Divine Drops Distilled from the Fountain of Holy Scripture, Part 16
Expoſitions and Obſervations on EPHESIANS 3. 20.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
THe Apoſtle ends his Prayer for the Epheſians in a general manner, with a kinde of Thankſgiving. Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly according to the power that worketh in us.
According to the power that worketh in us.
There is a mighty power that worketh in the Saints; and you ſhall ſee that power Epheſ. 1. 19. ſaith he, I deſire that you may know what is the exceeding greatneſs of his power to us-ward that believe, according to the working of his mighty power. It is not weakneſs, but power, and not a ſmall power, but a mighty power, a great power, an exceeding great mighty power. That worketh in you. The Saints are ſtrong creatures. If you ask, what this power is? you ſhall ſee in the verſe following; The power which wrought in Chriſt when he raiſed him from the dead, and ſet him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principalities and powers, &c. That is, the power of his holy Spirit that dwells in us; greater is he that dwelleth in us, then he that dwelleth in the world. We have a greater power in us, then can be from the world, or hell againſt us. And that power is illuſtrated here by the raiſing of Ieſus from the dead, and ſetting him up in heavenly places. There was no active power that ever God expreſſed, that can be compared to that of raiſing Chriſt from the dead; It was a power, and a great power, and Gods power too to make this world, and it is a power to preſerve it: but that power is not comparable to this, when Jeſus Chriſt was dead, under the curſe of the Law, and under the wrath of God, and under all our ſins, under the malice of men, and under a great ſtone that was rowled on him, and for a dead man to be raiſed up through all thoſe oppoſitions of heaven, and earth, and hell, and to be ſet in peace at the right hand of glory, and majeſtie on high. It muſt be an exceeding great power.
The Saints do not conſider what ſtrength they have, If thou didſt conſider what ſtrength thou haſt in thee, thou wouldeſt not be afraid to hear a Croſs, thou wouldſt not be diſcouraged to attempt any work for God, thou wouldeſt not be diſmaied at the threatnings of men, no, nor at the temptations of the devil: there is ſuch an exceeding great and mighty power that works in them that believe.
This power, is the power of the Spirit of God; for that is the power of the moſt High; the holy Ghoſt ſhall overſhadow thee, and the power of the moſt High ſhall come upon thee. The holy Ghoſt is the power of God which dwelleth in the Saints. And therefore my aime is to faſten that word on you, and to ſhew you how you come ſhort of that life, and ſtrength, and grace, that otherwiſe you might have, for want of magnifying, and exalting the Spirit of God, which is the Conduit, the Intelligencer, that which brings light, and life, and ſtrength to our ſouls from God. The Spirit of God is lightly eſteemed, therefore we have little grace: a low eſteem of the Spirit will keep a Saint low all his days.
I thought to have inſtanced in a few things wherein you undervalue the Spirit. One is, that you do not hearken enough, nor regard, and obſerve enough the teaching of the Spirit of God; and that is one cauſe why we are left to our ſelves, and do ſo often miſs the will of God. For I know not (according to the Covenant of Grace) why a Saint ſhould at any time miſs the will of God, but that he doth not obſerve his Leader; For I will give you the Spirit (ſaith Chriſt) that ſhall lead you into all truth: Now if you obſerve not this Leader, this Teacher, it is very juſt that you ſhould be left to wander, and go out of the way.
If a Chriſtian would obſerve his way, and obſerve his leader, a Chriſtian might eaſily finde when he is in, and when he is out; for truly, if a man would ask himſelf, Why did I miſs the will of God ſo often, ſince I have ſuch a Teacher promiſed me, and given me by Chriſt? he muſt needs ſay, that oftentimes I did not obſerve him, I did not hearken to him, I hearkened only to men, and not to the Spirit of God. And ſo he would eaſily finde, when he began to give over harkning where he left the teaching of the Spirit; for in my apprehenſion a Saint follows the holy Ghoſt with a kinde of ſagacity (if I may compare it with reverence) juſt as we ſee the Dog follow the Hare: there is ſomething in Nature that the Dog knows which way the Hare went, when a wiſer creature knows not: ſo, there is ſomething in a poor Saint, that when all the wiſe men in the world know not which way God went, a Saint can tell: OnelyOnly the Dog may hunt upon a cold ſent, and think the Hare went that way, and it grows colder and colder, and he miſſeth: So a Saint ſhall finde when he miſſeth the will of God, that the Spirit of God hath not left him, unleſs it be very rare, as the Spirit left Chriſt to be tempted in the wilderneſs, ſo he may leave thee to pull down thy pride, and to humble thee, Iſay, that is rare: but ordinarily, the Spirit leaves not thee, but thou letteſt goe thy leader, and thou goeſt all the while on a cold ſent. A Saint, though he headlong follows this, or that conceit, yet notwithſtanding he may know when he comes to look upon himſelf; ſurely I went upon a cold ſent in thoſe things: though I followed them headlong, and giddily, it was not of the Spirit, it was not the ſame teaching that I had ordinarily. Therefore obſerve your leader, hearken to the Spirit of God: If God give you him as a maſter, he expects that his children ſhould learn, and ſee when you go in the way of the Spirit of God, and you may eaſily finde that, if you will avoid headlongneſs, and giddineſs, and raſhneſs.
