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Theme Study: The Death of Believers Preface to the Study by Jim & Debbie Ehrhard

January 12, 2010 by ADMIN

No one today would say that death is “precious.”  Certainly the testimony of most of the human is the opposite—death is terrible and greatly to be feared.  Most fear death for the wrong reasons.  They fear the pain and agony that might be faced in death, or perhaps they fear the separation from loved ones, or maybe they fear the loss of the things of this world.  But the greatest fear should not be death itself, but what happens after death.  Jesus told his disciples, “Do not fear those that can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both the body and soul in hell” (Matthew 10:28).  Death for the non-believer ought to be feared, not because of death itself, but because of the eternal consequences of dying apart from a savior.

But the testimony of Scripture regarding the death of believers is wonderfully different—it is considered “precious in the sight of the Lord!”  Why is this so different?  There are many reasons, only of few of which can be explored in this short issue.  Their death is precious because they are precious to the Lord, because they will have sweet reunion and fellowship with the saints who have gone before them, and because they will rest from the toil of their labors and be free from their pains and sorrows.  Most of all, death is precious for believers because “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”  For those whose hearts desire the Lord more than anything or anyone, death becomes “precious” though it still includes deep waters to pass through.

We hope this issue may help you to have a Biblical view of the death of believers and be able to “grieve, but not as those who have no hope” when a dear brother or sister dies in the Lord.   We also hope that our next issue on “Heaven” will serve as a companion to this one in helping believers see death as glory for those who know Him.  To God be the Glory, alone and forever!

By His Grace, Jim & Debbie

Posted in Uncategorized |

From Our Hearts by Jim & Debbie Ehrhard

January 8, 2010 by ADMIN

Perhaps one of the most neglected doctrines in Reformed Theology is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.  Much of this neglect stems from fears related to concerns about emotional excesses and the operation of certain spiritual gifts.  But the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit is essential in all theology.  Without a proper understanding of and dependence upon the Holy Spirit, our theologies would be little more than Pelagian moralism.  If there is anything that Reformed teaching affirms, it is the emptiness of human efforts apart from the power and activity of God.  This is why the doctrine of the Holy Spirit must be understood and taught today.

For this reason, this issue begins with a foundational article by A. W. Pink on the importance of this doctrine.  Pink’s article reminds us of the danger of slipping back into a flesh/works orientation if we ignore the work of the Holy Spirit.  Although the compilation is no longer in print, A. W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit contains a number of helpful articles that far surpass the scope of this publication.

We have also included a doctrinal study by John Calvin on “The Divinity of the Holy Spirit” and a practical study by Thomas Watson entitled “A Godly Man Has the Spirit of Christ in Him.”  The article by Jonathan Edwards deals primarily with an exposition of 1 Corinthians 13:8 in which Edwards examines the work of the Spirit in eternity.

The issue is rounded out by articles by William Gurnal (“Praying in the Spirit”), Charles Spurgeon (“The Holy Spirit in the Covenant”), and A. W. Pink (“The Work of the Spirit”).  Each provides insights to various aspects of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

We hope this issue is helpful in providing some often neglected study on the Holy Spirit.  However, we realize that the work of the Spirit is so pervasive and so important that many other aspects and areas could be studied also.  We hope this issue will provide a springboard for additional studies on the Holy Spirit that each reader might consider.  Most of all, we pray that the work of the Spirit might become the foundation of all that we do in life and ministry.

By His Grace, Jim & Debbie

Posted in Uncategorized |

The Work Of The Spirit By A. W. Pink

January 8, 2010 by ADMIN

It is a great mistake to suppose that the works of the Spirit are all of one kind, or that His operations preserve an equality as to degree.  To insist that they are and do would be ascribing less freedom to the Third Person of the Godhead than is enjoyed and exercised by men.  There is variety in the activities of all voluntary agents: even human beings are not confined to one sort of work, nor to the production of the same kind of effects; and where they design so to do, they moderate them as to degrees according to their power and pleasure.  Much more so is it with the Holy Spirit.  The nature and kind of His works are regulated by His own will and purpose.

Some He executes by the touch of His finger (so to speak), in others He puts forth His hand, while in yet others (as on the day of Pentecost) He lays bare His arm. He works by no necessity of His nature, but solely according to the pleasure of His will (1 Corinthians 12:11).

Upon Both The Unsaved And The Saved

Many of the works of the Spirit, though perfect in kind and fully accomplishing their design, are wrought by Him upon and within men who, nevertheless, are not saved.  “The Holy Spirit is present with many as to powerful operations, with whom He is not present as to gracious inhabitation.  Or, many are made partakers of Him in His spiritual gifts, who are not made partakers of Him in His saving grace, Matthew 7:22, 23” (John Owen on Hebrews 6:4).  The light which God furnishes different souls varies considerably, both in kind and degree.  Nor should we be surprised at this in view of the adumbration in the natural world: how wide is the difference between the glimmering of the stars from the radiance of the full moon, and that again from the shining of the midday sun.  Equally wide is the gulf which separates the savage with his faint illumination of conscience from one who has been educated under a Christian ministry, and greater still is the difference between the spiritual understanding of the wisest unregenerate professor and the feeblest babe in Christ; yet each has been a subject of the Spirit’s operations.

“The Holy Spirit works in two ways.  In some men’s hearts, He works with restraining grace only, and the restraining grace, though it will not save them, is enough to keep them from breaking out into the open and corrupt vices in which some men indulge who are totally left by the restraints of the Spirit..… God the Holy Spirit may work in men some good desires and feelings, and yet have no design of saving them.  But mark, none of these feelings are things that accompany salvation, for if so, they would be continued.  But He does not work Omnipotently to save, except in the persons of His own elect, whom He assuredly bringeth unto Himself.  I believe, then, that the trembling of Felix is to be accounted for by the restraining grace of the Spirit quickening his conscience and making him tremble” (C. H. Spurgeon on Acts 24:25).

The Holy Spirit has been robbed of much of His distinctive glory through Christians failing to perceive His varied workings.  In concluding that the operations of the blessed Spirit are confined unto God’s elect, they have been hindered from offering to Him that praise which is His due for keeping this wicked world a fit place for them to live.  Few today realize how much the children of God owe to the Third Person of the Trinity for holding in leash the children of the Devil, and preventing them from utterly consuming Christ’s church on earth.  It is true there are comparatively few texts which specifically refer to the distinctive Person of the Spirit as reigning over the wicked, but once it is seen that in the Divine economy all is from God the Father, all is through God the Son, and all is by God the Spirit, each is given His proper and separate place in our hearts and thoughts.

