the spirits instigation and inflexion then does God impute the righteousness of his beloved Son to that soul being now become a true believer and by inward intire love in the heart espoused to him Hence it follows that whatever the son hath the Father makes over to a Saint who by vertue of those espousals enters into a right and title to Christ Wisdom â— cor 1.30 righteousness sanctification and redemption and becomes a co-heir with Christ of the same inheritance in the kingdom of glory and as it is here in the kingdom of grace so much more in heaven above fulget radiis mariti the Church shineth not by reflected but by infused or implanted rayes of her husbands glory being one with Christ in mystical union the same spirit and the same glory being in them as our Lord sets it out I in them and thou in me John 17.22 23. Ezek. 16.14 John 1.12 and the glory which thou gavest me have I given them that they may be one even as we are one In his comliness we are made perfect For on them that receive him the Father bestoweth a powerful and magnificent priviledge to become the adopted sons of God. Having discoursed a little largely with thanks to the stronger christians for their leave and candid forbearance of time as to the weaker Saints about the nature of the will as being the principal seat of Faith and the seminary of its fruitful effects Let us now proceed In the third place to the affections of the soul which are indeed but several emanations or streams from the Will and may be compared to semidiametral lines that flow from this center and run out into the spacious circumference of actions For when the heart or will inclines this or that way or to their opposites it then shines forth in those extensive eradiations by the passions and several affections of the Soul. As for instance Isa 26. the church of God in the Prophet cries out with my soul have I desired thee in the night season So in respect to fear holy persons are said to fear God in the singleness of heart Col. 3.22 Dâ—ut 13.3 Judg. 16 152. Song 1 4 7 and others are recounted to love and trust in the Lord with all their hearts and love is stated to be from the heart In this love of our hearts to Christ lies the quintescence of our union and thence a spouse like reverence and a sweet holy fear to offend or displease him in the least Eph. 5.33 The like whereof is commanded in Scripture to be the holy deportment of all Wives to their Husbands Let the Wife sâ—e or look to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that she fear or reverence her Husband Insomuch that Solomon brings in the Spouse with such a reverent care when her bridegroom was asleep that she charges all persons in and about the place to make no noise that may disturb or awake her beloved till he please â—ong 2.3 She is filled with an heart-ravishing joy in communion with him though here but through the lattesse of Ordinances takes sweet complacency in an holy rest in his fellowship â—ong 2.5 and feels a delicious faintness in the sick agonies of love is always satiated in his society but never satisfied always filled to the brim with pleasure and running over in his praise to the daughters of Jerusalem while the fountain of love pours out of the heart of Christ into the bosome of a Saint by a true perpetual motion this glorious person 〈◊〉 5.7 delighting in his goodness and rejoycing over us with singing These and many more are the pure unstained sanctified motions of the will so far as renewed rectified by grace and acting towards its native and genuine objects at first concreated with it as fit proper and qualified for it 'T is the will then â—sal 42.1 8.25 which desires loves thirsts longs and pants after the living God and is never quiet or settles its full complacency on any person or thing besides God alone but there 't is satiated with all manner of delight and joy for evermore 4. In the next place conscience comes in to act its part and having lookt round about upon all the pre-actings of the soul subscribes to the new creation with this eulogy Behold all the work of God is very good It is a mixt act of the soul flowing from the understanding and will together and proceeds from an inward work Simplicius as a philosopher expresses it if I remember right When the soul makes dialogues within it self It is the reflexion of the soul upon all its precedent acts whether radical or deduced wherein conviction is mainely concerned As the Evangelist speaks of some Pharisees that they were convinced of their own consciences John 8.9 which do accuse or excuse according to the nature of the light and integrity within and so helps the soul to assurance by a diligent intuition into the actings of Faith. Conscience is the souls looking-glass Rom. 2.15 wherein it beholds all the red flashings upon its face when others talk behind them at a distance This inward redness more especially rises from the immediate rebukes of this vicegerent and happy are such who have their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience nil conscire sibi Heb. 10.22 nullaque aubescere onlpa To be conscious of no guilt and to have no faults staining vermilion upon the cheeks of conscience I might enlarge in the next place upon the power of fancy and imagination that anvill and hammer of thoughts in the work-house of the brain But I rather proceed to the last that I shall touch upon and that 's the Memory that wonderful faculty which Austin in his confessions does so extreamly and deservedly admire and the Platonists are so deeply affected with it that they thought the souls science to be little else then reminiscence or a recognition of what it had before its delapse from heaven into the body Memory is the souls christal cabinet replenisht with diamond cells or Loculi so termod by Tully wherein things heard and learned are safely retained and who is able to expound the reason of its rehearsals It is the recollection of the soul upon it self acting over and reviewing every thing at its pleasure and thereby hath a great influence upon the affections to excite them with delight or dolour meminisse juvabit dolehit When we lay up memorials in our hearts the end is to bring them forth of the treasury of a good and honest breast Luk. â— 66 Psal 139.18 63.6 like wise Scribes fitted for the Kingdom of God. Thus David remembers God sometimes to his comfort and when awake was still with God. At other times he remembred God and was troubled comparing his present dolesome state with his former more delicious times This faculty so we may term it Galen being a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a faciendi
