that saw it were amazed, and falling on their faces, cried out, "The LORD he is the God!" 1 Kings xviii. 38, 39. When men are no way in expectation of such a gift, or when they have an expectation in general, but are suddenly surprised as to the particular season, it is thus declared. But wherever this word is used, some extraordinary effects evidencing his presence and power do immediately ensue, Acts x. 44-46; and so it was at the beginning of his effusion under the New Testament, chap. ii. 4, viii. 16.

Fourthly, Being come, he is said to rest on the persons to whom he is given and sent: Isa. xi. 2, "And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him." This is interpreted by "abiding" and "remaining," John i. 32, 33. Num. xi. 25, 26, "The Spirit of the LORD rested upon the elders." So the "spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha," 2 Kings ii. 15. 1 Pet. iv. 14, “The Spirit of glory and of God resteth on you." Two things are included herein:-1. Complacency; 2. Permanency. First, He is well pleased in his work wherein he rests. So where God is said to "rest in his love," he doth it with "joy" and "singing," Zeph. iii. 17. So doth the Spirit rejoice where he rests. Secondly, He abides where he rests. Under this notion is this acting of the Spirit promised by our Saviour: "He shall abide with you for ever," John xiv. 16. He came only on some men by a sudden surprisal, to act in them and by them some peculiar work and duty; to this end he only transiently affected their minds with his power;-but where he is said to rest, as in the works of sanctification and consolation, there he abides and continues with complacency and delight.

Fifthly, He is said to depart from some persons. So it is said of Saul, 1 Sam. xvi. 14, "The Spirit of the LORD departed from him." And David prays that God would not "take his Holy Spirit from him," Ps. li. 11. And this is to be understood answerably unto what we have discoursed before about his coming and his being sent. As he is said to come, so is he said to depart; and as he is said to be sent, so is he said to be taken away. His departure from men, therefore, is his ceasing to work in them and on them as formerly; and as far as this is penal, he is said to be taken away. So he departed and was taken away from Saul, when he no more helped him with that ability for kingly government which before he had by his assistance. And this departure of the Holy Ghost from any is either total or partial only. Some on whom he hath been bestowed, for the working of sundry gifts for the good of others, with manifold convictions, by light and general assistance unto the performance of duties, he utterly deserts, and gives them up unto themselves and their own hearts' lusts. Examples hereof are common in the world. Men who have been made partakers of many "gifts of the Holy Ghost," and been in an especial manner enlightened, and, under the power of their

convictions, carried out unto the profession of the gospel and the performance of many duties of religion, yet, being entangled by temptations, and overcome by the power of their lusts, relinquish all their beginnings and engagements, and turn wholly unto sin and folly. From such persons the Holy Ghost utterly departs, all their gifts dry up and wither, their light goeth out, and they have darkness instead of a vision. The case of such is deplorable; for "it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them," 2 Pet. ii. 21. And some of these add despite and contempt of that whole work of the Spirit of God, whereof themselves were made partakers, unto their apostasy. And the condition of such profligate sinners is, for the most part, irrecoverable, Heb. vi. 4–6, x. 26-30. From some he withdraweth and departeth partially only, and that mostly but for a season; and this departure respects the grace, light, and consolation which he administers unto believers, as to the degrees of them, and the sense of them in their own souls. On whom he is bestowed to work these things in a saving way, from them he never utterly or totally departs. This our blessed Saviour plainly promiseth and asserteth: John iv. 14, " Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." That this well of "living water" is his sanctifying Spirit himself declares, chap. vii. 37-39. He who hath received him shall never have a thirst of total want and indigence any more. Besides, he is given unto this end by virtue of the covenant of grace; and the promise is express therein that he shall "never depart from them" to whom he is given, Isa. lix. 21; Jer. xxxi. 33, xxxii. 39, 40; Ezek. xi. 19, 20. But now, as to the degrees and sensible effects of these operations, he may depart and withdraw from believers for a season. Hence they may be left unto many spiritual decays and much weakness, the things of grace that remain in them being as it were "ready to die," Rev. iii. 2; and they may apprehend themselves deserted and forsaken of God,-so did Zion, Isa. xl. 27, xlix. 14: for therein doth God "hide himself," or "forsake his people for a small moment," chap. liv. 7, 8. He "hideth himself, and is wroth," chap. lvii. 17. These are the things which David so often and so bitterly complaineth of, and which with so much earnestness he contendeth and wrestleth with God to be delivered from. These are those spiritual desertions which some of late have laden with reproach, contempt, and scorn. All the apprehensions and complaints of the people of God about them, they would represent as nothing but the idle imaginations of distempered brains, or the effects of some disorder in their blood and animal spirits. I could, indeed, easily

