8. To come yet nearer unto our principal design, I say it is the Holy Ij Ghost who is the immediate pecidiar sanctifier of all believers, and / the author of all holiness in them. I suppose I need not insist upon the confirmation of this assertion in general. I have proved before that he is the immediate dispenser of all divine grace, or the imme- diate operator of all divine gracious effects in us, Avhereof this is the chief Besides, it is such an avowed and owned principle among all that are called Christians, — namely, that the Holy Ghost is the sanctifier of all God's elect, — that as it is not questioned, so it need not in general be farther proved. Those who are less experienced in these things may consult Ps. li. 10-12; Ezek. xi. 19, xxxvi. 25-27; Eom. viii. 9-14; 1 Cor. vi. 11 ; 1 Pet. i. 2 ; Isa. iv. 4, xliv. 3, 4; Titus iii. 4, 5. But it is the nature and manner of his work herein, with the effect produced thereby, that we are to inquire into ; for as this belongs unto our general design of declaring the nature, power, and efficacy of all the gracious divine o])erations of the Holy Spirit, so it will give us an acquaintance in particular with that work and tlie fruits of it, wherein we are so highly concerned.
VOL. IIL 25
386 SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. [BOOK lY.
CHAPTER II.
SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK.
Sanetification described, with the nature of the work of the Holy Spirit therein; which is progressive — The way and means whereliy hoHness is increased in beUevers, especially by faith and love, whose exercise is }"eqnired in all duties of obedience; as also those graces whose exercise is occasional — The growth of holiness expressed in an allusion unto that of pl.ants, with an insensible progress — Renders grace therein to be greatly admired; and is discerned in the answerableness of the work of the Spirit in sanetification and supplication — Objections against the progressive nature of holiness removed.
Having passed through the consideriition of the general concern- ments of the work of sanetification, I shall, in the next place, give a description of it, and then explain it more particularly in its princi- pal parts. And this I shall do, but under this express caution, that I do not hope nor design at once to represent the life, glory, and beauty of it, or to comprise all things that eminently belong unto it; only I shall set up some luay-marks that may guide us in our pro- gress or future inquiry into the nature and glory of it. And so I say that, —
, Sanetification is an itnmediate work of the Spirit of God on the Isolds of believers, purifying and cleansing of their natures from, the pollution and uncleanness of sin, reneiuing in them the image of God, and thereby enabling them, from a spiritual and habitual principle of grace, to yield obedience unto God, according unto the tenor and terms of the new covenant, by virtue of the life and death of Jesus Christ. Or more briefly : — It is the universal renovation of our natures by the Holy Sjnrit into the image of God, through Jesus Christ.
Hence it follows that our holiness, which is the fruit and effect of this work, the work as terminated in us, as it compriseth the renewed principle or image of God wrought in us, so it consists in a holy obedience unto God by Jesus Christ, according to the terms of the covenant of grace, from the principle of a reneiued nature. Our apostle expresseth the whole more briefly yet, — namely. He that is in Christ Jesus is a new creature, 2 Cor. v. 17; for herein he ex- presseth both the renovation of our natures, the endoivment of them with a new spiritual principle of life and operation, with actings to- wards God suitable thereunto. I shall take up the first general description of it, and in the consideration of its parts give some account of the nature of the work and its effects, and then shall dis- tinctly prove and confirm the true nature of it, wherein it is opposed or called into question.
CHAP. II.] SANCTIFICATION A PROGRESSIVE WORK. 38 7
1. It is, as was before proved, and is by all confessed, the worJc in / us of the Spirit of God. It is the renovation of the Holy Ghost whereby we are saved. And a real, internal, powerful, physical work it is, as we have proved before abundantly, and shall afterward more fully confirm. He doth not make us holy only hy persuading us so to be. He doth not only require us to be holy, propose unto us motives unto holiness, give us convictions of its necessity, and thereby excite us unto the pursuit and attainment of it, though this he doth also by the word and ministration thereof It is too high an impudency for any one to pretend an owning of the gospel, and yet to deny a work of the Holy Ghost in our sanctification ; and, therefore, both the old and new Pelagians did and do avow a work of his herein. But what is it that really they ascribe unto him? Merely the exciting our own abilities, aiding and assisting us in and unto the exercise of our own native jDower ; which, when all is done, leaves the work to be our own and not his, and to us must the glory and praise of it be ascribed. But we have already sufliciently proved that the things thus promised of God and so effected are really wrought by the exceeding greatness of the poAver of the Sjjirit of God ; and this will yet afterward be made more particularly to appear.