potestas a power in the Soul to do something peculiar in calling things to remembrance carries a flaming Torch in its hand over all the chambers of the Soul â—nuert Instit and by Physitians and Philosophers is reckoned one of the three inferior senses Now in this as in all other powers Faith hath its residence and acts in and from them upon its most noble and spiritual objects I shall not recount many Scriptures Some trust in Horses and some in Chariots Psal 20 7â— but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God even what he hath done for us of old and trust him still Saints use to call to mind former mercâ—ies to encourage Faith I will remember thee from the land of Jordan Psal 42.6 and of the Hermonites from the hill Mizzar the little hill Mizoar before Zoar. In which and the like places David escaped the violence of Saul Memory helps Faith in a gracious person recalling the ancient benefits of God to his Church and his wonders of old Help a Holy mans Memory as to former actings of Faith in his straits and you comfort him presently with the sweet hope of continued deliverances till he arise to the great deliverance in the Heaven of glory But lest I be tedious I shall prosecute no more but descend to the second Section of this Chapter SECT II. Of the Primary Efficient Cause of FAITH AS to the efficient Cause Author or Worker of Faith in the heart we know that every good gift comes down from Heaven And hence Faith is sometime ascribed to the donation of God essential being called the gift of God the Faith of the operation of God. Again Jam. 1.17 Eph 2.2 Col. 2.2 Phil. 1.29 â— Thess 1.11 Phil. 2.13 t is said to be given to the Saints to believe and the work of Faith is said to be the effect of his mighty power In which and in all other heavenly gifts and graces to will and to do are both wrought of God. As t is in true repentance a grace that 's alwayes conjoyned with Faith and leads out of our selves by the hand of Faith into Christ the former being given of God so is Faith. â— Cor. 3.5 All our sufficiency to think but a good thought slides down from Heaven Q. If you ask then How thoughts come into the heart A. I Answer They flow into the head or heart by the power of imagination thru the windows of the senses or from concreated ideas or by some instillations and special infusions from God as it is in all curious Arts and Sciences Prev 8.12 He is the finder out of all witty Inventions as we read in the case of Bezaleel for the Tabernacle and in Hiram for Temple works If you ask whence holy thoughts come I answer from the infusion of the Spirit Gen. 1.2 and his warming the waters of the Soul as it is exprest by Moses in the first Creation so it is in the new Creation from the breathings of the Spirit on the garden of spices which â—e himself hath planted in our hearts Isa 26.12 Psal 33 22 1 Chro. 29 18 1 Joh 2 27 So it is in the work of Faith as the Church expresses it Thou hast wrought all our works in us and for us he causeth us to trust or hope in his Word He begins and inspires good thoughts into us and keeps them in the imagination of our hearts He teaches and anoints us with the oil of the Spirit He makes all new within us and puts hearts of flesh into us Jer. 31 18 Ezek. 36 26 and turns us unto himself because he is the Lord our God having accepted us into covenant relation with himself Sometimes the work of Faith is ascribed to the Father as in that to the Ephesians Eph 1 19 20 we are made to believe by the exceeding grâ—atness of the mighty power of the Father even the same power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Joh. 6 4â— And otherwhere it is said that no man can come to the Son that is by Faith except the Father draw him by the golden chain of his electing love and teaches him from his chair in Heaven Besides the work is oftentimes ascribed to Christ who is said to be the Author and Finisher of our Faith and that he is exalted to give repentance and forgiveness of sins Heb 12.2 Act 5.31 both which are intimately connexed with Faith as in the case of the Father of the tormented Child Mark 9.24 praying to Christ to help his unbelief But more especially and immediately it s attributed to the holy Spirit who works in our understandings to think of heavenly things and puts holy motions into our hearts which are the original of those sudden thoughts by darting of Scriptures and precious Promises into our memories Rom. 8.5 9. â— John 14.26 and kindling sparks of light and comfort in our hearts yea the witnessing of our spirits to him are wrought by him He inclines our wills to embrace himself and Christ our Lord. For if we have not the spirit of Christ Rom 8.9 we are none of his Yea Faith it self even as all other graces are given by one and the same spirit Again one of the fruits of the Spirit is recorded to be Faith 1 cor 12 9 and to speak with reverence it is from his implantation and inoculation in the new paradise of the Soul. Gal 5.22 Yea and after that we have believed we are also sealed up in the Faith by this holy spirit of promises He seals all his own gracious workings upon our hearts Sometimes Believers are said to receive the Holy Ghost presently upon the first work which evidently shews the connexion of Faith and holiness by the same spirit Eph 1.13.13 19.3 16 17 Hence t is observable that tho Prophecies be never so perspicuously and radiantly fulfilled and tho admirable miracles were performed to illustrate the presence of the Deity yet they wrought not the least grain of Faith without the energy of the spirit he must add thereto an inward miracle upon the heart Thus it befel the Israelites in the Arabian Desart Deut. 29.3 4. For God sayes Moses gave them not a heart to perceive unto that day Just so the Capernaites they saw Christs blessed person and his eminent Miracles but believed not as not being given to them by the Father Joh 6.36 37. John 12.37 and so it was with the Pharisees and other Jews tho he had done such great works before their eyes yet they believed not on him There must be therefore a working power of the spirit concomitant with the Ministry of the outward call of the Word else none shall believe the report of Christ by Isaiah Isa 53.1 unless the arm of the Lord be revealed within Hence it is that some have professed to have heard a kind of voice at their
when thou hast wisely and deliberately weighed the various phrases in the promises then examine the frame of thy heart and if finding them suit in some sweet measure tho not so clearly as thou longest to have it yet fear not delay not to joyn thy heart and the promise together And this moreover I 'll say to thee for thy comfort that tho the hand of thy Faith should shake with some tremblings at present be not dismayed Mat 9.2 Mark 2.5 our blessed Lord who spake to the palsie man both can and will in due time for thy inward hope is an evidence of it speak that great strengthening word to the relaxed nerves and sinews of thy Faith Son be of good cheer 2 Tim. 2.13 thy sins be forgiven thee for if thou hold but the head nay if touch but the hem of his garment virtue will proceed and thou l't perceive it by some sweet settling quietings of Spirit as when the dew of heaven falls in a still evening For he will abide faithful tho we do not in so full and triumphant a manner act Faith upon him Psal 149.4.50.23 yet he will continue to be gracious and will shortly beautifie the meek with salvation If you order your conversation aright he will shew and make to shine the face of your Saviour and the Sun of his salvation upon you his beloved ones That person may certainly conclude himself to be in Christ who walketh in this World as he did all to our proportion and continue in acts of contemplation and adherence 1 Tim. 4.8 Heb. 12.6 embracing the promises Hitherto I have spoken somewhat to the application of the promises whereby we may argue true Faith and thence lay a strong foundation for assurance but before I relinquish this Subject I would touch upon the several Arguments used by the Apostle John which he insists upon in his Epistles written on purpose foâ— the comfort of Bâ—lievers 1 Joh. 1.4 5.13 1 John 3.23 that their joy may be full and that we may know that we have eternal life To which end it is Gods Commandment to believe in the Son and to love one another Let us then mention the chief in Order 1. The first evidence of eternal life is drawn from our walking in the Light that is of holiness 1 John 1.6 2 29. 