The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 342

— REGENERATION

302

any more than the preparation

of ten cradles, of a dozen of clothes-

baskets, and of closets full of expensive infant-garments can ever

juggle a single infant into any of those cradles.

The

vital

spark

is

produced only by an act of the mighty God, independent of all preparation. But, from its birth, God guards that wild vine and controls the grovi^th of its wild shoots, so that in the hour of His

when He shall graft upon it the true vine, it may be all ought to be. And this ends the discussion, for regarding the fourth class, by and by they will be separated from the wheat and blown away by the fan which is in His hand hence preparatory grace is out of the pleasure,

that

it

;

question.

And from

this it is evident that the

proper work of the Holy

Spirit regarding preparatory grace is scarcely perceptible.

Every feature of

this work, so far presented, points directly not

to the operation of the

most exclusively

Holy

Spirit,

nor to that of the Son, but

al-

For the circumstances of the child's birth i.e., the hereditary character of his family and more especially of his parents, and the future course of his life until the moment of his conversion belong to the realm of the divine to that of the Father.

—

Providence. ration

The appointed

place of our habitation,

and family, the formation

of our

our gene-

immediate environment,

the influences previously determined to affect us

—

all

belong to the

leadings of God's providence, ascribed by Scripture to the work of

The Lord Jesus said " No man can come unto Me, except the Father draw him." And altho this drawing of the Father the Father.

:

has a higher aim and must be spiritually understood, yet it indicates generally that the determining of those things, which after-

ward regulates

their direction

and course,

is

attributed particularly

to the First Person.

We as as

He He

notice a work of the Holy Spirit in this matter only as far animates all personal life, since He is the Spirit of Life; and

cooperates with the Father in that special providence which

refers to the elect.

of g^ace, yet

For, altho in our

we may never

mind we can analyze the work

forget that the eternal reality does not

fully correspond to this part of our analysis.

work

often flow together, being one and the same.

and that of grace Our Church has tried

to express this, in her confession of a general

providence which

Hence, in the

elect, the

of providence

in-

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen