674 PART m. ch. xiy.— vocation.
As to the nature of the Spirit's work, which He exei'cises, in a greater or less degree, on the minds of all men, the words of our Lord admonish us to speak with caution. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest tlie sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit." (John iii. 8.) This teaches that the mode of the Spirit's operation whether in regeneration or in conviction, is inscrutable. If we cannot understand how our souls act on our bodies, or how evil spirits act on our minds, the one being a famil- iar fact of consciousness, and the other a clear fact of revelation, it cannot be considered strange that we should not understand how the Holy Spirit acts on the minds of men. There are certain statements of the Bible, however, which throw some light on this subject. In the first place, the Scriptures speak of God's reason- ing with men ; of his teaching them and that inwardly by his Spirit; of his guiding or leading them; and of his convincing, reproving, and persuading them. These modes of representation would seem to indicate "a moral suasion ; '' an operation in accord- ance with the ordinary laws of mind, consisting in the presenta- tion of truth and urging of motives. In the second place, so far as appears, this common influence of the Spirit is never exercised except through the truth, in the third place, the moral and relig- ious effects ascribed to it never rise above, so to speak, the natural operations of the mind. The knowledge, the faith, the conviction, the remorse, the sorrow, and the joy, which tiie Spirit is said to produce by these common operations, are all natural affections or exercises ; such as one man may measurably awaken in the minds of other men. In the fourth place, these common influences of the Spirit are all capable of being effectually resisted. In all these respects this common grace is distinguished from the efiicacious operation of the Spirit to which the Scriptures ascribe the regen- eration of the soul. The great truth, however, tiiat concerns ns is that the Spirit of God is present with eveiy human mind, re- straining from evil and exciting to good ; and that to his presence and influence we are indebted for all the order, decorum, and vir- tue, as well as the regard for religion and its ordinances, whicii exist in the world. And consequently that the greatest calamity that can befall an individual, a church, or a people, is that God should take his Holy Spirit from them. And as this is a judgment which, according to the Scriptures, does often come ujjon individuals, churches, and people, we should above all things dread lest we should grieve the Spirit or quench his influences. This is done by