let down into his heart and another all is drawn up into heaven again His Evidences may be blurred Satan may hold up his pardoned Sins as it were in their old guilt the Arrows of God may stick fast in him and bring qualms and sick-fits upon his Conscience But at that day his Comforts shall be unvariable a nightless Day and a cloudless Horizon an eternal feast upon God and all things in him his Evidences all clear and after but this once shewing forth an everlasting possession of the expected Happiness The Accuser Satan shall be struck dumb at the blessed sentence of pardon and acceptance pronounced by God before Men and Angels God shall never frown or wound him any more but wrap him up in the arms of endless love and joy This will be a day of refreshing indeed Thus much of the perfection of this holy fruit Fifthly The last thing is the excellency of it God himself writes upon the Justified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Blessed one Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Pal. 32.1 or as the original Blessednesses is he there is not one single Happiness but a cluster of Beatitudes in this estate Some of these I shall gather off from this Vine First The Justified person hath God for his God these two I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and I will be their God stand in conjunction in the Covenant of Grace Hebr. 8.10 and 12 verses God say the Jewish Rabbins hath the key of the Womb the key of the Grave the key of the Rain and the key of the Heart all that is in the Creation is at his dispose The Justified man hath as I may say a key into God himself He may unlock infinite Treasures and say These everlasting Arms which bear up the World are mine for protection These All-seeing Eyes which guide every wheel in Nature are mine for direction Those immense Bowels which cover all the Creation embrace and sold me up in special Love Those two all-comprizing words My God are in truth utterable by none but such as he is God is called the God of Abraham Isaack and Jacob. Cujus omnes gentes sunt quasi trium hominum Deus esset saith St. Austine as if the Great Lord of all things were appropriated to those three Men. Such honour have all Justified ones God is their own and to make this sure they have bonds and bills under Gods own hand they can in one Promise shew a title to his Power and in another to his Mercy and in a third to his Wisdom and in that I will be their God They can lay a just claim to all that is in him which what it amounts unto is more than the tongue of Men and Angels can express Secondly The Justified person hath Christ for his own When the covetous King of Egypt built an house for his great Treasures the cunning Architect left a loose Stone in the building that so he might have free access thereinto What entrance he had by craft into the Egyptian Treasures that Justified persons have by a fair grant into all the unsearchable riches of Christ Merit Spirit Life Death Righteousness Redemption Fulness Glory all that is in Christ is their own If his Righteousness can stand before God so will they If his Blood can wash away sin they shall be without spot or wrinckle at the Great day If his glorious over-measure of the Spirit cannot fail no more will their supplies of Grace If he ascended up into Heaven it was to prepare a place for them If he make Intercession above they must have access to the Throne of Grace If he sit at the Right-hand of Power and Majesty all their enemies must be made their foot-stool Oh! infinite enjoyment Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither can it enter into mans heart what the total sum of this is Thirdly The Justified man hath a rare priviledge in his Holy duties He hath assistance from access unto and acceptance with the great God in these He hath assistance from him Whilest he stands offering up holy Services fire comes down from heaven upon the Sacrifice The Holy Spirit inflames his heart towards God opening it in Hearing melting it in Alms and pouring it out in Prayer So that in some sence he offers up his Duties as Christ did himself through the eternal Spirit enlivening and impowering him thereunto His voyage to Heaven lies through a tract of various Duties but it never fares with him in these as it did with Sir Hugh Willoughby in his Voyage to Moscovy in which he was by extream Frosts frozen to death The warm influences of Grace keep him from freezing in this divine enterprize His heart which seeks the Lord in his waies shall live and to make it sure our Saviour saies expresly because I live ye shall live also Joh. 14.19 His life is hid with Christ As long as Christ the Head is alive above the Members below shall never fail of quickening grace in their addresses to God Again he hath access unto God in them A man under guilt cannot approach unto God no more than fallen Origen casting his eye upon that of the Psalmist What but thou to do to declare my Word could tell how to Preach but the Justified man may draw near unto him because his heart is sprinckled from an evil Conscience The guilt which would have made him shie of God is done away in Christs blood Whilst others are but in the outward Court in the opus operatum the work done he may enter into the Holy of Holies into communion with God the Holy Spirit conducts him thither through the vail of Christs flesh Moreover which is the crown of all he hath acceptance with God God had respect to Abel and to his offering Gen. 4.4 such a respect as to bear witness to his righteousness by some visible sign as fire from heaven consuming the Sacrifice The justified man is in his measure as Daniel a man of Desires and as the Blessed Virgin graced or highly favoured His Prayers make melody in heaven his Alms are the savour of a sweet-smell he doth not lose so much as a cup of cold water nor shut a door of sense against an approaching Temptation in vain There is a well-pleasingness in all his Services as being ushered forth from the heart into the hand of the Mediatour and there richly perfuned for the Father though as they lie in our hearts there be much smoak and mixture of weakness in them yet as they are in the hand of Christ they are glorified duties acceptable to God through Jesus Christ Fourthly The Justified man hath more of the sweetness of life and its outward Comforts than others He hath more of the sweetness of life than others The Jewish Doctours treating about the estimation of Persons mentioned Levit. 27. say That if a man be adjudged to death for his transgression he is not to be valued
Here am I Isa 58.9 as if he were always at hand to answer the request Thirdly Adoption ushers in an Heavenly freedom whilest the Law is only without in the letter and the terrors of Sinai flash in the Conscience the man with his old heart of enmity drudges in the ways of God and brings forth all his Duties as the Bond-woman did her Son in the power of nature in a dead carnal servile manner Moses with the cords of Hell and Death drags the outward man to this and that Duty but old Adam with his lusts reigning within holds back the love and the joy and the delight from the work all renders to bondage till Adoption come and spirit him for holy things Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts Gal. 4.6 The same Spirit which led the Humane Nature of Christ into all Sinless Obedience leads the Adopted into a true willingness to all the Ways of God that Spirit engraves a Law within answering the outward one and inspires such a Divine Love as casts out the Bond woman and her Son I mean the servile fears and services the Will is set upon the wheels of Faith and Love and the Duties are brought forth in the power of Grace and of the Promise that Promise I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes Ezek. 36.27 is sweetly experimented in every act of Obedience this glorious and almost Angelical freedom grows upon Adoption and no where else no will of man ever seemed out such a thing should any man go about to strike it out of his own power it would fare with him as it did with the person reported of by one of the Jewish Rabbies who in the night lighted his Candle and it went out lighted it again and again and still it went out at last weary of such vain labours he resolved with himself to wait for the Sun Such an one may strike and strike again to fetch such a liberty out of his own will but at last the Conclusion must be If the Son make us free we shall be free indeed Joh. 8.36 and Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 Fourthly Adoption brings us into sweet Communion with God thus the Apostle I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people 2 Cor. 6.16 I will dwell in them and walk in them who can express it In the Sons of God there is an Ark with the Tables of the Law in it and a Sanctuary with the Shechinah or Divine Majestly in it Gods gracious presence is Spiritual shew-bread and his Love burns upon the heart as the fire that came down from Heaven upon the Altar when they are sacrificing in holy Duties God doth wonderfully by his quickening and elevating influences and when they are suffering in the briers and flames of affliction God is in the Bush supporting and preserving them if Conscience breaths sweetness and peace God is in the still voice if their Graces be set forth God is a supping with them nay if there be but a poor spirit and weak desires God will sup with these the holy light and integrity in their heart is a kind of Vrim and Thummim to direct them and the Heavenly motions and inspirations are as it were a Bath Kol a voice from Heaven for their instruction in a word all the appearances of God in the worldly Sanctuary and outward Symbols of Glory under the Old Testament are spiritually accomplished under