3.6 9. walking in the truth Epist 3.3 in obedience to his Commandments 1 John 2.3 5 3.24 5.2 3. Epistle 2.6 In imitation of Christs holy walking 1 John 2.6 4.17 and in purifying of our selves according to his pattern 1 John 3.3 and yet all this must be qualified in respect to our infirmities and weaknesses 1 John 1.8 9 10. 2.1 2. 2. The second Argument to prove the truth of grace and assure our selves before God is love to the Brethren 1 John 2.9 10 and chap. 3.11 14. 4.7 12 20. and in his Gospel Joh. 13 35. 3. The third Argument is from our not loving the World nor the things thereof 1 Joh. 2.15 as the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes or the pride of life ver 16. That is 1. Pleasures of all sorts as luxury in Diet Habit Houses Gardens rambling about the World without special ends and all inordinacy and intemperateness in the body as Jerom uses to express it iâ— ventre sub ventre For they that love Pleasures and Riotings shall not be rich in purse sayes Solomon nor in grace Prov. 21.17 sayes the whole current of Scripture 2. The lust of the eye which is as to all sorts of covetousness to get and retain by right or by wrong in an excessive appetition of the things of this World which must be left behind us and do not can not fill the heart of man no nor the eye with satisfaction Eccles 5.11 Nor 3. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Pride of Ambition Fastuousness Honour and advancement into great places and to be alone in the Earth These things eagerly pursued eat out the heart and power of godliness 4. The fourth Argument is assumed from the anointings of their Spirit 1 Joh. 2 20 27 3.24 4.13 whereof more by and by God willing 5. The fifth Argument is taken from a holy and reverent hearing of Gods Ministers 1 John 4.6 we may know what spirit we are of by this if we receive Christ as Hilary expresses it Qualis ab Apostolis praedicatus est as he was preached by the Apostles and submit to him in all his Offices and Ordinances such a one belongs to the spirit that is of God that keeps the Doctrine of Christ as the Apostle expounds himself Epistle 2. ver 9. 6. The last Argument arises from our love to Christ 1 Iohn 5.1 and in him to the Father Now if these things be found in us we shall then overcome the World 1 Ioh. 5.4 and shall not be touched virulently or fatally by Satan 1 Iohn 5.18 shall have access to God in prayer 1 Iohn 5.14 and shall have boldness in the day of Judgment 1 Iohn 4.17 and this will so settle our sense of the love of God to us that it will by degrees cast out the torment of fear For it will allure us to a holy familiarity with divine love 1 Iohn 4.18 and so sweeten our thoughts and affections of and to him that we may begin to enjoy a kind of heaven upon earth which the Father of his great mercy in Christ grant unto us by the Spirit Having hitherto treated about Argumentation I proceed now to the second Head about attaining Assurance which is by the irradiation of the Spirit of God upon the hearts of Believers For all is in vain as to gaining of solid and permanent comfort unless the Spirit of God come in and confirm us against the innumerable doubts and cavils that will arise upon us under all our Arguings because of the subtlety of satan the natural diffidence of our own hearts and the clouds that arise from the unholiness of our lives and the dread of eternity I design therefore to treat a little while about the witness of the spirit his immediate breathings his bright shinings and as it were speakings within our hearts when a holy soul hath this witness in himself 1 Iohn 5.10 2 Cor. 1.3 Act. 10.44 For in and upon believing the Father of Lights and of all consolations sends in his own due time this his holy spirit like a dove of peace into our hearts who helps us to discern the truth of the work of grace After ye believed sayes the Apostle ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Eph 1 13. He is sometimes set forth by a Seal and a Witness to the bond of the Covenant by a Seal and an Earnest to the contract about the inheritance 2 Cor. 1.22 by a Seal and a Love-Token or an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word used of old to note
own divine power Whereby he manifested his own Glory that is of his Deity As in turning Water into Wine at Cana and in raising of Lazarus he was glorified to be the Son of God Therefore the Apostle John from that and many other cases of raising the dead Joh 5 17 15 24 10 18. c. might well affirm that he had seen his glory even in the transfiguration as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Till the incarnation or rather the beginning of his Ministry the Father wrought But now sayes he I Work. He laid down the life of his Humanity Heb 1 Rom 1 4 c. rose from the dead ascended into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God by his own Divine Power Tho t is true that some of these things being sometimes ascribed to God essential and otherwhere predicated or affirmed of Christ personal do therein unite in the confirmation of his Deity who performed all these great signs that we should believe him to be the Son of God. 1 Joh. 5.13 8. Another Testimony of his glorious Deity is the pardon of sin The Pharisees saw the force of this Argument Mat. 9.3 Luk. 5.21 and blasphemously catcht at it as a great crime for arrogating to himself the honour which is alone due to the Majesty of God. But our Lord sufficiently knew the dignity of his own person tho somewhat vailed yet to the comfort of many a poor sinner and to their inestimable joy often as a God pronounced the forgiveness of their sins Nay to shew the union of his humanity with the Deity declares that the Son of Man hath power upon Earth Mat. 9.2 3. Act 5 31 Heb 1.3 as well as in Heaven to forgive sins So the Apostle to the Hebrews confirming his Godhead over and over in the same Chapter asserts that having purged away our sins by himself i. e. by his blood he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high 9. Again since contrite sinners do humbly supplicate to God for the pardon of sin we find him recorded sometimes as the direct and immediate object of Worship both from men and angels Joh 14.13 How often do we find him prayed to and worshipt by his Disciples and himself accepting all as his due Now he that receives prayer and answers it to the people of God and takes into his custody the spirits of dying Saints as he did Stephen's this person must needs be God. Nay all the Angels of God are commanded to Worship him Act 7 59 Heb 1 6 Mat 8 27 Job 38 9 at whose word the raging seas hush into their swadling bands and are quiet like a child sleeping in its cradle the boisterous winds delight