1. Authority. He that gives any thing hath authority to dispose of it. None can give but of his own, and that which in some sense he hath in his power. Now, the Father is said to give the Sf)irit, and that upon our request, as Luke xi. 13. This, I acknowledge, wants not some difficulty in its explication ; for if the Holy Ghost be God himself, as hath been declared, how can he be said to be given by the Father, as it were in a way of authority? But keeping our- selves to the sacred rule of truth, we may solve this difficulty with- out curiosity or danger. Wherefore, — (1.) The order of the subsistence f of the three persons in the divine nature is regarded herein; for the Father, as hath been showed, is the fountain and original of the Trinity, the Son being of him, and the Spirit of them both. Hence, he is to be considered as the principal author and cause of all those works which are immediately ^vi'ought by either of them; for of whom the Son and Spirit have their essence, as to their personality, from hiin have they life and power of operation, John v. 19, 26. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit comes unto any, the Father is said to give him, 'for he is the Spirit of the Father. And this authority of the Father doth immediately respect the work itself, and not the person working ; but the person is said to be given for the work's sake. (2.) The economy of the blessed Trinity in the work of our \ redemption and salvation is respected in this order of things. The fountain hereof lies in the love, wisdom, grace, and counsel of the Father. Whatever is done in the pursuit hereof is originally the
108 WAY AND MANNER OF THE DIVINE [BOOK I.
gift of the Father, because it is designed unto no other end but to make his grace effectual. Hence is he said to send and give his Son also. And the whole work of the Holy Ghost, as our sanctifier, guide, comforter, and advocate, is to make the love of the Father effectual unto us, John xvi. 13, 14.^ As this, out of his own love and care, he hath condescended unto, so the fountain of it being in the love and purpose of the Father, and that also, or the making them effectual, being their end, he is rightly said to be given of him. (3.) In the whole communication of the Spirit, respect is had unto his effects, or the ends for which he is given. What they are shall be afterward declared. Now, the authority of this giving respects principally his gifts and graces, which depend on the authority of the Father.
2. This expression denotes freedom. What is given might be withheld. This is the " gift of God " (as he is called, John iv. 10), not the purchase of our endeavours, nor the reward of our desert. Some men delight to talk of their purchasing grace and glory; but the one and the other are to be " bought without money and without price," Even " eternal life" itself, the end of all our obedience, is the " gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord," Kom. vi. 23. The Scripture knows of n_o earnings that men can make of themselves but death ; for as Austin says, " Quicquid tuum est peccatum est : " and the wages of sin is death. To what end or purpose soever the Spirit is bestowed upon us, whether it be for the communication of grace or the distribution of gifts, or for consolation and refresh- ment, it is of the mere gift of God, from his absolute and sovereign freedom.
In answer hereunto they are said to receive him, on whom as a gift he is bestowed ; as in the testimonies before mentioned. And in receiving, two things are implied: — 1. That we contribute nothing thereunto which should take off from the thing received as a gift. Keceiving answers giving, and that implies freedom in the giver. 2. That it is their privilege and advantage ; for what a man receives, he doth it for his own good. First, then, we have him freely as a gift of God ; for to receive him in general is to be made partaker of him, as unto those ends for which he is given of God. Be those ends what they will, in respect of them they are said to receive him who are made partakers of him. Tw^o things may be pleaded to take off the freedom of this gift and of our reception, and to cast it on something necessary and required on our part; for, — (1.) Our Saviour tells us " that the world cannot receive him, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him," John xiv. 17. Now, if the
' ' ArroirriXXirai ftlv to Wiuy.a. ri clyiov Dixovof^ixa;, Ivipyi? ol ahri%oU(riias. — Basil. HoiU.
XV. de Fide.
CHAP, v.] DISPENSATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 109
"world'' cannot receive him, there is required an abihty and prepara- I tion in them that do so, that are "not of the world;" and so the gift f and communication of the Spirit depends- on that qualification in us. But all men are naturally alike the world and of it. No one man by nature hath more ability or strength in spiritual things than an- other; for all are equally " dead in trespasses and sins/' all equally " children of wrath," It must, therefore, be inquired how some come to have this ability and power to receive the Spirit of God, which others have not. Now this, as I shall fully manifest afterward, is merely from the Holy Ghost himself and his grace, respect being had herein only unto the order of his operations in us, some being preparatory for and dispositive unto others, one being instituted as the means of obtaining another, the whole being the effect of the free gift of God ; for we do not make ourselves to differ from others, nor have we any thing that we have not received, 1 Cor. iv. 7. Where- fore, the receiving of the Holy Ghost intended in that expression of our Saviour, with respect whereunto some are able to receive him, some are not, is not absolute, but with respect unto some certain work and end ; and this, as is plain in the context, is the receiving of him as a comforter and a guide in spiritual truth. Hereunto faith in Christ Jesus, which also is an effect and fruit of the same Spirit, is antecedently required. In this sense, therefore, believers alone can receive him, and are enabled so to do by the grace which they have received from him in their first conversion unto God, But, (2.) It will be said that we are bound to pray for him before we re- ceive him, and therefore the bestowing of him depends on a condi- tion to be by us fulfilled ; for the promise is, that " our heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him," Luke xi. 13, But this doth not prove the bestowing and receiving of him not to be absolutely free. Nay, it proves the contrary. It is g7-atia indebita, " undeserved grace," that is the proper object of prayer. And God, by these encouraging promises, doth not abridge the liberty of his own will, nor derogate from the freedom of his gifts and grace, but only directs us into the way whereby we may be made partakers of them, unto his glory and our own advantage. And this also be- longs unto the order of the communication of the grace of the Spirit unto us. This very praying for the Spirit is a duty which we cannot perform without his assistance ; for " no man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor. xii. 3, He helps us, as a Spirit of grace and supplication, to pray for him as a Spirit of joy and con- solation.