what it will that no subtilty may circumvent us nor creeping into houses lead the silly women captive nor cause us to stray after them We know the Devil is both cunning and diligent and that he suits his temptations to the various interests and dispositions of men that he walks about like a roaring Lion but 't is only to seek whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 The Scribes and Pharisees were pains-taking men For they compassed Sea and Land to make a proselyte but when they had made him he became twice more the child of Hell than themselves Matth. 23.15 Let us not then under the pretence of new discoveries forsake that which has been from the beginning but let the same mind be in us which was in Christ Jesus and according to S. Pauls advice Rom. 16.17 18. Let us mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine we have learned and avoid them because they are such as serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Then as it follows the God of peace shall bruise Sathan under our feet shortly Let us live in that unity which our holy Religion prescribes to us not raise or abett disturbances in the world but endeavour to fulfil S. Pauls joy and make our Ministers task easie in being like minded having the same love being of one accord and of one judgement that nothing be done through strife or vain glory Philip. 2. at the beginning For if we are drawn by hearkening to the various pretences of men that yet account themselves inspired to be alwayes biting and devouring one another we shall be consumed one of another And this we are not only in our own age taught by experience but the Apostle has long ago admonished men of this Gal. 5.15 Let us live therefore like those that have professed rules of faith and conversation endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace And then if we thus live in this world we shall be entertained in the glory of the next CHAP. IV. HAving thus discours'd the Apostles Caution and evidenced to you that every one that pretends to Revelation is not to be believ'd I proceed to the second particular I propounded which contains a Direction how we may disentangle our selves from those perplexities and different opinions that various men under the same pretension puzzle us withal But try the Spirits whether they are of God Now as this is a metaphorical expression taken from those who bring Metals to the Touchstone that they may discern the difference betwixt them that they may be able to value them proportionably to their worth So to try the Spirits is to examine the Doctrines that such pretenders deliver to the world and to discern betwixt true and false and accordingly judge whether they are from God or no. It was the duty of the Priests under the Law to shew the people the difference betwixt holy and prophane and to cause men to discern betwixt the clean and the unclean Ezek. 44.23 And the duty is continued under the Gospel in relation to the Doctrines and pretensions of men For as our Saviour foretold that many false Prophets would arise in his Name with pretensions to his power and authority so we find them too suddenly after this prediction to have gone abroad into the World and even yet continuing their boldness and impiety dividing the Church and not only troubling particular men but whole Societies overturning Thrones dissolving Government amongst mankind and raising confusions not only in Secular but Religious affairs To prevent therefore such unsufferable disturbances that Religion may not cover malice or ambition nor give any countenance to the humours or impieties of men we must endeavour to preserve this entire without any mixtures of villany or imposture and by some certain characters know what properly belongs to it that we may not lye open to the fancies or designs of those who cunningly ruine our principles and profession And since new Lights are continually exposed to the view of men which they too easily gaze at till their eyes are dazled we must endeavour to distinguish these blazing Comets from the true and fixed Stars in the Firmament by which we are to be guided on Earth and directed in our way to Heaven We must try both Doctrines and those that publish them whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world If you will take an old Apostles advice against the pretended infallibility of new he advises you to prove all things but still to hold fast that which is good 1 Thess 5.21 We must try the Doctrines Opinions Examples nay even the Actions of all pretenders to revelation for by their fruits ye shall know them sayes our Saviour And what we call Tender Consciences as well as those that are very raw being rubb'd often by reason of their former commissions when they are not guided by a well balanced judgement are most apt to have secret combats within themselves and to be sensible of the least touch upon them For the best things in this World have some inconvenience still attending them and that which in some cases is good with other circumstances becomes evil and most men that have an itch upon their ears have had a scab first upon their minds The best Gold is most ductile and a Tender Conscience if the judgement be not the governour of the affections is easily enslaved to such principles as suit with passion and make impressions on the temperaments and bodily dispositions of men A seal we know makes the fairest and most lasting impression upon such Wax as is first softned and a tender Conscience where the head is as soft as the passions plyable easily receives the next Image though to the blotting out and defacing the old We had need therefore when any man comes under a pretence of some new inspiration to examine well both the person and his doctrine and receive