to be still that they may without noise hear his delicious and heavenly voice with all silence and subjection and make a halcyon calm from Pole to Pole. 10 But to end He that is declared to be Judg of the World and to raise all persons out of their Graves by hâ—s own Imperial command to appear at his righteous Bar must not that person be God If he knew not the hearts and thoughts of all and every secret thing from his own Omniscience Eccl. 12 14 which thing is an incommunicable attribute of God he could not be Judg of quick and dead at his appearance and Kingdom To Judge the World was by the Pharisees acknowledged to be the character of a God. 2 Tim. 4 8 The high Priest therefore hearing this rents his clothes and calls it Blasphemy But why the second person having admitted the humanity into union and being head of the Church should perform this glorious work Mat 26 65 Mark 17 64 depends only upon the Oeconomy of the sacred Trinity a secret not to be irreverently peered into but adored Let 's be wise to Sobriety according to what is written and not transcend the limits at the foot of the Mount. Rom 12 3 But to draw to an issue He is also constituted Judg of Angels at that great day they must bow their coelestial knees at his Name and the evil Spirits acknowledg this while our Lord was here below Isa 45 23 Rom 14 10 11 Mat 8.29 beseeching him not to torment them before the time Now it is a work competent alone to a God to torment Spirits All the powers in heaven and earth besides cannot do it of their own vigor and force unless permitted influenced directed and managed by God in it and blessed be God for it that hath reserved the dominion of our spirits to himself alone as well as of Angels But this supremacy was acted by Christ at his pleasure from the innate power of his Deity when he cast them out as evil and unclean spirits sore against their wills and at their supplication gave them leave to go hither or thither For they are in adamantine chains and those chains in his own hand 2 Pet 2 4. and casts them into hell and looses them when he pleases There fore he who by his own power and authority in communion with the essential Godhead doth these great things Rev 20 1 2 7 must be God blessed for ever Amen I know the Socinians talk of their created God and so would sain evade the dint of Scriptures but that 's most perfect nonsence to assert two Gods and one a created God. For Infinite can be but one or else hold one to be titular as Angels and Magistrates tho in a higher Orb and Order which yet is inconsistent with the precedent Scriptural Arguments that prove our blessed Lord to be God in essence coequal with the Father and Holy Spirit to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever Now then since this most excellent person by vertue of his sufferings in communion with his infinite Deity tho in it self impassible hath given full satisfaction to his Father for all the sins of Believers and by whom we receive the attonement Rom 3 21 5 21 Act 20 2 even through the merit of his precious blood and that hereby he is become a personal particular and immediate Object of our Faith and that by him we do believe in God the justifier of the ungodly through his righteousness and his alone Rev 22 17 Heb 9 12 Eph 5 26 Tit 2 14 1 Joh 1 7 1 Pet 1 2 Rev 8 5 Heb 9 16 and that this glorious person so graciously invites all thirsty sinners to take the water of life freely and to believe in his Name for the remission of Sins let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Now let this suffice to have written about the two great Foundations of Faith. In the first Chapter concerning the Divinity of the Scriptures And in the second in reference to the Deity of our blessed Lord which I hope
heirship and all the priviledges and liberties of the children of God Sanctification to mortifie the power and dominion of sin and to quicken our graces and duties to support us against and under all fiery tentations to eularge and fortifie our spirits under dificult services and to persevere to the end Phil. 1.6 1â— that at last we may attain the redemption of our bodies from the dust and the resurrection to glory But these resort more properly under the tenth and last chapter and therefore here I forbear 7. The next place sets forth Faith by our cleaving to the Lord with full purpose of heart Aâ—s 11 23. Isai 28.16 When the soul is glewed by an holy love to the mercies and goodness of God it will then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stedfastly abide with him It makes not haste out of the mountains of Zion as if full of bogs and quakemires Deut. 10.20 Josh 2â— 8 1 Cor. 1.17 2 Cor. 11 2 but as being setled on the strong and lofty rock of ages This closing of the soul with God is often set down in Scripture by that trust and assiance which a true believer hath in God adhering on cleaving to God is a term also which sometimes attends upon conjugal relation wherby true and faithful persons having the yoke of that union lined with the soft velvet of love 1 Cor. 6.17 become one as in person by the law so much more in spirit and delight To the same purpose the Apostle affirms that true believers being united to Christ by a true and lively faith become one spirit with the Lord and long daily to be more sully espoused by larger affections of the unction of Christs spirit in order to the solemnity of that glorious marriage-day of the Lamb. Rom. 7.4 Rev 19 7 Phil 3 20 And this is true faith indeed when persons long for the appearance of Christ in glory 8. Next follows that term of embracing of Christ as the Saints of old being first perswaded of the truth and goodness of the promises Heb 1â— 13 then at length embraced them utrispue ulnis with all affection and what are the promises but the precious fine linnen wherein Christ our sacrifice was involved after his death at his funeral which is the principal object of our saith even Christ in his sufferings This act of embracing notes our ardent affection to him delight in him and heavenly communion begun betwixt Christ and the heart of a believer Love is Faiths Agent and factor Faith worketh by love a true lover of Christ is certainly a true believer in him and this love increases by faith and faith by love For the soul determines it The more I know of his Excellencies the more I believe in him Rom. 5.4 5 and I love him more because I have the experience of Christs love to me In this very state of the valley there is a mixing of hearts and spirits but in heaven the soul is swallowed up in his love for ever 9. In the ninth place a Believer arrives at this reverent freedom with the Lord in all its streights and dificulties to cast its cares and burdens upon him being both commanded and encouraged by him to do it Whenever I am afraid saith David Psal 56.3 He trust in thee If the heart safely trust in a friend Prov. 31 11. there follows a mutual unvailing and disclosing of the most secret and bosome counsels Psal 71.3 Jer 20.12 Psal 142 2 So does the soul pour out its sorrows and open its whole cause before God. Three things make a friend or relation desirable power to protect wisdom to advise and love to comfort and mingle joys sorrows together All these are eminently and transcendently found in heaven There 's a heart large enough to entertain thy moans Jam 1â— wise enough to guide thee in the dark turns of Providence and so good as not to upbraid thee and can command Legions of Angels at a beck for protection â— Pet. 5 7. Let us therefore cast our care upon him for he careth for us and 't is worth notice what the Apostle terms thy care the Psalmist terms thy burden promising that the Lord will sustain thee to shew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dividing cares Psal 55.22 heart-rending cares are great burdens But divine sustentation and support of the soul in trouble plainly shews that God takes a fatherly care of thee and will not suffer thee finally to be moved as Davids song in the end of that Psalm since thou art a righteous man and hast cast all thy soul-battering cares upon Gods promise which are but so many tentations to try thy faith and trust in him Besides this trust is exprest by casting anchor within the vail Heb 6 19 When the ship of the soul being turned up-side down as to the world though too near the earth in this bodily estate yet in spirit sails above the firmament and makes all its sails upward still Rev 11.19 and if any storm arises it then rides at Anchor upon the Ark in heaven within the vail beyond the starry Canopy as upon the rock of life the Lord Christ himself 10 In the tenth and last place faith acts by Resignation giving up all its comforts into his heavenly hand when a true believer both living and dying commends his spirit into his divine manutenency during this frail life in all the mighty turns circles or helixes of providence full of intricate meanders and mazes past finding out is led by a hand coming down from heaven So that all ends well with a Saint his stormy dayes do always end in a sun-shine evening He gives up himself to the guidance of his counsel and as to death both for time place way and method yields up all to his safe conduct and yet sometimes breaths out with a most humble and reverent motion his soul still lying in the dust of submission before him to grant him an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an easy departure out of this life if it may be his holy pleasure and still quietly hoping and waiting for his salvation Thus Jacob in the Old Testament in the midst of his last languishments cries out I have waited for that Salvation O Lord gen 59.18 Luke 2.30 23 46. and good old Simeon in the New Let thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen and mine arms embraced my Saviour and thy Salvation This did our most blessed Lord Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and so did blessed Stephen Lord Jesus receive my spirit testifying to the Deity of Christ Acts 7.59 the immortality of his soul and the resurrection of his body in the same prayer of resignation There may be found in Scripture some other passages exhibiting the nature of Faith and Trust as fixing the heart choosing of Christ waiting for his coming and expecting the blessed day much to the same effect
of life which shews the secret tremendous judgment of God that such as too much neglect the righteousness of God Mr. Hickman Hist of Arminianism p. 396. should many times have so little of their own as t is observed by a Learned Writer in a short History of such points Having thus treated a little about the necessary conjunction of holiness with Faith le ts exhibit its beautiful face in the following chrystal Glass of Holy Scripture 1. It principally consists in the inward frame of the heart according to the Will of God when the image of God does most illustriously shine into it True Religion and Holiness are fundamentally seated in the heart all other is but painted false and hipocritical Bell-Religion is but mocking of God when lewd men and women run to the Assembly to shew their clothes stare upon their goatish paramours Prov 7 14 and like the strange woman in the Proverbs pay their peny at the Temple and then with an impudent face deck their Bed with Tapistry and perfume it with Spices ver 16 17 But true inward holiness excites and instigates persons constantly upon the taming and subduing rather than bridling only their fierce and sensual lusts and to crown right reason with full power and dominion over their inferior beastly appetites which is and may be performed genuinely and successfully alone by true grace 2. Holiness consists in studying and observing the purity of Gods Worship prescribed in his Word according to his Will. For what communion can we have with so holy a God Heb. 12 9. Exod 20.24.25.22.29 42. Numb 6.24 in methods formed besides and contrary to his appointment If earthly Princes will not receive Addresses but according to their own prescriptions and appoint Masters to order those solemnities why not much rather be subject to the King of Kings that Father of Spirits and live when God had set down all the Ordinances of his Worship to Moses then adds there will I come unto you and bless you 3. In sobriety and chastity towards our own bodies 1 Thess 4.4 Tit. 2.12 possessing those noble vessels wherein our souls those Lamps of life shine so radiantly in Sanctification and Honour 4. In a vigilant care of Justice and Righteousness between man and man setting before our eyes that golden rule Mat. 7 12. of doing to others as we would others should do to us Whoever then upon the high testimony given to Faith in Scripture shall wax wanton with Grace Rom. 6.1 and fancy they are set at liberty to live as they list such do but trifle with God and impose upon the purity of his Precepts in the end will deceive themselves if repent not fall into the precipice of eternal Damnation Which point is faithfully determined in the Homilies of England concerning Faith Chap. 4. P. 23. and more copiously in the second part about Faith Page 24. where they declare Faith to be a working grace and again Page 28. citing the Apostle Peter where we translate the words 2 Pet. 1.5 Add to your Faith vertue they read it Minister or declare vertue in or by your Faith. that is shew forth the force power or vertue of your Faith in all your other graces and in the holiness of your lives by the effects and fruits of a true and living Faith. Let us now consider one or two questions and finish this Chapter at present Quest 1. What means may we use to attain and increase true holiness Answ 1. I answer Study thine own heart keep it with all diligence especially from your own iniquities Prov. 4.23 and your own special tentations by a wakeful guard both in prayer and watchfulness Observe who comes in and goes out Examine thy self more frequently and meditate deeply and seriously to give a wise and deliberate answer to these three questions in the Catechism of conscience 1. Whence came I what 's my original State. 