the self-same spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 11. and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness c. Shall I need to subjoyn what you may perhaps already sense and consider That Baptism is to be ministred in the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as well as in the name of the Father Mat. 28.19 Prop. 4. God the Father then is not cannot be so the object of prayer as is exclusive either of God the Son or of God the Holy Ghost 1 For the Son It is manifest that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father Joh. 5.23 If you 'l review the last prayer of that lively Protomartyr Steven it is directed hither They stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit Act. 7.59 He that runs may read the same requests from the beloved Disciple of Christ and from his bride the Church which conclude our Bibles Come come Lord Jesus c. Rev. 22.17 20 21. Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom is the only recorded prayer of the penitent thief upon the Cross Luk. 23.42 43. Paul begins well-nigh every Epistle with prayers to him as well as to the Father Rom. 1.7 1 Cor. 1.3 2 Cor. 1.2 c. And is followed herein both by John and Peter 2 Joh. 3.2 2 Pet. 1.2 In short this is given us as the character of all true Christians 1 Cor. 1.2 Act. 9.14 With all that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Observe it is not said That call upon the name of the Lord through Jesus Christ though this is no doubt their duty and his due as being the Mediator It lets us see that his Saints look upon him not only as a middle person through whom they pray unto God but as true and very God to whom they make their prayers 2 For the Holy Ghost We are debters in point of prayer to him as he also deriveth all our grace and peace to us We are debters saith the Apostle not to the flesh but to the spirit and this not only to live after the spirit but to lift up our hearts with our hands to him in spirit and truth O come saith the Psalmist let us worship and bow down Let us kneel before the Lord our maker for he is our God c. Psal 95.6 7 8. The Apostle maketh application of this part of the Psalm to the Holy Ghost Heb. 3.7 8 c. External and internal worship is due then from us to God the Holy Ghost The reason which the Psalmist gives us reach him as well as the other persons He is the Lord our God he made us and not we our selves The spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the almighty hath given me life The inspiration of the almighty hath given me understanding Job 33.4 c. 32.8 Know ye not saith Paul that your bodies are the temples of the holy ghost Which he elsewhere maketh synonimous with being the temples of God What then Therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods and therefore glorifie God the Holy Ghost So that inward and outward worship not only may but must be given to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 20. c. 3.16 17. The Saints of God have offered him therefore their prayers of petition see instances Prop. 3. and the Seraphims do offer him their prayers of praise and thanksgiving Crying holy holy holy Lord God almighty which with express warrant enough is interpretable to the Holy Ghost and not to be limited to one or both the other persons Isa 6.3 9. with Act. 28.25 26. Shall I add more evidence where there is so much already Lo 1. The objective fundamental and formal ground of prayer is found with the Son and with the Holy Ghost as well as with the Father Is the Father God so is the Son God over all blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 And the Holy Ghost is called God not less than three times in one Scripture 1 Cor. 3.16 17. I forbear ampler testimonies because you acknowledg this fundamental truth Is the Father an omnipresent majesty pray we where we will so is the Son also Hear him Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18.20 So likewise is the Holy Ghost Whither shall I go from thy spirit saith the Psalmist i.e. I can go no whither but thy spirit is with me Psal 139.7 Is the Father an omnipotent mercy pray we for what we will he is able to hear and help us So also is the Son the mighty God the almighty Isa 9.6 Rev. 1.7 8. And so likewise is the Holy Ghost All these worketh that one and the self-same spirit dividing to every man as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 Briefly is the Father omniscient knowing what we pray for how we pray what are the purposes of and what principles are at act in our hearts and in what proportion and when it is best to answer our prayers and to accommodate our desires and distresses So is the Son he knoweth what is in man the very heart and reins he knoweth all things Joh. 2.24 25. c. 21.17 Rev. 2.23 And so also is the Holy Ghost he searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 11 12. 2. For the object of faith Is it the Father only Nay so is God the Son and God the Holy Ghost And if the object of faith then of prayer also Rom. 10.14 Mat. 28.19 That the Son is the object of faith seems to require little or no proof with him that believes the Scriptures Since they were written to this very end that we might believe in the name of the Son of God and that believing we might have life through his name Joh. 20.31 1 Joh. 5.13 And he that disbelieveth or denieth this disbelieveth or denieth the Father also 1 Joh. 2.22 23 24. Here was the blessed faith of Peter the rock the bottom or foundation upon which the Church is built Mat. 16.16 17 18. Hitherto also our blessed Saviour calleth his Ye believe in God believe also in me Joh. 14.1 The Holy Ghost is the object of faith likewise I believe in the Holy Ghost is one and an eminent article of the true Creed of Christians Plain it is that the wisdom of the Spirit is the wisdom of God the power of the Spirit is the power of God the testimony of the Spirit is the testimony of God And if we may and should believe the witness of men much more the witness of God for the witness of God is greater It is the Spirit who is one God with the Father and with the Son that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth and therefore to be believed relied upon as the Apostle argueth 1 Cor. 2.1 4 5. 1 Joh. 5.6 7 9. He that believeth not in the Spirit then believeth not in
God He that tells a lie to the Spirit tells a liâ—â—to God not unto men but unto God Act. 5.3 4. Prop. 5. The Father Son and Holy Ghost being verily and truly Gods and being distinct persons in the one only and same Godhead we may then according to the grounds laid direct our prayers to God with express mention of one only or of more or of all the persons in the Godhead The laudable examples in Scripture may evince the lawfulness hereof Paul directs his prayers with the express mention sometimes but of one person Ephes 3.14 Sometimes of two persons 1 Thes 3.11 Sometimes of all three 2 Cor. 13.14 John and Steven explicitely address themselves to the second person Rev. 22.20 Act. 7.59 Paul attests the third person Rom. 9.1 as well as others apply themselves to the first person and St. John invocates all three persons Rev. 1.4 5. Prop. 6. The Father Son and Holy Ghost being but one only God of one nature mind will power Godhead they are therefore according to the first Proposition to speak strictly and properly but one only formal object of prayer and of other parts of religious worship So that our Saviour bids us baptize not in the names but in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 Not only to intimate their coequality in power and authority among themselves as being one and the same God with whom are no degrees of power or perfection But to instruct us how we should consider of and come before them in that and in all other acts of worship upon the same