It is the work of the Holy Spirit to remove and take away this darkness ; which until it is done no man can see the kingdom of God, or enter into it. And this he doth by sending the word of the gos- pel into any nation, country, place, or city, as he pleaseth. The gospel does not get gi'ound in any place, nor is restrained from any place or people, by accident, or by the endeavours of men ; but it is sent and disposed of according to the sovereign will and pleasure of
' In the sense of " placed before," " presented." — Ed.
* See treatise, "Communion with God," and his "Vindication" of it in rei^r to Dr Sherlock, vol. ii. — Ed. " ' - . •
248 COERUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III".
the Spirit of God. He gifteth, calls, and sends nieu unto the work of preaching it, Acts xiii. 2, 4, and disposeth them unto the places where they shall declare it, either by express revelation, as of old, chap. xvi. 6-10, or guides them by the secret operations of his pro- vidence. Thus the dispensation of the " light of the gospel," as to times, places, and persons, depends on his sovereign pleasure, Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20. Wherefore, although we are to take care and pray much about the continuance of the dispensation of the gospel in any place, and its propagation in others, yet need we not to be over- solicitous about it. This work and care the Holy Ghost hath taken on himself, and will carry it on according to the counsel of God and his purposes concerning the kingdom of Jesus Christ in this world. And thus far the dispensation of the gospel is only a causa sine qua, non of the regeneration of men, and the granting of it de^Dends solely on the will of the Spirit of God.
It is subjective darkness which is of more direct and immediate consideration in this matter, the nature whereof, Avith what it doth respect, and the influence of it on the minds of men, must be declared, before we can 'rightly apprehend the work of the Holy Spirit in its removal by regeneration.
This is that whereby the Scripture expresseth the natural depra- vation and corruption of the minds of men, with respect unto spiintual things and the duty that we owe to God, according to the tenor of the covenant. And two things must be premised to our considera- tion of it; as, —
1. That I shall not treat of the depravation or corruption of the mind of man by the fall, with respect unto things natural, civil, political, or moral, but merely with regard to things spiritual, hea- venly, and evangelical. It were easy to evince, not only by testi- monies of the Scripture, but by the experience of all mankind, built on reason and the observation of instances innumerable, that the whole rational soul of man since the fall, and by the entrance of sin, is weakened, impaired, vitiated, in all its faculties and all their ope- rations about their proper and natural objects. Neither is there any relief against these evils, with all those unavoidable perturbations wherewith it is possessed and actually disordered in all its workings, but by some secret and hidden operation of the Spirit of God, such as he continually exerts in the rule and government of the world. But it is concerning the impotency, defect, depravation, and perver- sity of the mind with respect unto spiritual things alone, that we shall treat at present. I say, then, —
2. That, by reason of that vice, corruption, or depravation of the minds of all unregenerate men, which the Scripture calls darkness and hlindness, they are not able of themselves, by their own reasons
CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 249
and understandings, however exercised and improved, to discern, receive, understand, or believe savingly, spiritual things, or the mys- tery of the gospel, when and as they are outwardly revealed unto them, without an effectual, powerful work of the Holy Spirit, creating, or by his almighty power inducing, a new saving light into them.^ Let it be su2:)posed that the mind of a man be no way hurt or im- paired by any natural defect, such as doth not attend the whole race of mankind, but is personal only and accidental; suppose it free from contracted habits of vice or voluntary prejudices, — yet upon the proposal of the doctrine and mysteries of the gospel, let it be done by the most skilful masters of the assemblies, with the greatest evi- dence and demonstration of the truth, it is not able of itself, spiritu- ally and savingly, to receive, understand, and assent unto them, with- out the especial aid and assistance and operation of the Holy Spirit.^
To evince this truth, we may consider, in one instance, the de- scription given us in the Scripture of the mind itself, and its ope- rations with respect unto spiritual things. This we have, Eph. iv. ] 7, 18, " This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." It is of the Gentiles that the apostle speaks, but the apostle speaks of them on the account of that which is common unto all men by nature ; for he treats of their condition Avith respect unto the faculties of their minds and souls, wherein there is, as unto the life of God, or spiritual things, no difference naturally among men. And their operations and effects are, for the substance of them, the same.