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"and whatever eminent God hath designed, he is said "to have performed by him; by him he framed the "world, and (as Job speaketh) garnished the heavens. "By him he governeth the world, so that all extraordi'nary works of Providence, (when God, beside the com66 mon law and usual course of nature, doth interpose to "do any thing,)'all miraculous performances are attri"buted to his energy. By him our Saviour, by him "the apostles, by him the prophets, are expressly said "to perform their wonderful works; but especially by "him God manages that great work, so earnestly de"signed by him, of our salvation; working in us all "good dispositions, capacifying us for salvation, directing and assisting us in all our actions tending thereto. "We naturally are void of those good dispositions in "understanding, will, and affections which are needful "to render us acceptable unto God, fit to serve and please him, capable of any favour from him, of any "true happiness in ourselves. Our minds naturally " are blind, ignorant, stupid, giddy, and prone to error, "especially in things supernatural and spiritual, and ab"stracted from ordinary sense. Our wills are froward "and stubborn, light and unstable, inclining to evil, and averse from what is truly good; our affections are very "irregular, disorderly, and unsettled; to remove which "bad dispositions, (inconsistent with God's' friendship "and favour, driving us into sin and misery,) and to 66 beget those contrary to them, the KNOWLEDGE and "belief of divine truth, a love of goodness and delight "therein; a well composed, orderly, and steady frame

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or spirit, God in mercy doth grant to us the virtue of "his Holy Spirit; who first opening our hearts, so as to "let in and apprehend the light of divine truth, then, "by representation of proper arguments, persuading

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our reason to embrace it, begetteth divine knowledge, "wisdom, and faith in our minds, which is the work of

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"illumination and instruction, the first part of his office "respecting our salvation.

"Then by continual impressions he bendeth our in"clinations, and mollifieth our hearts, and tempereth 66 our affections to a willing compliance with God's will, "and a hearty complacence in that which is good and "pleasing to God; so breeding all pious and virtuous ❝inclinations in us, reverence towards God, charity to "men, sobriety and purity as to ourselves, with the rest "of those amiable and heavenly virtues of soul, which "is the work of sanctification, another great part of his "office.

"Both these operations together (enlightening our "minds, sanctifying our wills and affections) do consti"tute and accomplish that work, which is styled the "regeneration, renovation, vivification, new creation, "resurrection of a man; the faculties of our souls being 66 so improved, that we become, as is were, other men "thereby; able and apt to do that for which before we "were altogether indisposed and unfit.

"He also directeth and governeth our actions, con"tinually leading and moving us in the ways of obedi"ence to God's holy will and law. As we live by him, "(having a new spiritual life implanted in us,) so we "walk by him, are continually led and acted by his con❝duct and help. He reclaimeth us from error and sin; "he supporteth and strengtheneth us in temptation; he "adviseth and admonisheth, exciteth and encourageth ❝ us to all works of piety and virtue.

"Particularly he guideth and quickeneth us in devo❝tion, shewing us what we should ask, raising in us holy "desires and comfortable hopes, disposing us to ap"proach unto God with firm dispositions of mind, love, " and reverence, and humble confidence.

"It is also a notable part of the Holy Spirit's office to "comfort and sustain us in all our religious practice, so

"particularly in our doubts, difficulties, distresses, and "afflictions; to beget joy, peace, and satisfaction in us, "in all our performances, and in all our sufferings, "whence the title of Comforter belongeth to him.

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"It is also another part thereof to assure us of God's

gracious love and favour, and that we are his children; confirming in us the hopes of our everlasting inheri"tance. We feeling ourselves to live spiritually by him, "to love God and goodness, to thirst after righteousness, "and to delight in pleasing God, are thereby raised to << hope God loves and favours us; and that he having, "by so authentic a seal, ratified his word and promise, "having already bestowed so sure a pledge, so precious

an earnest, so plentiful first-fruits, will not fail to "make good the remainder designed and promised us, "of everlasting joy and bliss."

Let no man be afraid or ashamed of maintaining opinions on the divine energy, which are thus supported by the first of scholars and philosophers, ISAAC BAR

ROW.

SECTION IX.

Bishop Bull's Opinion on the Evidence of the Spirit of God on the Mind of Man, and its Union with it; the loss of that Spirit by Adam's Fall, and the Recovery of it by Christ.