reason as those that are co-essential and co-equally the original and object of all as natural so instituted worship Thus also were the Priests bound to say in blessing the people Jehovah Jehovah Jehovah bless thee c. Num. 6.24 25 26. Thereby pointing them and us That though they are distinguished in their personal subsistence yet they are not to be divided in our prayers and supplications Rather that as these three are one in the unity of the divine essence so they should be eyed as one in the unity of an end or object in all our devout and religious exercises Prop. 7. In directing prayer therefore to God with express mention but of one or two persons the Saints of old did not and our selves ought not to exclude the other person or persons because they are all one God co-equal and co-eternal co-existing with each other yea in each other in the same Godhead Believe me saith Christ that I am in the Father and the Father in me Joh. 14.11 You need not any proofs from me that the Godhead or divine nature and excellency is the formal and adequate ground and reason of divine Worship Or that these three persons are God and therefore equal in the Godhead equal in glory not one greater or less than another not one above or below another These premisses being of infallible verity the inference is plain and obvious therefore are they to be equally worshipped not one more or less than another not one above or beneath another For there being no difference or degrees in the ground and adequate reason of the divine Worship that is due unto them there can be no difference or degrees admittable with any ground or reason in the worship that is done unto them If one be not less a God than another one may not be less glorified than another Prop. 8. Yet lastly the Father being the fountain and first principle though not of their essential subsistence yet of the personal subsistence of the Son and of the Holy Ghost of which in the next Question and so of their peculiar manner of working ad extra or without the Godhead viz. the Son working from the Father and the Holy Ghost from them both The Saints therefore have and your selves may eminently though not exclusively direct your prayers to God the Father yea and that for those benefits which come to you by the more especial and eminent operation of God the Son or of God the Holy Ghost 'T is easie to instance Paul blesseth the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for all the blessings in and by Christ the remission of his sins the redemption of his soul c. Ephes 1.3 c. Then beseecheth he that the God of our Lord Jesus the Father of glory may give unto them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledg of Christ ver 17. c. And again Chap. 3. v. 14 15 16 17. I bow my knees saith he unto the Father of our Loâ—â— Jesus Christ that you may be strengthned by his â—pirit that Christ may dwell in your hearts by â—aith c. Much to the same effect is the prayer of Peter Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ c. 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Not to mention those passages of the Psalmist Vphold me with thy free spirit Lead me by thy spirit c. Psal 51.12 143.10 Q. 2. How may we order our thoughts aright in distinguishing these three persons Father Son and Holy Ghost I am not willing to weary either my self or you with a needless discussion of what you intend by this expression order your thoughts aright I suppose you would not have me understand thoughts so much in their larger and less proper notion and acceptation as they include all the interior acts of the Soul as in their more limited strict and proper sense as they import the acts and apprehensions of the intellect And that your meaning is how you may order your apprehensions or more briefly may apprehend aright in or touching the distinction of those persons And truth is according as your thoughts are well or ill ordered in this strict sense that your apprehensions are either fitting or faulty so will your thoughts be in that larger sense all the other inward motions of your Soul with relation hereunto will be well or ill ordered more free or more faulty This only I shall therefore further premise Father Son and Holy Ghost are and may be presented to our thoughts under a twofold consideration 1. Common or essential as they are God 2. Peculiar or personal as they are persons in the Godhead And this consideration of them is either 1. More absolute as they all subsist in the unity of the same nature Or 2. Meerly relative in the order of one person to another and distinction of one person from another And now in accord to your desires I offer you these Directions Direct 1. Think of Father Son and Holy Ghost as divine and increated persons That they are persons I do not attempt to confirm because you already confess both thing and name as that which best agreeth to the Scripture-expression as it doth Heb. 1.3 'T is true that this term person doth import the most excellent kind of subsistence viz. intelligent and rational We call not the best of brutes a person But
Psal 139.7 2. Think of them as whose essential actions are undivided That whatsoever the Father doth as God I say not as a person in the Godhead the same doth the Son and the Holy Ghost likewise as in creating the world quickning the dead c. Joh. 5.19 Job 33.4 Rom. 8.11 Direct 3. Think of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as three distinct persons in the undivided Godhead Let your thoughts work according to the word of truth Read that blessed Scripture 1 Joh. 5.7 Lo how they are distinguished by their names the Father the Word i.e. the Son Joh. 1.14 and the Holy Ghost distinguished by number three these three that are one one God of one nature Remember the Baptism of your Saviour There might you have heard the Father owning the Son and have seen the Son who had taken our flesh with the heavens opened to him by the Father and have beheld the Spirit descending on the Son like a Dove from the Father Mat. 3.16 17. Reflect else on your own Baptism as it is required by our Saviour Mat. 28.19 Here their several distinct names are propounded and their singular or Divine nature pointed at Recall else if you will that beloved Sermon of our Mediator Joh. 14. He doth more than once deliver you their distinction distinguishing the Father from himself and the Spirit from them both The Father will send the Holy Ghost in my name ver 26. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter even the spirit of truth ver 16 17. Another from himself who as to his corporal presence was going from them another from the Father Who as he saith shall give you another comforter But how another Another God It is impossible Another person is only intelligible So then you must think of Father Son and Holy Ghost not as distinct Gods but as distinct persons in the Godhead as one and the same God but not as one and the same person Think of the Father as not being the Son or the Son as not being the Father on the Holy Ghost as being neither Father nor Son and upon the Father and Son as not being the Holy Ghost Look upon them as coequal and therefore as distinct It being most absurd to say that the same person is equal to himself 1 Think of them as distinguished in and by the personal and incommunicable actions The Father begets the Son and hath given the Son to have life in himself as the Father hath life in himself Heb. 1.5 Joh. 5.26 The unbegotten Father then is clearly distinguished from the only begotten Son and the Son also from the Father The Father and Son do emit the Holy Ghost by an eternal spiration or communicating to him his distinct subsistence in the Divine Essence The holy Scriptures speak of the holy Spirit as sent by and from both the Father and the Son and as receiving from the Son as well as from the Father Joh. 14.26 c. 15.26 c. 16.14 15. As the Spirit both of the Son and of the Father Mat. 10.20 Gal. 4.6 So that the Father and Son sending are and must be distinguished from the Spirit sent No one sends himself or to himself Joh. ibid. c. 14.16 17. Nor doth the Scripture mention the Holy Ghost as the power only of the Godhead but as a person in the Godhead 'T is not said it but he shall lead you he shall glorifie me the Comforter whom the Father will send It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the neuter gender Joh. 16.13 Yet ver 14. not in the neuter but in the masculine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He the Spirit of truth he he he he he he he seven times besides in those two verses and once more he ver 15. 