The Indwelling of the Spirit
“And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” 1 Joun 3:24.
Tue apostle in this chapter is engaged in a very trying discourse: his design is to discriminate the spirit and state of sincere believers from that of merely nominal Christians; which he attempts not to do by any thing that is external, but by the operations of the Spirit of God upon their hearts. His inquiry is not into the things which men profess or the duties they perform, but about the tempers of their hearts and the principles by which they are governed in religion. According to this test, he puts believers upon the study of their own hearts; calls them to reflect upon the operations of the Spirit of God wrought within their own souls, assuring them that these gracious effects and fruits of the Spirit in their hearts will be a solid evidence of their union with Jesus Christ, amounting to more than a. general, conjectural ground of hope, under which there may lurk a dangerous and fatal mistake. The gracious effects of the Spirit of God within them are a foundation upon which they may build the certainty of their union with Christ: Hereby we know that he abideth mn us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. In which words we have to consider,
1. The thing to be tried; which is indeed the weightiest matter that can be brought to trial in this world or in that to come, namely, our union with Christ, expressed here by his abiding in us; a phrase clearly expressing the difference between those who by profession pass for Christians among men, though they have no other union with Christ but in the external duties of religion, and those whose union with Christ is real, vital, and permanent by the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in their souls. In John 15:5, 6, Christ explains the force and importance of this phrase: “I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered.” The thing to be tried is, whether we stand in Christ as dead branches in a living stock, which ave only bound to it by external bonds that hold them for a while together; or whether our souls have a vital union with Christ, by the participation of the living sap of that blessed root.
2. The trial of this union, which is by the giving of the Spirit to us. The Spirit of Christ is the very bond of union between him and our souls. I mean not, that the person of the Spirit dwells in us, imparting his essential properties to us; it were blasphemy so to speak; but his saving influences are communicated to us as sanctifying operations, as the sun is said to come into the house when his rays and influence reach there. Nor must we think that the influences of the Spirit abide in us in the same measure they do in Christ, for God giveth not the Spirit to him by measure; in him all fulness dwells, he is anointed with the Spirit above his fellows; but there are proportions of grace communicated to believers by the same Spirit; and these graces and operations in our hearts prove the reality of our union with Christ, as the communication of the vital sap of the stock to the branch, whereby it brings forth fruit of the same kind, proves it to be a part of the same tree.
3. The certainty of the trial this way. Hereby we know:
we so know that we cannot be deceived. There is something in grace essential to its being; and something that flows from grace ‘manifesting such being. We cannot intuitively discern the essence of grace as it is in its simple nature: God only thus discerns it, who is the author of it; but we may discern it by tts effects and operations. Accordingly God has furnished us with a power of selfintuition and reflection, whereby we are able to look upon our hearts, and make a judgment upon ourselves and upon our actions. The soul has not only power to project, but reflect upon its actions; not only to put forth a direct act of faith on Jesus Christ, but to discern that act. ‘I know whom I have believed.” 2Tim.1:12. And this is the way in which believers attain their knowledge of their union with Christ. Hence we learn that,
An interest in Christ may be certavnly inferred from the gift of the Spirit to us.
“No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” 1 John 4:12, 13. God is invisible, but the operations of his Spirit in believers are discernible. The soul’s union with Christ is.a mystery, yet is discoverable by the effects perceptible in and by believers. Two things here require attention: what the giving of the Spirit signifies, and how it evidences the soul’s interest in Jesus Christ.
