In publique in case of necessity 7. To suffer and overcome affliction Natural strength withdraws it self from the evil Spiritual strength stands to it and overcomes it The second Vse is for information and instruction shewing that the way to obtain this power is to obtain the Spirit and to encrease this power is to encrease the Spirit Now that we may obtain the Spirit we must first prepare our selves Wherein this preparation doth not consist Wherein it doth consist that is 1. In emptying us 2. The work of the Spirit after he hath emptied us is to fill us The means through which the Spirit is conveyed to us 1. By the Word and this word the Word of the Gospel 2. By Faith which carries us to Christs flesh to receive of his Spirit Through the word and faith we are born of God and so partake of the Spirit of God 3. Prayer and in prayer we may ask the Spirit either of the Father or the Son Again that we may encrease the Spirit 1. We must be constant and continual in the use of the Word 2. We must daily encrease faith 3. Must be much in prayer 4. Must withdraw our seves from the creatures and live loose from them 5. Must cease from our own works 6. Must give our selves up to the Sprit that he may work his work in us 7. The works of the Spirit we must attribute to the Spirit and not to our flesh Christs Spirit a Christians strength OR A plain discovery of the mighty and invincible power that all Believers receive through the Gift of the SPIRIT Acts 1.8 But ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me c. Or You shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you THese words are the more remarkable because they are the very last words in the conference between the Son of God and his beloved Apostles immediatly before his ascension into heaven Now you know when dear and intimate friends are to part as their love then runs strongest and their affections are most intire and vehement so then also they especially discourse of those things wherein most of all they desire to be satisfied and resolved Thus was it between Christ and his Apostles never was there such dear and intimate friendship and such sincere and burning love between any as between them The Apostles all of them loved Christ most truly and passionately and Peter who had three times denied him three times professed his love to him and being sorry that Christ should question his love the third time he thus answered Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee And Christ also loved them dearly yea he loved them a first and having b loved his own he loved them to the end and so he was not discontented with them for their leaving and forsaking him through humane infirmity when he was led away to judgement and to death For though death quite puts out all natural love yet spiritual love is not extinguished but enlarged by death Now when such loving friends as these were even now ready to take their last leave one of another in regard of bodily presence who would not most willingly have been present to have heard what discourse passed between Christ and his Disciples at this their last parting Now Luke acquaints us with the whole summe and substance of Christs discourse with his Apostles all the time he lived together with them after his Resurrection till the day wherein he Ascended into Heaven In the third verse of this Chapter he saith he did discourse with them De Regno Dei touching the Kingdome of God That is not only touching his Spiritual Kingdom which he sets up in each particular Christian and which begins at our regeneration and is consummate in glorification but also touching his Mediatory and Monarchical Kingdom which in the time appointed of his Father he should set up in the world When he should have the a Heathen for his inheritance and the utmost ends of the earth for his possession and b all people and Nations and Languages should serve him and he c should reign from sea to sea and from the river to the worlds end This was the summ of Christs discourse with them And the Apostles were fully satisfied touching the thing onely they were unsatisfied touching the time For besides that the setting up of this Kingdom of the Messias in the power beauty and glory of it was at that time the common discourse and expectation of all Israel the Apostles themselves remembred many Prophesies and promises of the Old Testament for the restoring the Kingdom of David And this they thought Christ would have done in the daies of his flesh but presently all their hopes were blasted by his death But when they saw him risen again from the dead then presently their hearts were revived into their former hopes but yet again seeing nothing done all the time he conversed with them after the resurrection when now he was ready to Ascend into Heaven they desire him first to resolve them of this question whether or no he would at that time restore the Kingdom to Israel Lord say they Wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel Now Christ doth not deny the restoring of the Kingdom to Israel but denies to acquaint them with the time when it should be done He tells them it was not for them to know the times and seasons which the Father had put in his own power verse 7. The like answer to the like demand Daniel received in his time For when the Angel had represented to Daniel the totall destruction of the image of worldly Monarchy together with the rise and reign and ruin of Antichrist and the setting up of Christs Kingdom in the world in the stead of the two former Daniel said Chap. 12.8 And I heard but I understood not thou said I O my Lord What shall be the end of these things And he said Go thy way Daniel for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end So that the Angel who discovered the things themselves to Daniel refused to discover to him plainly and expressely the time when they should be done but that was to be closed and sealed up till the time of the end And so here in like manner Christ who had discoursed largely and cleerly to the Disciples touching the Kingdom of God yet denies to discover to them the time when it should be set up in the world And the reason why he denied this to them to whom he had not denyed himself was not for want of loue but because the Father had kept the time and season wherein all this should be done in his own power Had this been placed in Christs power he had no doubt made it known to them as well as he did those other things which he had heard
For as the Apostle saith If any man love the world the love of the Father that is the Holy Spirit is not in him so if any man love the Father the love of the world is not in him now the more any one loves the Father the less he loves the world and the less he loves the world the more the spirit dwels in him 5. To cease daily from our own works The more we act our selves the less doth the Spirit act in us And therefore we must must from day to day cease from our own works from the operations of our own minds and understandings and wils and affections and must not be the Authors of our own actions For we being flesh our selves what ever we do is fleshly seeing the effect cannot be better then the cause And if we mingle the works of our flesh with the works of Gods Spirit he will cease from working in us But the less we act in our selves according to the principles of our corrupt nature the more will the spirit act in us according to the principles of the divine nature But our own works are alwayes a mighty impediment to the operations of the Spirit 6. To encrease the spirit in us we must give up our selves to the Spirit that he only may work in us without the least opposition and resistance from us That as the soul acts all in the body and the body doth nothing of it self but is subject to the soul in all things so the spirit may do all in us and we may do nothing of our selves without the Spirit but be subject to the Spirit in all its operations For the Spirit of God cannot work excellently in us except it work all in all in us And in such a man in whom the Spirit hath full power the Spirit works many wonderful things that he according to humane sense is ignorant of For as the soul doth secretly nourish and cherish and refresh the body and disperses life and spirits through it even when the body is asleep and neither feels it nor knows it so the Holy Spirit dwelling in the soul by a secret kinde of operation works many things in it for the quickning and renewing it whilst it oftentimes for the present is not so much as sensible of it 7. The seventh means to encrease the spirit is to attribute the works of the spirit to the spirit and not to our selves For if we attribute to the flesh the works of the Spirit and take from the Spirit the glory of his own works he will work no longer in us Wherefore we must ascribe unto the Spirit the whole glory of his own works and acknowledge that we our selves are nothing and can do nothing and that it is he only that is all in all and works all in all and we our selves among all the excellent works of the Spirit in us must so remain as if we were and wrought nothing at all that so all that is of flesh and blood may be laid low in us and the Spirit alone may be exalted first to do all in us and then to have all the glory of all that is done And thus you see the means to encrease the Spirit and so consequently strength as well as to get it And by the daily use and improvement of these means we may attain to a great degree of spiritual strength that we may walk and not be weary and may run and not faint and may mount up as Eagles yea and may walk as Angels among men and as the powers of heaven upon earth to his praise and honour who first communicates to us his own strength and then by that strength of his own works all our works in us And thus is he glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe FINIS a John 4 19. b John 13.1 The summ of Christs discourse with his Disciples after his Resurrection till his Ascension a Psal. 2.8 b Dan. 7.14 c Psal. 72.8 Quest Answ. 1. Gen◠Doctrin Melius est nullum habere quam sacrilegum impium scelcratum ministrum qui non venit nisi ut mactet perdat sicut fur latro Luth. de instir ministr. Eccl. 2. General Doctrine 3. Gener Doctrine The particular handling of the words The Doctr. The Spirit is Power two wayes 1. Essentially in it self 2. Operatively in us By being in us 1. A Spirit of Knowledge 2. A Spirit of Power 3. A Spirit of Wisdom 2 Cor. 1.10 4. A Spirit of Faith Ephes. 