2 Think of them as distinguished in and by their personal and incommunicable properties 'T is proper to the Father to beget the Son to the Son to be begotten of the Father to the Holy Ghost to proceed both from the Father and the Son Heb. 1.5 6. Joh. 15.26 These distinct incommunicable properties infer plainly the distinction of the persons The Son begotten cannot be the Father begetting And the spirit proceeding cannot be either Father or Son from whom he doth proceed 3. Think of them as distinguished in and by the principle original and order of their personal existence The personal subsistence of the Father is from himself i.e. he receives subsistence from no other without himself but is the principle of subsisting to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Joh. 5.26 c. 14.26 The personal subsistence of the Son is from the Father I live by the Father saith he I came forth from the Father Joh. 6.57 c. 16.28 The personal sublistence of the Holy Ghost is both from Father and Son from whom he proceeds and by whom he is sent Joh. 15.26 c. 16.14 15. 4 Think of them as distinguished in and by the principle original and order of their operations and actions which are terminated without the Godhead The order of working follows that of being As their essential being is undivided so are their external works undivided also You know the received rule Opera trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa As Sanctification is wrought in us both by God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Jude 1. 1 Cor. 1.2 c. 6.11 As their personal being or subsistence is distinguished in the same order are their works also distinguished Is the Father of himself so he worketh of himself The Father of whom are all things saith the Apostle All things are delivered unto me of my Father saith our Saviour 1 Cor. 8.6 Mat. 11.25 26 27. Is the Son of and from the Father so he worketh of and from the Father I have not spoken saith he of my self I do nothing of my self but as my Father hath taught me c. The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do c. Joh. 12.49 c. 8.28 c. 5.19 20. Is the spirit both from Father and Son So he worketh from the Father and Son He shall not speak of himself saith Christ but whatsoever he shall hear viz. from the Father and from himself that shall he speak He shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you Joh. 16.13 14. with Joh. 15.26 c. 14.26 Direct 4. Think of Father Son and Holy Ghost as distinguished not only in but from the Divine essence Though it be true they are not essentially distinguished yet it is also true that they are distinguished from the essence The Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God these three are one God Yet though the Godhead be predicated of all the three persons the persons in the Godhead are not predicated of one another The Father is not the Son nor is the Son the Father nor is the Holy Ghost either Father or Son or either of those the Holy Ghost The divine essence doth not beget nor is begotten nor doth
we may carry the right of this duty cleverly and come off cherily Rom. 8.26 2. Leave your hopes of the acceptance of your prayers This is not the Spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God And God knoweth what is the mind of his own Spirit who for matter and manner maketh intercession in the Saints as the Son doth for the Saints according to the will of God 1 Cor. 2.12 Rom. 8.26 27. Gal. 4.6 Nay this Spirit is God existing in and equal with the Father and the Son in the same Godhead And therefore God the Son cannot deny to tender God the Father cannot deny to take what Prayers are presented by you in the power of the Spirit Let the thoughts of the Holy Ghost then be more frequent and familiar with you before prayer The thoughts of him will put you at a greater distance from and upon a greater defiance of your own fleshly appetitions and inclinations in Prayer will prompt you what you should desire in prayer how and for what will put you into a more Spiritual frame and disposition for Prayer yea and upon praying for a more abundant and efficacious influx and assistance of the Spirit of Prayer which your heavenly Father will be sure to give unto them that ask him Luk. 11.13 Prop. 5. You may proportionably order your thoughts concerning these distinct persons as to prayer by considering of and conforming your Prayers to the distinct manner of their existence and operation in the Godhead which is the object of Prayer The promisses make this plain enough without more proof But it is needful that I Instance and be more particular as to both their existence and operation 1 As concerns the distinct manner of their subsisting in the same Godhead which hath been delivered you before on Qu. 2. This may direct you how to order your thoughts and their whole transaction both 1. As to their persons 2. As to your praises and petitions 3. And in or as to both as the persons are united with each other in the same Essence 1 As to these persons I advise you to apply your self to the Father through the Son by whom alone you can hope for acceptance by the Spirit from whom you must have ability and assistance The Father is the first Person in order of these personal subsistants that giveth subsisting life both to Son and Spirit The Son is the second or middle Person subsisting of and from the Father and with the Father emitting or sending forth the Spirit The Spirit is the third and last in the order of these three Persons subsisting of and from them both and sent forth by both of them So then though it be not always necessary to keep this order of the persons in your mentions of them in prayer to all three persons because you find clear precedents by whom this order mentioned was not observed 2 Cor. 13 14. Rev. 1.4 5. Yet it is always necessary as to the inward manner and intentions of your mind that your applications be by the spirit by his assistance 2. through the Son through his mediation trusting by and for him to find acceptance to the Father who through the Son and by the Spirit giveth out answers As the Apostle doth more than intimate Eph. 2.18 Through him i.e. the Son We have an access by one Spirit unto the Father 2 As to your praises and petitions This lets you â—â—e what a wide and an effectual door is opened to you To ask from and acknowledg to the Father all those blessings which come to you by his giving of the Son Eph. 1.3 1 Pet. 1.3 And to Father and Son whatsoever benefits are communicated to you by their giving of the Spirit Rom. 15.13 2 Cor. 1.21 22. So that you need not determine nor should limit your requests or thanks to that only person from whom these blessings do in a more especial manner proceed The Father being the first principle of personal subsistence all things are from him by the Son and all things are referred back again by him to the Father 1 Cor. 8.6 Joh. 5.19 The Spirit subsisting from both and being sent out by both referrs you back in all both to Son and Father John 16.13 14 15. Gal. 4.6 3 As your prayers look upon all the Persons as inseparably united in the same essence Learn to admire their mutual inexistence one in another and in the same Godhead Which our Saviours example in that solemn prayer Joh. 17. may instruct you As thou O Father art in me and I in thee c. ver 21. Think you upon the Father Therewith admire and adore the Son who is the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express image of his person Heb. 1.3 Think you of the Son therewith admire and adore the Father He and his Father are one Joh. 10.30 Think you of the Holy Ghost Therewith admire and adore both Son and Father He proceeds both from the Father and from the Son Joh. 15.26 Think you of any admire and adore all They are all one eternal perfection one God 1 Joh. 5.7 2 As to the distinct manner of their working What it is you have seen already Q. 2. Direct 3. n. 4. The Son worketh from the Father and the Spirit from them both This directs you not only how to apply your selves to these persons to the Father through the Son by the Spirit as before but also in and for what viz. according to the more appropriate works of each person 'T is true there is no work of the Godhead without it self but it is common to and predicable of every person in the Godhead But yet as some will observe it is usual in the Scriptures to ascribe the former middle and latter part of these external works with proportion to the distinct order of these undivided agents I instance the great work of mans Salvation Our Salvation may be eminently considered in three parts or steps 1. The appointment 2. The acquisition 3. The application of it 1. The former part the appointment of man to Salvation Election which is the first step is eminently ascribed to the first person the Father Eph. 1.3.4 5. Gal. 1.15.16 Who hath appointed us to Salvation by his Son through Sanctification of the Spirit 1 Thes 5.9 2 Thes 3.13 Elect according to the foreknowledg of God the Father through Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ saith Peter 1 Pet. 1.2 The Father then should eminently have the glory of our election in our prayers of thanksgiving as the Apostles render it him ver 3. Eph. 1.3 4 c. 2. The middle part the acquisition of Salvation for man in redemption is eminently ascribed to the middle or second person the Son who in the fulness of time was sent forth from the Father and offered up himself through the eternal Spirit that he might obtain eternal redemption for us and we might receive
the adoption of sons by him Gal. 4.4 5. Heb. 9.12 14. And so in him we have redemption through his blood it being the blood though of an humane nature yet not of an humane but of a divine person the Son of God And so God is said to purchase the Church with his own blood Col. 1.13 14. Eph. 1.6 7. Act. 20.28 The Son then should eminently have the glory of our redemption in our thanksgivings and supplications as they give it him Revela 5.8 9. 3. The latter part the application of Salvation to man which is begun in Sanctification and Consummate in Glorification is eminently ascribed to the last person to the Holy Ghost who is therefore called the Spirit of Holiness 2 Thes 3.13 2 Pet. 1.2 Rom. 1.4 The Father predestinateth none to happiness but through holiness The Son hath purchased happiness for none but such as partake of holiness The Spirit that proceedeth from the Father and the Son printeth out their holy image upon us And so we are saved according to the mercy of the Father for the merit of the Son by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and are now acceptable being sanctified by the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.4 5 6. Rom. 15.16 The Holy Ghost then should eminently have the glory of our sanctification as also of the glorification of our souls and bodies which is likewise by and from him Rom. 8.11 Prop. 6. You may piously direct your thoughts in Prayer touching those distinct persons by a deliberate view of what others have done in their applications to all those persons and by doing accordingly The laudable examples in Scriptures are left us for imitation in the like circumstances The blessing wherewith Paul concludeth his Epistle to the Corinthians shall be the only instance I will produce and prosecute which will both give to and receive light from the last proposition The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of the Father and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen It is true that Grace Love Communion are not strictly appropriated to any one of these persons in the Scriptures Yet the Apostle doth observably apply himself to these destinct persons with these destinct petitions And no doubt therefore we also may to the Father in admiring and in asking of his love to the Son in praying of and praying for his grace to the Holy Ghost in beseeching of and blessing him for his Communion The Fathers love begins our felicity and salvation There is his love of intention or benevolence ordaining the end and us to the end life and happiness There is his love of execution or beneficence ordering out to us and bestowing on us the means that may bring us to this end Both principal in giving his Son to redeem us and his spirit to renew us 2. And less principal his Ordinances Officers Word Rod c. let the Father be accepted admired adored in our prayers as to his love Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us c. 1 Joh. 3.1 c. 4.9 10. c. The grace of the Son doth as it were go on with our Felicity and Salvation Grace abounds superabounds reigns through righteousnes unto Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 5.20 21. The Son hath procured grace for us redeeming us from guilt reconciling us to God The Son publisheth grace to us and is as it were a publick treasury of grace for us that of his fulness we may receive grace for grace Come you then in your prayers to the Son for grace celebrate the grace that is in and with the Son and comes to you by the Son I say with the Apostle The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit Amen As he often Rom. 16.24 1 Cor. 16.23 Gal. 6.18 Philem. 25. The Communion of the Holy Ghost is in consummation of this happy enterprize begun He it is that comes and applies all that good which a loving Father hath purposed to us And all that grace which the everlasting Son hath procured for us and so giveth us fellowship with himself with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Phil. 2.1 Eph. 3.16 21. 1 Joh. 1.3 Tit. 3.5 6. Breathe more after his Communion than in your prayers Bless him more for this Communion in your praises Let me only remember you that this direction concerns you mostly if not only when your prayers are directed to all three persons with distinct and express mention as Pauls here were It is high time to conclude Happy happy happy are those Prayers which are terminated upon these three holy persons in one and the same infinitely holy Essence The enjoyment of this trinune God by Faith is the highest happiness of the Church militant The enjoyment of this trinune God by sight is the height of blessedness in the Church Triumphant Trinuni Deo sit Gloria SIR THus I have given you my thoughts upon this difficult but divine Subject with as much clearness as I could and with more contractness here and there happily than you would Yet you see to what a length this discourse is drawn out much beyond the limits of a letter a Tract I did not intend nor you that I know expect If God the Father Son and Holy Ghost may be glorified by us and we edified and built up into them it is enough To this God and to the word of his grace I commend you and crave your improvement of whatsoever interess your prayers can make with him for SIR Your real Friend and Lover J. N.