2. Where am I what and whose work am I doing 3. Whether go I after this life is ended Give a satisfying answer according to Gods Word to these questions and scrutinies of an enlightened conscience and this will comfort you upon a dying pillow When all the world is not worth the tip of an atome to you You will need no longer Catechisms but as to dependent explications upon these heads For if your peace be made with God on this score you are out of gun-shot But ever remember Josephs question about the Eye and Presence of God in all places saying gea 39.9 How can I commit this great wickedness and sin against God. Especially consider his flaming Eye to awe you from secret sins which are all in the light of his countenance Psal 90.8 when no other eye is upon you and be ashamed to commit those things under his eye which you would blush to commit before a little child and are in a fright at the turn of every door lest a child should come in to observe you and tell tales of you when faithful Relations out of Town return again O the hellish practical Atheism that lurks in the hearts of professing hypocrites that write Sermons only to accuse them at the day of Judgment and to be a pile of papers to burn them in hell unless they repent O set your ways before the eyes of the Lord Prov. 5.21 who pondereth all your goings That 's like an Isaack in the field a Joseph in an empty house or a pious Nathanael under the Fig-tree alone John 1.48 2. Study an exact imitation of the Saints in glory that are now enjoying the promises whose faith follow If vain persons would ensnare by their scoffs or inticements remember they are but the wiles of the Devil Lustful villains dare not stand the repulse of a brave and virtuous spirit casta est quam nemo rogavit They shrink and sink with shame into the Devils bosome when the glory of an holy life chaftizes them into horror and strangling Ponder the path of thy feet and walk in the way of good men Prov. 4 20 25. 2.20 5 6. and the righteous that are the excellent upon the earth let be thy companions Aiery persons so called are fit for no company but the prince of the power of the Air that ruleth and rageth in the children of disobedience Eph. 2.2 the Sons and Daughters of Belial that shall be damned When sinners intice consent thou not A man is discerned by his companion and a woman by her Gallant as the infatuated world shamefully Italianizes but a wound and dishonour shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away keep thou in the path of the Just that shines more and more nill the perfect day Prov. 6.33 Mark the perfect and behold the upright the end of that man is peace Follow their grace Psal 37.37 and their glory will follow you Shining beams stream from their paths to enlighten
combustible matter and purifie the Air. Artificial implements as Locks Saws and Handles c. are made brighter by mutual affrication attrition and use So do the chariot-wheeles of the soul kindle fire by swift rotation and motion in the ways of holiness and run flaming towards heaven 4. We may argue it from the good-will of God towards us according to that in the Angelical Song peace on earth and good-will towards men peace of conscience on scripture-ground is a certain token of Gods good-will towards us Luke 2.14 But if you ask But will God pardon me in particular I Answer 2 Cor. 5 20. John 3.33 why doubt it When as God exhorts commands and sâ—nds his Embassadors to beseech us to believe him and rest upon his promise and not to make him seem to be a deceiver by our unbelief Nay thou and I and every one to whom the Word of Life doth come are commanded in particular to believe Obj. I but says the timorous soul how can I know that be means the promise of life to me Answ I Answer if thou trust him it will certainly prove so For thy accepting and then relying and resting on him to perform his promise makes up the agreement between God and thee More of this anon God willing 5. An interest in the prayer of Christ is an assured help to evidence that we are in Covenant and under electing love To clear up this we must take our Lords own reasoning before the Father I have given them the words thou gavest me John 17.8.6 verse 14. and they have received them and have kept thy word and they are hated of the world because they are not of it So that if we keep the words or commandments of Christ and are therefore hated by the world we may conclude we are his verse 9. and under the efficacy of his divine prayer He prayes for them whom the Father gave him out of the world and not for the world And lest we might say this concerned the Apostles only our Lord subjoyns I pray for them also that shall believe on me through their word verse 24. Wence we may inferr that all true believers in Christ upon the hearing the word of Apostolical Doctrine are the Subjects of Christs prayer The great end of all is that at last we may be with him and see his glory 6. Learn the blessed art of applying promises this is a sure and certain way to argue out the point of Faith and to infer assurance He that can spiritually apply a promise has the Spirit of God and acts in and by his vertue and influence A promise in the reading sparkles and shines but a promise applyed comforts and warmes Some noble cordial as Alchermes or that of Tycho or some great Elixir if charily set up in a closet or a cabinet of chrystal is an help to the thoughts but drunk or taken down in a proper vehicle makes it by divine blessing to become actually restorative Could we repeat all the promises in the Bible forward and backward and reduce them upon occasion to proper heads and use and service yet 't is special application gives the signative vertue and therefore I shall endeavour by the help of grace to give in a little aid to this purpose First Vniversals contain particulars of the same kind Indefinite and unlimited promises are equivalent to universal in a necessary matter Gods invitation is universal his proclamation extensive to all quarters of the world to all Regions and Ages 2 Pet. 3.9 Mark â—0 49.16.15 col â— 23 Isa 55.1 Rev. 22.17 John 3.16.2.37 1 cor 5 2 cor 6 17. John 6.37 God would have none to perish Ho every one that thirsteth and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely and whosoever believeth shall not perish Wherever the sound of this Gospel-Trumpet rings Into whosoever's ears this blessed news descends from heaven he is the person invited The Lord excepts no person in the proclamation that will but receive the promise of life and although a God yet beseeches us to come to him and hath promised if we will come to accept and receive us I will receive you saith the Lord if you will come out from among them If you l come to me I will in no wise cast you out No time quality number or other circumstance of sins set barrs to free-grace The promulgation declares the mind and good-will of God and that if thou in particular accept the proffer of mercy thou mayst conclude it to be thine Because the inclination of thy will within comes down from God out of heaven and plainly determines that he is willing to save thee because thou art willing to close with his grace upon Gospel-terms of holiness and new-obedience Luke 2.14 Thy will is the effect and therefore the token and evidence of his will to thee good-will towards men Whence thou mayst collect that thy name is written within the parchments and coverings of the general promises which when thus accepted they are then particularly applyed Obj. If any inwardly object their own unworthiness Answ I answer it is a most frivolous and impertinent cavil against thy self For Christ came to save not the worthy Pharisee but the miserable sinful and unworthy Publican Rev. 3.17 Rom. 7.8.11 The Sick need the Physitian