all these graces conspicuously 
shine forth in his death, which is intended. 

Secondly, And there are various ways whereby this may be repre- 
sented unto our minds :— (First,) Men may do it unto themselves by 
their own imaginations. They may frame and fancy dolorous things 
unto themselves about it, which is the way of persons under deep and 
devout superstitions ; but no love in sincerity will ever be ingenerated 
towards Jesus Christ hereby. (Secondly,) It may be done by others, in 
pathetical and tragical declarations of the outward part of Christ's 
sufferings. Herein some have a great faculty to work upon the natu- 
ral affections of their auditors; and great passions, accompanied with 
tears and vows, may be so excited. But, for the most part, there is no 
more in this work than what the same persons do find in themselves, 
it may be, in the reading or hearing of a feigned story ; for there is a 
sympathy in natural affections with the things that are their proper 
objects, though represented by false imaginations. (Thirdly,) It is done 
in the Papacy, and among some others, by images, in crucifixes and 
dolorous pictures, whereunto they pay great devotion, with an ap- 
pearance of ardent affections; but none of these is such a due repre- 
sentation of this object as to ingenerate sincere love towards Christ 
crucified in any soul. Wherefore, (Fourthly,) This is done effectually 
only by ihe gos'pel, and in the dispensation of it according to the mind 
of God ; for therein is " Jesus Christ evidently crucified before our 
eyes," Gal. iii. 1. And this it doth by proposing unto our faith the 
grace, the love, the patience, the condescension, the obedience, the 
end and design of Christ therein. So is Christ eyed by faith as the 
proper object of sincere love. And being so stated, — 

Thirdly, The effects of it, as of all true love, are, first. Adherence; 
secondly, Assimilation : — (First,) Adherence. Love in the Scripture 
is frequently expressed by this effect ; the soul of one did cleave, or was 
knit, unto another, as that of Jonathan to David, 1 Sam. xviii. 1. So 
it produceth a firm adherence unto Christ crucified, that makes a soul 
to be in some sense always present with Christ on the cross. And 
hence ensues, (Secondly,) Assimilation or conformity. None treat 
of the nature or effects of love but they assign this as one of them, 
that it begets a likeness between the mind loving and the object 
beloved. And so I am sure it is in this matter. A mind filled with 
the lovo of Christ as crucified, and represented in the manner and 
way before described, will be changed mto his image and likeness by 
the effectual mortification of sin, through a derivation of power and 
grace from thence for that purpose. 



CHAP. VIII.] THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF IT. 5 Co 

{miy) The Holy Ghost carrieth on this work by constant dis- 
covenes unto and pressing on believers, on the one hand, the true 
nature and certain end of sin; and, on the other, the beauty, excel- 
lency, usefulness, and necessity of holiness, with the concerns of God 
Christ, the gospel, and their own souls therein. A rational con- 
sideration of these things is all the ground and reason of mortificar 
tion in the judgment of some men. But we have proved that there 
are other causes of it also; and now I add, that if we have no 
consideration of these things but what our own reason is of itself 
able to suggest unto us, it will never be prevalent unto any sincere 
or permanent attempt in the mortification of any sin whatever. Let 
men make the best of their reason they can, in the searching and 
consideration of the perverse nature and dreadful consequents of sin, 
of the perfect peace and future blessedness which attendeth tlie prac- 
tice of holiness, they will find an obstinacy and stubbornness in 
their hearts not conquerable by any such reasonings or considera- 
tions. That conviction of sin and righteousness which is useful and 
prevalent unto that end and purpose is wrought in us by the Holy 
Ghost, John xvi. 8. Although he makes use of our minds, under- 
standings, reasons, consciences, and tJie best of our consideration, in 
this matter, yet if he give not a peculiar efficacy and power unto all, 
the work will not be effectual. When he is pleased to make use of 
reasons and motives, taken from the nature and end of sin and holi- 
ness, unto the mortification of sin, they shall hold good, and bind the 
soul unto this duty, against all objections and temptations that would 
divert it whatever. 

And thus I have briefly, and I confess weakly and obscurely, de- 
lineated the work of the Holy Ghost in the sanctification of them 
that do believe. Many things might have been more enlarged and 
particularly inquired into ; what have been discoursed I judge suffi- 
cient to my present purpose. And I doubt not but that what hath 
been argued from plain Scripture and experience is sufficient, as to 
direct us in the practice of true evangelical holiness, so, with all sober 
persons, to cast out of all consideration that fulsome product of pride 
and ignorance, that all gospel holiness consists in the practice of 
moral virtues. 



566 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FEOM THE [BOOK V. 

BOOK V. 
CHAPTER T. 

NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM THE CONSIDERATION 
OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 

The necessity of evangelical holiness owned by all Christians — Doctrines falsely 
charged with an inconsistency with it— Though owned by all, yet practised 
by few, and disadvantageously pleaded for by many — The true nature of it 
briefly expressed — First argument for the necessity of holiness, from the 
nature of God; frequently proposed unto our consideration for that end — 
This argument cogent and unavoidable; pressed, with its limitation — Not the 
nature of God absolutely, but as he is in Christ, the foundation of this neces- 
sity, and a most etlectual motive unto the -ame end — The nature and efficacy 
of that motive declared — Tlie argument enfi.rced from the consideration 
of our conformity unto God by holiness, with that communion and likeness 
■with him which depend thereon, with our future everlasting enjoyment of 
him — True force of that consideration vindicated — Meiit rejected, and also the 
substitution of morality in the room of gospel holiness — False accusations of 
the doctrine of grace discarded; and the neglect of the true means of pro- 
moting gospel obedience charged — The principal argument farther enforced, 
fi'om the pre-eminence of our natures and pers ms by this conformity to God, 
and our accesses unto God thereby, in order unto our eternal enjoyment of 
him ; as it also alone renders us useful in this world unto others — Two sorts 
of graces by whose exercise we grow into conformity with God: those that 
are assimilating, as faith and love ; and those which are declarative of that 
assimilation, as goodness or benignity, and truth — An objection agiiinst the 
necessity of holiness, from the freedom and eflScacy of grace, answered. 

That wherewith I shall close this discourse is, the consideration 
of the necessity of that holiness which we have thus far described 
unto all persons who make profession of the gospel, with the reasons 
of that necessity and principal motives unto it. And for our encou- 
ragement in this part of our work, this necessity is such as that it is 
by all sorts of Christians allowed, pleaded for, and the thing itself 
pretended unto; for whereas the gospel is eminently dX^Oila, or 
diSasKuXla r, xar' iWiZuav, 1 Tim. vi. 3, Tit. i. 1, " The truth" or " doc- 
trine which is according to godliness," or that which is designed 
and every way suited unto the attaining, furtherance, and practice 
of it, no men can with modesty refuse the trial of their doctrines 
by their tendency thereunto. But what is of that nature, or what 
is a hinderance tliereunto, that many are not yet agreed about. The 
Socinians contend that the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ doth 
overthrow the necessity of a holy life; the Papists say the same 
concerning tlie imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto our 



5G7' 



me 



chap: I.] CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 

justification; the same charge is laid by others against the doctriue 
of the gratuitous election of God, the almightv efficacy of liis ct,c. 
m the conversion of sinners, and his faithfulness in the preserva^ 
tion of true believers in their state of grace unto the end. On tlie 
other hand, the Scripture doth so place the foundations of all true 
and real holiness in these things, that without the faith of them and 
an influence on our minds from them, it will not allow any thii<T to 
be so called. ° 

To examine the pretences of others concerning the suitableness of 
their doctrines unto the promotion of holiness is not my present 
business. ^ It is well that it hath always maintained a conviction of 
its necessity, and carried it through all different persuasions in Christi- 
anity. In this one thing alone almost do all Christians agree; and 
yet, notwithstanding, the want of it is, if not the only yet°tiie prin- 
cipal thing whereby the most who are so called are ruined. So 
ordinary a thing is it for men to agree for the necessity of holiness, 
and live in the neglect of it when they have so done! Conviction 
comes in at an easy rate, as it were whether men will or no; but 
practice will stand them in pains, cost, and trouble. Wherefore, 
unto the due handling of this matter, some few things must be pre- 
mised; as, — 

First, It is disadvantageous unto the interest of the gospel to have 
men plead for holiness with weak, incogent arguments, and suoli as 
are not taken out of the stores of its truth, and so really affect not 
the consciences of men ; and it is pernicious to all the concerns of 
holiness itself to have that defended and pleaded for under its name 
and title which indeed is not so, but an usurper of its crown and 
dignity; which we shall afterward inquire into. 

Secondly, It is uncomely and unworthy, to hear men contending 
for holiness as the whole of our religion, and, in the meantime, on all 
occasions, expressing in themselves a habit and frame of mind utterly 
inconsistent with what the Scripture so calls and so esteems. Theie 
is certainly no readier way, on sundry accounts, to unteach men all 
the principles of religion, all respect unto God and common honesty. 
And if some men did this only, as being at variance with tliemsflves, 
without reflections on others, it might the more easily be borne; but 
to see or hear men proclaiming themselves, in their whole course, to 
be proud, revengeful, worldly, sensual, neglecters of holy duties, scoff, re 
at religion and the power of it, pleading for a holy life against the 
doctrine and practice of those who walked unblamably before tlio 
Lord in all his ways, yea, upon whose breasts and foreheads was 
written, " Holiness unto the Lord,"— such as were most of the first 
reformed divines, whom they reflect upon, — is a thing which all sober 
men do justly nauseate, and which God abhors, J^ut the fartlKr 



5G3 NECESSITY OF HOLIx\ESS FROM THE [bOOK V. 

consideration hereof I shall at present omit, and pursue what I have 
proposed. 

Thirdly, In my discourse concerning the necessity of holiness, 
with the grounds and reasons of it, and arguments for it, I shall con- 
fine myself unto these two things : — 

1. That the reasons, arguments, and motives which I shall insist 
on, being such as are taken out of the Gospel or the Scripture, are 
not only consistent and compliant with the great doctrines of the grace 
of God in our free election, conversion, justification, and salvation 
hy Jesus Christ, but such as naturally jlow from them, [and] dis- 
cover what is their true nature and tendency in this matter. 

2. That I shall at present suppose all along what that holiness is 
which I do intend. Now, this is not that outward show and pre- 
tence of it which some plead for ; not an attendance unto, or the 
observation of, some or all moral virtues only ; not a readiness for 
some acts of piety and charity, from a superstitious, proud conceit 
of their being meritorious of grace or glory. But I intend that 
holiness which I have before described ; which may be reduced to 
these three heads: — (1.) An internal change or renovation of our 
souls, our minds, wills, and affections, by grace; (2.) An universal 
compliance with the will of God in all duties of obedience and ab- 
stinence from sin, out of a principle of faith and love; (3.) A desig- 
nation of all the actions of life unto the glory of God by Jesus 
Christ, according to the gospel. This is holiness; so to be and so to 
do is to be holy. 

And I shall divide iny arguments into two sorts: — 1. Such as 
prove the necessity of holiness as to the essence of it, — holiness in our 
hearts and natures; 2. Such as prove the necessity of holiness as to 
the degrees of it, — holiness in our lives and conversations. 

I. First, then, The nature of God as revealed unto us, with .our 
dependence on him, the obligation that is upon us to live unto him, 
with the nature of our blessedness in the enjoyment of him, do re- 
quire indispensably that we should be holy. The holiness of God's 
nature is everywhere in the Scripture made the fundamental prin- 
ciple and reason of the necessity of holiness in us. Himself makes 
it the ground of his command for it: Lev. xi. 44, "I am the Lord 
your God : ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be 
holy; for I am holy." So also chap. xix. 2, xx. 7. And to show 
the everlasting equity and force of this reason, it is transferred over 
to the gospel: 1 Pet. i. 15, 16, " As he which hath called you is holy, 
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ; because it is written, 
Be ye holy ; for I am holy." God lets them know that his nature is 
such as that unless they are sanctified and holy, there can be no such 
intercourse between him and them as ought to be between a God 



CHAP. I.J CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 509 

and his people. So he declares the sense of this enforcement of that 
precept to be : Lev. xi. 45, " I brought you up out of the land of En vpt 
to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy ;"— " With' 
out this the relation designed cannot be maintained, that I should 
be your God and ye should be my people." To this purpose belon-s 
that description given us of his nature, Ps. v. 4-6, " Thou art not 
a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell 
with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all 
workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak lying : the 
Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man;"— answerable" unto 
that of the prophet, " Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, 
and canst not look on iniquity," Hab. i. 13. He is such a God,— 
that is, such is his nature, so pure, so holy,— that previous to the con- 
sideration of any free acts of his will, it is evident that he can take 
no pleasure in fools, liars, or workers of iniquity. Therefore Joshua 
tells the people, that if they continued in their sins they could not 
serve the Lord, "for he is an holy God," chap. xxiv. 19. All the 
service of unholy persons towards this God is utterly lost and cast 
away, because it is inconsistent with his own holiness to accept of it 
And our apostle argues in the same manner, Heb. xii. 28, 29, " Let 
us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence 
and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire." He lays his 
argument for the necessity of grace and holiness in the worship of 
God from the consideration of the holiness of his nature, wliicii, as 
a consuming fire, will devour that which is unsuited unto it, incon- 
sistent with it. There would be no end of pursuing this reason of 
the necessity of holiness in all places where it is proposed expressly 
in the Scripture. I shall only add, in general, that God of old strictly 
required that no unholy, no unclean, no defiling thing should be in 
the camp of his people, because of his presence among them, who is 
himself holy ; and without an exact observance hereof he declares 
that he will depart and leave them. 

If we had no other argument to prove the necessity of holiness, 
and that it is indispensably required of us, but only this, that the 
God whom Ave serve and worship is absolutely holy, that his bfing 
and nature is such as that he can have no delightfid intercourse with 
any that are unholy, it were abundantly sufficient unto our purpose 
He who resolveth not to be holy had best seek another god to worship 
and serve; with our God he will never find acceptance. And there- 
fore the heathen, who gave up themselves unto all filthiness with 
delight and greediness, to stifle the notions of a divine Being, that 
they might not control them in their sins and pleasures, fancied such 
gods to themselves as were wicked and unclean, that they niigiit 
freely conform unto them and serve them with satisfaction. And 



570 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM THE [BOOK V. 

God himself lets us know that men of wicked and flagitious lives 
have some secret thoughts that he is not holy, but like themselves, 
Ps. 1. 21 ; for if they had not, they could not avoid it but they must 
either think of leaving him or their sins. 

But we must yet farther observe some things to evidence the force 
of this argument ; as, — 

First, That unto us, in our present state and condition, the Jioli- 
ness of God as absolutely considered, merely as an infinite eternal 
property of the divine nature, is not the immediate ground of 
and motive unto holiness; but it is the holiness of God as mani- 
fested and revealed unto us in Christ Jesus. Under the first 
consideration, we who are sinners can make no conclusion from it 
but that of Joshua, " He is a holy God, a jealous God; he will not 
forgive your iniquities, nor spare." This we may learn, indeed, from 
thence, that nothing which is unholy can possibly subsist before him 
or find acceptance with him. But a motive and encouragement 
unto any holiness that is not absolutely perfect no creature can take 
from the consideration thereof; and we do not, we ought not to 
urge any such argument for the necessity of holiness as cannot be 
answered and complied with by the grace of God as to the substance, 
though we come short in the degrees of it. My meaning is, that no 
argument can be rationally and usefully pleaded for the necessity of 
holiness which doth not contain in itself an encouraging motive unto 
it. To declare it, necessary for us and at the same time impossible 
unto us, is not to promote its interest. They understand neither the 
holiness of God nor man who suppose that they are absolutely and 
immediately suited unto one another, or that, under that notion of 
it, we can take any encouraging motive unto our duty herein. Nay, 
no creature is capable of such a perfection in holiness as absolutely 
to answer the infinite purity of the divine nature, without a cove- 
nant condescension. Job iv. 18, xv. 15. But it is the holiness of 
God as he is in Christ, and as in Christ represented unto us, that 
gives us both the necessity and motive unto ours. 

Wherefore, God, in dealing with his people of old in this matter, 
did not propose unto them to this end the absolute perfection of his 
own nature, but his being holy as he dwelt among them and was 
their God, — that is, in covenant; both which had respect unto Jesus 
Christ. In him all the glorious perfections of God are so represented 
unto us as we may not thence only learn our duty, but also be en- 
couraged unto it; for, — 

1. All the properties of God as so represented unto us are more 
conspicuous, resplendent, alluring, and attractive, than as abso- 
lutely considered. I know not what light into and knowledge of 
the divine perfections Adam had in his state of innocency, when 



I CHAP. I.] CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 57I 

God had declared himself only in the works of nature,-sufficient no 
doubt It was to guide him in his love and obedience, or that life 
which he was to live unto him;-but I know that now all our know- 
ledge of God and his properties, unless it be that which we have in 
and by Jesus Christ, is insufficient to lead or conduct us in that life 
of faith and obedience which is necessary unto us. He therefore 
gives us the "lig-lit of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus 
Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 6,— that is, clear manifestations of his glorious 
excellencies. The light of the knowledge hereof is a clear, useful 
saving perception and understanding of them. And this is not only 
directive unto holiness, but also effective of it; for thus " beholding 
the glory of the Lord," we are "changed into the same image from 
glory to glory," chap. iii. 18. 

2. In particular, the fiery holiness of God is represented unto us 
in Christ, so as that although it loses nothing of declaring the in- 
dispensable necessity of holiness in all that draw nigh to him, yet 
under such a contemperation with goodness, grace, love, mercy, con- 
descension, as may invite and encourage us to endeavour after a 
conformity thereunto. 

S. Together with a representation of the holiness of God in Christ, 
there is a revelation made of what holiness in us he doth require 
and will accept. As was observed before, the consideration of it 
absolutely neither requires nor admits of any but that which is ab- 
solutely perfect; and where there is any one failing, the whole of 
what we do is condemned, James ii. 10. This, therefore, can only 
perplex and torture the soul of a sinner, by pressing on him at the 
same time the necessity and impossibility of holiness, Isa. xxxiii. 14. 
But now, as God is in Christ, through his interposition and mediation 
he accepts of such a holiness in us as we are capable of, and which 
no man hath any discouragement from endeavouring to attain. 

4. There is in and by Christ declared and administered a spiri- 
tual power of grace, which shall work this holiness in us, or that 
conformity unto the holiness of God which he doth require. From 
this fountain, therefore, we draw immediately, as the reasons of the 
necessity, so prevalent motives unto holiness in our souls. Hence 
some things may be inferenced ; as, — 

(1.) That the mediation of Christ, and in particular his satisfaction, 
is so far from being a hinderance of or a discouragement unto holiness, 
as some blasphemously pretend, that the great fundamental reason of 
it in us, — namely, the holiness of God himself, — can have no inihienco 
upon us without the supposition of it and faith in it. Unless faitii bo 
built hereon, no sinner upon a view of God's holiness, as absolutely 
considered, can have any other thoughts but those of Cain, "My sin is 
great ; it cannot be pardoned. God is a holy God ; I cannot serve him, 



572 NECEs:;iTY of holiness from the [book v. 

and therefore will depart out of his presence." But the holiness of God 
as manifested in Jesus Christ, including a supposition of satisfaction 
made unto what is required by its absolute purity, and a condescen- 
sion thereon to accept in him that holiness of truth and sincerity 
which we are capable of, doth equally maintain the indispensable 
necessity of it and encourage us unto it. And we may see what 
contrary conclusions will be made on these different considerations 
of it. Those who view it only in the first way can come to no 
other issue in their thoughts but that which they express in the 
jirophet, Isa. xxxiii. 14, "Who among us shall dwell with the 
devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burn- 
ings?" God's fiery holiness serves, towards them, unto no other end 
but to fill them with terror and despair. But other inferences 
are natural from the consideration of the same holiness in the 
latter way. "Our God," saith the apostle, "is a consuming fire." 
What then? what follows as our duty thereon? "Let us have grace, 
whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly 
fear," Heb. xii. 28, 29. There is no such forcible reason for, no such 
powerful motive unto, our adherence unto him in holy obedience. 
Such different conclusions will men make from these different con- 
siderations of the holiness of God, when once they come to be serious 
and in good earnest about them ! 

(2.) It follows from hence, also, that our holiness under the new 
covenant, although it has the same general nature and one princi- 
pal end with that which was required in the covenant of works, yet 
as it hath an especial spring and fountain which that had not, and 
relates unto sundry causes which the other had no concernment in, 
so it is not of the same especial use therewith. The immediate end 
and use of that holiness in us was, to answer the holiness of God 
absolutely as expressed in the law; whereon we should have been 
justified. This is now done for us by Christ alone, and the holiness 
which God requireth of us respects only those ends which God hath 
proposed unto us in compliance with his own holiness as he will 
glorify it in Jesus Christ; which must be afterward declared. 

Secondly, We may consider in what particular instances the force 
of this argument is conveyed unto us, or what are the especial rea- 
sons why we ought to be holy because God is so; and they are 
three: — 

1. Because herein consists all that conformity unto God whereof 
in this world we are capable ; which is our privilege, pre-eminence, 
glory, and honour. We were originally created in the image and 
likeness of God. Herein consisted the privilege, pre-eminence, order, 
and blessedness of our first state. And that, for the substance of it, 
it was no other but our holiness is by all confessed. Wherefore, 



CHAP. I.] CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 673 

without this conformity unto God, without the impress of his imacre 
and likeness upon us, we do not, we cannot, stand in that relation 
imto God which was designed us in our creation. This we lost l.y 
the entrance of sin. And if there be not a way for us to acquire it 
again, if we do not so, we shall always come short of the glory of 
God and of the end of our creation. Now, this is done in and by 
holiness alone, for therein consists the renovation of the imaf'e of 
God in us, as our apostle expressly declares, Eph. iv. 22-24, vvith'Col. 
iii. 10. It is, therefore, to no purpose for any man to expect an in- 
terest in God, or any thing that will prove eternally to his advantage, 
who doth not endeavour after conformity unto him; for such a mau 
despiseth all the glory that God designed unto himself in our crea- 
tion, and all that was eminent and peculiarly bestowed upon our- 
selves. 

He, therefore, whose design is not to be like unto God, accordinor 
to his measure and the capacity of a creature, always misseth both of 
his end, his rule, and his way. Our Saviour would have his disciples 
to do all things so as that they may be the "children of their Father 
which is in heaven," Matt. v. 45; that is, like him, representing him, 
as children do their father. And the truth is, if this necessity of con- 
formity unto God be once out of our view and consideration, we are 
easily turned aside by the meanest temptation we meet withal. In 
brief, without that likeness and conformity unto God which consists 
in holiness, as we do under his eye bear the image of his great ad- 
versary the devil, so we can have no especial interest in him, uur 
hath he any in us. 

2. The force of the argument ariseth from the respect it bears 
unto our actual intercourse and communion with God. This we are 
called unto; and this, in all our duties of obedience, we must endea- 
vour to attain. If there be not in them a real intercourse between 
God and our souls, they are all but uncertain beatings of the air. 
When we are accepted in them, when God is glorified by them, then 
have we in them this intercourse and communion with God. Now, 
whereas God is holy, if we are not in our measure holy, according to 
his mind, this cannot be ; for God neither accepts of any duties from 
unholy persons nor is he glorified by them, and therefore as unto 
. these ends doth he expressly reject and condemn them. It is a good 
duty to preach the word; but " unto the wicked God saith, Wliat 
hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou sliouldest take 
my covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and c:uit- 
est my words behind thee," Ps. 1. 16, 17,— "seeing thou art unholy." 
m. „„.,„ 4^ ^ r.r.r.A A^^\xT' l^iif iintn tbpm that are not " waahcd ' and 



To pray is a good duty ; but unto them that are not 
made " clean," and 
fore his eyes," saith 



made " clean." and " put not away the evil of their doings from be- 
God, " When ye spread forth your hands, I wul 



571. NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM THE [bOOK V. 

liide mine eyes from you ; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will 
not hear," Isa. i. 15, 16. And the Uke maybe said of all other 
duties whatever. 

It is certain, therefore, that whereas God is holy, if we are not so, 
all the duties which we design or inten;! to perform towards him are 
everlastingly lost, as unto their proper ends; for there is no inter- 
course or communion between light and darkness: "God is light, 
and in him is no darkness at all;" and "if we say that we have fellow- 
ship with him, and walk in darkness," as all unholy persons do, "wo 
lie, and do not the truth : but if we walk in the light, as he is in the 
li"-ht, we have fellowship one with another; and truly onr fellowship 
is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," 1 John i. 5-7, 8. 
Now, what man that shall consider this, unless he be infatuated, 
would, for the love of any one sin, or out of conformity to the world, 
or any other thing, whereby the essence and truth of holiness is im- 
peached, utterly lose and forfeit all the benefit and fruit of all those 
duties wherein perhaps he hath laboured, and which he hath, it may- 
be, been at no small charge withal? But yet this is the condition 
of all men who come short in any thing that is essentially necessary 
unto universal holiness. All they do, all they suffer, all the pains 
they take, in and about religious duties, all their compliance with 
convictions, and what they do therein, within doors and without, is 
all lost, as unto the great ends of the glory of God and their own 
eternal blessedness, as sure as God is holy. 

3. It ariseth from a respect unto our future everlasting enjoyment 
of him. This is our utmost end, which if we come short of (life 
itself is the greatest loss), better ten thousand times we had never 
been ; for without it a continuance in everlasting miseries is inse- 
parable from our state and condition. Now, this is never attainable 
by any unholy person. " Follow holiness," saith our apostle, " vvitUout 
which no man shall see the Lord;" for ix. is the " pure in heart" only 
that " shall see God," Matt. v. 8. It is hereby that we are "made 
meet for the inheritance of the saints in lisht," Col. i. 1 2. Neither 
can we attain it before we are thus made meet for it. No unclean 
thing, nothing that defileth or is defiled, shall ever be brought into 
the glorious presence of this holy God. There is no imagination 
wherewith mankind is besotted more foolish, none so pernicious, as 
this, that persons not purified, not sanctified, not made holy, in this 
life, should afterward be taken into that state of blessedness which 
consists in the enjoyment of God. There can be no thought more 
reproachful to his glory, nor more inconsistent with the nature of the 
tiungs themselves; for neither can such persons enjoy him, nor would 
God himself be a reward unto them. They can have nothing 
whereby they should adhere unto him as their chiefest good, nor can 



CHAP. I.] COXSIDEIIATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. t7o 

they see any thing in him that should give them rest or satisfaction- 
lior can there be any medium whereby God should communicate him' 
^elt unto them, supposing them to continue thus unholy as all must 
do who depart out of this life in that condition. Holiness indeed 
IS perfected in heaven, but the beginning of it is invariably and un- 
alterably confined to this world; and where this fails, no hand sliall 
be put unto that work unto eternity. All unholy persons, thercfne 
who feed and refresh themselves with hopes of heaven and eternity 
do it merely on false notions of God and blessedness, whereby they 
deceive themselves. Heaven is a place where as well they would 
not be as they cannot be; in itself it is neither desired by them nor 
fit for them. " He that hath this hope" indeed, that he shall see 
God, " purifieth himself, even as he is pure," 1 John iii. 2, 3. There 
is, therefore, a manifold necessity of holiness impressed on us from 
the consideration of the nature of that God whom we serve and hope 
to enjoy, which is holy. 