been never so wicked mercy hath a wing to cover you and clucks after you as her chicken 2 Chron. 36.16 Joh. 3.20 Heb. 2.3 Rom. 2.4 5. Isa 1.19 Mat. 23.37 7. Once more who are the Objects of Omnipotent mercy but such as are in misery Mercy is an attribute whose aspect is ever toward the Creature God knoweth himself loveth himself but is not merciful to himself And 't is misery is the object of mercy as the sole motive of bestowing mercy is his own free mercy So that the calamitousness of thy condition should not be abused to keep thee from mercy but used as an argument rather to awaken and quicken thee to the speediest close with mercy Here maist thou unload thy burdens and ease thy miserable breast The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy With him is a multitude of tender mercies Whither can you look but to mercy if you will not still live in misery Now here is work for saving mercy in the sense of thy misery Justice looks what your merits are but mercy looks what your miseries are Be not discouraged sin and misery are the most strong and suitable arguments whereby to plead for mercy For now you present God with the proper object of mercy which you pray him to magnifie You have the example of his Worthies to encourage you Lord be merciful to me heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Be merciful unto me O Lord for I am poor and needy Have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed My soul also is sore vexed O save me for thy mercies sake Exod. 33.19 Jam. 5.11 Psal 51.1 41.4 86.1 3. 6.1 5. Direct 5. Present the Object by and through whom we can only hope for Salvation aright to you the Lord Christ His very name is argument enough to refell despair revive hope and raise both desire and delight His name Jesus Lets thee see what he is to his and what he will be to thee if thou wilt believe in him a Saviour from thy sins Mat. 1.21 Act. 16.31 1 Tim. 4.10 Away with thy strait and narrow conceptions of the blessed Jesus The Angel tells us This is good tydings of great joy which shall be to all people that there is born a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. The Apostles testifie that God sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world And if you attend his own sayings he assureth you I came not to judg the world but to save the world And God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Luk. 2.10 1 Joh. 4.14 Joh. 12.47 c. 3.17 What is it then that sticks with you Do you think him either 1. averse that he will not or 2. not able and so cannot save so vile a sinner as thou art though thou submit unto him Behold Christ is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prorsus perpetuo perfectè as * ad Heb. 7.25 Gryneus giveth it us CHAP. V. Quest Whether we should direct our Prayers only to God the Father or may also to the Son and to the Holy Ghost And how may we order our thoughts aright in distinguishing these three persons especially as to prayer MOst dear and worthy Friend I willingly own the obligations you have put upon me to God and you And shall rejoyce to serve you or if this may satisfie you I shall not premise any needless Preface to what this paper offers you Your concessions in our late Conference I shall not so much prove as improve The question you would be clear in being complicate I shall take asunder and tender you what satisfaction I may from the holy Scriptures without the accession of humane Authors as knowing that your faith doth not indeed should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God 1 Cor. 2.5 Quest 1. Whether we should direct our prayers only to God the Father or may also to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Answ I affirm we may direct our Prayers to any of them and should direct our Prayers to all these three persons in the one most single and undivided Godhead To this purpose please to peruse these ensuing Propositions Prop. 1. God is the object of prayer the adequate and alone object His commands as also your concessions determine our prayers to and upon him who is God by nature upon him and upon no other Mat. 4.10 Psal 50.15 65.2 Gal. 4.8 Psal 44.20 21. So that the proper fundamental and formal reason of divine worship is the perfect and infinite excellency of the eternal Godhead Prop. 2. The Godhead which is and can be but one there being but one first cause and last end Deut. 6.4 Ephes 4.6 Isa 41.4 c. 44.6 8. subsists in Father Son and Holy Ghost without any division of that most single essence yet with distinction of these several persons This as your self concedes so these Scriptures clear 1 Joh. 5.7 Mat. 28.19 c. 3.16 17. Deut. 6.4 Jehovah Elohim So that as the Father is God Rom. 15.6 c 1.7 So also is the Son 1 Joh. 5.20 1 Tim. 3.16 Act. 20.28 And so likewise is the Holy Ghost Act. 5.3 4. 1 Cor. 3.16 17. c. 12.6 7 8. Three distinct persons they are but one and the same God There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three its not said ver 8. agree in one but are one Not only do they agree in one testimony but are one in truth one thing one nature one God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 5.7 I should further expatiate in clearing this truth but that you have already evidenced your clearness in it Prop. 3. The Son and Holy Ghost being one God co-equal and co-essential with the Father divine honour and our dues of office as prayer c. are to be deferred therefore and given unto them as well as to the Father This is eminently enough pointed to us in that prayer of Benediction which was prescribed unto the Priests Numb 6.23 27. Wherein they must thrice iterate The Lord the Lord the Lord bless thee c. But it is evidently and expresly pattern'd in that prayer of Valediction 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God i.e. the Father and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen The practice of John may be produced likewise in that proemial prayer for and salutation of the Seven Churches Rev. 1.4 5. Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come a frequent periphrasis of the Father and from the Seven Spirits which are before his throne i.e. the Holy Ghost the variety and perfection of whose Graces in these Seven Asian Churches is hereby indicated he being but one and
in that this term is extended to Creatures to Men to Angels you are to think of Father Son and Holy Ghost as increated persons from whom therefore you must remove all creature-imperfections even in your very thoughts As 1 Created persons are of a determined or rather finite nature 1. Of finite perfections 2. of a finite presence 3. of finite power and 4. of a finite permanence or duration But these increated persons are infinite in their nature the Godhead being infinite 1. Of infinite perfections Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out Job 37.23 Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection It is as high as heaven what canst thou do deeper than hell what canst thou know c. Job 11.7 8 9. 2. Of an infinite presence Do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord. Yea blessed Lord whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence Jerem. 23.24 Psalm 139.7 c. 3. Of an infinite power I am God almighty saith he Is any thing too hard for me c. Gen. 35.11 Jer. 32.27 4. Of an infinite permanence or duration From everlasting to everlasting thou art God He is the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity Psal 90.2 Isa 57.15 2 Created persons are of a divisible and compounded nature and therefore changable But these increated persons are of a most indivisible simple and immutable nature For so is the Godhead a most pure a most perfect nature without the least change without the least composition Each person is called Jehovah who is what he is viz. a most pure and perfect being without variableness or so much as a shadow of turning Exod. 3.14 Jam. 1.17 God is light and in him is no darkness at all 1 Joh. 1.5 3 Created persons are of a dependent nature As all created persons depend upon their first cause or principles for their continued preservation so the nature doth depend upon its proper person for its support or sustentation But now the divine nature which is in these three persons doth not depend upon any or upon all these persons for its sustentation or subsistence But all three persons subsist in this one independent nature as is said of the subsistence of the Son Phil. 2.