Secondly, The trial of this union, which is by the giving of the Spirit to us : The Spirit of Christ is the very bond of union betwixt him and our souls. I mean not that the very person of the Spirit dwelleth in us, imparting his essential properties to us ; it were a rude blasphemy so to speak ; but his saving influences are communicated to us in the way of sanctifying operations ; as the sun is said to come into the house, when his beams and comforting influence come there. Nor yet must we think that the graces or influences of the Spirit abide in us in the self-same measure and manner they do in Christ ; " for God giveth not the Spirit to him by measure ;" in him all fulness dwells. He is anointed with the Spirit above his fellows ; but there are measures and proportions of grace dif- ferently communicated to believers by the same Spirit ; and these communicated graces, and real operations of the Spirit of grace in our hearts, do undoubtedly prove the reality of our union with Christ ; as the communication of the self-same vital juice or sap of the stock, to the branch whereby it lives, and brings forth fruit of the same kind, certainly proves it to be a real part or a member of the same tree.
Thirdly, Which brings us to a third thing; namely, the cer- tainty of the trial this way, ev ww yivuexopev, in this, or by this we ~know : We so know that we cannot be deceived. To clear this, let us consider two things in grace, viz.
1. Somewhat constitutive, \ 0f ;ts u *no.
2. Somewhat manifestative, )
There is something in grace which is essential, and constitutive of its being ; and somewhat that flows from grace, and is manifestative of such a being : We cannot immediately and intuitively discern the essence of grace, as it is in its simple nature. So God only discerns it, who is the author of it ; but we may discern it mediately and secondarily, by the effects and operations of it. Could we see the simple essence of grace, or intuitively discern our union with Christ, our knowledge would be demonstrative, a priori ad postcrius, by seeing effects, as they are lodged in the cause : But we come to know the being of grace, and the reality of our union with Christ, a posteriori, by ascending in our knowledge from the effects and operations, to their true cause and being.
And, accordingly, God hath furnished us with a power of self-
830 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. XXIV.
intuition and reflection ; whereby we are able to turn it upon our own hearts, and make a judgment upon ourselves, and upon our own acts. The soul hath not only power to project, but a power also to reflect upon its own actions ; not only to put forth a direct act of faith upon Jesus Christ, but to judge and discern that act also, 2 Tim. i. 12. I know whom. I have bdicjed: And this is the way in which believers attain their certainty and knowledge of their union with Christ : from hence the observation will be,
Doct. That interest in Christ may be certainly gathered and con- cluded from, the gift of the Spirit to us : " No man (saith the apostle) " hath seen God at any time ; if we love one another, God dwelleth " in us, and his love is perfected in us : Hereby know we that we " dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his " Spirit," 1 John iv. 12, 13. The being of God is invisible, but the operations of his Spirit in believers, are sensible and discern- able. The soul's union with Christ is a supernatural mystery, yet it is discoverable by the effects thereof, which are very perceptible in and by believers.
Two things require explication and confirmation in the doctrinal part of this point.
1. What the giving of the Spirit imports and signifies.
2. How it evidences the soul's interest in Jesus Christ.
First, As to the import of this phrase, we are to enquire what is meant by the Spirit, and what by the giving of the Spirit.
Now the Spirit is taken in scripture two ways, viz.
Essentially, or personally.
In the first sense it is put for the Godhead, 1 Tim. iii. 16. Justified in the Spirit, i. e. By the power of his divine nature, which raised him from the dead. In the second sense it denotes the third person, or subsistence in the glorious and blessed Trinity; and to him this word Spirit is attributed, sometimes properly in the sense before-mentioned, as denoting his personality ; at other times metonymically, and then it is put for the effects, fruits, graces, and gifts of the Spirit communicated by him unto men, Eph. v. 11. Be ye filled -with the Spirit. Now' the fruits or gifts of the Spirit are either,
1. Common and assisting gifts : Or,
2. Special and sanctifying gifts.
In the last sense and signification, it must be taken in this place; for, as to the common assisting and ministering gifts of the Spirit, they are bestowed promiscuously upon one as well as another; such gifts in an excellent degree and a large measure, are found in the unregenerate, and therefore can never amount to a solid evi- dence of the soul's union with Christ : but his special sanctifying gifts, being the proper effect and consequent of that union, must
SERM. XXIV. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 331
needs strongly prove and confirm it. In this sense therefore we are to understand the Spirit in this place ; and by giving the Spirit to us, we are to understand more than the coming of the Spirit upon us : The Spirit of God is said to come upon men in a transient way, for their present assistance in some particular service, though in themselves thev be unsanctificd persons: Thus the Spirit of God at me upon Balaam, Num. xxiv. 2. enabling him to prophesy of ihings to come: And, although those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit be now ceased, yet the Spirit ceaseth not to give his ordi- nary assistances unto men, both regenerate and unregenerate, 1 Cor. xii. 8, 9, 10, 31. compared: But, whatever gifts he gives to others, he is said to be given, to dwell, and to abide only in be- lievers, 1 Cor. hi. 6. " Know ye not that ye are the temple of " God, and that the Spirit of God dwelkth in you ?" An ex- pression denoting both his special property in them, and gracious familiarity with them. There is a great difference betwixt the assisting and the indwelling of the Spirit ; the one is transient, the other permanent. That is a good rule the schoolmen give us, Ilia tantum dicuntur inesse, (pice insunt per modum quietis : those things are only said to be in a man, which were in him by way of rest and permanency, and so the Spirit is in believers : Therefore they are said to live in the Spirit, Gal. v. 25. to be led by the Spirit, ver. 18. to be in the Spirit, and the Spirit, to dwell in them, Rom. viii. 9- And so much of the first thing to be opened, viz. What we are to understand by the giving of the Spirit.