the New in the Adopted who are an habitation of God through the Spirit Fifthly Adoption assures protection and provision Israel Gods own People had a Pillar of Cloud and a Pillar of Fire to defend them and these Pillars are still in the Church though not always visible God hath said it That he will create upon her a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night upon all the glory shall be a defence Isa 4.5 Rather than his Adopted ones who carry his Glory about them shall want a defence he will put forth an act of Creation Israel when in the Wilderness had Bread from Heaven and Water out of the Rock and to the upright God saith Their Bread shall be given them and their Waters shall be sure Isa 33.16 Rather than fail He will make rivers in the desert to give drink to his People Isa 43.20 When there 's a pinch in the Kingdom of Nature his own Family and Houshold shall be provided for The young Linons may lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing Psal 34.10 That Distich Est Deus in coelo qui providus omnia curat Credentes nusquam deseruisse potest Was a Cordial to Musculus in his streights Faith fears no Famine neither shall the Adopted feel any Sixthly Adoption carries with it Perseverance Once a Son of God by Adoption and ever so One of the Jewish Doctors Commenting on that excellent passage With thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light Psal 36. saith That the Israelites were made free by Moses and then brought into bondage again and made free by Barak and divers others and yet brought into bondage again at last they shall be saved by the Lord their God with an eternal Salvation that is by the Messiah If meer notions make us free we shall be in bondage again if Church-priviledges make us free we shall be in bondage again but if Adopting Grace make us free we shall ever be so God hath said nay sworn to Jesus Christ His seed and such are all the Adopted shall endure for ever and his throne part whereof is in their hearts as the Sun before me Psal 89.36 and to make them endure the holy Spirit is in them a well of water springing up to everlasting life Joh. 4.14 and to secure the abode of the Spirit with them Christ is a Priest after the power of an endless life Heb. 7.16 Nay though they break his statutes and thereby bring the rod upon their backs yet God hath promised Not to take away his loving kindness nor suffer his faithfulness to fail Psal 89.33 Upon such unshaken foundations do the Sons of God stand Seventhly Adoption makes them heirs of Heaven Though they may lye among the pots and in the eyes of the World be the refuse and off-scouring of all things yet are they heirs of Glory thus the Apostle If children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 That Glory which Christ hath purchased shall they be brought into that Heavenly Inheritance which is sealed without in the Promise is inwardly assured to them by the Seal of the Spirit which by holy impresses marks them out for Heaven and is a sure earnest in their hearts that the whole sum of glory shall be paid to them above each of them
of Gods Countenance towards me and lye down in the dismal borders of Hell and Death How can I do it Such a restraint as this is a degree of Mortification Sin begins to die when such chains and manacles as these are cast upon it Secondly Faith doth not only restrain the outward acts of Sin but strikes at the life of it that is the love thereof and to this end Faith clearly demonstrates that Sin is not eligible or an object fit for an Humane Will Sin shews it self as eligible many ways but Faith destroys all those eligibilities Take Sin as meer Sin in the abstract and so it is evil and only evil and as the Schools generally determine Sub ratione mali it is not it cannot be eligible at all and yet even in the notion of meer Sin it becomes eligible Sub ratione convenientiae as it is congruous to the corrupt Heart of Man The Socinian and Pelagian Errors are welcome meerly as Parasites to the pride of Reason and Will In Sins of Omission the very neglect gratifies Mans aversness from good in Sins of Commission the very violation of the Law complies with his enmity thereunto Saint Austin in his Confessions Lib. 2 cap. 4. says That he stole Apples that he might Frui non re ipsa sed furto that he was Gratis malus amavit defectum suum casting away the Apples he feasted on the iniquity or if he took any of them into his mouth Condimentum facinus erat Sin was the only fawce thereof Man drinketh in iniquity like water the very sinfulness is connatural This eligibility before Faith must needs be very strong for to Man in the pride and self-flattery of Nature nothing is sweeter or dearer than to walk in the way of his Heart as absolute unaccountable Lord of all his Actions but when Faith comes then it clearly appears that the corrupt Heart into which Sin insinuates by congruity is too vile a thing to be gratified it steals away from holy Duties plays false after fair promises hatches treason and rebellion against God and like a common Strumpet prostitutes it self to every temptation that passes by to gratifie it is to feed a disease or vicious humour satisfie a grave or gulf of inordinate desires put the darling Soul into the mouth of Satan and desperately leap into the bottomless pit that corruption to which Sin is so grateful is an accursed thing destinated by the Gospel to be crucified and slain without mercy and those reliques of it which after the greatest mortifications remain are to be mourned and groaned under as the heaviest burden in the world What the Jewish fringes did typifie that the Christians Faith operates in keeping men from seeking after their own heart but to go on take sin not as meer sin but in the dress of some apparent good let it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a well-circumstanced Sin as a learned man takes that place Heb. 12.1 flowing in riches or rowling in sensual pleasures or holding forth Crowns and Scepters and all Mundane glory nay if it were possible let it invest it self with a Creation all the lower World cannot make it eligible to Faith Set down a World if Faith substract but a God or a Soul what will remain but infinite damage those treasures which glitter so much to dark sense are to Faith but poor rusty moth-eaten things that which is substance to the World is to Faith but a shadow an apparition a thing that is not a mark too low for an Immortal Soul to fly at These things at present and in the Now-World seem something but if Faith look through the World unto the universal conflagration and beyond it to the World to come what will they signifie Are they able to survive those last flames or purchase any thing in the World to come Surely just nothing except only so much thereof as is exchanged thither in Charity and good Works to Faith the whole inventory of them is but a great cheat the Riches are not the true ones the Gold is not that tried in the fire the Land doth not lie in the Country which Faith seeks after there is nothing in them to feed or cloth or enrich the inward man and to hazard a God or a Soul for them must needs be an infinite loss And what are the pleasures of this World to Faith In carnal Sins they are but the titillations of sense in which the Rational faculties were they not Spiritually incarnate and become flesh would have no touch of delight In Spiritual Sins they are but the false gusts of a vitiated Reason and Will which if made right by Faith find no congruity but in what is true and good neither of which can be in a Sin In both momentany as they are they perish in the using and die in the embraces like the dead Son of the Emperour Basilius Macedo who being Magically presented to his Father as alive after a few touches and doting glances disappeared so they go off only they leave a sting and a worm behind them in Conscience and the poor Voluptary without repentance must lie down in eternal sorrow a thought whereof is enough to imbitter all their sweetness And are Mundane glories any better in Faiths account Honour is but a blast a little popular air Monarchies have their periods History gives us a prospect of their vanity and much more Faith which translates the Soul into the everlasting Kingdom and from thence looks on the Empires of the World as the chaff of the Summer-floor rolling away with the wind of time To a man up among the Stars the whole Earth would be but as a small thing and such are Crowns and Scepters to one conversing in Heaven in the midst of them a man may want true greatness the World 's Epiphanes may be but a vile person a slave to his lusts which is the greatest servitude at death he may like Adrian moan over his little Soul and at Judgment cry out to the rocks and mountains to fall upon him and cover him from the presence of the Lord. But to proceed and take Sin in another dress let it come as a worldly Saviour entertain it and you shall be delivered from losses reproaches racks persecuting flames and cruel deaths it will not yet be eligible Faith in the love of its espousals and upon the first contract received a whole Christ Cross and all and so virtually and in purpose hath already swallowed down all persecutions which go along with the Gospel and when the actual trial comes Faith will not escape by iniquity which is an evil transcendently greater than all the rest and whilest it outwardly temporally saves inwardly eternally destroys To Faith there is no loss like that of a Soul no reproach like Sins turpitude no racks like those in Conscience no flames or deaths like those in Hell Which made those tormented Worthies not accept deliverance Heb. 11.35 Sin is meer Sin