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subsisting in the form i.e. in the essential form of God as being equal with God as it follows The Godhead it self is independent or it is not Godhead or it is not infinite He is Jehovah which implys that his being is neither from nor for nor in nor by any other but is most absolute and independent I am the first and I am the last and beside me there is no God Isa 44.6 c. 45.21 22. 4 Created persons are of different natures numerically different though not specifically True it is that Peter Paul Philip are of the same specifical nature i.e. they are all of them men but they are not of the same singular or numerical nature i.e. they are not the same man But these increated persons are of the same nature not only of the same specifical but of the same singular nature they are the same God That as you may safely say God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost So you must think and say of them that they are one and the same God one and but one These three are one 1 Joh 5.7 Hear O Israel the Lord our God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one Lord. You must not then think of these three uncreated persons as you would of those three created as if these were distinct Gods as those are distinct men 5 Created persons have many different accidents and are distinguished from each other by a congeries or heap of accidents as time place c. But these increated persons are of that infinite perfection as being the same God that they are above any such thing as an accident The infinite simplicity of the Divine nature cannot admit of such finite things as are accidents as also nor can its immutability 'T is a confessed maxim amongst Christians Whatsoever is in God is God I have sworn by my holiness saith God Psal 89.35 God sware by himself saith the Apostle Heb. 6.13 God's Holiness then is God himself 'T is true the Father Son and Holy Ghost are distinguished by their personal properties or if you will needs so call it by their personal attributes But they are not different by any personal accidents as James and John are This their perfect nature is utterly alien from and abhorrent of Direct 2. Think of Father Son and Holy Ghost as the same God subsisting in one and the same undivided essence or Godhead See that you do not divide the nature when you distinguish the persons Therefore John having shewn you these three distinct persons immediately subjoyneth that they have but one undivided essence 1 Joh. 5.7 The same in effect doth Jesus Mat. 28.19 as we have noted before Q. 1. Prop. 6. Enough may seem to have been already spoken to this both there and but even now But I add you should not only think of them as one and the same God in the same most single essence but think of them as inseparably subsisting in and with one another in the unity of this same essence That the Son subsists in the Divine nature or essence you saw but even now from Phil. 2.6 Direct 1. That the Son and Father subsist in the same Divine essence is manifest in that the Son is the express image of his Fathers person or subsistence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his Father and he are one in essence Heb. 1.3 Joh. 10.30 The Holy Ghost therefore must and doth subsist in the same essence for he is one God with the Son and Father 1 Joh. 5.7 Believest thou not saith Christ to Philip that I am in the Father and the father in me And then he calleth upon him from his word and from his works which were the Fathers in and with him Believe me that I am in the father and the father in me Joh. 14.10 And again afterward he assureth his Disciples That at that day when the Holy Ghost the Comforter should be more plentifully communicated to them from the Father at that day ye shall know that I am in the father ver 20. Now the Holy Ghost being co-essential with the Father and with the Son and subsisting with them in the same single and omnipresent nature doth therefore also subsist in and with the Father and Son and they also in and with the Spirit In short then you must so think of them that you do not divide when you do distinguish them 1. Think of them as whose essential attributes are undivided That the Son and Holy Ghost are equally excellent infinite immutable c. with God the Father because God equal with the Father And there can be no inequality betwixt them who are all infinite Phil. 2.6
proceed which the infiniteness simplicity and immutability thereof can no way admit Yet the Father doth beget the Son is begotten and the Holy Ghost doth proceed Think of the Divine essence then 1. As one only one most singly and singularly one But think of the Divine persons as three three distinct subsistents in this Divine essence 2. Think of the Divine essence as only of and from it self but think of the Divine person of the Son as of or from the Father and of the Holy Ghost as from them both 3. Think of the Divine essence as common or communicated to all and to each of the three persons But of the persons as incommunicable and impredicable of one another The Father cannot be the Son nor the Son the Father c. 4. The Divine essence to conclude is of absolute consideration a person is of relative consideration A person in the notion thereof includeth over and above the essence a relation as of the Father to the Son of the Son to the Father of both to the Holy Ghost and of the Holy Ghost to both A person in the Godhead is the Godhead distinguished by an incommunicable relative property These things have received proof already therefore I forbear here Direct 5. Think of this Trinity of persons in the unity of the same essence not only with distinct apprehensions but with dearest appretiations with deepest abasements of thy self with divinest admiration of them with devotedst adhesion with deliciousest affections and with devoutest actions 1 With dearest appretiations The top of your blessedness or felicity is union and communion with this blessed Trin-unity Let your highest thoughts turn in hither and take up here Prefer one God in three persons beyond all other good and price him as your highest and only chief good The glorifying and enjoyment of these three glorious persons in the one glorious Godhead is the business and blessedness of the glorified ones to all eternity as is not obscurely intimated Rev. 4.8 Holy holy holy Lord God almighty Let this mystery therefore have the highest throne in all the thoughts of your mind Say with David Only marg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my soul waiteth upon God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which noteth the plurality of persons in this one nature Psal 62.1 To have the trin-une God your God is the highest happiness and therefore calleth for your highest appretiations The fellowship of the Father Son and Holy Ghost was the highest felicity the Priests could wish unto the people or Paul unto his Corinthians or John unto the seven Churches Num. 6.23.27 2 Cor 13.14 Rev. 1.4.5 2 With deepest abasements the Angels themselves cover their faces and the four and twenty Elders with their golden Crowns fall down before the Throne of God when they come to see and celebrate this glorious Mystery to cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Isa 6.2 3. Rev. 4.8 10. How much more should we that dwell in Houses of Clay Here if ever should reason lower its Top-sail and strike or stoop rather to Revelation Flesh and Blood cannot reveal nor doth without the spirit of faith receive this mysterious union of three persons in one nature or that other of two natures in one person one Christ Though these are not against yet are they above reason Matth. 