The Spirit’s Operation In The Non-Elect

Let us, then, now point out a few of the Spirit’s general and inferior operations in the non-elect, as distinguished from His special and superior works in the redeemed.

1.  In restraining evil. If God should leave men absolutely to their own natural corruptions and to the power of Satan (as they fully deserve to be, as He will in Hell, and as He would now but for the sake of His elect), all show of goodness and morality would be entirely banished from the earth: men would grow past feeling in sin, and wickedness would swiftly and entirely swallow up the whole world.  This is abundantly clear from Genesis 6:3, 4, 5, 12.  But He who restrained the fiery furnace of Babylon without quenching it, He who prevented the waters of the Red Sea from flowing without changing their nature, now hinders the working of natural corruption without mortifying it.  Vile as the world is, we have abundant cause to adore and praise the Holy Spirit that it is not a thousand times worse.

The world hates the people of God (John 15:19): why, then, does it not devour them?  What is it that holds back the enmity of the wicked against the righteous?  Nothing but the restraining power of the Holy Spirit.  In Psalm 14:1-3 we find a fearful picture of the utter depravity of the human race.  Then in verse 4 the Psalmist asks, “Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?  Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord?”  To which answer is made, “There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous” (v. 5).  It is the Holy Spirit who places that “great fear” within them, to keep them back from many outrages against God’s people.  He curbs their malice.  So completely are the reprobate shackled by His almighty hand, that Christ could say to Pilate, “thou couldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:11)!

2.  In inciting to good actions. All the obedience of children to parents, all the true love between husbands and wives, is to be attributed unto the Holy Spirit.  Whatever morality and honesty, unselfishness and kindness, submission to the powers that be and respect for law and order which is still to be found in the world, must be traced back to the gracious operations of the Spirit.  A striking illustration of His benign influence is found in 1 Samuel 10:26, “Saul also went home to Gibeah: and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God (the Spirit) had touched.”

Men’s hearts are naturally inclined to rebellion, are impatient against being ruled over, especially by one raised out of a mean condition among them.  The Lord the Spirit inclined the hearts of those men to be subject unto Saul, gave them a disposition to obey him.  Later, the Spirit touched the heart of Saul to spare the life of David, melting him to such an extent that he wept (1 Samuel 24:16).  In like manner, it was the Holy Spirit who gave the Hebrews favor in the eyes of the Egyptians—who hitherto had bitterly hated them—so as to give earrings to them (Exodus 12:35, 36).

3.  In convicting of sin. Few seem to understand that conscience in the natural man is inoperative unless stirred up by the Spirit.  As a fallen creature, thoroughly in love with sin (John 3:19), man resists and disputes against any conviction of sin.  “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Genesis 6:3): man, being “flesh,” would never have the least distaste of any iniquity unless the Spirit excited those remnants of natural light which still remain in the soul.  Being “flesh,” fallen man is perverse against the convictions of the Spirit (Acts 7:51), and remains so forever unless quickened and made “spirit” (John 3:6).

4.  In illuminating. Concerning Divine things, fallen man is not only devoid of light, but is “darkness” itself (Ephesians 5:8).  He had no more apprehension of spiritual things than the beasts of the field.  This is very evident from the state of the heathen.  How, then, shall we explain the intelligence which is found in thousands in Christendom, who yet give no evidence that they are new creatures in Christ Jesus?  They have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 6:4).  Many are constrained to inquire into those scriptural subjects which make no demand on the conscience and life; yea, many take great delight in them.  Just as the multitudes took pleasure in beholding the miracles of Christ, who could not endure His searching demands, so the light of the Spirit is pleasant to many to whom His convictions are grievous.

The Spirit’s Operation In The Elect

We have dwelt upon some of the general and inferior operations which the Holy Spirit performs upon the non-elect, who are never brought unto a saving knowledge of the Truth.  Now we shall consider His special and saving work in the people of God, dwelling mainly upon the absolute necessity for the same.  It should make it easier for the Christian reader to perceive the absoluteness of this necessity when we say that the whole work of the Spirit within the elect is to plant in the heart a hatred for and a loathing of sin as sin, and a love for and longing after holiness as holiness.

This is something which no human power can bring about.  It is something which the most faithful preaching as such cannot produce. It is something which the mere circulating and reading of the Scripture does not impart. It is a miracle of grace, a Divine wonder, which none but God can or does perform.

Total Depravity Apart From The Spirit

Of course, if men are only partly depraved (which is really the belief today of the vast majority of preachers and their hearers, never having been experimentally taught by God their own depravity), if deep down in their hearts all men really love God, if they are so good-natured as to be easily persuaded to become Christians, then there is no need for the Holy Spirit to put forth His Almighty power and do for them what they are altogether incapable of doing for themselves.  And again: if “being saved” consists merely in believing I am a lost sinner and on my way to Hell, and by simply believing that God loves me, that Christ died for me, and that He will save me now on the one condition that I “accept Him as my personal Savior” and “rest upon His finished work,” then no supernatural operations of the Holy Spirit are required to induce and enable me to fulfill that condition—self-interest moves me to, and a decision of my will is all that is required.

But if, on the other hand, all men hate God (John 15:23, 25), and have minds which are “enmity against Him” (Romans 8:7), so that “there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:11), preferring and determining to follow their own inclinations and pleasures.  If instead of being disposed unto that which is good, “the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11).  And if when the overtures of God’s mercy are made known to them and they are freely invited to avail themselves of the same, they “all with one consent begin to make excuse” (Luke 14:1 8)—then it is very evident that the invincible power and transforming operations of the Spirit are indispensably required if the heart of a sinner is thoroughly changed, so that rebellion gives place to submission and hatred to love.  This is why Christ said, “No man can come to me, except the Father (by the Spirit) which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

Again—if the Lord Jesus Christ came here to uphold and enforce the high claims of God, rather than to lower or set them aside.  If He declared that “strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto Life, and few there be that find it,” rather than pointing to a smooth and broad road which anyone would find it easy to tread.  If the salvation which He has provided is a deliverance from sin and self-pleasing, from worldliness and indulging the lusts of the flesh, and the bestowing of a nature which desires and determines to live for God’s glory and please Him in all the details of our present lives—then it is clear beyond dispute that none but the Spirit of God can impart a genuine desire for such a salvation.  And if instead of “accepting Christ” and “resting upon His finished work” be the sole condition of salvation, He demands that the sinner throw down the weapons of his defiance, abandon every idol, unreservedly surrender himself and his life, and receive Him as His only Lord and Master, then nothing but a miracle of grace can enable any captive of Satan’s to meet such requirements.

