The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 527

;

THE WORK OF GOD sition

and of

the outward

its result,

as well as of the water, that

it

IN It

life.

OUR WORK may

contains iron

;

487

be said of the spring of the tree as well as

good And, since holiness may be attributed to both the inward disposition and the outward life, sanctification may be understood as referring to the sanctification of our life. This may lead to the supposition that an outwardly blameless life is the same of the

that

that

fruit,

it is

it is

;

of the candle as well as of the light,

bright.

And

thing as sanctification.

if

this is so, then sanctification is but

a duty imposed, and not a gift imparted. It should therefore be carefully noticed that the sanctification of the mind, affections, and dispositions is not our work, but God' s ;

springs from

and that the holy

life

which

it is ours.

Second, the other cause of confusion

is

the

many

Scripture pas-

sages that exhort and encourage us to sanctify, purify, and perfect

our

lives, yea,

even

"

to perfect our holiness" (2 Cor. vii.

"yield ourselves as servants to holiness" (Rom.

"unblamable

in holiness"

(i

Thess.

iii.

vi. 19);

and

i); to

to be

13), etc.

And we should not weaken these passages, as who say that these texts mean, not that we should bers, but that God Himself will take special care

the Mystics do, yield our

mem-

that they be so

These are tricks that lead men to trifle with the Word. an abuse of the Scripture for the sake of introducing one's own theories under the cover of divine authority. The preachers who for fear of imposing responsibilities upon men abstain from

yielded. It is

exhortation, and dull the edge of the divine comtnatidments by repre-

senting them as promises, take a heavy responsibility upon themselves.

For altho we know that no man has ever performed a single good work without God, who wrought in him both to will and to do altho we heartily agree with the Confession, " That we are beholden to God for our good works and not God to us " (art. 24) and rejoice with the holy apostle in the fact, " That God has before ordained the good works that we should walk therein " yet ;

;

this does not absolve us

from the duty of exhorting the brethren. It is a fact that God is pleased to use man as an instrument, and by the spur of his own ability and responsibility to incite him

A

cavalryman on the battle-field is fully aware how the good services of his horse; and also that the animal can not run unless God enabled it. Being a godly man, he prays before mounting that the Lord enable his horse to bring to activity.

much he depends upon

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