to our own the skill of others especially those whom God has set over us in the Lord we may otherwise forsake the true Israel when Ephraim and Manasseh shall combine together or singly encounter it And we have been lately and are not yet out of danger so vex'd with parties different from one another whilst one extreme rides the other that the caution against believing every Spirit cannot too often be repeated nor our trial of all Preachers and Doctrines be too frequently urged and practised Our Saviour gives his Disciples a caution who yet had the view of those Miracles which we only believe that they should take heed that no man deceive them Mat. 24.4 that they might not entertain a secret enemy instead of a bosom friend And certainly we have much more reason to beware now although there were false pretenders then For if they durst when our Saviour was in the world design
differenced from the other that men may discern what Doctrines immediately oblige them being stamp'd with Divine authority And what are to be rejected by them being either the product of the dispositions of mens bodies or evil projects and designs of men Or else such as enter into them by the subtilty power or injections of the Devil Now these things being thus stated I proceed plainly to prove that it is the duty of every man to try and examine all pretenders to inspiration whether they are of God or no before they receive and entertain them as such 2. Give you some Directions how to know when any Prophet pretending to inspiration comes from God And 3 Make some application of the whole because the expression and Doctrine is very useful First Then to prove that it is our general duty to examine these pretended inspirations will appear 1. Not only from the Apostles direction which to those that own S. Johns authority is sufficient to inforce the duty without any argument or reason for the thing But also it is the great reason of giving rules to be the measure of what is straight or crooked This is the general design of Laws and those innate notions of virtue and vice implanted in the minds of rational men and confer'd upon them with their very beings And this is the reason of Gods manifesting his will to the world that by it men may be able to direct their lives and regulate their belief so as to preserve order and peace here and procure to them happiness hereafter Now to what purpose should these things be were it not mens duty to examine things in Religion by them since the revelation of Gods will to any creatures is a sufficient reason why they should obey it and is to be the rule of their actions for that time in which it is ordained to oblige Secondly It is the duty of men to examine Doctrines whether they are of God Because in things of a more inferiour concernment it is not allowed reasonable among mankind to receive or embrace them without trial and judgment upon them No man will deal in the commodities of his trade without either viewing them himself or taking them on the skill and integrity of one whom he can trust and confide in None receives a summ of money but that he will both number and examine the Coin That so his goods may be proportionable to the price And the Coin he receives may appear to be true and not counterfeit If we find a Quotation out of a Book on which is concluded matter of moment we will before we settle our notion and belief examine the Author on whose authority the case depends Whether he is of sufficient credit to inforce that thing and whether he be rightly quoted and represented Mankind would otherwise continually be imposed upon They might receive poyson instead of food and be placed here in this World only to be cheated and deceived and enjoy their lives at greater hazards than the most inferiour Beast that perishes Things that are obvious to our outward senses may by their likeness to one another or an artificial varnish many times deceive us so that what our eyes behold they cannot see And may not the inward senses of our minds by methods that are conformable to our faculties be cheated by various and false representations These things we have repeated experience of and they need not any farther illustration If therefore in our temporal concerns there is so great occasion of wariness and observation Have we not need to be more cautious in relation to spiritual and the matters of religion Or do we think our bodies superiour to our souls or things temporal to be of greater advantage than those that are eternal If not it is evident that we must use trial in both and our diligence must be advanced suitable to the dignity and value of our concern Our Saviour uses such an example from any I cannot take a better when he rebukes the Scribes and Pharisees that were so precise and scrupulous about smaller matters Who could strain at a Gnat but yet swallow a Camel that could exactly observe the outward face and appearance of the Heavens but would not take notice of the reverse which was yet more to be considered by men They could guess at the weather by rule and observation But would not discern the signs of the times neither in relation to the coming of the Messiah nor the safety or destruction of Jerusalem Matth. 16. 