Objections To Total Depravity Proved False

Against what has been said above it may be objected that no such hatred of God as we have affirmed exists in the hearts of the great majority of our fellow-creatures—that while there may be a few degenerates, who have sold themselves to the Devil and are thoroughly hardened in sin, yet the remainder of mankind are friendly disposed to God, as is evident by the countless millions who have some form or other of religion.  To such an objector we reply, The fact is, dear friend, that those to whom you refer are almost entirely ignorant of the God of Scripture: they have heard that He loves everybody, is benevolently inclined toward all His creatures, and is so easy-going that in return for their religious performances will wink at their sins.  Of course, they have no hatred for such a “god” as this!  But tell them something of the character of the true God: that He hates “all the workers of iniquity” (Psalm 5:5), that He is inexorably just and ineffably holy, that He is an uncontrollable Sovereign, who “hath mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth” (Romans 9:18), and their enmity against Him will soon be manifested—an enmity which none but the Holy Spirit can overcome.

It may be objected again that so far from the gloomy picture which we have sketched above being accurate, the great majority of people do desire to be saved (from having to suffer a penalty for their sin), and they make more or less endeavor after their salvation.  This is readily granted.  There is in every human heart a desire for deliverance from misery and a longing after happiness and security, and those who come under the sound of God’s Word are naturally disposed to be delivered from the wrath to come and wish to be assured that Heaven will be their eternal dwelling-place—who wants to endure the everlasting burnings?  But that desire and disposition is quite compatible and consistent with the greatest love to sin and most entire opposition of heart to that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).  But what the objector here refers to is a vastly different thing from desiring Heaven upon God’s terms, and being willing to tread the only path which leads there!

The instinct of self-preservation is sufficiently strong to move multitudes to undertake many performances and penances in the hope that thereby they shall escape Hell.  The stronger men’s belief of the truth of Divine revelation, the more firmly they become convinced that there is a Day of Judgment, when they must appear before their Maker, and render an account of all their desires, thoughts, words and deeds, the most serious and sober will be their minds.  Let conscience convict them of their misspent lives, and they are ready to turn over a new leaf; let them be persuaded that Christ stands ready as a Fire-escape and is willing to rescue them, though the world still claims their hearts, and thousands are ready to “believe in Him.”  Yes, this is done by multitudes who still hate the true character of the Savior, and reject with all their hearts the salvation which He has. Far, far different is this from an unregenerate person longing for deliverance from self and sin, and the impartation of that holiness which Christ purchased for His people.

All around us are those willing to receive Christ as their Savior, who are altogether unwilling to surrender to Him as their Lord.  They would like His peace, but they refuse His “yoke,” without which His peace cannot be found (Matthew 11:29).  They admire His promises, but have no heart for His precepts.  They will rest upon His priestly work, but will not be subject to His kingly scepter.  They will believe in a “Christ” who is suited to their own corrupt tastes or sentimental dreams, but they despise and reject the Christ of God.  Like the multitudes of old, they want His loaves and fishes, but for His heart-searching, flesh-withering, sin-condemning teaching, they have no appetite.  They approve of Him as the Healer of their bodies, but as the Healer of their depraved souls they desire Him not.  And nothing but the miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit can change this bias and bent in any soul.

It is just because modern Christendom has such an inadequate estimate of the fearful and universal effects which the Fall has wrought, that the imperative need for the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit is now so little realized.  It is because such false conceptions of human depravity so widely prevail that, in most places, it is supposed all which is needed to save half of the community is to hire some popular evangelist and attractive singer.  And the reason why so few are aware of the awful depths of human depravity, the terrible enmity of the carnal mind against God and the heart’s inbred and inveterate hatred of Him, is because His character is now so rarely declared from the pulpit.  If the preachers would deliver the same type of messages as did Jeremiah in his degenerate age, or even as John the Baptist did, they would soon discover how their hearers were really affected toward God; and then they would perceive that unless the power of the Spirit attended their preaching they might as well be silent.

From Studies in the Scriptures, January and February 1934.

Posted in A. W. Pink |

The Holy Spirit in Eternity Jonathan Edwards

January 8, 2010 by ADMIN

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 1 Corinthians 13:8

In the entire context, the drift of the apostle is, to show the superiority of charity over all the other graces of the Spirit.  And in this chapter, he sets forth its excellence by three things: first, by showing that it is the most essential thing, and that all other gifts are nothing without it; second, by showing that from it all good dispositions and behavior do arise; and, third, by showing that it is the most durable of all gifts, and shall remain when the church of God shall be in its most perfect state, and when the other gifts of the Spirit shall have vanished away.  And in the text may be observed two things: —

First, that one property of charity, by which its excellence is set forth, is, that it is unfailing and everlasting — “Charity never faileth.”  This naturally follows the last words of the preceding verse, that “charity endureth all things.”  There the apostle declares the durableness of charity, as it appears in its withstanding the shock of all the opposition that can be made against it in the world.  And now he proceeds further, and declares that charity not only endures to the end of time, but also throughout eternity — “Charity never faileth.”  When all temporal things shall have failed, this shall still abide, and abide forever.  We may also observe in the text,

