The Cause of Good Works.--Cap. XIII.
This our faith, and the assurance of the same, proceeds not from flesh and blood, that is to say, from no natural powers within us, but is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Him we confess God, equal with the Father and with the Son; who sanctifieth us, and bringeth us into all truth by His own operation; without Him we should remain for ever enemies to God, and ignorant of His Son, Christ Jesus. For of nature we are so dead, so blind, and so perverse, that neither can we feel when we are pricked, see the light when it shines, nor assent to the will of God when it is revealed; only the Spirit of the Lord Jesus quickeneth that which is dead, removeth the darkness from our minds, and boweth our stubborn hearts to the obedience of His blessed will. As we confess that God the Father created us when we were not, and as His Son, our Lord Jesus, redeemed us when we were enemies to Him, so also do we confess that the Holy Ghost does sanctify and regenerate us, altogether without respect to any merit proceeding from us, be it before, or be it after our regeneration. In more plain words, as we willingly spoil ourselves of all honour and glory of our own creation and redemption, so do we also of our regeneration and sanctification: for of ourselves we are not sufficient to think one good thought; but He who has begun the good work in us is only He that continueth us in the same, to the praise and glory of His undeserved grace.
The cause of good works we therefore confess to be, not our freewill, but the Spirit of the Lord Jesus; who, dwelling in our hearts by true faith, brings forth such good works as God hath prepared for us to walk in: for we most boldly affirm, that it is blasphemy to say that Christ Jesus abides in the hearts of such as in whom there is no Spirit of sanctification. And therefore we fear not to affirm, that murderers, oppressors, cruel persecutors, adulterers, whoremongers, filthy persons, idolaters, drunkards, thieves, and all workers of iniquity, have neither true faith, nor any portion of the Spirit of sanctification, which proceedeth from the Lord Jesus, so long as they obstinately continue in their wickedness. For how soon that ever the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, which God's elect children receive by true faith, takes possession in the heart of any man, so soon does He regenerate and renew the same man; so that he begins to hate that which before he loved, and begins to love that which before he hated; and from thence comes that continual battle which is betwixt the flesh and the Spirit in God's children; while the flesh and natural man, according to its own corruption, lusts for things pleasing and delectable unto itself, grudges in adversity, is lifted up in prosperity, and at every moment is prone and ready to offend the Majesty of God. But the Spirit of God, which giveth witness to our spirit that we are the sons of God, makes us to resist the Devil, to abhor filthy pleasures, to groan in God's presence for deliverance from this bondage of corruption; and finally, so to triumph over sin that it reign not in our mortal bodies. Carnal men, being destitute of God's Spirit, have not this battle; these do follow and obey sin with greediness, and without repentance, even as the Devil and their corrupt lusts do prick them. But the sons of God, as before is said, do fight against sin, do sob and mourn, when they perceive themselves tempted to iniquity: and, if they fall, they rise again with earnest and unfeigned repentance. And these things they do not by their own power; but the power of the Lord Jesus, without whom they were able to do nothing, worketh in them all that is good.