dependence the Spirit comes down in auxiliary Grace and there is an effectual working in every part of the New Creature Love in the Spirit as it is called Col. 1.8 and Joy in Spirit and every other Grace in the Spirit badding and blossoming and filling the face of the life with holy fruits Only it must be remembred that this Dependence is in Gods way where Christ is experimentally Immanuel God with us to stir up all holy Graces into act Thus Faith actuates Graces in a general way common to them all I now proceed to shew how Faith actuates this or that Grace in particular And that I may not be too prolix in running over all Graces I shall single some choice ones out instead of all First I shall begin with the Grace of Love This is the great Command the sum of the Law a Divine Union with God a bond of perfection among Men a holy fire kindled by the Holy Ghost in the Heart and the sweetness and easiness of every good Duty This Grace whether it respect God or Christ or our Neighbour is actuated by Faith As touching our Love to God it is so actuated The very light of Nature reveals a God an excellent perfect Being or the Being of Beings whose Love as the Philosopher said is the principle and knot of the World and so cannot but raise up a kind of Love toward him the Will being necessarily in some sort affected with such an Excellency though seen but by a glimmering light Not that this Love is a Grace or a Love in sincerity or a Love sicut oportet as an ancient Council speaks or indeed in Scripture sense any love at all because it loves not God above all it must needs be inordinate there being the same ataxy in loving God below the Creature as in loving the Creature above God But that there is a kind of Love such as that dark light can raise up in faln man But when the light of Faith comes it raises up the Grace of Love towards God and ever after moves it into act by the pure discoveries of him which it lets into the Heart from Scripture He is saith Faith an immense infinite Goodness Creatures are but drops of Being lying in the shell of Time but he is the Ocean of all Perfections They may be good for this or that in particular according to their finite kinds and spheres but he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the All-things as the Aposile calls him 1 Cor. 15.28 And withal he is Love it self as another Apostle hath it 1 Joh. 4.16 Not shutting up his Allness in unapproachable Glory but letting it out to Believers His Love though he ever had perfect Blessedness in himself would yet pour out it self in making a world of good Creatures and after Mans fall in giving his only Son to take hold of our nature and in it to bring us back again to himself that he might be our God and make over his Allness to us and all this in pure Grace without any Money or Merit on our part and in rich Mercy towards worms and forlorn Sinners and to assure it to us a Gospel is let down from Heaven full of great and precious Promises such as are the very counterpanes of that Grace and Mercy which flow in his Heart towards Sinners Vnder such musings of Faith Oh how the holy fire of Love kindles What high rates and estimates are set upon him How is the Heart inflamed towards Union to be one spirit with him What Complacencies and Sabbaths of rest doth it find in him What little things are Worlds and Creatures What an All is He and an Heaven his Love What tastes are there of his Goodness and surrenders to his Will and Glory Our Love goes after him as his is by Faith let in upon the Heart Moreover Faith excites the Love of him by every act which it sets about in its recumbencies it enamours the Heart that he should give us leave to lean on his Grace and in so doing bear up our weakness with Promises and sweetly answer us in Pardons and suitable Graces in its Obedience it is very ravishing that he should chalk out such pure ways for us and take us by the hand and teach us to go and at last crown our faultring Obedience with Eternal Life Ordinances which to Unbelief are but dry things are to Faith the lovely Chariots of the Spirit Creatures which are Idols to carnal sense are to Faith fair mirrors of the infinite Goodness and Beauty in the Creator Which way soever Faith turns it self it meets with something or other inflammative of our Love towards him who is every-where and all in all As touching our Love to Christ it is actuated in the same manner A meer notion of Christ raises up some Love towards him as we see in those Temporaries who receive the word with joy Mat. 13.20 which though it be but fructus horarius hints out a kind of Love Such a story as that of Codrus the Athenian King 's dying for his Country could not but affect his Subjects much more must the History of Christ dying for a World do so Only this Love to Christ raised up by meer Evangelical notion as the Love to God raised up by natural is not right nor elevated to a Divine pitch till Faith come and shew him forth by a light more congruous than all literal knowledg and then there is as the Church after an elegant description concludes Totus desideria all loves or desires Cant. 5.16 Every thing in him is attractive What a person is the Eternal Word the brightness of the Fathers glory What an Union Immanuel God and Man in one Heaven and Earth admirably blended together as a pledg that God would be at one with us What a robe is his Righteousness made as broad as the Law and woven all of Love from the top to the bottom What a Laver his Blood able to expiate a world of Sins and save a world of Sinners What a treasure is his Fulness where the Spirit is in over-measure and all its Graces in redundance running over into the vessels of Faith and filling all its capacities Who that hath eyes of Faith would not love him To ask why we should love him is as the Philosopher told him who demanded Why Beauty was so taking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a blind mans question nothing but blind unbelief can hold us from his Embraces Whatever posture Faith be in whether contemplating him in the Mount or leaning on the bosom of his Grace or hiding in his Wounds or sitting at his feet for Wisdom or lying under his Scepter for power against Sin still it stirs up an holy Love to him It finds his Blood in every Pardon his Spirit in every Grace his Wine-cellar in every Ordinance his Seal in every Promise and his Purchase in every Creature No wonder if St. Paul count all things dung and dross for him And St. Austin
Barbara St. Dorothy St. Margaret to these came the Foolish for Oyl that is as the Actor interpreted it That they would intercede with God for their admission into Heaven They knocked and wept and instantly prayed but the Wise denied and bid them be gone At this sight the Nobleman was astonished crying out What is the Christian Religion if none of the Saints will hear and intercede for us And soon after he died of an Apoplexy 'T is sad being shut out from the presence of God The Believer is as they say of the Rhodians in sole positus He is nigh unto God and hath his Religion proved to him in that he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 access or manuduction unto God The way into the Holy of Holies is open through the veil of Christs flesh and the Holy Spirit doth conduct him in thither He may come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with boldness unto the throne of Grace and there utter all his mind as a Child doth to his Father David in the 13th Psalm begins as if God were totally absent How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy face from me But a little after we have him in the joy and triumph of Faith I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation saith he ver 5. The door of Mercy which for a little time was shut up soon opened again and gave him a free access unto God Thirdly He experiments it in the returns of Prayer the Promises by which God binds his own bowels above are let down here below in the Gospel And as the Believer takes hold of them by Prayer so God is touched with a compassionate feeling thereof Whilst Ephraim was bemoaning himself in his Supplication Gods bowels are troubled and fall a-sounding at it Jer. 31.18 20. Coelum tundimus misericordiam extorquemus saith Tertullian We knock at Heaven and fetch down mercy from God Prayer hath done Wonders in the world At Abrahams Prayer God stoops to such low terms that he would have saved Sodom for ten righteous persons Jacob by Prayer wrestles and becomes a Prince with God which is more than to have all the Monarchies of the World Moses by it binds as it were the Almighty and will not let him alone to consume Israel Joshua stopt the Chariot of the Sun and so made a long day for the improvement of his Victory Elias locked up Heaven and till he turned the Key of Prayer the contrary way there was no rain upon the Earth In the time of Marcus Antoninus the Philosopher the Christian Legion by their Prayers procured Water for the Roman Army and a scattering Tempest against their Enemies and were therefore called Legio fulminatrix The thundring Legion Prayer hath a kind of Omnipotence in it and can do every thing Sometimes the Prayer is returned in Specie in the very thing desired as Hannah's was in a Son whom therefore she called Samuel that is Asked of God In this case the Believer hath a double Blessing in one over and above the common Providence he hath a pregnant proof of his Prayer in it A Blessing which is a meer Providence comes up as the Corn doth with the husk or chaff of one vanity or other as a Memento of that blast which Sin brought upon the World But that which is a Fruit of Prayer is as Manna from Heaven pure and unmixt a Blessing and no sorrow added to it as being the Birth of the Promise and Covenant The Blessings of the former sort are gathered up by Men as Acorns are by Swine without looking up to that Grace which