Second, that herein charity is distinguished from all the other gifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy, and the gift of tongues, and the gift of knowledge, etc. — “Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away;” but “charity never faileth.”  By the knowledge here spoken of, is not meant spiritual and divine knowledge in general; for surely there will be such knowledge hereafter in heaven, as well as now on earth, and vastly more than there is on earth, as the apostle expressly declares in the following verses.  The knowledge that Christians have of God, and Christ, and spiritual things, and in fact all their knowledge, as that word is commonly understood, shall not vanish away, but shall be gloriously increased and perfected in heaven, which is a world of light as well as love.  But by the knowledge which the apostle says shall vanish away, is meant a particular miraculous gift that was in the church of God in those days.  For the apostle, as we have seen, is here comparing charity with the miraculous gifts of the Spirit — those extraordinary gifts which were common in the church in those days, one of which was the gift of prophecy, and another the gift of tongues, or the power of speaking in languages that had never been learned.  Both these gifts are mentioned in the text; and the apostle says they shall fail and cease.  And another gift was the gift of knowledge, or the word of knowledge, as it is called in the eighth verse of the previous chapter, where it is so spoken of as to show that it was a different thing, both from that speculative knowledge which is obtained from reason and study, and also from that spiritual or divine knowledge that comes from the saving influence of the Holy Spirit in the soul.  It was a particular gift of the Spirit with which some persons were endowed, whereby they were enabled by immediate inspiration to understand mysteries, or the mysterious prophecies and types of the Scriptures, which the apostle speaks of in the second verse of this chapter, saying, “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge,” etc.  It is this miraculous gift which the apostle here says shall vanish away, together with the other miraculous gifts of which he speaks, such as prophecy, and the gift of tongues, etc.  All these were extraordinary gifts bestowed for a season for the introduction and establishment of Christianity in the world, and when this their end was gained, they were all to fail and cease.  But charity was never to cease.

Thus the apostle plainly teaches, as the doctrine of the text:

That That Great Fruit Of The Spirit, In Which The Holy Ghost Shall, Not Only For A Season, But Everlastingly, Be Communicated To The Church Of Christ, Is Charity, Or Divine Love.

That the meaning and truth of this doctrine may be better understood, I would speak to it in the four following propositions: first, The Spirit of Christ will be everlastingly given to his Church and people, to influence and dwell in them; second, There are other fruits of the Spirit besides divine love, wherein the Spirit of God is communicated to his church; third, These other fruits are but for a season, and either have already, or will at some time, cease; fourth, That charity, or divine love, is that great and unfailing fruit of the Spirit, in which his everlasting influence and indwelling in the saints, or in his church, shall appear.

  1. A. The Spirit of Christ is given to his church and people everlastingly, to influence and dwell in them.

The Holy Spirit is the great purchase, or purchased gift, of Christ.  The chief and sum of all the good things in this life and in the life to come, that are purchased for the church, is the Holy Spirit.  And as he is the great purchase, so he is the great promise, or the great thing promised by God and Christ to the church; as said the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:32, 33) — “This Jesus… being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”  And this great purchase and promise of Christ is forever to be given to his church.  He has promised that his church shall continue, and expressly declared that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  And that it may be preserved, he has given his Holy Spirit to every true member of it, and promised the continuance of that Spirit forever.  His own language is (John 14:16, 17), “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

Man, in his first estate in Eden, had the Holy Spirit; but he lost it by his disobedience.  But a way has been provided by which it may be restored, and now it is given a second time, never more to depart from the saints.  The Spirit of God is so given to his own people as to become truly theirs.  It was, indeed, given to our first parents in their state of innocence, and dwelt with them, but not in the same sense in which it is given to, and dwells in, believers in Christ.  They had no proper right or sure title to the Spirit, and it was not finally and forever given to them, as it is to believers in Christ; for if it had been, they never would have lost it.  But the Spirit of Christ is not only communicated to those that are converted, but he is made over to them by a sure covenant, so that he is become their own.  Christ is become theirs, and therefore his fullness is theirs, and therefore his Spirit is theirs – their purchased, and promised, and sure possession.  But,

  1. B. There are other fruits of the Spirit besides that which summarily consists in charity, or divine love, wherein the Spirit of God is communicated to his church. For example,

1.  The Spirit of God has been communicated to his church in extraordinary gifts, such as the gift of miracles, the gift of inspiration, etc. — The Spirit of God seems to have been communicated to the church in such gifts, formerly to the prophets under the Old Testament, and to the apostles, and evangelists, and prophets, and to the generality of the early ministers of the gospel, and also to multitudes of common Christians, under the New Testament.  To them were given such gifts as the gift of prophecy, and the gift of tongues, and the gift called the gift of knowledge, and others mentioned in the context, and in the foregoing chapter.  And besides these,

2.  There are the common and ordinary gifts of the Spirit of God. — These, in all ages, have more or less been bestowed on many natural, unconverted men, in common convictions of sin, and common illuminations, and common religious affections, which, though they have nothing in them of the nature of divine love, or of true and saving grace, are yet the fruits of the Spirit, in the sense that they are the effect of his influences on the hearts of men.  And as to faith and hope, if there be nothing of divine love with them, there can be no more of the Spirit of God in them than is common to natural unregenerate men.  This is clearly implied by the apostle, when he says in this chapter, “Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”  All saving faith and hope have love in them as ingredients, and as their essence; and if this ingredient be taken out, there is nothing left but the body without the spirit.  It is nothing saving; but at best, only a common fruit of the Spirit.  But,

  1. C. All these other fruits of the Spirit are but for a season, and either have already ceased, or at some time will cease.

As to the miraculous gifts of prophecy and tongues, etc., they are but of a temporary use, and cannot be continued in heaven.  They were given only as an extraordinary means of grace that God was once pleased to grant to his church in the world.  But when the saints that once enjoyed the use of these means went to heaven, such means of grace ceased, for they were no longer needful.  There is no occasion for any means of grace in heaven, whether ordinary, such as the stated and common means of God’s house, or extraordinary, such as the gifts of tongues, and of knowledge, and of prophecy.  I say, there is no occasion for any of these means of grace to be continued in heaven, because there the end of all means of grace is already fully obtained in the perfect sanctification and happiness of God’s people.  The apostle, speaking in the fourth chapter of Ephesians, of the various means of grace, says that they are given “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man.”  But when this has come to pass, and the saints are perfected, and are already come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, then there will be no further occasion for any of these means, whether ordinary or extraordinary.  It is in this respect very much as it is with the fruits of the field, which stand in need of tillage, and rain, and sunshine, till they are ripe and gathered in, and then they need them no more.

And as these miraculous gifts of the Spirit were but temporary with regard to those particular persons that enjoyed them, so they are but for a season with regard to the church of God taken as a collective body.  These gifts are not fruits of the Spirit that were given to be continued to the church throughout all ages.

