Part 3, Chapter 5: Observations on the Spirit — Contempt, Pretense, and the False Spirit Discovered

Some observations and inferences from the discourses foregoing concerning the Spirit. The contempt of the whole administration of the Spirit by some. The vain pretense of the Spirit by others. The false spirit discovered.

This process being made, I should now show immediately how we hold the communion proposed with the Holy Spirit in the things laid down and manifested to contain his peculiar work toward us. But there are some miscarriages in the world in reference to this dispensation of the Holy Spirit, both on the one hand and the other — in contempt of his true work, and pretense of that which is not — that I cannot but remark in my passage; which shall be the business of this chapter.

Take a view then of the state and condition of those who, professing to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, do yet contemn and despise his Spirit as to all its operations, gifts, graces, and dispensations to his churches and saints. While Christ was in the world with his disciples, he made them no greater promise — neither in respect of their own good, nor of carrying on the work he had committed to them — than this of giving them the Holy Spirit. He instructed them to pray for him of the Father, as that which is needful for them as bread for children, Luke 11:13. He promised him as a well of water springing up in them for their refreshment, strengthening, and consolation unto everlasting life, John 7:37-39. He also promised him to carry on and accomplish the whole work of the ministry committed to them, John 16:8-10, with all those eminent works and privileges before mentioned. And upon his ascension this is laid as the bottom of that glorious communication of gifts and graces mentioned in Ephesians 4:8,11-12 — namely that he had received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:33 — and that in such an eminent manner as thereby to make the greatest and most glorious difference between the administration of the new covenant and the old. The whole work of the ministry especially relates to the Holy Spirit. He calls men to that work, and they are separated unto him, Acts 13:2. He furnishes them with gifts and abilities for that employment, 1 Corinthians 12:7-10. So that the whole religion we profess without this administration of the Spirit is nothing; nor is there any fruit of the resurrection of Christ from the dead without it.

This being the state of things — that in our worship of and obedience to God, in our own consolation, sanctification, and ministerial employment, the Spirit is the principle, the life, the soul, the all of the whole — yet so desperate has been the malice of Satan and wickedness of men that their great endeavor has been to shut him quite out of all gospel administrations.

First, his gifts and graces were not only decried but almost excluded from the public worship of the church by the imposition of an onerous form of service to be read by the minister — which to do is neither a peculiar gift of the Holy Spirit to any, nor of the ministry at all. It is marvelous to consider what pleas and pretenses were invented and used by learned men from its antiquity, its composition or approbation by martyrs, and the beauty of uniformity in the worship of God established thereby — for the defense and maintenance of it. But the main argument they insisted on and the chief field wherein they expatiated and laid out all their eloquence was the vain babbling repetitions and folly of men praying by the Spirit. The sum of all these reasonings amounts to no more than this: though the Lord Jesus Christ has promised the Holy Spirit to be with his church to the end of the world to fit and furnish men with gifts and abilities for the carrying on of that worship which he requires and accepts, yet the work is not done to the purpose — the gifts he bestows are not sufficient to that end, neither as to invocation nor doctrine — and therefore we will not only help men by our directions but exclude them from their exercise. What innumerable evils ensue on this principle — in formally setting apart men to the ministry who had never once tasted of the powers of the world to come, nor received any gifts from the Holy Spirit for that purpose; in crying up and growing in an outside pompous worship wholly foreign to the power and simplicity of the gospel; in silencing, destroying, and banishing men whose ministry was accompanied with the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit — I shall not need to declare. This is what I aim at: to point out the public contempt of the Holy Spirit, his gifts and graces with their administration in the church of God, that has been found even where the gospel has been professed.

Again, it is a thing of most sad consideration to call to mind the improvement of that principle of contempt of the Spirit in private men and their ways. The name of the Spirit was grown a term of reproach. To plead for or pretend to pray by the Spirit was enough to render a man the object of scorn and reproach from all sorts of men, from the pulpit to the stage. And yet perhaps these men would think themselves wronged not to be accounted Christians. Have not some who pretend to be leaders of the flock — mounted a story or two above their brethren and claiming rule and government over them — made it their business to scoff at and reproach the gifts of the Spirit of God? And if this was the frame of their spirit, what might be expected from others of professed profaneness? Is this the fellowship of the Holy Spirit that believers are called unto? Is this the due entertainment of him whom our Savior promised to send for the supply of his bodily absence, so that we might be no losers thereby? Is it not enough that men should be contented with such a stupid blindness as, being called Christians, to look no further for this comfort and consolation than moral considerations common to heathens would lead them — when one infinitely holy and blessed person of the Trinity has taken this office upon himself to be our Comforter — but they must oppose and despise him also? Nothing more discovers how few there are in the world that have interest in that blessed name by which we are all called. Let us be zealous of the gifts of the Spirit, not envious at them.

