Clause 8

Testimonies out of the Prophets and Apostles

Ioel 2.28 And it shall come to passe afterward: I will power out my spirit vpon all flesh, & your sonnes & your daughters shal prophecie: your olde men shall dreame dreames, and your yong men shal see visions: yea and vppon the seruants and maidens in those days, I will powre out my spirit, and I will shewe wonders in the heauen & in the earth: blood, & fire, & pillers of smoke: the sonne it selfe shalbe turned into darkenes & the moone into blood, before the great & terrible day of the Lord come. And further it shal come to passe, that whosoeuer shall cal vpon the name of Iehouah, shall be saued: for in Mount Syon, and Ierusalem shall be deliuerance, as the Lorde hath saide, and in the remnant whome the Lorde shall call. Actes 2.16.17. But this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Ioel, And it shall be in the last day, saith God, I will powre out of my spirite vppon all fleshe, and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophecie &c. Esay 59.20 21. And the redeemer shall come to Syon, and vnto them, that turne from iniquitie in Iacob, saith Iehouah, and I will make this my couenant with them, my spirit, that is vpon thee, & my words which I haue put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of the seed of thy seed, saith the Lord, frō hence forth euen for euer. Ioh. 14. verses 16.17.18.19. &c. I will pray the father, and he shall giue you an other comforter, that hee may abide with you for euer, euen the spirite of trueth whome the worlde can not receiue, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but yee knowe him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leaue you fatherles: but I will come to you, yet a little while, and the worlde shall see me no more, but ye shall see mee: because I liue, ye shall liue also. At that day shall yee know that I am in my father, and you in me, and I in you. Manie moe testimonies were aledged, when wee entreated of the trinitie.

The meaning of this article

I Beleeue that the holy Ghost is verie true & euerlasting God, and of the same substance together with the father and the son, and yet notwithstanding a person distinct from both, as proceeding from them both. And therefore forasmuch as he is verie God, I place my confidence and trust in him, as in the father and in yᵉ sonne, and I trust in him that he will worke al, that in me, being emptie of all good, that hee himself hath promised in his word, & for which cause he is sent of the father & the sonne. Now his effectes they are many and diuerse. For first of all he is giuen, that he may witnes the loue of the father in our hearts, Gal. 4. & that he may lighten the eyes of our minde with the knowledge of Christ: & that through faith he may so engraft me into Christ as a brāch into yᵉ vine & may make me a partaker of Christ, & al his benefits, Ioh. 15. This coniunction with Christ & his benefits, which the holy ghost doeth worke in vs, yᵉ scripture doth expresse with great force when he saith, yᵗ the holy ghost doeth sprinkle vs with the blood of Christ, 1. Pet 1. doth make vs members of Christ, 1. Cor. 6. doth feede vs wᵗ Christ, Ioh. 6. doth make vs drinke of Christ, 1. Cor. 10. & the 12. and doth build vs vpon Christ. Eph. 2. In which the office and end of the holy ghost giuen vnto vs, is shewed, yᵗ through faith it may most neerely knit vs vnto Christ, and may work yᵉ like things both in yᵉ mēbers & head, seing it is yᵉ same spirit, yᵗ is to say, yᵉ very same life & glory, Rom. 8. I beleeue yᵗ the holy ghost as the true & very God wil worke these thinges in me, which he hath promised vnto me yᵗ beleue; euē as these his peculiar epithetons & names do declare: that he is yᵉ water flowing vnto euerlasting life, Iohn. 4.7. A water which shal cleanse me, Ezek. 36. 1. Corinthians, 6. An annoynting which shal remaine in vs, 1. Iohn. 2. the seale and earnest of inheritance: in all which it is promised vnto vs that he is giuen vnto vs to comforte vs in all aduersities, to helpe vs in our infirmities, to make intercession for vs with sighes and grones that can not be expressed, (forasmuch as we knowe not to pray as we ought) and so that he be our true comforte or aduocate, who suffereth not vs to be destitute of his counsaile and helpe, but handleth our cause himselfe, to the ende he may be in vs and remaine with vs for euer, Iohn. 16. To him I trust, to him I wholy deliuer my selfe to be gouerned, comforted, and quickened in the father, and in Iesus Christe his sonne, who through the holie Ghost make their abiding with vs.

The applying of this doctrine to the couenant of grace

That same euerlasting couenant that God hath stricken with Abraham, the Sonne of God in mans nature, taken of the seede of Abrahā hath confirmed, by satisfying the righteousnes of God perfectly, in manner as I haue confessed in the former articles of faith. Nowe it resteth that the holie Ghost engraffe vs into Christ through faith the true seed of Abraham, and so powre out that blessing, promised to Abraham and his seede vpon vs, and by the earnest of an euerlasting inheritance. Paule saith in the third to the Galathians, that in the Gentiles the blessing of Abraham is extant in Christ Iesus, that we might receaue the promise of the spirit through faith. And a little after, Now to Abraham and to his seede were the promises made, he saith not, & to the seedes, as speaking of many: but, and to thy seede (as of one) which is Christ. Also, And if yee be Christs, then are yee Abrahams seede & heires by promise: And Rom. 9.8.2. Cor. 1.21.22.

How the holy Ghost is giuen, and howe we know whether we haue it or no

The holy Ghost is giuen by the ministery of the Gospel as by an ordinary meane. Gal. 3. This onely would I learne of you, receiued ye the spirit by the works of the lawe, or by the hearing of faith preached? Also Ephesi. 1. verse 13. and 1. Cor. 12. verse 13. Now thou shalt knowe by the working of the holy Ghost that thou art a partaker of the holy Ghost. For euen like as thou seest not the winde, but dost feele his operation: so the holy Ghost is knowen by his working, as Christ teacheth Iohn 3. These are the principall and chiefe workes of the holy ghost in vs: faith, inuocation, & grones. 1. Cor. 12. No man can say, Lord Iesus, but by the holy Ghost: and the 2. Cor. 4. because we haue the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written: I beleeue and therfore I speake: so we also beleeue, and for that cause we also speake. Ro. 8. Because we are sonnes, therefore God hath giuen the spirit of the sonne into our heartes, by which we crie Abba Father. And in the same place; The spirit maketh intercession for vs, with grones that cannot be vttered. Besides these, the being displeased with our selues, and the hatred of sinne, or rather the battell against sinne is a sure, and vndoubted token yᵗ we haue the holie Ghost, & that we are ingraffed into Christ. For the flesh fighteth not against it selfe. Rom, 8. There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus, which walke not after flesh, but after the spirite.