Remains of that reverend and learned divine, John Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplain in…Remaines of that reverend and learned divine, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in…

First, you shall know it by that which went before: ¹if the Spirit hath been wrought by the Word, then there will be a deep humiliation wrought in the soul for sin, and then Christ and the Spirit comes into the heart, and begins to cheer up the dejected soul, and strengthens the inward man, and then thereupon there will be a thorough change wrought in the whole man, and it must needs be so; because the nature of the Spirit is, first to pull down what mans corruption hath built; and then to lay down the foundation of the spiritual building, humility; and then after to rear the building of grace in the soul; as for example, if you would know whether the plants ⟨p. 146⟩receive virtue from the Olive or no: then you must know, that first they must be cut off, and then they must be ingrafted in, and then see, whether they have the fatness of the Olive, and then, whether they bear the Olive leaves; so a man that hath not received the Spirit by the word, he shall see it by the ripeness of sins, the corrupt branches, the bitter fruit that comes and is brought forth by him; but on the contrary, if the Word by the Spirit hath cut you down and humbled you throughly in the sight of sin, and then ingrafted you into Christ, by working in you a saving justifying faith: and if it hath then made you fat and well liking in grace, that you have brought forth better fruit then you could before, then certainly the Spirit came into the heart the right way, and works in the right manner: but as I said, it will first humble you by the Word, as in John 16. 8. the Spirit shall reprove the world of ²sin, of righteousness, and of judgement. First, he will reprove them of sin, to humble them. Secondly, ³of righteousness, because they have not ⁴believed the all-sufficiency of Christ. Thirdly, of judgement, that they might change their opinions, ⁵that they might do these things, and bring forth such fruit as is agreeable unto God Will.