J. Wuat IS MEANT BY THE SPIRIT, AND WHAT BY THE GIv-ING OF THE SPIRIr.
The Spirit is spoken of in Scripture essentially or personally. In the first sense it is put for the Godhead: “Justified in the Spirit,” 1 Tim. 3:16, that is, by the power of his divine nature, which raised Christ from the dead. In the second sense it denotes the third person in the blessed Trinity; and to him the word Spirit is attributed, sometimes in the sense before mentioned, as denoting
1t* his personality, and at other times it is put for the graces and gifts of the Spirit communicated by him unto men. Be ye filled with the Spirit, Eph. 5:18. Now,
The fruits or gifts of the Spirit are either common and assisting gifts, or special and sanctifying gifts. In the last sense it must be taken in this place; for the common gifts of the Spirit are bestowed upon one as well as another: such gifts are found in the unregenerate, and therefore can never amount to evidence of the soul’s union with Christ. But his special sanctifying gifts, being the proper effect of that union, must prove or confirm it. In this sense we are to understand the Spirit in this place; and by giving the Spirit to us, we are to understand more than the coming of the Spirit upon us. The Spirit of God is said to come upon men in a transient way for assistance in some particular service, though they are unsanctified persons. Thus the Spirit of God came upon Balaam, Num. 24:2, enabling him to prophesy of things to come. Though the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit have now ceased, yet the Spirit ceases not to give his ordinary assistances unto men, both regenerate and unregenerate. 1 Cor. 12:8-10, 31. But, whatever he gives to others, he is said to be given, to dwell, and to abide only in believers. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Cor. 3:6; an expression denoting both his property in them and gracious fainiliarity with them.
There is a great difference between the assisting and the mdwelling of the Spirit; the one is transient, the other permanent, in which latter sense the Spirit is in believers: therefore they are said “to live in the Spirit,” Gal. 5.: 25; to be “led by the Spirit,” ver. 18; to be in the Spirit, and the Spirit to dwell in them. Rom. 8:9.
II. We are to inquire How THIS GIVING OF THE Spirit PROVES THE SOUL’S INTEREST IN CHRIST
1. The Spirit of God in believers is the bond by which they are wnited to Christ. If we find in ourselves the bond of union, we may conclude that we have union with Jesus Christ. This is evidently taught in the words of Christ, “The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” John 17: 22, 23. It is the glory of Christ’s human nature to be united to the Godhead. This thou gavest me, and the glory thou gavest me I have given them; that is, by me they are united unto thee: so that in Christ God and believers meet in a blessed union. It is Christ’s glory to be one with God; it is our glory: to.be one with Christ, and with God by him. But how is:this done? Certainly no other way but by the giving of his:Spirit unto us; for so much the phrase [in them must import. Christ is in us by the sanctifying Spirit, which is the bond of our union with him.
2. The Scriptures make this indwelling of the Spirit the great mark of our terest in Christ: positively, as in the text; and negatively, as in Rom. 8:9, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his;” Jude 19, “Sensual, having not the Spirit.” This evidence agreeing to all believers, and to none but believers, and at all times, it proves the soul’s union with Christ in whomsoever it is found.
3. That which is a mark of our freedom from the covenant of works, and.owr title to the privileges of grace, must also show our union with Christ and interest in him. But the indwelling of the Spirit in us is a certain mark of this, and consequently proves our union with the Lord Jesus. This is plain from the apostle’s reasoning: “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God, through Christ.” Gal. 4:6, 7. The spirit of the first covenant was a spirit of fear and bondage, and they that were under it were not sons, but servants; but the spirit of the new covenant is a free spirit acting in the strength of God, and those that do so are the children of God; and as such they inherit the privileges and immunities of that great charter, the covenant of grace: they are ‘‘heirs of God,” and the evidence of their inheritance, and of freedom from the bondage of the first covenant, is the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, crying, Abba, Father. “If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” Gal. 5:18.
4, If the purpose of God’s electing love be executed, and the benefits of the death of Christ applied by the Spirit unto every soul in whom he dwells as a spirit of sanctification, such a giving of the Spirit must be a proof of our interest in Christ. But such is the method of grace: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,” 1 Pet. 1:2; where you see God’s purpose executed, and the blood of Jesus applied to us by the Spirit, as a Spirit of. sanctification. There is a blessed order of working observed as proper to each person in the Godhead: the Father elects, the Son redeems, the Spirit sanctifies. What the Father decreed and the Son purchased, the Spirit applies; and so completes the salvation of believers. And this some divines give as the reason why the sin against the Spirit is unpardonable, because he being the last agent in the order of working, if the heart of a man be filled with enmity against the Spirit there can be no remedy for such a sin; there is no looking back to the death of Christ or to the love of God for remedy. This sin against the Spirit is the bar to the whole work of salvation. And on the other hand, where the Spirit is received, the love of God, the benefits of the blood of Christ run freely without interruption; and the interest of such a soul in Jesus Christ is beyond dispute.