allow that men should despise and laugh at what is declared as the experience of professors at present, their prejudice against their persons will not allow them to entertain any thoughts of them but what are suited unto folly and hypocrisy;-but at this I acknowledge I stand amazed, that whereas these things are so plainly, so fully, and frequently declared in the Scriptures, both as to the actings of God and his Holy Spirit in them, and as to the sense of those concerned about them; whereas the whole of God's dealings, and believers' application of themselves to him in this matter, are so graphically exemplified in sundry of the holy saints of old, as Job, David, Heman, and others; and great and plentiful provision is made in the Scripture for the direction, recovery, healing, and consolation of souls in such a condition; yet men professing themselves to be Christians, and to believe the word of God at least not to be a fable, should dare to cast such opprobrious reproaches on the ways and works of God. The end of these attempts can be no other but to decry all real intercourse between God and the souls of men, leaving only an outside form or shape of religion, not one jot better than atheism.

Neither is it only what concerns spiritual desertions, whose nature, causes, and remedies, are professedly and at large handled by all the casuistical divines, even of the Roman church, but the whole work of the Spirit of God upon the hearts of men, with all the effects produced in them with respect unto sin and grace, that some men, by their odious and scurrilous expressions, endeavour to expose to contempt and scorn, S. P., pp. 339-342. Whatever trouble befalls the minds of men upon the account of a sense of the guilt of sin; whatever darkness and disconsolation they may undergo through the displeasure of God, and his withdrawing of the wonted influences of his grace, love, and favour towards them; whatever peace, comfort, or joy, they may be made partakers of, by a sense of the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost,-it is all ascribed, in most opprobrious language, unto melancholy reeks and vapours, whereof a certain and mechanical account may be given by them who understand the anatomy of the brain. To such a height of profane atheism is the daring pride and ignorance of some in our days arrived!

There remaineth yet one general adjunct of the dispensation and work of the Holy Ghost, which gives a farther description of the manner of it, which I have left unto a single consideration. This is that which is mentioned, Heb. ii. 4, “God bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles," za¡ Пvsúμaros'Ayíou

1 These initials refer to Samuel Parker, in whose "Defence and Continuation of the Ecclesiastical Polity," 1671, the sentiments to which Owen objects will be found. For an account of Parker, see vol. xiii., p. 344 of Owen's works.-ED.

promois, "and gifts," say we, " of the Holy Ghost." But μeproμoí are "distributions" or "partitions;" and hence advantage is taken by some to argue against his very being. So Crellius contends that the Holy Ghost here is taken passively, or that the expression Пveμaros 'Ayiov is genitivus materiæ. Wherefore, he supposes that it followeth that the Holy Ghost himself may be divided into parts, so that one may have one part and parcel of him, and another may have another part. How inconsistent this is with the truth of his being and personality is apparent. But yet neither can he give any tolerable account of the division and partition of that power of God which he calls the "Holy Ghost," unless he will make the Holy Spirit to be a quality in us and not in the divine nature, as Justin Martyr affirms Plato to have done, and so to be divided.' And the interpretation he useth of the words is wrested, perverse, and foolish; for the contexture of them requires that the Holy Ghost be here taken actively, as the author of the distribution mentioned. He gives out of his gifts and powers unto men in many parts, not all to one, not all at once, not all in one way; but some to one, some to another, some at one time, some at another, and that in great variety. The apostle, therefore, in this place declares that the Holy Spirit gave out various gifts unto the first preachers of the gospel, for the confirmation of their doctrine, according to the promise of our Saviour, John xv. 26, 27. Of these he mentions in particular, first, Enusia, "signs;" that is, miraculous works, wrought to signify the presence of God by his power with them that wrought them, so giving out his approbation of the doctrine which they taught. Secondly, Tipara, "prodigies" or "wonders," works beyond the power of nature or energy of natural causes, wrought to fill men with wonder and admiration, manifesting rò 9sov, and surprising men with a sense of the presence of God. Thirdly, Auváμers, "mighty works" of several sorts, such as opening of the eyes of the blind, raising the dead, and the like. These being mentioned, there is added in general μερισμοὶ Πνεύματος 'Ayiou, that is, ini, "gifts of the Holy Ghost;" for these and other like things did the Holy Ghost work and effect to the end