These communications of the Spirit were given to make way for him who hath the Spirit without measure, the great prophet of God, by whom the Spirit is communicated to all other prophets.  And in the days of his flesh, his disciples had a measure of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, being enabled thus to teach and to work miracles.  But after the resurrection and ascension, was the most full and remarkable effusion of the Spirit in his miraculous gifts that ever took place, beginning with the day of Pentecost, after Christ had risen and ascended to heaven.  And in consequence of this, not only here and there an extraordinary person was endowed with these extraordinary gifts, but they were common in the church, and so continued during the lifetime of the apostles, or till the death of the last of them, even the apostle John, which took place about a hundred years from the birth of Christ; so that the first hundred years of the Christian era, or the first century, was the era of miracles.

But soon after that, the canon of Scripture being completed when the apostle John had written the book of Revelation, which he wrote not long before his death, these miraculous gifts were no longer continued in the church.  For there was now completed an established written revelation of the mind and will of God, wherein God had fully recorded a standing and all-sufficient rule for his church in all ages.  And the Jewish church and nation being overthrown, and the Christian church and the last dispensation of the church of God being established, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were no longer needed, and therefore they ceased; for though they had been continued in the church for so many ages, yet then they failed, and God caused them to fail because there was no further occasion for them.  And so was fulfilled the saying of the text, “Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”  And now there seems to be an end to all such fruits of the Spirit as these, and we have no reason to expect them any more.  And as to those fruits of the Spirit that are common, such as the conviction, illumination, belief, etc., which are common both to the godly and ungodly, these are given in all ages of the church in the world; and yet with respect to the persons that have these common gifts, they will cease when they come to die; and with respect to the church of God considered collectively, they will cease, and there will be no more of them after the day of judgment.  I pass, then, to show, as proposed,

  1. D. That charity, or divine love, is that great fruit of the Spirit, that never fails, and in which his continued and everlasting influence and indwelling in his church shall appear and be manifest.

We have seen that the Spirit of Christ is forever given to the church of Christ, and given that it may dwell in his saints forever, in influences that shall never fail.  And therefore however many fruits of the Spirit may be but temporary, and have their limits where they fail, yet it must be that there is some way of the Spirit’s influence, and some fruit of that influence, which is unfailing and eternal.  And charity, or divine love, is that fruit, in communicating, and nourishing, and exercising which, his unfailing and eternal influences appear.  This is a fruit of the Spirit that never fails or ceases in the church of Christ, whether we consider it with respect to its particular members, or regard it as a collective body.  And,

1.  We may consider the church of Christ with respect to the particular members of which it consists. — And here it will appear that charity, or Christian love, is an unfailing fruit of the Spirit.  Every one of the true members of Christ’s invisible church is possessed of this fruit of the Spirit in the heart.  Divine or Christian love is implanted, and dwells, and reigns there, as an everlasting fruit of the Spirit, and one that never fails.  It never fails in this world, but remains through all trials and oppositions, for the apostle tells us (Rom. 8:38, 39) that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  And it ceases not when the saints come to die.  When the apostles and others of their day died and went to heaven, they left all their miraculous gifts behind them with their bodies.  But they did not leave the love that was in their hearts behind them, but carried that with them to heaven, where it was gloriously perfected.  Though when wicked men die, who have had the common influences of the Spirit, their gifts shall eternally cease, yet death never overthrows Christian love, that great fruit of the Spirit, in any that have it.  They that have it may and shall leave behind them many other fruits of the Spirit which they had in common with wicked men.  And though they shall leave all that was common in their faith, and hope, and all that did not pertain to this divine and holy love, yet this love they shall not leave behind, but it shall go with them to eternity, and shall be perfected there, and shall live and reign with perfect and glorious dominion in their souls forever and ever.  And so, again,

2.  We may consider the church of Christ collectively, or as a body. — And here, again, it will appear that charity, or Christian love, shall never fail.  Though other fruits of the Spirit fail in it, this shall never fail.  Of old, when there were interruptions of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit in the church, and when there were seasons in which no prophet or inspired person appeared that was possessed of such gifts, still there never was any total interruption of this excellent fruit or influence of the Spirit.  Miraculous gifts were intermitted through the long time extending from Malachi to near the birth of Christ; but in all this time, the influence of the Spirit, in keeping up divine love in the church, was never suspended.  As God always had a church of saints in the world, from the first creation of the church after the fall, so this influence and fruit of his Spirit never failed in it.  And when, after the completion of the canon of the Scriptures, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit seemed finally to have ceased and failed in the church, this influence of the Spirit in causing divine love in the hearts of his saints did not cease, but has been kept up through all ages from that time to this, and so will be to the end of the world.  And at the end of the world, when the church of Christ shall be settled in its last, and most complete, and its eternal state, and all common gifts, such as convictions and illuminations, and all miraculous gifts, shall be eternally at an end, yet then divine love shall not fail, but shall be brought to its most glorious perfection in every individual member of the ransomed church above.  Then, in every heart, that love which now seems as but a spark, shall be kindled to a bright and glowing flame, and every ransomed soul shall be as it were in a blaze of divine and holy love, and shall remain and grow in this glorious perfection and blessedness through all eternity!

I shall give but a single reason for the truth of the doctrine which has thus been presented.  And the great reason why it is so, that other fruits of the Spirit fail, and the great fruit of love remains, is, that love is the great end of all the other fruits and gifts of the Spirit. The principle and the exercises of divine love in the heart, and the fruits of it in the conduct, and the happiness that consists in and flows from it – these things are the great end of all the fruits of the Spirit that fail.  Charity or divine love is the end, to which all the inspiration, and all the miraculous gifts that ever were in the world, are but the means.  They were only means of grace, but charity or divine love is grace itself; and not only so, but the sum of all grace.  Revelation and miracles were never given for any other end but only to promote holiness, and build up the kingdom of Christ in men’s hearts; but Christian love is the sum of all holiness, and its growth is but the growth of Christ’s kingdom in the soul.  The extraordinary fruits of the Spirit were given for revealing and confirming the word and will of God, that men by believing might be conformed to that will: and they were valuable and good only so far as they tended to this end.  And hence when that end was obtained, and when the canon of the Scriptures, the great and powerful means of grace, was completed, and the ordinances of the New Testament and of the last dispensation were fully established, the extraordinary gifts ceased, and came to an end, as being no further useful.  Miraculous gifts being a means to a further end, they are good no further than as they tend to that end.  But divine love is that end itself, and therefore remains when the means to it cease. The end is not only a good, but the highest kind of good in itself, and therefore remains forever.  So it is with respect to the common gifts of the Spirit that are given in all ages, such as illumination, conviction, etc.  They have no good in themselves, and are no further good than as they tend to promote that grace and holiness which radically and summarily consist in divine love; and therefore when this end is once fully answered, there shall be an end forever of these common gifts, while divine love, which is the end of them all, shall eternally remain.