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THE second way," says Bishop Bull, “by "which the Spirit of God witnesseth with our spirit, "that we are the sons of God, is by enlightening our understandings, and strengthening the eyes of our "minds, as occasion requires, to discern those gracious "fruits and effects which God hath wrought in us.

"The Spirit of God, which in the first beginning of "things moved upon the face of the great deep, and in"vigorated the chaos, or dark and confused heap of "things, and caused light to shine out of that darkness, "can, with the greatest ease, when he pleases, cause "the light of divine consolation to arise and shine upon "the dark and disconsolate soul. And this he often "doth. I may here appeal to the EXPERIENCE of "many good Christians, who sometimes find a sudden "joy coming into their minds, ENLIGHTENING their “UNDERSTANDINGS, dispelling all clouds from thence, "warming and enlivening their affections, and enabling "them to discern the graces of God shining in their "brightness, and to FEEL them vigorously acting in "their souls, so that they have been, after a sort, "TRANSFIGURED with their Saviour, and wished, with "St. Peter, that they might always dwell on that mount "Tabor.****

"Man may be considered in a double relation; first "in relation to the natural, animal, and earthly life; and "so he is a perfect man, that hath only a reasonable soul " and body adapted to it; for the powers and faculties "of these are sufficient to the exercise of the functions "and operations belonging to such a life. But secondly, "man may be considered in order to a supernatural end, "and as designed to a spiritual and celestial life; and of "this life the SPIRIT OF GOD is the principle. For "man's natural powers and faculties, even as they were "before the fall, ENTIRE, were not sufficient or able "of themselves to reach such a supernatural end, but "needed the power of the DIVINE SPIRIT to strengthen, "elevate, and raise them. He that denies this, opposes "himself against the stream and current of the holy "scriptures, and the consent of the Catholic church. "Therefore to the perfect constitution of man, consi"dered in this relation, a reasonable soul and a body

“ adapted thereunto are not sufficient; but there is ne66 cessarily required an union of the DIVINE SPIRIT with "both, as it were a THIRD ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLE. "This, as it is a certain truth, so it is a great мMYSTERY "OF CHRISTIANITY.'

“ The great Basil, in his homily intitled, Quod Deus "non est Author peccati, speaking of the nature of man, "as it was at first created, hath these words: * What "was the chief or principal good it enjoyed? the asses"SION OF GOD AND IT'S CONJUNCTION WITH HIM BY LOVE; "from which, when it fell, it became depraved with vari66 ous and manifold evils. So in his book, de Spiritu « Sancto, cap. 15, he plainly tells us, † The disfiensation “ of God and our Saviour towards man, is but the recall“ ing of him from the fall, and his return into the friend"ship of that God, from that alienation which sin had « caused. This was the end of Christ's coming in the "flesh, of his life and conversation described in the gos"pel, of his passion, cross, burial, and resurrection; that man, who is saved by the imitation of Christ, might re"gain that ANTIENT ADOPTION. Where he plainly sup"poseth that man before his fall had the adoption of a “son, and consequently the Spirit of adoption. And "so he expressly interprets himself afterwards in the

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* “ Τὶ δὲ ἦν αὐτῇ τὸ προηγέμενον ἀγαθὸν; ἡ προσεδρεία του σε θεῖς, καὶ ἡ διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης συνάφεια· ἧς ἐκπεσέσα, τοῖς ποικί σε λοις καὶ πολυτρόποις ἀῤῥωςήμασιν ἐκακώθη.”

+ 66 Η του θεῖ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον οικονομία, Η ανάκλησίς έσιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκπλώσεως, καὶ ἐπάνοδον εἰς οικείωσιν “ θεῖ, ἀπὸ τῆς διὰ τὴν παρακοὴν γενομένης αλλοιώσεως· διὰ “ τέτο, ἡ μετὰ σαρκὸς ἐπιδημία Χρισᾶ· ἡ τῶν ἐυαγ[ελικῶν πολι «Γευμάτων ὑπολύπωσις· τὰ πάθη ὁ σαυρὸς ἡ ταφὴ ἡ ἀνάτασις, σε ὥστε τὸν σωζόμενον ἄνθρωπον διὰ μιμήσεως Χρις δ, τὴν ἀρχαίαν σε ἐκείνην υιοθεσίαν ἀπο λαβῶν.”

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