Chapter 3

Galatians 4:6. Opened and Vindicated.

THE next general Evidence given unto the Truth under Consideration, is the Account of the Accomplishment of this Promise under the New Testament, where also the Nature of the Operation of the Holy Spirit herein, is in general expressed. And' this is, Galatians 4:6. Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son crying Abba Father. An Account as was said, is here given of the Accomplishment of the Promise before explained. And sundry things may be considered in the Words.

First, The Subject on whom he is bestowed and in whom he works, are Believers or those who by the Spirit of Adoption are made the Children of God. We receive the Adoption of Sons, and because we are Sons, he sends his Spirit into our Hearts. And this privilege of Adoption we obtain by Faith in Christ Jesus, John 1:12. To as many as received him, he gave Power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believed on his Name. Secondly. There is an especial Appellation or Description of the Spirit as promised and given unto this purpose, He is the Spirit of the Son. That the Original ground and Reason hereof, is his Eternal Relation to the Son as proceeding from him, has been elsewhere evinced. But there is something more particular here intended. He is called the Spirit of the Son, with respect unto his Communication to Believers. There is therefore included herein, that especial Regard unto Jesus Christ the Son of God which is in the Work mentioned, as it is an Evangelical Mercy and Privilege. He is therefore called the Spirit of the Son, not only because of his eternal Procession from him; But (1.) Because he was in the first place given unto him as the Head of the Church, for the Unction, Consecration and Sanctification of his humane Nature. Here he laid the Foundation, and gave an example of what he was to do in and towards all his Members. (2.) It is immediately from and by him, that he is communicated unto us, and that two ways: (1.) Authoritatively, by Virtue of the Covenant between the Fatherand him, whereon, upon his Accomplishment of the Work of the Mediation in a State of Humiliation according to it, he received the Promise of the Spirit, that is, Power and Authority to bestow him on whom he would, for all the ends of that Mediation, Acts 2:33. Chapter 5:31. (2) Formally, in that all the Graces of the Spirit are derived unto us from him as the Head of the Church, as the spring of all spiritual Life, in whom they were all treasured and laid up unto that purpose, Colossians 2:19. Ephesians 4:16. Colossians 3:1, 2, 3, 4. Secondly, The Work of this Spirit in general as bestowed on Believers, is partly included, partly expressed in these words. In general (which is included) He enables them to behave themselves suitably unto that state and condition whereunto they are taken upon their Faith in Christ Jesus. They are made Children of God by Adoption, and it is meet they be taught to carry themselves as becomes that new Relation. Because ye are Sons, he has given you the Spirit of his Son, without which they cannot walk before him as becoms Sons. He teachs them to bear and behave themselves no longer as Foreigners and Strangers, nor as Servants only, but as Children and Heirs of God, Romans 8:15. He endows them with a frame and disposition of heart unto Holy filial obedience: For as he takes away the distance, making them to be nigh who were Aliens, and far from God; so he removes that fear, dread and bondage which they are kept in who are under the power of the Law, 2 Timothy. 1:7. For God has not given us the Spirit of fear, but of power and love, and of a sound mind. Not the Spirit of fear, or a Spirit of bondage unto fear, as Romans 8:15. that is, in and by the efficacy of the Law filling our minds with dread and such considerations of God as will keep us at a distance from him. But he is in the Sons, on whom he is bestowed, a Spirit of Power; strengthening and enabling them unto all Duties of Obedience. This [illegible] is that whereby we are enabled to Obedience, which the Apostle gives thanks for, 1 Timothy. 1:12. [illegible], to Christ that enabls me that is, by his Spirit of Power. For without the Spirit of Adoption we have not the least strength or Power to behave ourselves as Sons in the Family of God. And he is also, as thus bestowed, a Spirit of Love, who works in us that Love unto God and that delight in him, which becoms Children towards their Heavenly Father. This is the first genuine consequent of this Relation. There may be many Duties performed unto God where there is no true Love to him; at least no love unto him as a Father in Christ, which alone is genuine and accepted. And lastly, he is also a Spirit [illegible], of a modest, grave and sober mind. Even Children are apt to wax wanton and curious and proud in their Fathers House; but the Spirit enables them to behave themselves with that Sobriety, Modesty and Humility which becoms the Family of God. And in these three things, spiritual Power, Love, and Sobriety of mind, consists the whole deportment of the Children of God in his Family. This is the State and Condition of those who by the effectual working of the Spirit of Adoption, are delivered from the Spirit of Bondage unto fear, which the Apostle discourss of, Romans 8 15.