and not the whole and therefore come the rather because poor miserable blind and naked Sin took occasion by the commandment to slay thee do thou take occasion by sin to run to the promise Therefore come to Christ because lame tattered torn and wounded and sick and creeping by the hedg-side The more miserable the more acceptable when under the sense of misery thou comest to so merciful an High-priest and Saviour The promises of the Gospel are made to no other if thy case were not miserable thy coming were to no purpose The very reason which thou objectest is the only reason why thou shouldst be encouraged to come to run and flie to this bosome of mercy God has made his promises without any previous foresight of any holiness Ezek. 36.32 grace or Faith. It is for his own sake alone that he blots out our iniquities not for yours Indeed he sends his Son Word Ministers and his Spirit along with them He is graciously pleased to call invite beseech and command us to believe he promises rewards threatens punishments proffers the use and help of all imaginable means proper to this end He also by his holy Spirit moves upon our wills softens turns and bends them as he pleases and by his quickning work stirs up and guides our consciences in all its offices So that I may say Acts 13.26 as the Apostle to some of old To you is the Word of this Salvation sent O languishing trembling soul wouldst thou gladly â—embrace the promises and implore his help to do it What canst thou desire more finceâ— 't is his promise to do
visits have been somtimes tho rarely afforded yet to some few besides Patriarks and Apostles I have no cause to doubt whatever some Pontisicians have said to the contrary to darken it The Holy Scriptures clear it experience doth witness it and seal it in the hâ—arts of some meek humble self-denying mortified and holy walking persons who haâ—ing lived a while in the light of Gods countâ—nance have afterward gone to heaven in a Chariot of Triumph Having now spoken what concerns this excellent point and observing that these Orient Jewels are such grand rarities and having placed them in the middle like a Diamond set in ouches of Gold give leave to descend again from the Spouses Tower of Lebanon into the Plains of Damascus Song 7.4 and walk again in the pleasant Gardens at the foot of the hill where streams flow with the comfortable Doctrines of Assurance A priviledg of high Dignity which tho it attain not to the first of David's Worthies yet does attend and that more frequently many of the children of God if they will labour to be holy and study this high point of Arguing and observing the accesses of the Spirit of God and in their diligent working and prying into it they may learn and perceive it thus 1. First We may obtain some sweet knowledg of this point by the Spirits interceding in our hearts helping to form and frame our Prayers both for matter and manner Rom. 8.18 teaching us both what and how to Pray 2. By His sweet pleading our evidences within us when we find a kind of divine holy force put as it were upon our spirits to determine comfortably and witness to the Spirit 's work not being able to deny some grace to be in us when strongly urged and put to it by some intimate and gracious faithful Friend 3. By His discovering our graces to us in times of tentation and conflict yea 1 Cor. 2.12 and in Communion at the Lords Table and in Meditation 4. By His cogent Apologies for us in our Consciencies upon our Reptenance and Humiliation in the sight of God Psal 51.12 proving and clearing up to us our love to God so that weak Believers who at present have but little glimmerings of joy yet finding true love in themselves by his light may by degrees thru ' his happy testimony arrive to further clearness both in love and joy III. Now by the order prescribed in the beginning of this Chapter I should proceed to the third Branch and that is to treat of some Rules to clear up our Assurance I Answer to this that herein I have even prevented my self and therefore shall at present only add that these Particulars following may be of use 1. A watchful care of a holy heart 2. To observe the inward workings and issues of it 3. To be careful in cleansing and washing of the first risings of sin in the Laver of Sanctification 4. To labour a holy attendance upon and a spiritual delight in the addresses incomes comforts and sealings of the Spirit that we may discern and rejoyce in them 5. An earnest invoking the Father to send the comforter in his assuring work upon a sanctifying progress John 14.24 for then he proves a comforting Spirit after he hath been a sanctifying Spirit He first comes to us as the Holy Ghost and then as the Comforter tho the foundation of both be laid at once yet the appearances are successive But I hope to add more in answer to the Questions by and by only I would first set down a passage about assurance out of that grave Writer Hooker in his Polity in his Life before it P. 17. Mr. Hooker which I hope may be of use to some of his perswasion as well as others and 't is to this purpose There 's a certainty of Evidence and of Assurance grant that the weak in Faith enjoy not certainty of Assurance because they feel it not but are they not grieved for it wish and strive it may be otherwise Whence comes this but from a secret love and liking that they have to those things which they believe to have Because no man loves those things which in his own opinion are not c. Therefore love and desire to believe is Faith. For no man thinketh that things believed are that is have a being without Faith. Which Arguments sayes he all the subtleties of infernal powers will never be able to dissolve Thus far he to which let me joyn that since Faith of evidence as being the foundation work is therein more excellent than the Faith of Assurance as being the superstructure tho I had rather call it in Scripture terms the Assurance of Faith since Assurance properly as I have often said is a distinct thing from Faith tho common speech hath prevailed to make such a distinction as if they were proper Members or Branches of true Faith. But let that pass I say if Christians would arise to high Assurance they must lay their foundation strong and deep in the rock of evidence upon Christ himself Evidence flows from a direct act Assurance from a reflect the one is like the view of the Suns body in the heaven the other like his reflection in the water or on a Looking glass Now all reflect rayes are weaker than the direct and the reverse than the incident But I speak not here of the Spirits work and its most illustrious evidence but of our workings upon the actings of our Faith. As to which the stronger our applications are to Christ the stronger and more comfortable will be the reflections upon them For both rayes the nearer the reverse and incident are in union as in the depth of Summer the heat and influence is the more strong and fervent and so 't is here But now it is high time to hearken to some Questions which troubled Souls may bring in Quest 1. The first Question may be How may I be assured of the pardon of my sins and consequently of Salvation Ans In answer to this I shall lay down some Rules to clear it which was the third thing premised in the beginning of this Chapter 1. Forsaking of sin with a holy endeavour to mortifie and subdue it Prov. 28.13 Mic. 7 19. Rom 8.13 is a special sign of mercy 2. When after darkness and conflicts a begun renovation of life with a sincere care to continue it is attended with some springings of peace in conscience with God this will prove an excellent token For the blood of sprinkling upon the conscience speaks better than Abel's blood Heb. 12.24 That cried out for condemnation this for reconciliation with God. 3. When we find some sweetness in our admissions to the Throne of Grace When our eye up to the Throne affects our heart at the threshold of Gods Sanctuary When a bended knee and a melting heart work together Then we may ask of God what ever we will if according to his will the