as a Tree of Life bears all the good Fruit But the latter raises up the Heart in the admirations and high-praises of the great Donor as we see in Hannah who returned back her Son assoon as received unto God in Praise and Dedicacation Criticks have observed an elegant Paranomasia in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore I have lent him to the Lord 1 Sam. 1.28 Samuel was first Shaiil meel Asked of God and then Shaiil leel lent or returned to God Those Blessings which are drawn down by Prayer lie not dead here below but are sent back again in Praise Sometimes the Prayer returns another way though it be not heard ad voluntatem it is ad utilitatem The answer is in some thing that profits us though not to the express desire of our Hearts it may be it is in the sweet composure of the Heart Upon Prayer God comes in and rebukes the Winds and Seas of Passion and there is a calm and Divine serenity in the Soul Hannab before Prayer was a Woman of a sorrowful spirit but her Soul being poured out unto God returned with a Divine sweetness Her countenance was no more sad 1 Sam. 1.18 It may be there is an inward support which is tantamount to the Blessing desired Our Saviours Prayer against the Cup of Wrath was heard in that he was enabled to drink and overcome it And St. Paul's against the Thorn in the Flesh in that he had sufficient Grace to withstand it Preclarè nobiscum agitur dum adest Dei Gratia quae nobis subveniat saith Reverend Calvin In the Supports of Grace there is a signal answer of Prayer it may be over and above the Support the Beams of Gods Love break in upon the heart This is a little Heaven here below and richly transcends all this world Bellarmin tells us a Story of an old Man who used to rise from Duty with these words Claudimini Oculi mei claudimini nihil enim pulchrius jam videbitis Be shut O my Eyes be shut for I shall never behold a fairer Object than Gods Face which I have now beheld The Love of God irradiating a Prayer is a ravishing sight far better than life and all its comforts It may be there is a transmutation of the Blessing into another such as God who improves the stock of Prayer to the best advantage knows to be better for us David prayed earnestly for his sick Child and the return of it was in a Solomon a Jedidiah beloved of God One way or other the Believers Prayer returns into his bosom being answered at least secundum cardinem according to the main hinge and scope of it which is Gods glory and Mans comfort or happiness Thus Moses's Prayer to go into Canaan was answered according to the ground of it Instead of the type God takes him up to Heaven the true Canaan which was most for Mases's comfort And instead of Moses a type of the Law Joshua a type of Christ leads the people into Canaan which was most for Gods Glory Which way soever the Prayer returns to the Believer it seals up the Ordinance for Divine In the last Place I come to the Ordinance of the Lord Supper The outward Elements of this Sacrament our Lord Christ took as Learned Men conceive from a custom observed among the
he had a true Virtue in him or no but seeming afraid of the Judgment-Seat unto some who begged his Prayers when in Heaven he made this Answer The way thither is not so easie I should esteem it a great Blessing from God if I might obtain Purgatory for many years Into such labyrinths do their Principles lead them The Reason whereof is They espouse Hagar the Covenant of Works and that gendreth to bondage and servile fear They corrupt the great Fountain of Peace and Joy I mean free Justification by Christ and Grace and their Comforts cannot run pure They would compound those two incompatibles of Grace and Merit and patch together Christs Righteousness and their own which in the Apostle is to fall from Grace and make Christ of none effect Gal. 5.4 And what Peace can follow Whilst they look at the Law Conscience will be still murmuring Non recte sacrificasti non recte orasti as Luther hath it This and that was omitted or not well done The Levite and the Priest pass by their Wounds the good Samaritan will not come but alone and without a co-partner to make a Cure If therefore thou wouldst have Assurance thou must build on the right Foundation and lie at the true Fountain of Comfort Thy Love and thy Obedience are but Evidences Christ and Grace are the only Foundation Thy Faith is but a receiver an empty vessel Christ and Grace are the Fountain of Comfort Expect no rest but in his bleeding Wounds look for no comfortable words but from the Mercy-Seat Think not that thy Conscience shall be appeased unless by that Blood of Atonement which appeased God himself or that thy heart may be satisfied in a Righteousness less than that perfect one which satisfied Gods Conscience is his Deputy and cannot go off at lower terms than he himself doth Fix thy heart on Christ and Grace lay the whole stress of thy Soul and Salvation there Lean on thy Beloved appropriate his Merits and Righteousness to thy self Thus Luther tells the menacing Law O Lex Immergo Conscientiam meam in Vulnera Sanguinem Mortem Resurrectionem Victoriam Christi praeter hunc nibil plane videre audire volo O Law I drown my Conscience in the Wounds Blood Death Resurrection and Victory of Christ besides him will I see and hear nothing This is the true way of Peace Jahannes a Berg a zealous Papist in his life found it so at last by his own experience When a Protestant-Friend admonished him then lying on his sick-bed That now he would by Faith apprehend the Merit of his Saviour and acquiesce in the full Expiation by him made for sin he immediately swallowed it as the richest Comfort in the World looking on those in Popery but as so many vain Fig-leaves When Assurance which is the top-stone of Faith is laid in our hearts we have reason to cry out Grace Grace Christ Christ These whatever our Duties and Works have been are the Fundamental Reason of all Peace and Comfort Again He who would have Assurance must not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit but cherish and follow it It cannot but be a great and marvelous thing in his eyes that the holy Spirit should make his heart a Temple or Sanctuary for himself To grieve it is unnatural and to grieve it expecting comfort a contradiction If thou wouldst be assured grieve it in nothing indulg not any lust This is filthiness and to be carried out of the Sanctuary this is an Idol and must not stand in the Temple Bury thy excrements thy superfluity of naughtiness that the holy one may walk in the midst of thee Take away the accursed thing lest his Presence depart Away with thy vomits thy sensual sins lest he complain that there is no place for him left in thy heart Pride not thy self in gifts or graces this is as a smoak in his nose to force him away from thee grieve not him whereby thou mayst be sealed to the day of Redemption He comes to seal Pardon and Peace and Heaven it self to thy Soul why shouldst thou grieve him If thou dost so How canst thou expect to be sealed by him Instead of Sealing he will turn to be thine Enemy as he did to those Rebels Isa 63.10 He will meet thee in some straits of Providence and by one threatning or other as by a drawn Sword stop thee in thy perverse way Oh! do not grieve him gather out of thy heart and life every thing that offends and his Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace and Joy shall be in thee When an holy Truth appears to thee smother it not for a World it comes from the pure Spirit to light thee to Heaven Walk in the Light of it Who knows but that whilst thou art in the way the Spirit may drop some heavenly Cordials upon thy Heart Obedience is the true Road to Comfort Excellent is that in the Prophet Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going is prepared as the morning and he shall come to us as the rain Hos 6.3 Follow him in his Truths and thou shalt know him in his Comforts Gods Face shall be as an aurora or morning lighter and lighter on thy Soul and his Spirit as the dew or rain distilling Divine Consolations on it Believe it every ray of Truth if followed leads to the Joy unspeakable When an holy Motion comes remember who is the Speaker That Spirit who can seal the Promises and print Gods Love on the Heart now calls thee to one Duty or other Hear and thy Soul shall live open thy Sails and the Gales will blow thee to the fair Haven of rest I may say of the Spirits Motion as he in the Prophet doth of the Wine in the Cluster Destroy it not for a Blessing nay the greatest of Blessings a Paraclete a Divine Comforter is in it Follow on and thou shalt come to the Vintage and Wine-cellar of pure Consolations such as Earth assords not The Holy Spirit can witness to thy Graces and seal up Gods favour to thee and be to thee an earnest of Heaven and eternal Life As thou wouldst be assured welcome every motion close with every dictate cherish every illapse of this blessed Monitor let every inspiration find thee as the Seal doth the Wax and the spark the Tinder let thy Soul follow hard after him pursuing him E vestigio step by step as near and close as thou canst possibly This is the true way to rest Again if thou wouldest have Assurance first make Conscience pure and then walk after it That Pardon and Salvation which is founded in Christs Blood and sealed by his Spirit must be recorded and reported in Conscience or else there can be no Assurance If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God saith the Apostle 1 Joh. 3.21 He allows what his Deputy doth in us I say make thy Conscience pure Two things chiesly impure it Ignorance is as a