1.19 The power of faith inables us 1. to do the same things Christ himself did Phil. 4.13 2. To suffer the same things that Christ himself suffered Phil. 3.10 Cant. 8.5.6 5. A spirit of Righteousness 1. Mortifying sin 2. Imparting grace 6 A spirit of the fear of the Lord Isa 8.13 7. A spirit of love and Vnity Isa 41.15 1. Vse A necessity for Ministers to have the power of the Spirit 1. Otherwise they have no power at all 2. Without this they are insufficient for the work of the Ministry 1. They are unable to preach the Word 2. Unable to preach it powerfully 1. The Ministery cold without this power 2. Weak Acts 6.10 3 Unable to hold out in the Ministery Acts 4.17.18 Acts 4.19 4. Unable to reprove the world 5. Unable to wrestle with and overcome the devil 6 Unable to suffer persecution for the Word * Mihi vero qui vocatus sum decretum certum est ingredi urbem in nomine Domini nostri Iesu Christi etiamsi scirem tot diabolos mihi oppositos quot sunt tegulae in omnibus totius urbis tectis * Verum quid faciam urgent me causae inevitabiles Deus cogit vocat hic nulli creaturae tergiversandum est Age fiat igitur in nomine Iesu Christi qui est Dominus vitae mortis Nihil habeo quod possim perdere Domini ego sum si perdor Domino perdor id est invenior Alium ergo quaere quem terreas Verum ego scio certus sum Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum vivere regnare qua scientia fiducia inflatus non timebo etiam multa millia Paparum Major est enim qui in nobis quam qui in mundo est Quid si me occidat Papa aut damnet ultra Tartara Occisum non suscitabit ut his iterum occidat damnatum vero ego volo ut-nunquam absolvat Confido enim instare diem illum quo destruetur regnum illud abominationis perditionis Vtinam nos primi digni simus vel exuri vel occidi ab eo quò sanguis noster magis clamet urgeat judicium illius accelerari Sed si digni non sumus sanguine testi ficari hanc saltem oremus imploremus misericordiam ut vitâ voce testemur quòd Iesus Christus solus est Dominus Deus noster Benedictus in secula seculorum Luther in Epist. ad Patr. The Holy Spirit and the power of it necessary for all Christians Question Answer They need the Spirit of power They need the power of the Spirit 1. To change their nature 2. To work Grace a Psal. 25.11 2 Pet. 1.14 3. To mortifie sin 1. The whole body of sin Rom. 8.13 2. Particular strong corruptions 4. To perform duties To inable them to the use of the word In private Act. 18.26 In publike To inable them to confess the word 7. To overcome afflictions and persecutions Second use The way to get this power is to get this Spirit To this end we must prepare our selves Wherein preparation doth not consist Wherein it doth 1. The Holy Spirit empties us A caution 2. Fills us The means are 1. The hearing of the Word 2. Faith 3. Prayer 2. The Way to increase this power
shall work for good unto him in the end Thus the fear of the Lord is a Christians confidence and a beleevers strength whereas he that fears not God fears every thing yea not onely reall but imaginary evils and as evils multiply his fears so his fears again multiply his evils till at last he be swallowed up of both But the Holy Spirit being in us a Spirit of the fear the Lord is also in us a Spirit of strength 7. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of power in us by being in us a Spirit of love and unity The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of love and unity in the Godhead for the Father loves the Son with the Spirit and the Son loves the Father with the Spirit and the Father is one with the Son in the Spirit and the Son is one with the Father in the Spirit and the Spirit is both the bond of love and unity between the Father and the Son and God being most love and most one is also most strong Now what the Spirit is in the Godhead he is the same in the Church of God which is the true temple and habitation of the Godhead and that is a Spirit of love and unity For why is there such constant love and unity between the members of the same body but because one Spirit runs through them all and so there is such constant love and unity between all beleevers because one Holy Spirit runs through them all And hence we may take notice of a remarkable difference between nature and grace for nature of one makes