Those who are under the Power of that Spirit, or that efficacious working of the Spirit by the Law, cannot by virtue of any Aids or Assistance make their Addresses unto him by Prayer in a due manner. For although the means whereby they are brought into this State, be the Spirit of God acting upon their Souls and Consciences by the Law; yet formally, as they are in the State of Nature, the Spirit whereby they are acted is the unclean Spirit of the World, or the influence of him who rules in the Children of disobedience. The Law that they obey, is the Law of the Members mentioned by the Apostle, Romans 7. The Works which they perform, are the unfruitful works of darkness, and the fruits of these unfruitful Works are Sin and Death. Being under this Bondage they have no power to approach unto God, and their Bondage tending unto fear, they can have no Delight in an access unto him. Whatever other provisions or preparations such Persons may have for this Duty, they can never perform it unto the Glory of God, or so, as to find acceptance with him. With those who are delivered from this State, all things are otherwise. The Spirit whereby they are acted is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Adoption, of Power, Love and a sound mind. The Law which they are under Obedience unto, is the Holy Law of God, as written in the fleshly Tables of their Hearts. The Effects of it are Faith and Love with all other Graces of the Spirit, whereof they receive the Fruits in peace with joy unspeakable and full of Glory.

Thirdly, An Instance is given of his effectual working these things in the adopted Sons of God in the Duty of Prayer; crying Abba Father. (1.) The Object of the especial Duty intended, is God even the Father, Ephesians 2:18. Abba[illegible], Abba is the Syriack or Chaldee name for Father, then in common use among the Jews; And [illegible] was the same name amongst the Greeks or Gentiles, So that the Common Interest of Jews and Gentiles in this Privilege may be intended. Or rather an holy boldness and intimate confidence of Love is designed in the Reduplication of the name. The Jews have a saying in the Babylonian Talmud in the Treatise of Blessings [illegible]Servants and handmaids (that is Bondservants) do not call on such a one Abba or Imma, Freedom of State, with a Right unto Adoption, whereof they are uncapable in regard unto this Liberty and confidence. God gives unto his adopted Sons [illegible]a frèe Spirit, Psalm 51:14. a Spirit of gracious filial ingenuity. This is that Spirit which cryes Abba; that is the word, whereby those who were adopted, did first salute their Fathers, to testify their affection and obedience. For Abba signifies not only Father, but my Father; For [illegible]my Father in the Hebrew, is rendred by the Chaldee Paraphrast only [illegible] Abba; see Genesis. 19:34. and elsewhere constantly. To this purpose speaks Chrysostome,[illegible]. Being willing to shew the ingenuity (that is in this Duty) he uss also the language of the Hebrews; and says not only Father, but Abba Father, which is a wordproper unto them who are highly ingenuous.

And this he effects two ways, (1.) By the Excitation of Graces and Gracious Affections in their Souls in this Duty; especially those of Faith, Love and Delight. (2) By enabling them to exercise those Graces and express those Affections in Vocal Prayer. For [illegible] denotes not only crying, but an earnestness of mind expressed in Vocal Prayer. It is praying [illegible], as it is said of our Saviour, Math. 27:50. For the whole of our Duty in our Supplications is expressed herein. Now we are not concerned or do not at present inquire, what course they take, what means they imploy, or what helps they use in Prayer, who are not as yet Partakers of this privilege of Adoption: It is only those who are so, whom the Spirit of God assists in this Duty. And the only question is, What such Persons are to do, in complyance with his Assistance, or what it is that they obtain thereby?

