The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 539

GOOD WORKS

499

and character that it yields its impress upon the soul. The soul's aspiration is no more a vague ideal, but it has a positive pleasure in and a desire and love for all the commandments of God. And, since sanctification engrafts the law upon the soul, it is possible that the working which follows should be conformable to the such a disposition, tone, shade, to the divine law.

And

flavor,

the law puts

law.

We

"

say

possible," for

from his own sad experience God's

knows that it is possible to be otherwise, and that many summers come and go without reaping from his branches any noticechild

able harvest for the glory of God. 2.

A

This brings us to the second J>oini.

good 7vork must

be of

faith.

Sanctification itself is not of faith. faith.

It is

wrought by God Himself.

It

has nothing to do with

What

could faith then ac-

complish in this respect?

But it is different with reference to good works ; for they must be our good works. Man is and should be passive in all other respects, but not in his work. Work is the end of one's passive condition. To work and to be passive are opposites. To imagine that work can be passive or actively passive is like imagining that a circle is square, that ink is white, that water is dry. Wherefore the Heidelberg Catechism rightly asks " Why must we still do good works?" Hence there can be no good work unless it is wrought by ourselves. And every representation as tho man did not perform good works, but that the Holy Spirit performs them in him and in his place, is to subvert the Gospel and to wrest the Scripture. :

The work

of Christ is vicarious, that of the

Holy

Spirit is not.

He works in man, but not in his place. And however extensive His work may be in us, being wrought independently of us, it can never be counted as our own. Christ died and rose from the dead for us and independently of us. But the Holy Spirit can not draw fruit from the tree except our ego executes the work. But and this should be emphasized our ego can not execute it except " the work is wrought in us with power." The inward

—

higher

—

life

does not act like the sap in the vine, for this enters the

vine naturally.

But the working

tho a holy disposition

any good

is

fruit of himself.

of the holy life is different.

Al-

implanted, God's child does not produce

Altho well furnished and well equipped,

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