\ There is a difference between the Spirit's action in dealing 1 B. B. Warfield. 3 H. Alford.
444 THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT
with the prophet of God in imparting through him God's message to men and the action of the same Spirit in dealing with the children of God in bringing them into their proper holiness of life. The prophet is " borne " of the Spirit ; the child of God is " led." The prophet's attitude in receiving a revelation from God is passive, purely receptive ; he has no part in it, adds nothing to it, is only the organ through which the Spirit delivers it to men ; he is taken up by the Spirit, as it were, and borne along by Him by virtue of the power that resides in the Spirit, which is natural to Him, and which, in its exercise, supersedes the natural activities of the man. Such is the import of the term used by Peter to express it. On the other hand, the son of God is not purely passive in the hands of the sanctifying Spirit ; he is not borne, but led — that is, his own efforts enter into the progress made under the controlling direction of the Spirit ; he supplies, in fact, the force exerted in attaining the progress, while yet the con- trolling Spirit supplies the entire directing impulse.1
Tj " Led." That word is the key to God's method of grace. The Spirit comes and gives facility in action. He does not supersede or compel it. He comes to the human soul to sustain it in right conditions and habits. He dwells there — as a generator of forces, not as a tyrant to overbear it in the way of power.2
T[ That God leads us, and does not drive, is the answer to many of the questions that have been put to me. Why are there sin and evil in the world? What was the necessity for the Incarnation ? Why the astounding miracle of the Atonement ? What is the good of the Church ? The answer to every one of these questions is that God leads and does not drive. I remember so well in the old East End days, when the young men of the boating club connected with the Oxford House came to ask about their rowing on Sunday morning, and I explained to them that I could not remain their president if their club races were held on Sunday morning ; that it was impossible for me to commit myself to the principle that Sunday morning was the time for a boat- race, but that I had no right, as president or head of Oxford House, to dictate to them as individuals what they should do, for I lived down there to try and lead them to better ways of spending Sunday morning ; and the deputation, with that perfect frankness and trust which they always gave me, looked up and said: "We quite understand, Mr. Ingram : you have come down here to lead us, and not to drive us." 3
1 B. B. Warfield. 2 W. Hubbard. 8 Bisbop A. F. W. Ingram.
ROMANS viii. 14 445
ii. It is continuous.
1. The spiritual leading of which Paul speaks is not something sporadic, given only on occasion of some special need of super- natural direction, but something continuous, affecting all the operations of a Christian man's activities throughout every moment of his life. It has but one end in view, the saving from sin, the leading into holiness ; but it affects every single activity of every kind — physical, intellectual, and spiritual — bending it towards that end. Since it is nothing other than the power of God unto salvation, it must needs abide with the sinner, work con- stantly upon him, enter into all his acts, condition all his doings, and lead him thus steadily onward towards the one great goal.
He leads us on By paths we did not know, Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow; Though oft we faint and falter on the way, Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day,
Yet, when the clouds are gone,
We know He leads us on.
He leads us on Through all the unquiet years;
Past all our dreamland hopes, and doubts, and fears He guides our steps. Through all the tangled maze Of losses, sorrows, and o'erclouded days
We know His will is done;
And still He leads us on.
And He, at last, After the weary strife, After the restless fever we call life, After the dreariness, the aching pain, The wayward struggles, which have proved in vain,
After our toils are past —
Will give us rest at last.1
2. It is impossible, in tracing the Spirit's work, to keep separate the various conventionally named parts of a man's inward being in which that work is carried on. Man is one in
1 Jane Borthwick.
446 THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT
himself, though manifold in powers and in phases of that one being. Great fault and great confusion have been occasioned in these things, by regarding men's spirits as if they were com- pounded of various detached portions, and regions fenced off from one another. We speak of the judgment, the memory, the affections, the imagination, as if they were distinct members of the soul, as the hand and foot and head are of the body. We are in some measure obliged so to speak, from the very imperfection of our thought and language. But we must never forget, that it is one and the same spirit — one and the same man, that judges and remembers and loves and fears and imagines.