Sixthly, It must be duly considered, with reference unto the whole work of the Holy Spirit, that in whatever he doth, he acts, Avorks, and distributes according to his oivn will. This our apostle expressly affirmeth. And sundry things of great moment do depend hereon in our walking before God; as, —
1. That the will and pleasure of the Holy Spii^it is in all the goodness, grace, love, and power, that he either communicates unto us or worketh in us. He is not as a mere instrument or servant, disposing of the things wherein he hath no concern, or over which he hath no power; but in all things he worketh towards us accord- ing to his oiun luill. We are, therefore, in what we receive from him and by him, no less to acknowledge his love, kindness, and sovereign grace, than we do those of the Father and the Son.
2. That he doth not work, as a natural agent, ad ultimum virium, to the utmost of his power, as though in all he did he came and did what he could. He moderates all his operations by his will and wis- dom. And, therefore, whereas some are said to "resist the Hoiy Ghost," Acts vii. 51, and so to frustrate his work towards them, it is not because they can do so absolutely, but only they can do so as to
202 THE GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK IL
some way, kind, or degree of his operations. Men may resist some sort or kind of means that he useth, as to some certain end and pm'- pose, but they cannot resist him as to his purpose and the end he aims at; for he is God, and "who hath resisted his will?" Rom. ix. 19. Wherefore, in any work of his, two things are to be considered : ■ — (1.) What the means he maketh use of tend unto in their own nature; and, (2.) What he intends by it. The first may be resisted and frustrated, but the latter cannot be so. Sometimes in and by that word which in its own nature tends to the conversion of sinners, he intendeth by it only their hardening, Isa. vi. 9, 10; John xii. 40, 41 ; Acts xxviii. 26, 27; Rom. xi. 8; and he can, when he pleaseth, exert that power and efficacy in working as shall take away all resistance. Sometimes he will only take order for the preaching and dispensa- tion of the word unto men ; for this also is his work. Acts xiii. 2. Herein men may resist his work, and reject his counsel concerning themselves; but when he will put forth his power, in and by the word, to the creating of a new heart in men and the opening of the eyes of them that are blind, he doth therein so take away the prin- ciple of resistance, that he is not, that he cannot be, resisted.
3. Hence, also, it follows that his works may be of various kinds, and that those which are of the same kind may yet be carried on unequally as to degrees. It is so in the operations of all voluntaiy agents, who work by choice and judgment. They are not confined to one sort of works, nor to the production of the same kind of effects ; and where they design so to do, they moderate them as to degrees, according to their power and pleasure. Thus we shall find some of the works of the Holy Spirit to be such as may be perfect in their kind, and men may be made partakers of the whole end and inten- tion of them, and yet no saving grace be wrought in them ; such are his works of illumination, conviction, and sundry others. Men, I say, may have a work of the Holy Spirit on their hearts and minds, and yet not be sanctified and converted unto God ; for the nature and kind of his works are regulated by his own will and purpose. If he intend no more but their conviction and illumination, no more shall be effected; for he works not by a necessity of nature, so that all his operations should be of the same kind, and have their espe- cial form from his na,ture, and not from his will. So, also, where he doth work the same effect in the souls of meu, I mean the same in the kind of it, as in their regeneration he doth, yet he doth it by sundry means, and carrieth it on to a great inequality, as to the strengthening of its principle, and increase of its fruits unto holiness; and hence is that great difference as to light, holiness, and fruitful- ness, which we find among believers, although all alike partakers of the same grace for the kind thereof The Holy Spirit worketh in
CHAP, v.] IN THE NEW CREATION. 203
all these things according to his own will, whereof there neither is nor can be any other rule but his own infinite wisdom. And this is that which the apostle minds the Corinthians of, to take away all emulation and envy about spiritual gifts, that every one should or- derly make use of what he had received to the profit and edification of others. " They are," saith he, "given and distributed by the same Spirit, according to his own will, to one after one manner, unto an- other after another; so that it is an unreasonable thing for any to contend about them."