From what has been discoursed we may also try the spirits that have gone abroad in the world and which have been exercising themselves at several seasons ever since the ascension of Christ. The iniquity of the generation that is past and passing away lay in open cursed opposition to the Holy Spirit. Satan, whose design as he is god of this world is to be uppermost, not dwelling wholly in any form cast down by the providence of God, has now transformed himself into an angel of light and will pretend the Spirit also, and only. But there are seducing spirits, 1 Timothy 4:1. We have a command not to believe every spirit but to try the spirits, 1 John 4:16. The reason added is that many false spirits have gone abroad in the world — that is, men pretending to the revelation of new doctrines by the Spirit, whose deceits in the first church Paul intimates in 2 Thessalonians 2:2, calling on men not to be shaken in mind by spirit. The truth is the spirits of these days are so gross that a man of a very easy discernment may find them out, and yet their delusion is so strong that not a few are deceived. Satan with his delusions has run into an extreme opposite to his former actings.

Not long since his great design was to cry up ordinances without the Spirit, casting all the reproach he could upon him. Now he cries up a spirit without and against ordinances, casting all reproach and contempt possible upon them. Then he would have a ministry without the Spirit; now a spirit without a ministry. Then the reading of the word might suffice without either preaching or praying by the Spirit; now the Spirit is enough without reading or studying the word at all. Then he allowed a literal embracing of what Christ had done in the flesh; now he talks of Christ in the Spirit only and denies him to have come in the flesh — the proper character of the false spirit we are warned of in 1 John 4:3. Now because it is most certain that the Spirit we are to hear and embrace is the Spirit promised by Christ — as is so clear that the Montanist Paraclete, Mahomet himself, and those of our own days affirm and pretend the same — let us briefly try them by some of the effects mentioned which Christ has promised to give the Holy Spirit for.

The first general effect, as was observed, was this: that the Spirit should bring to remembrance the things that Christ spoke for our guidance and consolation. This was to be the work of the Holy Spirit toward the apostles who were to be the penmen of the scriptures; this is to be his work toward believers to the end of the world. The things that Christ has spoken and did are written that we might believe, and believing have life through his name, John 20:30. They are written in the scripture. This then is the work of the Spirit which Christ has promised: he shall bring to our remembrance and give us understanding of the words of Christ in the scripture for our guidance and consolation. Is this the work of the spirit which is abroad in the world and perverts many? Nothing less. His business is to decry the things that Christ has spoken which are written in the word, to pretend new revelations of his own, and to lead men from the written word wherein the whole work of God and all the promises of Christ are recorded.

Again, the work of the Spirit promised by Christ is to glorify him. He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and show it unto you, John 16:14. It was to make Christ glorious, honorable, and of high esteem in the hearts of believers, and that by showing his things — his love, kindness, grace, and purchase — unto them. This is the work of the Spirit. The work of the spirit that has gone abroad is to glorify itself; to decry and render contemptible Christ who suffered for us under the name of a Christ without us — which it slights and despises, and that professedly. Its own glory, its own honor is all that it aims at, wholly inverting the order of the divine dispensations. The Son came to glorify the Father. He still says, I seek not my own glory, but the glory of him that sent me. The Son having carried on the work of redemption was now to be glorified with the Father — so he prays that it might be, John 17:1: the hour is come, glorify the Son. Therefore the Holy Spirit is sent, and his work is to glorify the Son. But now we have a spirit come forth whose whole business is to glorify itself — whereby we may easily know whence it is.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts, as was declared, and from this fills them with joy, peace, and hope — quieting and refreshing the hearts of those in whom he dwells, giving them liberty and rest, confidence and the boldness of children. This spirit of which men now boast is a spirit of bondage, whose utmost work is to make men quake and tremble, casting them into an unchildlike frame of spirit, driving them up and down with horror and bondage, and drinking up their very natural spirits and making their whole man wither away. There is scarcely any one thing that more evidently manifests the spirit by which some are now acted not to be the Comforter promised by Christ than this: that he is a spirit of bondage and slavery in those in whom he is, and a spirit of cruelty and reproach toward others — in direct opposition to the Holy Spirit in believers and all the ends and purposes for which, as a Spirit of adoption and consolation, he is bestowed on them.

To give one instance more: the Holy Spirit bestowed on believers is a Spirit of prayer and supplication, as was manifested. The spirit with which we have to do pretends to carry men above such low and contemptible means of communion with God. In a word, it would be a very easy task to pass through all the eminent effects of the Holy Spirit in and toward believers and to manifest that the pretending spirit of our days comes in direct opposition and contradiction to every one of them. Thus has Satan passed from one extreme to another — from a bitter wretched opposition to the Spirit of Christ, to a cursed pretending to the Spirit — still to the same end and purpose.