I cannot pass over this consideration without making some espe- 
cial improvement of it. We have seen how all our concernment and 
interest in God, both here and hereafter, do dei)end on our being holy. 
They invented a very effectual means for the prejudicing, yea, in- 
deed, a fatal engine for the ruin, of true holiness in the world, who 
built it on no other bottom, nor pressed it on any other motive, but 
that the acts and fruits of it were meritorious in the sight of God; 
for whether this be believed and complied withal or not, true holi- 
ness is ruined if no other more effectual reason be substituted in its 
room. Reject this motive, and there is no need of it; which I am 
persuaded hath really taken place in many, who, being taught that 
good deeds are not meritorious, have concluded them useless. Cum- 
j)ly with it, and you destroy the nature of true holiness, and turn 
all the pretended duties of it into fruits and effects of spiritual pride 
and blind superstition. But we see the necessity of it with re.spect 
unto God hath other foundations, suited unto and consistent with 
tlie grace, and love, and mercy of the gos})eL And we shall fully 
show in our progress, that there is not one motive unto it, that is of 
any real force or efficacy, but perfectly complies with the whole doc- 
trine of the free, undeserved grace of God towards us by Jesus Christ; 
nor is there any of them which gives the least countenance unto any 
thing of worth in ourselves, as from ourselves, or that should take us 
off from an absolute and universal dependence on Christ for life and 
salvation. But yet such they are as render it as necessary unto us to 
be holy, — that is, to be sanctified, — as to be justified. He that thiidcs 
to please God and to come to the enjoyment of him without holi- 
ness makes him an unholy God, putting the highest indignity and 
dishonour imaginable upon him. God deliver poor sinners from this 



57G NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM THE [bOOK V. 

deceit! There is no remedy; you must leave your sins or your God. 
You may as easily reconcile heaven and hell, the one remaining 
heaven and the other hell, as easily take away all difference between 
light and darkness, good and evil, as procure acceptance for unholy 
persons with our God. Some live without God in the world ; whether 
they have any notion of his being or no is not material. They live 
v'ithout any regard unto him, either as unto his present rule over 
them or his future disposal of them. It is no wonder if holiness, 
both name and thing, be universally despised by these persons, their 
desicm beino' to serve their lusts to the utmost, and immerse them- 
selves in the j^leasures of the world, without once taking God into 
their thoughts ; they can do no otherwise. But for men who live 
under some constant sense of God and an eternal accountableness 
unto him, and thereon do many things he requires, and abstain from 
many sins that their inclinations and opportunities would suggest 
and prompt them unto, not to endeavour after that universal holiness 
which alone will be accepted with him, is a deplorable folly. Such 
men seem to worship an idol all their days; for he that doth not en- 
deavour to be like unto God doth contrarily wickedly think that 
God is like unto liimself It is true, our interest in God is not built 
upon our holiness; but it is as true that we have none without it. 
Were this principle once well fixed in the minds of men, that with- 
out holiness no man shall see God, and that enforced from the con- 
sideration of the nature of God himself, it could not but influence 
them unto a greater diligence about it than the most seem to be 
engaged in. 

There is, indeed, amongst us a great plea for morality, or for 
moral virtue; — I wish it be more out of love to virtue itself and a 
conviction of its usefulness than out of a design to cast contempt on 
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel, as it is declared 
by the faithful dispensers of it. However, we are bound to believe 
the best of all men. Where we see those who so plead for moral 
\'irtue to be in their own persons, and in their lives, modest, sober, 
humble, patient, self-denying, charitable, useful towards all, we are 
obliged to believe that their pleas for moral virtue proceed from a 
love and liking of it; but where men are proud, furious, worldly, 
revengefid, profane, intemperate, covetous, ambitious, I cannot so 
well understand their declamations about virtue. Only, I would for 
the present inquire what it is that they intend by their morality. 
Is it tlie renovation of the image of God in us by grace? is it our 
conformity from thence unto him in his holiness? is it our being 
holy in all manner of holiness, because God is holy? is it the acting 
of our souls in all duties of obedience, from a principle of faith and 
luve, according to the will of God, whereby we have communion 



CHAP. I.] CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 577 

with him here and are led towards the enjoyment of hi.n ? Tf ihn 
are the ^nngs which they intend, what /s 'the m tt ^ th t t" 
Why are t^jey so afraid of the words and expressions of the Scri t 
^Yy;11 f y -t speak of the things of God in words that th h1 
Ghost teacheth? Men never dishke the words of God but whenTlu v 
disldce the thmgs of God. Is it because these expressions a^eto^ 
mtelhgible,-people do not know what they mean, but this of moral 

ot all that truly fear God m the world unto the contrary There is 
none of them but the Scripture expressions of the causes, nature 
work, and effects of holiness, do convey a clear, experimental appre- 
liension of them unto their minds; whereas, by their " moral virtue " 
neither themselves nor 'any else do know what they intend, since 
they do or must reject the common received notion of it for lione^^tv 
amongst men. If, therefore, they intend that holiness hereby wliich 
is required of us in the Scripture, and that particularly on the accouiit: 
of the holiness of that God whom we serve, they fall into a high con- 
tempt of the wisdom of God, in despising of those notices a°nd ex- 
pressions of it which, being used by the Holy Ghost, are suited unto 
the spiritual light and understanding of believers; substituting their 
own arbitrary, doubtful, uncertain sentiments and words in their 
room and place. But if it be something else which they intend (as, 
indeed, evidently it is, nor doth any man understand more in the de- 
sign than sobriety and usefulness in the world, things singularly good 
in their proper place), then it is no otherwise to be looked on but as a 
design of Satan to undermine the true holiness of the gospel, and to 
substitute a deceitful and deceiving cloud or shadow in the room of it. 
And, moreover, what we have already discoursed doth abundantly 
evince the folly and falsehood of those clamorous accusations, wherein 
the most important truths of the gospel are charged as inconsistent 
with and as repugnant unto holiness. " The doctrine," say the So- 
cinians, " of the satisfaction of Christ, ruins all care and endeavours 
after a holy life; for when men do believe that Christ hath satisfied 
the justice of God for their sins, they will be inclined to be careless 
about them, yea, to live in them." But as this supposition doth trans- 
form believers into monsters of ingratitude and fully, so it is built on 
no other foundation than this, that if Christ take away the guilt of 
sin, there is no reason in the nature of these things, nor mentioned 
in the Scripture, why we should need to be holy, and keep ourselves 
from the power, filth, and dominion of sin, or any way glorify God 
in this world; which is an inference weak, false, and ridiculous. The 
Papists, and others with them, lay the same charge on the doctrine 
of justification through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ 
unto us. And it is wonderful to consider with what vh-ulcnt rading 
VOL. III. 37 



578 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM THE [bOOK V. 

this charge is managed by the Papists, so with what scorn and scoff- 
ing, with what stories and tales, some amongst ourselves endeavour 
to expose this sacred truth to contempt, as though all those by whom 
it is believed must consequently be negligent of holiness and good 
^Yorlcs. Now, although I deny not but that such men may find a 
great strength of connection between these things in their own minds, 
seeing there is a principle in the corrupt heart of men to " turn tho 
grace of God into lasciviousness;" yet (as shall in due time be proved) 
this sacred truth is, both doctrinally and practically, the great con- 
straining principle unto holiness and fruitfulness in obedience. For 
the present, I shall return no other answer unto those objections, but 
that the objectors are wholly mistaken in our thoughts and appre- 
hensions concerning that God whom we serve. God in Christ, whom 
we worship, hath so revealed his own holiness unto us, and what is 
necessary for us on the account thereof, as that we know it to be a 
foolish, wicked, and blasphemous thing for any one to think to please 
him, to be accepted with him, to come to the enjoyment of him, 
without that holiness which he requireth, and from his own nature 
cannot but require. That the grace, or mercy, or love of this God, 
who is our God, should encourage those who indeed know him unto 
sin, or countenance them in a neglect of holy obedience to him, is a 
monstrous imagination. There are, as I shall show afterward, other 
invincible reasons for it, and motives unto it ; but the owning of this 
one consideration alone by them who believe the grace of the gospel 
is sufficient to secure them from the reproach of this objection. 

Moreover, from what hath been discoursed, we may all charge 
ourselves with blame for our sloth and negligence in this matter. 
It is to be feared that we have none of us endeavoured as we ought 
to grow up into this image and likeness of God. And although, for 
the main of our duty herein, our hearts may not condemn us, yet 
there are, no doubt, sundry things that belong unto it wherein Ave have 
all failed. Our likeness unto God, that wherein we bear his image, 
is our holiness, as hath been declared. Wherever there is the holiness 
of truth before described, in the essence of it, there is a radical confor- 
mity and likeness unto God. In the first communication of it unto 
us through the promises of the gospel, we are " made partakers 
TKi'^ ^iiag (pleicag, of the divine nature," 2 Pet. i. 4,— such a new 
spiritual nature as represents that of God himself. Being begot- 
ten by him, we are made partakers of his nature. But though all 
children do partake of the nature of their parents, yet they may be, 
and some of them are, very deformed, and bear very little of their 

^ Though most translations give the definite article, it does not exist in the Greek 
tt-xt. Owen scorns to hit the true meaning of the phrase in the remark appended 
to the (luotation, when he refers it, not to t/w divine nature, but to one resembling or 
corrapondiny to it. — Ed. 



CHAP. I.] CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OE GOD. 579 

likeness. So is it in this matter. We may have the imn<Te of God ia 
our hearts, and yet come short of that likeness unto lum, in its de- 
grees and lmi:)rovement, which we ought to aim at. And this happens 
two ways:— (I.) When our graces are weak, withering, and un- 
thrifty; for in their flourishing and fruit-bearing is our likeness unto 
God evidenced, and in them doth the glory of God in this world con- 
sist. (2.) When, by the power of our corruptions or our temptations, 
we contract a deformity, something that hath the likeness of the old 
crooked serpent. Where either of these befall us, that our gi-aces 
are low and thriftless, [or] that our corruptions are high and active, 
frequently discovering themselves, there, though the image of God 
may be in us, there is not much of his likeness upon us, and we come 
short of our duty in this great and fundamental duty of our faith and 
profession. So far as it is thus with us, may we not, ought we not, 
greatly to blame ourselves? Why are we so slow, so negligent, in tlie 
pursuit of our principal interest and happiness? Why do we sufier 
every thing, why do we suffer any thing, to divert our minds from, 
or retard our endeavours in, this design? Wherefore, that I may con- 
tribute something to the awakening of our diligence herein, I shall 
add some few motives unto it and some directions for it, that herein 
we may be found "perfecting holiness in the fear of God;" which is 
the only way whereby we may be like unto him in this world : — 

First, In our likeness unto God consists the excellency and pre- 
eminence of our nature above that of all other creatures in the worlil, 
and of our persons above those of other men who are not partakers 
of his image. For, — 

I. With reference unto other things, this is the highest excel- 
lency that a created nature is capable of. Other things had external 
impressions of the greatness, power, and goodness of God upon them ; 
man alone, in this lower world, was capable of the image of God in 
him. The perfection, the glory, the pre-eminence of our nature, in 
the first creation, was expressed only by this, that we were made in 
the image and likeness of God, Gen. i. 2G, 27. This gave us a 
pre-eminence above all other creatures, and hence a dominion over 
them ensued; for although God made a distinct grant of it unto 
us, that we might the better understand and be thankful for our 
privilege, yet was it a necessary consequence of his image m us. 
And this is that which James respects, where he tells us that •zubo, 
<pl<s,g " every nature," the nature of all things in their several kuuis, 
haiJura, rfj pUs, rn &v6pu,rrhr,, " is tamed," that is, subjected to tlie 
nature of man, chap. iii. 7. He renders t^'33, Gen. i. 28, by 3a/.a^«, 
which the LXX. render xarax.^«i«, "subdue it" But bcmg not 
contented to be like God, that is, in holiness and righteousness, we 
would be as God in wisdom and sovereignty; and not attammg 
what we aimed at, we lost what we had, chap. m. o, G. Jifing m 



580 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM THE [bOOK V. 

" bonour we continued not, but became like the beasts that perish," 
Ps. xlix. 12. We were first like God, and then like beasts, 2 Pet 
ii. 12. By the loss of the image of God, our nature lost its pre- 
eminence, and we were reduced into order amongst perishing beasts ; 
f )r notwithstanding some feeble relics of this image yet abiding with 
us, we have really, with respect unto our proper end, in our lapsed 
condition, more of the bestial nature in us than of the divine. Where- 
fore, the restoration of this image in us by the grace of Jesus Christ, 
Eph. iv. 24, Col. iii. 10, is the recovery of that pre-eminence and pri- 
vilege of our nature which we had foolishly lost. Hereby there is 
an impression again made upon our nature of the authority of God, 
which gives us a pre-eminence above other creatures and a rule over 
them; yea, that whole dominion which mankind scrambles for with 
craft and violence over the residue of the creation depends on this 
renovation of the image of God in some of them. Not that I judge 
that men's right and title to their portion and interests in this world 
doth depend on their own personal grace or holiness ; but that if God 
had not designed to renew his image in our nature by Jesus Christ, 
and, as the foundation thereof, to take our nature into union with him- 
self in the person of his Son, and thereby to gather up all things unto 
a new head in him, and to make him the first-born of the creation, 
the head and heir of all, he would not have continued any thing of 
right or title therein. It was upon the promise and the establish- 
ment of the new covenant that this right was restored unto us. So it 
is expressed in the renovation of the covenant with Noah and his 
children: Gen. ix. 1, 2, "God blessed Noah and his sons, and said 
unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And 
the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the 
earth, and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all that moveth upon 
the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are tliey 
delivered;" which is an express renovation of the grant made unto 
us at our first creation, chap. i. 28, the right whereunto we had 
lost in our loss of the image of God. And, therefore, in that service 
wherein the creature is continued unto mankind, it is made " subject 
to vanity" and put into "bondage;" in which state, though it groan and 
look out, as it were, for deliverance, it must continue until God hath 
accomplished the whole design of the " glorious liberty of his chil- 
dren," Rom. viii. 20, 21. Whatever they may pride themselves in, 
their parts or enjoyments, however they may sport themselves in the 
use or abuse of other creatures, if this image of God be not renewed 
in them, they have really no great pre-eminence above the things 
which perish under their hands, 2 Pet. ii. 12. God liaving exalted 
our natures, by union with himself in the person of his Son, requires 
of us to preserve its dignity above others. 



CHAP. I.] CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 581 

2. Again, this is that which gives privilege and pre-eminence unto 
the persons of some above others. " The righteous," saith the wise 
niau, " is more excellent than his neighbour/' Prov. xii. 26. It is 
seldom that this is so upon the account of civil wisdom, wealth, 
greatness, or power. There is nothing can establish this general rule 
but their conformity and likeness to God. Hence are such persons 
called "the saints in the earth," and "the excellent," Ps. xvi. 3. Both 
the terms, D^K'ilip and ^"^y^y^, do first belong properly to God. He 
above [all] is absolutely t^'i"'!^, or "holy," and he is *i^'^^*, Ps. viiL 9. 
Unto men they are ascribed upon their likeness unto him in holiness. 
This makes them the " saints and excellent in the earth ;" which gives 
them a pre-eminence of office and authority in some above others. 
And this dignity of office reflects a dignity of person on them who 
are vested in it, and communicates a pre-eminence unto them; for 
tlieir office and authority is from God, which gives both it and them 
a real privilege and honour above others. But that which is origi- 
nally in and from persons themselves is solely from the renovation of 
the image of God in them, and is heightened and increased accord- 
ing to the degrees they attain in the participation of it. Tiie more 
holy, the more honourable. Hence, wicked men in the Scripture 
are said to be vile: ^l? ^^?/! n^^, Ps. xii. 8, "quisquiliae horainum," 
— "trifling vilenesses;" and the righteous are said to be "precious" and 
valuable. And hence it is that there hath ofttimes an awe been put 
on the spirits of vile and outrageous sinners from the appearances of 
God in holy persons. And, indeed, at all times, where men do emi- 
nently bear a conformity to God in holiness, wicked men, exasperated 
by their secular interests, prejudices, and an unconquerable adher- 
ence to their lusts, may oppose, revile, reproach, and persecute them; 
but secretly, in their hearts, they have an awe, from the likeness of 
God in them, whence they will sometimes dread them, sometimes 
flatter them, and sometimes wish that they were not, even as tiioy 
deal with God himself. Why do we weary ourselves about other 
thinc^s? Why do we "spend our labour in vain, and our strength for 
that^'which is not bread?" Such will all endeavours after any other 
excellencv at length appear. 

Herein lies the whole of that dignity which our nature was made 
for and is capable of. Sin is the sole debasement of it,-that alone 
whereby we render ourselves base and contemptible. Mens self- 
pleasing in the ways and fruits of it, or in worldly advantng.s, and 
their mutual applauses of one another, will suddenly vanish into 
.moke It is holiness alone that is honourable, and that because 
ihere is in it the image and representation of God. I tlnnk we are 
satisfied that the dignity of professors above others doth no cons .t 
in worldly or secular advantages, for they are very few who have 



5S2 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FEOM THE [COOK V, 

them: "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not 
many noble, are called," 1 Cor. i. 26. Nor doth it consist in spiritual 
gifts. Many who have excelled us, not only in the degree of them, but 
in the kind also, who have had extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, shall 
be shut out of heaven with the worst of the world : Matt. vii. 22, 23, 
" Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophe- 
sied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy 
name wrought Bwd/iug 'XoKkdg, many miraculous works?" — which is 
more than any of us can say; — yet Christ will " profess unto them, 
' I never knew you : depart from me, ye that work iniquity,' ye un- 
holy persons." Nor is it in 'profession itself. Many make it in rigid 
austerities, renunciation of the world, and outward works of charity, 
beyond the most of us, and yet perish in their superstitions. Nor is 
it in the purity of worship, without such mixtures of human inven- 
tions as others defile the service of God withal ; for multitudes may 
be made partakers thereof in the " great house" of God, and yet be 
" vessels of wood and stone," who, being not " purged from sin," are 
not " vessels unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use," 
2 Tim. ii. 20, 21. It consists, therefore, alone in that likeness unto 
God which we have in and by holiness, with what doth attend it 
and is inseparable from it. Where this is not, no other thing will 
exempt us from the common herd of perishing mankind. 

Secondly, According unto our growth and improvement in this 
likeness unto God are our accesses and approaches towards glory. 
We are drawing every day towards our natural end, whether we will 
or no; and if we do not therewithal draw nearer towards our super- 
natural end in glory, we are most miserable. Now, men do but de- 
ceive themselves if they suppose that they are approaching towards 
glory in time, if they are not at the same time making nearer unto 
it in grace. It is some representation of future glory, that therein we 
shall be kuyysXoi, Luke xx. 86, like or "equal unto the angels." But 
that respects one particular only of that state. It is a far more ex- 
cellent description of it that we shall be like unto God: " When he 
shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is," 
1 John iii. 2. Our glory, as subjectively considered, will be our like- 
ness unto God, according to the capacity of creatures. And it is the 
highest folly for any to think that they shall love that hereafter 
Avhich now they hate; that that will be their glory which they now 
abhor. Such sottish contradictions are the minds of men filled withal ! 
There is nothing in this world which they more despise than to be 
like unto God, and they hate every one that is so; yet pretend a 
desire and expectation of that estate wherein they shall be so, which 
is a being so for ever! But this will be our glory, to " behold the 
idce of God in righteousness," and to be "satisfied with his likeness," 



CHAP. I.] CONSIDERATIOX OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 5S3 

Ps. xvii. 15. How then, shall we make approaches towards this 
glory spiritually, which at least may answer the approaches we 
make towards our end naturally, seeing not to do so is folly and in- 
tolerable negligence? We have no other way but thrivinc. and 
growing m that likeness of God which we have here in hotines'^ 
Hereby alone are we '' changed into the image of God from glory 
to glory," 2 Cor. iii. 18,— from one glorious degree of gi-ace unto 
another, until one great change shall issue all grace and holiness iu 
eternal glory. And in our desires for heaven, if they are regular, we 
consider not so much our freedom from trouble as from sin ; nor is 
our aim in the first place so much at complete happiness as'perfect 
holiness. And they who desire heaven as that which would only 
ease them of their troubles, and not as that which will perfectly free 
them of sin, will fall into a state wherein sin and trouble shall be 
eternally inseparable. As, therefore, we would continually tend to- 
wards our rest and blessedness, as we would have assured and evident 
pledges of it in our own souls, as we would have foretastes of it and an 
experimental acquaintance with it, (as who would not know as much 
as is possible of his eternal blessedness?) this is the design which we 
ought to pursue. It is to be feared that the most of us know not 
how much of glory may be in present grace, nor how much of heaven 
may be attained in holiness on the earth. We have a generation 
amongst us that would fain be boasting of perfection, whilst in their 
minds they are evidently under the power of darkness, — corrupt iu 
their affections and worldly in their hves. But our duty it is to be 
always " perfecting holiness in the fear of God." This, pursued in 
a due manner, is continually transforming the soul into the likeness 
of God. Much of the glory of heaven may dwell in a simple cottage, 
and poor persons, even under rags, may be very like unto God. 

Thirdly, It is from our likeness and conformity unto God alone 
that we are or may be useful in the world, in a due manner and 
order. I shall have occasion to speak more unto this afterward, and 
shall therefore here only touch upon it, with respect unto one con- 
cernment or circumstance. God is the great preserver and benefac- 
tor of the whole creation; "he is good, and doeth good;" he is the sole 
cause and fountain of all good that in any kind any creature is inaile 
partaker of. And there is no property of God more celebrated iu 
the Scripture than this of his goodness, and his giving out of the 
fruits of it to all his creatures. And he is so only good, that there 
is nothing so in any sense but by a participation of it, and a likeness 
unto him therein. Tliey, therefore, who are like unto God, and thoy 
only, are useful in this world. There is, indeed, or at least there hath 
been, much good, useful good, done by others, on various convictions 
and for various ends; but there is one flaw or other iu all they do. 



58 1 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM THE [BOOK V. 

Either superstition, or Vcain-glory, or selfishness, or merit, or one 
thino- or other, gets into all the good that is> done by unholy persons, 
and brings death into the pot; so that although it may be of some 
use in particulars, unto individual persons, in some seasons, it is of 
none unto the general good of the whole. He that bears the like- 
ness of God, and in all that he doth acts froni that principle, he 
alone is truly useful, represents God in what he doth, and spoils it 
not by false ends of his own. If, therefore, we would keep up the pri- 
vilege and pre-eminence of our nature and persons ; if we would make 
due and daily accessions towards gioiy and blessedness; if we would 
be of any real use in this world, — our great endeavour ought to be to 
grow up more and more into this likeness of God, which consists in 
our holiness. 

It will, therefore, or it may, be justly here inquired, how or luliat 
we may do that we may thrive and grow up more and more into 
this likeness unto God. To remit other considerations unto their 
proper place, at present I answer, that there are some graces of holi- 
ness that are effectually assimilating, and others that are declara- 
tive and expressive of this likeness of God in us : — 

First, Those of the first sort, which have a peculiar efficacy to pro- 
mote the likeness of God in our souls, are faith and love, in whose 
constant exercise we ought to abide and abound if we intend to 
gr^oiu in likeness and conformity to God : — 

1. Faith IS a, part of our holiness as it is a grace of the sanctifying 
Spirit, and it is a principle of holiness as it purifies the heart and is 
effectual by love. The more faith is in its due and proper exercise, 
the more holy we shall be, and consequently the more like unto God. 
This were a large theme; I shall confine it unto one instance. The 
glorious properties of God, as We have showed before, are manifested 
and revealed in Jesus Christ ; " in his face do they shine forth." The 
only way whereby we behold them, whereby we have an intuition 
into them, is by faith. In Christ are the glorious excellencies of God 
represented unto us, and by faith do we behold them. And what is 
the effect hereof? "We are changed into the same image" and like- 
ness "from glory to glory," 2 Cor. iii. 18. This is the great mystery 
of growing in holiness and thriving in the image of God, which the 
world being ignorant of have laboured in vain by other means to 
satisfy their notions and convictions. But this is the great way and 
means of it, appointed and blessed of God unto that purpose, — 
namely, constantly by faith, in a way of believing the revelation 
made in the gospel, to view, behold, and contemplate on the excel- 
lencies of God, his goodness, holiness, righteousness, love, and grace, 
as manifested in Jesus Christ, and that so as to make use of, and 
apply unto ourselves and our condition, the effects and fruits of them, 



CHAP. I.J CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 5S5 

according to the promise of the gospel. This is the. great arcamim 
of growing up into the likeness of God, without which, however men 
may multiply duties in a compliance with their convictions, they will 
hav« never the more conformity to God ; and all professors who come 
short in this matter do or may know, tliat it ariseth from their want 
of a constant exercise of faith on God in Christ. If, therefore, we 
have a real design of being yet more like unto God, — which is our 
privilege, safety, glory, blessedness, — this is tlie way we must take fur 
its accomplishment. Abound in actings of faith, and we shall thrive 
in Iwliness; and they are but acts of j^resumption, under the name 
o{ faith, which do not infallibly produce this effect. 

2. Love hath the same tendency and efficacy; I mean, the love of 
God. He that would be hke unto God must be sure to love him, 
or all other endeavours to that purpose will be in vain ; and he that 
loves God sincerely will be like him. Under the Old Testament, 
none in his general course so like imto God as David, called, there- 
fore, " The man after God's own heart;" and none ever made greater 
expressions of love unto him, which occur continually in the Psalms. 
And let men take what pains they can in acts and duties of obedi- 
ence, if they proceed not from a principle of divine love, their like- 
ness unto God will not be increased by them. All love, in general, 
hath an assimilating efficacy; it casts the mind into the mould of the 
thing beloved. So love of this world makes men earthly minded; 
their minds and affections grow earthly, carnal, and sensual. But of 
all kinds, divine love is most effectual to this purpose, as having the 
best, the most noble, proper, and attractive object. It is our ad- 
herence unto God with delight, for what he is in himself, as mani- 
fested in Jesus Christ. By it we cleave unto God, and so keep near 
him, and thereby derive transforming virtue from him. Every ap- 
proach unto God by ardent love and delight is transfiguring. And 
it acts itself continually by,— (1.) Contemplation; (2.) Adnuratiun; 
and, (3.) Delight in obedience. 

(1.) Love acts itself by contemplation. It is in the nature of it 
to be meditating and contemplating on the excellencies of God in 
Christ; yea, this is the life of it, and where this is not, there is no 
love. A heart filled with the love of God will night and day be ex- 
ercising itself in and with thoughts of God's glorious excellencies, 
rejoicing in them. This the psalmist exhorts us unto: P& x.x.x. 4, 
" Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the re- 
membrance of his holiness." And love will do the same witli respect 
unto all his other properties. See to this purpose Ps. Ixiii. thnnigh- 
out. And this will further our likeness unto him. Our ninids by it 
will be changed into the image of what we contemplate, and we >hall 
endeavour that our lives be conformed thereunto. 