Soul by Faith doth by little and little work out and extirpate Sin as the day breaks upon the Heart darkness goes off as Holiness flows in Corruption departs the more of Heaven is there the less of Earth Thirdly Faith discovers the great evil of Original Sin and so raises up an hatred against it and hatred is a murderer and would if it could annihilate its opposite Faith shews it to be an All-evil a Mother of abominations Some particular Sins are such monsters in Morality that when viewed only in the light of Nature they appear very odious such was the cruelty of Nero Effeminacy of Sardanapalus and the like much more odious when inspected by the light of Faith must that appear which is All-sin in one a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or universal Seminary of iniquity Anthony holding Caesars bloody Coat up to the People moved them against the Conspirators Faith holding up the Murders Adulteries Blasphemies Villanies in the World unto the Believers eyes stirs his Heart against the venemous root of all these Faith shews it to be an universal evil all over the Soul breaking forth like the boyls of Egypt upon man and upon beast upon the intellective and sensitive faculties and all over the Believers duties lying as the locusts there upon every herb and green thing upon the verdure and glory of every good work it is a blemish in the Believers eye a plague in his Heart an ataxy in his Affections a damp on his Prayers a cooler to his Charity and Zeal and a dead fly in all the precious Oyntment of his duties and good works Faith shews it to be an utter enemy to God Antichrist-like opposing every appearance of him in the Heart quenching every good motion trampling on every holy beam slighting at the two great periods of Mankind Heaven and Hell and jeering at that holiness and iniquity which lead thither Faith shews it to be an evil always present the Believer shakes himself and it adhers flys and it encompasses mortifies and it lives prays weeps sweats and fights and yet the Canaanite is in the land like a living man chained to a dead he carries about his own loathsomness a body of death all his days this cleaves to him as the blackness to the Ethiopian and as the fretting spreading Leprofie to the house after all his washing and scraping of himself it will yet be in him till death dissolve him into dust Such representations as these made by Faith fill the Believer with shame and self-abhorrency and raise up in him an irreconcileable hatred against it Fourthly Faith so far as it is acted though it make not a total riddance of it doth yet imprison it that it cannot go at large and riot in scandalous Sins No nor steal out in an evil thought but it will be arrested in its passage to the Will for a consent as it was Gods caution beware that there be not a thought in thy Belial-heart against Charity Deut. 15.9 So it is Faiths endeavour to stop corruption even in a thought the flesh is still a lusting and would have one piece of forbidden fruit or other in its mouth but Faith opposes and would if it could leave nothing of it to breath in the Believer This is that the Scripture calls The crucifying of the old man Faith arraigns the old man as the Arch-malefactor in the World condemns him as worthy to die strips him of his veils and false coverings and by holy restraints nails him to the Cross that unless in a slumber of Faith he cannot move or stir himself but dies away by little and little As the light of Nature being imprisoned in unrighteousness as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1.18 is every day exhausted and weakned so the corruption of Nature being thus restrained by Faith gradually loses its life and vigor Martinus Polonus tels of a terrible Dragon at Rome who killed many daily with his poysonous breath but was at last shut up with Brasen gates through the Prayers of Sylvester Bishop there Were this Fable true Faith doth a nobler work in restraining the inward Serpent of corruption whose deadly poyson hath spread it self over all Men and is eternally fatal to all but Believers To conclude In all this Faith applies it self to a Crucified Christ from thence it fetches its pattern As the pure flesh of Christ upon which as an expiatory Sacrifice the Sin of the World was laid suffered on the Cross so the corrupt flesh of Man unto which as the universal Seminary the Sin of the World may be justly imputed must suffer also Hence Saint Peter 1 Pet. 4.1 From the suffering of Christ in the flesh exhorts Believers to suffer in their corrupt flesh ceasing from Sin and from thence it derives a spirit for the work Christ offered himself through the eternal Spirit on the Cross and the Believer through the Spirit of Christ offers up his corrupt self to be crucified Hence St. Paul Rom. 6.6 saith Our old man is crucified with him that is by a secret virtue drawn from his Cross Thus far of this Fundamental Mortification I now come to particular Sins which are but the foul issues of Original breaking forth in this or that as temper education place custom or other accidents give vent thereunto these also doth Faith mortifie and that in some such way as this First Faith doth restrain the outward acts of Sin there may be many restraints in which yet there is nothing of Mortification one Sin may restrain another Vitia inter se contraria pugnant in which case Satan casts out Satan a predominant lust its opposite The fiery Law with its threats may meet a man in his perverse way as the Angel with his drawn Sword did Balaam and turn him back from committing the act nevertheless the unchanged Heart hankers and inwardly mourns after it as Phaltiel did after Michal when she was forced away from him and which is a better restraint because meerly from an in ward principle Moral Virtue may hold him back from it as it did Abimelech from Sarah yet this restraint is but partial only from outward Sins of shame and withal selfish aiming at no higher thing than repute and self-excellency But Faith restrains upon higher and nobler Motives speaking to the temptation as Joseph to his Mistress How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God May I break his Law which is more than the Interdicts of all the Princes and Potentates of the World or stain his glory which is more precious than the light of the Sun Moon and Stars or trample on that precious Blood which paid my ransom from Hell and Death or grieve away that Spirit which is the life of all my Graces and Comforts or pollute this Heart which may be a Temple or Tabernacle for the Holy One to dwell in or run my self again into the pangs of the New Birth and forget the wormwood and gall of my old Sins and eclypse the light
upon men the high Thrones with its train made Isaiah cry out as an undone man Isa 6. the voice out of the whirl-wind caused Job to abhor himself in dust and ashes Job 42.6 The bright thining man turned Daniel's comeliness into corruption Dan. 10.8 And what those outward appearances did in a sensible way that Faith which is an inward Vision of God doth in a Spiritual looking on him by Faith a dread falls on us from every Attribute or Work of his His glorious Majesty makes us go and hide our selves in the dust of our own vileness and nothingness His pure Holiness comparatively turns us and all our comely Graces into rottenness His dreadful Justice sounds so loud in the threatning that we cannot but tremble at every word of it Nay his very goodness and tender bowels lying all about us make us afraid to trample thereon by finning even those in Nature do so much more those richer ones in Grace His very rain calls for out fear Jer. 5.24 And what do those dews of the Spirit which are not common as the other His bounding the Sea doth so Jer. 5.22 and what doth his bounding corruption which else would drown Soul and all in perdition Oh how tremendous is our life our Bodies living on the Blood of Creatures and our Souls on the Blood of God our natural being lying in the arms of that Power which bears up the World and our Spiritual in the arms of that Grace which saves it Earth flowing round about us with Blessings and Heaven it self coming down in Promises and carrying back our Hopes thither Who in such Visions of Faith would not fear the Lord and his goodness Who would not tremble at Sins indignity and ingratitude After such mercies as these should we again transgress against him If we wax wanton under Goodness how soon may Soveraignty come down and recover all from us as forfeited Heaven may shut up it self and the dews of the Spirit cease our Graces may all droop and wither and our Hearts grow hard and stony one lust or other may carry us into captivity and our little remnant of Grace and Life may cry out as the Church doth O Lord why hast thou made us to err from thy ways and hardned our hearts from thy fear return for thy servants sake Isa 63.17 After all our wantonness we shall be glad to come to holy Fear again Soveraignty will make us fear him in every thing such a fight of him by Faith as this makes him practically to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fear as he is called Psal 76.11 Moreover Faith moves this Fear into act by shewing the great evil of Sin Sense looks on penal evils which press on the outward man but Faith on Sin as the greatest of evils it being an opposite to God a blot to the Soul a blast to the World a forfeiture of Heaven and fuel for the flames of Hell a thing not to be done Pro quantiscunque bonis lucrandis aut pro quantiscunque malis pracavendis for the gaining never so great a good or for the avoiding never so great an evil as Bradwardine speaks Hence St. Austin said That a man must not tell a lie to save a world And Henry Flander being a Prisoner for the Protestant Religion would not say That his Wife was his Whore no not to save his life offered to him on those terms Now Fear being a kind of flight from evil the greater the evil is the greater is the flight