ei det eis vitam jBternam ;' sed ubique de omnibus quibus in eum credentibus vita aetcrna datur." — Aug. Tractat. 106, in Evangel. Joban.
" Muuus hoc quod in Chi-isto est, — in consunimationem seculi nobiscum ; hoc expec- tationis nostrae solatium, hoc in donorum operationibus futuroe spei pignus est; hoc mentium lumen, hie splendor animorum est." — Hilar, lib. ii. 35, de Trinitat.
^ " Hie est qui prophetas in ecclesia constituit, magistros erudit, liuguas dirigit, ver- tutes et sanctitatcs facit, opera mirabilia gerit, discretiones spirituum porrigit, guber- nationes contribuit, consilia suggerit, quaeque alia sunt charismatum dona componit et digerit ; et ideo ecclesiam Domino uudique et in omnibus consummatam et perfectam facit." — Tertul.
t
CHAP. I.] THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. 27
in and upon, and to improve the tilings 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 our progress that the whole ministry of the gospel, the whole use and efficacy of it, do depend on that ministration of the Spirit Avherewith, 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 SjDirit 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 of 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 the 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 imto 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 spring 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 Avhich we can do nothing as we ought.
' " Hie est qui operatur ex aquis secundam nativitatem, semen quocldara divini gene- ris, et consecrator coelestis uativitatis; pignus promissse hfereditatis et quasi cbiro- gi-aphum quoddam ceternge salutis ; qui nos Dei faciat templum et nos efficiat domum, qui interpellat divinas aui'es pro nobis gemitibus ineloquacibus, advocationis officia, et defensionis exhibens munei'a, iuliabitator corporibus nostris ductus, et sanctitatis effec- tor; hie est qui inexplebiles cupiditates coercet," etc. — Novat. de Trinitat.
28 GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING [BOOK I.
5. God lets us know that the only peculiarly remediless sin and way of sinning under the 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.