Therefore, let no man think he hath anything to do in rehgion till he find the work of the Spirit altering and changing him. He hath the title of Holy Spirit, from the blessed work of sanctifying and changing : he doth change us.
(4.) And when he hath changed us, he rjorerns and fiitides iis from glory to glory. Where the Holy Ghost is, therefore, he promotes the work of grace begun. He doth not only move us but promove ; he promotes the work begun. Therefore those that have the Spirit of God, they rest in no degree of grace, but grow from grace to grace, from knowledge to know- ledge, from faith to faith, till they come to that measure of perfection that God hath appointed them in Christ. Those, therefore, that set up their Btafi", and will go no further, that think all is well, they have not the Spirit of God. For the Spirit stirs up to grow from one degree of grace to another, to add grace to gi-ace, and to enter further and further into the king- dom of grace, and to come nearer to glory still.
(5.) For this end the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and guides us, as it is, Rom. viii. 26. He is a tutor to us. ^ATiere the Holy Ghost is in any body, it is as a counsellor. ' Guide me by thy counsel, till thou bring me to gloiT,' Ps. xxxi. 3, et alihi. It is a tutor. As noblemen's children they have their tutors, so God's children are nobly born. They have their tutor and counsellor, as well as angels to attend them. They have the Spirit of God to tell them, This do, and that do, and here you have done ill. They have a voice behind them, to teach them in particular wherein they have done amiss. They that have the Spirit, find such a sweet ope- ration of the Spirit, the Spirit is a teacher and a counsellor to them. They that are acquainted with the government of God's Spirit, they find it checking them presently when they do ill. It grieves them when they grieve the Spirit, so it teacheth them in particular businesses. Do this, do not that. Thus may we know if we have the Spirit, if it guide and govern us from glory to glory, till we come to perfection, where the Spirit is all in all in heaven.
(6.) Another evidence is this, the Spirit where it is it rests and abides; because it doth not only change us at the first, but it leads us from glory to glory. As St Augustine saith, ' Wicked men have the Spirit of God knocking, and he would fain enter' (o) ; as the wickedest man, when he hears holy truths discovered, the Spirit of God knocks at his heart, and he finds sweet motions in his poisonful rebellious nature, but this is but^the
300 EXCELLENCY OF THE GOSPEL
Spirit knocking, that wonkl have entrance. But God's chiklren have tho Spirit entering, and dwelHng and resting there. The Spirit of God rcsteth on Christ, and it rests on Christ's members. How can it change them, and having done so, guide and govern them from glory to glory ; but ho must rest there, he must take up his lodging and residence. A Christian is not an ordinary house, but a temple ; he is not an oi'dinary man, but a king ; he is not an ordinary stone, but a pearl ; he is not an ordinary tree, but a cedar ; he is an excellent person. And therefore the Spirit of God delights to dwell in him. As the excellency of the body is from the soul, so the excellency of the soul is from the Spirit dwelling in him. However, in particular operations, the Spirit suspends his acts of comforting and guiding, to humble them for their presumption, alway the Holy Ghost is in the heart, though he be hid in a corner of the heart. ' I will send you the Comforter, and he shall abide with you for ever,' saith Christ, John xiv. 16. Thus we may see how we may try ourselves, whether we have the Spirit of the Lord or no. If we have not the Spirit, we are none of his, we are none of Christ's, Rom. viii. 13, 14. And then whose are we, if we be none of Christ's ? Do but think of that. Therefore if we would not be men not having the Spirit, that is, men dead, led with a worse spirit than our own, let us labour to know whether we have the Spirit of Christ or no. Let us see what change there is to the likeness of Christ. For,
(7.) The Spirit, as it comes from the Lord, so it makes us like the Lord, and we are changed hij reasons from the Lord; hy reasons and considerations from Christ, and from the love of God in Christ ; because the Spirit takes from Christ whatsoever he hath : ' He shall take of mine,' &c., John xvi. 13. That is the comfort he comforts the soul with ; he fetches them from his death and bloodshed, and the love of God in him. That he takea of Christ. So there is a change wrought in us by reasons fetched from the love of God in Christ, those conforming reasons. God hath given his Son, and Christ hath given himself, and we feel the love of God by the Spirit. If the Spirit work any grace or comfort by considerations fetched from Christ, this is the true Spirit. The change and alteration that it works in us is according to the image of Christ, that we may be like Christ. So Christ is the beginning and the end, and Christ is all. He works from Christ and to Christ. Let us examine therefore if we have the Spirit of Christ, whether it change us ; and examine if we have the Spirit, from what reasons and grounds it changes us ; and then we may upon some comfortable grounds say we have the Spirit indeed.