2. Positive affirmations that he doth so dwell in and remain with the saints are the second ground of the truth we assert. I shall name one or two testimonies of that kind: Ps. li. 11, saith David, " Take not thy Holy Spirit from me." It is the Spirit, and his pre- sence as unto sanctification, not in respect of prophecy or any other gift whatever, that he is treating of with God. All the graces of the Spirit being almost dead and buried in him, he cries aloud that He whose they are, and who alone is able to revive and quicken them, may not be taken from him. With him, in him, he was, or he could not be taken from him. And though the gifts or graces of the Spirit only may be intended, where mention is made of giving or bestowing
332 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CUAP.
of liim sometimes, yet when the saints beg of God that he would continue his Spirit with them, though they have grieved him and provoked him, that no more is intended but some gift or grace, is not so clear. I know men possessed with prejudice against this truth will think easily to evade these testimonies by the distinction of the person and graces of the Spirit. Wherefore, for the manner how he is with them with whom he is, the apostle informs us, Rom. viil 9, "Ye are in the Spirit" (that is, spiritual men, opposed to being "in the flesh," — that is, carnal, unregenerate, unreconciled, and enemies to God), " if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Not only the thing itself is asserted, but the weight of our regeneration and acceptation with God through Jesus Christ is laid upon it. If the Spirit dwell in us we are sjnritiial, and belong to Christ; otherwise, if not, w^e are none of his. This the apostle farther confirms, verse 11, " If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you." I know not how the person of the Holy Ghost can be more clearly deciphered than here he is, " The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead." Why that is mentioned shall afterward be considered. And this is the Spirit, as he bears testimony of himself, dwells in believers; which is all we say, and, without farther curious inquiry, desire to rest therein. Doubtless it were better for men to captivate their under- standinjrs to the obedience of faith than to invent distinctions and evasions to escape the power of so many plain texts of Scripture, and those literally and properly, not figuratively and metaphoricalh'-, expressing the truth contained in them ; which, though it may be done sometimes, yet is not, in a constant uniform tenor of expression, any- where the manner of the Holy Ghost. The apostle also afiirms farther, verse 15, that believers " receive the Spirit of adoption, wdiereby. they cry, Abba, Father;" which, being a work within them, cannot be wrought and effected by adoption itself, which is an extrinsical rela- tion. Neither can adoption and the Spirit of adoption be conceived to be the same. He also farther affirms it, 1 Cor. ii. 12, " We have received the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God;" — " We have so received him as that he abides with us, to teach us, to acquaint our hearts with God's dealing with us; bearing witness with our spirits to the condition wherein we are in reference to our favour from God and accepta- tion with him." And the same he most distinctly asserts. Gal. iv, 6, " God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." The distinct economy of the Father, Son, and Spirit, in the work of adoi)tion, is here clearly discovered. He is sent, "sent of God," that is, the Father. That name is personally to be appropriated when it is distinguished, as here, from Son and Spirit. That is the Father's work, that work of his love ; he sends him. He hath sent
VIII.] THE INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT. 333
him as tlie " Spirit of his Son/' procured by him for us, promised by him to us, proceeding from him as to his personal subsistence, and sent by him as to his office of adoption and consolation. Then, whither the Father hath sent the Spirit of his Son, where he is to abide and make his residence, is expressed. It is into " our hearts," saith the apostle; there he dwells and abides. And, lastly, what there he doth is also manifested. He sets them on work in whom he is, gives them privilege for it, ability to it, encouragement in it, causing them to cry, " Abba, Father," Once and again to Timothy doth the same apostle assert the same truth: 2 Epist. i. 14, "That good thing committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." The Lord knowing how much of our life and consolation depends on this truth, redoubles his testimony of it, that we might receive it, — even we, who are dull and slow of heart to believe the things that are written.