5SG NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM THE [BOOK V. 

(2.) It works by admiration also. This is the voice of love, 
*-Hovv great is his goodness! how great is his beauty!" Zech. ix. 17. 
The soul being, as it were, ravished with that view which it hath of 
the glorious excellencies of God in Christ, hath no way to express 
its affections but by admiration. " How great is his goodness ! how 
oreat is his beauty !" And this beauty of God is that sweetness and 
holy symmetry of glory (if I may be allowed to speak so improperly) 
in all the perfections of God, being all in a sweet correspondency 
exalted in Christ, which is the proper object of our love. To see 
infinite holiness, purity, and righteousness, with infinite love, good- 
ness, grace, and mercy, all equally glorified in and towards the same 
thino-s and persons, one glimpse whereof is not to be attained in the 
world out of Christ, is that beauty of God which attracts the love 
of a believing soul, and fills it with a holy admiration of him. And 
this also is a most effectual furtherance of our conformity unto him, 
which without these steps we shall labour in vain after. 

(3.) Again, love gives delight in obedience and all the duties of it. 
The common instance of Jacob is known, of whom it is said that 
his seven years' service seemed short and easy to him, for the love 
he bare to Rachel. He did that with delight which he would not 
afterward undergo for the greatest wages. But we have a greater 
instance. Our Lord Jesus Christ says concerning all the obedience 
that was required of him, " Thy law, God, is in my heart; I de- 
light to do thy will." And yet we know how terrible to nature 
were the things he did and suffered in obedience to that law. But 
his unspeakable love to God and the souls of men rendered it all 
his delight. Hence follow intension and frequency in all the 
duties of it. And where these two are, intension of mind and spirit, 
with a frequency of holy duties, both proceeding from dehght, there 
holiness will thrive; and consequently we shall do so in our confor- 
mity to God. In brief, love and likeness unto God are inseparable, 
and proportionate unto one another; and without this no duties 
of obedience are any part of his image. 

Secondly, There are graces which are declarative of this assimila- 
tion, or which evidence and manifest our likeness unto God. I shall 
instance only in two of them, — 

1. And the first is such as I shall give many names unto it in its 
description, as the Scripture doth also; but the thing intended is one 
and tlie same. This is goodness, kindness, benignity, love, with 
readiness to do good, to forgive, to help and relieve, and this to- 
wards all men, on all occasions. And this also is to be considered 
in opposition unto an evil habit of mind exerting itself in many 
vices, which yet agree in the same general nature: such are anger, 
wrath, envy, malice, revenge, frowardness, seltishness; all which are 



CHAP. I.] CONSIDERATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD. 5S7 

directly opposite to the grace of holiness at present instanced in and 
pleaded for. And tins, I fear, is not so considered as it ought to be 
for if It were, it would not be so common a thing as, it may be it i.' 
for men to plead highly for the imitation of God, and almost in all 
they do give us a full representation of the devil: for as this univer- 
sal benignity and love to all is the greatest representation of the 
nature of God on earth, so is fierceness, envy, wrath, and reven.^e 
of that of the devil. Would we, then, be like unto our heavenly 
lather, would we manifest that we are so unto his glory, would we 
represent him in and unto the world, it must be by this frame of 
spirit, and actings constantly suited thereunto. This our blessed 
Saviour instructs us in and unto, Matt. v. 44, 45. A man, I say 
thus good, his nature being cured and rectified by grace, thence use- 
ful and helpful, free from guile, envy and selfishness, pride and ela- 
tion of mind, is the best representation we can have of God on the 
earth, since the human nature of Christ was removed from us. 

This, therefore, we are to labour after if we intend to be like God, 
or to manifest his glory in our persons and lives unto the world. 
And no small part of our holiness consists herein. Many lusts, cor- 
ruptions, and distempered passions, are to be subdued by grace, if we 
design to be eminent. Strong bents and inclinations of mind to com- 
ply with innumerable provocations and exasperations that will befall 
us must be corrected and discarded ; many duties [must] be con- 
stantly attended unto, and sundry graces ke])t up to their exercise. 
The whole drove of temptations, all whose force consists in a pre- 
tence of care for self, must be scattered or resisted. And hence it is 
that in the Scripture a good man, a merciful man, a useful, liberal 
man, is frequently spoken of, by way of emiuency and distinction, as 
one whom God hath an especial regard unto, and concerning whom 
there are peculiar promises. When men live to themselves, and are 
satisfied that they do no hurt, though they do no good; are secure, 
selfish, wrathful, angry, peevish, or have their kindness confined to 
their relations, or are otherwise little useful but in what they are 
pressed unto, and therein come off with difticulty in their own 
minds; who esteem all lost that is done for the relief of others, and 
the greatest part of wisdom to be cautious, and disbelieve the necessi- 
ties of men ; in a word, that make self and its concernments the end of 
their lives; — whatever otherwise their profession be, or their diligence 
in religious duties, they do very little either represent or glorify God 
in the world. If we, therefore, design to be holy, let us constantly, in 
our families, towards our relations, in churches, in our conversation 
in the world, and dealings with all men; towards our enemies ami 
persecutors, the worst of them, so far as they are ours only ; towards all 
mankind as we have opportunit}-, — labour after conformity unto God, 



583 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM THE [bOOK V. 

and to express our likeness unto liim, in this philanthropy, goodness, 
benignity, condescension, readiness to forgive, to help and relieve; 
without which we neither are nor can be the children of our Father 
which is in heaven. 

Esi)ecially is this frame of heart, and actings suitable thereunto, 
required of us with respect unto the saints of God, unto believers. 
Even God himself, whom we are bound to imitate, and a conformity 
unto whom we are pressing after, doth exercise his benignity and 
kindness in a peculiar manner towards them: 1 Tim. iv. 10, " He is 
the saviour of all men," but " specially of- those that believe." There 
is a speciality in the exercise of his saving goodness towards believers. 
And in answer hereunto, we are likewise commanded to "do good 
unto all men," but " especially unto them who are of the household 
of faith," Gal. vi. 10. Although we are obliged to the exercise of the 
goodness before described unto all men whatever, as we have oppor- 
tunity, yet we are allowed, yea, we are enjoined, a peculiar regard 
herein unto the household of faith. And if this were more in exer- 
cise, if we esteemed ourselves (notwithstanding the provocations and 
exasperations which we meet withal, or suppose we do so, when per- 
haps none are given us or intended us) obliged to express this 
benignity, kindness, goodness, forbearance, and love towards all be- 
lievers in an especial manner, it would prevent or remove many of 
those scandalous offences and animosities that are among us. If in 
common we do love them that love us, and do good to them that do 
good to us, and delight in them who are of our company and go the 
same way with us, it may advance us in the condition of Pharisees 
and publicans, for they did so also. But if among believers we will 
take this course, love them only, delight in them only, be open and 
free in all effects of genuine kindness towards them who go our 
way, or are of our party, or are kind and friendly to us, or that never 
gave us provocations really nor in our own surmises, we are so 
fxr and therein worse than either Pharisees or publicans. We are 
to endeavour conformity and likeness unto God, not only as he is 
the God of nature, and is good unto all the works of his hands, but 
as he is our heavenly Father, and is good, kind, benign, merciful, in 
an especial manner, unto the whole family of his children, however 
differenced among themselves, or indeed unkind or provoking unto 
him. I confess, when I see men apt to retain a sense of old provo- 
cations and differences ; ready to receive impressions of new ones, or 
ready for apprehensions of such, where there are none; incredulous 
of the sincerity of others who profess a readiness for love and peace ; 
to take things in the worst sense; to be morose and Severe towards 
this or that sort of believers, unready to help them, scarce desiring 
their prosperity, or it may be their safety, — I cannot but look upon 



CHAP. I.] COXSIDERATION OF THE XATURE OF GOD. 5S9 

it as a -very great stain to their profession, whatever else it be: and 
by this rule would I have my own ways examined. 

2. Truth is another grace, another part of holiness, of the same 
import and nature. Truth is used in the Scripture for uprightness 
and integrity,—" Thou requirest truth in i\iQ inward parts," Ps. li. (5, 
— and frequently for the doctrine of truth, as of God revealed and l)y 
us believed. But that which I intend is only what is enjoined us by 
the apostle, — namely, in all things to "speak the truth iii love," Epli. 
iv. 15. Our apostasy from God was eminently from him as the God 
of truth ; by an opposition to which attribute we sought to dethrone 
him from his glory. We would not believe that his word was truth. 
And sin entered into the world by and with a long train of lies; 
and ever since, the whole world, and every thing in it, is filled with 
them ; which represents him and his nature who is the father of lies 
and liars. Hereby doth it visibly and openly continue in its apostasy 
from the God of truth. I could willingly stay to manifest how the 
whole world is corrupted, depraved, and sullied by lies of all sorts, 
but I must not divert thereunto. Wherefore, truth and sincerity in 
words, — for that at present I must confine myself unto, — is an effect of 
the renovation of the image of God in us, and a representation of him 
to the world. No duty is more frequently pressed upon us: "Put away 
false speaking;" "Lie not one to another; " "Speak the truth in love." 
And the consideration hereof is exceeding necessary unto all those 
who by their course of life are engaged in trading; and that both 
because of the disreputation which by the evil practices of some, of 
many (that I say not of the most), is cast upon that course of life, and 
also because failures in truth are apt a thousand ways to insinuate 
themselves into the practices of such persons, yea, when tlicy are not 
aware thereof. "It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer, but 
when he goeth away he boasteth;" and " It is good, it is good, saith 
the seller, but when he hath sold.it he boasteth," or is well pleased 
with the advantage which he hath made by his words. But these 
things have the linage of Satan upon them, and are most opposite to 
the God of truth. Another occasion must be taken farther to pre. s 
this necessary duty; only at present, I do but intimate that where 
truth is not universally observed, according to the utmost watchful- 
ness of sincerity and love, there all other marks and tokens of the 
imao-e of God in any persons are not only sullied but defaced, ami 
the representation of Satan is most prevalent. And these things I 
could not but add, as naturally consequential unto that first priutii.al 
argument for the necessity of holiness which we liave proposed and 

insisted on. 

Having despatched this first argument, and added unto it some 

especial improvements with respect unto its influence into our prac- 



500 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS, ETC. [bOOK V. 

tice, it remains only that we free it from one objection, which it seems 
exposed unto. Now, this ariseth from the consideration of the in- 
finite grace, mercy, and love of God, as they are proposed in the dis- 
pensation of the word ; for it may be said unto us, and like enough 
it will, considering the frame of men's minds in the days wherein we 
live, "Do not you yourselves, who thus press unto holiness, and the 
necessity of it, from the consideration of the nature of God, preach 
unto us every day the greatness of his mercy towards all sorts of sin- 
ners, his readiness to receive them, his willingness to pardon them, 
and that freely in Christ, without the consideration of any worth, 
merit, or righteousness of their own? And do you not herein invite 
all sorts of sinners, the worst and the greatest, to come unto him by 
Christ, that they may be pardoned and accepted? Whence, then, 
can arise any argument for the necessity of holiness from the con- 
sideration of the .nature of this God, whose inestimable treasures of 
grace, and the freedom of whose love and mercy towards sinners, no 
tongue, as you say, can express?" 

Ans. 1. This objection is ve7-y natural unto carnal and unbeliev- 
ing minds, and therefore we shall meet with it at every turn. There 
is nothing seems more reasonable unto them than that we may live 
in sin because grace hath abounded. If men must yet be holy, they 
can see no need nor use of grace; and they cannot see that God is 
gracious to any purpose, if notwithstanding men may perish because 
they are not holy. But this objection is raised, rejected, and con- 
demned by our apostle, in whose judgment we may acquiesce, Rom. 
vi. 1 ; and in the same place he subjoins the reasons why, notwith- 
standing the superabounding grace of God in Christ, there is an in- 
dispensable necessity that all believers should be holy. 

2. God himself hath obviated this objection. He proclaims his 
name, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7, "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gra- 
cious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." 
Had he stood here, and neither in this nor in any other place of Scrip- 
ture farther declared his nature and unchangeable purposes concerning 
sinners, some colour might have been laid on this objection. But he 
adds immediately, " and that will by no means clear the guilty," — 
that is, as it is explained in places of Scripture innumerable, such as go 
on in their sins, without regard unto obedience and holiness springing 
from the atonement made for their guilty souls in the blood of Christ. 

3. We do, we ought to declare the rich and free love, grace, 
mercy, and bounty of God unto sinners in and by Jesus Christ. And 
woe unto us if we should not be found in that work all our days, 
aijd thereby encourage all sorts of sinners to come unto him for the 
free pardon of their sins, " without money or price," without merit 



CHAP. I.] ETERNAL ELECTION, ETCL gr^j 

or desert on their part ! for this is the gospel But notwithstanding 
all this grace and condescension, we declare that he doth not de 
throne himself, nor denij himself, nor change his nature, nor become 
unholy/, that we may be saved. He is God still, naturally and 
essentially holy,— holy as he is in Christ, reconciling the sinful worl.l 
unto himself,— and therefore indispensably requires that those whom 
he pardons, receives, accepts into his love and communion with him- 
self, should be holy also. And these things are not only consistent 
but inseparable. Without the consideration of this grace in God, we 
can have no encouragement to be lioly; and witliout the necessity of 
holiness in us, that grace can neither be glorified nor useful. 



CHAPTER II. 

ETERNAL ELECTION A CAUSE OF AND MOTIVE UNTO HOLINESS. 

Other arguments for the necessity of holiness, from God's eternal election The 

argument from thence explained, improved, vindicated. 

We have seen, upon the whole matter, Avhat conclusions (as unto 
our own duty) we ought to draw from that revelation of the nature of 
God in Christ which is made unto us, and our relation unto him. If 
we are not thereby prevailed on always, in all instances of obedience, 
to endeavour to be holy universally, in all manner of holy conversa- 
tion, we neither can enjoy his favour here nor be brought unto the 
enjoyment of him in glory hereafter. 

That consideration which usually we take of God next after his 
nature and the properties of it, is of the eternal free acts of his will, 
or his decrees and purposes; and we shall now inquire what re- 
spect they have unto holiness in us, what arguments and motives 
may be taken from them to evince the necessity of it unto us and 
to press us thereunto, especially from the decree of election, wliich 
in an especial manner is by some traduced as no friend to this de- 
sign. I say, then, that, — 

II. It is the eternal and immutahle purpose of God, that all who 
are his in a peculiar manner, all luhom he designs tQ bring unto 
blessedness in the everlasting enjoyment of himself, shall antece- 
dently thereunto he made holy. Tliis purpose of his God hatli de- 
clared unto us, that we may take no wrong measures of our estate 
and condition, nor build hopes or expectations of future glory on 
sandy foundations that will fail us. Whatever we are else, in parts, 
abilities, profession, moral honesty, usefulness unto others, reputation 
in the church, if we are not personally, spiritually, evangelically 



592 ETERNAL ELECTION A CAUSE OF [bOOK Y. 

lioly, we have no interest in tliat purpose or decree of God wliereby 
any persons are designed unto salvation and glory. And this we 
shall briefly confirm: — 

Eph. i. 4, " He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of 
the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in 
love." But is this that which firstly and principally we are ordained 
unto, and that for its own sake, — namely, holiness and unblamable- 
ness in the obedience of love? No; we are firstly "ordained to eter- 
nal life," Acts xiii. 48 ; we are " from the beginning chosen to salva- 
tion," 2 Thess. ii. 13. That which God, in the first place, intends 
as his end in the decree of election is our eternal salvation, to the 
"praise of the glory of his gi-ace," Eph. i. 5, 6, 11. How, then, is he 
said to "choose us that we should be holy?" in what sense is our 
hoKness proposed as the design of God in election? It is as the in- 
disiDensable means for the attaining of the end of salvation and glory. 
" I do," saith God, " choose these poor lost sinners to be mine in an 
especial manner, to save them by my Son, and bring them, through 
his mediation, unto eternal glory. But in order hereunto, I do pur- 
pose and decree that they shall be holy and unblamable in the obe- 
dience of love ; without which, as a means, none shall ever attain that 
end." Wherefore, the expectation and hope of any man for life and 
immortality and glory, without previous holiness, can be built on no 
other foundation but this, that God will rescind his eternal decrees 
and change his purposes, — that is, cease to be God, — merely to com- 
ply with them in their sins ! And who knoAvs not what will be the 
end of such a cursed hope and expectation ? The contrary is seconded 
by that of the apostle, Rom. viii. 80, " Whom he did predestinate, 
them he also called." Wherever predestination unto glory goes be- 
fore concerning any person, there effectual vocation unto faith and 
holiness infallibly ensues; and where these never were, the other 
never was. So 2 Thess. ii. 13, " God hath from the beginning chosen 
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit." Chosen we are 
unto salvation by the free, sovereign grace of God. But how may 
this salvation be actually obtained? how may we be brought into 
the actual possession of it? Through the sanctification of the Spirit, 
and no otherwise. Whom God doth not sanctify and make holy 
by his Spirit, he never chose unto salvation from the beginning. 
The counsels of God, therefore, concerning us do not depend on 
our holiness ; but upon our holiness our future happiness depends 
in the counsels of God. 

Hence we may see wherein lies the force of the argument for the 
necessity of hohness from God's decree of election; and it consists in 
these two things: — 

Eirst, That such is the nature of the unalterable decree of God in 



CHAr. IT.] AND MOTIVE UNTO HOLINESS. 5f)3 

this matter, that no ijerson Uving can ever attain the end of glory 
and hapinness without the means of grace and holiness; the same 
eternal purpose respecteth both. I shall afterward show how the 
infallible and indissolvable connection of these things is establislied 
by the law of God. Our present argument is from hence, that it is 
fixed by God's eternal decree. He hath ordained none to salvation, 
but he hath ordained them antecedently to be holy. Not the least 
infant that goes out of this world shall come to eteraal rest unless it 
be sanctified, and so made habitually and radically holy. He clioos- 
eth none to salvation but through the sanctification of the Spirit. 
As, therefore, Avhatever else we have or may seem to have, it is con- 
trary to the nature of God that we should come to the enjoyment of 
him if we are not holy, so it is contrary to his eternal and unchange- 
able decree also. 

Secondly, It ariseth from hence, that we can have no evidence of 
our interest in God's decree of election, whereby we are designed 
unto life and glory, without holiness effectually wrought in us. 
Wherefore, as our life depends upon it, so do all our comforts. To 
this purpose speaks our apostle, 2 Tim. ii. 19, "The foundation of God 
standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." 
It is the decree of election which he intends, and he proposeth it as 
that alone which will give security against apostasy in a time of great 
temptations and trials ; as our Saviour doth likewise, Matt. xxiv. 2 4- 
Every thing else will fail but w^hat is an especial fruit and effect of 
this decree. What, therefore, is incumbent on us with respect there- 
unto, that we may know we have an interest in this single security 
against final apostasy? Saith the apostle, "Let every one that 
nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" There is no 
other way to come unto an evidence thereof but by a departure from 
all iniquity, by universal holiness. So the apostle Peter directs us 
to " give all diligence to make our election sure," 2 Pet. i. 10. Sure 
it is m itself from all eternity,—" The foundation of God standeth 
sure,"— but our duty it is to make it sure and certain unto ourselves; 
and this is a thing of the highest importance and concernment unto 
us whence we are required to give all diligence unto that end. How, 
then may this be done or effected? This he declares in the fore- 
going verses, and it is only by finding in ourselves and duly exercising 
that train of gospel grace and duties which he there enumerates. 

''^iTis Evident, therefore, and necessary from God's decree of elec- 
tion that if we intend either eternal glory hereafter or any conso- 
lation or assurance here, we must endeavour to be " holy and with- 
out blame before him in love;" for whomsoever God purposotli o 
save, he purposeth first to sanctify. Neither have we any groimd to 
VOL. III. 



594 ETERNAL ELECTION A CAUSE OF [BOOK V. 

suppose that we are built on that foundation of God which standeth 
sure, unless we depart from all iniquity. What farther motives may 
be taken from the especial nature of this decree shall be considered 
when we have removed one objection out of our way. 

Some there are who apprehend that these things are quite other- 
wise ; for they say that a supposition of God's decree of personal 
election is a discouragement unto all endeavours for holiness, and an 
effectual obstruction thereof in the lives of men. And under this 
pretence chiefly is the doctrine concerning it blasphemed and evil 
spoken of; for say they, " If God have freely from eternity chosen 
men unto salvation, what need is there that they should be holy? 
They may live securely in the pursuit of their lusts, and be sure not 
to fail of heaven at the last; for God's decree cannot be frustrated, 
nor his will resisted. And if men be not elected, whatever they 
endeavour in the ways of holy obedience, it will be utterly lost; for 
eternally saved they cannot, they shall not be. This, therefore, is so 
far from being a conviction of the necessity of holiness and a motive 
unto it as that indeed it renders it unnecessary and useless ; yea, 
defeats the power and efficacy of all other arguments for it and 
motives unto it." 

Now, this objection, if not for the sake of those who make use of 
it as a cavil against the truth, yet of those who may feel the force of 
it in the way of a temptation, must be removed out of our way. To 
this end I answer two things: — 

1. In general. That this persuasion is not of Him that calleth us. 
This way of arguing is not taught in the Scripture, nor can thence 
be learned. The doctrine of God's free electing love and grace is 
fully declared therein; and withal it is proposed as the fountain 
of all holiness, and made a great motive thereunto. Is it not safer, 
now, for us to adhere to the plain testimonies of Scripture, confirmed 
by the experience of the generality of believers, captivating our un- 
derstandings to the obedience of faith, than hearken unto such per- 
verse cavils as would possess our minds with a dislike of God and 
his ways? Those who hate gospel holiness, or would substitute 
something else in the room of it, will never want exceptions against 
all its concernments. A holiness they lay claim unto and plead an in- 
terest m ; for, as I said formerly, a confession in general of the necessity 
hereof is almost the only thing wherein all that are called Christians 
do agree : but such a holiness they would have as doth not spring 
from eternal, divine election, as is not wrought in us originally by 
the almighty efficacy of grace in our conversion, as is not promoted 
by free justification through the imputation of the righteousness of 
Christ. Now, this is such a holiness as the Scripture knoweth no- 
thing of, unless it be to reject and condemn it. Wherefore, this 



6.0 



CHAP. II.] AND MOTIVE UNTO HOLINESS. 

objection proceeding only from the craft of Satan, opposing the ways 
and methods of God's grace when he dareth not openly opr.ose tl.e 
thmg Itself, It IS safer for a believer to rest quietly iu the clear .Scrip- 
ture revelation than to attend unto such proud, perverse, and fro- 
ward cavillings. 

2. In particular, We are not only obliged to believe all divine 
revelations, but also in the way, order, and method wherein, l.y the 
will of God, they are proposed unto us, and which is required hy the 
nature of the things themselves. For instance, the belief of eternal 
life is required in the gospel; but yet no man is obliged to believe 
that he shall be eternally saved whilst he lives in his sins, but rather 
the contrary. On this supposition, which is plain and evident, I 
shall, in the ensuing propositions, utterly cast this objection out of 
consideration : — 

(1.) The decree of election, considered absolutely in itself, without 
respect unto its effects, is no part of God's revealed will; that is, it 
is not revealed that this or that man is or is not elected. This, 
therefore, can be made neither argument nor objection about any 
thing wherein faith or obedience is concerned : for we know it not, 
we cannot know it, it is not our duty to know it; the knowledge of 
it is not proposed as of any use unto us, yea, it is our sin to inquire 
into it. It may seem to some to be like the tree of knowledge of 
good and evil unto Eve, — good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and 
much to be desired to make one wise, as all secret, forbidden things 
seem to carnal minds; but men can gather no fniit from it but 
death. See Deut. xxix. 29. Whatever exceptions, therefore, are 
laid acjainst this decree as it is in itself, whatever inferences are made 
on supposition of this or that man's being or not being elected, they 
are all unjust and unreasonable, yea, proud contending with God, 
who hath appointed another way for the discovery hereof, as we 
shall see afterward. 

(2.) God sends the gospel to men in pursuit of his decree of elec- 
tion, and in order unto its effectual accomplishment. I dispute not 
what other end it hath or may have, in its indefinite proposal unto 
all; but this is the first, regulating, principal end of it. Wherefore, 
in the preaching of it, our apostle affirms that he " endured all things 
for the elect's sakes, that they might obtain the salvation which is iu 
Christ Jesus with eternal glory," 2 Tim. ii. 10. So God beforehand 
commanded him to stay and preach the gospel at Corinth, because? 
" he had much people in that city,"— namely, in his purpose of grace, 
Acts xviii. 10. See chap. ii. 47, xiii. 48. 

(3.) Wherever this gospel comes, it proposeth life and salvation by 
Jesus Christ unto all that shall believe, repent, and yield obedience 
unto him. It plainly makes known unto men their duty, and plainly 



596 ETERNAL ELECTION A CAUSE OF [bOOK V. 

proposctli unto them their reward. In this state of things, no man, 
without the highest pride and utmost effect of unbelief, can oppose 
the secret decree of God unto our known duty. Saith such an one, 
" I will neither repent, nor believe, nor obey, unless I may first know 
whether I am elected or no; for all at last will depend thereon." If 
this be the resolution of any man, he may go about his other occa- 
sions; the gospel hath nothing to say or offer unto him. If he will 
admit of it on no other terms, but that he may set up his own will, 
and wisdom, and methods, in opposition unto and exclusion of those 
of God, he must, for aught I know, take his own course, whereof he 
may repent when it is too late. 

(4.) The sole way of God's appointment whereby we may come 
to an apprehension of an interest in election is by the fruits of it in 
our oivn souls; nor is it lawful for us to inquire into it or after it 
any other way. The obligation which the gospel puts upon us to 
believe any thing respects the order of the things themselves to be 
believed, and the order of our obedience, as was before observed. For 
instance, when it is declared that Christ died for sinners, no man is 
immediately obliged to believe that Christ died for him in particular, 
but only that he died to save sinners, to procure a way of salvation 
for them, among whom he finds himself to be. Hereon the gospel 
requires of men faith and obedience ; this are they obhged to com- 
ply withal. Until this be done, no man is under an obligation to 
believe that Christ died for him in particular. So is it in this matter 
of election. A man is obliged to believe the doctrine of it, upon the 
first promulgation of the gospel, because it is therein plainly declared ; 
but as for his own personal election, he cannot believe it, nor is 
obliged to believe it, any otherwise but as God reveals it by its effects. 
No man ought, no man can justly question his own election, doubt 
of it, or disbelieve it, until he be in such a condition as wherein it is 
impossible that the effects of election should ever be wrought in him, 
if such a condition there be in this world ; for as a man whilst he is 
unholy can have no evidence that he is elected, so he can have none 
that he is not elected, whilst it is possible that ever he may be holy. 
Wherefore, whether men are elected or no is not that which God 
calls any immediately to be conversant about. Faith, obedience, 
holiness, are the inseparable fruits, effects, and consequents of elec- 
tion, as hath been proved before. See Eph. i. 4; 2 Thess. ii. 13; 
Tit. i. 1 ; Acts xiii. 48. In whomsoever these things are wrought, he 
is obliged, according to the method of God and the gospel, to believe 
his own election. And any believer may have the same assurance of 
it as he hath of his calling, sanctification, or justification ; for these 
things are inseparable. And by the exercise of grace are we obliged to 
secure our interest in election, 2 Pet. i. 5-10. But as for those who 
are as yet unbelievers and unholy, they can draw no conclusion that 



CHAP. II.] AND MOTIVE UNTO HOLINESS. 597 

they are not elected but from tliis supposition, that they are in a state 
and condition wherein it is impossible that ever theyshould have either 
grace or holiness; which cannot be supposed concerning any man but 
him that knows himself to have sinned against the Holy Ghost 

Wherefore, all the supposed strength of the objection memioned 
lieth only m the pride of men's minds and wills, refusing to submit 
themselves unto the order and method of God in the dispensation of 
ins grace and his prescription of their duty, where we must leave it 

To return unto our designed discourse: The doctrine of God's 
eternal election is everywhere in the Scripture proposed for the en- 
couragement and consolation of believers, and to further them in 
their course of obedience and holiness. See Eph. i. 3-12; Rom. viii. 
28-34. As unto men's present concernment therein, it is iniidlibly 
assured unto them by its effects; and being so, it is filled with motives 
unto holiness, as we shall now farther declare in particular. 