5. The giving of the Spirit to us, or his residibe in us as a sanctifying Spirit, is everywhere in Scripture made the earnest of elernal salvation, and consequently must prove the soul’s interest in Christ. ‘In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.” Eph. 1:13, 14. ‘“Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” 2 Cor. 1: 22.
THE IMPROVEMENT to be made of this point shall be that to which the text so palpably leads us: to rxaMINE oUR INTEREST IN, AND THE VALIDITY OF OUR CLAIM TO JESUS CHRIST. In pursuance of which design, I shall first lay down some general rules, and then propose some particular trials.
Rute 1. Though the Spirit of God be given us, and worketh im us, yet he works not of necessity, but freely. He neither assists nor sanctifies, as the fire burns, as much as he can, but as much as he pleases, ‘‘ dividing to every man severally as he will,” 1 Cor. 12:11; bestowing greater measures of gifts and graces upon some than upon others, and assisting the same person more at one season than another; and all this variety of operation flows from his own good pleasure.
Rois 2. There is a great difference in the manner of the Sprit’s working before and after regeneration. While we are unregenerate, he works in those that work not at all with him, and what motion there is in our souls is opposed to the Spirit; but after regeneration, he works upon a complying and willing mind — we work, and he assists. Rom. 8:26. Our conscience witnesses, and he bears witness with it. Rom. 8:16. It is therefore an error that sanctified persons are not bound to strive in the way of duty without a sensible impulse of the Spirit. Isa. 64: 7.
Rue 8. Though the Spirit of God be given to belevers, yet they may obstruct his working im them. Te deals with us in his comforting work as we deal with him in obedience to his dictates. There is a grieving, yea, a quenching of the Spirit by the lusts and corruptions of the heart in which he dwells; and though he will not forsake his habitation as a Spirit of sanctification, yet he may for a time desert it as a Spirit of consolation. Psalm 51:11.
Rute 4. The things which discover the indwelling of the Spirit in believers are not so much their duties, as the springs, aims, and manner of their performing them. It is not so much the matter of a prayer, the neat expressions in which it is uttered, as the inward sense of the soul; it is not the choice of elegant words, or the copiousness of the matter with which we are furnished, for even a poor stammering tongue and broken language may have much of the Spirit of God in it. This made Luther say he saw more excellence in the duty of a plain Christian than in all the triumphs of Cesar and Alexander. The excellence of spiritual duties is an inward thing.
Rute 5. All the operations of the Spirit are harmonious, and according to the written word. “To the law, and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20. The Scriptures are by the inspiration of the Spirit; therefore his work on the hearts of believers must agree with the Scriptures, or the inspiration of the Spirit is contradictory to itself. It is observable that the work of grace wrought by the Spirit in the hearts of believers, is represented to us in Scripture as a transcript of the written word; I will write my law in their hearts. Jer. 31:33. Now asa copy answers to the original, letter for letter, so does the work of the Spirit in our sculs harmonize with his dictates in the Scriptures: whatsoever motion therefore shall be found repugnant thereto must not be attributed to the Spirit of God, but to the spirit of error and corrupt nature.
Ruts 6. Though the works of the Spirit in all sanctified persons substantially agree with the written word and with one another, yet as to the manner of operation there are many ciurcumstantial differences. The Spirit of God has not one and the same method of working on all hearts. The work of grace is introduced into some souls with more terror and trouble for sin than in others: he wrought upon Paul one way, upon Lydia in another; he holds some much longer under terrors than others. Inveterate and more profane sinners often have stronger troubles for sin, and are held longer under them, than those into whose heart grace is more early implanted by the Spirit’s blessing upon religious education; but as these have less trouble at first, so commonly they have more doubts about the work of the Spirit afterwards.