And we may compare the different expressions used by the Apostle in this matter, whereby the general Nature of the Work of the Spirit herein, will further appear. In this place he saith, God has sent forth into our Hearts [illegible], the Spirit of his Son, crying Abba Father, Romans 8:15. He saith we have received [illegible], The Spirit of Adoption, the Spirit of the Son given us because we are Sons, whereby, or in whom we cry Abba Father. His acting in us, and our acting by him is expressed by the same word. And the inquiry here is, how in the same Duty he is said to cry in us, and we are said to cry in him. And there can be no Reason hereof, but only because the same Work is both his and ours in divers Respects. As it is an Act of Grace and Spiritual Power, it is his, or it is wrought in us by him alone. As it is a Duty performed by us, by virtue of his Assistance, it is ours; by him we cry Abba Father. And to deny his actings in our Duties is to overthrow the Gospel. And it is Prayer formally considered, and as comprising the Gift of it, with its outward Exercise, which is intended. The mere excitation of the Graces of Faith, Love, Trust, Delight, Desire, Self-abasement, and the like animating Principles of Prayer, cannot be expressed by crying, though it be included in it. Their actual Exercise in Prayer formally considered, is that which is ascribed unto the Spirit of God. And they seem to deal somewhat severely with the Church of God and all Believers, who will not allow that the Work here expresly assigned unto the Spirit of Adoption or of the Son, is sufficient for its end, or the discharge of this Duty, either in private or in the Assemblies of the Church. There is no more required unto Prayer either way, but our crying Abba Father, that is, the making our Requests known unto him as our Father in Christ, with Supplications and Thanksgivings, according as our State and occasions do require. And is not the Aid of the Spirit of God sufficient to enable us hereunto? It was so of Old, and that unto all Believers according as they were called unto this Duty, with respect unto their Persons, Families, or the Church of God. If it be not so now, it is because either God will not now communicate his Spirit unto his Children or Sons according to the Promise of the Gospel, or because indeed this Grace and Gift of his is by men despised, neglected and lost. And the former cannot be asserted on any safe grounds whatever: the latter is our interest to consider.

This two-fold Testimony concerning the Promise of the Communication of the Holy Spirit, or a Spirit of Supplication, unto Believers under the New Testament, and the accomplishment of it, does sufficiently evince our general Assertion, that there is a peculiar Work or special gracious operation of the Holy Ghost in the Prayers of Believers enabling them thereunto. For we intend no more hereby, but that as they do receive him by virtue of that Promise, which the World cannot do, in order unto his Gracious efficiency in the Duty of Supplication; so he does actually incline, dispose, and enable them to cry Abba Father, or to call upon God in Prayer as their Father by Jesus Christ. To deny this therefore, is to rise up in contradiction unto the express Testimony of God himself; and by our unbelief to make him a Lyar. And had we nothing farther to plead in this cause, this were abundantly sufficient to reprove the petulant folly of them by whom this Work of the Holy Ghost, and the Duty of Believers thereon to Pray in the Spirit, if we may use the despised and blasphemed expressions of the Scripture, is scorned and derided.

For as to the Ability of Prayer which is thus received, some there are, who know no more of it as exercised in a way of Duty, but the outside, shell and appearance of it; and that not from their own Experience, but from what they observed in others. Of these there are not a few who confidently affirm, that it is wholly a Work of Fancy, Invention, Memory, and Wit, accompanied with some Boldness and Elocution, unjustly fathered on the Spirit of God, who is no way concerned therein. And it may be they do perswade many, no better skilled in these things than themselves, that so it is indeed. Howbeit those who have any Experience of the real Aids and Assistances of the Spirit of God in this Work and Duty, any Faith in the express Testimonies given by God himself hereunto, cannot but despise such fabulous Imaginations. You may as soon perswade them that the Sun does not give Light, nor the Fire Heat, that they see not with their Eyes, nor hear with their Ears, as that the Spirit of God does not enable them to pray, or assist them in their Supplications. And there might some probability be given unto these pretenses, and unto the total Exclusion of the Holy Ghost from any concernment herein, if those concerning whom and their Duties they thus judge, were generally Persons known to excel others in those Natural Endowments and acquired Abilities whereunto this Faculty of Prayer is ascribed. But will this be allowed by them who make use of this pretense, namely, that those who are thus able to pray as they pretend by virtue of a Spiritual Gift, are Persons excelling in Fancy, Memory, Wit, Invention, and Elocution? It is known that they will admit of no such thing; but in all other Instances they must be represented as dull, stupid, ignorant, unlearned and brutish. Only in Prayer they have the advantage of those natural Endowments. These things are hardly consistent with common Ingenuity. For is it not strange that those who are so contemptible with respect unto natural and acquired Endowments in all other things, whether of Science or of Prudence, should yet in this one Duty or Work of Prayer so improve them, as to outgo the Imitation of them by whom they are despised? For as they do not, as they will not pray as they do, so their own Hearts tell them, they cannot, which is the true Reason why they so despitefully oppose this praying in the Spirit, whatever Pride or Passion pretends to the contrary. But things of this nature will again occurr unto us, and therefore shall not be here further insisted on. Having therefore proved that God has promised a plentiful dispensation of his Spirit unto Believers under the New Testament to enable them to pray according unto his mind; and that in general this Promise is accomplished in and towards all the Children of God; It remains in the second place, as to what we have proposed, that we declare what is the Work of the Holy Ghost in them unto this end and purpose, or how he is unto us a Spirit of Prayer or Supplication.