2 3. And is it not strange after so solemn a rebuke that men professing faith in the reprover should yet run into the same error and not examine a business that is of the greatest concernment when yet they will be extreamly diligent in what is of a far less value Alas what is time in comparison of eternity Or our abode here when set in opposition to what state we shall be in hereafter There is no comparison at all betwixt them And therefore we ought to be much more inquisitive about what we receive for Doctrines either to be believed or practised since on them depends our eternal welfare than we should be for the greatest concernments of this world Which if they dye not and perish with the using and make themselves wings that they may fly away Yet a very small time shall determine their use as to us And then according to our espousals and practice of Religion we must enter into eternal bliss or misery Thirdly It is our duty to try the Spirits because the examination of the Doctrines and Opinions of men in Gods name vented to the world is approved and commended in Sacred Writ As the Womans Alabaster Box of Ointment is recorded in the Scripture that this persons piety and kindness to our Saviour might not escape the notice of posterity But wheresoever the Gospel should be preached in the world this action should be told for a memorial of her Matth. 26.13 So we want not such examples and approbations of them as may recommend the diligence and inquiries of men before they receive principles under pretence of inspiration to all posterity to read and imitate Thus the Bereans were accounted More Noble by S. Paul than than those of Thessalonica because when the Gospel was preached to them they did not receive it at all adventures but examined whether the relations agreed with the predictions of the Prophets and the rules of life were coherent with the principles of Humane Nature the Being and Attributes of Almighty God the Notions and Reason of Mankind But more especially with the Scriptures which they had already received Which they searched daily that they might by them be enabled to know whether the Doctrines delivered were true Acts 17.11 Had God appointed any infallible Judge upon earth or resolved alwayes to fix his Laws in the minds of men by any new authorized revelations or any particular and extraordinary discoveries As there would not
have been need of any standing Rule so the Apostle would not have commended these Jews for comparing the New Testament with the Old nor for searching the Scriptures to know whether the Apostles Doctrine was true since he came to preach by virtue of inspiration Fourthly 'T is our duty to try the Spirits that is to examine the Doctrines and Opinions of those who pretend to be guided and acted by the Spirit Because there are several advantages that accrew to men by a diligent examination of these things As 1. It is the only way to avoid the insinuations of those who under this pretence captivate and enslave the affections of many leading them into a false Religion and deceiving them of the priviledges and rewards of the Gospel And so their peace and happiness is dissolved here and they purchase eternal misery hereafter The taking away this liberty of enquiring from men is what supports the Church of Rome when having deprived men of their sight they lead them which way they please and spirit them into the chambers of death when they think they are going to the land of the living This is what causes many to believe the Priests gain to be their own godliness whilst ignorance begets a strange devotion and instead of being lead by the Spirit of God they are hurried away by that of delusion And then Egypt or a Wilderness will be as pleasant as the Land of Canaan and the Night become as glorious as the Day to such as have no eyes to see it The want of tryal and examination of these things makes the Sects among our selves to be catched and halter'd by the subtilty of others till they are betrayed into the hands of those who use them as Stalking horses to catch others till the Jesuits cast their Net over them and then the Romans come and take away our Kingdom To forbid this tryal and judgement of things is to render the faculties of a man useless to degrade him into the nature of a Beast and to bring a strange Metempsychosis amongst us by transplanting mens souls into other creatures whilst their bodies live and act in the world Or to make them in religious affairs which are the greatest concernments they have here to forsake the Law of God and the Testimony to seek unto them that have familiar Spirits Or unto the Wizzards that peep and mutter when a people should seek unto their God and not for the living to the dead Isa 8.19 2. By a serious tryal and examination of the Doctrines of men that pretend to inspiration we shall in all probability keep our faith sound and entire For there being among Christians but one true Faith as well as Baptism and one God the Father of our Lord Jesus Since there may be many Articles of Belief exhibited to men different from the true It must needs become the only means to keep our faith sound and blameless by examining things before we receive them and trying men that pretend to inspiration before we entertain their Doctrines in our minds or make them the objects of our belief A Ship that equally spreads her Sails to all the Storms and contrary Winds must not only lengthen her Voyage and be toss'd in the midst of the Waves and Tempest But frequently be in danger of a Wreck if it be not lost and overwhelmed There is no less hazard in the matters of our faith If we permit it without care to lay open to every wind of doctrine we may then not only be toss'd to and fro but at once make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience The Devil is both a Thief and a Murtherer so he was from the beginning and still walks about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour And how easie is it for him to enter the minds of men and to steal away their faith or hinder it from a vital influence upon their actions if the doors of their souls continually are open and are not at all lock'd or barr'd He may then come to us in his own shape without transforming himself into an Angel of light and both solicite and enslave our minds whilst we let