Rute 7. There 1s a great difference between the sanctify- — ing and the comforting mnfluences of the Spirit wpon believers im respect to constancy and permanency. Uis sanctifying influences abide for ever in the soul, they never depart; but his comforting influences come and go, and abide not long upon the hearts of believers. Sanctification belongs to the being of a Christian, consolation only to his well-being. The first is fixed and abiding, the latter various and inconstant. Sanctification brings us to heaven hereafter, consolation brings heaven to us here; our safety lies in the former, our cheerfulness: in the latter. There are times in the lives of believers in which the Spirit of God more eminently seals their spirits and ravishes their hearts with joy unspeakable; but what Bernard says is certainly true in the experience of Christians: “It is a sweet hour, and it is but an hour — a thing of short continuance; the relish of it is exceeding sweet, but it is not often that Christians taste it.”
I now proceed to specify somE PARTICULAR MARKS by which we may discern whether God has given us his Spirit: by which Christians in a due composed frame may, with the assistance of the Spirit of God, discern his indwelling and working in themselves.
Evinence 1. In whomsoever the Spirit of Christ ws a Spirit of sanctification, he has been a Spirit of conviction and humiliation. This is the order which the Spirit constantly observes: ‘And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me.” John 16:8, 9,
This, you see, is the method he observes; he shall reprove or convince the world of sin. Conviction of sin has the same respect to sanctification as the blossoms of trees have to the fruits that follow them; a blossom is but in order to a more perfect and noble fruit. Where there are no blossoms we can expect no fruit, and where we see no conviction of sin we can expect no conversion to Christ. Has then the Spirit of God been a Spirit of conviction to thee? Has he more particularly convinced thee of sin because thou hast not believed on Christ? That is, has he shown thee thy sin and misery as an unbeliever: not only terrified thy conscience with more notorious acts of. sin, but fully convinced thee of the state of sin that thou art in by thy unbelief, which, holding thee from Christ, must also hold thee under the guilt of all thy other sins? Such a conviction gives at least a strong probability that God has given thee his Spirit, especially when it remains day and night upon thy soul, so that nothing but Christ can give it rest, and consequently the great inquiry of thy soul is after him.
Evipence 2. As the Spirit of God has been a convincing, so he rs a quickening Spirit to all those to whom he is given. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Rom.8:2. He is the Spirit of life, that is, the principle of spiritual life in the souls in which he dwells, uniting them to Christ the fountain of life; and this spiritual life in believers manifests itself in vital actions and operations. When the
Spirit of God comes into the soul of a man that was senseless in sin, he may say, ‘‘ Now I begin to feel the load of sin, Rom. 7: 24; now I begin to hunger and thirst after Christ and his ordinances, 1 Pet. 2:2; now I begin to breathe after God in spiritual prayer.” Acts 9:11. Spiritual life has its spiritual senses and suitable operations. O think upon this, you that cannot feel any burden in sin, you that have no hungerings or thirstings after Christ; how can the Spirit of God be in you? There may at times be much deadness in the hearts of Christians, but this is not always; and when it is so with them they complain of it as their greatest affliction, their spirits are not easy and at rest.
Evinence 8. Those to whom God gives his Spirit have a tender sympathy with all the interests of Christ. This must be so if the Spirit which is in Christ dwells also in their heart. This is a plain case; even in nature itself, the members of the same body being animated by the same spirit of life: ““Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” 1 Cor. 12:26, 27. For as Christ, the head of that body, is touched with a tender feeling of the troubles of his people — he is persecuted when they are persecuted, Acts 9:4 — so they that have the Spirit of Christ in them cannot be without a deep sense of the reproach done to Christ: this is as it were a sword in their bones. Psa. 42:10. If his public worship cease, or the assemblies of his people are scattered, it cannot but go to the hearts of all who have the Spirit of Christ. Those that have the Spirit of Christ do not more earnestly long after any thing than the advancement of Christ’s interest in the earth. Psa. 45:3, 4. Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached though his own afflictions were increased, Phil. 1: 16, 18, and John, that Christ increased though he himself decreased; therein was his joy fulfilled. John
3:29. So certainly the concerns of Christ will touch the heart which is the habitation of his Spirit. I cannot deny that even a good Baruch may seek great things for himself, and be too much swallowed up in his own concerns when God is plucking up and breaking down. Jer. 45:4, 5. But this is only the influence of a temptation; the true spirit of a believer inclines him to sorrow and mourning when things are in this state: ‘Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that ery for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof,” Ezck. 9:4. O reader, is it thus with thee? Dost thou sympathize with the affairs of Christ in the world; or earest thou not which way things go with the people of God and the gospel of Christ, so long as thine own affairs prosper and things are well with thee?