I ſpeak not this as if the Spirit were contrary to the Word, as ſome men to advance the Spirit, ſet the Word and Spirit by the ears; but the Spirit leads by the Word.
That which I chiefly intended to ſhew you, was The power of the Spirit ſet out in four things.to give you a few inſtances, that you may have a little light, to ſee the exceeding greatneſs of the power of the Spirit working in you. I ſhall not ſhew in all reſpects, nor in many, as I might, but onelyonly in a few. I will inſtance in theſe three or four things. As firſt, 1. In dictating a world of prayers to us.that you may ſee the greatneſs of his power, what a world of prayers doth the Spirit of God put into thy heart, that thou art never able to utter with thy mouth? All the wiſdom in the world cannot make one ſpiritual petition; we may make forms of Prayer; but now the Spirit of God, that knoweth the minde of God (as the Apoſtle ſaith) that maketh prayers according to the will of God, and he prayes with ſighs and groans unutterable. I ſpeak to them that know the working of the Spirit: how many thouſand prayers doth God put into thy heart that it is impoſſible for thee to utter with thy mouth? Thou canſt not ſpeak to God one petition of fourty that the Spirit puts into thy heart. That ſome conceive to be the meaning of that in Rom. 8. The Spirit prays with ſighes unutterable, not becauſe of our weakneſs, but becauſe of their ſtrength, and they are ſo numerous, they are ſo many, that when a poor Saint goes to pray, one petition ſtops another, and throngs it out that he cannot utter it.
If the Lord ſhould hear only thoſe prayers that thou makeſt with thy mouth, thou wouldeſt be but a poor man, but the Lord reſpects the prayers of the heart: Therefore I ſay, to have power to make one prayer, and to have ſuch innumerable ſighes and groans in the ſoul too, it muſt be an exceeding great power.
Secondly, conſider this, how much the Spirit of 2. In ſupplying us when we pray not.God doth for thee, and in thee, that thou never prayedſt for, nor never couldeſt pray for, no, not ſo much as in heart. If the Lord did anſwer all the prayers of heart and tongue, that we make throughout all the year, a man would think that were a great matter; but ſurely they are ſo few, conſidering our wants, and they are ſo confuſed and blinde, that I am confident, if God ſhould deal with thy ſoul and mine, according to our prayers all the year, we ſhould be miſerable creatures all our lives. God exerciſeth us to pray, and many of them he anſwers in their kinde, and he is pleaſed with our obedience in every thing: but ſurely, God hath a higher rule of doing us good, and the Spirit of God works in a more methodicall, and wiſe, and merciful, and bleſſed way, then we can pray. I have ſometimes wondred that God hath made promiſes to anſwer many prayers that we make; but I wonder more that God ſhould grant things that we pray not for. This is the exceeding greatneſs of his power.
Thirdly, conſider the exceeding greatneſs of his 3. By teaching us inwardly▪power in this reſpect, in his teaching, how the Spirit of God teacheth his people and ſervants, he teacheth them above what they are taught outwardly by men. As thus, Caſt with thy ſelf, ſuppoſe thou hadſt every Sermon that thou haſt heard in thy life, and every Lecture that thou haſt heard on the week days, and on the Lords day, that thou hadſt them in order and method, ſuppoſe they were written in thy heart, and freſh in thy memory, that thou didſt underſtanding and remember every Sermon that thou haſt heard (which no man doth) a man would think ſuch a one to be a very knowing man. Truly if thou hadſt it ſo, thou mighteſt be a miſerable, confuſed, blinde man for all that, for all that ever thou haſt heard preached, thou mighteſt be a blinde creature: for alas! our teaching comes with ſo much weakneſs and droſs with it, and one ſaith, and another unſaith; and if we conſider it in a natural way we ſhall never be made knowing men by all outward teaching in the world. But now the Spirit of God comes in, and he is pleaſed indeed to make uſe of it, that we ſhall teach outwardly; but alas! the Spirit of God reads ſuch a Lecture in the heart of a Saint, and clears things, and orders things, and aſſures things, and ſettles things that are right, and diſcovers things that are not, and inlargeth, and ſweetens, and quickens them, that it may be a man in hearing one Sermon of an hour long, may be taught more, then another man in hearing Sermons ſeven years together. This is the exceeding greatneſs of the power of the Spirit of God; that truly (beloved) I have often thought with my ſelf (I ſpeak not to diſparage our teaching, and your hearing, but) our coming to teach, and you to hear, it is as your ſending your little children to School, to keep their cloaths clean, and to keep them from play, they learn nothing (in a manner) for your money, onelyonly they are obedient to their Parents, and are quiet, and are in the School where teaching is. So you come to hear, and we to teach; but all our teaching in a manner is by the Spirit of God. Therefore it is a wonderful thing to ſee how quickly the Spirit of God will make a Schollar ripe; how in a quarter of a year, nay, in a monethmonth almoſt the Spirit of God will fill him with all ſpirituall learning, whereas the beſt preacher in the world, let him Preach conciſely and exactly in a natural way, he ſhall not teach him the tenth part: Nay, we reach you, we preach it may be four or five Sermons, and we open it as well we can, poor earthen creatures, and when we come to look on it a quarter of a year after, we finde that thoſe notions that it may be were ſo confuſed and poor while we were teaching you, that there is a glorious piece made in your ſouls, by the Spirit of God, though our Notes when they were done, were ſcarce worth the burning, we are ſo poor and frail in teaching, and you in your outward hearing, therefore there is an exceeding great power that works in you that believe.