16.16 17. 1 Cor. 2.11 12 14. But if reason it self call for Elijahs Mantle wherein to wrap its face from this dazling glory what are our Rebellions our Sins what malignity is in them and what murmuring should be by us while every sin is a dart thrown at this glorious Essence and as it were a study of dissolving the substantial union of these three glorious Subsistents It is enmity against God contrariety to God nor is any one an enemy to God or he to them but by and for sin Rom. 8.7 Levit. 26.23 24. Isa 63.10 This is that which crucified the Son quencheth the Spirit and puts contempt upon the Father Once more your very relation to so high a God should humble you Let my soul boast it self in him but blush and be ashamed in me who am I or what is my life or my Fathers Family in Israel that I should be Son-in-law to the King Worm that I am and no man not worthy of the least of all thy mercies infinitely below thee as I am thy Creature yet more infinitely as I am a Sinner and yet will this glorious God become my God these glorious Persons become my Portion God the Father become my Father God the Son my Saviour God the Spirit my Sanctifier I have seen thee Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty with the Eye of Faith I have seen thee Behold I am vile what shall I say unto thee Infinitely Infinitely Infinitely am I unworthy of thee I Repent and Abhor my self in dust and ashes compare Isa 6.3 with 5. Job 42.2.7.40.4 But I may not so expatiate 3 With divinest admiration Angels adore this mystery and shall not men admire this mystery Isa 6.3 here are such depths as I cannot wade through can only wonder at One yet Three Three yet one God the Father begetting God the Son and yet the Godhead of the Son unbegotten God the Holy Ghost proceeding from both and yet the Holy Ghost God Coeternal and Coequall with both All these one God in each other Alius alius yet not Aliud aliud these are matters I find beyond my reason to comprehend 't is too short to reach them yet find reason to confess believe because God hath revealed them O that I could more devoutly admire where I cannot distinctly apprehend concerning the Eternal generation of the Son and procession of the Holy Ghost And let my reason never cavil at that which is infinite but remember continually that it self is finite There are fewer difficulties in that than in this subject where the Apostle falls off from a strickt discussion and falls into a devout admiration O the depth O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledg of God! How unsearcheable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Rom. 11 33. 4 With the devotedst adhesion of your understanding to this fundamental truth of your will to this fountain-goodness You are baptized in or into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 Here abide I exhort you with Barnabas that with purpose of heart you would cleave unto the Lord Act. 11.23 Here is enough in the glorious Trinity to take up every thought of your heart and whereon to imploy every faculty and power that you have Here is the universality of truth to content your understandings and of goodness to content your wills and affections What truth what good what perfection that bears proportion to such an intelligent and immortal nature as your souls are of that is not to be found with this one God in these three persons your blessedness is
lodged up here Numb 6.24.25 26. As much as you loosen from hence you lose of blessedness 5 With diliciousest affections How can you think of this glorious trinunity as your God and your objective felicity and be not taken up yea transported with joy Here are the ravishing enjoyments of the restless joys of Saints and Angels above in glory in their communion with these three holy persons in the Almighty Godhead Rev. 4.8 How can you otherwise choose than be pleased with these undivided persons who are to you an undivided portion and an eternal blessedness Is there any such garden of delights and comforts as in contemplating the divine persons and perfections especially as they are yours in so near and dear a relation Where is your love where is more loveliness If you have any thoughts to lay out in love here bestow them who can never bestow them else-where with more comfort or with better cause In the Godhead lo the perfections of love Infinitely loving is too low an expression for him he is infinite love for God is love 1 Joh. 4.8 In each person lo the prints of love The Father hath so loved you as to give his only begotten Son to you ver 9.10 Joh. 3.16 The Son hath so loved you as to give himself for you and to make a Bath of his own blood to wash you Gal. 2.20 Rev. 1.5 The Spirit doth so love you as to apply all the behoofs of the Fathers electing love and of the Sons redeeming love to you and to shed abroad the blessed beams thereof in you Tit. 3.4 5 6. Rom 5.5 How can you think of such united loves and not be wrapt up into extasies of love for them that are so loving and so lovely 6 With devoutest actions The union of these three glorious persons in the one glorious Godhead calls for the united power and putting forth of all your graces Every Saint should be a Seraphim when he cometh to celebrate this mystery of mysteries in regard of the fervour and vigour of each renewed faculty and quality Here is employment for every gracious habit Here are infinite united excellencies to induce their most intensive extensive and united exercise Now for the strongest faith love hope c. to give glory to God for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever i.e. say some Aug. de Trin. l. 6. c. 10. Lomt sent l. 1. dist 36. of the Father through the Son and for the Spirit Alleluja Alleluja Alleluja to these three glorious persons and again Amen Alleluja to the one only Eternal Godhead to allude to Rev. 19.1 3 4 6. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost A doxology of great antiquity and of as great authority Thus may your thoughts walk freely and work effectually powerfully practically upon this most worthy subject I advise you not so much to speculative thoughts as to those that are practique which will affect your heart and not amaze the head The Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity hath in it amazing difficulties such as may puzle the profoundest wits such as I am not ashamed with Justin Martyr to confess I can neither satisfie my self in nor counsel others to search after An holy Circle of the humblest admiring and highest believing will best commed in this an holy Christian Let your thoughts run backward and forward in this holy round from believing forward to admiring where your short and straitned reason cannot comprehend And from admiring backward again to believing because Scripture Revelation hath made it clear That of Nazianzene hath frequently affected me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nondum pervenio Illigere hoc unum tum his tribus luce circumtundere pervenio haec divid re in hoc unum super haec Q. 3. How may we order our thoughts aright concerning these three distinct persons as to Prayer What hath been already premised in answer to the two former questions may perhaps seem enough to others for clearing of this also Thither I must remit you in a great part for satisfaction and shall only subjoyn these six ensuing propositions which will be of good and great use if you therewith take in what hath been already tendered you for the right directing of your Prayers to these divine Persons which as your late discourse prompts me to think was the great design you levelled at by this general question and for resolving those difficulties which seem to perplex you Prop. 1. Though you are to distinguish the persons yet it is not your duty in prayer to present unto each person distinct petitions I confess you may do it as Paul and the Priests sometimes did 2 Cor. 13.14 Numb 6.24 25 26. But there is no command that you must do it and if you consult examples you may find a whole constellation of Saints by whom it was