him pass without examining And yet in Ports subject to invasion and Garrisons that may be capable of surprize we allow continual Watch and Ward and Orders to them are so strict in time of danger that none who is not publickly known to be a friend may enter without a strict examination lest he betray the place and let in the enemy No less advantage is it to the mind to preserve our faith spotless and unblemish'd to have a Sentinel alwayes at our Senses through which our souls make their sallies lest the adversary again enters with them and they are destroyed by the same way in which they hoped to preserve themselves We must guard our minds and have a watchman alwayes upon the Tower that our understandings themselves which govern both our choice and affections be not ensnared into false principles which will defile our actions and ruine our souls This is the way to keep our selves harmless and undefiled the sons of God in the midst of that crooked and perverse generation amongst whom we live and hereafter to shine like Stars in the midst of the Firmament for ever This is the design of Saint Paul's exhorting men to hold fast the form of sound words 2 Tim. 1.13 and of his thanking God that the Romans then though since they have departed from it obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine delivered to them Rom. 6.17 and of S. Jude's exhorting all Christians to contend earnestly for that faith which was once delivered unto the Saints in the third Verse of his Epistle For whatever any men boldly say we have as much reason to examine our belief as our actions and to take as great care of the principles as we do in the practice of our Religion For not only our reason concludes this because the understandings are the principal faculty of our souls But for that these direct our wills and influence all the actions of our lives And God will not accept of those who exchange their Creed for any publick faith that betrayes those Articles men should believe Safety or ruine depends upon it Because not only Baptism and the outward Ordinances of our Saviours institution are required to the ordinary salvation of men But he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 Hymeneus and Alexander not minding these things put away Faith and a good conscience and shipwrack'd their belief in the midst of error and for this they were delivered unto Sathan 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. If the Orthodoxy of mens judgments and opinions of things were not of great and eternal concernment in the times of the Gospel the old statutes might be still embraced or the Law of Nature remain the only direction unto men without any farther revelation But S. Peter tells us of errors that are damnable which entitle men
Heaven to it and a sufficient guide to future action and an assurance that it was both lawful and just Many men when they have for some time brooded upon a thing they are apt then to petition Heaven to inform them of the lawfulness or convenience or the unlawfulness or inconvenience of it And having ended their devotion finding their thoughts to run still in the same chanel into which they had turned and confined them before they conclude this to be a sufficient warrant for them to prosecute and accomplish their design And the eagerness of their intention which proceeds only from their predeterminated resolution they foolishly take for the conduct of the Spirit which they are willing against all reason to think thus guides them to conclude the lawfulness of their desire And this is no inconsiderable hint because in this method many wicked and unlawful actions claim Gods patronage to justifie and defend them And what impious and most bloody designs have been attempted and carried on by the impressions upon mens minds after they have pretended to seek the Lord and thus gained what they have called a Return to their prayers I need not now particularly relate History has reported and will yet more discover them to the World This one thing has raised Rebellion Murdered Princes in design and act violated all Sacred Obligations and layes Religion at the feet of every fresh and fanciful pretender At this rate we shall cheat our neighbours by a secret impulse and murder Gods Anointed by a special command and no man can be safe in his Life and Fortune if a praying Hector or a dreaming Enthusiast has a mind and power to take them away Nor will he long be without a Warrant when by winking hard and directing his thoughts he may impress his own mind as he pleases and with a melancholy or sturdy confidence proclaim God to be the Author of it But alas God is then only in a true and proper sense said to hear or make returns to our prayers when he bestows on us those good and lawful things which we have with humility and devotion begg'd And if any man pondering on a wicked design of his own contrivance in this case prayes to God for his direction and after his prayer finds the sinful impression still remaining This proceeds from his own vicious and Diabolical inclination but not from the impulse of Gods Spirit And it can by no reasonable person be accounted Gods answer to his prayers Unless he will suppose the great Maker of Heaven and Earth to be willing to offer the greatest violence to his own nature and to nurse and cherish what he would hate in himself in those who are the workmanship of his own hands No greater reproach can be given to the Divine Majesty than this by those who acknowledge and adore his Being For they make him the Patron to mens sins as if his essential purity and goodness could permit him to instigate any to the commission of those things which his justice notwithstanding must and cannot chuse but punish Such apprehensions of the Supreme