From Charity and Its Fruits, Lecture XV, “The Holy Spirit Forever To Be Communicated To The Saints, In The Grace Of Charity, Or Divine Love.”

Posted in Jonathan Edwards |

Praying in the Spirit by William Gurnall

January 8, 2010 by ADMIN

Question: What is it to pray in the Spirit?

Answer: Interpreters generally comprehend in this phrase both [as] the spirit of the person praying, and the Spirit of God, by which our spirits are fitted for and acted in prayer. [It] is a prayer in the spirit, which, by the help of the Holy Spirit, is performed with our soul and spirit.  These two indeed go ever together.  We cannot act [with] our spirit without the Holy Spirit.   Alas—this is like a lump of clay in our bosoms till he quickens it; and we cannot but pray with our heart and spirit when the Holy Spirit moves upon it.  The Spirit’s breath is vital.  The Holy Ghost doth not breathe in us as one through a trunk or trumpet, which is a mere passive instrument; but stirs up our hearts, and actuates our affections in the duty.

Prayer is called “a pouring out of the soul to God.”  The soul is the well from which the water of prayer is poured; but the Spirit is the spring that feeds this well, and the hand that helps to pour it forth.  The well would have no water without the spring, neither could it deliver itself of it without one to draw it.  Thus the Spirit of God must fill the heart with praying affections, and enable them also to pour themselves forth.  From the words thus sensed, we shall a while dwell upon these two pro­positions.  First, He who will pray acceptably must pray in his heart and spirit. Second, He that would pray in his own spirit, must pray in the Spirit of God.

Praying in the Spirit is opposed to lip-labor – “they draw near to me with their lips, but their heart is removed far from me;” like an adulteress, whose heart and spirit is as far from her husband.  It is no prayer in which the heart of the person bears no part.   “My spirit prayeth,” says the apostle, I Cor. 14:14-15, “I will pray with the spirit,” and “sing with the spirit.”  The melodious sound which comes from a musical instrument, such as viol or lute, is formed within the belly of the instrument, and the deeper the belly of the instrument the sweeter is its music; the same strings on a flat board, touched by the same hand, would make no music.  The melodiousness of prayer comes from within the man.  “We are the circum­cision which worship God in the spirit,” and the deeper the groans are that come from thence, still the sweeter the melody.  There may be outward worship and in­ward atheism.

Now in handling of this, I must first show what it is to pray in our spirit, and then, why we are to pray thus.  We pray in our spirit when these three are found in the duty: (1) when we pray with knowledge; (2) when we pray in fervency; and (3) when we pray in sincerity.  These three exercise the three powers of the soul and the spirit.  By knowledge, the understanding is set to work; by fervency, the affections; and by sincerity, the will.  All of these are required in conjunction to “praying in the spirit.”  There may be knowledge without fervency, and this, like the light of the moon, is cold and quickens not.  There may be heat without knowledge, and this is like mettle in a blind horse.  There may be knowledge and fervency, and this is like a chariot with swift horses and a skillful driver in the box, who, being without knowledge, carries it the wrong direction.  Neither of these, nor both of these together, avails, because sincerity is lacking to make them stand to the right point, which is the glory of God.  He will have little thanks for his zeal who is fervent in spirit, but serving himself with it, and not the Lord.

First—To pray acceptably, or in the spirit, it is required that we pray with knowledge and understanding.

A blind sacrifice was rejected in the law (Mal. 1:8), much more are blind devotions under the gospel.  [Praying with understanding is essential because] …

1.   The saint’s eye is enlightened to see the majesty and glorious holiness of God, and then it reveres him, and mourns before him in the sense of his own vileness: “Now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself; and re­pent in dust and ashes,” Job 42:6.

2.   Again, by an eye of faith, he be­holds the goodness and love of God to poor sinners in Christ, and in particular to him, and this eye affects his heart to love and rely on him, which it is impossible for the ignorant soul to do.

Question. But you will say, why is it necessary for the praying soul to know?

Answer. There is required a knowledge that he to whom he directs his prayer is the true God.  Religious worship is an incommunicable flower in the crown of the deity, and that both inward and outward.  We are religi­ously to worship him only, who, by reason of his infinite perfections, de­serves our supreme love, honor, and trust He must have the crown that owes the kingdom.  “The kingdom and power” are God’s.  Therefore ‘the glory’ of religious worship belongs to him alone.

Answer Second. There is required a knowledge of this true God, what his nature is.  “He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him,” Hebrews 11:6.  The want of understanding his omniscience and infinite mercy is the cause of vain babbling, and a conceit to prevail by long prayers.

Answer Third.  We must understand the matter of our prayers, what we are asking for.  Without this, we cannot in faith say amen to our own prayers.

Second—To pray in the spirit, we must have fervency.

We pray in the spirit when we pray in fervency.  The soul keeps the body warm while it is in it.  When there is much of our soul and spirit in a duty, there is much heat and fervency.  If the prayer be cold, we may certainly conclude the heart is idle and bears no part in the duty.  In petition, we have fervency when the heart is drawn out with vehement desires of the grace it prays for, not so lazy wouldlings or wishings, but passionate breathings and breakings of the heart.

Question. But why must we pray thus in the spirit fervently?

Answer First.  We must pray in the spirit fervently from the command.  “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart,” Deut. 6:5-6.  The external part of the duty is but the cup.  Thy love, faith, and joy are the wine he desires to taste of.  Without these, you give him but an empty cup to drink in.

Answer Second.  We must pray in the spirit to comport with the name of God.  The common description of prayer is calling on the name of God.  Now, in prayer, when we call upon the name of God, it must be with a heart of worship suitable to his name.