and when an evil is the greatest of evils such as Sin appears to Faith the flight from it is as from Hell it self and more if possible according to the saying of Anselm That if Sin were set before him on the one band and Hell on the other he would rather leap into Hell than fall into Sin Another Grace actuated by Faith is Zeal which is an intense Love or a mixture of Love and Anger or rather the heat and boyling up of all the affections in the concerns of God and his Glory This is a coal from the Altar which warms Hearts and Lives and sparkles out in every Grace and Duty without it all is in spirituali gelicidio cold and frozen as in a Sunless World Indeed without Faith Zeal is blind as in the Jew who in his heat for the Law opposes the Gospel and true Righteousness Or it runs out upon Humane things as in the Papist who crys up Traditions as a second Oracle or it moves upon selfish Principles as in the Pharisees who did all theatrically to be seen of men But when Faith comes Zeal is according to the Word as its Rule and for Divine things as the worthiest Object and out of a pure intention to Gods Glory as the supream end Faith brings us into Communion with God and makes us one spirit with him and hence it comes to pass that those things which are dear to him are so to us and those injuries which move his jealousie above stir up our Zeal here below To Faith Gods name is nomen Majestativum holy reverend fearful glorious precious a name above every name and therefore cannot be profaned but Zeal will break forth the reproaches cast on it fall more heavily on the Believer than those on himself or his near relations Nay they press harder on him than if he should hear one railing at Princes or Angels Maris the blind Bishop of Chalcedon being brought into the presence of the blasphemous Emperour Julian fell severely on him as upon an enemy of God and when Julian told him That he was blind and his Galilean God would not cure him Maris gave thanks to God who had taken away his eyes that he might not look on so wicked a wretch as Julian Such a Zeal doth Faith put forth for Gods name In like manner the Worship of God is to Faith his Homage honour on Earth Crown of glory Sanctuary of Presence a thing too precious and pure to be allayed with Humane mixtures if this be corrupted our Zeal must needs kindle at it and so much the more because his facred jealousie hangs more over his Worship than over any thing else in all the World To the other Commandments we find this annexed I am the Lord Lev. 19 but to the second I am a jealeus God Exod. 20.5 Hence Moses at the light of the Calf forgets his Meekness and in a holy Passion brake the holy Tables In the Constantinopolitan Council held about the year of our Lord 754 how hot were the Bishops against Images as a meer Pagan custom and when they were cast down how triumphant was the Peoples Zeal crying out Hodiè salus mundo now is salvation come to the world In the fifth Council of Carthage they would have the very reliques of Idolatry totally blotted out Nay Leo Bishop of Rome when the Manichees Worshipped the Sun forbade the Christians to worship towards the East that they might have nothing common with them Such
Holy Ghost and these Three are One 1 Joh. 5.7 This Truth hath had many Opposites as the Arrians Samosatenians Sabellians Photinians and of late the Socinians who have strained their subtile Wits to undermine it if possible tell them That Baptism is in the Name of the Trinity They will reply That The Israelites were Baptized into Moses 1 Cor. 10.2 Tell them That There are Three that bear Record in Heaven 1 Joh. 5.7 They will say These Words are not to be found in the Ancient Greek Copies nor in the Syriac nor in the Ancient Latin Version but these are but Evasions As for the first They were Baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto Moses there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Acts 7.53 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as appears by comparing that place with Gal. 3.19 where Saint Paul of the same thing saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so To be Baptized unto Moses is only to be Baptized by the Ministry of Moses who led them through the Red Sea Hence in the Syriack it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the hand of Moses Again it is one thing to be Baptized unto Moses another to be Baptized in the name of Moses Paul Baptized but none in his own name 1 Cor. 1.13 And again the Israelites were improperly Baptized into Moses they were not aspersed or immerged in water neither was Baptism then an Ordinance of God as now it is As for the second in St. John that place undeniably proves the Trinity The learned Stephens saith That place is wanting in seven Greek Copies but it is found in nine more ancient St. Cyprian de Vnitate Ecclesie alledges this place for the Trinity Athanasius urged this place against Arrius in the Council of Nice and then no exception was made against it Had it not then been in St. John Arrius would have easily rejected it I believe in the times of Constantius and Valens the Arrians blotted out these words as most pregnant against them out of divers Copies St. Jerom asserted the truth of our reading from the Greek Copies which he had publickly contesting That in those Copies where it was wanting it was razed out by the fraud of Hereticks And St. Ambrose saith That the Hereticks did erade that place This Truth stands fast in Scripture for ever and ever and Faith embraces it And which is more and to the Point in hand Faith in its holy progress may as I conceive experience it My reason is the Church in all Ages down from the Apostles have worshipped the Sacred Trinity Their Baptism hath been in its Name their Doxology and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proclaim it their Creeds all publish it their Catechumeni were trained up in the knowledg of it they ever worshipped as Athanasius hath it in his Creed one God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity and that uno indiviso cultu as Divines speak This in all Ages hath been the Christian Worship and upon this Worship answers and returns have come down from Heaven in abundance of Glorious Spiritual Blessings such as are comprized in that Apostolical Prayer The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 The whole Trinity is adored and the whole Trinity vouchsafes Gracious returns Gratia quae datur in Trinitate datur saith Athanasius Every Believer so worshipping hath returns from Heaven and the Progressive Believer may know that he hath them and in the experience thereof may experience That there is a Sacred Trinity of a truth If the Trinity be a nullity or as Servetus blasphemously said An Idol or three-headed Cerberus Or as Socinus belched out his impiety A ridiculous invention of humane curiosity Then the Christian Worship is no other than strange fire vain ' Will-worship and Idol-worship nay it is no Worship at all none because the Trinity its supposed Object is a nullity none because God looks on it as none As when the Samaritans feared the Lord and served their Idols 2 King 17.33 The Text saith in the very next ver That they feared not the Lord their fear was as none because of the mixture of Idol-worship So when Christians worship one God and a Trinity which is not their Worship is as none at all Upon such a Worship God will not open his eyes unless to punish it nor make any returns but those of Wrath. When the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf Gods Wrath waxed hot and was ready to consume them much more may it do so if Christians worship a Trinity which is not In that of the Calf as they meant it there was only error in modo for they intended not to terminate their Worship in the Calf but in God as appears by their own words To marrow is a feast to Jehovah Exod. 32.5 But in this of a Supposititious Trinity there is error in objectio ultimo which is more provoking to God If the Trinity be but the Idol of the brain God will no more be enquired of by its Worshippers than he would by those who set up their Idols in their heart Ezek. 14.3 no gracious returns are found in such a salfe way A Believer therefore who in Worshipping one God in Trinity finds returns srequently and successively after Duties from the Mercy-scat carries an inward seal and proof in his bosom that there is a Trinity This experimental proof of a Trinity seems to me evident in many places of Scripture St. John saith Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.3 He saith not barely Our fellowship is with God but with the Father and the Son neither doth he say it at peradventures but as a sure known thing such as hath the joy of the holy Spirit with it St. Paul would have the Colossians to be knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2.2 Here is a Plerophory of understanding nay riches and all riches of it Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as one saith Illustrior notitia rei prius cognitae A further knowledg orpractical acknowledgment of a thing before known and these must needs import somewhat of experience Our Saviour saith If a man love me and keep my words my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him Joh. 14.23 In the 21. ver he told them That he would manifest himself to the obedient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he conspicuum meipsum exhibebo I will exhibit my self though Spiritually yet clearly as it were to eye palam in media luce as Beza hath it Hereupon Judas asks him Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us unto which our Saviour answers That the