1 Ταῦτα, οἶμαι, σαφῶς παρὰ τῶν προφητῶν περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος μεμαθηκὼς Πλάτων εἰς τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὄνομα μεταφέρων φαίνεται. Ομοίως γὰρ ὥσπερ οἱ ἱεροὶ προφῆται τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα εἰς ἑπτὰ πνεύματα μερίζεσθαι φασίν, οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ὀνομάζων ἀρετήν, ταύτην εἰς τέσσαρας ἀρετὰς μερίζεσθαι λέγει.—Justin. Martyr. ad Graec. Cohortat., [cap. xxxii.]

Aliter statuit Cyprianus seu quisquis fuit author lib. de Spir. Sanc. inter opera Cypriani. "Hic est Spiritus Sanctus quem Magi in Ægypto tertii signi ostensione convicti, cum sua defecisse præstigia faterentur, Dei digitum appellabant, et antiquis philosophis ejus intimarunt præsentiam defuisse. Et licet de Patre et Filio aliqua sensissent Platonici, Spiritus tamen tumidus et humani appetitor favoris santificationem mentis divinæ mereri non potuit, et ubi ad profunditatem sacramentorum deventum est, omnis eorum caligavit subtilitas, nec potuit infidelitas sanctitudini propinquare.”— Cypr de Spir. Sanc.

mentioned. And these distributions are from him as the signs and wonders were, that is, effects of his power: only there is added an intimation how they are all wrought by him; which is, by giving them a power for their operation, variously dividing them amongst those on whom they were bestowed, and that, as it is added, xarà rèv aůroũ Snow," according unto his own will." And this place is so directly and fully expounded, 1 Cor. xii. 7-11, that there is no room of exception left unto the most obstinate; and that place having been opened before, in the entrance of this discourse, I shall not here call it over again. These sprouoi, therefore, are his gifts; which, as parts and parcels of his work, he giveth out in great variety. To the same purpose are his operations described, Isa. xi. 2, 3, "The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." He is first called "The Spirit of the LORD," to express his being and nature; and then he is termed "The Spirit of wisdom and of counsel," etc., that is, he who is the author of wisdom and counsel, and the rest of the graces mentioned, who divides and distributes them according to his own will. That variety of gifts and graces wherewith believers are endowed and adorned are these

Guof, or "distributions," of the Holy Spirit. Hence, the principal respect that we have unto him immediately, in our worship of him under the New Testament, is as he is the author of these various gifts and graces. So John, saluting the churches of Asia, prayeth for grace for them from God the Father, and from "the seven Spirits which are before his throne," Rev. i. 4; that is, from the Holy Spirit of God considered in his care of the church and his yielding supplies unto it, as the author of that perfection of gifts and graces which are, and are to be, bestowed upon it. So doth the number of "seven" denote. And, therefore, whereas our Lord Jesus Christ, as the foundation of his church, was anointed with all the gifts and graces of the Spirit in their perfection, it is said that upon that one stone should be seven eyes," Zech. iii. 9,—all the gifts of the seven Spirits of God, or of that Holy Spirit which is the author of them all.

All, therefore, that is pleaded for the division of the Holy Ghost from this place is built on the supposition that we have before rejected, namely, that he is not a divine person, but an arbitrary emanation of divine power. And yet neither so can the division of the Holy Ghost pleaded for be with any tolerable sense maintained. Crellius says, indeed, "That all divine inspirations may be considered as one whole, as many waters make up one sea. In this respect the Holy Ghost is one, that is, one universal made up of many species;"

1 Τῶν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀξιουμένων ἐστὶ διαφορὰ, πλεῖον ἢ ἔλαττον λαμβανόντων τοῖ ἁγίου πνεύματος τῶν πιστευόντων. Origen, Comment. in Matthaeum.