Galatians 4:6. Opened and vindicated.

The next general evidence given to the truth under consideration is the account of the fulfillment of this promise under the New Testament, where also the nature of the Holy Spirit's operation here is generally expressed. This is found in Galatians 4:6: "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" As stated, this passage gives an account of the fulfillment of the promise explained above. Several things may be considered in the words.

First, the subjects on whom He is bestowed and in whom He works are believers — those who through the Spirit of adoption have been made children of God. We receive the adoption as sons, and because we are sons, He sends His Spirit into our hearts. This privilege of adoption we obtain by faith in Christ Jesus (John 1:12): "To as many as received Him, He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." Second, there is a special designation or description of the Spirit as promised and given for this purpose: He is the Spirit of the Son. That the original and eternal basis for this is His eternal relation to the Son, as proceeding from Him, has been shown elsewhere. But something more particular is intended here. He is called the Spirit of the Son with respect to His communication to believers. Included in this, therefore, is that special regard to Jesus Christ the Son of God that is present in this work, as an evangelical mercy and privilege. He is therefore called the Spirit of the Son not only because of His eternal procession from the Son, but also: (1) because He was first given to Christ as Head of the church, for the anointing, consecration, and sanctification of His human nature — here He laid the foundation and gave an example of what He was to do in and toward all the members of Christ's body; and (2) because it is immediately from and through Christ that He is communicated to us, in two ways: (1) authoritatively, by virtue of the covenant between the Father and Christ, on the basis of which, after Christ accomplished the work of mediation in a state of humiliation, He received the promise of the Spirit — that is, the power and authority to bestow Him on whomever He would for all the ends of that mediation (Acts 2:33; Acts 5:31); and (2) formally, in that all the graces of the Spirit flow to us from Christ as Head of the church, as the spring of all spiritual life, in whom they were all stored up and laid in reserve for this purpose (Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 4:16; Colossians 3:1-4). Second, the work of this Spirit in general, as bestowed on believers, is partly included and partly expressed in these words. In general (which is implied), He enables them to conduct themselves suitably to the state and condition into which they have been brought through faith in Christ Jesus. They are made children of God by adoption, and it is fitting they be taught to carry themselves as that new relationship requires. "Because you are sons, He has given you the Spirit of His Son" — without which they cannot walk before Him as sons. He teaches them to bear themselves no longer as strangers and foreigners, nor as mere servants, but as children and heirs of God (Romans 8:15). He endows them with a disposition and inclination toward holy, filial obedience; for as He removes their distance — bringing near those who were strangers and far from God — so He also removes the fear, dread, and bondage that keep people under the power of the law. In 2 Timothy 1:7: "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline." Not a spirit of fear — or a spirit of bondage to fear, as in Romans 8:15 — that is, a spirit whose efficacy through the law fills the mind with dread and thoughts of God that keep people at a distance from Him. But in the sons on whom He is bestowed, He is a Spirit of power, strengthening and enabling them for all duties of obedience. This is the power by which we are enabled to obedience, for which the apostle gives thanks in 1 Timothy 1:12 — to Christ who enables him — that is, by His Spirit of power. For without the Spirit of adoption we have not the slightest strength or ability to conduct ourselves as sons in the family of God. He is also, as bestowed in this way, a Spirit of love, working in us that love for God and delight in Him that befits children toward their heavenly Father. This is the first genuine fruit of this relationship. Many duties may be performed toward God where there is no true love for Him — at least no love for Him as a Father in Christ, which alone is genuine and accepted. And finally, He is also a Spirit of a sound, sober mind. Even children tend to grow proud, wayward, and self-willed in their father's house; but the Spirit enables them to conduct themselves with the sobriety, modesty, and humility that befits the family of God. These three things — spiritual power, love, and sobriety of mind — constitute the whole deportment of the children of God in His family. This is the state and condition of those who, through the effective working of the Spirit of adoption, have been freed from the spirit of bondage to fear, which the apostle discusses in Romans 8:15.