the Soul unto God as the fountain of all Good As in every lust there is a depression of the Heart to one Creature or other so in every right Prayer there is an holy elevation of it to God This gives great Glory to God as it is humble it reveres his Majesty as upright it owns his Omniscience as believing it glorifies his condescending Grace and as importunate it overcomes the Almighty and takes the Kingdom of Heaven by violence opening a door to that infinite mass or treasure of Grace which is laid up for those that strive and wrestle with him for supplies out of it This is a Catholick Duty good in all places The Jews prayed in or towards the Temple but now the whole World is consecrated for it every where holy hands are to be lifted up fit for all times praying always saith the Apostle Ephes 6.18 Not that we are to do nothing else as the Euchitae or Messaliani of old dreamed but that there is no time wherein the Mercy-seat is shut or Christ not interceding above or the holy Spirit not ready in some measure to assist Believers Neither is there any time in which we should not carry about with us a virtual confession in our sense of Sin or a virtual Prayer in our sense of Wants or a virtual Praise in our sense of Mercies Continuum desiderium est continua oratio as St. Austin hath it Vita hominis saith Luther nibil aliud est nisi oratio gemitus desiderium suspirium ad misericordiam Dei Mans life should be a perpetual breathing after God And withal it is incumbent on all Men the first Adam in Innocency probably addressed himself to God in Prayer and Jesus Christ the second Adam was much in it the Ethnicks by the light of Nature used it It was an old Gentile-Law Ad divos adeunto go to the gods Socrates prayed that he might be Intus pulcher inwardly fair with virtue Plato saith Every one who is compos mentis will in the beginning of any work invoke the gods How much more must Christians pray who have before their eyes a Gospel a Mercy-Seat and an open way into the Holy of Holies through the Veil of Christs flesh Unregencrate persons are bound to this Duty as we see in the Command to Simon Magus being in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Act. 8.22 Much more Believers Prayer is the breath of the new-creature and badg of Christians who are thus deciphered by the Apostle All that call upon the name of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 1.2 Such and so great is this Ordinance that the Jews who prayed standing and therefore called Prayer Gnammuda or Standing used to say Sine stationibus non staret mundus The world would not stand without Standing or Prayer That this is an Ordinance of God the Believer experiments many ways First He experiments it in the Assistances of the Holy Spirit which is as Gales to the Sails of Prayer in its Voyage to Heaven and as holy Fire to the Incense of it causing it to ascend to the Throne of Grace The Spirit helpeth our infirmities Rom. 8.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It lifts over against us or helps us to lift up a Prayer which else would be too heavy for us Whilst the Believer is a-praying O what heavenly meltings are there The Believer is like Ephraim bemoaning himself or as the Children of Israel at Mizpeh lamenting after the Lord and pouring out water as if their eyes were turned into Fountains of penitential tears or as the man in the Gospel crying out with tears Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief Catching at Mercy with an hand trembling at his own Infirmity Such meltings and spiritual mournings over Sin plainly shew That the Spirit of Grace and Supplication is poured out upon the Prayer making it like the bruised Incense sull of fragrancy breathing out from a broken heart dissolved into tears by the beams of Gods Love And in this Evangelical thaw What Divine enlargements are there The heart is no longer in the Straits of Sin and Earth but opened and expanded towards Heaven E're the praying Believer is a ware his Soul sets him on the wheels and his lips drop as the honey-comb if not in the very entrance of the Duty yet in the progress of it The Psalmist in the beginning of the 38th Psalm seems cold and frozen in Unbelief Gods arrows stick fast in him his hand presseth him sore the iniquities are too heavy the wounds stink and are corrupt There are nothing but bowings breaches and miserable roarings But before he hath done praying his heart recovers again In thee O Lord do I hope thou wilt hear O Lord my God ver 15. Sometimes at first there is a Cloud and dark Eclipse upon the Prayer and yet a little after Grace breaks forth with its Sunny beams and draws out the heart towards God They looked unto him and were lightned as David speaks Psal 34.5 or as the words may be read they looked unto him and flowed their hearts were as a River running out with spiritual fluency and enlargments such as are a real proof that the free Spirit is in the Prayer and withal What an heavenly ardor is there While I was musing the fire burned saith David Psal 39.3 While the Believer is a-praying the Holy Spirit is as fire upon the heart inflaming it into religious ascents towards God The Believer stirs up himself and takes hold on God by some Promise or other and Jacob-like wrestles with him for Mercy and will not let him go till there be a dawn or day-break of Grace He prays in his Prayer and urges the Attributes of God upon him and presses hard upon him with an holy immodesty or impudence as the expression is Luk. 11.8 and will not be said Nay Much like Gorgonia the pious Sister of Nazianzen who lay at the Altar with Tears and Prayers and said That she would not depart till she had her request and accordingly obtained it of God This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 5.16 the inwrought Prayer or Prayer wrought by Gods Spirit in ours and from thence poured out in an agony or vehemence of holy Assections panting and breaking with longings after God and his Grace Luther having prayed with great fervency said Vtinam eodem ardore orare possem Would to God I could always pray with the like ardor then should I always have this answer Fiat quod velis Be it unto thee as thou wilt After this manuer doth the Holy Spirit come down on the Believers Prayer and bear witness to this Ordinance Secondly He experiments it in his Access to God The Devils who are in Chains of Darkness can make no approaches to God there is an unpassable gulf between them and him It is storied of a German Nobleman that there was acted before him a Play of the five Wise and five Foolish Virgins the Wise were St. Mary St. Catbarine St.
cannot do it Among all Nations Seals are great Confirmatives When Darius but a man Signed the Decree though of Iniquity it was unalterable by the Law of the Medes and Persians Dan. 6.12 And what the Great God Seals in the Sacrament in a way of Grace and Mercy must much more be so by the Law of his own Truth and Faithfulness The Jews looking on the Rainbow bless God who remembers his Covenant and is faithful in his Promises as being sure that the World shall not be drowned again Much more may the Believer looking on the Bread and Wine do so as sure of Pardon and Salvation in and through Christ But you will say Gods Seal indeed is sure but our Disposition is uncertain and how can we know that we are worthy Receivers I answer Very well The worthiness required is not that of condignity but that of congruity The least Grace if true though but a bruised reed and smoaking flax amounts to a capacity May we not know That we truly hunger and thirst after Christ when we inwardly feel a pinching and pressing necessity of him equal to or rather more than any want in Nature May we not find That our Faith in God is right when it assimilates us to his Holiness as well as rests in his Grace and puts forth Obedience to his Commands as well as Affiance towards his Promises May we not say That we love him indeed when the main stream of our hearts runs towards him when at least in endeavour we obey him in every Command seek him in every Ordinance glorifie him in every Condition and prize him in every Saint Hath he not bid us welcom to the Sacrament Hath he not anointed us with fresh Oyl of Grace and Joy whilst we have sat at his Table Have we not been clothed with Power against our Corruptions Have not our Hearts been enlarged and refreshed from the Presence of God there How many melting and ravishing Prospects of a Crucified Christ have we there enjoyed And what beams of Heaven and Eternity have broke in upon us in the very Duty These things to Believers who have the exercise of their spiritual Senses are so obvious that they may easily and surely conclude That God hath indeed welcomed them to his Table and there Sealed Pardon and Salvation to them In this rich estate a Believer may bid all Scruples be gone and in an holy manner say to his Soul Soul take thy ease thou hast much goods laid up for eternity Thou art now secure of Pardon and Salvation The Holy Spirit hath Sealed them to thy Heart and the Sacraments to thy very Sense and Conscience witnesses to both as True and Infallible and what can be more Nothing remains but to keep thy self in the Love of God till he take thee up to the pure bliss above CHAP. XIV Of the Ways in which the Assurance of Faith is attained With the Conclusion of the whole THus much touching the first thing That Assurance is attainable I now proceed to the other viz. The ways in which it is attained All which are as so many further Arguments to prove it attainable Were it not so the All-wise God would not set down ways for the attaining thereof Impossibles are not to be sought after Assurance however difficult is not impossible The Scripture hath chalked out a Method how to arrive at it which I shall endeavour to open in the ensuing Discourse In the first place He who would attain Assurance must give Grace and Christ their due