I might give sundry other instances of the contempt or abuse of the dispensation of the Spirit. Those mentioned are the extremes to which all others are or may be reduced; and I will not further divert from that which lies directly in my aim.

Some observations drawn from the preceding discussion about the Spirit. The contempt of the Spirit's entire administration by some. The empty pretense of the Spirit by others. The false spirit exposed.

Having worked through this material, I should now show directly how we hold the communion described with the Holy Spirit in the things identified as His particular work toward us. But there are serious errors in the world regarding the Holy Spirit's administration — on one side, contempt of His true work, and on the other, pretending to what is not His work at all — that I cannot pass by without comment. That is the business of this chapter.

Consider the condition of those who profess to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and yet despise His Spirit — treating His operations, gifts, graces, and dispensations to His churches and saints with contempt. While Christ was in the world with His disciples, the greatest promise He made them — both for their own benefit and for carrying on the work He had entrusted to them — was the promise of the Holy Spirit. He instructed them to pray to the Father for the Spirit as something as necessary as bread for children (Luke 11:13). He promised the Spirit as a spring of water welling up within them for their refreshment, strengthening, and consolation unto everlasting life (John 7:37-39). He also promised the Spirit to carry out and complete the entire work of ministry committed to them (John 16:8-10), along with all the important works and privileges described earlier. After His ascension, this gift became the foundation of the glorious communication of gifts and graces described in Ephesians 4:8, 11-12 — because Christ had received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33) — and this in such a remarkable way that it made the greatest and most glorious distinction between the administration of the new covenant and the old. The entire work of ministry is especially linked to the Holy Spirit. He calls men to that work, and they are set apart to Him (Acts 13:2). He equips them with gifts and abilities for that work (1 Corinthians 12:7-10). Without this administration of the Spirit, the entire religion we profess amounts to nothing, and there is no benefit from Christ's resurrection from the dead.

This is the state of things: in our worship of and obedience to God, in our own consolation, sanctification, and ministerial work, the Spirit is the principle, the life, the soul — the whole of everything. And yet so intense has been Satan's hatred and human wickedness that their great effort has been to shut the Spirit out completely from all gospel worship and ministry.

First, His gifts and graces were not only belittled but nearly excluded from public worship by the imposition of a heavy liturgical form to be read by the minister — something that is neither a particular gift of the Holy Spirit to anyone, nor properly a ministry gift at all. It is remarkable to consider the arguments and justifications that learned men invented to defend it: its age, its composition or endorsement by martyrs, and the beauty of the uniformity it brought to the worship of God. But the main argument they pressed most forcefully — the arena where they deployed all their eloquence — was the alleged emptiness and folly of men praying by the Spirit. When reduced to its core, their whole case amounts to this: although the Lord Jesus Christ has promised the Holy Spirit to remain with His church to the end of the world — equipping men with gifts and abilities for the worship He requires and accepts — the Spirit's gifts are still not sufficient for the purpose, either in prayer or preaching. Therefore, we must not only supplement men with our own directions but exclude them from exercising those gifts altogether. I need not spell out the countless evils that flow from this position: ordaining into ministry men who had never once tasted the powers of the age to come or received any gift from the Holy Spirit for that purpose; promoting a grand outward form of worship wholly foreign to the power and simplicity of the gospel; silencing, destroying, and banishing men whose ministry was attended by the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit. My aim here is simply to point out the public contempt that has been shown toward the Holy Spirit, His gifts, and His administration in the church of God — even among those who profess the gospel.

It is also deeply grieving to consider how that same contempt of the Spirit took root in the private lives of ordinary people. The very name of the Spirit had become a term of ridicule. To claim to pray by the Spirit, or to defend such praying, was enough to make a person an object of mockery and reproach from all quarters — from the pulpit to the stage. And yet these same people would likely have considered themselves wronged if anyone suggested they were not true Christians. Have there not been some who claimed to lead the flock — standing a level above their fellow believers and claiming authority over them — who made it their business to mock and ridicule the gifts of the Spirit of God? And if such was the spirit of those in leadership, what could be expected from openly irreligious people? Is this the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to which believers are called? Is this how we should receive the One whom our Savior promised to send as a replacement for His bodily presence, so that we would lose nothing by His going? Is it not bad enough that people are content with such dull blindness — calling themselves Christians yet looking no further for comfort and consolation than the moral reasoning common to pagans — when one infinitely holy and blessed person of the Trinity has taken up this very office to be our Comforter? Must they also oppose and despise Him? Nothing reveals more clearly how few who bear the name of Christ truly have a share in what that name means. Let us be eager for the gifts of the Spirit, not resentful of them.