Those who are under the power of that spirit — or the effective working of the Spirit by the law — cannot, by virtue of any aid or assistance, make their addresses to God in prayer in a proper manner. For although the means by which they are brought into this state is the Spirit of God working on their souls and consciences through the law, yet formally, as they are in the state of nature, the spirit by which they are driven is the unclean spirit of the world — the influence of the one who rules in the children of disobedience. The law they obey is the law of the members mentioned by the apostle in Romans 7. The works they perform are the unfruitful works of darkness, and the fruits of those works are sin and death. Being under this bondage they have no power to draw near to God, and their bondage, which leads to fear, means they can have no delight in access to Him. Whatever other provisions or preparations such persons may have for this duty, they can never perform it to the glory of God or in a way that finds acceptance with Him. With those who are delivered from this state, everything is otherwise. The spirit by which they are driven is the Spirit of God — the Spirit of adoption, of power, love, and a sound mind. The law to which they submit in obedience is the holy law of God, written on the fleshly tablets of their hearts. The effects of this are faith and love, with all the other graces of the Spirit, whose fruits they receive in peace with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Third, an instance is given of His effective working of these things in the adopted sons of God in the duty of prayer: "crying, Abba! Father!" (1) The object of the specific duty intended is God even the Father (Ephesians 2:18). "Abba" is the Syriac or Chaldean word for Father, in common use among the Jews at that time; and Father (pater) was the same word among the Greeks and Gentiles — so that the common interest of Jews and Gentiles in this privilege may be in view. Or rather, a holy boldness and intimate confidence of love is expressed in the repetition of the name. The Babylonian Talmud, in the tractate on blessings, has a saying: "Servants and handmaids — that is, bond-servants — do not call their master Abba or Imma" — referring to the freedom of status and right to adoption that they, as bondservants, lack. God gives to His adopted sons a free spirit (Psalm 51:12) — a spirit of gracious, filial openness. This is the spirit that cries "Abba" — the word by which those who were adopted first addressed their fathers, to express their affection and submission. For Abba means not only "Father" but "my Father"; the Chaldean Targum renders "my Father" in Hebrew simply as "Abba" — see Genesis 19:34 and elsewhere consistently. Chrysostom speaks to this effect: "Wishing to show the genuineness and intimacy of this relationship, he also uses the language of the Hebrews, and says not merely 'Father' but 'Abba Father,' which is a word proper to those who are truly and fully a son."

He accomplishes this in two ways: (1) by stirring up graces and gracious affections in their souls in this duty — especially those of faith, love, and delight; and (2) by enabling them to exercise those graces and express those affections in vocal prayer. The Greek word for "crying" denotes not only crying out, but an earnestness of mind expressed in vocal prayer. It is praying with a loud cry, as is said of our Savior in Matthew 27:50. The whole of our duty in our supplications is expressed in this word. We are not presently concerned with, nor are we inquiring into, what course those take, what means they use, or what helps they employ in prayer who have not yet received the privilege of adoption — it is only those who have that the Spirit of God assists in this duty. The only question is what such persons are to do in cooperating with His assistance, or what they gain from it.