Answer Third.  We must pray in the spirit because the promise is only to fervent prayer.  Fervency is to prayer what fire was to the spices in the censer—without this, the smoke cannot ascend as incense before God.  There is a qualification to the act of prayer as necessary to the person praying:  “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  Feeble desires, like weak pangs, go over and bring not a mercy to the birth.  As the full time grows nearer, so the spirit of prayer grows stronger.  “Shall he not avenge his own elect that cry day and night unto him?  I tell you, he shall avenge them speedily,” Luke 18:7.

Question. How may we get this fervency of spirit in prayer?

Answer First. You must be certain that you are a believer.  There must be life in the soul before there can be life in the prayer.  All the rugs in the upholsterer’s shop will not bring a dead man to warmth; nor will any arguments, though taken from the most moving topics in the Scripture, make you pray fervently while your soul lies in a dead state.  Go first to Christ that you may have life, and having life, there is some hope to chafe you into some heat.

Answer Second.  If you are a believer, it calls for your utmost care to get and keep your soul in a kindly heat.  The saints have the spark of heavenly fire in their bosom, but this needs the bellows of their care and diligence to keep it hot.  Therefore, it is necessary that you be much acquainted with your own state so as to know what is the great clog in this duty.

Look narrowly at where your cooling comes.  Perhaps you heart is too much let out in the world and, at night, your spirits are spent when you should come before the Lord.  Wood that has the sap in it will not easily burn; neither will your heart readily take fire in holy duties when it comes so sopped in the world to them.  Drain your heart, therefore, your heart of these eager affections, if you mean to have them warm and lovely in prayer.  Now there is no better way for this than to set your soul under the frequent meditation of Christ’s love to you, your relation to him, with the great and glorious things you expect from him in another world.

Do you desire to pray fervently for others?  First, pierce your heart through with their sorrows, and, by a spirit of sympathy, bring yourself to feel their miseries as if you were in their case.  Then will your heart be warm in prayer for them when it flows from a heart melted in compassion to them.

Third—To pray in the spirit, we must have sincerity.

We pray in the spirit when we pray in sincerity.  There may be much fervor where there is little or not sincerity.  Now the sincerity of heart in prayer appears when a person is real in his prayers, and that from pure principles to pure ends.  First, a person is sincere when his prayers are real according to his real desires.  Second, a person is sincere when he prays from a pure principle to a pure end.  Now he that would pray acceptably must pray thus in his spirit, that is, with the sincerity of his spirit.  “The prayer of the upright is his delight.”  “The fervent prayer … avails much.”  It can do much, but it must be of a righteous man, and such the sincere man only is.  And no wonder that God stands so much upon the sincerity in prayer, seeing the lip of truth is so prized even among men.

Let us put upon the trial whether we thus pray in the spirit—whether you can find sincerity stamped upon your fervency.  If the prayer be not fervent, it cannot be sincere, but it may have fervor without this.

How may we get this sincerity in prayer?

(1)     Get your heart united by faith to Christ.  It is faith that purifies the heart from its false principles and ends in duty.

(2)     Make hypocrisy in prayer appear as odious to thee as possibly you can.  Consider how grievous a sin and how great a folly it is.  A lie spoken by one man to another is a sin capable of high aggravations; what then is that lie which is uttered in prayer to God?  Consider also what a folly it is.  Who but a fool can think to blind the eyes of the Almighty?

(3)     Crucify your affections to the world.  Hypocrisy in religion springs from the bitter root of some carnal affection unmortified.   So long as your prey lies below, your eye will be to the earth, even when you seem like an eagle to mount in your prayers to heaven.  “I am God Almighty, walk before me and be thou perfect,” said God to Abraham, Genesis 17:1.

To pray in the Spirit is to pray in or with the Spirit of God (Jude 20).

Prayer is the creature’s act, but the Spirit’s gift.  There is a concurrence both of the Spirit of God and the soul or spirit of the Christian to the performance of it.  Hence we find both the Holy Spirit is said to pray in us (Romans 8:26), and we said to pray in him (Jude 20).  By the first is meant his inspiration, whereby he excites and assists the creature to and in the work; by the latter, the concurrence of the saint’s faculties.

First, to pray rightly, it is necessary that we pray in the spirit. This is clear from Ephesians 2:18: “Through him, we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father.”  Mark those words, ‘by one Spirit.’  As there is but one Mediator to appear and pray for us in heaven, so but one Spirit that can pray in us, and we by him, on earth.  We may as well venture to come to the Father through another Mediator that his Son, as pray by another Spirit than by the Holy Ghost.  To plead Christ’s merits in prayer, and not by the Spirit, is to bring right incense but strange fire, and so our prayers are but smoke, offensive to his pure eyes, and not incense, a sweet savor to his nostrils.

Second, what is praying by the Spirit? It is to receive the assistance of the Spirit in our praying (Romans 8:26).

(1)     The Spirit puts forth to stir up the affections.  Never was any formal prayer of the Holy Spirit’s making.  When the Spirit comes, it is a time of life.  The apostle tells us the groans and sighs which the Spirit helps the saint to are such as “cannot be uttered,” Romans 8:26; no, not by the saint himself, who, being unable to translate the inward grief he conceives into words, is fain sometimes to send it with this inarticu­late voice to heaven, yet it is a voice that is well understood there and more musical in God’s ear than the most ravishing music can be to ours.  In a word, he stirs up affections suitable to every part of prayer, enabling the gra­cious soul to confess sin with an aching heart, as if he felt so many swords rak­ing in it; to supplicate mercy and grace, as with inward feeling of his wants, so with vehement desires to have them satisfied; and to praise God with a heart enlarged and carried on high upon the wings of love and joy.  Parts may art it in the phrase and composure of the words—as a statuary may carve a goodly image, with all the outward lineaments and beautiful proportions in every part—but still it is but the coun­terfeit and, image of a true prayer, for want of that something within, which should give life and energy to it.  This the Spirit of God alone can effect.

