Again, “The fulness of time is come—when they who are willing, receive the adoption, as Paul teaches in these words, Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father! And it is written in the gospel according to St. John, To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name.” Volume I. page 231, 232.
Yet again, “Every one that is born of God, and doth not commit sin, by his very actions saith, Our Father which art in heaven, the Spirit itself bearing witness with their spirit, that they are the children of God.” ibid.
According to Origen therefore, this testimony of the Spirit, is not any publick testimony by miracles, peculiar to the first times, but an inward testimony, belonging in common to all that are born of God. And consequently the authority of Origen does not “confirm that interpretation” neither; but absolutely destroys it.
18. The last authority your Lordship appeals to on this text is, “that of the great John Chrysostom, who reckons the testimony of the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba, Father! among the miraculous gifts of the Spirit.” “I rather chuse (your Lordship adds, page 26.) to refer you to the words of St. Chrysostom, than to transcribe them here, as having almost translated them in the present account of the testimony of the Spirit.”
However, I believe it will not be labour lost to transcribe a few of those words.
It is his comment on the 14th verse, that he first mentions, St. Paul’s comparison between a Jew and a Christian. How fairly your Lordship has represented this, let every reader judge.
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.—“Whereas the same title had been given of old to the Jews also,—he shews in the sequel, how great a difference there is, between that honour and this. For though, says he, the titles are the same, yet the things are not. And he plainly proves it, by comparing both what they had received, and what they looked for. And first he shews what they had received, viz. A Spirit of bondage. Therefore he adds, Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again unto fear: but ye have received the Spirit of adoption. What means the spirit of fear?—*Observe their whole life, and you will know clearly. For punishments were at their heels, and much fear was on every side, and before their face.—But with us it is not so. For our mind and conscience are cleansed, so that we do all things well, not for fear of present punishment, but through our love of God, and an habit of virtue. They therefore, though they were called sons, yet were as slaves; but we, being made free, have received the adoption, and look not for a land of milk and honey, but for heaven.”
*“He brings also another proof, that we have the Spirit of adoption, by which, says he, we cry, Abba, Father.—This is the first word we utter μετὰ τὰς θαυμαστάς ὠδῖνας ἐκείνας, καὶ τὸν ξένον παράδοξον λοχευμάτων νόμον: after those amazing throes (or birth-pangs) and that strange and wonderful manner of bringing forth.”
“He brings yet another proof of the superiority of those who had this Spirit of adoption. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. I prove this, says he, not only from the voice itself, but also from the cause whence that voice proceeds. For the Spirit suggests the words while we thus speak, which he hath elsewhere exprest more plainly, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father! But what is, The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit? He means, the paraclete by the gift given unto us.” (But that this was an extraordinary gift, we have no intimation at all, neither before nor after) *“And when the Spirit beareth witness, what doubt is left? If a man or an angel spake, some might doubt. But when the Most High beareth witness to us, who can doubt any longer?”
Now let any reasonable man judge how far your Lordship has “translated the words of St. Chrysostom? And whether he reckons the testimony of the Spirit among the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost?” Or among those ordinary gifts of the Spirit of Christ, which if a man have not, he is none of his?