All spiritual Blessings grow upon Grace as an eternal Root and hang upon Christ as the Tree of Life In particular Assurance is a Blessing proper to the Covenant of Grace In the Covenant of Works there was no Assurance or Perseverance because the whole managery was left to Mans Will But in the Covenant of Grace these are to be found in Believers because God undertakes the work This is the rather to be marked because man under the Covenant of Works was in a state of Innocency and perfect Holiness and under the Covenant of Grace is in a state of Weakness and Imperfection and yet there through Faith he arrives at Assurance and Perseverance which were never reached under the First Covenant Saint Paul in the 10th Chapter to the Romans notably distinguishes between the Righteousness of the Law and the Righteousness of Faith The Righteousness of the Law is That the man which doth those things shall live in them No Life or Peace but upon perfect Obedience which is impossible and beyond the line of man lapsed nay of man regenerate in this life Hence the Conscience of those who would enter into Peace at this Door must needs be dubious and full of trembling anxieties But the Righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thine heart Who shall ascend into Heaven Doubt not whether thou shalt have a part there this is to bring Christ down from above He is gone to Heaven and hath carried his Merits thither to prepare a place for thee there Such a doubt denies his Ascension and so as it were brings him down again Neither say in thine heart Who shall descend into the deep Doubt not as if thou shouldst be turned into Hell this is to bring up Christ again from the dead He is already risen and hath triumphed over Death and Hell Such a doubt denies his Death and Resurrection and doth as it were bring him again from the dead But what saith the Righteousness of Faith The Word the Promise of Pardon and Salvation is nigh thee O Believer in thy mouth and in thy heart confessing and believing on the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved Thou in particular thy Soul shall dwell at ease thy Conscience shall enter into rest in the Covenant of Grace To doubt of it is to deny the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ He therefore who would have Assurance must give Grace and Christ their due One would think that the Papists who hold That they may by perfect Obedience reach the apex of the Law and go beyond it in works of Supererogaton and climb Heaven it self by their own Merits might arrive at Assurance much rather than Protestants who instead of exceeding the Law confess themselves much short of it and instead of meriting Heaven acknowledg all their Righteousnesses to be but a filthy rag But it is far otherwise the Papists generally do not so much as doctrinally hold it save here and there a man among them such as Antonius Marinarius who in the Council of Trent asserted it concluding his Speech thus Si Coelum ruat si Terra evanescat si orbis illabatur praeceps ego in Deum erectus ero Much-like the Prophet Habakkuk who in an universal languishment of nature would yet rejoice in the Lord the God of his Salvation much less do they practically arrive at it Bellarmine himself after his fair life died not like a Bolton or a Rivet not knowing whether
here I recommend three things to thee To walk as in Gods presence To have an universal respect to his Commands and To carry a pure intention towards his Glory All these have a great tendency to Assurance Walk as in Gods Presence Remember that he is every-where Thou needest not a Vision or Jacobs Ladder where-ever thou art thy Faith can tell thee that God is in the place and it is too dreadful to sin in His Presence besets thee behind and before and thou canst not break away from it thy ways are all before him nay thy very heart He knows the make of it and stands by the inward Frame and secret Springs thereof seeing what is a forming there upon the Wheel and what thoughts are taking their flight from thence All is naked and open as in an Anatomy before his Face He is intimior intimo tuo nearer to thee than thou art to thy self Walk as in his Presence Live as under his all-seeing Eye Seneca would have us set a Cato or a Laelius before our eyes and to compose our Lives as in their Presence Magna pars peccatorum tollitur si peccaturis testis assistat saith he A present witness would prevent a great deal of sin Think thus with thy self Cave Spectat Deus Take heed God seeth Keep fresh apprehensions of him in thy thoughts Think purpose speak act do every thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy of and in an holy congruity to his Presence Walk with him that thou mayst be translated though not as Enoch corporally into Heaven yet as a sincere Believer mentally into the Suburbs of it in the Manifestations of Gods Favour Look stedfastly constantly unto him that thou mayst have sweet Aspects and Love-glances from him Thou mayst have his Favourable Presence whilst thou livest under his Awful one The upright shall dwell in thy presence Psal 140 that is in thy gracious Presence They set him before them and he causes his Grace and Love to pass before them In the next place Have an universal respect to his Commands It is a vulgar Rule among the Jewish Doctors That men should single out some one Command out of the Law and exercise themselves therein that God may be their Frsend and bear with them other things But this is to Indent and Article with God upon our own Terms The Hypocrite as one elegantly expresses it like a globous body touches the Law in some one point in some particular Command but the Upright at least in desire and endeavour lies close and level to all the Will of God The Pharisees seemed to be very much for the First Table but after all their Fasting and Prayer they could swallow down Widows Houses and so give the lye to all their Devotions The Moralist seems to be as much for the Second Table but as fair as his Life is towards Man he is very unjust to God stealing away that heart which is infinitely more due to him than the justest of Debts can be to our Neighbour If thou wouldst be assured thou must have an universal respect to his Command do not pick and chuse among them but as David be for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Wills of God as Zachary and Elizabeth walk in all his Commandments Wherever the Divine stamp is there let thy Obedience be that thou mayst have a great Reward Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal 97.11 Upon sincere Obedience a crop of Comfort comes up and because by Promise much surer than that of the Husbandman which is under Providence only The righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright Psal 11.7 In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their faces behold the upright the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Three Persons in the Sacred Trinity do all look with a loving Aspect upon such an one Our Saviour hath told us as much If a man sincerely keep the holy Words The Father and the Son will come to him and make their abode with him John 14.23 And a little after follows a Promise of the Holy Spirit as a Comforter verse 26. Walk uprightly and thou art in a posture to receive sweet manifestations of Love from the whole Sacred Trinity In the last place carry a pure Intention towards Gods Glory This is the single eye in the Body of Duties all our good Works lie in the dark without it the want of this was as a black line drawn over Amaziah's vertue He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect heart 2 Chron. 25.2 Jehu was anointed and appointed by God to destroy Ahabs House and yet for want of a pure Intention was reckoned as a Murderer for doing so Hos 1.4 That which is true Prayer when it comes from Zeal may be but howling when it comes from Lust Hos 7.14 Those Moral Vertues which are very glossie in the Matter may in the End be no better than splendid sins The End is the purest off-spring of a rational Spirit and a cardinal circumstance in every Action The Soul conceives all its Thoughts before the End as Labans Ewes did their young before the Rods. As the End is earthly or heavenly so is the Man and his Acting Remember O Believer that thou wast not made a Man or a Saint Thy Lamp of Reason was not set up at first or new-lighted afterwards by Grace that thou shouldst center on any thing less than God himself or take thy aim lower than his Glory Set thy heart on that great End look right on it with a single eye whether thou eatest or drinkest or prayest or hearest or whatever good work thou art about carry on the great Design That God in all may be glorified How taking this is with Christ He himself hath told us Thou hast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one chain of thy neck faith he to his Church Cant. 4.9 A pure Intention is that single eye and Obedience that chain of the neck which in Believers doth excordiate and ravish the heart of Christ himself And what sweet returns will he make upon such taking Graces Their Graces ravish his Heart and his Comforts will ravish theirs Their thoughts are upon Gods Glory and Gods are upon their Peace With the upright he will shew himself upright with the pure he will shew himself pure They are upright in Duties and he will be upright in Promises They give him pure Intention and he will give them pure Mercy such as is the sealing of his Love upon their Hearts The pure in heart shall see him not in the bliss-making Vision only but before in those Love-glances which are the First-fruits of Heaven here below Again If thou wouldst be assured be much in charity and doing good As the Elect of God put on bowels of Mercy Open thy heart to the poor in Pity and thy hand