(2)     As the Spirit of God does excite the Christian’s affections in prayer, so he regulates and directs them. Who indeed but the Spirit of God can guide and rein these fiery steeds?  He is said in this respect to “help our infirmities, for we know not what to pray for as we ought,” Romans 8:26.  We, alas, are prone to over-bend the bow in some petitions, and want strength to bend it enough in some other.  One while we overshoot the butt, praying absolutely for that which we should ask conditionally; another time we shoot beside the mark, either by praying for what God hath not promised, or too selfishly that which is promised.  Now the Spirit helps the Christian’s infirmity in this respect, for he “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God,” Rom. 8:27, that is, he so holds the reins of their affec­tions and directs them, that they keep their right way and due order, not fly­ing out into unwarrantable heats and inordinate desires.  He, by his secret whispers, instructs them when to let out their affections full speed, and when to take them up again.  He teaches them the law of prayer, that striving lawfully they may not lose the prize.  Just as the Spirit was in the ‘living creatures’ to direct their motion, of whom it is said, “They went every one straightfor­ward: whither the Spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went,” Ezekiel 1:12; so the Spirit, acting his saints in prayer, keeps them that they lash out neither on this hand nor on that, but go straightforward, and draw their requests by his rule.

(3)     He fills the Christian with a holy confidence and humble boldness in prayer. Sin makes the face of God dreadful to the sinner.  Guilty Adam shuns his presence, and tells the reason, “I heard thy voice, and was afraid.”  If the patriarchs were terrified at his presence; how much more con­founded must the sinner be to draw near to the great God, when he remem­bers the horrid sins he hath perpetrated against him?  Now the Spirit eases the Christian’s heart of this fear, assur­ing him that God’s heart meditates no revenge upon him, but freely forgives what wrong he has done him.  Even more, he takes him for his dear child; and, that the Christian may not stand in doubt thereof, he seals it with a kiss of love upon his heart, leav­ing there the impression of God’s fatherly love fairly stamped, whereby the Chris­tian comes to have amiable thoughts of God, is able to call God Father, and ex­pect the kind welcome of a child at his hands.  This is the Spirit of adoption of which the apostle speaks (Romans 8:15) that casts away all servile fear and dread of God from the soul: “Ye have not re­ceived again the spirit of bondage to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”  And, (Galatians 4:6)“because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

Exhortation to Those Who Want the Spirit of Prayer

  1. O labor to get this heavenly guest to come and dwell in your hearts.  Prayer, you see, is not a work of nature, but a gift of grace; not a matter of will and parts got by human skill and art, but taught and inspired by the Holy Ghost.  How may one obtain the Spirit?  First, be deeply sensible of your deplorable state while without the Spirit.  The Spirit is often in Scripture compared to water, rain, and dew.  Now as the earth is barren and can bring forth no fruit without these, so is the heart of man without the Spirit of God.  Second, plant yourself under the word preached.  This is the vehiculum Spiritus—the Spirit’s chariot in which he rides.  They that cast off hearing the word to meet with the Spirit do as if a man should turn his back off the aim that it may shine on his face.  The poor do not stay at home for the rich to bring their alms to their house, but go to their door and there wait for relief.  It becomes thee, poor creature, to wait at the posts of wisdom, and not expect that the Spirit should come after thee apart from the Word.
  2. I beseech you not to grieve or quench the Holy Spirit in your bosoms. Now three ways the Spirit of God may be distasted by a saint, so as to cause him to deny his wonted assistance in prayer.

First, by some sin secretly harbored in the heart.  “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,” Psalm 66:18.  Now when God refuses to hear, we may be sure the Spirit refuses to assist, for God never rejects a prayer that his Spirit incites and his Son pre­sents.  Sin is so offensive to the Holy Spirit, that wherever it is bid welcome he will show his distaste.  If you would have this pure dove stay with you, be sure you keep his lodging clean.  Hast thou deified thyself with any known sin, think not to have him help thee in prayer till he has helped thee to repent of it.  He will carry thee to the layer before he will go with thee to the altar.  The musician wipes his instrument that hath fallen into the dirt before he will set it to his mouth.  If thou wouldst have the Spirit of God breathe in thy soul at prayer, present it not to him besmeared with any sin unrepented of.

Second, by frequently resisting or putting off his motions.  As the Spirit helps in prayer, so he stirs up to prayer; he is the saint’s remembrancer and monitor.  Thy God waits for thy company, and expects thy attendance; now is a fit time for thy withdrawing thyself to hold communion with him, and pay thy homage to him. Now, when the Christian shall shift off these motions and not take the hint he gives, but from time to time neglect his coun­sel, and discontinue his acquaintance with God, notwithstanding these his mementos, he is exceedingly distasted, and, taking himself to be slighted, he gives over calling upon him, and leaves the soul for a time, till his absence, and the sad consequences of it, bring him to see his folly, and prepare him to enter­tain his motions more kindly for the future.  Thus Christ leaves the spouse in her bed, when she would not rise at his knock, and makes her trot after him many a weary step before he will be seen of her.

Third, by priding ourselves in and with the assistances he gives. Pride is a sin that God resists wherever he meets it; for indeed it is a sin that justles with God himself for the wall.  It is time for the Spirit to be gone when his house is let over his head.  He takes it as a giv­ing him warning to be gone, when the soul lifts up itself into his seat; if he may not have the honor of the work, he will have no hand in it.  Now the proud man makes the Spirit an underling to himself, he uses his gifts to set up him­self with them.  Instead of blessing God for assisting, he applauds himself and hath a high opinion of his own abilities, pleasing himself with what ex­pressions and enlargements of affection he had in the duty.  “I live,” says Paul, “yet not I” (Galatians 2:20).  “I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me,” (1 Cor. 15:10).  Thus should you, Christian, say, “I prayed, yet not I; I labored and wrestled, yet not I, but the Spirit of God that was with me.”

Fourth, when we go to duty in confidence of the gifts and grace we have already received, and do not acknowledge our dependence on the Spirit, by casting ourselves after all our preparations upon him for present assistance.  You know how Samson was served when he thought to go out as he used to do.  Alas, poor man, the case was altered, he was weak as water; the Spirit was gone and had carried away his strength with him.  God will have thee, O Christian, know the key to thy heart hangs at his girdle, and not thy own, that you should be able to open and enlarge it at your plea­sure.  Acknowledge God, and his Spirit shall help you; but “lean to you own understanding,” and you are sure to catch a fall.  When pride is in the saddle, shame is in the crupper; if pride be at the beginning of the duty, shame will be the end of it.

From, The Christian in Complete Armor.

Posted in William Gurnall | 1 Comment »

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