The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 482

SANCTIFICATION

442

righteousness antagonizes the soul, which does not desire struggles to escape from

it,

but

it.

Sometimes it seems different, but only seemingly so. Godly in the Old and New Covenants frequently invoke the divine " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" righteousness. This divine upholding of the right is the strength, the prospect, and

men

This is why in the closing

the consolation of His oppressed people. article of their Confession

when

as the righteous Judge

Yet the difference

ours.

right

our fathers cry for the day of judgment,

is

is

He

shall destroy all His

only seeming.

enemies and

In this case the divine

directed against others, not ourselves; but the eifect

is

the

His people's prayer and hope that the divine right pursue those enemies, and deal with them according to their desame.

It is

serts.

Hence God's righteousness impresses us, first, with the fact of His authority over us; that not we, but He must determine what is right, and how we ought to be that all our opposition is vain, for His power will enforce the right; hence that we must suffer the ;

effects of that righteousness.

But

it is

not merely the power of the right that impresses

neither the consciousness that

we

are taken and judged, but

us,

much

we are taken and judged righteously. And not this arbion the contrary, we feel inwardly that the divine might is right, and therefore may and must overpower us. Hence the divine righteousness includes the creature's acknowledgment " The prerogative to determine the right is not mine, but His." And not only this, but our souls are deeply conscious that God's decisions are not only right and good, but absolutely righteous and superlatively good. more, that

trarily;

:

The

divine righteousness brings us face to face with a direct

working of the divine

sovereignty.

All earthly sovereignty

feeble reflection of the divine; but sufficiently clear to

is

but a

show us

its

fundamental features. A sovereign is deemed sufficiently wise to see how things ought to be and qualified to determine that so they shall be and power/id to resist him who dares be otherwise. This ;

;

applies also to the

Him

also,

but to

King

Him

of kings;

alone.

He

or rather,

alone

is

it

applies, not to

the Wisdom with absolute

how everyHe alone is the holy Qualified One, determine how everything must be. And He

certainty to choose, and according to this choice to see

thing must be to be

according to this to

its best.

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