in his study upon an high hill near Padua he enjoyed the bright and warm beams while it rained all day in the vally and he himself saw the dark and heavy clouds under the hill Few be like to Moses to whom it s granted to walk on tho top of Pisgah till they dye Wherefore such as have once obtained Assurance and a lively hope of glory 1 Pet 1.3 blame them not if they are very desirous to preserve increase and imbellish it more and more For since Assurance may be lost for a season as it was in David Heman and Peter and as in the case of that wounded deserted soul that askt Mr. Dod once Was ever any soul in so dreadful a case as I Yes says that great and skilful comfortor of a wounded conscience Christ on the Cross was in as sad a case Clars Lives when he cried out of the Fathers forsaking him I think it therefore most meet to subjoyn some rules with divine help to maintain and preserve it 1. Take heed of what impairs and darkens assurance as the defect of quickning influences against that pray for the supplies of the Spirit Phil. 1.19 If it rise from a weakness of judgment read more meditate more and cry after knowledg as for hid treasure If the seriousness of your spirits be hurt by minding vanities and the rattles of pride and finery and over-valuing the trifles of this world Pray for a more noble and judicious and generous frame and judg of all wordly mens Jewels as indeed the word jocalia imports as so many whistles and hobbies for children to play with If thou hast lost thy comforts by neglect of holy walking take heed hereafter of damping thy joyes by froth and foolishness Take heed of a vain heart of vain and manifold words Prov. 10.19 and especially fiery tongues wherin Solomon says there wants not sin and of vain converse with their apish and childish tales and jests which are not convenient and tend to corrupt the mind by deceitful lusts Eph. 5.4 These things will blot thy evidences and quench the Spirit of God. Pray that God would not lead thee by his providence into tentations If thou wouldst have the Lord to know or acknowledge thee for his depart from all iniâ—uity and that will prove the foundation to be sure â— Tim. 2.19 Keep the divine commands though you find mixtures of weakness yet in an holy fear and love to the purity of the precept labour to walk in your house with a perfect heart Psal 101.2.112.1 2 Tim. 1.17 â— John 2.3 â— 13 For we may be sure that we know him and be humbly confident that he is our God in Covenant if we keep his Commandments 2. When under great darkness for every stitch we must not run to a Doctor repair to your faithful Interpreter that may reveal and open to a man his righteousness Jâ—b 33.23 some blessed soul that 's higher in acquaintance with heaven then your self as you may humbly judg some experienced christian some faithful grave and prudent friend no babler nor revealer of secrets nor scoffer at the workings of the Spirit as if enthusiasmes he is an unjudicious person and if you cannot well wrestle out the point your self but still your soul droops and drives in the mire and no light of joy comes in then open your soul to some prudent friend and give him leave nay intreat him to search out the coare and conscientiously follow his advice and it may prove a most happy day to your soul by comparing mutual experiences yet remember in matters of weight that might prove a scandal if he should not be wise and faithful be very cautious of discovering what thou shouldst only pour out before the Lord. Psal 142.2 For if he be of a weak envious spirit and once used to speak evil of friends behind their backs use him not he 'l prove a foolish serpent and double your misery 3. Judge not thy grace always by its flowers but search out its sap and root One may be a well spread and weighty christian and yet not flower in much discourse The flowers of some trees fall off quickly and never set in to much visible fruit and some have no flowers at all as the fig and yet yields a wholsome and pleasant fruit 'T is so with some choice and serious christians you shall not hear them talk much unless you pump and draw out the spirits by questions I like them the better For the little they produce is usually much to purpose and of good weight Yea further you may if critical observe that the graces of good men may vary in fruit and have their different seasons but never alter their grain or root Grace may lie hid as the corn under ground after first Sowing yea after 't is come up may bow and hide its green head under a flight of snow And when there 's least of sense or present experience yet the root of Faith like strong winter-corn may grow more inward and downward being covered and kepâ— under by pinching North-east blasts and sharp black frosts till it recover head by an early Spring So indeed the power and strength of grace is best seen and discerned when it persists and stands its ground under a shock of tentations and adversities At length the Sun will return Northward and the sharper the past winters were they l make the new spring the pleasanter Comforts their proper nature lies in being restoratives from bitter troubles and a sweet May-morning is most delightful after a dark and thunder night 4. Take heed of denying the works of the Spirit within thee and labour to discern the gracious fruits of the Spirit as distinct from moral actions and vertues and principally observe your conflicts againâ—â— sin when followed with success Godly jealousie not to be deceived is good therefore search and try thy heart and if thou find sound footing for grace then bless God and honour the Spirit and grieve him not by froward and foolish self-accusations which savour of the spiritual pride of humility but in all meek and humble modest manner own free grace adore divine mercy and testifie to it when thou judgest by the best of thy wisdom that thou art called to give in thy testimony as the Apostle Peter requires and David performs in telling what God did for that poor mans soul as he calls himself Or as Ambrose cited by Mr. Philpot Take away the Law Tolle legem 〈◊〉 fiet certamen See Ambrose as he is cited By Mr. philpot in Fox Martyrs vol. 3. p. 542. 2 Pet. 3.15 Psal 34.6 and then we will dispute against you 5. Assurance should be earnestly prayed for and diligently wrought out by holy labour and it will come Give diligence to make it sure says Peter Surely 't is blessed working in these golden mines It proves with the diligent hand like the works of Chimical Phisitians who