First, The sovereign and ever-to-be-adored grace and love of God 
herein is a powerful motive hereunto; for we have no way to ex- 
press our resentment^ of this grace, our acknowledgment of it, our 
thankfulness for it, -but by a holy, fruitful course of obedience, nor 
doth God on the account hereof require any thing else of us. Let 
us, therefore, inquire what sense of obligation this puts upon us, 
that God from all eternity, out of his mere sovereign grace, not 
moved by any thing in ourselves, should first choose us unto life and 
salvation by Jesus Christ, decreeing immutably to save us out of the 
perishing multitude of mankind, from whom we neither then did, in 
his eye or consideration, nor by any thing in ourselves ever would, 
differ in the least. What impression doth this make upon our souls? 
What conclusion as to our practice and obedience do we hence 
educe? Why, saith one, "If God have thus chosen me, I may then 
live in sin as I please; all will be well and safe in the latter end, 
which is all I need care for." But this is tlie language of a devil, 
and not of a man. Suggestions, possibly, of this nature, by the craft 
of Satan, in conjunction with the deceitful ness of sin, may be in- 
jected into the minds of believers, (as what may not so be?) but he 
that shall foment, embrace, and act practically according to this in- 
ference, is such a monster of impiety and presumptuous ingratitude 
as hell itself cannot imrallel in many instances. I shall use some 
boldness in this matter. He that doth not understand, wiio is not 
sensible, that an a,pprehension by faith of God's electing love iu 
Christ hath a natural, immediate, powerful influence, upon the souls 
of believers, unto the love of God and holy obedience, is utterly un- 
acquainted with the nature of faith, and its whole work and actings 

' Eesentmcnt once denoted a lively sense of good or favour conferred, ns well a.s irri- 
tation imdcr wrong or injustice. It is obviously used in the loruier uieuuiug iu lliia 

passage. — Ed. 



598 ETERNAL ELECTION A CAUSE OF [eOOK V. 

towards God in the hearts of them that believe. Is it possible 
that any one who knows these things can suppose that those in 
■whom they are in sincerity and power can be such stupid, impious, 
and ungrateful monsters, so devoid of all holy ingenuity and filial 
affections towards God, as, merely out of despite unto him, to cast 
poison into the spring of all their own mercies? Many have I known 
complain that they could not arrive at a comfortable persuasion of 
their own election; never any who [complained,] when they had re- 
ceived it in a due way and manner, that it proved a snare unto them, 
that it tended to ingenerate looseness of Hfe, unholiness, or a contempt 
of God in them. Besides, in the Scripture it is still proposed and 
made use of unto other ends. And those who know any thing of 
the nature of faith or of the love of God, any thing of intercourse 
or communion with him by Jesus Christ, any thing of thankfulness, 
obedience, or holiness, will not be easily persuaded but that God's 
electing love and grace is a mighty constraining motive unto the 
due exercise of them all. 

God himself knoweth this to be so, and therefore he maketh the 
consideration of his electing love, as free and undeserved, his prin- 
cipal argument to stir up the people unto holy obedience, Deut. vii. 
6-8, 11. And a supposition hereof lies at the bottom of that blessed 
exhortation of our apostle. Col. iii. 12, 13, "Put on therefore, as the 
elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humble- 
ness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and 
forgiving one another." These things, which are so great a part of our 
holiness, become the elect of God ; these are required of them on the 
account of their interest in electing love and grace. Men may frame 
a holiness to themselves, and be stirred up unto it by motives of 
their own (as there is a religion in the world that runs in a parallel 
line by that of evangelical truth, but toucheth it not, nor will do so 
to eternity) ; but that which the gospel requires is promoted on the 
grounds and by the motives that are peculiar unto it, whereof this 
of God's free electing love and grace is among the principal. Farther 
to confirm this truth, I shall instance in some especial graces, duties, 
and parts of holiness, that this consideration is suited to promote : — 

1. Humility in all things is a necessary consequent of a due con- 
sideration of this decree of God ; for what were we when he thus 
set his heart upon us, to choose us, and to do us good for ever? — 
poor, lost, undone creatures, that lay perishing under the guilt of 
our apostasy from him. What did he see in us to move him so to 
choose us?— nothing but sin and misery. What did he foresee that we 
would do of ourselves more than others, if he wrought not in us by 
his effectual grace? — nothing but a continuance in sin and rebellion 
against him, and that for ever. How should the thoughts hereof 



CHAP. II.] AND MOTIVE U.NTO HOLINESS. 509 

keep our souls in all humility and continual self-abasement i for 
what have we m or from ourselves on the account whereof we should 
be lifted up? Wherefore, as the elect of God, let us put on humili v 
m al thmgs; and let me add, that there is no giace whereby a 
this day we may more glorify God and the gospel, now the world is 
sinking into rum under the weight of its own pride 

The spirits of men, the looks of men, the tongues of men the 
lives of men, are lifted up by their pride unto their destruction 
Ihe good Lord keep professors from a share in the pride of the.e 
days! Spiritual pride in foolish self-exalting opinions, and the pride 
of life m the fashions of the world, are the poison of this age. 

_ 2. Submission to the sovereign will and pleasure of o'od, in the 
disposal of all our concerns in this world. That this is an excellent 
fruit of faith, an eminent part of holiness, or duty of obedience, is 
acknowledged; and never was it more signally called for than it is at 
this day. ^ He that cannot live in an actual resignation of himself 
and all his concerns unto the sovereign pleasure of God, can neitiicr 
glorify him in any thing nor have one hour's solid peace in his own 
mind. This public calamities, this private dangers and losses, this 
the uncertainty of all things here below, call for at present in an 
especial manner. God hath taken all pretences of security from the 
earth, by what some men feel and some men fear. None knows iiow 
soon it may be his portion to be brought unto the utmost extremity 
of earthly calamities. There is none so old, none so young, none so 
wise, none so rich, as thence to expect relief from such tilings i Where, 
then, shall we in this condition cast anchor? whither shall we betake 
ourselves for quietness and repose ? It is no way to be obtained but 
191 a resignation of ourselves and all our concernments into the sove- 
reign pleasure of God; and what gi'eater motive can we have there- 
unto than this? The first act of divine sovereign pleasure concern- 
ing us was the choosing of us from all eternity unto all holiness and 
happiness. This was done when we were not, when we had no cuu- 
trivances of our own. And shall we not now put all our temporary 
concerns into the same hand? Can the same fountain send out 
sweet and bitter water? — can the same sovereign pleasure of God 
be the free only cause of all our blessedness, and can it do that wiiich 
is really evil unto us? Our souls, our persons, were secure and 
blessedly provided for, as to grace and glory, in the sovereign will of 
God; and what a prodigious impiety is it not to trust all other things 
in the same hand, to be disposed of freely and absolutely! If we 
will not forego our interest in mere, absolute, free, sovereign grace, for 
ten thousand worlds (as no believer will), how ready should we be to 
resign up thereunto that little portion which we have in this woilJ 
among perishing things ! 



coo eterln'AL election a cause of [book V, 

3. Love, kindness, compassion, forbearance towards all believers, 
all the saints of God, however differenced among themselves, are 
made indispensably necessary unto us, and pressed on us from the 
same consideration. And herein also doth no small part of our holi- 
ness consist. To this purpose is the exhortation of the apostle before 
mentioned, Col. iii. 12, 13; for if God have chosen them from all 
eternity, and made them the objects of his love and grace, as he hath 
done so concerning all sincere believers, do we not think it necessary, 
doth not God require of us, that we should love them also? How 
dare any of us entertain unkind, severe thoughts? how dare we 
maintain animosities and enmities against any of them whom God 
liath eternally chosen to grace and glory? Such things, it may be, 
upon provocations and surprisals, and clashings of secular interests, 
have fallen out, and will fall out amongst us ; but they are all op- 
posite and contrary unto that influence which the consideration of 
God's electing love ought to have upon us. The apostle's rule is, 
that, as unto our communion in love, we ought to receive him whom 
God hath received, and because God hath received him; against which 
no other thing can be laid in bar, Rom. xiv. 1 , 3. And the rule is 
no less certain, yea, is subject to less exceptions, that we ought to 
choose, embrace, and love all those, whoever they be, whom God 
hath chosen and loved from eternity. There is no greater evidence 
of low, weak, selfish Christians, than to prescribe any other rules or 
bounds unto their spiritual, evangelical affections than the decree of 
God's election, as manifesting itself in its effects. " I endure all 
things," saith our apostle, not for tlip Jews or Gentiles, not for the 
weak or strong in the faith, not for those of this or that way, but, 
" for the elect's sake." This should regulate our love, and mightily 
stir it up unto all actings of kindness, mercy, compassion, forbear- 
ance, and forgiveness. 

4. Contempt of the world, and all that belongs unto it, will hence 
also be ingenerated in us. Did God set his heart upon some from eter- 
nity? Did he choose them to be his own peculiar [people], to distin- 
gifish them as his from all the residue of mankind? Doth he design 
to give them the highest, greatest, best fruits and effects of his love, 
and to glorify himself in their praises for ever? What, then, will he 
do for them ? Will he make them all kings or emperors in the Avorld ? 
or, at least, A\-ill he have them to be rich, and noble, and honourable 
among men, that it may be known and proclaimed, " Thus shall it 
be done to the man whom the King of heaven delighteth to honour;" 
however, that they should be kept from straits, and difficulties, and 
trials, from poverty, and shame, and reproach in the world? Alas! 
none of these things were in the least in the heart of God concern- 
ing them. They deserve not to be named on the same day, as we 



C:iAP. II.] AND MOTIVE UNTO HOLLXESS. CO] 

use to speak with the least of those things which God hath cho.en 
his unto. Were there any real, substantial good iu the.n on tl eir 
own account, he would not have cast them out of the counsel.of h L 
ove. _ But on the contrary, " Ye see your calling, brethren'' ^h 
IS the infalhble fruit and consequent of election), " howthat no n.any 
wise men after the flesh,not many mighty, not many noble,are called -^ 
bu God hath chosen the poor of the world, the base and the contenm- 
tible, for the most part; yea, he hath designed the generality of his 
elect to a poor, low, and afflicted condition in this world. And shall 
we set our hearts on those things that God hath so manifestly put 
an under-valuation upon, in comparison of the least concernment of 
grace and holmess? Wherefore, let them that are poor and despised 
m the world learn to be satisfied with their state and condition. Had 
God seen it to have been good for you to have been otherwise, he 
would not have passed it by when he was acting eternal love towards 
you. And let them that are rich not set their hearts upon uncertain 
riches. Alas ! they are things which God had no regard unto when 
he prepared grace and glory for his own. Let tlie remembrance 
hereof suit your esteem and valuation of them. Do but think with 
yourselves that these are not the tilings that God had any ref^ard 
unto when he chose us unto grace and glory, and it will abate of 
your care about them, cool your love towards them, and take off 
your hearts from them; which is your holiness. 

Secondly, Electing love is a motive and encouragement unto holi- 
ness, because of the enabli^ig supplies of grace wiiich we may and 
ought thence to expect by Jesus Christ. The difficulties we meet 
withal in a course of holiness are great and many. Here Satan, the 
world, and sin, do put forth and try their utmost strength. Ofttimes 
the best are foiled, ofttimes discouraged, sometimes weary and read}' 
to give over; it requires a good spiritual courage to take a prospect 
of the lions, serpents, and snares tliat lie in the way of a constant 
jDersevering course in gospel obedience. Hereon our knees are ready 
to grow feeble, and our hands to hang down. It is no small relief 
herein, no small encouragement to continue in our progres.s, that the 
fountain of electing grace will never fail us, but continually give out 
supplies of spiritual strength and refresliment. Hence may we take 
heart and courage to rise again when we have been foiled, to abide 
when the shock of temptation is violent, and to persevere in those 
duties which are most wearisome to the flesh. And they are unac- 
quainted with a course of holy obedience who know not liow need- 
ful this consideration is unto a comfortable continuance therein. 

Thirdly, It hath the same tendency and effect in the assurance 
we have from thence, that notwithstanding all the oppositions we 
meet withal, we shall not utterly and hnally miscarry. Coil's " clec- 



602 ETERNAL ELECTION A CAUSE OF [bOOK V. 

tion" ^vi]l at last "obtain," Rom. xi. 7 ; and " his foundation stand eth 
sure," 2 Tim. ii. 19. His purpose, which is " according unto election," 
is unchangeable; and, therefore, the final perseverance and salvation 
of those concerned in it are everlastingly secured. This is the de- 
sign of the apostle's discourse, Rom. viii., from verse 28 unto the end. 
Because of the immutability of God's eternal purpose in our predes- 
tination, and his effectual operations in the pursuit and for the execu- 
tion thereof, the elect of God shall infallibly be' carried through all, 
even the most dreadful oppositions that are made against them, and 
be at length safely landed in glory. And there is no greater encou- 
rao-ement to grow and persist in holiness than what is administered 
by this assurance of a blessed end and issue of it. 

Those who have had experience of that spiritual slumber and sloth 
which unbelief will cast us under; of those weaknesses, discourage- 
ments, and despondencies, which uncertainties, doubts, fears, and 
perplexities of what will be the issue of things at last with them, do 
cast upon the souls of men ; how duties are discouraged, spiritual en- 
deavours and diligence are impaired, delight in God weakened, and 
love cooled by them, — will be able to make a right judgment of the 
truth of this assertion. Some think that this apprehension of the 
immutability of God's purpose of election, and the infallibility of the 
salvation of believers on that account, tend only to carelessness and 
security in sin; and that to be always in fear, dread, and uncertainty 
of the end, is the only means to make us watchful unto duties of 
holiness. It is very sad that any man should so far proclaim his in- 
experience and unacquaintedness with the nature of gospel grace, the 
genius and inclination of the new creature, and the proper workings 
of faith, as to be able thus to argue, without a check put upon him 
by himself and from his own experience. It is true, were there no 
difference between faith and presumption ; no difference between the 
spirit of liberty under the covenant of grace and that of bondage 
under the old covenant; no spirit of adoption given unto believers; 
no genuine filial delight in and adherence unto God ingenerated 
in them thereby, — there might be something in this objection. But if 
the nature of faith and of the new creature, the operations of the 
one and disposition of the other, are such as they are declared to be 
in the gospel, and as believers have experience of them in their own 
hearts, men do but bewray their ignorance, whilst they contend that 
the assurance of God's unchangeable love in Christ, flowing from the. 
immutability of his counsel in election, doth any way impeach, or 
doth not effectually promote, the industry of believers in all duties 
of obedience. 

Suppose a man that is on his journey knoweth himself to be in 
the right way, and that, passing on therein, he shall certainly and 



CHAP II.] AND MOTIVE UNTO HOLINESS. gQj 

infallibly come to bis journey's end, especially if he ^vill a little 
quicken his speed as occasion shall require, will you say that this i- 
enough to make such a man careless and negligent, and that it would 
be much more to his advantage to be lost and bewildered in uncer- 
tain paths and ways, not knowing whither he goes, nor whether he 
shall ever arrive at his journey's end? Common experience declares 
the contrary, as also how momentary and useless are those violent 
fits and gusts of endeavours which proceed from fear and uncertainty 
both m things spiritual and temporal, or civU. Whilst men are under 
the power of actual impressions from such fears, they will convert 
to God, yea, they will " memento turbinis," and perfect holiness in 
an instant; but so soon as that impression wears off (as it will do 
on every occasion, and upon none at all), such persons are as dead 
and cold towards God as the lead or iron, which ran but now in 
a fiery stream, is when the heat is departed from it. It is that soul 
alone, ordinarily, which hath a comfortable assurance of God's eter- 
nal, immutable, electing love, and thence of the blessed end of its 
own course of obedience, who goeth on constantly and evenly in a 
course of holiness, quickening his course and doubling his speed, as 
he hath occasion from trials or opportunities. And this is the very 
design of our apostle to explain and confirm, Heb. vi., from the tenth 
verse unto the end of the chapter, as is declared elsewhere. 

It appears, from what hath been discoursed, that the electing love 
of God is a powerful constraining motive unto holiness, and that 
which proves invincibly the necessity of it in all who intend the eter- 
nal enjoyment of God, But it will be said, " That if it be supposed 
or granted that those who are actually believers, and have a sense of 
their interest herein, may make the use of it that is pleaded ; yet as 
for those who are unconverted, or are otherwise uncertain of their 
spiritual state and condition, nothing can be so discouraging unto 
them as this doctrine of eternal election. Can they make any other 
conclusion from it but that, if they are not elected, all care and pains 
in and about duties of obedience are vain ; if they are, they are need- 
less?" The removal of this objection shall put a close unto our dis- 
course on this subject; and I answer, — 

1. That we have showed already that this doctrine is revealed and 
proposed in the Scripture principally to acquaint believers with tlu-ir 
privilege, safety, and fountain of their comforts. Having, therefore, 
proved its usefulness unto them, I have discharged all that is abso- 
lutely needful to my present purpose. But I shall show, moreover, that 
it hath its proper benefit and advantage towards others also. For, — 

2. Suppose the doctrine of personal election be preached unto 
men, together with the other sacred truths of the gospel, two con- 
clusions, it is possible, may by sundry persons be made from it:— 



001 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM ' [i30UK V, 

(1.) That whereas this is a matter of great and eternal moment unto 
our souls, and there is no way to secure our interest in it but by the 
possession of its fruits and effects, which are saving faith and holi- 
ness, we will, we must, it is our duty, to use our utmost endeavours, 
by attaining of them and growth in them, to make our election sure; 
and herein, if we be sincere and diligent, we shall not fail. Others 
may conclude, (2.) That if it be so indeed, that those who shall be 
saved are chosen thereunto before the foundation of the world, then 
it is to no purpose to go about to believe or obey, seeing all things 
must fall out at last according as they were fore-ordained. Now, I 
ask, which of these conclusions is (I will not say most suited unto 
the mind and will of God, with that subjection of soul and con- 
science which we owe to his sovereign wisdom and authority, but 
whether of them is) the most rational, and most suitable to the 
principles of sober love of ourselves and care of our immortal condi- 
tion? Nothing is more certain than that the latter resolution will 
be infallibly destructive (if pursued) of all the everlasting concern- 
ments of our souls; death and etei-nal condemnation are the una- 
voidable issues of it. No man giving himself up to the conduct of 
that conclusion shall ever come to the enjoyment of God. But in 
the other way, it is possible, at least, that a man may be found to be 
the object of God's electing love, and so be saved. Bui why do 1 
say it is possible? There is nothing more infallibly certain than that 
he who pursues sincerely and diligently the ways of faith and obe- 
dience, — which are, as we have often said, the fruits of election, — shall 
obtain in the end everlasting blessedness, and, ordinarily, shall have 
in this world a comfortable evidence of his own personal election. 
This, therefore, on all accounts, and towards all sorts of persons, is 
an invincible argument for the necessity of holiness, and a mighty- 
motive thereunto: for it is unavoidable, that if there be such a thing 
as personal election, and that the fruits of it are sanctification, faith, 
and obedience, it is utterly impossible, that without holiness any- 
one should see God ; the reason of which consequence is apparent 
unto alL 



CHAPTER III. 

HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM THE COMMANDS OF GOD. 

Necessity of holiness proved from the commands of God in the law and 
the gospel. 

III. We have evinr-ed the necessity of holiness from the nature and 
the decrees of God; our next argument shall be taken from his word 



C:iAP. III.] THE C01D.IAXDS OF GOD. 605 

or commands, as the nature and order of these thbgs do requir,. 
And m this case it is needless to produce instances of God's com" 
mands that we should be holy; it is the concurrent voice of the l"v 
and gospel. Our apostle sums up the whole matter 1 Thess iv 1-3 
"We exhort you, that as ye have received of us how ye ou<^ht to 
walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more For ve 
know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this 
is the Will of God, even your sanctification/' or holiness; whereunto 
he adds one especial instance. This is that which the command- 
ments of Christ require, yea, this is the sum of the whole command- 
ing will of God. The substance of the law is, "Be ye holy; for I the 
LoED your God am holy," Lev. xix. 2; the same with whit it is re- 
ferred unto by our Saviour, Matt. xxii. 37-39. And whereas holi- 
ness may be reduced unto two heads,— 1. The renovation of the 
image of God in us; 2. Universal actual obedience, —they are the 
sum of the preceptive part of the gospel, Eph. iv. 22-24; Tit. ii. 
11, 12. Hereof, therefore, there needeth no farther confinnation by 
especial testimonies. 

Our inquiry must be, what /orc6 there is in this argument, or 
whence we do conclude unto a necessity of holiness from the com- 
mands of God. To this end the jiature and proper adjuncts of these 
commands are to be considered,— that is, we are to get our minds 
and consciences affected with them, so as to endeavour after holiness 
on their account, or with respect unto them : for whatever we may 
do which seems to have the matter of holiness in it, if we do it not 
with respect unto God's command, it hath not the nature of holiness 
in it ; for our holiness is our conformity and obedience to the will of 
God, and it is a respect unto a command which makes any thing to 
be obedience, or gives it the formal nature thereof. Wherefore, as 
God rejects that from any place in his fear, worship, or service, whicli 
is resolved only into the doctrines or precepts of men, Lsa. xxix. 13, 14; 
so for men to pretend unto I know not what freedom, light, and 
readiness unto all holiness, from a principle within, without respect 
unto the commands of God without, as given in his word, is to make 
themselves their own god, and to despise obedience unto him who 
is over all, God blessed for ever. Then are we the servants of God, 
then are we the disciples of Christ, when we do what is commanded 
us, and because it is commanded us. And what we are not in- 
fluenced unto by the authority of God in his commands, we are not 
principled for by the Spirit of God administered in the promises. 
Whatever good any man dotli in any kind, if the rca.son why he , 
doth it be not God's command, it belongs neither to holiness nor o1m>- 
dience. Our inquiry, therefore, is after those things in the com- 
mands of Gcd which put such an indispensable obligation upon u? 



COG HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [cOOK V, 

unto holiness, Us that whatever we may be or may have without 
it will be of no use or advantage unto us, as unto eternal blessed- 
ness or the enjoyment of him. 

But to make our way more clear and safe, one thing must yet be 
premised unto these considerations; and this is, that God's com- 
mands for holiness may be considered two ways: — 1. As they 
belong unto and are parts of the covenant of works; 2. As they 
belong and are inseparably annexed unto the covenant of grace. 
In both respects they are materially and formally the same ; that is, 
the same things are required in them, and the same person requires 
them, and so their obligation is joint and equal. Not only the com- 
mands of the new covenant do oblige us unto holiness, but those of 
the old also, as to the matter and substance of them. But there is a 
great difference in the manner and ends of these commands as con- 
sidered so distinctly. For, — 

1. The commands of God, as under the old covenant, do so re- 
quire universal holiness of us, in all acts, duties, and degrees of 
them, that upon the least failure, in substance, circumstance, or de- 
gree, they allow of nothing else we do, but determine us trans- 
gressors of the whole law; for, with respect unto them, "whosoever 
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of 
all," James ii. 10. Now, I acknowledge that although there ariseth 
from hence an obligation unto holiness to them who are under that 
covenant, and such a necessity of it as that without it they must 
certainly perish, yet no argument of the nature with those which I 
insist upon can hence be taken to press us unto it: for no arguments 
are forcible unto this purpose but such as include encouragements in 
them unto what they urge ; but that this consideration of the com- 
mand knoweth nothing of, seeing a compliance with it is, in our 
lapsed condition, absolutely impossible, and for the things that are so, 
we can have no endeavours. And hence it is that no man influenced 
only by the commands of the law, or first covenant, absolutely con- 
sidered, whatever in particular he might be forced or compelled unto, 
did ever sincerely aim or endeavour after universal holiness. 

Men may be subdued by the power of the law, and compelled to 
habituate themselves unto a strict course of duty, and being advan- 
taged therein by a sedate natural constitution, desire of applause, 
self-righteousness, or superstition, may make a great appearance of 
holiness; but if the principle of what they do be only the com- 
mands of the law, they never tread one true step in the paths of it. 

2. The end why these commands require all the duties of holi- 
ness of us is, that they may be our righteousness before God, or that 
we may he justified thereby: for " Moses describeth the righteous- 
neiis which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall 



CHAP. III.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD. 607 

live by them," Rom. x. 5 ; that is, it requires of us all duties of 
obedience unto this end, that we may have justification and etL-rnal 
life by them. But neither on this account can any such argument be 
taken as those we inquire into; for by the deeds of the law no mau 
can be justified: " If thou. Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, Lord, 
who shall stand?" Ps. cxxx. 3. So prays David, "Enter not into 
judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living be 
justified," Ps. cxliii. 2; Rom. iii. 20; Gal. il 16. And if none can 
attain the end of the command, as in this sense they cannot, what 
argument can we take from thence to prevail with them unto obedi- 
ence? Whosoever, therefore, presseth men unto holiness merely on 
the commands of the law, and for the ends of it, doth but put them 
upon tormenting disquietments and deceive their souls. However, men 
are indispensably obliged hereby, and those must eternally perisli for 
want of what the law so requires who do not or will not by faith 
comply with the only remedy and provision that God hath made in 
this case. And for this reason we are necessitated to deny a possi- 
bility of salvation unto all to whom the gospel is not preached, as 
well as unto those by whom it is refused ; for they are left unto this 
law, whose precepts they cannot answer, and whose end they cannot 
attain. 

