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continues, but they would rather starve than gather it. The Spirit is ready, but they are
lazy, he concludes.
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Such people are under a visible administration of the covenant of grace. Christ
often gives them common gifts which he giveth not to the heathen world: knowledge of
the mysteries of godliness; abilities of utterance and speech about spiritual and heavenly
things; some affection also to them, called tasting of the good word, the heavenly gift,
and the powers of the world to come,` Heb. vi. Despite having these common gifts of
superficial Christianity, they lack the real Christianity with special graces.
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Ministers must warn such people of the danger of remaining members of Satan`s
family inwardly while they appear to be members of God`s family. They must plead with
sinners to repent and believe in Christ and trust God`s mercy for adoption. Roger Drake
says, Art thou an alien? O never rest till thou get into a [saving] state of sonship.
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Second, some professing members of the church are under the Spirit of bondage, that
is, those who are under the Holy Spirit`s power to convict of sin but do not as yet have
liberty in Christ. Some Puritans--though by no means all--understand this to mean what
is at times called a preparatory work of grace. Ezekiel Hopkins lays out the essence of
this approach more succinctly; his key thoughts form an apt summary:
(1) The preparatory work of conversion is usually carried on in the soul by legal fears and terrors.
(2) This legal fear is slavish, and engenders bondage.
(3) This slavish fear is wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God, though it be slavish.
(4) When the soul is prepared for the work of grace by the work of conviction, when it is prepared
for comfort by the work of humiliation, the same Spirit, that was before a Spirit of bondage,
becomes now a Spirit of adoption.
(5) To whom the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of adoption, it never more becomes to them a Spirit
of bondage and fear.
(6) A reverential, filial fear of God, may and ought to possess our souls, while the Spirit of God,
who is a spirit of adoption, is, by the clearest evidences, actually witnessing our sonship to us.
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Pastorally, the Puritans advised those who were under the Spirit of bondage of
their danger, their invitation, and their encouragement. Their danger is that they will
perish if they do not take refuge to Christ with penitent faith and come to know the Spirit
of adoption. Their invitation is to come to Christ immediately, confessing their sins--also
the sin of lacking childlike fear. They must ask the Spirit to drive them out of their self-
confidence and cause them to storm the mercy seat. And their encouragement is,
according to Simon Ford, that God will not keep His elect indefinitely in bondage for