Vin.] THE INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT. 34/
(1.) The first he doth by bringing to mind the things that Jesus Christ hath left in store for their supportment. Our Saviour Christ informing his disciples how they should be upheld in their tribula- tions, tells them that the Comforter, which should dwell with them and be in them, John xiv. 16, 17, should bring to remembrance what he had told them, verse 26. Christ had said many things, things gracious and heavenly, to his disciples ; he had given them many rich and precious promises to uphold their hearts in their greatest per- plexities;— but knowing full well how ready they were to forget and to let slip the things that were spoken,^ and how coldly his promises would come in to their assistance, when retained only in their natural faculties, and made use of by their own strength, to obviate these evils, he tells them that this work he committeth to the charge of another, who will do it to the purpose. " When ye are ready to drive away, the Comforter," saith he, " who is in you, he shall bring to remem- brance and apply to your souls the things that I have spoken, the promises that I have made ; which will then be unto you as life from the dead.'' And this he doth every day. How often, when the spirits of the saints are ready to faint within them, when straits and perplexities are round about them, that they know not what to do, nor whither to apply themselves for help or supportment, doth the Spirit that dwelleth in them bring to mind some seasonable, suitable promise of Christ, that bears them up quite above their difficulties and distractions, opening such a new spring of life and consolation to their souls as that they who but now stooped, yea were almost bowed to the ground, do stand upright, and feel no weight or burden at all ! Oftentimes they go for water to the well, and are not able to draw; or, if it be poured out upon them, it comes like rain on a stick that is fully dry. They seek to promises for refreshment, and find no more savour in them than in the white of an egg; but when the same promises are brought to remembrance by the Spirit the Comforter, who is with them and in them, how full of life and power are they !
(2.) As this he doth to support believers in respect of consolation, so as to the communication of real strength, he stirs up those graces in them that are strengthening and supporting. The graces of the Spirit are indeed, all of them, supporting and upholding. If the saints fall and sink at any time, in any duty, under any trial, it is because their graces are decayed, and do draw back as to the exer- cise of them. "If thou faint in the day of adversity," it is not be- cause thy adversaries are great or strpng, but because "thy strength is small," Prov. xxiv. 1 0. All our fainting is from the weakness of our strength; faith, waiting, patience, are small. When David's faith and patience began to sink and draw back, he cried, "'All men are liars;'
' Heb. ii. 1.
348 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANX'E. [CJIAP
I shall perish one clay by the hand of mine enemies/' Ps. cxvi. 11, 1 Sam. xxvii. 1. When faith is but little, and grace but weak, we shall be forced, if the wind do but begin to blow, to cry out, "Save, Lord, or we sink and perish/' Let a temptation, a lust, a corruption, lay any grace asleep, and the strongest saint will quickly become like Samson with his hair cut and the Philistines about him : he may think to do great matters, but at the first trial he is made a scorn to his ene- mies. Peter thought it was the greatness of the wind and waves that terrified him ; but our Saviour tells him it was the weakness of his faith that betrayed him. Matt. xiv. 30, .31. For relief in this condition, the Spirit that dwells in the saints stirs up, enlivens, and actuates, all his graces in them, that may support and strengthen them in their duties and under their tribulations. Rom. v., Paul runs up the influence of grace into the saints' supportment unto this fountain : Verse 3, " We glory in tribulations." This is as high a pitch as can be attained. To be patient under tribulation is no small vic- tory; to glory in it a most eminent triumph, a conformity to Christ, who in his cross triumphed over all his opposers. " We are not only patient under tribulations, and have strength to bear them, but," saith the apostle, " we glory and rejoice in them, as things very welcome to us." How comes this about? Saith he, "Tribulation worketh patience" (that is, it sets it at work, for tribulation in itself will never work or beget patience in us); "and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed." It is from hence that these graces, patience, experience, hope, being set on work, do bear up and support our souls, and raise them to such a height under their pressures that we have great cause of rejoicing in them all. Yea, but whence is this? do these graces readily come forth and exert themselves with an efficacy suitable to this triumph- ing frame? The ground and spring of all is discovered, verse 5; it is, " Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." From this fountain do all these fresh streams flow. The Spirit that is given us, that "sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts," and thereby sets all our graces on work, he oils the wheels of the soul's obedience, when we neither know what to do nor liow to perform what we know.