200 THE GENERAL WOEK OF THE HOLY SPIEIT [BOOK IL
with him. But we cannot address ourselves with any of them im- mediately unto him. " There is no going to the Father/' saith Christ, " but by rne," John xiv. 6. " By him we beheve in God," 1 Pet. i. 21. But yet neither can we do so unless we are enabled thereunto by the Spirit, the author in us of faith, prayer, praise, obedience, and whatever our souls tend unto God by. As the de- scending of God towards us in love and grace issues or ends in the work of the Spirit in us and on us, so all our ascending towards him begins therein ; and as the first instance of the proceeding of grace and love towards us from the Father is in and by the Son, so the first step that we take towards God, even the Father, is in and by the Son. And these things ought to be explicitly attended unto by us, if we intend our faith, and love, and duties of obedience should be evangelical. Take an instance of the prayers of wicked men under their convictions, or their fears, troubles, and dangers, and the prayers of believers. The former is merely vox naturce clamantis ad Dominum naturae, — an outcry that distressed nature makes to the God of it, — and as such alone it considers him. But the other is vox Spiritus adoptionis clamantis per Christum, Ahha, Pater; it is the voice of the Spirit of adoption addressing itself in the hearts of believers unto God as a Father. And a due attendance unto this order of things gives life and spirit unto all that we have to do with God. Woe to professors of the gospel who shall be seduced to believe that all they have to do with God consists in their attend- ance unto moral virtue ! It is fit for them so to do who, being weary of Christianity, have a mind to turn Pagans. But " our fellowship is," in the way described, "with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." It is, therefore, of the highest importance unto us to inquire into and secure unto ourselves the promised workings of the Holy Spirit ; for by them alone are the love of the Father and the fruits of the media- tion of the Son communicated unto us, without which we have no interest in them, and by them alone are we enabled to make any acceptable returns of obedience unto God. It is sottish ignorance and infidelity to suppose that, under the gospel, there is no communi- cation between God and us but what is, on his part, in laws, com- mands, and promises; and on ours, by obedience performed in our strength, and upon our convictions unto them. To exclude hence the real internal operations of the Holy Ghost, is to destroy the gos- pel. And, as we shall see farther afterward, this is the true ground and reason why there is a sin against the Holy Spirit that is irre- missible : for he coming unto us to make application of the love of the Father and grace of the Son unto our souls, in the contempt of him there is a contempt of the whole actings of God towards us in a way of grace ; for which there can be no remedy.
CHAP, v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 201
Fifthly, Whereas the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace, and the immediate efficient cause of all grace and gracious effects in men, wherever there is mention made of them or any fruits of them, it is to be looked on as a part of his work, though he be not expressly named, or it be not particularly attributed unto him. I know not well, or do not well understand, what some men begin to talk about moral virtue. Something they seem to aim at (if they would once leave the old Pelagian ambiguous expressions, and learn to speak clearly and intelligibly) that is in their own power, and so, consequently, [in the power] of all other men ; at least, it is so with an ordinary blessing upon their own endeavours : which things we must afterward inquire into. But for grace, I think all men will grant that, as to our parti- cipation of it, it is of the Holy Spirit, and of him alone. Now, grace is taken two ways in the Scripture: — 1. For the gracious free love and favour of God towards us; and, 2. For gracious, free, effectual operations in us and upon us. In both senses the Holy Spirit is the author of it as unto us: in the first, as to its manifestation and ap- plication ; in the latter, as to the operation itself For although he be not the principal cause nor procurer of grace in the first sense, which is the free act of the Father, yet the knowledge, sense, com- fort, and all the fruits of it, are by him alone communicated unto us, as we shall see afterward; and the latter is his proper and pecu- liar work. This, therefore, must be taken for granted, that wherever any gracious actings of God in or towards men are mentioned, it is the Holy Sj)irit who is peculiarly and principally intended.