Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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A33207
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A discourse concerning the operations of the Holy Spirit together with a confutation of some part of Dr. Owen's book upon that subject.
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Clagett, William, 1646-1688.; Owen, John, 1616-1683. Two discourses concerning the Holy Spirit and his work.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing C4379; ESTC R14565
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218,333
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348
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purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more i. e. God would afford them the means and opportunities of Conversion no longer because they had already obstructed the efficacy of them so long together And then by his purging Hierusalem it is plain nothing can be meant but his doing all that was proper for him to do in order to that end and which would certainly have accomplished it had they complied as they might with his gracious methods Thus also the goodness of God is said to lead them to Repentance who are not actually led by it being such as after their hardness and impenitent hearts treasure up wrath unto themselves against the day of wrath Rom. 2.4 5. The meaning is plainly this that the forbearance and Grace of God is a most sufficient means of bringing those to repentance who do not onely neglect what they ought to do in compliance with the goodness of God but harden their Hearts against it Thus we see the holy Scripture does ascribe unto God the honour of what he does toward the conversion of those Sinners that continue in impenitence by saying that he has converted and healed them even while they are yet in their sins hereby intimating to us that it was not through any defect of Grace on his part but onely through their own failing to excite such endeavours as they might have done that they were not actually reformed Now in like manner and according to the usual stile of the Scripture God may be said to Work even in those men to Will and to Do who are still unwilling and disobedient and therefore that Phrase does not necessarily import that God does more than excite and stir up our Wills by his Grace or that he does not leave it possible for us to obstruct the efficacy of his Operations For we see the Scripture supposes God's administring of those gracious Helps which are abundantly sufficient to make us true Converts to be ground enough for saying that he hath converted us Wherefore if the Words themselves are capable of such a meaning if the scope also and designe of the place does necessarily require such a meaning I know not what can be required more to prove this to be the true meaning of them viz. that God worketh in us to Will and to Do in that manner that if our own care and diligence be wanting we may neither will nor do but continue in our sins and perish everlastingly Further whereas God is said to give Repentance and a new Heart it is from hence plain that the meaning of such places is not this that he does all himself and leaves nothing for us to do that we may be converted because he commands us often to do those things which he is yet said to do for us Thus as it is said in Ezek. 36.26 A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and cause you to walk in my statutes which words considered by themselves run as if God had absolutely undertaken to do this for his People and they needed not now to trouble themselves with doing any thing towards it So by the same Prophet God requires them to Cast away from them all their transgressions to make themselves a new heart and a new spirit for saith he why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 18.31 From whence it is plain that notwithstanding God's promise of giving them a new Heart it was necessary for them to Renew their own Hearts And what can this signifie but that the Promise is not absolute but supposeth the concurrence of our own endeavours and consequently that it was given to encourage them but not to make them needless And this will be more evident to you if you consider that what the Lord promised to do in this kinde for his People was not done for some of them as you may see in Ezek. 11.19 20 21. I will put a new spirit into them and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh That they may walk in my statutes c. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations I will recompence their way upon their own heads saith the Lord God From whence the needfulness of their own care to walk in God's Statutes is most evident for if no such condition had been implied in the Promise none of them could have walked after their Abominations Finally Since the Holy Spirit is not onely promised to work in us all needful Qualifications for eternal Life but we are also Commanded Exhorted Entreated and that most Seriously Affectionately and Frequently to Repent and be Converted and to persevere in Holiness and all this with promises of an eternal Reward if we do and with threatnings of everlasting Punishment if we do not it follows that the Spirit is not promised to work his Graces in our Hearts in such a manner as to make our own endeavours unnecessary to the attainment of them For this were to make all those Commands and Exhortations of God's Word a solemn piece of Pageantry and to say that God hath required us under the greatest penalties and with the most alluring promises to obtain those Qualifications which will be thrust upon us though we do nothing to obtain them Wherefore I conclude that the Holy Spirit worketh no otherwise in the mindes of men than to leave them under as great an obligation to be diligent in the use of all proper means for their recovery and perseverance as if they had not the benefit of any such divine Operation but were left if it had been possible for them to do all themselves SECT 4. 4. It may be added that the Operations of the Holy Spirit upon the mindes of men are suited or proportioned to their present spiritual state He does not produce those effects in us all at once which the Scripture ascribes to divine Grace but in such an Order and by those Degrees that suit with our capacities and qualifications This is partly evident 1. From what hath been already said concerning the communications of special Grace the promises whereof are made onely to Believers and good men the Holy Spirit doth not form his other graces in us till he hath wrought an hearty belief of the Gospel in our Souls Nor does he dwell in them till they are purged from the love of sin and this world And since there are various degrees of holiness according to which good men differ from each other since also our Saviour hath told us that to him that hath more shall be given we may conclude that the communications of the Holy Spirit are not made in equal measures to all good men neither but according as their mindes are more or less raised towards the heavenly state And that the more perfect Christian enjoys a more plentiful influence of Grace from above and is