It is otherwise on both these accounts with the commands of God 
for holiness under the new covenant, or in the gospel ; for, — 

L Although God in them requireth universal huliness of us, yet 
he doth not do it in that strict and rigorous way as by the law, so 
as that if we fail in any thing, either as to the viatter or manner of 
its performance, in the substance of it or as to the degrees of its per- 
fection, that thereon both that and all we do besides should be re- 
jected. But he doth it with a contemperation oi grace and mercy, 
so as that if there be a universal sincerity, in a respect unto all his 
commands, he both pardoneth many sins, and accepts of what we do, 
thouc^h it come short of legal perfection; both on the account ol the 
mediation of Christ. Yet this hindereth not but that the law or com- 
mand of the gospel doth still require universal holiness of us, and 
perfection therein, which we are to do our utmost endeavour to com- 
ply withal, though we have a relief provided in sincerity on the one 
hand and mercy on the other; for the conmiands of the gospel do 
still declare what God approves and what he doth condemn,— which 
is no less than all holiness on the one hand and all sin on the other,— 
as exactly and extensively as under the law : for this the very nature 
of God requireth, and the gospel is not the mmistry of sm, so a:> to 
crive an allowance or indulgence unto the least, although in it par- 
don be provided for a multitude of sins by Jesus Christ The obli- 
gation on us unto holiness is equal unto what it wa. under tb« 



(508 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [cOOK V. 

law, tliongli a relief be provided where unavoidably we come short 
of it. There is, therefore, nothing more certain than that there is no 
relaxation given us as unto any duty of holiness by the gospel, nor 
any indulgence unto the least sin. But yet, upon the supposition of 
the acceptance of sincerity, and a perfection of parts instead of de- 
grees, with the mercy provided for our failings and sins, there is an 
arc^ument to be taken from the command of it unto an indispensable 
necessity of holiness, including in it the highest encouragement to 
endeavour after it; for, together with the command, there is also 
grace administered, enabling us unto that obedience which God will 
accept. Nothing, therefore, can void or evacuate the power of this 
command and argument from it but a stubborn contempt of God, 
arising from the love of sin. 

2. The commands of the gosj'iel do not require holiness and the 
duties of righteousness of us to the same end as the commands of 
the law did, — namely, that thereby we might he justified in the sight 
of God; for whereas God now accepts from us a holiness short of 
that which the law required, if he did it still for the same end, it 
would reflect dishonour upon his own righteousness and the holiness 
of the gospel. For, — 

(1.) If God can accept of a righteousness unto justification infe- 
rior unto or short of what he required by the law, how great se- 
verity must it be thought in him to bind his creatures unto such an 
exact obedience and righteousness at first as he could and might 
have dispensed withal ! If he doth accept of sincere obedience now 
unto our justification, why did he not do so before, but obliged man- 
kind unto absolute perfection according to the law, for coming short 
wherein they all perished? Or shall we say that God hath changed 
his mind in this matter, and that he doth not stand so much now on 
rigid and perfect obedience for our justification as he did formerly? 
Where, then, is the glory of his immutability, of his essential holiness, 
of the absolute rectitude of his nature and will? Besides, — 

(2.) What shall become of the honour and holiness of the gospel 
on this supposition? Must it not be looked on as a doctrine less 
holy than that of the law? for whereas the law required absolute, 
perfect, sinless holiness unto our justification, the gospel admits of 
that to the same end, on this supposition, which is every way imper- 
fect, and consistent with a multitude of sins and failings? What can 
be spoken more to the derogation of it? Nay, would not this indeed 
make " Christ the minister of sin," which our apostle rejects with so 
much detestation. Gal. ii. 17? for to say that he hath merited that our 
imperfect obedience, attended with many and great sins (" for there 
is no man that liveth and sinneth not"), should be accepted unto 
our justification, instead of the perfect and sinless obedience required 



CHAP. III.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD. 



60!) 



under the law, is plainly to make him the minister of sin, or one that 
hath acquired some liberty for sin beyond whatever the law allowoiL 
And thus, upon the whole matter, both Christ and the gospel, in 
whom and whereby God unquestionably designed to declare the 
hoHness and righteousness of his own nature much more gloriously 
than ever he had done any other way, should be the great means to 
darken and obscure them ; for in and by them, on tliis supposition, 
God must be thought (and is declared) to accept of a righteousness 
unto our justification unspeakably inferior unto what he requhc^ 
before. 

It must be granted, therefore, that the end of gospel commands, 
requiring the obedience of holiness in us, is not that thereby or 
thereon we should be justified. God hath therein provided anotlier 
righteousness for that end, which fuHy, perfectly, absolutely answers 
all that the law requires, and on some considerations is far more 
glorious than what the law either did or could require. And hereby 
hath he exalted more than ever the honour of his own holiness and 
righteousness, whereof the external instrument is the gospel; which 
is also, therefore, most holy. Now, this is no otlier but the righteous- 
ness of Christ imputed unto us; for "he is the end of the law for 
righteousness unto them that do believe," Rom. x. 4. But God hath 
now appointed other ends unto our holiness, and so unto his com- 
mand of it, under the gosj" J, all of them consistent with the nature 
of that obedience which he will accept of us, and such as we may 
attain through the power of grace ; and so all of them offering new 
encouragements, as well as enforcements, unto our endeavours after 
it. But because these ends will be the subject of most of our en-suing 
arguments, I shall not here insist upon them. I shall only add two 
thino-s in general: — [1.] That God hath no design for his own glory 
in us or by us, in this world or unto eternity, — that there is no especial 
communion that we can have with him by Jesus Christ, nor any 
capacity for us to enjoy him,— but holiness is necessary unto it, as a 
means unto its end. [2.] These present ends of it under the gospel 
are such as that God doth no less hidispensably require it of us now 
than he did when our justification was proposed as the end of it. 
They are such, in brief, as God upon tlie account of them judgefh 
meet to command us to be holy in all manner of holiness; whicii 
what obligation and necessity it puts upon us so to be, wu arc now 

to inquire: — e r> a * ♦u* 

First, The first thing considerable in the command of Uod to this 
purpose 'is the authority wherewith it is accompanied. It is imlis- 
pensably necessary that we should be holy on the account of the 
authority of God's command. Authority, wherever it is ju.st and. 
exerted in a due and equal inanner, carrieth along with :t aiM.bhga- 
VOL. III. 



610 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM: [BOOK V. 

tion unto obedience. Take this away, and you will fill the whole 
world with disorder. If the authority of parents, masters, and magis- 
trates, did not oblige children, servants, and subjects unto obedience, 
the world could not abide one moment out of hellish confusion. God 
himself maketh use of this argument in general, to convince men of 
the necessity of obedience: " A son honoureth his father, and a ser- 
vant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if 
I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, 
priests, that despise my name," Mai. i. 6; — " If in all particular rela- 
tions, where there is any thing of superiority, which hath the least 
parcel'of authority accompanying of it, obedience is expected and ex- 
acted, is it not due to me, who have all the authority of all sovereign 
relations in me towards you?" And there are two things that enforce 
the obligation from the command on this consideration, jus impe- 
randi and vis exsequendi, both comprised in that of the apostle 
James, chap. iv. 12, " There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and 
to destroy : " — 

1. He who commands us to be holy is our sovereign lawgiver, he 
that hath absolute power to prescribe unto us what laws he pleaseth. 
When commands come from them who have authority, and yet are 
themselves also under authority, there may be some secret abatement 
of the power of the command. Men may think either to appeal from 
them, or one way or other subduct themselves from under their 
power. But when the power immediately commanding is sovereign 
and absolute, there is no room for tergiversation. The command of 
God proceeds from the absolute power of a sovereign legislator. And 
where it is not complied withal, the whole authority of God, and 
therein God himself, is despised. So God in many places calleth 
sinning against his commands, the " despising of him," Num. xi. 20, 
1 Sum. ii. 30; the " despising of his name," Mai. i. 6; the " despising 
of his commandment," and that in his saints themselves, 2 Sam. 
xii. 9. 

Being, then, under the command of God to be holy, not to en- 
deavour always and in all things so to be is to despise God, to reject 
liis sovereign authority over us, and to live in defiance of him. This 
state, I suppose, there are few who would be willing to be found in. 
To be constant despisers of God and rebels against his authority is a 
charge that men are not ready to own, and do suppose that those 
who are so indeed are in a very ill condition. But this, and no better, 
is the state of every one who is not holy, who doth not follow after 
holiness. Yet so it is, propose unto men the true nature of evangeli- 
cal holiness; press them to the duties wherein the exercise of it doth 
consist ; convince them with evidence as clear as the light at noon- 
day that such and such sins, such and such courses, wherein they 



CHAP, m.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD 01 I 

live and walk, are absolutely inconsistent with it and irreconcilable 
unto It —yet, for the most part, it is but little they will heed you and 
less they will do to answer your exhortations. Tell the same persons 
that they are rebels against God, despisers of him, that they have 
utterly broken the yoke and cast off his authority, and thoy will defy 
you, and perhaps revile you. But yet these things are iuseparal.le. 
God havmg given his command unto men to be holy, declared his 
sovereign will and pleasure therein, if we are not so accordingly, we 
are not one jot better than the persons described. Here, then in 
the first place, we found the necessity of holiness on the command 
of God. The authority wherewith it is accompanied makes it neces- 
sary ; yea, from hence if we endeavour not to thrive in it, if we watch 
not diligently against every thing that is contrary unto it, we are 
therein and so far despisers of God and his name, as in the places 
before cited. 

This, therefore, evidenceth unto the cons^jiences of men that the 
obligation unto holiness is indispensable. And it would be Avell if 
we always carried this formal consideration of the commandment in 
our minds. Nothing is more prevalent with us unto watchfulness ia 
holiness, as nothing doth more effectually render what we do to be 
obedience, properly so called. Forgetfulness hereof, or not heeding 
it as we ought, is the great reason' of our loose and careless walking, 
of our defect in making a progress in grace and holines.s. No man 
is safe a moment whose mind by any means is dispossessed of a sense 
of the sovereign authority of God in his commands, nor can any 
thing secure such a soul from being pierced and entered into by 
various temptations. This, therefore, are we to carry about with us 
wherever we go and whatever we do, to keep our souls and consci- 
ences under the power of it, in all opportunities of duties, and on all 
occasions of sin. Had men always, in their ways, trades, shoj)S, affairs, 
families, studies, closets, this written on their hearts, they would have 
"Holiness to the Lord" on their breasts and foreheads also. 

2. The apostle tells us, that as God in his commands is a sovereign 
Imugiver, so he is able to kill and keep alive; that is, his command- 
ing authority is accompanied with such a power as that whereby he 
is able absolutely and eternally to reward the obedient, and to rctiini 
unto the disobedient a meet recompense of punishment; for altlioti::li 
I would not exclude other considerations, yet I think this of etc-rual 
rewards and punishments to be principally here intended. 

But, (1.) Supposing it to have respect unto things temporal also, 
it can-ies along with it the greater enforcement. God commands us 
to be hoi}'. Things are in that state and condition in the world ;« 
that if we endeavour to answer his will in a due manner, designing 
to " perfect holiness in the fear of God," we shall meet with much 



g|2 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [BOOK V. 

Opposition, many difficulties, and at length, perhaps, it may cost 
us our lives; multitudes have made profession of it at no cheaper 
rate. But let us not mistake in this matter: he who commands us 
to be holy is the only sovereign Lord of life and death, that hath, 
alone the disposal of them both, and consequently of all things that 
are subservient and conducing unto the one or the other. It is he 
alone who can kill in a way of punishment, and he alone can keep 
alive in a way of merciful preservation. This power of our Lawgiver 
the holy companions of Daniel committed themselves unto, and pre- 
served themselves by the consideration of, when with the terror of 
death they were commanded to forsake the way of holiness, Dan. 
iii. 16-18. And with respect unto it, our Lord Jesus Christ tells 
us that " he who would save his life," — namely, by a sinful neglect 
of the command, — " shall lose it." This, therefore, is also to be con- 
sidered : The power of him who commands us to be holy is such as 
that he is able to carry us through all difficulties and dangers which 
we may incur upon the account of our being so. Now, whereas the 
fear of man is one principal cause or means of our failing in holiness 
and obedience, either by sudden surprisals or violent temptations, and 
the next hereunto is the consideration of other things esteemed good 
or evil in this world, the faith and sense hereof will bear us up above 
them, deliver us from them, and carry us through them. 

Be of good courage, all ye that trust in the Lord ; you may, you 
ought, without fear or dauntedness of spirit, to engage into the pur- 
suit of universal holiness. He who hath commanded it, who hath 
required it of you, will bear you out in it. Nothing that is truly evil 
or finally disadvantageous shall befall you on that account: for let 
the world rage whilst it pleaseth, and threaten to fill all things with 
blood and confusion, " to God the Lord belong the issues from 
death;" he alone can "kill" and "make alive." There is, therefore, 
no small enforcement unto holiness from the consideration of the 
command, with respect unto the power of the commander, relating 
unto things in this world. 

(2.) But I suppose it is a povjer of eternal reivards and punish- 
ments that is principally here intended. The " killing" here is that 
mentioned by our Saviour, and opposed to all temporal evils, anil 
death itself: Matt. x. 28, " Fear not them who can kill the body, 
but are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear him who is able to 
destroy both soul and body in hell." And this " keeping alive" 
is a deliverance from the wrath to come in everlasting life. And 
this is that which gives an unavoidable efficacy to the command. 
Every command of a superior doth tacitly include a reward and 
punishment to be intended; for a declaration is made of what is 
pleasing and what is displeasing unto him that gives the command, 



CIIAr. III.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD. 



613 



and therein is there a virtual promise and threatening. But unto all 
solemn laws rewards and punishments are expressly annexed. 

But there are two reasons why, for the most part, they do but little 
influence the minds of men who are inclined unto then* transgres- 
sion: — [1.] The first is, that the rewards and punishments declared 
are such as men think they do justly prefer their own satisfaction 
in the transgression of the laws before them. It is so with all f^ood 
men with respect unto laws made contrary to the laws of God ; and 
wise men also may do so with respect unto useless laws, with trifling 
penalties ; and evil men will do so with respect unto the highest tem- 
poral punishments, when they are greedily set on the satisfaction of 
their lusts. Hence I say it is, in the first place, that the minds of men 
are so little influenced with those rewards and punishments that are 
annexed unto human laws. And, [2.] A secret apprehension that 
the commanders or makers of the laws neither will nor are able to 
execute those penalties in case of their transgression, evacuates all 
the /orce of them. Much they ascribe to their negligence, tiiat they 
will not take care to see the sanction of their laws executed ; more 
to their ignorance, that they shall not be al^le to find out their 
transgressions; and somewhat in sundry cases to their power, that 
they cannot punish nor reward though they would. And for these 
reasons are the minds of men little influenced by human laws beyond 
their own honest inclinations and interest. But things are quite 
otherwise with respect unto the law and commands of God that we 
should be holy. The rewards and punishments, called by the apostle 
"killing" and "keeping alive," being eternal, in the highest capacities 
of blessedness or misery, cannot be balanced by any consideration of 
this present world without the highest folly and villany unto our- 
selves; nor can there b&any reserve on the account of mutability, 
iudifferency, ignorance, impoteucy, or any other pretence that tliey 
shall not be executed. Wherefore, the commands of God, which we 
are in the consideration of, are accompanied with firomises and 
thieatenings, of eternal blessedness on the one hand or of misery on 
the other ;° and these will certainly befall us, according as we sl.all 
be found holy or unholy. All the properties of the nature of God 
are immutably engaged in this matter, and hence ensues an indis- 
pensable necessity of our being holy. God commands that we .should 



be so; but what if we are not so? Why, as sure as God is holy and 
powerful, we shall eternally perish, for with the threatening ol that 
condition is his command accompanied in ca.se of dis..bedi.'nce. \\ hat 
if we do comply with the command and become holy? Uj.-.n the 
same o-round of assurance we shall be bn.ught into everlastmg felicity. 
And this is greatly to be considered in the authority of the com- 
maudment. Some, perhaps, will say, that to yield holy obedience 



6] 4 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [bOOK V. 

UBto God with respect unto rewards and punishments is servile, and 
becomes not the free spirit of the children of God. But these are 
vain imaginations; the bondage of our own spirits may make every 
thing we do servile. But a due respect unto God's promises and 
threatenings is a principal part of our liberty. And thus doth the 
necessity of holiness, which we are engaged in the demonstration of, 
depend on the command of God, because of that authority from 
whence it doth proceed and wherewith it is accompanied. It is, 
therefore, certainly our duty, if we would be found walking in a 
course of obedience and in the practice of holiness, to keep a sense 
hereof constantly fixed on our minds. This is that which, in the first 
place, God intends in that great injunction of obedience, Gen. xvii. ], 
" I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect." 
The way to Avalk uprightly, to be sincere or perfect in obedience, is 
always to consider that he who requires it of us is God Almighty, 
accompanied with all the authority and power before mentioned, 
and under whose eye we are continually. And, in particular, we 
may apply this unto persons and occasions: — 

[1.] As to persons. Let them, in an especial manner, have a con- 
tinual regard hereunto, who on any account are great, or high, or 
noble in the world, and that because their especial temptation is to 
be lifted up unto a forgetfulness or regardlessness of this authority of 
God. The prophet [Jeremiah] distributes incorrigible sinners into 
two sorts, and gives the different grounds of their impenitency respec- 
tively. The first are the poor; and it is their folly, stupidity, and sen- 
sual lusts, that keep them off from attending to the command : chap. v. 
3, 4, " They have refused to receive correction : they have made their 
faces harder than a rock ; they have refused to return. Therefore I 
said, Surely these are poor; they are sottish: for they know not the 
way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God." There is a sort 
of poor incorrigible sinners, whose impenitency ariseth much out of 
their ignorance, blindness, and folly, which they please themselves in, 
although they differ but little from the beasts that perish; and such 
do we abound withal, who will take no pains for, who will admit ot 
no means of, instruction. But there is another sort of sinners to 
Avhom the prophet makes his application, and discovers the ground 
of their incorrigible impenitency also: " I will get me to the great 
men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of 
the Lord, and the judginent of their God," verse 5. Great men, 
by reason of their education and other advantages, do attain unto a 
knowledge of the will of God, or at least may be thought so to have 
done, and would be esteemed to excel therein. They, therefore, are 
not likely to be obstinate in sin merely from stupid ignorance and 
folly. " No," saith the prophet, " they take another course ; ' they 



I CHAP. III.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD. gl5 

I have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.'" They 
[are hke a conapany of rude beasts of the field, which, having brokc-u 
I their yokes and cords, do run up and down the fields, "treading 
down the corn, breaking up the fences, pushing with the horn, and 
trampling down all before them. This is the course of men, in the 
pursuit of their lusts, when they have "broken the yoke' of tlie 
Lord." And this the prophet declares to be the especial evil 
of great men, the rich, the mighty, the honourable in the world. 
Now, this " breaking of the yoke" is the neglecting and despising 
of the authority of God in the command. Seeing, therefore, that 
this is the especial temptation of that sort of persons, and things in- 
numerable there are of all sorts that concur to render that tempta- 
tion prevalent upon them, let all those who are of that condition, 
and have the least sincere desire after holiness, watch diligently, as 
they love and value their souls, to keep always and in all things a 
due sense of the authority of God in his commands upon their minds 
and consciences. When you are in the height of your greatness, in 
the fulness of your enjoyments, in the most urgent of your avocations 
by the things or societies of the world, and those who belong to it, 
when the variety of public appearances and attendancies are about 
you, when you are uppermost in the words of others, and it may be 
in your own thoughts, remember Him who is over all, and consider 
that you are subject and obnoxious unto his authority, equally with 
the poorest creature on the earth. Remember that it is your e.spe- 
cial temptation to do otherwise. And if yoi*do yet abhor those who 
by this means are come to be sons of Belial, or such as have alto- 
gether broken the yoke, and run up and down the world in the pur- 
suit of their lusts, saying, " Our lips are our o^vn, and who is lord 
over us?" be you watchful against the least beginnings or entrances 
of it in yourselves. 

[2.] In general, let us all endeavour to carry a constant regard 
unto the authority of God in his comviands into all those seasuns, 
places, societies, occasions, wherein we are apt to be surprised in any 
sin or a neglect of dutij. And I may reduce this instruction or 
point it unto three heads or occasions,— namely, secrecy, businesses, 
and societies. \st. Carry this along with you into your secret re- 
tirements and enjoyments. Neglect hereof is the next cause of tho.so 
secret actual provoking sins which the world swarms with. \\'heri 
no eye sees but the eye of God, men think themselves secure. H.-re- 
by have many been surprised into folly, which hath j.roved the bo- 
ginning of a total apostasy. An awe upon the heart from the autho- 
rity of God in the command will eciually secure us in all places 
and on all occasions. Uly. Let us carry it into our husinesses, and 
the exercise of our trades or calliuys. Most men m these liiU.gs ore 



615 HOLINESS NECESSARY FKOM [bOOK V. 

very apt to be intent on present occasions, and having a certain end 
before them, do habituate themselves into the ways of its attainment ; 
and whilst they are so engaged, many things occur which are apt 
to divert them from the rule of holiness. Whenever, therefore, you 
enter into vour occasions, wherein you may suppose that temptations 
will arise, call to mind the greatness, power, and authority over 
you of Him who hath commanded you in all things to be holy. 
Upon every entrance of a surprisjal, make your retreat unto such 
thoughts, which will prove your relief. Sdly. Carry it with you into 
your companies and societies; for many have frequent occasions of 
enfraains in such societies, as wherein the least forgetfulness of the 
sovereign authority of God will betray them unto profuseness in 
vanity and corrupt communication, until they do with delight and 
hear with pleasure such things as wherewith the Holy Spirit of God 
is grieved, their own consciences are defiled, and the honour of j)ro- 
fession is cast to the ground.^ 

Secondly, The command of God that we should be holy is not to 
be considered only as an effect of poiver and authority, which we 
must submit unto, but as a fruit of infinite wisdom and goodness 
also, which it is our highest advantage and interest to comply withal. 
And this introduceth a peculiar necessity of holiness, from the con- 
sideration of what is equal, reasonable, ingenuous; the contrary 
whereunto is foolish, perverse, ungrateful, every way unbecoming 
rational creatures. "Where nothing can be discerned in commands 
but mere authority, will, and pleasure, they are looked on as merely 
respecting the good of them that command, and not at all theirs 
who are to obey, which disheartens and weakens the principle of 
obedience. Now, though God, because his dominion over us is 
sovereign and absolute, might have justly left unto us no other rea- 
son or motive of our obedience, and, it may be, did so deal with the 
church of old, as to some particular, temporary, ceremonial institu- 
tions; yet he doth not, nor ever did so, as to the main of their obe- 
dience. But as he proposeth his law as an eflect of infinite wisdom, 
love, and goodness, so he declares and pleads that all his commands 
are just and equal in themselves, good and useful unto us, and that 
our compliance with them is our present as well as it will be our 
future^ happiness. And that this is so, that the command of God 
requiring that we should be holy, as a fruit of wisdom and goodness, 
is equal and advantageous unto ourselves, appears from all the con- 
siderations of it: — 

1. Look upon it formally, as a laio 'prescribed unto us, and it 
is so, because the obedience in holiness which it requires is propor- 
tioned unto the strength and power which we have to obey, which 
declares it equal unto us, and an effect of infinite wisdom and good- 



CTIAP. III.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD. QlJ 

ncss in God. The command, as we showed before, may he considered 
either as it belonged unto the old covenant, or as it is annexed unto, 
and so is a part of, the new. In the first way, as it belonged unto 
the old covenant, the strength of grace which we had originally from 
God under the law of creation was sufficient to enable°us unto all 
that holy obedience which was required therein, and our not duinn- 
so was from wilful rebellion, and not from any impotency or weak^ 
ness in us. We fell not from our first estate for want of power to 
obey, but by the neglect of the exercise of that power which we had. 
God made us upright, but we sought out many inventions. And in 
the latter way, as it belongs to the covenant of grace, there is, by 
virtue of that covenant, a supply of spiritual strength given in by 
the promise unto all them who are taken into it, enabling tliem to 
answer the commands for holiness, according to the rule of the ac- 
ceptance of their obedience, before laid down. No man who is instated 
in the covenant of grace comes short or fails of the performance of 
that obedience which is required and accepted in that covenant 
merely for want of power and spiritual strength ; for God therein, 
according to his divine power, gives unto us "all things that jx'rtain 
unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath 
called us to glory and virtue," 2 Pet. i. 3. 

It is true, this grace or strength is administered unto them by cer- 
tain ways and means, which if they attend not unto they will come 
short of it. But this I say, in the careful, diligent, sedulous use of 
tliose means appointed, none who belong to tlie covenant of grace 
shall ever fail of that power and ability which shall render the com- ■ 
mands of the gospel easy and not grievous unto them, and whereby 
they may so fulfil them as infallibly to be accepted. This the Scrip- 
ture is plain in, where Christ himself tells us that " his yoke is ea.sy, 
and his burden light," Matt. xi. 80 ; and his holy apostle, that " his com- 
mandments are not grievous," 1 John v. 3: for if they should exceed 
all the strength which we either have or he is pleased to give unto 
us, they would be like the Jewish ceremonies, — a yoke which we could 
not bear, and a law not only grievous but unprofitable. But, on the 
contrary, our apostle expressly affirms (and so may we) that " he 
could do all things,"— that is, in the way and manner, and unto the 
end for which they are required in the gospel, — " through Christ th.-it 
stren^-thened him. Some would confound these things, and cast all 
into disorder. They would have men that are under the ol.l cove- 
nant to have a power and spiritual strength to fulfil the ccinman.ls 
of the new ; which God hath never spoken of nor declared, and which, 
indeed, is contrary to the whole design of his grace. They would 
have men who have broken the old covenant, and forfeited all iheir 
strenoth and ability which they hud by it fur obedience, and wiio 



618 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [BOOK V. 

are not initiated in the new covenant, yet to have a power of their 
own to fulfil the command of the one or the other; which God neither 
giveth nor is obliged to give. Nor is it necessary to prove that the 
command is equal and holy; for, as was observed, God giveth us no 
command for hohness and obedience but in, with, and by virtue of 
some covenant. And there is no more required to prove them to be 
just and equal, but that they are easy unto them who walk with God in 
that covenant whereunto they do belong, and that that performance 
of them shall be accepted which they have power for. If any will 
sinfully cast away their covenant interest and privilege, as we all did 
that of our original creation, we must thank ourselves if we- have 
not power to answer its commands. Nor doth it belong unto the 
equity of the commands of the new covenant that those who are not 
yet made partakers of it by grace should have power to fulfil them. 
Nay, if they had so, and should do so accordingly (were any such 
thing possible), it would not avail them : for being supposed not as 
yet to belong unto the new covenant, they must belong unto the 
old ; and the performance of the commands of the new covenant, 
in the way and manner which are required therein, Avould not avail 
them who are really under the rule and law of the old, which admits 
of nothing short of absolute perfection. But " what the law speaks, 
it speaks unto them that are under the law ;" and what the gospel 
speaks, it speaks unto them " who are not under the law, but under 
grace." And the formal transition of men from one of these states 
unto another is by an act of God's grace, wherein themselves are 
merely passive, as hath elsewhere been demonstrated. See Col. i. 13. 
This is that which I do intend : God at first made a covenant 
with mankind, the first covenant, the covenant of works. Herein 
he gave them commands for holy obedience. These commands were 
not only possible unto them, both for matter and manner, by virtue 
of that strength and power which was concreated with them, but easy 
and pleasant, every way suited unto their good and satisfaction in 
that state and condition. This rendered their obedience equal, just, 
reasonable, and aggravated their sin with the guilt of the most hor- 
rible folly and ingratitude. When by the fall this covenant was 
broken, we lost therewith all power and ability to comply with its com- 
mands in holy obedience. Hereupon the "law" continued " holy, and 
the commandment holy, and just, and good," as our apostle speaks, 
Rom. vii. 12; for what should make it otherwise, seeing there was 
no change in it by sin, nor did God require more or harder things 
of us than before? But to us it became impossible, for we had lost 
the strength by which alone we were enabled to observe it; and 
80 " the commandment, which was ordained to life, we find to be 
unto death," verse 10. Towards all, therefore, that remain in that 



CHAP. III.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD. 



