Rule 1. Though the Spirit of God be given to us, and worketh in us, yet he worketh not as a natural and necessary, but as a free and arbitrary agent : He neither assists, nor sanctifies, as the fire burn- etii, ad ultimum sui posse, as much as he can assist or sanctify, but as
33-i THE METHOD OF GRACE, SEEM. XXIV,
much as he pleaseth : dividing to every man severally as he will," 1 Cor. xii. 11. Bestowing- greater measures of gifts and graces upon some than upon others ; and assisting the same person more at one season than another ; and all this variety of operation flow- eth from his own good pleasure. His grace is his own, he may give it as he pleaseth.
Rule 2. There is a great difference in the manner of the Spirifs working before and after the work of regeneration. Whilst we are unregenerate, he works upon us as upon dead creatures that work not at all with him ; and what motion there is in our souls, is a counter-motion to the Spirit ; but after regeneration it is not so, he then works upon a complying and willing mind ; we work, and he assists, Rom. viii. 26. Our conscience witnessed), and he bear- eth witness with it, Rom. viii. 16. It is therefore an error of dan- gerous consequence to think that sanctified persons are not bound to stir and strive in the way of duty, without a sensible impulse, or preventing motion of the Spirit, Isa. lxiv. 7.
Rule 3. Though the Spirit of God be given to believers, andzoork- eth in them, yet believers themselves may do or omit such things as may obstruct the working, and obscure the very being of the Spirit of God i?i tliem. Ita notis tractat, ut a nobis traciatur : He dealeth with us in his evidencing and comforting: work, as we deal with him in point of tenderness and obedience to his dictates ; there is a griev- ing, yea, there is a quenching of the Spirit by the lusts and corrup- tions of those hearts in which he dwelleth ; and though he will not forsake his habitation, as a Spirit of sanctification, yet he may for a time desert it as a Spirit of consolation, Psal. li. 11.
Rule 4. Those things which discover the indwelling of the Spirit in believers are not so much the matter of their duties, or substance of their actions, as the more secret springs, holy aims, and spiritual manner qf their doing or performing of them. It is not so much the matter of a prayer, the neat and orderly expressions in which it is uttered, as the inward sense and spiritual design of the soul ; it is not the choice of elegant words, whereby our conceptions are clothed, or the copiousness of the matter with which we are furnished, for even a poor stammering tongue, and broken language, mav have much of the Spirit of God in it. This made Luther say, he saw more excellency in the duty of a plain rustic Christian, than in all the triumphs of Caesar and Alexander. The beauty and excel- lency of spiritual duties is an inward hidden thing.
Rule 5. All the motions and operations qf the Spirit are always harmonious, and suitable to the written word, Isa. viii. 20. " To the " law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, u it is because there is no light in them.'" The scriptures are by the inspiration of the Spirit, therefore this inspiration into the
SEMI. XXIV. THE METHOD OF GRACE.
hearts of believers must either substantially agree with the scrip- tures, or the inspiration of the Spirit be self-repugnant, and contradictory to itself. It is very observable, that the works of o-race wrought by the Spirit in the hearts of believers, are re- presented to us in scripture, as a transcript, or copy of the written word, Jer. xxxi. 33. " I will write my law in their hearts.'1 Now, as a true copy answers the original, word for word, letter for let- ter, point for point; so do the works of the Spirit in our soui-i harmonize with the dictates of the Spirit in the scriptures ; what- soever motion therefore shall be found repugnant thereto, must not be fathered upon the Spirit of God, but laid at the door of its proper parents, the spirit of error and corrupt nature.
Rule 6. Although the works of the Spirit, in all sanctified persons, do substantially agree, both with the written word, and with one ano- ther, (as ten thousand copies, penned from one original, must needs agree within themselves ;) yet as to the manner of infusion and operation, there are found many circumstantial differences. The Spirit of God doth not hold one and the same method of working upon all hearts : The work of grace is introduced into some souk with more terror and trouble for sin, than it is in others ; he wrought upon Paul one way, upon Lydia in another way ; he holds some much longer under terrors and troubles than he doth others; in- veterate and more profane sinners find stronger troubles for sin, and are held longer under them, than those are, into whose heart grace is more early and insensibly infused by the Spirit's blessing upon religious education ; but as these have less trouble than the other at first, so commonly they have less clearness, and more doubts and fears about the work of the Spirit afterwards.
Rule 7. There is a great difference found betwixt the sanctifying and the comforting influences of the Spirit upon believers, in respect of constancy and permanency. His sanctifying influences abide for ever in the soul, they never depart ; but his comforting influences come and go, and abide not long upon the hearts of believers. Sanctification belongs to the being of a Christian, consolation only to his well-being : The first is fixed and abiding, the latter various and inconstant. Sanctification brings us to heaven hereafter, con- solation brings heaven unto us here ; our safety lies in the former, our cheerfulness only in the latter. There are times and seasons. in the lives of believers, wherein the Spirit of God doth more nally and eminently seal their spirits, and ravish their hearts with joy unspeakable. But what Bernard speaketh is certainly true in the experience of Christians : " * It is a sweet hour, and it is but
* Rara hora, brevit mora ; sapit quidem suavlssime, zed gnstatur rarisrimc. Bern.
336 THE METHOD OF GRACE.
" an hour ; a thing of short continuance : the relish of it is exceed- " ing sweet, but it is not often that Christians taste it/' And so much may suffice for the general rules about the inbeing and work- ings of the Spirit in believers, for the better information of our understandings, and prevention of mistakes in this matter : I shall next, according to promise, lay down the particular marks and trials by which we may discern whether God hath given us his Spirit or no, by which grown Christians, when they are in a due composed frame, may, by the assistance of the Spirit of God, (for which therefore they are bound to pray), discern his indwelling and working in themselves.