Some important truths about conversion, delivered in sundry sermons, / by Increase Mather, D.D.…

Answ. 1. There are outward strivings of the Spirit, e. g. God striveth with men in and by the Ministry of the Word; when he doth afford unto them the outward means of Grace, then he striveth with them, Ne•. 9.30. Thou testifiedst against them by thy Spirit in thy Prophets. It is the holy Spirit that doth gift and send the Ministers of the Word, and accordingly doth breath in their Ministrations. Hence Isaiah saith, Chap. 48.16. The Lord God and his Spirit hath som••ne. And therefore it was that Stephen said to the Jews, You do always resist the holy Ghost; As your Fathers did, so do you, Acts 7.51. You resist the holy Ghost, saith he: The Greek word signifieth to resist after an hostile manner, even as Enemies do resist one another; they took up Arms against Heaven: And ⟨p. 118⟩how was that, but by rebelling against the Voice of God in his holy Prophets? The Jews were disobedient to the Commands of the holy Spirit speaking in the Prophets; & after that speaking in the Apostles, therefore Stephen tells them, that both they and their Fathers resisted the holy Ghost; therefore the holy Spirit doth strive with men, in and by the Ministry of the Word: And this is one thing intended in the Text, by the strivings of the Spirit, which are here spoken of. Hence the Apostle Peter saith, that the Spirit of Christ preached to the Spirits in Prison, which sometimes were disobedient in the days of Noah. Those words of Peter may well allude unto these words of Moses in my Text Those sinners that lived before the Flood, whose Spirits are now in Prison; that is, whose Souls are now in Hell, shut up in the Dungeon of Eternal Darkness; there was a time when the Spirit of Christ did strive with them, namely, in the Ministry of Noah, that Preacher of Righteousness. So likewise by the Ministry of Enoch, and other godly Patriarchs.

Answ. 1. There are outward strivings of the Spirit, e. g. God striveth with men in and by the Ministry of the Word; when he doth afford unto them the outward means of Grace, then he striveth with them, Ne•. 9.30. Thou testifiedst against them by thy Spirit in thy Prophets. It is the holy Spirit that doth gift and send the Ministers of the Word, and accordingly doth breath in their Ministrations. Hence Isaiah saith, Chap. 48.16. The Lord God and his Spirit hath somne. And therefore it was that Stephen said to the Jews, You do always resist the holy Ghost; As your Fathers did, so do you,