CA9 



srtate we say, " The commandment is still just and holy, but it is 
neither easy nor possible." Hereon God brings in the covenant of 
grace by Christ, and renews therein the commands for holy obedi- 
ence, as was before declared. And here it is that men trouble them- 
selves and others about the power, ability, and free-will that men 
have as yet under the first covenant, and the impotence that ensued 
on the transgression of it to fulfil the condition of the new covenant, 
and yield the obedience required in it; for this is the place where 
men make their great contests about the power of free-will and the 
possibility of God's command. Let them but grant that it is the 
mere work of God's sovereign and almighty grace effectually to in- 
state men in the new covenant, and we shall contend with them or 
against them, that by virtue thereof they have such spiritual strength 
and grace administered unto them as render all the commands of it 
to be not only possible but easy also, yea, pleasant, and every way 
suited unto the principle of a holy life, wherewith they are endued 
And this we make an argument for the necessity of holiness. The 
argument we have under consideration is that whereby we prove the 
necessity of holiness with respect unto God's command requiring it, 
because it is a fruit of infinite wisdom and goodness. It is so in an 
especial manner as it belongs unto the new covenant. And, there- 
fore, by our disobedience or living in sin, unto the contempt of God's 
authority we add that of his wisdom and goodness also. Now, that 
it is so a fruit of them appears, in the first place, from hence, that it 
is proportioned unto the strength and ability which we have to obey. 
Hence obedience in holiness becomes equal, easy, and pleasant unto 
all believers who sincerely attend unto it; and this fully evinceth 
the necessity of it, from the folly and ingratitude of the contrary. 
That these things, and in them the force of the present argument, 
may the better be apprehended, I shall dispose them into the ensu- 
ing observations: — 

(1.) We do not say that any one hath this power and ability in 
himself or from himself God hath not in the new covenant brought 
down his command to the power of man, but by his grace he raisuth 
the power of man unto his command. The former were only a com- 
pliance with the sin of our nature, which God abhors; the latter is 
the exaltation of his own fjrace,yi\\\c\\ he aimeth at. It is not men's 
strength in and of themselves, the power of nature, but the grace 
which is administered in the covenant, that we intend. For men to 
trust unto themselves herein, as though they could do any tiling of 
themselves, is a renunciation of all the aids of grace, without which 
we can do nothing. We can have no power from Christ unless wo 
live in a persuasion that we have none of our own. Our whole .spi- 
ritual life is a life of faith ; and that is a life of drpoudence on Christ 



620 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [bOOK V. 

for what we have not of ourselves. This is that which ruins the at- 
tempt of many for holiness, and renders what they do (though it be 
like unto the acts and duties of it) not at all to belong unto it; for 
what we do in our own strength is no part of holiness, as is evident 
from the preceding description of it. Neither doth the Scripture 
abound in any thing more than in testifying that the power and 
ability we have to fulfil the commands of God, as given in the new 
covenant, is not our own, nor from ourselves, but merely from the 
crace of God administered in that covenant : as John xv. 5 ; Phil, 
ii. 13; 2 Cor. iii. 5. It will be said, then, " Where lies the difference? 
Because it is the mere work of grace to instate us in the covenant, 
j-ou conclude that we have no power of our own to that purpose. 
And if when we are in covenant, all our strength and power is still 
from grace, we are, as to any ability of our own to fulfil the command 
of God, as remote from it as ever." I answer, The first work of grace 
is merely upon us. Hereby the image of God is renewed, our hearts 
are changed, and a principle of spiritual life is bestowed on us. But 
tills latter work of grace is in us and by us. And the strength or 
ability which we have thereby is as truly our own as Adam's was his 
which he had in the state of innocency ; for he had his immediately 
from God, and so have we ours, though in a different way. 

(2.) There is no such provision of spiritual strength for any man, 
enabling him to comply with the command of God for holiness, as 
to countenance him in the least carnal security, or the least neglect 
of the diligent use of all those means which God hath appointed for 
the communication thereof unto us, with the preservation and in- 
crease of it. God, who hath determined graciously to give us sup- 
plies thereof, hath also declared that we are obliged unto our utmost 
diligence for the participation of them, and unto their due exercise 
when received. This innumerable commands and injunctions give 
testimony unto, but especially is the whole method of God's grace 
and our duty herein declared by the apostle Peter, 2 Epist. i. 3-11 ; 
which discourse I have opened and improved elsewhere.^ The sum 
is. That God creating in us a new spiritual nature, and therewithal 
giving unto us "all things pertaining unto life and godliness," or a 
gracious ability for the duties of a holy, godly, spiritual life, we are 
obliged to use all means, in the continual exercise of all grace, which 
will ascertain unto us our eternal election, with our effectual voca- 
tion, whereon we shall obtain an assured, joyful entrance into the 
kingdom of glory. 

(3.) This administration of grace and spiritual strength is not 
equally effectual at all times. There are seasons wherein, to correct 

"He has had frequent occasion to refer to this passage, but see more especially 
book IV. chap, ii., on page 3'J5 of this volume. — Ed. 



CHAP. III.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD. 



621 



our negligences in giving place to our corruptions and temptation.s, 
or on other grounds, to discover unto us our own frailty and im- 
potency, with other holy ends of his own, God is pleased to with- 
hold the powerful influences of his grace, and to leave us unto 
ourselves. In such instances we shall assuredly come short of 
answering the command for universal holiness, one way or other. 
See Ps. XXX. 6, 7. But I speak of ordina:ry cases, and to prevent 
that slothfulness and tergiversation unto this duty of comj^lying with 
all the commands of God for holiness which we are so obnoxious 
unto. 

(4.) "We do not say that there is in the covenard of grace spiritual 
strength administered, so as that by virtue thereof we should yield 
sinless and absolutely 'perfect obedience unto God, or to render any 
one duty so absolutely 'perfect. If any such there are, or ever were, 
who maintain such an imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto 
us as should render our own personal obedience unnecessary, they 
do overthrow the truth and holiness of the gospel. And to say that 
we have such supplies of internal strength as to render the imputa- 
tion of the righteousness of Christ unto our justification unnecessary, 
is to overthrow the grace of the gospel and the new covenant itself 
But this alone we say. There is grace administered by the promises 
of the gospel, enabling us to perform the obedience of it in that way 
and manner which God will accept. And herein there are various 
degrees, whereof we ought constantly to aim at the most complete, 
and so to be " perfecting holiness in the fear of God." And where 
we signally come short of the best ndes and examples, it is princi- 
pally from our neglect of those supphes of grace which are tendered 
in the promises. 

(5.) There is a twofold gracious poiuer necessary to render the 
command for holiness and obedience thereunto easy and pleasant:— 

[1.] That which is habitually resident in the hearts and souls of 
believers, whereby they are constantly inclined and disposed unto all 
fruits of holiness. This the Scripture calls our " life," a new principle 
of life, without which we are dead in trespasses and sins. Where this 
is not,' whatever arguments you constrain and press men withal to bo 
holy, you do, as it were, but offer violence unto them, endeavouring 
to force them against the fixed bent and inclination of their mind.s. 
By them all you do but set up a dam against a stream of water, 
which will not be permanent, nor turn the course of the stream con- 
trary to its natural inclination. Unto such the command lur holi- 
ness must needs be grievous and difficult. But such a disposition 
and inclination, or a principle so inclining and disposing us unto 
duties of holiness, we have not in or of ourselves by nature nor is it 
to be raised out of its ruins; for the "carnal mind' (which is in us 



g22 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [BOOK V. 

all) "is enmity against God," which carrieth in it an aversation unto 
every thing that is required of us in a way of obedience, as hath 
been proved at large. And yet without this habitual principle, we 
can never in a due manner comply with any one command of God 
that we should be holy. Want hereof is that which renders obe- 
dience so grievous and burdensome unto many. They endure it for 
a season, and at length either violently or insensibly cast off its yoke. 
Light and conviction have compelled them to take it on themselves, 
and to attend unto the performance of those duties which they dare 
not omit;— but having no principle enabling or inclining them unto 
it, all they do, though they do much, and continue long therein, is 
against the grain with them; they find it difficult, uneasy, and weari- 
some. Wherein they can by any pretence countenance themselves in 
a neglect of any part of it, or bribe their consciences into a compli- 
ance with what is contrary unto it, they fail not to deliver themselves 
from their burden. And, for the most part, either insensibly, by multi- 
plied instances of the neglect of duties of obedience, or by some great 
temptation before they leave the world, they utterly leave all the 
ways of holiness and respect unto the commands of God, or if they 
continue in any, it is unto external acts of morality, which pass with 
approbation in the world ; the inward and spiritual part of obedience 
they utterly renounce. The reason hereof, I say, is, because having 
no principle within, enabling them unto a compliance with the com- 
mands of God with delight and satisfaction, they grow grievous and 
intolerable unto them. So unto many, on the same ground, the 
worship of God is very burdensome, unless it be borne for them by 
external additions and ornaments. 

[2.] There is an actual assistance of effectual grace required here- 
unto. We are not put into such condition by the covenant as that 
we should be able to do any thing of ourselves without actual divine 
assistance. This were to set us free from our dependence on God, 
and to make us gods unto ourselves. The root still bears us, and 
.the springs of our spiritual life are in another. And where both 
these are, there the command is equal, not only in itself but unto 
us, and obedience unto it as easy as just 

((i.) And both these sorts oi grace are administered in the new co- 
venant, suited unto the holy obedience it requires : — 

[I.] For ilie first, it is that which God so frequently, so expressly 
promiseth, where he says that " he will take away the heart of stone, 
aud give us a heart of flesh ;" that " he will write his laws in our hearts, 
and put his fear in our inward parts;" that we shall " fear him," and 
" never depart from him;" that he will " circumcise our hearts" to 
" kuow" and " love" him; — which promises, and the nature of the 
grace contained in them, I have before at large explained. It is suf- 



CHAP, ni.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD. 503 

ficient unto our present purpose that in and by these promises ^ve 
are made par-takers of the divine nature, and are therein endowed 
with a constant, habitual disposition and inclination unto all act5 
and duties of holiness; for our poiuer followeth our love and incli- 
nations, as impotency is a consequent of their defect. 

And here we may stay a little to confirm our principal assertion. 
Upon the supply of this grace, which gives both streugth for and a 
constant inclination unto holy obedience, the command for it becomes 
equal and just, meet and easy to be complied withal : for none can 
refuse a compliance with it in any instance, but their so doing is con- 
trary unto that disposition and inclination of the new nature which 
God hath implanted in themselves; so that for them to sin is not 
only contrary to the law without them, to the light of their minds and 
warning of their consciences, but it is also unto that which is their 
own inclination and disposition, which hath sensibly in such cases a 
force and violence put upon it by the power of corruptions and temp- 
tations. Wherefore, although the command for holiness may and 
doth seem grievous and burdensome unto unregenerate persons, as 
we have observed, because it is against the habitual bent and incli- 
nation of their whole souls, yet neither is it nor can it be so unto 
them who cannot neglect it or act any thing against it, but that 
therein, also, they must crucify and offer violence unto the inclina- 
tions of the new creature in them, which are their own ; for in all 
things " the spirit lusteth against the flesh," Gal. v. 1 7, and the 
disposition of the new creature is habitually against sin and for 
holiness. And this gives a mighty constraining power unto the 
command, when it is evident in our own minds and consciences that 
it requires nothing of us but what we do or may find an inclination 
or disposition in our own hearts unto. And by this consideration we 
may take in the power of it upon our souls, which is too frequently 
disregarded. Let us but, upon the proposal of it unto us, consider 
what our minds and hearts say to it, what answer they return, and 
we shall quickly discern how equal and just the command is; for I 
cannot persuade myself that any bt-liever can be so captivated at any 
time, under the power of temptations, corruptions, or prejudites, but 
that '(if be will but take counsel with his own soul, upon the c<.n>i- 
deration of the command for obedience and holiness, and ask himself 
what he would have) he will have a plain and sincere answer, "That, 
indeed, I would do and have the good proposed, this holiness, this 
duty of obedience." Not only will conscience answer, that he 
must not do the evil whereunto temptation leadeth, for if he do, 
evil will ensue thereon ; but the new nature, and his mind and spirit, 
will say, "This good I would do; I delight in it; it is best for me, 
most suited unto me." And so it joins all the strength and int».'rest 



g24 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [BOOK T. 

it halli in the soul with the command. See to this purpose the ar- 
guing of our apostle, Rom. vii. 20-22. It is true, there is a natural 
fight in conscience, complying with the command in its proposal, 
and urging obedience thereunto, which doth not make it easy to us, 
but, where it is alone, increaseth its burden and our bondage; for it 
doth only give in its suffrage unto the sanction of the command, and 
add to the severity wherewith it is attended. But that compliance 
with the command which is from a principle of grace is quite of 
another nature, and greatly facilitates obedience. And we may dis- 
tino-uish between that compliance with the command which is from 
the natural light of conscience, which genders unto bondage, and 
that which, being from a renewed principle of grace, gives liberty 
and ease in obedience: for the first respects principally the conse- 
quent of obedience or disobedience, the good or evil that will ensue 
upon them, Rom. ii. 14, 15 ; set aside this consideration, and it 
hath no more to say; — but the latter respects the command itself, 
w^hich it embraceth, delighteth in, and judgeth good and holy, with 
the duties themselves required, which are natural and suited there- 
unto. 

[2.] G^^ace of the latter sort, also, actual grace for every holy act 
and duty, is administered unto us according to the promise of the 
gospel. So God told Paul that " his grace was sufficient for him." 
And " he worketh in us both to will and to do of his good plea- 
sure," Phil. ii. 13, so as that we " may do all things" through him 
that enables us ; the nature of which grace also hath been before dis- 
coursed of Now, although this actual working of grace be not in 
the power of the wills of men, to make use of or refuse as they see 
good, but its administration depends merely on the grace and faith- 
fulness of God, yet this I must say, that where it is sought in a due 
manner by faith and prayer, it is never so restrained from any be- 
liever but that it shall be effectual in him, unto the whole of that 
.obedience which is required of him, and as it will be accepted from 
him. 

If, then, this be the condition of the command of holiness, how 
just and equal must it needs be confessed to be! and therefore how 
highly reasonable is it that we should comply with it, and how great 
is their sin and folly by whom it is neglected ! It is true, we are 
absolutely obliged unto obedience by the mere authority of God who 
commands, but he not only allows us to take in, but directs us to 
seek after, those other considerations of it which may give it foi-ce 
and efficacy upon our souls and consciences. And among these, 
none is more efficacious towards gracious, ingenuous souls than this 
of the contemperation of the duties commanded unto spiritual aids 
of strength promised unto us; for v.diat cloak or pretence of dislike 



CHAP. III.] THE COJIMANDS OF GOD. /. , - 

or neglect is here left unto any? Wherefore not only the authority 
of God in giving a command, but the infinite wisdom and goodness 
of God in giving such a command, so just, equal, and gentle, fall 
upon us therein, to oblige us to holy obedience. To neflect or de- 
spise this command is to neglect or despise God in that way which 
he hath chosen to manifest all the holy properties of his nature. ' 

2. The command is equal, and so to be esteemed from the matter 
of it, or the things that it doth require. Things they are that are 
neither great nor grievous, much less perverse, useless, or evil, IMicah 
VL 6-8. There is nothing in the hoHness which the command re- 
quires but what is good to him in whom it is, and useful to all others 
concerned in him or what he doth. What they are the apostle men- 
tions in his exhortation unto them, Phil. iv. 8. They are " things 
true," and "honest," and "just," and "pure," and "lovely," and " of 
good report." And what evil is there in any of these things, that 
we should decline the command that requires them? The more we 
abound in them, the better it will be for our relations, our families, 
our neighbours, the whole nation, and the world, but best of all for 
ourselves. " Godliness is profitable unto all things," 1 Tim. iv. 8. 
"These things are good and profitable unto men," Tit. iii. 8, — good to 
them that do them, and good to those towards whom they are done. 
But both these things, — namely, the usefulness of holiness unto our- 
selves and others, — must be spoken unto distinctly afterwai'd, and 
are, therefore, transmitted unto their proper place. 

Therefore, as it was before observed, it is incumbent on us, in the 
first place, to endeavour after holiness and the improvement of it, 
with respect unto the command of God that we should be holy, and 
because of it, and that especially under the consideration of it which 
we have insisted on. I know not what vain imaginations have 
seemed to possess the minds of some, that they have no need of re- 
spect unfo the command, nor to the promises and threatcnings of 
it, but to obey merely from the power and guidance of an inward 
principle ; nay, some have supposed that a respect unto the command 
would vitiate our obedience, rendering it legal and servile! But I 
hope that darkness wliich hindered men from discerning the hannony 
and compliance which is between the principle of grace in us and 
the authority of the command upon us is much taken away from all 
sincere professors. It is a respect unto the command wliich gives 
the formal nature of obedience unto what we do; and without a due 
regard unto it there is nothing of holiness in us. Some would make 
the lio-ht of nature to be their rule; some, in what they do, look no 
farther for their measure than what carries the reputation ot common 
honesty among men. He that would be holy indeed must always 
mind the command of God, with that reverence and those aftoctions 

40 

VOL III. 



g25 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [BOOK V. 

■which become him to whom God speaks immediately. And that it 
may be effectual towards us we may consider, — 

(1.) How God hath multiplied his commands unto this purpose, to 
testify not only his own infinite care of us and love unto us, but also 
our eternal concernment in what he requires. He doth not give out 
unto us a single command that we should be holy (which yet were 
sufficient to oblige us for ever), but he gives his commands unto that 
purpose, " line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, pre- 
cept upon precept/' He that shall but look over the Bible, and see 
almost every page of it filled with commands, or directions, or in- 
structions for holiness, cannot but conclude that the mind and will 
of God is very much in this matter, and that our concernment therein 
is inexpressible. Nor doth God content himself to multiply com- 
mands in general that we should be holy, so as that if we have' re- 
gard unto him they may never be out of our remembrance, but 
there is not any particular duty or instance of holiness but he hath 
given us especial commands for that also. No man can instance in 
the least duty that ])elongs directly unto it, but it falls under some 
especial command of God. We are not only, then, under the com- 
mand of God in general, and that often reiterated unto us, in an 
awful reverence whereof we ought to walk, but, upon all occasions, 
whatever we have to do or avoid in following after holiness is repre- 
sented unto us in especial commands to that purpose ; and they are 
all of them a fruit of the love and care of God towards us. Is it not, 
then, our duty always to consider these commands, to bind them unto 
our hearts, and our hearts to them, that nothing may separate them? 
O that they might always dwell in our minds, to influence them unto 
an inward constant watch against the first disorders of our souls, that 
are unsuited to the inward holiness God requires, — abide with us in 
our closets, and all our occasions for our good ! 

(2.) We may do well to consider what various enforcements God 
is pleased to give unto those multiplied commands. He doth not 
remit us merely to their authority, but he applieth all other ways 
and means whereby they may be made effectual. Hence are they 
accompanied with exhortations, entreaties, reasonings, expostulations, 
promises, threatenings ; all made use of to fasten the command upon 
our minds and consciences. God knows how slow and backward we 
are to receive due impressions from his authority, and he knows by 
what ways and means the principles of our internal faculties are apt 
to be wrought upon, and therefore applies these engines to fix the 
power of the command upon us. Were these things to be treated 
of severally, it is manifest how great a part of the Scripture were to 
be transcribed. I shall, therefore, only take a little notice of the re- 
•enforcement ^of the command for holiness by those especial promises 



CHAP, til] the COiEMANDS OF GOD. C)27 

which are given unto it. I do not intend now the promises of the 
gospel in general, wherein, in its own way and place, we are interested 
by holiness, but such peculiar promises as God enforceth the com- 
mand by. It is not for nothing that it is said that "godliness hatl- 
the piomise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come " 

1 Tim. iv. 8. There is in all the promises an especial respect unto it; 
and it gives them in whom it is an especial interest in all the promises. 

This is, as it were, the text which our Saviour preached his firit 
sermon upon; for all the blessings which he pronounceth consist in 
giving particular instances of some parts of holiness, annexing an 
especial promise unto each of them. "Blessed," saith he, "are the 
pure in heart." Heart purity is the spring and life of all holinesa 
And why are such persons blessed? Why, saith he, "they shall see 
God." He appropriates the promise of the eternal enjoyment of God 
unto this qualification of purity of heart. So also it hath the pro- 
mise of this life, and that in things temporal and spiritual. In 
things temporal, we may take out from amongst many that espfri.il 
instance given us by the psalmist, "Blessed is he that consideroth 
the poor." Wisely to consider the poor in their dis,tress, so as to re- 
lieve them according to our ability, is a great act and duty of holi- 
ness. "He that doeth this," saith the psalmist, "he is a blessed man." 
Whence doth that blessedness arise, and wherein doth it consist? It 
doth so in a participation of those especial promises which God lialh 
annexed unto this duty even in this life: "The Lord will deliver 
him in time of trouble. The LoitD will preserve him, and keep him 
alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not de- 
liver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen 
him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his 
sickness," Ps. xli. 1-3. Many especial promises in the most impor- 
tant concerns of this life are given unto the right discharge of this 
one duty; for godliness hath the promise of this life. And other in- 
stances might be multiplied unto the same purpose. It is so also 
with respect unto things spiritual. So the apostle Peter, having re- 
peated a long chain of graces, whose exerci.se he presenteth unto i:s 
adds for an encouragement, "If ye do these things ye shall never fall," 

2 Pet. i. 10. The promise of permanency in obedience, with au 
absolute' preservation from all such fallings into sin as are inconsis- 
tent with the covenant of grace, is affixed unto our diligence m lu>li- 
ness. And who knows not how the Sciipture abounds m m.>,tances 
of this nature? That which we conclude from hence is, that to- 
gether with the command of God requiring us to be holy, we should 
consider the promises wherewith it is acconipanied (among other 
things) as an encouragement unto the cheerful performance of that 
obedience which the command itself makes uecessiiry. 



028 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM [BOOK V. 

Wherefore the force of this argument is evident and exposed unto 
all. God hath in this matter positively declared his will, interposing 
his sovereign authority, commanding us to be holy, and that on the 
penalty of his utmost displeasure; and he hath therewithal given us 
redoubled assurance (as in a case wherein we are very apt to deceive 
ourselves) that, be we else what we will or can be, without sincere 
holiness he will neither own us nor have any thing to do with us. 
Be our gifts, parts, abilities, places, dignities, usefulness in the world, 
profession, outward duties, what they will, unless we are sincerely 
holy (which we may not be and yet be eminent in all these things), 
we are not, we cannot, we shall not be, accepted with God. 

And the Holy Ghost is careful to obviate a deceit in this matter 
which he foresaw would be apt to put itself on the minds of men; 
for whereas the foundation of our salvation in ourselves, and the 
hinge whereon the whole weight of it doth turn, is our faith, men 
might be apt to think that if they have faith, it will be well enough 
with them, although they are not holy. Therefore, because this plea 
and pretence of faith is great, and apt to impose on the minds of 
men, who would willingly retain their lusts with a hope and expec- 
tation* of heaven, we are plainly told in the Scripture that that faith 
which is without holiness, without works, without fruits, which can 
be so, or is possible that it should be so, is vain, [is] not that faith 
which will save our souls, but equivocally so called, that may perish 
for ever with those in whom it is. 



CHAPTER IV. 

NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM GOD's SENDING JESUS CHEIST. 

The necessity of holiness proved from the design of God in sending Jesus Christ, 
with the ends of his mediation. 

IV. "We have yet other considerations and arguments to plead unto 
the same purpose with them foregoing ; for one principal end of 
the design of God in sending his Son into the world was, to recover 
us into a state of holiness, which we had lost: "For this purpose 
the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the Avorks of 
the devil," 1 John iii. 8. The manifestation of the Son of God was 
his incarnation, 1 Tim. iii. 16, in order to the work which he had to 
accomplish in our nature; and this was, in general, the destruction 
of the works of the devil; and among these, the principal was 
the infecting of our nature and persons with a principle of sin and 
enmity against God, which was the effect of his temptation. And 



CHAP. IV.] god's sending JESUS CHRIST. 62.0 

tLis is not done but by the introduction of a principle of holiiie.s.s 
and obedience. The image of God in us was defaced by sin. The 
renovation or restoration hereof was one principal design of Christ 
in his coming. Unless this be done, there is no new world, no new 
creatures, no restoration of all things, — no one end of the mediation 
of Christ fully accomplished. And whereas his great and ultimate 
design was to bring us unto the enjoyment of God, unto his eternal 
glory, this cannot be before, by grace and holiness, we are " made 
meet for that inheritance of the saints in light." But we shall 
consider this matter a little more distinctly. 

The exercise of the mediation of Christ is confined unto the limits 
of his threefold office. Whatever he doth for the church, he doth it 
as a priest, or as a king, or as a prophet. Now, as these offices agree 
in all the general ends of his mediation, so they diflter in their acts 
and immediate objects: for their acts, it is plain, — sacerdotal, regal, 
and prophetical acts and duties, — are of different natures, as the offices 
themselves are unto which they appertain; and for their objects, the 
proper immediate object of the priestly office is God himself, as is 
evident both from the nature of the office and its proper acts. For 
as to the nature ot the office, "every priest taken from among men is 
ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer 
both gifts and sacrifices for sins," Heb. v. 1. A priest is one who is 
appointed to deal with God in the behalf of them for whom he e.xe- 
cutes his office. And the acts of the priestly office of Christ are two, 
oblation and intercession, of both which God is the immediate ob- 
ject. He offered himself unto God, and with him he makes inter- 
cession. But the immediate object of Christ's kingly and propheti- 
cal offices are mew or the church. As a priest, he acts with God in 
our name and on our behalf; as a king and prophet, he acts towards 
us in the name and authority of God. 

This being premised, we may consider how each of these offices 
of Christ hath an influence into holiness, and makes it necessary 

unto us: — . 

First, For the priestly office of Christ, all the proper acts of it 
do immediately respect God himself, as hath been declared; and, 
therelore, he doth not by any sacerdotal act immediately and effi- 
ciently work holiness in us. But the effects of these priestly acts, 
that, is, his oblation and intercession, are ot two sorts:—!. Imme- 
diate, such as respect God himself; a^ atonement, recmcihatwn, 
satisfaction. In these consist the first and fundamental end of the 
mediation of Christ. Without a supposition of these all other things 
are rendered useless. We can neither be sanctified nor saved by 
him unless sin be first expiated and God atoned. But they are not 
of our present consideration. 2. The mediate efiects of Christ s 



630 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM [bOOK Y. 

sacerdotal actings respect us, and are also of two sorts: — (1.) Moral, 
as our justification and pardon of sin. (2.) Real, in our sanctifi- 
cation and holiness. And hereunto, as God doth design them, so 
he effecteth holiness in all believers by virtue of the oblation and 
intercession of Jesus Christ. Wherefore, although the immediate 
actings of that office respect God alone as their proper object, yet 
the virtue and efficacy of them extend themselves unto our sanctifi- 
cation and holiness. 

