23. The students of modern orthodoxy object, that faith, charity, good works, repentance, remission of sins, etc., cannot be given with a man, before he has received the Holy Spirit. But, as has been shown, the Holy Spirit is the Divine which proceeds from the Lord; and the Lord is perpetually present with every man, the evil as well as the good. Without His presence, no one can live; and the Lord constantly acts, urges, and strives to be received; wherefore, the presence of the Holy Spirit is perpetual. For the sake of confirmation, this was proved in the spiritual world, in the case of a certain devil, by the removal from him of the Lord's presence. And the devil lay dead, exactly like a corpse. Thousands from among the spirits and the clergy saw this, and were thunderstruck. From the Lord's perpetual presence, man has the faculty of thinking, understanding, and willing. These faculties are solely from the influx of life from the Lord. Both Melancthon and Luther were present, and they could not open their lips.
