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…

The sixth means to get humiliation is this, you must be earnest with God to get the spirit; for this ¹makes the law effectual: the flesh profiteth nothing, ²it is the spirit that quickeneth; the law and the letter of the law will not work grace in you no more then the flesh will, except the spirit go with it: It is the spirit that always enlighteneth the mind and works a change in the whole man, and puts new habits on the faculties, and objects sit for those habits: and here now appears the difference between the Law and the Gospel; nothing will make a man truly humble without the spirit. If the Lord should speak unto you this day as he spake here to Paul, yet if the spirit did not shine into your hearts, it would not be effectual to ⟨p. 227⟩humble you: it is not the word, but the spirit in the word that is able to change you, and make you new creatures, I say, if Elijah should preach unto you, or one in the spirit of Elijah, he would never humble you; except the spirit accompany it, it will be but like the shaking of the earth unto the Jailer, Acts 16. but it must be the spirit that changes your hearts: but when the spirit comes and gives but a glimpse of that light in the soul, then he can cry to Paul, Sirs, what shall we do to be saved? Felix at the preaching of Judgement can tremble, but it is the spirit that opened Lydias hart to believe; I say, if you had Paul, and Elijah, and John Baptist that came in the spirit of Elijah, yet it were nothing worth if you get not the spirit: therefore be ye earnest with God to get the spirit, and never rest till you find him in your soul: and remember that there was a time when the Angel stirred the water at the Poole of Bethesda, that they that first stepped in were healed of what disease soever they had: So there is a time when the Lord turns, and when the spirit moves the heart to good: let us make use of this opportunity, and strike while the Iron is hot, and grind while the the winds blow, and watch every opportunity because the spirit will come and move the heart, as the Angel did the water, that so we may first steppe in and be healed: therefore if you would get humiliation, be earnest for the spirit; and you may have him for asking, ⟨p. 228⟩