From what has been discussed, we can also test the spirits that have gone out into the world and have been active at various times since Christ's ascension. The defining sin of the generation that was passing away lay in open, cursed opposition to the Holy Spirit. Satan, whose goal as the god of this world is always to dominate — and who does not stay long in any form that God's providence has overthrown — has now transformed himself into an angel of light and now claims the Spirit as his own, and nothing else. But there are seducing spirits (1 Timothy 4:1). We are commanded not to believe every spirit but to test the spirits (1 John 4:1-6). The reason given is that many false spirits have gone out into the world — that is, people claiming that the Spirit has revealed new doctrines to them. Paul hints at these deceptions in the early church in 2 Thessalonians 2:2, warning people not to be shaken by any such claims of the Spirit. In truth, the spirits of these days are so blatant that a person with minimal discernment can identify them — and yet their deception is so powerful that not a few are taken in. Satan's delusions have swung to an extreme opposite from his earlier tactics.

Not long ago his chief strategy was to promote outward religious forms without the Spirit, heaping all possible reproach on the Spirit Himself. Now he promotes a spirit that operates without and against those very forms, heaping all possible contempt on them. Before, he wanted a ministry without the Spirit; now he wants a spirit without any ministry. Before, reading the word was enough without either preaching or praying in the Spirit; now the Spirit is supposedly sufficient without reading or studying the word at all. Before, he allowed an embrace of what Christ accomplished in the flesh; now he speaks only of a Christ within the Spirit and denies that Christ came in the flesh — which is the very mark of the false spirit we are warned about in 1 John 4:3. Since it is certain that the Spirit we are to receive is the Spirit promised by Christ — a point so widely acknowledged that the Montanist Paraclete, Muhammad himself, and the claimants of our own day all affirm and claim the same — let us briefly test these claims against some of the effects Christ promised the Holy Spirit would produce.

The first general effect, as we observed, was this: the Spirit would bring to remembrance the things Christ spoke, for our guidance and consolation. This was the Spirit's work toward the apostles who were the writers of the Scriptures, and it is His work toward believers to the end of the world. The things Christ spoke and did are written so that we might believe, and believing have life through His name (John 20:30). They are written in Scripture. The Spirit's promised work, therefore, is this: He brings to our remembrance and gives us understanding of the words of Christ in Scripture for our guidance and consolation. Is this the work of the spirit that has spread through the world and led many astray? Not at all. That spirit's work is to belittle the things Christ spoke as recorded in the word, to claim new revelations of its own, and to lead people away from the written word where the whole work of God and all the promises of Christ are recorded.

Further, the work of the Spirit promised by Christ is to glorify Him. 'He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you' (John 16:14). His work is to make Christ glorious, honored, and highly valued in the hearts of believers — by showing them Christ's own things: His love, kindness, grace, and His accomplished redemption. That is the work of the Spirit. The work of the spirit that has gone abroad is to glorify itself. It belittles and despises the Christ who suffered for us, dismissing Him under the label of 'a Christ outside of us' — which it treats with open contempt. Its own glory and honor are all it pursues, completely inverting the order of the divine plan. The Son came to glorify the Father, and He said, 'I do not seek My own glory, but the glory of Him who sent Me.' After completing the work of redemption, the Son was to be glorified with the Father — as He Himself prayed: 'Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son' (John 17:1). For this reason the Holy Spirit is sent, and His work is to glorify the Son. But the spirit we now encounter has made its whole business the glorifying of itself — and by this we can clearly see where it comes from.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts and from this fills them with joy, peace, and hope — quieting and refreshing the hearts of those in whom He dwells, giving them freedom and rest, confidence, and the boldness of children before their Father. The spirit of which some now boast is a spirit of bondage. Its greatest work is to make people tremble and quake, driving them into a cowering, fearful state of soul — driving them back and forth with dread and slavery, consuming their very natural strength and causing their whole person to wither. Almost nothing more clearly marks the spirit that now drives certain people as not being the Comforter promised by Christ than this: that it is a spirit of bondage and slavery within those it inhabits, and a spirit of cruelty and contempt toward others — directly opposing the Holy Spirit in believers and all the purposes for which He is given to them as a Spirit of adoption and consolation.

To give one more example: the Holy Spirit given to believers is a Spirit of prayer and intercession, as we have shown. The spirit we are dealing with claims to lift people above such lowly and contemptible means of communing with God. In short, it would be easy to work through every major effect of the Holy Spirit in and toward believers and show that the pretending spirit of our day stands in direct opposition and contradiction to every one of them. So Satan has moved from one extreme to the other — from bitter, open opposition to the Spirit of Christ, to a false and shameless claim to the Spirit — both extremes serving the same end.

I could give many other examples of the contempt or misuse of the Spirit's administration. Those already mentioned are the two extremes to which all others can be reduced. I will not digress further from the main subject at hand.