Owen, Of Communion With God, File 23
(... continued from File 22)
Chapter 5. Some observations and inferences from discourses
foregoing concerning the Spirit - The contempt
of the whole administration of the Spirit by
some - The vain pretence of the Spirit by others
- The false spirit discovered.
This process being made, I should now show immediately,
how we hold the communion proposed with the Holy Ghost, in the
things laid down and manifested to contain his peculiar work
towards us; but there are some miscarriages in the world in
reference unto this dispensation of the Holy Ghost, both on
the one hand and the other, in contempt of his true work and
pretence of that which is not, that I cannot but remark in my
passage: which to do shall be the business of this chapter.
Take a view, then, of the state and condition of them who,
professing to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, do yet
condemn and despise his Spirit, as to all its operations,
gifts, graces, and dispensations to his churches and saints.
Whilst Christ was in the world with his disciples, he made
them no greater promise, neither in respect of their own good
nor of carrying on the work which he had committed to them,
than this of giving them the Holy Ghost. Him he instructeth
them to pray for of the Father, as that which is needful for
them, as bread for children, Luke 11: 13. Him he promiseth
them, as a well of water springing up in them, for their
refreshment, strengthening, and consolation unto everlasting
life, John 7: 37-39; as also to carry on and accomplish the
whole work of the ministry to them committed, John 16: 8-11;
with all those eminent works and privileges before mentioned.
And upon his ascension, this is laid as the bottom of that
glorious communication of gifts and graces in his plentiful
effusion mentioned, Eph. 4: 8, 11, 12, - namely, that he had
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, Act 2:
33; and that in such an eminent manner as thereby to make the
greatest and most glorious difference between the
administration of the new covenant and old. Especially does
the whole work of the ministry relate to the Holy Ghost;
though that be not my present business to evince. He calls men
to that work, and they are separated unto him, Acts 13:2; he
furnisheth them with gifts and abilities for that employment,
1 Cor. 12: 7-10. So that the whole religion we profess,
without this administration of the Spirit, is nothing; nor is
there any fruit without it of the resurrection of Christ from
the dead.
This being the state of things, - that in our worship of
and obedience to God, in our own consolation, sanctification,
and ministerial employment, the Spirit is the principle, the
life, soul, the all of the whole; yet so desperate has been
the malice of Satan, and wickedness of men, that their great
endeavour has been to shut him quite out of all gospel
administrations.
First, his gifts and graces were not only decried, but
almost excluded from the public worship of the church, by the
imposition of an operose form of service, to be read by the
minister; which to do is neither a peculiar gift of the Holy
Ghost to any, nor of the ministry at all. It is marvellous to
consider what pleas and pretences were invented and used by
learned men, - from its antiquity, its composure and
approbation by martyrs, the beauty of uniformity in the
worship of God, established and pressed thereby, etc., - for
the defence and maintenance of it. But the main argument they
insisted on, and the chief field wherein they expatiated and
laid out all their eloquence, was the vain babbling
repetitions and folly of men praying by the Spirit. When once
this was fallen upon, all (at least as they supposed) was
carried away before them, and their adversaries rendered
sufficiently ridiculous: so great is the cunning of Satan, and
so unsearchable are the follies of the hearts of men. The sum
of all these seasonings amounts to no more but this, - "Though
the Lord Jesus Christ has promised the Holy Ghost to be with
his church to the end of the world, to fit and furnish men
with gifts and abilities for the carrying on of that worship
which he requires and accepteth at our hands, yet the work is
not done to the purpose; the gifts he bestows are not
sufficient to that end, neither as to invocation nor doctrine:
and, therefore, we will not only help men by our directions,
but exclude them from their exercise." This; I say, was the
sum of all, as I could undeniably evidence, were that my
present business, what innumerable evils ensue on this
principle, in a formal setting apart of men to the ministry
who had never once "tasted of the powers of the world to
come," nor received any gifts from the Holy Ghost to that
purpose; of crying up and growing in an outside pompous
worship, wholly foreign to the power and simplicity of the
gospel; of silencing, destroying, banishing, men whose
ministry was accompanied with the evidence and demonstration
of the Spirit, - I shall not need to declare. This is that I
aim at, to point out the public contempt of the Holy Ghost,
his gifts and graces, with their administration in the church
of God, that has been found even where the gospel has been
professed.
