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69. BUT let us see if we can bethink us of any defence of this
usage of our fathers; for they who first originated the expression are
more open to blame than we ourselves. Paul in his Letter to the
Colossians says, "And you, being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision ... hath He quickened together with" Christ. Did
then God give to a whole people and to the Church the boon of the life
with Christ, and yet the life with Christ does not belong to the
Holy Spirit? But if this is impious even to think of, is it not
rightly reverent so to make our confession, as They are by nature in
close conjunction? Furthermore what boundless lack of sensibility does
it not shew in these men to confess that the Saints are with
Christ,(if, as we know is the case, Paul, on becoming absent from
the body, is present with the Lord, and, after departing, is with
Christ) and, so far as lies in their power, to refuse to allow to
the Spirit to be with Christ even to the same extent as men? And
Paul calls himself a "labourer together with God" in the
dispensation of the Gospel; will they bring an indictment for impiety
against us, if we apply the term "fellow-labourer" to the Holy
Spirit, through whom in every creature under heaven the Gospel
bringeth forth fruit? The life of them that have trusted in the Lord
"is hidden," it would seem, "with Christ in God, and when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall" they themselves
also "appear with Him in glory;" and is the Spirit of life
Himself, "Who made us free from the law of sin," not with
Christ, both in the secret and hidden life with Him, and in the
manifestation of the glory which we expect to be manifested in the
saints? We are "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ," and is
the Spirit without part or lot in the fellowship of God and of His
Christ? "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we
are the children of God;" and are we not to allow to the Spirit even
that testimony of His fellowship with God which we have learnt from
the Lord? For the height of folly is reached if we through the faith
in Christ which is in the Spirit hope that we shall be raised together
with Him and sit together in heavenly places, whenever He shall
change our vile body from the natural to the spiritual, and yet refuse
to assign to the Spirit any share in the sitting together, or in the
glory, or anything else which we have received from Him. Of all the
boons of which, in accordance with the indefeasible grant of Him who
has promised them, we have believed ourselves worthy, are we to allow
none to the Holy Spirit, as though they were all above His dignity?
It is yours according to your merit to be "ever with the Lords" and
you expect to be caught up" in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air
and to be ever with the Lord." You declare the man who numbers and
ranks the Spirit with the Father and the Son to be guilty of
intolerable impiety. Can you really now deny that the Spirit is with
Christ?
70. I am ashamed to add the rest. You expect to be glorified
together with Christ; ("if so be that we suffer with him that we may
be also glorified together;") but you do not glorify the "Spirit of
holiness" together with Christ, as though He were not worthy to
receive equal honour even with you. You hope to "reign with"
Christ; but you" do despite unto the Spirit of grace" by assigning
Him the rank of a slave and a subordinate. And I say this not to
demonstrate that so much is due to the Spirit in the ascription of
glory, but to prove the unfairness of those who will not ever give so
much as this, and shrink from the fellowship of the Spirit with Son
and Father as from impiety. Who could touch on these things without a
sigh? Is it not so plain as to be within the perception even of a
child that this present state of things preludes the threatened eclipse
of the faith? The undeniable has become the uncertain. We profess
belief in the Spirit, and then we quarrel with our own confessions.
We are baptized, and begin to fight again. We call upon Him as the
Prince of Life, and then despise Him as a slave like ourselves. We
received Him with the Father and the Son, and we dishonour Him as a
part of creation. Those who "know not what they ought to pray for,"
even though they be induced to utter a word of the Spirit with awe, as
though coming near His dignity, yet prune down all that exceeds the
exact proportion of their speech. They ought rather to bewail their
weakness, in that we are powerless to express in words our gratitude
for the benefits which we are actually receiving; for He "passes all
understanding," and convicts speech of its natural inability even to
approach His dignity in the least degree; as it is written in the
Book of Wisdom,' "Exalt Him as much as you can, for even yet
will He far exceed; and when you exalt Him put forth all your
strength, and be not weary, for you can never go far enough."
Verily terrible is the account to be given for words of this kind by
you who have heard from God who cannot lie that for blasphemy against
the Holy Ghost there is no forgiveness.
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