Eviwence 4. The Spirit of God mortifies and subdues the corruptions of the soul in which he resides. The Spirit lusteth against the flesh, Gal. 5:17, and believers, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body. Rom. 8:18. This is one special part of his sanctifying work. I do not say he subdues sin in believers that it shall never trouble or defile them any more; no, that freedom belongs to the perfect state in heaven; but its dominion is taken away, though its life be prolonged for a season. It lives in believers still, but not upon provision they willingly make to fulfil the lust of it. Rom. 13:14. The design of every believer is coincident with that of the Spirit, to destroy and mortify corruption. They long after the extirpation of it, and are daily in the use of all sanctified means to destroy it; the workings of their corruption are the affliction of their souls: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Rom. 7:24. And there is no one thing that sweetens the thoughts of death to believers, except the sight and full enjoyment of God, more than their expected deliverance from sin.
Hyvivence 5.. Wherever the Spirit of God dwells in the way of sanctification, he is the Spirit of prayer and supplication. “‘ Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Rom. 8:26. Wherever he is as the Spirit of grace, le is also as the Spirit of supplication. Zech. 12:10. His praying and his sanctifying influences are undivided. He helps them before they pray by kindling their desires and affections; he helps them in prayer by supplying subjects of request to them, teaching them what they should ask of God: he assists them in the manner of prayer, supplying them with suitable affections, and helping them to be sincere in all their desires to God. He humbles their pride and dissolves the hardness of their hearts; out of deadness makes them lively; out of weakness makes them strong. He assists the spirits of believers after prayer, giving them faith and patience to believe and wait for returns and answers to their prayers. O reader, reflect upon thy duties: consider what spirituality, sincerity, humility, broken-heartedness, and melting affections after God are to be found in them. Is it so with thee? Or dost thou hurry over thy duties as an interruption to thy business and pleasures? Are they an ungrateful task imposed upon thee by God and thine own conscience? Are there no hungerings and thirstings after God in thy soul? Or if there is pleasure arising to thee out of prayer, is it from the ostentation of thy gifts? If it be so, reflect upon the carnal state of thy heart; these things do not show the Spirit of grace and supplication to be given thee.
Evipence 6. There is a heavenly, spiritual frame of mond evidencing the indwelliny of the Sprrit. ‘For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Rom. 8:5, 6. By the mind, understand the reasonings, the fears, and pleasures of the soul which follow the meditations of the mind. If these are ordinarily and habitually exercised about earthly things, then is the frame and state of the man carnal and earthly. If God, Christ, heaven, and the world to come engage the affections of the soul, and the temper of such a soul is spiritual, and the Spirit of God dwells there, this is the life of the regenerate. “Our conversation is in heaven.” Phil. 3:20. Such a frame is life and peace: a serene, placid, and most comfortable life. No pleasures on earth, no eratifications of the senses relish as spiritual things do. Consider, therefore, which way thy heart ordinarily works, especially in thy hours of retirement. David could say, “How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God; how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.” Psa. 189: 17, 18. Yet it must be acknowledged, for the relief of weaker Christians, that there is a great diversity in this respect among the people of God. For the strength and constancy of a spiritual mind result from the depth and improvement of sanctification: the more grace, the more evenness, spirituality, and constancy there is in the motions of the heart after God. The minds of weak Christians are more easily entangled in earthly vanities, and diverted by inward corruptions; yet still there is a spiritual inclination and bent of their hearts towards God, and the vanity and corruption which hinder their communion with him are their greatest grief.