God would oftentimes make the Authour of peace to be guilty of the worst War and the shedding the best blood in a Kingdom The God of Order would become the cause of the greatest confusions among mankind and in plain terms give himself the Lye It cannot be safe therefore to make what we are apt to call an answer to our prayers a rule of actions unless they agree with Gods written word and then there will be no need of a new Warrant For the word of God as it is the best so it must be to us the only general direction in our taking the measures of good and evil If at any time the following strong impressions made upon our minds may be safe to guide us after we have sought to God for particular directions it must as I conceive be only in things that were indifferent before that he may influence our prudential choice in matters which he has left to our own option And even in this case we must have a care that we do not fully resolve before-hand lest we are found to be dissemblers with God and have no real hesitation in our own judgments But if in such things we have occasion to make any applications to him we must be sure to leave room for his direction and that we know not which way to determine our selves by any of the Laws of Good and Evil The lawfulness of either part must be evident and we must desire an influence on the government of our choice only in the prudential determination with reference to the good consequence or success I cannot apprehend that any evil can attend this it being a solemn acknowledgement of a Supreme Being who has the Government of the whole World of our own weakness and inability to guide our selves without his assistance and consequently of our dependence on him which are great reasons for our adorations and prayers But yet the good that may in particular attend the pursuance of this must be left to Gods secret conduct and to the intrigues and influence of his providence which no man is able to discover Unless he could pry into the consults of Heaven and disclose the secrets of an infinitely wise and powerful Being when besides what he has already revealed there is not a key-hole to peep through For my own part I love not to be wise above what is written or to be bold in prescribing Rules in those cases in which God has been pleased to give us none but shall confine my self to the Law and to the Testimony and look upon the Scripture as my certain Rule thus guiding my self in this World that I may at last through Gods mercy and the Merits of my Redeemer arrive at my proportioned glory in the next But Secondly Another false Rule of trying Opinions Doctrines and resolutions in Religion set up by some is every mans private judgement and determination When in the mean time it takes not its measures from Gods Word nor the general notions of Good and Evil but from a peculiar private Spirit got into a single mans thoughts and apprehensions Now to this head may be reduced what mad-men call lights and revelations What those Enthusiasts that will be Saints in spight of all their prophane actions and dub themselves Holy in the midst of their own irreligion call Conscience And what others of a more smooth and gentle disposition stile Reason that they may advance the powers of mankind to the degrading if not expelling the benign operations of the Holy Spirit of God In a word This seems to be the foundation of judgement and the Rule of discerning Spirits and Doctrines amongst Quakers Anabaptists Independents and the rest of our Separatists speaking in the general of all that follow the Socinian Principles and is the foundation of Popery it self when those of the Roman Communion mistake the result of
eyes stood out with fatness and they had more than heart could wish Psal 73. And Solomon observes that as to the changes of prosperity and adversity all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not As is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Eccles 9.2 This indeed may prove that there shall be a future account But neither can the goodness or wickness of a party be evidenced by such external characters much less the truth or falshood of opinions confirmed from the smiles or frowns of Providence But I need not at present argue this point farther since those that when prosperous invented it as a rule to walk by and as an argument to confirm their party and a bait to draw Proselytes and Abettors to them are now confuted by their shameful overthrow And it would sink them more should it be used with any severe enlargement since their honour layes in the dust and I hope it will never rise again I shall leave this therefore as a term of Religion and a fallible rule only taken up to serve a turn and proceed to those methods and ways by which we may discern true Doctrines from false inspirations CHAP. IX ANd First As to the Trial of the Doctrines and Opinions of those that vent them with great confidence and zeal as if they were divinely inspired we must consider that those to whom these Doctrines are propounded are reasonable creatures And this will be yielded without any reasoning about it unless we have a mind to degrade our selves as well in speculation as many do in practice to the beasts that perish nay any objection formally framed against this supposal would prove what the Objector endeavours to deny that men had discursive faculties and his own confutation would be included in his Objection whilst that would prove him able to syllogize and reason Secondly Men being rational and intelligent beings it follows that they are able to discern the truth or falsehood of propositions sufficiently propounded to their consideration in terms that exceed not the expressions of the sense of one man to another and in matters that are not elevated