Fourthly, and laſtly, (for I ſpeak this to inhaunce, and 4 By working our works in and for us.advance the Spirit of God, as Paul ſaith, we are not debters to the fleſh, but to the Spirit, you ow more to the Spirit then you are aware of, conſider in all the good that you do, in all the good works that you do, how wonderful paſsive you are in the doing of them. We have a ſaying, It holds true, I gainſay it not in a ſort, that a man in converſion is paſſive, and afterwards he is active, that is, God in a mans converſion works on a man as a dead creature, only he is rational, but he ſuffers and works not with God, but when he is converted, then a man hath a principle of life. God works, and man works, man works with God, and it is a true compariſon, we were then paſsive, now we are active. But in reſpect of the principle, by which we move, and walk: truely a Chriſtian may ſay, I am altogether paſsive in a manner in all that I do. God carries a mans tongue to ſpeak, and his hands to work, and his feet to walk, God carries a man in good many times, and glorifies himſelf many times, and a man knows not how in the world he comes to do it, or why he did it, or how he came about it; ſo God doth many glorioous things by us, and we are not aware, This is the Lord, this is the greatneſs of his power.
God in ſome actions, he either carries a man, and doth his work by a man, without a man (as it were) or elſe he doth it above him. There is no good almoſt that thou doeſt, but thou ſhalt clearly ſee that it is above thee, that it is God, thou wert never able to ſpeak, or to do or to go through any ſuch thing, but the Lord went through with it. It may be ſome of you underſtand not what it is to do a thing without you, it is too ſpiritual; but there are Chriſtians that may, and can ſay, God did it without me, I was as a block, I know not how, I was ſcarce active with God, God did all. O great and glorious is that power, look which way you will, what that power is in changing thy nature, in deſtroying old Adam, what that power is in reſiſting temptations, what that power is in wreſtling, and prevailing with God, what that power is to uphold thee in the wicked world, and to preſerve thee to the laſt day. Conſider it every way: it is great, wondrous, glorious, and mighty, and exceeding mighty is that power that works in them that believe, even the power of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit is called power, Power it ſelf (as it were) not that I deny the perſon of the Spirit thereby, as if the Spirit were nothing but the energy or working of God, that is not the meaning; but he is called power, becauſe (as it were) he is nothing but power, whatſoever he doth, he doth powerfully, and gloriouſly, and effectually; Angels work in little, common, outward things; marke the difference between the aſſiſtance of the Spirit, and of Angels. The Angels are miniſtring ſpirits ſent out to wait upon the Saints. How do Angels work for us? Angels make not prayers in us, Angels never ſubdue one ſin in me, they can never bring peace to my conſcience, and ſoul; Angels converſe not in ſpiritual things, but in outward things; Angels keep thee that thou daſh not thy foot againſt a ſtone, they keep thee from breaking thy neck, they keep fire from thine houſe; but ſpiritual things are done by the Spirit of God: the exceeding greatneſs of power is by the Spirit. Therefore conſider of this word, be not ſuch poor, low-hearted creatures, to be afraid of every ill, and to be diſcouraged from going about any good thing. I ſay, conſider the power that dwels in you, and indeavor to give glory to God, to magnify the bleſſed Spirit, that works in you, to admire it, for the more you admire the Spirit, the more vile you will be in your ſelves, and the viler you are in your ſelves that you attribute all to the Spirit, the more glory God ſhall have, and then things will be as they ſhould be, in the beſt order for God and man.