Evinence 7. Those to whom the Spirit of grace ts given are led by the Spirit. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Rom. 8:14. Sanctified souls give themselves up to the government of the Spirit, obey his voice, ask his direction, and deny the solicitations of flesh and blood in opposition to him, Gal. 1:16; and they that do so are the sons of God. It is the office of the Spirit to guide us into all truth, and it is our great duty to follow his guidance. Hence it is, that in all undertakings the people of God so earnestly beg counsel from him. ‘Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.” Psa. 5:8. They dare not lean to their own understandings; they dare not neglect duty nor commit sin against the convictions of their own consciences. Though sufferings be unavoidable in that path of duty, when they have balanced duties with sufferings the conclusion will be, it is better to obey God than man, the dictates of the Spirit rather than flesh and blood.
But before I leave this point [ reckon myself a debtor to weak Christians, and shall endeavor to give satisfaction to some doubts and fears with which their minds are ordinarily entangled in this matter; for it is a very plain case that many souls have the presence and sanctification of the Spirit without the evidence and comfort thereof.
Ozsection 1. I greatly fear the Spirit of God is not in me, because of the great darkness which clouds my soul; for I read that he enlightens the soul which he inhabits. “The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things.” 1 John 2: 27. But alas, my understanding is weak and cloudy, I have need to learn of the meanest of God’s people: this only I know, that I know nothing as I ought to know.
Answer. Two things are to be regarded in spiritual knowledge, namely, its quantity and its efficacy. Your condition does not so much depend upon the measure of knowledge; for perhaps you are under many disadvantages, and want those helps and means of increasing knowledge which others enjoy. It may be you have wanted education, or been encumbered by cares of the world, which have allowed you little leisure for the improvement of your mind. But if that which you know is turned into practice, Col. 1: 9, 10; if it influence your heart and
transform your affections into a spiritual frame, 2 Cor.
3:17, 18; if your ignorance humble you and drive you to
God for knowledge, one drop of such knowledge of Christ
and yourselves is worth more than a sea of unsanctified
and speculative knowledge. Though you know but little,
that little, being sanctified, is of great value. Though you’ know but little, time was when you knew nothing of — Jesus Christ or the state of your soul. In a word, though you know but little, that little will be increasing like the morning light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Prov. 4:18. If thou knowest so much as brings thee to Christ, thou shalt shortly be where thy knowledge shall be as the light at noonday.
Oxsection 2. I sometimes find my heart raised and my affections melted in duties, but I fear it is not from the Spirit of God: could I be assured those motions of my heart were from the Spirit of grace, and not merely a natural thing, it would be satisfaction to me.
Answer. Consider whether the ground of your doubting is that you take pains in the way of meditation, prayer, and other duties, to bring your hearts to relish the things of God; whereas, it may be, you expect your spiritual comforts should flow in upon you spontaneously, without any pains of yours. Here may be a great mistake; for the Spirit of God works in the natural method in which affections are raised, and makes use of such duties as meditation and prayer. Ezek. 36:37. So David was forced to chide his own heart. Psa. 42:5. Thy comfort may nevertheless be the fruit of the Spirit, because God makes it grow upon thy duties.
Take this also as a sure rule, Whatsoever rises from self, always terminates in self. This stream cannot be carried higher than the fountain: if therefore thy aim in striving for affection in duty be only to win applause from men, this is the fruit of a very corrupt and hypocritical nature; but if thy heart be melted in the sense of the evil of sin, in order to the mortification of it; and under the apprehensions of the free grace of God in the pardon of sin, in order to engage thy soul more firmly to him — if these be thy designs, never reject them as the mere fruits of nature. A carnal root cannot bring forth such fruits ag these. Opsection 38. On the contrary, spiritwal deadness and indisposition to duties, those especially which are more secret, spiritual, and self-denying than others, is the ground upon which many who are yet truly gracious doubt the indwelling of the Spirit in them. O, says such a one, if the Spirit of God be in me, why is it thus? Could my heart be so dead and averse’ to spiritual duties? No; these things would be my meat and my drink, the delight and pleasure of my life.
Answer. These things are indeed sad, and show thy heart to be out of frame, as the body is when it cannot relish the most desirable meats or drinks. But the question is, how thy soul behaves in such a condition; whether this be easy or burdensome to be borne by thee; and if thou complain under it as a burden, then what pains thou takest to get rid of it.