above humane capacities our discourses otherwise to one another would be no more than the chirping of Birds the speech of Parrots or the jabbering of Monkeys to each other and would be nothing more than an uncertain distinct sound without any signification Thirdly We must consider too that it is not suitable to the Nature of God to impose upon the faculties of men so as to delude and cheat them with any equivocal and false propositions especially when he designs them as a Rule to men to guide them in their concerns and actions in this World or in the way to their everlasting peace Because the notion men have of him the truth of which he has evidenced to the World renders him a Being of all possible perfection otherwise we should suppose God to be liable to the common frailties and infirmities of men Now if he be supreamly perfect he must according to our own reason and those faculties that are implanted in us be one of infinite Truth and Goodness If he be the first he will not deliver propositions unto men that are plainly or more obscurely false And if he be a good Being he will not give Rules that may deceive us if we use those faculties he has bestowed on us to find out their meaning and intention The contrary to this would cheat the World and then he would make creatures or at least seem to do it that he might with great circumstance and solemnity subtilly lead them into eternal ruine Which to suppose is as great blasphemy against the Divine Nature as can be invented by the worst of creatures that have made themselves malicious And as foul an infamy as can be cast upon Gods being by the worst of men since he desires not the death of sinners themselves but rather that they should return from their wickedness and live This is confirmed by those threats he denounces against them to frighten them from eternal ruine by all those promises he has annex'd to repentance by all his exhortations to them to amend their lives by all the instruments and helps to Religion which he has graciously afforded them by all that sorrow and trouble he expresses whilst men remain in that state of sin which entitles them to eternal misery And by sending his only Son into the World to offer himself a Sacrifice for them that Divine Wrath and Justice being appeased they might be capable according to the Rules and Directions he proposed and the Aids and Assistances he has given them to recover themselves out of those snares in which they were entangled and to guide themselves into the way of peace Fourthly From hence it follows that there are sufficient Means and Wayes afforded us by which we may as reasonable creatures judge of true directions and false so that we may not spend our time in uncertainties in matters of such vast and infinite concernment Gods promise of Heaven and eternal bliss would be to as totally insignificant if it were made either upon such conditions as we knew not or had not sufficient abilities with his influence to perform them And to what purpose would it be to tell the World that in keeping Gods Commandments there is great reward if we knew not what the Commandments were We could not make sense of that Thanksgiving of our Saviour Matth. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent the Rabbies amongst the Jews and the Philosophers among the Gentiles and hast revealed them unto babes to persons of a more inferiour rank and capacity if those whom he here calls Babes had not means to know the certainty of the Revelation and to arrive at compleat and distinct notions of the things that were revealed And in vain would it have been for S. Paul to have spoken the hidden things of God in a mysterie the Doctrine of Christs coming into the World hid under Jewish Types and Shadows and obscurely treated of by the Prophets in comparison to the Light which then appeared or to have treated of such Doctrines of the Gospel which discovered things which neither eye had seen nor ear heard nor did they ever enter into the heart of man when God revealed them by his Spirit 1 Cor. 2. and not by any Logical demonstration which blinded the Governours amongst the Jews and confounded the Philosophers among the Greeks who according to their accustomed way of proof expected another method of probation than the demonstration of the Spirit and of power It had been notwithstanding an impossible attempt for the Apostle to have endeavoured to reduce any of these or other men that knew themselves to be endued with
fervency and devotion for them For if ye being evil sayes our Saviour know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11.13 And since God is so bountiful to us let us not be wanting to our selves For when we shall with retirement consider how numerous and potent our sins are which must all in their habits be mortified and subdued how many turbulent or inticing temptations we have to oppose that are ready every day to conquer us and steal invisibly to our most secret entertainments how many passions we have to calm and moderate which upon every suitable and tempting occasion endeavour to make an insurrection against our reason How many personal and relative duties we are to perform in a wise and pious ordering our conversation how the suggestions of our own flesh the injections of Sathan and the malice and defilements of the world will endeavour to oppose and obstruct our progress When we consider the black passage of death and the grave and God knows what dismal encounters we may meet with in our way to them What fears will then suddenly arise to baffle our hopes and make our faith ready to expire And upon the whole when we reflect upon our weakness and miserable infirmity In a word When we consider how much work we have to do how little time to perform it and