Again: it is a thing of most sad consideration, once to
call to mind the improvement of that principle of contempt of
the Spirit in private men and their ways. The name of the
Spirit was grown a term of reproach. To plead for, or pretend
to pray by, the Spirit, was enough to render a man the object
of scorn and reproach from all sorts of men, from the pulpit
to the stage. "What! you are full of the Spirit; you will pray
by the Spirit; you have the gift: let us hear your nonsense;"
- and yet, perhaps, these men would think themselves wronged
not to be accounted Christians. Christians! yea, have not some
pretending themselves to be leaders of the flock, - yea,
mounted a storey or two above their brethren, and claiming a
rule and government over them, - made it their business to
scoff at and reproach the gifts of the Spirit of God? And if
this were the frame of their spirit, what might be expected
from others of professed profaneness? It is not imaginable to
what height of blasphemy the process in this kind amounted.
The Lord grant there be nothing of this cursed leaven still
remaining amongst us! Some bleatings of ill importance are
sometimes heard. Is this the fellowship of the Holy Ghost that
believers are called unto? Is this the due entertainment of
him whom our Saviour promised to send for the supply of his
bodily absence, so as we might be no losers thereby? Is it not
enough that men should be contented with such a stupid
blindness, as, being called Christians, to look no farther for
their comfort and consolation than moral considerations common
to heathens would lead them, when one infinitely holy and
blessed person of the Trinity has taken this office upon him
to be our comforter, but they must oppose and despise him
also? Nothing more discovers how few there are in the world
that have interest in that blessed name whereby we are all
called. But this is no place to pursue this discourse. The aim
of this discourse is, to evince the folly and madness of men
in general, who profess to own the gospel of Christ, and yet
condemn and despise his Spirit, in whomsoever he is
manifested. Let us be zealous of the gifts of the Spirit, not
envious at them.
From what has been discoursed we may also try the spirits
that are gone abroad in the world, and which have been
exercising themselves, at several seasons, ever since the
ascension of Christ. The iniquity of the generation that is
past and passing away lay in open, cursed opposition to the
Holy Ghost. God has been above them, wherein they behaved
themselves presumptuously. Satan, whose design, as he is god
of this world, is to be uppermost, not to dwell wholly in any
form cast down by the providence of God, has now transformed
himself into an angel of light; and he will pretend the Spirit
also and only. But there are "seducing spirits," 1 Tim. 4: l;
and we have a "command not to believe every spirit, but try
the spirits," 1 John 4: 1; and the reason added is, "Because
many false prophets are gone out into the world;" - that is,
men pretending to the revelation of new doctrines by the
Spirit; whose deceits in the first church Paul intimateth, 2
Thess. 2:2; calling on men not to be "shaken in mind by
spirit." The truth is, the spirits of these days are so gross,
that a man of a very easy discerning may find them out and yet
their delusion so strong, that not a few are deceived. This is
one thing that lies evident to every eye, - that, according to
his wonted course, Satan, with his delusions, is run into an
extreme to his former acting.