many for we all who are many among our selves even a whole world of men were but one in Adam omnes eramus ille unus homo but grace of many makes one for the Holy spirit which is as fire melts all the faithfull into one mass or lump and makes of many one body one thing yea it makes them one in the unity of God according to that of Christ John 17.21 that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us mark the words for they are wonderful that they all may be one that is that all beleevers who are many among themselves may be all made one one How one As thou Father art in me and I in thee that is as thou and I being two persons are yet but one God after this highest example of unity let them be made One in us as long as they remain in themselves they are many and how much they remain in themselves they are many for their unity is not in themselves but they are one in us who are one that is how much the saints by the Spirit are carried into the Father and the Son who are one so much also are they made one not onely with the Father and the Son but also with one another You may see in the Acts how the multitude of beleevers after they had received the Spirit so far forth as they had received the Spirit Were of one heart and of one minde And this unity of beelievers is their strength and when God shall take away all those prejudices and suspicions and jealousies and particular ends and interests and divisions and separations and Schismes that are among his own people and the people of God shall be reduced into this blessed unity among themselves and the Lord be one and his name one among them all then shall the Church also be of admirable and invincible power So that all they that strive with it shall perish and all they that war against it shall be as nothing yea then shall the Lord make the Church as a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth and it shall thresh the Mountains that is the Kingdomes of the world and shall beat them small and shall make the hills that is the lesser Common-wealths as chaffe But till the Church of God attain to this unity it shall not do any excellent thing it shall not work any notable deliverance in the earth neither shall the inhabitants of the world fall When the Spirit of God shall be a Spirit of unity in the faithful and shall heal all the sad differences and dissensions that are now between them then also shall it be a Spirit of admirable power in them And thus much for the explication of the point The Vse is twofold 1. The first is to exhort all men everywhere to endeavour to partake of this supernatural spiritual and divine power of the Holy Spirit which is certainly communicated to all the faithful and Elect in Christ Jesus And let no man think it is a thing indifferent whether he have this power or no but know that the having of this power of the Spirit is of absolute necessity and that both for Ministers and for all other Christians 1. There is a necessity of this power of the Holy Spirit for Ministers and to them this present place doth chiefly relate 1. For first if they have not this power of the Holy Spirit they have no power at all For Christ sent them only as his Father sent him and so Christ never gave unto them any earthly or humane or secular power no power of swords or prisons no power of outward constraint and violence Christ gave them no such outward and worldly power for the inlargement of his Kingdom as not being at all sutable to it For his Kingdom is spiritual and what can carnal power do in a Spiritual Kingdom His Kingdom is heavenly and what can earthly power do in a heavenly Kingdom His Kingdom is not of this world and what can worldly power do in a Kingdom that is not of the World And though Antichrist and his Ministers have arrogated and usurped such a carnal and earthly and worldly power to themselves in their pretended managing the Kingdom of Christ yet the faithful Ministers of Christ cannot And therefore seeing the Ministers of the Gospel have no power from beneath they must needs have power from on high seeing they have no fleshly power they must needs have Spiritual power seeing they have no power from earth and from men they must needs have power from heaven and from God that is the power of the Holy Spirit coming on them or else they have no power at all 2. The Ministers of the Gospel must needs have this power of the Holy Spirit because otherwise they are not sufficient for the Ministery For no man is sufficient for the work of the Ministery by any natural parts and abilities of his own nor yet by any acquisite parts of humane learning and knowledge but onely by this power of the Holy Spirit and till he be indowed with this notwithstanding all his other accomplishments he is altogether insufficient And therefore the very Apostles were to keep silence till they were indued with this power they were to wait at Jerusalem till they had received the promise of