but according to a candid construction very true But this I think may at least be inferred from them That without Revelation we could not have known that the Spirit operates in the mindes of men in order to their Regeneration And consequently that his Operations are imperceptible by us now for if we were sensible that the Holy Spirit moves us we might argue from our own sense as well as from Revelation that the Spirit is given to us Wherefore the best rule we can have to know when we are moved by the Holy Spirit must be taken from the Nature and End of his Operations When we finde our selves inclined to that which is good when we are bent upon the doing of God's Will when we perform our Duty and govern our Actions by the Word of God then we may conclude that we are acted by a divine Spirit and that therefore we have occasion given us of humble and thankful Praises But if we forsake the steady rules of our duty written upon our Hearts in our Creation or in the Bible by the inspired Messengers of God and take every violent impulse that we feel within us for a suggestion of the Holy Spirit we may easily mistake a brutish Inclination or a suggestion of the Devil for divine direction since no sort of men are acted with a more sensible and impetuous zeal than they that are strongly led by the Devil and their own corrupt affections Therefore unless we will expose our selves to Fanatical and Diabolical delusions we must keep close to Reason and Scripture and try the nature of all the impulses and motions of our mindes by them We must not pretend that the Spirit inciteth us to such an action and therefore 't is warranted by the Scripture for the motions of the Spirit are in themselves imperceptible But we must first see what the Scripture would have us do and then if we have a minde to that we may conclude that the Spirit hath moved us to it for the Spirit inclineth us onely to what is good and the Scripture is a steady and unalterable rule of that These are very plain and evident truths and yet we can hardly say too much to possess the mindes of men with the apprehension of them since we can remember what infinite dishonours have been done to God in the late times by men professing Godliness and pretending to the special Guidance of the Spirit how they asked counsel of God whether they should commit Murder and Treason Rebellion and Sacriledge how they thought to justifie the most execrable Parricide as the Doctor knows who did that was ever heard of in these parts of the World and how blasphemously they pretended that the Lord had put these things into their Hearts God does not now give the Spirit to justifie the actions of men but to assist them in those that are good and he hath shewn us what is good partly by the light of Nature which is common to all men and compleatly by the publick revelation of his Will contained in the Scriptures Wherefore since the Operations of the Spirit are imperceptible by us and merely an object of our Faith we have no other way of assuring our selves that we follow the guidance of the Spirit but by following the rule of God's Word To this purpose it is observable that the word Spirit does sometimes signifie the Gospel as several Divines have proved and particularly when St. Paul does oppose the Spirit to the Flesh as in Gal. 3.3 We are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the flesh i. e. we are the true Children of Abraham who worship God according to the Gospel placing no confidence in the observation of Moses's Law And in Gal. 5.16 Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh i. e. walk according to that Law of Love vers 14. which the Gospel so strictly prescribes and do not yield to inclinations of Revenge Hatred Variance c. vers 20. But at least in these and the like places 't is indifferent whether by the word Spirit you understand the Gospel or the Holy Ghost because it is in effect the same thing to be led by the Spirit and to obey the Gospel Thus when the Apostle Rom. 8. so often notes the difference between those that walk after the Flesh and those that walk after the Spirit we may easily see that walking after the Spirit may indifferently be interpreted either by living according to the rules of the Gospel or by following the perswasion of a well-instructed Minde or Conscience or by obeying the motions of the Holy Spirit of God For to do one of these things is to do them all since they are the Precepts of the Gospel which the Conscience ought to be directed by and 't is the obedience of the Gospel to which the Holy Spirit doth move and incite us We may observe also that in this Chapter these following expressions are equivalent viz. To walk after the Spirit v. 1. To be freed from the law of sin v. 2. To minde the things of the Spirit v. 5. To be spiritually minded v. 6. To be subject to the law of God v. 7. To please God v. 8. To have the Spirit of Christ v. 9. Christ being in us v. 10. The Spirit of God dwelling in us v. 11. Mortifying the deeds of the body by the Spirit v. 13. And being led by the Spirit v. 14. These several Phrases I say do all express the same state viz. our being the true Disciples of Christ onely they conspire to express the same thing under different respects That of being subject to the Law of God respecting the rule of our Lives as that of minding the things of the Spirit regards that serious consideration of the Doctrines of the Gospel which disposeth us to walk according to that Rule To be freed from the Law of sin notes the same thing with respect to our former condition Not to be carnally but spiritually minded not to live after the flesh but to mortifie the deeds of the body the Spirit are expressions that principally regard the prevalency of our Conscience over our sensual Appetites The Spirit of God dwelling in us is an expression of that constant readiness in good men to do the Will of God which is cherished in them by the Holy Spirit as our having 〈◊〉 the Spirit of Christ seems principally to regard that likeness to him which we gain by becoming such persons Finally to walk after the Spirit or to be led by the Spirit are Phrases which seem to take in all these respects indifferently Now because it is really one and the same state and disposition that is signified by these Phrases there can be no dangerous mistake incurred if a man should understand any one of them under a respect which perhaps was not principally intended as for instance if by the Spirit of God dwelling in us he should