Tit. ii. 14, "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us 
from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works." His "giving himself for us" is the common expres- 
sion for his offering himself a sacrifice to God as a priest, Eph. v. 2. 
And this he did not only that he might "redeem us from all iniquity," 
from the guilt of our sins, and punishment due unto them, which are 
regarded in redemption, but also that he might " purify us to him- 
self," sanctify us, or make us holy and fruitful, or " zealous of good 
works." His blood, as through the eternal Spirit he offered himself 
unto God, " purgeth our conscience from dead works to serve the 
living God," Heb. ix. 14. There is a purging of sin which consists 
in the legal expiation of it, in making atonement; but the purging 
of a sinner, or o'f the conscience, is by real efficiency, in sanctifica- 
tion, which is declared to be one end of the oblation of Christ, chap, 
i. 3. So where he is said to " wash us from our sins in his own 
blood," — namely, as shed and offered for us, — Eev. L 5, it is not only 
the expiation of guilt, but the purification of filth, that is intended. 

The way and manner how holiness is communicated unto us by 
virtue of the death and oblation of Christ, I have showed before at 
large, and shall not, therefore, here again insist upon it. I shall only 
(Observe, that holiness being one especial end for which Christ " gave 
himself for us," or " offered himself unto God" for us, without a par- 
cipation thereof it is impossible that we should have the least evi- 
dence of an interest in his oblation as to any other end of it ; and 
as for those who are never made holy, Christ never died or offered 
himself for them. I cannot understand what advantage it is unto 
religion to affirm that the most of them for whom Christ died as a 
priest, or offered himself as an oblation to God, shall have no benefit 
thereby as to grace or gloiy, and incomparably the most of them 
without any e-special fault of their own, as never hearing of him. 
Neither can I find in the Scripture a double design of Christ in 
giving himself for mankind ;— towards some, that they may be re- 
deemed from all iniquity, and purified to be his peculiar ones; to- 
wards others, that tliey may yet be left under the guilt and power 
of their sins. And it evacuates the force of the motive imto the 
necessity of holiness from the consideration of the oblation of Christ, 



CHAP. IV.] god's sending JESUS CHIlISr. 631 

when men are taught that Christ offi.Ted himself a sacrifice for them 
who are never made holy. Wherefore, I say, no unholy person can 
have any certam evidence that he hath an interest in the ohlatioa 
of Christ, seeing he gave himself to purify them for whom he wa.s 
onered. 

The intercession of Christ, which is his second sacerdotal act, hath 
also the same end, and is effectual to the same purpose. It is true, 
he doth intercede with God for the pardon of sin by virtue of his 
oblation, — whence he is soid to be our advocate with God, to comfort 
us in case of surprisals by sin, 1 John ii. 1, 2,— but this is not all he 
designeth therein; he intercedes also for grace and supplies of the 
Spirit, that we may be made and kept holy. See John xvii. 15, 17. 

Secondly, As to the 'prophetical office of Christ, the church or men 
alone are its immediate object, and of all the acts and duties of it. 
He is therein God's legate and ambassador, his apostle and messenti-er 
unto us. Whatever he doth as a prophet, he doth it with us and 
towards us in the name of God. And there are two parts or works 
of Christ in this office relating only to the doctrine he taught: — 
1. The revelation of God in his name and love, in the mystery of his 
grace, Sind goodness, and truth, by his py-omises, that we may believe 
in him. 2. The revelation of God in his will and commamls, that 
we may obey him. For the first, wherein, indeed, his prophetical 
office was principally exercised, see John i. 1 8, iii. 2, xviL 6. The 
revelation of the preceptive will of God made by Jesus Christ may 
be considered two ways: — (1.) As he was peculiarly sent to the 
house of Israel, the "minister of the circumcision for the truth of 
the promises of God unto the fathers," Eom. xv. 8. (2.) With re- 
spect unto the whole church of all ages. 

(1.) The first, which took up much of his jiersonal ministry in 
the flesh, consisted in the declarations, exposition, and vindication, 
that he gave unto the church of all divine precepts for obedience 
which had been given before. God had from the beginning, and in 
an especial manner at the promulgation of the law on Sinai, and by 
the ensuing expositions of it by the prophets, given excellent precepts 
for holiness and obedience; but the people unto whom they were 
given being carnal, they were not able to bear the spiritual light and 
sense of them, which was, therefore, greatly veiled under the Old 
Testament. Not only the promises, but the precepts also of the law, 
were then but obscurely apprehended. Besides, the church b. ing 
grown corrupt, they were solemn expositions of God's commands 
received amongst them, whose sole design was to accommodate tiiem 
unto the lusts and sins of men, or to exempt men, if not totally yet 
in many instances, from an obligation unto obedience to them. Uur 
blcbsed Saviour applies himself, in the discharge of his prophetical 



^32 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM [BOOK V. 

office, with respect unto the end of the command, which is our holy- 
obedience, unto both these, in the declaration of its excellency and 
efficacy. 

And, — [1.] He declares the iniuard sjnritual nature of the law, 
•with its respect unto the most secret frames of our hearts and minds, 
with the least disorder or irregularity of our passions and affections. 
And then, — [2.] He declares the true sense of its commands, their 
nature, signification, and extent, vindicating them from all the cor- 
rupt and false glosses which then passed current in the church, 
whereby there was an abatement made of their efficacy and an m- 
c?i<tye?2ce granted unto the lusts of men. Thus they had, by their 
traditional interpretation, restrained the sixth commandment, " Tliou 
shalt not kill," unto actual murder; and the seventh, "Thou shalt 
not commit adultery," unto actual uncleanness; — as some now would 
restrain the second commandment unto the making of images and 
worshipping them, excluding the primary intent of the precept, re- 
straining all means and manners of worship unto divine institution. 
How, in his doctrine, he took off these corruptions we may see. Matt. 
V. 21, 22, 27, 28. 

Thus he restored the law to its pristine crown, as the Jews have 
a tradition that i*t shall be done in the days of the Messiah. Herein 
did the Lord Christ place the beginning of his prophetical office and 
ministry. Matt, v., vi., vii. He opened, unveiled, explained, and vin- 
dicated, the preceptive part of the will of God before revealed, to the 
end that by a compliance therewith we should be holy. The full 
revelation of the mind and will of God, in the perfection and spiri- 
tuality of the command, was reserved for Christ in the discharge of 
his office ; and he gave it unto us that we might have a perfect and 
complete rule of holiness. This, therefore, was the immediate end 
of this work or duty of the office of Christ; and when we answer 
it not, we reject that great prophet which God hath sent; to which 
excision is so severely threatened. 

(2.) The second part of this office, or of the discharge of it with 
respect unto the church of all ages, which takes in the ministry of 
the apostles, as divinely inspired by him, consisted in the revelation 
of those duties of holiness, which although they had a general /otm- 
dation in the law, and the equity of them was therein established, 
yet could they never have been known to be duties in their especial 
nature, incumbent on us and necessary unto us, but by his teachings 
and instructions. Hence are they called old and new command- 
ments in distinct senses. Such are faith in God through himself, bro- 
therly love, denial of ourselves in taking up the cross, doing good 
for evil, with some others of the same kind; and how great a part 
of evangelical holiness consists in these things is known. Besides, 



CHAP. IV.J god's SENDTXG JESUS CHRIST. ^35 

he also teacheth us all those ordinances of worship wherein our ohe- 
dieuce unto him belongs unto our holiness also, whereby it is en- 
larged and promoted. This, I sa,y, is the nature and end of the 
I.Kjphetical office of Christ, wherein he acts towards us from God 
and in his name, as to the declaration of the will of God in his com- 
mands; and it is our holiness which is his only end and desvm 
therein. So it is summarily represented, Tit. ii. 11, 12. 

There are three things considerable in the doctrine of obedience 
that Christ teacheth:— [1.] That it reacheth the heart itself, with all 
its inmost and secret actings, and that in the first place. The prac- 
tice of most goes no farther but unto outward acts; the teachings of 
many go no farther, or at best unto the moderation of affections; 
but he, in \he first place, requires the renovation of our whole souls, 
in all their faculties, motions, and actings, into the iinoge of God, 
John iii. 8, 5 ; Eph. iv. 22-24. [2.] It is extensive. There is no- 
thing in any kind pleasing to God, conformable to his mind, or com- 
pliant with his will, but he requires it; nothing crooked, or pei'verse, 
or displeasing to God, but it \?, forbidden by him. It is, therefore, a 
perfect rule of holiness and obedience. [3.] Clearness, perspicuity, 
and evidence of divine truth and authority in all. 

[1.] Hereby, I say, the doctrine of Christ for universal obedience, 
in all the duties of it, comes to be absolute, every way complete and 
'perfect. And it is a notable effect of the atheistical pride of men, 
that, pretending to design obedience (at least in moral duties) unto 
God, they betake themselves unto other rules and directions, as either 
more plain, or full, or efficacious, than those of the gospel, which are 
the teachings of Christ himself, as the great prophet and apostle sent 
of God to instruct us in our duty. Some go to the light of nature 
and the use oi right reason (that is, their own) as their guide; and 
some add the additional documents of the philosopliers. They think 
a saying of Epictetus, or Seneca, or Arrianus, being wittily suiteii to 
their fancies and affections, to have more life and power in it than 
any precept of the gospel. The reason why these things are more 
pleasing unto them than the commands and instructions of Clirist 
is because, proceeding from the spring of natural light, they are 
suited to the workings of natural fancy and understanding; iMit those 
of Christ, proceeding from the fountain of eternal spiritual light, are 
not comprehended in their beauty and excellency without a piin- 
ciple of the same hght in us, guiding our understandings and influ- 
encing our affections. Hence, take any precept, general or particular, 
about moral duties, that is materially the same in the writings of 
philosophers and in the doctrine of the gospel, not a few prefer it as 
delivered in the first way before the latter. Such a contempt have 
men risen unto of Jesus Christ, the wisdom of Gud and the jjreat 



(53 1 ' NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM [BOOK V. 

propliet of the church ! When he entered upon his office, the " voice 
came from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, hear him." 
This succeeded into the room of all those terrible appearances and 
dreadful preparations which God made use of in the giving of the 
law ; for he gave the law by the ministry of angels, who being mere 
creatures, he manifested the dread of his own presence among ihem, 
to o-ive authority unto their ministrations. But when he came to 
reveal his will under the gospel, it being to be done by him " in whom 
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," and who was intrust- 
ed himself with all divine power, he did no more but indigitate or de- 
clare which was the person, and give us a command in general to 
hear him. And this he did with respect unto what he had fixed be- 
fore as a fundamental ordinance of heaven, — namely, that when he 
should raise up and send the great prophet of the church, whoso- 
ever would not hear him should be cut off from the people. A com- 
pliance, therefore, with this command, in hearing the voice of Christ, 
is the foundation of all holiness and gospel obedience. And if men 
will be moved neither with the wisdom, nor authority, nor goodness 
of God, in giving us this command and direction for our good ; nor 
with the consideration of the endowments and faithfulness of Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, in the discharge of his prophetical office; nor 
from the remembrance that it is he, and not Epictetus, or Seneca, 
or Plato, to whom at the last day they must give their account, so as 
to take him alone for their guide in all obedience unto God and 
duty among themselves, — they will find, when it is too late, that they 
have been mistaken in their choice. 

Let us suppose, if you please, at present, for the sake of them who 
would have it so, that all our obedience consists in morality, or the 
duties of it, — which is the opinion of (as one well calls them) our 
" modern heathens," — from whence or whom shall we learn it, or to 
whom shall we go for teaching and instruction about it ? Certainly, 
where the instruction or system of precepts is most plain, full, perfect, 
and tree from mistakes ; where the manner o^ teaching is most power- 
ful and efficacious; and where the authority of the teacher is greatest 
and most unquestionable, — there we ought to apply ourselves to learn 
and be guided. In all these respects we may say of Christ, as Job 
said- of God, " Who teacheth like him?" Job xxxvi. 22. Then, pro- 
bably, shall we be taught of God, when we are taught by him. The 
commands and precepts of duties themselves which are given us by 
the light of nature, however improved by the wits and reasons of 
contemplative men, are many ways defective. For, — 

ls«. The utmost imaginations of men never reached unto that 
wherein the life and sonl of holiness doth consist,— namely, the re- 
novation of our lajysed nature into the image and likeness of God. 



CHAP. IV.] god's sending JESUS CHRIST. 635 

Without this, whatever precepts are given about the moderation of 
affections and duties of moral holiness, they are lifeless, and v-ill 
prove useless. And hence it is that by all those documents which 
were given by philosophers of old, the nature of no one individual 
person was ever renewed, what change soever was wrou^rht on their 
conversation. But that this is plainly and directly required in the 
doctrine of obedience taught by Jesus Christ as the great prophet of 
the church, I have sufficiently proved in this whole discourse. 

^dly. Very few of the precepts of it are certain, so as that we may 
take them for an undoubted and infallible rule. There are some 
general commands, I acknowledge, so clear in the light of nature as 
that no question can be made but that what is required in them is 
our duty to perform ; such are they, that God is to be loved, that 
others are not to be injured, that every one's right is to be rendered 
unto him, whereunto all reasonable creatures do assent at tlieir first 
proposal ; — and where any are found to live in an open neglect, or 
seem to be ignorant of them, their degeneracy into bestiality is open, 
and their sentiments not at all to be regarded. But go a little farther, 
and you will find all the great moralists at endless, uncertain dis- 
putes about the nature of virtue in general, about the offices and 
duties of it,. about the rule and measure of their practice. In tliese 
disputes did most of them consume their lives, without any great 
endeavours to express their own notions in their conversations. 
And from the same reason in part it is, I suppose, that our pre- 
sent moralists seem to care for nothing but the name; virtue itself 
is grown to be a strange and uncouth thing. But what is com- 
manded us by Jesus Christ, there is no room for the least hesitation 
whether it be an infallible rule for us to attend unto or no. Every 
precept of his about the meanest duty is equally certain, and [as] in- 
fallibly declarative of the nature and necessity of that duty, as those 
of the greatest, and that have most evidence from the light of na- 
ture. If once it appear that Christ j-equires any thing of us by his 
word, that he hath taught us any thing as the prophet of the church, 
there is no doubt remains with us whether it be our duty or no. 

Mhj. The whole rule of duties given by the most improved light 
of nature, setting aside those that are purely evangelical, which some 
despise, is ohscure and partial. There are sundry moral duties, wh idj 
I instanced in before, which the light of nature, as it remains in the 
lapsed, depraved condition of it, never extended itself to the discovery 
of. And this obscurity is evident from the differences that are about 
its precepts and directions. But now as the revelation made by 
Christ, and his commands therein, are commensurate unto univer>al 
obedience and gives bounds unto it, so that there is no duty of it 
but what he hath commanded, and it is sufficient to discharge the 



026 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM [BOOK V. 

most specious pleas and pretences of any thing to be a duty towards 
God or man, by showing tliat it is not required by him, so his com- 
mands and directions are plain and evidently perspicuous. I dare 
challenge the greatest and most learned moralist in the world to 
crive an instance of any one duty of morality, confirmed by the rules 
and directions of the highest and most contemplative moralist, that 
I will not show and evince is more plainly and clearly required by 
the Lord Christ in the gospel, and pressed on us by far more effec- 
tual motives than any they are acquainted withal. It is, therefore, 
the highest folly as well as wickedness for men to design, plead, or 
pretend the learning duties of obedience from others rather than 
from Christ, the prophet of the church. 

[2.] The manner of teaching, as to power and efficacy, is also con- 
siderable unto this end. And concerning this also we may say, " Who 
teacheth like him?" There was such eminency in his personal mini- 
stry, whilst he was on the earth, as filled all men with admiration. 
Hence it is said that " he taught as one having authority, and not as 
the scribes," Matt. vii. 29 ; and another while " they wondered at the 
gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth," Luke iv. 22 ; and 
the very officers that were sent to apprehend him for preaching came 
away astonished, saying, " Never man spake like this man," John vii. 
46. It is true, it was not the design 'of God that multitudes of that 
hardened generation should be converted by his personal ministry, 
John xii. 37-40, as having another to fulfil in them, by them, and 
upon them ; yet it is evident from the gospel that there was ^s7bv r/, 
a divine power and glory accompanying his ministerial instructions. 
Yet this is not tliat which I intend, but his continued and present 
teaching of the church by his word and Spirit. He gives such power 
and efficacy unto it as that" by its effects every day it demonstrates 
itself to be from God, being accompanied with the evidence and de- 
monstration of a spiritual power put forth in it. This the experi- 
ences, consciences, and lives of multitudes, bear witness unto conti- 
nually. They do, and will to eternity, attest what power his word 
hath had to enlighten their minds, to subdue their lusts, to change 
and renew their hearts, to relieve and comfort them in their temp- 
tations and distresses, with the like effects of grace and power. 

What is in the manner of teaching by the greatest moralist, and 
what are the effects of it? Enticing words, smoothness and elegancy 
of speech, composed into snares for the affections and delight unto 
tlie fVmcy, are the grace, ornament, and life of the way or manner of 
their tt-acliing. And hereof evanid satisfaction, temporary resolu- 
tions for a kind of compliance with the things spoken, with, it may 
be, sonie few perishing endeavours after some change of life, are the 
best edects of aU such discourses. And so easy and gentle is their 



CHAP. IV.] god's sending JESUS CHIITST. BS7 

operation on the minds of men, that commonly they are deho-htod in 
by the most profligate and obstinate sinners; as is the preachino- of 
t-iiem who act in the same spirit and from the same principles. 

[8.] Whereas the last thing considerable in those whose instruc- 
iions we should choose to give up ourselves unto is their authority, 
that must be left without ftirther plea to the consciences of all men 
whether they have the higher esteem of the authority of Christ the 
Son of God, or of those others whom they do admire; and let them 
freely take their choice, so they will ingenuously acknowledge what 
they do. 

Whereas, therefore, the great end of the prophetical office of Christ, 
in the revelation he made of the will of God in the Scriptures, in his 
personal ministry, and in the dispensation of his word and Spirit con- 
tinued in the church, is our holiness and obedience unto God, I could 
not but remark upon the atheism, pnde, and folly of those "modem 
heathens," who really, or in pretence, betake themselves to the light 
of nature and philosophical maxims for their guidance and direction, 
rather than to him who is designed of God to be the great teacher 
of the church. I deny not but that in the ancient moralists there 
are found many excellent documents concerning virtue and vice; but 
yet, having been, it may be, more conversant in their writings than 
most of those who pretend so highly unto their veneration, I fear not 
to affirm that as their sayings may be of use for illustration of the 
truth, which is infallibly learned another way, so take them alone, 
[and] they will sooner delight the minds and fancies of men than 
benefit or profit them as to the true ends of morality or virtue. 

Thirdly, This, also, is one great end of the kingly power of Christ; 
for as such doth he subdue our enemies and preserve our souls from 
ruin. And those are our adversaries which fight against our spiritual 
condition and safety; such principally are our lusts, our sins, and our 
temptations, wherewith they are accompanied. These doth our Lord 
Christ subdue by his kingly power, quickening and strengthening in 
us, by his aids and supplies of grace, all principles of holy obedience. 
In brief, the work of Christ as a king may be reduced unto these 
heads: — 1. To make his subjects/ree; 2. To preserve them in safety, 
delivering their souls from deceit and violence ; 3. In giving them 
prosperity, and increasing their wealth; 4. In establishing assured 
jyeace for them; 5. In giving them love among themselves; 6. In 
placing the interest and welfare of his kingdom in all their affec- 
tions; 7. In eternally retvarding their ohedience. And all these he 
doth principally by working grace and holiness in them, as might 
be easily demonstrated. I suppose none question but that the prin- 
cipal work of Christ towards us as our head and king is in making 
and preserving of us holy ; I shall not, therefore, farther insist thereoa 



(538 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM [P.OOK Y. 

It remains that we improve these considerations unto the confir- 
mation of our present argument concerning the necessity of holiness. 

And, first, it is hence evident how vain and fond a thing it is for 
any persons continuing in an unJiohj condition to imagine that they 
have any interest in Christ, or shall have any benefit by him. This 
. is the o-reat deceit whereby Satan, that enemy of the common salva- 
tion, hath ruined the generality of mankind who profess the Christian 
relio-ion. The gospel openly declares a w^ay of life aud salvation by 
Jesus Christ. This is thus ifar admitted by all who are called Chris- 
tians, that they will allow of no other way for the same end unto 
competition with it; for I speak not of them who, being piofligate 
and hardened in sins, are regardless of all future concernments, but 
I intend only such as in general have a desire to escape the damna- 
tion of hell, and to attain immortality and glory. And this they 
at least profess to do by Jesus Christ, as supposing that the things 
to this purpose mentioned in the gospel do l)elong unto them as well 
as unto others, because they also are Christians. But they consider 
not that there are certain ways and means whereby the virtue and 
benefit of all that the Lord Christ hath done for us are conveyed to 
the souls of men, whereby they are made partakers of them. With- 
out these we have no concernment in what Christ hath done or de- 
clared in the gospel. If we expect to be saved by Christ, it must 
be by what he doth and hath done for us, as a priest, a prophet, and 
a king. But one of the principal ends of what he doth in all these 
is to make us holy; and if these be not effected in us, we can have 
no eternal benefit by any thing that Christ hath done or continueth 
to do as the mediator of the church. 

Hence the miserable condition of the generality of those who are 
called Christians, who live in sin, and yet hope to be saved by the 
gospel, is greatly to be bewailed. They contract to themselves the 
guilt of the two greatest evils that any reasonable creatures are liable 
imto in this world ; for, — 1. They wofully deceive and ruin their own 
souls. Their whole profession of the gospel is but a crying, " Peace, 
peace," when sudden destruction lies at the door. They " deny the 
Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." 
They are bought and vindicated into the knowledge and profession 
of the truth, but in their works they deny him whom in words they 
own,— "whose damnation slumbereth not." For men to live in covet- 
ousness, sensuality, pride, ambition, pleasures, hatred of the power 
of godhness, and yet to hope for salvation by the gospel, is the most 
inflUhble way to hasten and secure their own eternal ruin. And, 
2. They cast the greatest dishonour on Christ and the gospel that 
any persons are cnpable of casting on them. Those by whom the 
Lord Ciiii:it is rejected as a seducer and the gospel as a fable do 



CHAP, IV.] god's sending JESUS CHRIST. 629 

not more (I may say, not so much) dishonour the one and the other 
tJian those do who, professing to own them both, yet continue to Hve 
and walk in an unholy condition: for as to the open enemies of 
Christ, they are judged and condemned already, and none have occa- 
sion to think the worse of him or the gospel for their opposition unto 
them; but for those others who profess to own them, they endeavour 
to represent the Lord Christ as a minister of sin, as one who hath 
procured indulgence unto men to live in their lusts and in rebellion 
against God, and the gospel as a doctrine of licentiousness and wicked- 
ness. What else can any one learn from them concerning the one 
or the other? The whole language of their profession is, that Christ 
is such a Saviour, and the gospel such a law and rule, as that men 
loving sin and living in sin may be saved by them. This is that 
which hath reflected all kind of dishonour on Christian religion, and 
put a stop unto its progress in the world. These are they of whom 
our apostle makes his bitter complaint: Phil. iii. 18, 19, "Many 
walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weep- 
ing, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is 
destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their 
shame, who mind earthly things." How many that are called Chris- 
tians doth this character suit in these days I Whatever they think 
of themselves, they are " enemies of the cross of Christ," and do 
" tread under their feet the blood of the covenant." 

Secondly, Let more serious professors be most serious in this 
matter. The apostle having given assurance of the certain salvation 
of all true believers, from the immutable purpose of God, presently 
adds, " Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from 
iniquity," 2 Tim. ii. 19; plainly intimating that without holiness, 
without a universal departiue from iniquity, we cannot have the 
least evidence that we are interested in that assured condition. You 
name the name of Christ, jjrofess an interest in him, and expect 
salvation by him; which way will you apply yourselves unto him? 
From which of his offices do you expect advantage? is it from his 
sacerdotal? Hath his blood purged your consciences from dead 
works that you should serve the living God? Are you cleansed, and 
sanctified, and made holy thereby? Are you redeemed out of the 
world by it, and fiom your vain conversation therein, after the cus- 
toms and traditions of men? Are you by it dedicated unto God, 
and made his peculiar ones? If you find not these effects of the 
blood-shedding of Christ in and upon your souls and consciences, in 
vain will you expect those others of atonement, peace, and recon- 
ciliation with God, of mercy, pardon, justification, and salvation, 
which you look for. The priestly office of Christ hath its whole 
effects towards all on whom it hath any effect Despisers of its fruits 



640 



NECESSITT OF HOLINESS FROM [BOOK V. 



in holiness shall never have the least interest in its fruits in right- 
eousness. 7 /. 1 1 1 1 

Is it from his actings as the great proi^het of the church that you 
expect help and relief? Have you effectually learned of him " to 
deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, 
and godly, in this present world?" Hath he taught you to be humble, 
to be meeH, to be patient, to " hate the garment spotted with the 
flesh?" Hath he instructed you unto sincerity in all your ways, 
dealings, and whole conversation among men? Above all, hath he 
taut^ht you, have you learned of him, to purify and cleanse your 
hearts by faith, to subdue your inward spiritual and fleshly lusts, to 
endeavour after a universal conformity unto his image and likeness? 
Do you find his doctrine effectual unto these ends? and are your 
hearts and minds cast into the mould of it? H it be so, your inte- 
rest in him by his prophetical office is secured unto you. But if you 
say that you hear his voice in his word read and preached ; that you 
have learned many mysteries and have attained much light or know- 
ledo-e thereby, at least that you know the substance of the doctrine he 
hath tanirht so as th t you can discourse of it; yea, and that you do 
many things or perform many duties according unto it ; but cannot 
say that the effects before inquired after are wrought in you by his 
word and Spirit, — you lose the second expectation of an interest in 
Christ as mediator, or any advantage thereby. 

Will you betake yourselves to the kingly office of Christ? and have 
you expectations on him by virtue thereof? You may do well to 
examine how he ruleth in you and over you. Hath he subdued 
your lusts, those enemies of his kingdom which fight against your 
souls? Hath he strengthened, aided, supported, assisted you by his 
grace, unto all holy obedience? And have you given up yourselves 
to be ruled by his word and Spirit, to obey him in all things, and to 
intrust all your temporal and eternal concernments unto his care, 
faithfulness, and power? If it be so, you have cause to rejoice, as 
those who have an assured concern in the blessed things of his king- 
dom. But if your proud, rebellious lusts do yet bear sway in you; if 
sin have dominion over you ; if you continue to " fulfil the lusts of the 
flesh and of the mind;" if you walk after the fashions of this world, 
and not as obedient subjects of that kingdom of his which is not of 
this world,— deceive not yourselves any longer, Christ will be of no 
advantage unto you. 