Not long since, his great design, as I manifested, was to
cry up ordinances without the Spirit, casting all the reproach
that he could upon him; - now, to cry up a spirit without and
against ordinances, casting all reproach and contempt possible
upon them. Then, he would have a ministry without the Spirit;
- now, a Spirit without a ministry. Then, the reading of the
word might suffice, without either preaching or praying by the
Spirit, - now, the Spirit is enough, without reading or
studying the word at all. Then, he allowed a literal embracing
of what Christ had done in the flesh; - now, he talks of
Christ in the Spirit only, and denies him to be come in the
flesh, - the proper character of the false spirit we are
warned of, 1 John 4:1. Now, because it is most certain that
the Spirit which we are to hear and embrace is the Spirit
promised by Christ (which is so clear, that him the
Montanists' paraclete, yea, and Mohammed, pretended himself to
be, and those of our days affirm, who pretend the same), let
us briefly try them by some of the effects mentioned, which
Christ has promised to give the Holy Ghost for: -
The first general effect, as was observed, was this, -
that he should bring to remembrance the things that Christ
spake, for our guidance and consolation. This was to he the
work of the Holy Ghost towards the apostles, who were to be
the penmen of the Scriptures: this is to be his work towards
believers to the end of the world. Now, the things that Christ
has spoken and done are "written that we might believe, and
believing, halve life through his name," John 20: 31; they are
written in the Scripture. This, then, is the work of the
Spirit which Christ has promised; - he shall bring to our
remembrance, and give us understanding of the words of Christ
in the Scripture, for our guidance and consolation. Is this,
now, the work of the spirit which is abroad in the world, and
perverteth many? Nothing less. His business is, to decry the
things that Christ has spoken which are written in the word;
to pretend new revelations of his own; to lead men from the
written word, wherein the whole work of God and all the
promises of Christ are recorded.
Again: the work of the Spirit promised by Christ is to
glorify him: "He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of
mine, and shall show it unto you," John 16: 14. Him who was to
suffer at Jerusalem, who then spake to his disciples, it was
to make him glorious, honourable, and of high esteem in the
hearts of believers; and that by showing his things (his love,
kindness, grace, and purchase) unto them. This is the work of
the Spirit. The work of the spirit that is gone abroad, is to
glorify itself, to decry and render contemptible Christ that
suffered for us, under the name of a Christ without us; which
it slights and despiseth, and that professedly. Its own glory,
its own honour, is all that it aims at; wholly inverting the
order of the divine dispensations. The fountain of all being
and lying in the Father's love, the Son came to glorify the
Father. He still says, "I seek not mine own glory, but the
glory of him that sent me." The Son having carried on the work
of redemption, was now to be glorified with the Father. So he
prays that it might be, John 17: 1, "The hour is come, glorify
thy Son;" and that with the glory which he had before the
world was, when his joint counsel was in the carrying on the
Father's love. Wherefore the Holy Ghost is sent, and his work
is to glorify the Son. But now, as I said, we have a spirit
come forth whose whole business is to glorify himself; whereby
we may easily know whence he is.
Furthermore: the Holy Ghost sheds abroad the love of God
in our hearts, as was declared, and thence fills them with
joy, peace, and hope; quieting and refreshing the hearts of
them in whom he dwells; giving them liberty and rest,
confidence, and the boldness of children. This spirit whereof
men now boast is a spirit of bondage, whose utmost work is to
make men quake and tremble; casting them into an un-son-like
frame of spirit, driving them up and down with horror and
bondage, and drinking up their very natural spirits, and
making their whole man wither away. There is scarce any one
thing that more evidently manifesteth the spirit whereby some
are now acted not to be the Comforter promised by Christ, than
this, - that he is a spirit of bondage and slavery in them in
whom he is, and a spirit of cruelty and reproach towards
others; in a direct opposition to the Holy Ghost in believers,
and all the ends and purposes for which, as a spirit of
adoption and consolation, he is bestowed on them.
To give one instance more: the Holy Ghost bestowed on
believers is a Spirit of prayer and supplication; as was
manifested. The spirit wherewith we have to do, pretends the
carrying men above such low and contemptible means of
communion with God. In a word, it were a very easy and facile
task, to pass through all of the eminent effects of the Holy
Ghost in and towards believers, and to manifest that the
pretending spirit of our days comes in a direct opposition and
contradiction to every one of them. Thus has Satan passed from
one extreme to another, - from a bitter, wretched opposition
to the Spirit of Christ, unto a cursed pretending to the
Spirit; still to the same end and purpose.
I might give sundry other instances of the contempt or
abuse of the dispensation of the Spirit. Those mentioned are
the extremes whereunto all other are or may be reduced; and I
will not farther divert from that which lies directly in my
aim.
Owen, Of Communion With God
(continued in File 24...)
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