406 THE HOLY SPIKIT AS A COMFORTER. [BOOK VIII.
is none of his," Rom. viii. 9. Hereon alone depends the determina- tion of our especial relation unto God. By this, therefore, cloth God seal believers, and therein gives them assurance of his love; and this is to be the sole rule of your self-examination whether you are sealed of God or no.
(3.) Hereby God evidenceth them unto the world ; which is another end of sealing. He marks them so hereby for his own as that the world cannot but in general take notice of them ; for where God sets this seal in the communication of his Spirit, it will so operate and produce such effects as shall fall under the observation of the world. As it did in the Lord Christ, so also will it do in believers according unto their measure. And there are two ways whereby God's sealing doth evidence them unto the world. The one is by the effectual opera- tion of the Spirit, communicated unto them both in gifts and graces. Though the world is blinded with prejudices, and under the power of a prevalent enmity against spiritual things, yet it cannot but discover what a change is made in the most of those whom God thus sealeth, and how, by the gifts and graces of the Spirit, which they hate, they are differenced from other men. And this is that which keeps up the difference and enmity that is in the world between the seeds; for God's sealing of believers with his Spirit evidenceth his especial acceptance of them, which fills the hearts of them who are acted with the spirit of Cain with hatred and revenge. Hence many think that the respect which God had unto the sacrifice of Abel was testified by some visible sign, which Cain also might take notice of; and that there was an sfLwvpigpoc, the kindling of his sacrifice by fire from heaven; which was the type and resemblance of the Holy Ghost, as hath been showed. All other causes of difference are cap- able of a composition, but this about the seal of God can never be composed. And that which followeth from hence is, that those who are thus sealed with the Spirit of God cannot but separate themselves from the most of the world; whereby it is more evidenced unto whom they do belong.
(4.) Hereby God seals believers unto the day of redemption or everlasting salvation ; for the Spirit thus given unto them is, as we have showed already, to " abide with them for ever/' as a " well of water in them, springing up into everlasting life," John iv. 14, vii. 38.
This, therefore, is that seal which God grants unto believers, even his Holy Spirit, for the ends mentioned ; which, according unto their measure, and for this work and end, answers that great seal of hea- ven which God gave unto the Son, by the communication of the Spirit unto him in all its divine fulness, authorizing and enabling him unto his whole work, and evidencing him to be called of God thereunto.
CHAP. VII.] THE SPIRIT AN EARNEST. 407
CHAPTER VII.
The Spirit an earnest, and how.
TniRDLY, Again, the Holy Spirit, as thus communicated unto us, is said to be an "earnest/' 'AppuQwv, the word in the original, is nowhere used in the New Testament but in this matter alone, 2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5; Eph. i. 14. The Latin translator renders this word by pignus, a pledge; but he is corrected therein by Hierom on Eph. i. " Pignus," saith he, " Latinus interpres pro arrhabone posuit. Non id ipsum autem arrhabo quod pignus sonat. Arrhabo enim futurse emptioni quasi quoddam testimonium, et obligamentum datur. Pignus vero hoc est hexvpov pro mutua pecunia apponitur, ut quum ilia reddita fuerit, reddenti debitum pignus a creditore reddatur." And this reason is generally admitted by expositors; for a pledge is that which is committed to and left in the hand of another, to secure him that the money which is borrowed thereon shall be repaid, and then the pledge is to be received back again. Hence it is necessary that a pledge be more in value than the money received, because it is taken in security for repayment. But an earnest is a part only of what is to be given or paid, or some lesser thing that is given to secure some- what that is more or greater in the same or another kind. And this difference must be admitted if we are obliged to the precise signifi- cation and common use of pledges and earnests among men, which we must inquire into. The word is supposed to be derived from the Hebrew P^; and the Latins make use of it also, arrhabon and arrha. It is sometimes used in other authors, as Plutarch in Galba: 'Ecpdaxa <ffposiX7)<pu>g uppuZuei [isyaXoig rbv 'OZiv/ov. He prepossessed Obinius with great sums of money, as an earnest of wrhat he would do afterward. Hesychius explains it by <xp6So/j,a, a gift beforehand. As to what I apprehend to be the mind of the Holy Ghost in this expression, I shall declare it in the ensuing observations: —
First, It is not any act or work of the Holy Spirit on us or in us that is called his being an " earnest." It is he himself who is this earnest. This is expressed in every place where there is mention made of it: 2 Cor. i. 22, Aovg rbv uppaQuva tov Tlvivpurog' — " The ear- nest of the Spirit," — that earnest which is the Spirit, or the Spirit as an earnest, as Austin reads the words, " Arrhabona Spiritum." Chap, v. 5, " Who hath also given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." The giving of this earnest is constantly assigned to be the act of God the Father, who, accordiug to the promise of Christ, would send the Comforter unto the church. And in the other place, Eph. i. 14, it is expressly said that the Holy Spirit is the " earnest of our inheri-