In tlicse things lie the sum of our present argument. If the Lord 
Christ act no otherwise for our good but in and by his blessed offices 
of priest, prophet, and king; and if the immediate effect of the grace 
of Clirist acting in all these offices towards us be our holiness and 
Kauctitication,— those in whom that effect is not wrought and produced 



CTIAP. V ] OUR CONDITION IN THIS WORLD. 64 1 

have neither ground nor reason to promise themselves an interest in 
Christ, or any advantage by his mediation. For men to " name the 
name of Christ/' to profess themselves Christians, or his disciples 
to avow an expectation of mercy, pardon, life and salvation by him' 
and in the meantime to be in themselves worldly, proud, ambitious! 
envious, revengeful, haters of good men, covetous, living in divers 
lusts and pleasures, is a scandal and shame unto Christian religion, 
and unavoidably destructive to their own souls. 



CHAPTER V. 

NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM OUR CONDITION IN THIS WORLD.. 

Necessity of holiness farther argued from our own state and condition in this 
world ; with what is required of us with respect unto our giving glory to 
Jesus Christ. 

V. Another argument for the necessity of holiness may be taken 
from the consideration of ourselves, and our present state and condi- 
tion; for it is hereby alone that the vicious distemper of our nature 
is or can be cured. That our nature is fearfully and universally de- 
praved by the entrance of sin, I have before declared and sufficiently 
confirmed, and I do not now consider it as to the disal)ility of liv- 
ing unto God, or enmity unto him, which is come upon us thereby, 
nor yet as to the future punishment which it renders us obnoxious 
unto ; but it is the present misery that is upon us by it, unless it be 
cured, which I intend. For the mind of man being possessed with 
darkness, vanity, folly, and instability; the will under the power of 
spiritual death, stubborn and obstinate; and all the affections carnal, 
sensual, and selfish ; the whole soul being hurried off from God, and 
so out of its way, is perpetually filled with confusion and perplex- 
ing disorder. It is not unlike that description which Job gives of 
the grave : " A land of darkness, and of the shadow of death, without 
any order, and where the light is as darkness," chap. x. 21, 22. When 
Solomon set himself to search out the causes of all the vanity and 
vexation that is in the world, of all the troubles that the life of man 
is filled withal, he affirms that this was the sum of his discovery, 
" God made men upright, but they have found out many inventions," 
Eccles. vii. 29 ; that is, cast themselves into endless entanglements 
and confusions. What is sin in its guilt, is punishment in its power, 
yea, the greatest that men are liable unto in this world. Hence, 
God for the guilt of some sins penally gives many up to the power 
of others, Rom. i. 24, %Q, 28 ; 2 Thess. ii. 11,12. And this he doth, not 

VOL. IIL ■^^ 



^(2 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM [BOOK V. 

only to secure and aggravate their condemnation at the last day, but 
to give them in this world a recompense of their folly in themselves; 
for there is no greater misery nor slavery than to be under the power 
of sin. 

This proves the original depravation of our nature : The whole 
soul, filled with darkness, disorder, and confusion, being brought under 
the power of various lusts and passions, captivating the mind and 
■will unto their interests, in the vilest drudgeries of servitude and 
bondage, no sooner doth the mind begin to act any thing suitably 
unto the small remainders of light in it, but it is immediately con- 
trolled by impetuous lusts and affections, which darken its directions 
and silence its commands. Hence is the common saying not so 
common as what is signified by it, — 

" Video meliora proboque, 

Deteriora sequor." [Ovid. Metam., lib. vii. 20.] 

Hence the whole soul is filled with fierce contradictions and conflicts. 
Vanity, instability, folly, sensual, irrational appetites, inordinate de- 
sires, self-disquieting and torturing passions, act continually in our 
depraved natures. See the account hereof, Rom. iii. 10-18. How 
full is the world of disorder, confusion, oppression, rapine, unclean- 
ness, violence, and the like dreadful miseries ! Alas ! they are but a 
weak and imperfect representation of the evils that are in the minds 
of men by nature ; for as they all proceed from thence, as our 
Saviour declares, Matt. xv. 18, 19, so the thousandth part of what is 
conceived therein is never brought forth and acted : " From whence 
come wars and fightings among you ? come they not hence, even of 
your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, 
and desire to have, and cannot obtain : ye fight and war, yet ye have 
not," James iv. 1, 2. All evils proceed from the impetuous lusts of 
the minds of men; which, when they are acted unto the utmost, are 
as unsatisfied as they were at their first setting out. Hence the prophet 
Isaiah tells us that wicked men, under the power and disorder of de- 
praved nature, are like "the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose 
waters cast up mire and dirt," and have " no peace," chap. Ivii. 20, 21. 
The heart is in continual motion, is restless in its figments and ima- 
gmations, as the waters of the sea when it is stormy and troubled; 
and they are all evil, "only evil continually," Gen. vi. 5. Herein doth 
It " cast up mire and dirt." And those who seem to have the greatest 
advantages above others, in power and opportunity to give satisfaction 
unto their lusts, do but increase their own disquietness and miseries, 
is Ixix. 14: for as these things are evil in themselves and unto 
others, so they are penal unto those in whom they are, especially in 
wliom they abound and reign; and if their breasts were opened, it 



CHAP, v.] OUR COXDITION IN THIS WORLD. 643 

woiild appear, by the confusion and horror they Hve in, that they are 
on the very confines of hell. 

Hence is the life of man full of vanity, trouble, disnppointments 
vexations, and endless self-dissatisfactions; which those wlio were wise 
among the heathens saw, complained of, and attempted in vain re- 
liefs against. All these things proceed from the depravation of our 
nature, and the disorder that is come upon us by sin; and as, if 
they are not cured and healed, they will assuredly issue in everlast- 
ing misery, so they are woful and calamitous at present. True peace, 
rest, and tranquillity of mind, are strangers unto such souls. Alas! 
what are the perishing profits, pleasures, and satisfactions by them, 
which this world can afford? How unable is the mind of man to 
find out rest and peace in them or from them ! They quickly satiate 
and suffocate in their enjoyment, and become to have no relish in 
their varieties, which only heighten present vanity, and treasure 
up provision for future vexation. We have, therefore, no greater 
interest in the world than to inquire how this disorder may be cured, 
and a stop put to this fountain of all abominations. What we in- 
tend will be cleared in the ensuing observations: — 

1. It is true that some are naturally of a raoxe sedate and quiet 
temper and disposition than others are. They fall not into such 
outrages and excesses of outward sins as others do ; nay, their minds 
are not capable of such turbulent passions and affections as the most 
are possessed withal. These comparatively are peaceable, and useful 
to their relations and others. But yet their minds and hearts are 
full of darkness and disorder: for so it is with all by nature (as we 
have proved), who have not an almighty effectual cure wrought upon 
them; and the less troublesome waves they have on the surface, the 
more mire and dirt ofttimes they have at the bottom. 

2. Education, convictions, afflictions, illuminations, hope of a 
righteousness of their own, love of rejmtation, engagements into the 
society of good men, resolutions for secular ends, with other means 
of the like kind, do often put great restraints upon the actings and 
ebullitions of the evil imaginations and turbulent affections of the 
minds of men; yea, the frame of the mind and the course of the 
life may be much changed by them, how, wherein, and how far, is 
not our present business to declare. 

3. Notwithstanding all that may be effected by these means, oi 
any other of like nature, the disease is uncured, the soul continues 
still in its disorder and in all inward confusion; for our original 
order, harmony, and rectitude, consisted in the powers and inclina- 
tions of our minds, wills, and affections, unto regular actings towards 
God as our end and reward. Hence proceeded all that order and 
peace which were in all their faculties and their actings. Whilst we 



fjj4. NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM [dOOK V. 

cnntiniictl in due order towcards God, it was impossible that we 
should be otherwise in ourselves; but being by sin fallen off from 
God, having lost our conformity and likeness unto him, we fell into 
all the confusion and disorder before described. Wherefore, — 

4. The only cure and remedy of this evil condition is by holiness; 
for it must be, and can be no otherwise, but by the renovation of the 
image of God in us, for from the loss hereof doth all the evil men- 
tioned spring and arise. By this are our souls in some measure re- 
stored unto their primitive order and rectitude; and without this, 
attempts for inward peace, real tranquillity of mind, with due order 
in our affections, will be in vain attempted. It is the holy soul, the 
sanctified mind alone, that is composed into an orderly tendency to- 
wards the enjoyment of God. That which we aim at is what we are 
directed unto by our apostle, Eph. iv. 22-24. Our deliverance from 
the power of corrupt and deceitful lusts, which are the spring and 
cause of all the confusion mentioned, is by the renovation of the 
image of God in us, and no otherwise ; and hence, unto all persons 
not in love with their lusts and ruin, ariseth a cogent argument and 
motive unto holiness. But sundry things may be objected hereunto; 
as, — 

First, " That we do admit and maintain that in all sanctified per- 
sons there are yet certain remainders of our original depravation 
and disorder ; that sin still abideth in believers; yea, that it works 
poiverfully and effectually in them, leading them captive unto the 
law of sin. Hence ensue great and mighty wars and conflicts in 
the souls of regenerate persons that are truly sanctified. Herein 
they suffer so far as to groan, complain, and cry out for deliverance. 
'The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; 
and these are contrary.' Wherefore, it doth not appear that this 
holiness doth so heal and cure the sinful distempers of our minds. 
On the other side, men supposed as yet under the power of sin, who 
have not that grace and holiness in the renovation of the image of 
God which is pleaded for, seem to have more peace and quietness m 
their minds. They have not that inward conflict which others com- 
plam of, nor those groans for dehverance ; yea, they find satisfac- 
tion m their lusts and pleasures, relieving themselves by them 
against any thing that occasioneth their trouble." 
^ Ans. 1. [As] for that peace and order which is pretended to be 
m the minds of men under the power of sin, and not sanctified, it 
IS like that which is in hell and the kingdom of darkness. Satan is 
not divided against himself, nor is there such a confusion and dis- 
order m his kingdom as to destroy it, but it hath a consistency from 
the common end of all that is in it; which is, an opposition unto God 
and aU that is good. Such a peace and order there may be in an 



CHAP, v.] OUR CONDITION IN THIS WORLD. 



615 



unsanctified mind. There being no active principle in it for God 
and that which is spiritually good, all works one way, and all its 
troubled streams have the same course. But yet they continually 
" cast up mire and dirt." There is only that peace in such minds 
which the "strong man armed," that is, Satan, keeps his goods in, 
until a stronger than he comes to bind him. And if any one think 
that peace and order to be sufficient for him, wherein his. mind in 
all its faculties acts uniformly against God, or for self, sin, and the 
world, without any opposition or contradiction, he may find as much 
in hell when he comes there. 

2. There is a difference between a confusion and a rebellion. 
"Where confusion is in a state, all rule or government is dissolved, 
and every thing is let loose unto the utmost disorder and evil ; but 
where the rule is firm and stable, there may be rebellions that may 
give some parts and places disturbance and damage, but yet the 
whole state is not disordered thereby. So is it in the condition of a 
sanctified soul on account of the remainders of sin; there may be re- 
hellion in it, but there is no confusion. Grace keeps the rule in the 
mind and heart firm and stable, so that there is peace and assurance 
unto the whole state of the person, though lusts and corruptions will 
be rebelling and warring against it. The divine order, therefore, of 
the soul consisting in the rule of grace, subordinating all to God in 
Christ, is never overthrown by the rebellion of sin at any time, be it 
never so vigorous or prevalent. But in the state of unsanctified per- 
sons, though there be no rebellion, yet is there nothing but con- 
fusion. Sin hath the rule and dommion in them; and however 
men may be pleased with it for a season, yet is it nothing but a per- 
fect disorder, because it is a continual opposition to God. It is a 
tyranny that overthrows all law, and rule, and order, with respect 
unto our last and chiefest end. 

3. The soul of a believer hath such satisfaction in this conflict as 
that its peace is not ordinarily disturbed, and is never quite over- 
thrown by it. Such a person knows sin to be his enemy, knows its 
design, with the aids and assistances which are prepared for him 
against its deceit and violence; and, considering the nature and end 
of this contest, is satisfied with it. Yea, the greatest hardships that 
sin can reduce a believer unto do but put him to the exercise of 
tliose graces and duties wherein he receiveth great spn-itual satisfac- 
tion. Such are repentance, humiliation, godly sorrow, self-abase- 
ment and abhorrency, with fervent outcries for deliverance. Now, 
although these things seem to have that which is grievous and dolor- 
ous prevailing in them, yet the graces of the Spirit of God being 
acted in them, they are so suited unto the nature of the new creature, 

d so belong uuto the spiritual order of the soul, that it Huds secret 



an 



CI6 



NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FEOM [BOOK V. 



satisfaction in them all. But the trouble others meet withal in their 
own hearts and minds on the account of sin is from the severe reflec- 
tions of their consciences only; and they receive them no otherwise 
but as certain presages and predictions of future and eternal misery. 

4, A sanctified person is secured of success in this conflict, which 
keeps blessed peace and order in his soul during its continuance. 
There is a twofold success against the rebellious actings of the re- 
mainders oiindwelling sin: — (1.) In particular instances; (2.) In 
the whole cause. And in both these have we sufficient assurance of 
success, if we be not wanting imto ourselves. 

(1.) For suppose the contest be considered with respect unto any 
particular hist and corrujjtion, and that in conjunction with some 
powerful temptation, we have sufficient and blessed assurance, that, 
abiding in the diligent use of the loays and means assigned unto us, 
and the' improvement of the assistance provided in the covenant of 
grace, we shall not so fail of actual success as that lust should con- 
ceive, bring forth, and finish sin, James i. 15. But if we be want- 
ing unto ourselves, negligent in our known duties and principal 
concerns, it is no wonder if we are sometimes cast into disorder, and 
foiled by the power of sin. But, — 

(2.) As to the general success in the ivhole cause, — namely, that 
sin shall not utte7'ly deface the image of God in us, nor ahsolutely 
or finally ruin our souls, which is its end and tendency, — we have the 
covenant faithfulness of God (which will not fail us) for our security, 
Eom. vi. 14. 

Wherefore, notwithstanding this opposition and all that is ascribed 
imto it,' there is peace and order preserved by the power of holiness 
in a sanctified mind and soul. 

Secondly, But it will be farther objected, " That many professors 
who pretend highly unto sanctification and holiness, and whom you 
judge to be partakers of them, are yet p>6svish, froward, morose, un- 
quiet in their minds, among their relations and in the world; yea, 
inuch outward vanity and disorder (which you make tokens of the 
internal confusion of the minds of men and of the poiuer of sin) do 
either proceed from them or are carried on by them. And where, 
then, is the advantage pretended, that should render holiness so in- 
dispensably necessary unto us?" 

Ans. If there are any such, the more shame for them, and they 
must bear their own judgment. These things are diametrically 
opposite to the work of holiness and the " fruit of the Spirit," Gal. 
y. 22; and, therefore, I say,— 1. That many, it may be, are esteemed 
holy and sanctified, who indeed are not so. Though I will judge 
m man in particular, yet I had rather pass this judgment on any 
man, that he hath no grace, than that, on the other hand, grace doth 



CHAP, v.] OUR CONDITION IX THIS WORLD. 0' f 

not change our nature and renew the image of God in us. 2. Many 
who are really holy may have the double disadvantage, first, to be 
under such circumstances as will frequently draw out their natural 
infirmities, and then to have them greatened and heightened in the 
apprehension of them with whom they have to do; which was actu-' 
ally the case of David all his days, and of Hannah, 1 Sam. i. 6, 7. 
I would be far from giving countenance unto the sinful dibtemp'ers 
of any, but yet I doubt not but that the infirmities of many are re- 
presented, by envy and hatred of profession, unto an undeserved dis- 
advantage. 3. Wherever there is the seed of grace and holiness, 
there an entrance is made on the ciire of all those sinful distempers, 
yea, not only of the corrupt lusts of the flesh, that are absolutely evil 
and vicious in their whole nature, but even of those natural infirmi- 
ties and distempers of peevishness, moroseness, incHnation to anger 
and passion, unsteadiness in resolution, which lust is apt to possess, 
and use unto evil and disorderly ends. And I am pressing the 
necessity of holiness, — that is, of the increase and growth of it, — that 
this work may be carried on to perfection, and that so, through the 
power of the grace of the gospel, that great promise may be accom- 
plished which is recorded, Isa. xi. 6-9. And as, when a wander- 
ing, juggling impostor, who pretended to judge of men's lives and 
manners by their physiognomy, beholding Socrates, pronounced him, 
from his countenance, a person of a flagitious, sensual life, the people 
derided his folly, who knew his sober, virtuous conversation, but 
Socrates excused him, affirming that such he had been had he not 
bridled his nature by philosophy ; how much more truly may it be 
said of multitudes, that they had been eminent in nothing but unto- 
ward distempers of mind, had not their souls been rectified and cured 
by the power of grace and holiness ! 

I find there is no end of arguments that ofifer their service to the 
purpose in hand ; I shall, therefore, waive many, and those of great 
importance, attended with an unavoidable cogency, and shut up this 
discourse with one which must not be omitted: — In our holiness 
consists the principal part of that revenue of glory and honour 
which the Lord Christ requireth and expectethfrom his disciples 
in this world. That he doth require this indispensably of us is, I 
suppose, out of question amongst us, although the most wlio aie 
called Christians live as if they had no other design but to cast all 
obloquies, reproach, and shame on him and his doctrine. But it we 
are indeed his disciples, he hath bought us with a price, and we are 
not our own, but his, and that to glorify him in soul and body, because 
they are his, 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. He died for us, that we should not live 
unto ourselves, but unto him that so died for u.s, and by virtue ot 
whose death we live, 2 Cor. v. 15; Kom. xiv. 7-9. " He gave huuseif 



g^8 NECESSITY OF HOLINESS FROM [BOOK V. 

for US, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto 
liimself a peculiar people, zealous of good works," Titus il 14. But 
v.-o need not to insist hereon. To deny that we ought to glorify and 
honour Christ in the world, is to renounce him and the gospel. The 
sole inquiry is, how we may do so, and what he requhreth of us to 
that purpose? 

Now, the sum of all that the Lord Christ expects from us in this 
world may be reduced unto these two heads: — 1. That we should 
live holily to him ; 2. That we should suffer ijatiently for him. And 
in these thmgs alone is he glorified by us. The first he expecteth at 
all times and in all things; the latter on particular occasions, as we 
are called by him thereunto. Where these things are, where this 
revenue of glory is paid in and returned unto him, he repents not of 
his purchase, nor of the invaluable price he hath paid for us, yea, says, 
" The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly 
heritage;" which are the words of Christ concerning the church, 
which is his lot, and the " portion of his inheritance," Ps. xvi. 6. 
Now, amongst many others, we shall consider but one way whereby 
we glorify the Lord Christ by our holy obedience, and whence also 
it will appear how much we dishonour and reproach him when we 
come short thereof. 

The Lord Christ, coming into the world as the mediator between 
God and man, wrought and accomplished a mighty work amongst us; 
and what he did may be referred to three heads: — 1. The life which 
he led; 2. The doctrine which he taught; and, 3. The d.eath which 
he underwent. Concerning all these, there ever was a great contest 
in the world, and it is yet continued. And on the part of the world, 
it is managed under a double appearance : for some openly have tra- 
duced his life as unholy, his doctrine as foolish, and his death as 
justly deserved; which was the sense of the Pagan world and the 
apostate Judaical church of old, as it is of many at this day: others 
allow them to pass with some approbation, pretending to own what 
is taught in the gospel concerning them, but in fact and practice 
deny any such power and efficacy in them as is pretended, and with- 
out which they are of no virtue; which is the way of carnal gospel- 
lers, and all idolatrous, superstitious worshippers among Christians. 
Aud of late there is risen up amongst us a generation who esteem 
all that is spoken concerning him to be a mere fable. In opposition 
hereunto, the Lord Christ calls all his true disciples to bear witness 
and testimony unto the holiness of his life, the wisdom and purity of 
his doctrine, the efficacy of his death to expiate sin, to make atone- 
ment and peace with God, with the power of his whole mediation to 
renew the image of God in us, to restore us unto his favour, and to 
brmg us unto the enjoyment of him. This he calls all his disciples 



CHAP, v.] OUR CONDITION IN THIS AVOP.LD. 6!9 

to avow unto and express in the world ; and by their so doing is he 
glorified (and no otherwise) in a peculiar manner. A testimony is 
to be given unto and against the world, that his life was most holy, 
his doctrine most heavenly and pure, his death most precious and 
efficacious; and, consequently, that he was sent of God unto his great 
work, and was accepted of him therein. Now, all this is no other- 
wise done but by obedience unto him in holiness, as it is visible and 
fruitful; for, — 

1. We are obliged to profess that the life of Christ is our example. 
This, in the first place, are we called unto, and every Christian doth 
virtually make that profession. No man takes that holy name upon 
him, but the first thing he signifies thereby is, that he makes the life 
of Christ his pattern, which it is his duty to express in his own ; and 
he who takes up Christianity on any other terms doth wofully de- 
ceive his own soul. How is it, then, that we may yield a revenue of 
glory herein? How may we bear testimony unto the holiness of his 
life against the blasphemies of the world and the unbelief of the 
most, who have no regard thereunto? Can this be any otherwise 
done but by holiness of heart and life, by conformity to God in our 
souls, and living unto God in fruitful obedience? Can men devise a 
more effectual expedient to cast reproach upon him than to live in 
sin, to follow divers lusts and pleasures, to prefer the world and pre- 
sent things before eternity, and, in the meantime, to profess that the 
life of Christ is their example, as all unholy professors and Christians 
do? Is not this to bear witness with the world against him, that 
indeed his life was unholy? Surely it is high time for such persons 
to leave the name of Christians or the life of sin. It is, therefore, 
in conformity alone to him, in the holiness we are pressing after, that 
we can give him any glory on the account of his life being our ex- 
ample. 

2. We can give him no glory unless we bear testimony unto his 
doctrine that it is holy, heavenly, filled with divine xuisdom and 
grace, as Ave make it our rule. And there is no other way whereby 
this may be done but by holy obedience, expressing the nature, en<", 
and usefulness of it, Tit. ii. 11, 12. And, indeed, the holy obedience 
of believers, as hath been declared at large before, is a thing quite 
of another kind than any thing in the world which, by the rules, 
principles, and light of nature, we are directed unto or Instructed 
in. It is spiritual, heavenly, mysterious, filled with principles ami 
actings of the same kind with those whereby our communion with 
God in glory unto eternity shall be maintained. Now, although the 
life of evangelical holiness be, in its principle, form, and chief actings, 
secret and hidden, hid with Christ in God from the eyes of the 
world, so that the men thereof neither see, nor laiow, nur discern 



OjO necessity of holiness from [eook v. 

the spiritual life of a believer, iu its being, form, and power; yet 
there are always sucb evident ap})earing fruits of it as are sufficient 
for their conviction that the rule of it, which is the doctrine of 
Christ alone, is holy, wise, and heavenly. And multitudes in all 
ao-es have been won over unto the obedience of the gospel, and faith 
iu Christ Jesus, by the holy, fruitful, useful conversation of such as 
have expressed the power and purity of his doctrine in this kind. 

3. The 2'>ower and efficacy of the death of Christ, as for other ends, 
so to " purify us from all iniquity/' and to " purge our conscience 
from dead works, that we may serve the living God," is herein also 
required. The world, indeed, sometimes riseth unto that height of 
pride and contemptuous atheism as to despise all appearance and 
profession of purity ; but the truth is, if we are not cleansed from 
our sins in the blood of Christ, if we are not thereby purified from 
iniquity, we are an abomination unto God, and shall be objects of 
' his wrath for ever. However, the Lord Christ requireth no more of 
his disciples in this matter, unto his glory, but that they profess that 
his blood cleanseth them from their sins, and evidence the truth 
of it by such ways and means as the gospel hath appointed unto that 
end. If their testimony herein unto the efficacy of his death be not 
received, be despised by the world, and so at present no apparent 
glory redound unto him thereby, he is satisfied with it, as knowing 
that the day is coming wherein he will call over these things again, 
when the rejecting of this testimony shall be an aggravation of con- 
demnation unto the unbelieving world. 

I suppose the evidence of this last argument is plain, and exposed 
unto all; it is briefly this: Without the holiness prescribed in the 
gospel, we give nothing of that glory unto Jesus Christ which he in- 
dispensably requireth. And if men will be so sottishly foolish as to 
expect the greatest benefits and advantages by the mediation of 
■ Christ, — namely, pardon of sin, salvation, life, and immortality, — 
whilst they neglect and refuse to give him any revenue of glory for 
all he hath done for them, we may bewail their folly, but cannot 
prevent their ruin. He saves us freely by his grace ; but he requires 
that we should express a sense of it, in ascribing unto him the glory 
that is his due. And let no man think this is done in wordy expres- 
sions; it is no otherwise effected but by the power of a holy conver- 
Kiition, " showing forth the praises of him who hath called us out of 
darkness into his marvellous light." Nay, there is more in it also; 
if any one profess himself to be a Christian,— that is, a disciple of 
Jesus Christ, to follow the example of his life, to obey his doctrine, 
to exijrtss the efficacy of his death,— and continue in an unholy life, 
he IS a false traitor to him, and gives in his testimony on the side of 
the world against him and all that he hath done for us. And it is 



CIIA?. v.] OUR CONDITION IN THIS WORLD. G'l 

indeed the flagitious lives of professed Christians that have Lrouffht 
the life, doctrine, and person of our Lord Jesus Christ into contempt 
in the world. And I advise all that read or hear of these things 
diligently and carefully to study the gospel, that they may receive 
thence an evidence of the power, truth, glory, and beauty of Christ 
and his ways; for he that should consider the conversation of men 
for his guide will be hardly able to determine which he should 
choose, whether to be a Pagan, a Mohammedan, or a Christian. And 
shall such persons, by reason of whom the name of Christ is dishon- 
oured and blasphemed continually, expect advantage by him or 
mercy from him? Will men think to live in sensuality, pride, am- 
bition, covetousness, malice, revenge, hatred of all good men, and 
contempt of purity, and yet to enjoy hfe, immortality, and glory by 
Christ? Who can sufficiently bewail the dreadful effects of such a 
horrid infatuation? God teach us all duly to consider, that all the 
glory and honour of Jesus Christ in the world, with respect unto us, 
depends on our holiness, and not on any other thing either that we 
are, have, or may do ! If, therefore, we have any love unto him, any 
spark of gratitude for his unspeakable love, grace, condescension, 
sufferings, with the eternal fruits of them, any care about or desire 
of his glory and honour in the world ; if we would not be found the 
most hateful traitors at the last day unto his crown, honour, and 
dignity; if we have any expectation of grace from him or advantage 
by him here or hereafter,— let us labour to be " holy in all manner of 
conversation," that we may thereby adorn his doctrine, express his 
virtues and praises, and grow up into conformity and likeness unto 
him, who is the first-born and image of the invisible God. 



END OF VOL. nX 




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