We may compare the different expressions the apostle uses in this matter, which will further clarify the general nature of the Spirit's work here. In this passage he says God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15); he says we have received the Spirit of adoption — the Spirit of the Son given to us because we are sons — by whom we cry "Abba! Father!" His acting in us and our acting by Him are expressed by the same word. The question is how, in the same duty, He is said to cry in us, and we are said to cry in Him. There can be no explanation other than that the same work is both His and ours in different respects. As an act of grace and spiritual power, it is His — it is worked in us by Him alone. As a duty performed by us through His assistance, it is ours — by Him we cry "Abba! Father!" To deny His working in our duties is to overturn the Gospel. And it is prayer formally considered — including the gift of prayer with its outward exercise — that is intended. The mere stirring up of the graces of faith, love, trust, delight, desire, self-abasement, and the other animating principles of prayer cannot be described as "crying," though they are included in it. Their actual exercise in prayer, formally considered, is what is attributed to the Spirit of God. And those who deal somewhat harshly with the church of God and all believers, refusing to allow that the work here expressly assigned to the Spirit of adoption or of the Son is sufficient for its purpose, or for the discharge of this duty whether in private or in the assemblies of the church, would do well to reconsider. Nothing more is required for prayer in either setting than our crying "Abba! Father!" — that is, making our requests known to Him as our Father in Christ, with supplications and thanksgivings according to our state and circumstances. Is not the aid of the Spirit of God sufficient to enable us to do this? It was sufficient of old, and for all believers according as they were called to this duty, whether in respect of themselves, their families, or the church of God. If it is not sufficient now, it can only be because either God will not now communicate His Spirit to His children or sons according to the promise of the Gospel, or because this grace and gift of His is despised, neglected, and lost by people. The first cannot be asserted on any safe grounds whatsoever; the second is what we should take to heart.

This twofold testimony — concerning the promise of the communication of the Holy Spirit, or a Spirit of supplication, to believers under the New Testament, and its fulfillment — sufficiently establishes our general claim: that there is a special and gracious work of the Holy Spirit in the prayers of believers enabling them to pray. For we mean nothing more by this than that, as believers receive the Spirit by virtue of that promise which the world cannot receive, in order for His gracious work in the duty of supplication, so He actually inclines, disposes, and enables them to cry "Abba! Father!" — to call upon God in prayer as their Father through Jesus Christ. To deny this, therefore, is to rise up against the express testimony of God Himself, and through our unbelief to make Him a liar. And if we had nothing further to plead in this cause, this alone would be more than enough to rebuke the presumptuous foolishness of those who mock and deride this work of the Holy Spirit, and the duty of believers on account of it to pray in the Spirit — if we may use the expressions of Scripture, however despised and blasphemed.

As for the ability in prayer that is thus received, there are some who know no more of it as exercised in the way of duty than its outward appearance — and that not from their own experience, but from what they have observed in others. Among these are not a few who confidently assert that it is entirely a work of fancy, invention, memory, and wit, accompanied by some boldness and fluency of speech, unjustly attributed to the Spirit of God, who has no concern in it whatsoever. And they may persuade many, no better acquainted with these things than themselves, that this is indeed the case. However, those who have any experience of the real aids and assistances of the Spirit of God in this work and duty, and any faith in the express testimonies God Himself has given to it, cannot but dismiss such fanciful notions. You might as easily persuade them that the sun gives no light, or the fire no heat, that they see not with their eyes or hear with their ears, as that the Spirit of God does not enable them to pray or assist them in their supplications. Some probability might be given to these pretensions — and to the total exclusion of the Holy Spirit from any concern in this matter — if those about whom and whose duties they thus judge were generally known to excel others in the natural endowments and acquired abilities to which this faculty of prayer is attributed. But will those who make this pretension allow that the people who, as they claim, pray through a spiritual gift are persons excelling in imagination, memory, wit, invention, and eloquence? It is well known they will allow nothing of the sort; on the contrary, they portray them as dull, stupid, ignorant, unlearned, and brutish in every other respect. Only in prayer do they supposedly have the advantage of those natural gifts. These things are hardly consistent with basic honesty. Is it not remarkable that those who are so contemptible with respect to natural and acquired abilities in everything else — whether in learning or practical wisdom — should in this one duty of prayer so develop and improve those abilities as to surpass the imitation of those who despise them? For those critics do not pray as they do, and will not; and their own hearts tell them they cannot — which is the real reason they so spitefully oppose this praying in the Spirit, whatever pride or passion may pretend to the contrary. But things of this nature will come up again, and therefore need not be further pursued here. Having proved that God has promised a plentiful dispensation of His Spirit to believers under the New Testament to enable them to pray according to His mind, and that in general this promise is fulfilled in and toward all the children of God, what remains, in the second place, is to declare what the work of the Holy Spirit is in them to this end — that is, how He is to us a Spirit of prayer or supplication.