what great disproportion there is betwixt our duty and our power It will not only appear that it is high time to awake out of sleep to rise and be doing But to take the Armour of God for our defence and to pray to Heaven for the assistance of the Spirit Since this appears to be so necessary in relation to our weakness and our duty And certainly what is so necessary for our safe conduct to that Haven where we would be and which God designs for our eternal rest and shelter from all tempests and future storms There is no reason why we should distrust the Spirits influence and operation Nor to make our selves uncapable of the favour by testifying our unwillingness to receive it by perpetually opposing and disputing against it For Lastly this influence of the holy Spirit upon the minds of holy and good men is from the Scripture infallibly certain to those that at once both want and beg it and do prepare themselves for the reception of it Why otherwise should our Saviour give this assurance to his Disciples that God gives the holy Spirit to those that ask him Nay what becomes of those promises in the Scripture that engage Gods truth and faithfulness to assist good men in the discharge of their duty and to support them under all their misery and misfortune if we were altogether left to our selves to pursue the dictates of our own reason and to stand only upon our own leggs without any superiour help or influence The Apostle tells us that the Spirit does help our infirmities Rom. 8.26 But this would be false if we had either none that required his assistance Or that he would not condescend to supply our wants S. John makes this vinculum unionis this bond of union betwixt Christ and us the Spirit of God to be a character by which we may distinguish our selves Because he has given us of his Spirit 1 John 4.13 And S. Paul fully agrees with S. John For sayes he if any man has not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 I know with what great industry these and other Texts have been restrained to that Divine temper of mind by which we know and discern our condition This indeed being the gracious effect of the holy Spirits co-opperating with our endeavours is by no means to be separated in our judgment upon our selves And we have no other way to judge of the cause but by this Divine and glorious effect But yet where this is visible in an holy life and virtuous actions we have no reason to exclude the cause Especially when it is principally included in the expression For the Apostle supposes this Spirit that Christians have to be the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead Nay a branch also of that power which shall hereafter raise us too For it follows He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in us Because our Bodies are here the Temples of the Holy Ghost God will not suffer them to remain eternally in their ruiues But will hereafter re-edifie and raise them because they were once the habitation of his Spirit Hence are Believers said to be sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of their inheritance Ephes 1.13 And therefore they are advised in the same Epistle not to grieve this holy Spirit of God whereby they are sealed unto the day of their redemption Eph. 4.30 Now though we may be said to be sealed up for Heaven by a Divine temper of mind upon Earth that this prepares us for future glory and that if this disposition be not in us we are none of Christs Yet it would be as harsh a speech as can be admitted in any language to say that this holy temper of mind shall raise us up at the last day Since the wicked are then raised too Or to say that any man voluntarily grieves this Divine temper and disposition of mind when the man then grieves himself These expressions therefore must certainly intend more than this And they can scarcely admit of a fair interpretation without expounding them of the holy Spirit of God which now co-operating with our faculties produces in us divine tempers and dispositions and so prepares us for that inheritance which he shall raise us up from our graves to possess The Holy Ghost was first promised to the Apostles and Christian Disciples under the names and notion of a Comforter and the Spirit of truth and how could he be both or either if he did not influence their minds with joy and knowledge The Spirit it self sayes the Apostle bears witness with our Spirits that we are the children of God Rom. 8.16 It did not only testifie unto others by those Miracles that did confirm their Religion and consequently proved those that did sincerely embrace it to be born of God as well as their Religion But it evidenced these things also to their own consciences by a sacred benediction and a Divine and more immediate concurrence with them when they compared their lives with the Rules of their Religion And consequently proves to them that they were heirs of God and coheirs with Christ which is the argument the Apostle is there prosecuting to give them comfort in the midst of tribulation and to animate their courage and resolution against the sufferings of that present time The graces and virtues visible in a Christians life are said in Scripture to be the fruits of the Spirit