Know also that there is a great difference between spiritual death and spiritual deadness; the former is the state of the unregencrate, the latter is the complaint of many thousand regenerate souls: if David had not felt it as well as thee, he would never have cried out nine times in the compass of one psalm, ‘‘ Quicken me, quicken me.”
Besides, it is not so always with thee; there are seasons wherein the Lord breaks in upon thy heart and sets thy soul at liberty; to which times thou wilt do well to have an eye in these cloudy days.
Oxsecrion 4. But the Spirit of God is the comforter as well as a sanctifier: he not only enables men to believe, but after they believe he seals them. Eph. 1:13. But I walk in darkness, and am a stranger to the sealing and comforting work of the Spirit. How therefore can I imagine the Spirit of God dwells in me, who go from day to day in the bitterness of my soul, mourning as without the sun?.
Answer. There is a twofold sealing and comfort. The Spirit seals both in the work of sanctification and in giving evidence of that work. Thou mayest be sealed in the first, while thou art not yet sealed in the second sense. If so, thy condition is safe, though it be at present uncomfortable. And as to comfort, that also is of two sorts, in the root, or in the fruit: ‘Light is sown for the righteous,” Psalm 97: 11, though the harvest to gather in that joy be not yet come. There are many cther ways besides that-of comfort, whereby the indwelling of the Spirit may evidence itself in thy soul: if he do not enable thee to rejoice, yet if he enable thee sincerely to mourn for sin; if he do not enlarge thy heart in comfort, yet if he humble and purify thy heart by sorrows; if he deny thee the assurance of faith and yet give thee the dependence of faith, thou hast no reason to call in question or deny the indwelling of the Spirit in thee.
Oxsection 5. But the apostle says, they that walk in the Spirit do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh, Gal. 5:16; but I find myself entangled and frequently overcome by them; therefore I fear the Spirit of God ig not in me.
Answer. It is possible the ground of your doubt may be your mistake of the true meaning of that scripture. It is not the apostle’s meaning that sin in believers does not work and oftentimes overcome them; for then he would contradict himself where he complains, ‘‘ But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Rom. 7:23. Two things are meant by the expression, ‘‘ Ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.” One is, that the principle of grace will give a check to sin ge INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT. 409
in its first motions before it come to its maturity; it shall never be able to gain the full consent of the will, as it does in the unregenerate. The other meaning is, that if, notwithstanding all the opposition grace makes to hinder the commission of sin, it yet prevails and breaks forth into action; yet such acts of sin, as they are not committed without regret, so they are followed with sorrow and true repentance. And those very surprisals of sin at one time are made warnings to prevent it at another time. If it be so with thee, thou dost not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.
And now, reader, if upon examination of thy heart by these rules the Lord shall help thee to discern the saving work of the Spirit upon thy soul and thine interest in Christ, what a happy man art thou; what pleasure will arise to thy soul from such a discovery! Look upon thy heart as it is at present, or comparatively with what once it was and others still are, and thou wilt find enough to transport thy soul within thee. Certainly this is the most glorious piece of workmanship that ever God wrought upon any man, Eph. 2:10. The Spirit of God is come down from heaven and hath hallowed thy soul to be a temple for himself to dwell in; as he hath said, ‘I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 2 Cor. 6:16. Moreover, this gift of the Spirit is a sure pledge and earnest of thy future glory. Time was when there was no such work upon thy soul; and considering the frame and temper of it, the total aversion and rooted enmity in it, it is a wonder of wonders that ever such a work should be wrought in such a heart as thine; that ever the Spirit of God, who is pure and perfect holiness, should choose such an unclean, abominable heart to frame a habitation for himself to dwell in; to say of thy soul as he once said of the material temple at Jerusalem, ‘The Lord hath chosen it, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I
Method. 18 dwell; for I have desired it.” Psalm 132:13, 14. 0 what hath God done for thy soul.
Think, reader, and think again: Are there not many thousands in the world of more amiable dispositions than thyself, whom yet the Spirit of God passes by, leaving them as tabernacles for Satan to dwell in? Such a one thou. wast, and hadst still remained, if God had not wrought for thee beyond all the expectations and desires of thine own heart. O bless God that you have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that you may know the things which are freely given unto you of God.
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