The whole works of the Rev John Howe Author:John Howe Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SERMON II. have proposed in order to the explication of the text, these three things, 1 To consider the product here spoken of, under the name of the Spirit. ... more »2 The productive cause or the divine parent, to which this birth owes itself; The spirit. 3. The kind of the production expressed here by being born, or begotten. We have already spoken to the first of those, and proceed now to the II. The productive cause, which is here styled, in an em- phatieal sense, the Spirit. This name being spoken of the spirit, is commonly observed and known to be taken two ways, either essentially, or personally: essentially, so it signifies the nature of God ; the pure perfect spirituality of that blessed Spirit : So it is said, John 4. 24. God is a Spirit. But most irequently it is taken in the other sense, personally; that is, to signify the person known by that name; the third in the Godhead who by eternal spiration proceeds from the Father and Son. That which I at present design is to speak of this blessed Spirit, the parent of this great production, as such ; gnd therefore shall not so much discourse to you concerning the Spirit absolutely considered ; as in this relation, or as the author of this work wrought in the spirits of men. What we are to conceive of it, as it is a subsistence in the Godhead; or what its agency and operations may be, between the Father and Son ; or what the kind and nature of that eternal Spirit is, and by what way it collectively proceeds from both, we are left very much in the dark, as being things of less concernment to us. But what is of more importance to us, we find more clearly, and expressly spoken of, that is, how we are to con- Preached December 5th, 1677. at Cordwaincr's Hall. sider it in relation to the creation. And so we are taught most evid...« less