troubled the Church perverted the Gospel of Christ Gal. 1.7 But this is no argument against the sufficiency or plainness of the Scripture in things necessary to our eternal salvation For they are usually more obscure Texts that are to exercise the more Learned and Critical part of men upon which Heresies are founded And this too frequently is occasioned by men that wrack and torture their understanstandings to conceive such things as are not here perfectly to be known Or if they are to be fathomed by other men yet are above the reach of those who thus ignorantly and erroneously apprehend them Thus S. Peter speaking of S. Paul's Epistles sayes that in them there are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 But another sort there are too that have too much subtilty to be accounted ignorant Who are some of he perverse disputers of the world that first suit their Tenets to their interest and then violently press the Scriptures to prove what they were never intended for We should never else have heard This is my Body brought to prove that absurd Doctrine of Transubstantiation Nor Feed my Sheep to prove the Popes Supremacy Nor He will guide you into all truth to prove his Infallibility Nor He shall be saved yet so as by fire to prove a Purgatory When all these Texts are capable of fairer and more plain interpretations to another and more coherent sense But that the ambition of some men would entitle themselves to the government of the rest And then frame others belief to render them tame for such a tyranny and to be subject to whatsoever they will impose when all this while they suit the Articles of the Churches Faith to the encrease of their own Wealth the better to support their Pride and Usurpation Nay on the other side we have those amongst our selves who call the Pope names and yet embrace his Doctrine And tie that infallibility which they rob the Roman Chair of to their own single and Enthusiastick determinations Who by misunderstanding some Texts of Scripture direct themselves by a private impulse and then muster these to defend it But the Flower is not the less fragrant for that the Spider thence will suck for poison Nor does the Scripture cease to be a safe and sufficient Rule to those who soberly apprehend and follow it Notwithstanding some may wrest and misapply it Nor does the Spirit at any time contradict it self He having therefore inspired some men to commit a Rule to writing for future Generations to read and understand and put forth a Law that is sufficiently plain and perspicuous And men having reason and understanding enough assisted by the Spirits ordinary directions to guide themselves by the measures of this Rule and Law into all truth He expects now that they should order themselves as they do by all human Laws That is to believe upon the Authority of the Imposer and live proportionably to so great a favour and labour to understand what he has put into their power to know Remembering that of wise Agur Add thou not unto Gods words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar Prov. 30.6 The authority God has given to the Governors of his Church empowers them to command or alter circumstantials that all things may be done decently and in order In these we are to obey them that have the rule over us and to submit our selves Heb. 13.17 But no men are authorized to usurp the Throne of God himself To create new Articles of Faith Or impose other primary rules of duty than what they find written in the Scriptures They are only to confirm and explain them For as we must not think of men so neither of Doctrines above what is written Our language and design must be the same with S. Paul To deliver that which we also received 1 Cor. 15.3 So may we be workers together with God And when the world in the wisdom of God that is by the works of God which demonstrate his wisdom knows not God it may please him by the foolishness of preaching i. e. what some men account folly to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.21 And this leads me to the next particular in which the Holy Spirit of God guides us that are remote from the Apostles Age into all truth which they delivered By inclining the minds of some men to continue that Ministry that must have its succession unto the end of the World And this is the second way of the Spirits conduct That in all Religious Constitutions which have been in the World there has been a separate and appointed Ministry is more notorious than to spend words in the proof of it 'T is too deeply planted in the minds of men and it bears an equal date with the Law of Nature fix'd in us Without this publick Worship cannot have its constant and orderly Being And had not this been established with the constitution of Christianity it would not only have been in a worse condition than any Religion which has possessed the world But than any Trade or Occupation among us to the obtainment of which men must be learners before they become able Workmen Or are permitted to exercise their particular Callings amongst any well ordered and embodied Society The separation therefore of some men from the generality of Christians was first made by our Saviour himself When he called the Apostles and sent forth the seventy Disciples to preach the Gospel unto human creatures And when the time of his departure from the world was come When he was to be received into his Fathers Kingdom in such a triumph as became a Conquerour and one to whom all power was given He delivers his full Commission to his Apostles substituting them in his own stead to rule his Church and to ordain their Successors That like the Tribe of Levi they might be legitimate and by a continued and distinguishable descent they might be perpetuated to the end of the World As my Father sent me sayes Christ so send I you John 20.21 Or as S. Matthew describes it All power is given to me both in Heaven and in Earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And lo I am with you alway to wit in the exercise of this power by your selves and Successors to the end of the world Matth. 28.18 19 20. These are some of those gifts our Saviour gave unto men when he ascended upon high Ephes 4.8 For he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ This is to endure 'till we all come into the