not done Mat. 11.25.26 Joh. 17.1.5 Eph. 1.17 Phil. 4.20 see Q. 1. Prop. 5. Prop. 2. Though the distinction of the persons should be preserved as in habit within your thoughts for the right presenting of your Prayers yet it is not your duty to put it forth into act in every prayer you present For 1. There is no command for it either in the unwritten book of nature or in the written books of Scripture And where there is no law there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 1 Joh. 3.4 2. Your capacities being considered which are very strait and narrow it becomes incompossible with those concerns of Prayer which you have in hand to carry along a distinct view of these distinct persons in every distinct Petition You have a command 1 Cor. 10.31 Whatsoever ye do do it all to the glory of God An unintermitted intention of God in every act of our lives is granted to be neither needful nor possible But if our intentions be not formally and explicitely but only virtually and implicitely referred hither so that we refer not any action to such an end as is not consistent with this end and that we actually refer all our actions to such ends as are in connexion with and in subordination to it and if the habitual intention and respect of our hearts be toward God and his glory upmost and these intentions be often actuated and awakened I say if it be thus then have we Evangelically satisfied this commandment You will easily make application of what I have said to the illustration of this proposition Be sure you do preserve upon your thoughts the necessary distinction of these persons in the one only Godhead which is the object of Prayer and though you do not explicitely mind their distinction in every Prayer Yet let not your minds so fluctuate in any Prayer as either to divide the Godhead or to exclude any person therein or to confound all the persons in whatsoever Prayer see Q. 1. Prop. 3 4 6 7. Prop. 3. It is requisite and at least
both clear and quick or expeditious in the judgment Thou needst not call for Law-books or foreign Witnesses With thee is a treasury of Laws and thou art more than a thousand Witnesses 3. If Conscience yet suspends judgment cite her before the supream Judg. Behold Conscience the Judg standeth before the door He is greater than the Conscience to him thou must accompt Thou mayst apologize to me but how wilt thou answer it to him who made thee his deputy and substituted thee upon this very design And hath said to Conscience as Jehoshaphat to his Judges Take heed what ye do for ye judg not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment Wherefore take heed and do it Jam. 5.9 1 Joh. 30.20 2 Chron. 19.5 6 7. 2 See that Conscience pronounce the sentence fully and clearly upon thee An half-sentence can give but half-satisfaction If the sentence be dubious thy Soul will still be in the dark Why all this pains Not for airy hopes but for assurance of the heart before God 1 Joh. 3.19 To this end 1. Be full and clear with Conscience in exposing all thou art and dost to her sentence without any of the restraints of self-love without any reserve for any secret lusts Self-love will be putting in for her immunities A clear and impartial sentence will shake all her foundations hitherto of quiet and self-ease And therefore importuneth Conscience as David sometime did his chief Commanders Deal gently for my sake yea and for thy own sake for thou must sustain the effects of such a sentence 2 Tim. 3.2 cum 5. 2 Sam. 18.5 Secret lusts will be putting in for an indemnity which it may be Conscience hath cockered or at least hitherto connived at Wherefore should we be slain Have not we took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in company c. But Conscience must quit them ere it can clear thec 'T will be a partial sentence if she parteth not with these sins Or if she speak peace it will be but the shew and paint of it so long as ye will walk after the imagination of your own hearts Psal 19.12 13. 18.23 Deut. 29.19 Bring all then before the Bar of Conscience and that Bar without any vails or coverts and tell her as Cornelius told Peter we are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God Act. 10.33 2. Be free yet close with Conscience You may remember her there will be another audit and what will attend if she shall give a loose or partial judgment Cursed be he that perverteth judgment But remember her withal that therefore this thy appearance is made before her throne of Judicature and thou demandest it as thy right not as a matter of courtesie from her but as of debt and duty As of old it was ordained Thou shalt come to the Judg and enquire and he shall shew thee the sentence of judgment Deut. 27.19 c. 17.9 See thou do not see her by any carnal indulgence for a gift blindeth the eyes of the wise and perverteth the words of righteousness and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery Deut. 16.19 Job 15.34 Nor flatter her by any corrupt inducements The flattering mouth worketh ruin Psal 36.2 Prov. 26.28 Be plain with Conscience Lo I have now put my self my state my salvation upon thy sentence 'T is thy work to condemn or clear me thy eternal wo or weal is concerned in it I require thee as before the supream and all-seeing Judg to judg righteously I do not sollicite for favour but seek justice at thy mouth How long shall I take counsel in my soul When wilt thou bring it to a conclusion that I may know my estate what I am Follow her with arguments and importunities till she answereth thee in the words of the Psalmist I will judg uprightly Psal 75.2 Q. 4. How may we difference the Peace of a good and of an evil Conscience and so discern that ours is a sound and an Evangelical Peace Doubtless there is a difference * See Fenner's Treat of Consc p. 137. to 167. Robinsons Christ all in all p. 187 188 Collin's right way to true peace p. 51. ad 62. or our Saviour had not delivered it as he doth Joh. 14.27 cum 22. But he that would drive this nail to the head for the discovery of his own peace whether it be true or false should discuss it thorowly with his own Conscience how it came to take up this peace The peace that an evil Conscience bears groweth usually out of one of these two roots 1. Either out of the sluggishness of Conscience that puts not the estate upon trial 2. Or from the shifts and unfaithfulness of Conscience if it proceed to trial 1. Fither in the Proposition 2. Or in the Assumption 3. Or in the Conclusion as hath been shewed You should dig to the very bottom in this business Whether this peace be the product of pains prayers and of proving your hearts and states once and again What pains did Conscience take in it What proceed did Conscience make in it Did it give full and infallible marks for the trial of your estates Did it give a faithful and impartial testimony in the trial And did it give a free and unbiassed judgment upon the trial of your estates Produce and prove thy Evidences That your enmity against godliness is turned into peace and therewith amity That you are as earnest for holiness as you were for sin or are for happiness and as great a friend to the purity as to the peace of Conscience Prove that the spirit of peace hath renewed and sanctified you That the Prince of Peace Christ Jesus ruleth in and hath the Soveraignty over you That the God of peace is related as a Father to you and is that supream good and end to whom you finally refer your selves in point of felicity and duty and then your peace which is gathered from these Premisses is proved therewith to be true pious and Evangelical But to give you the difference enquired after though every thing I herewith offer doth not serve to discover it effectually in such a practical inquiry without some further reference The Evangelical peace of the good Conscience and the quiet or peace of an evil Conscience are different 1. In the eminency of this Evangelical Peace 1. In point of truth That other is but the shadow and semblance of peace but this is solid substantial peace 'T is peace peace Isa 26.3 c. 57.19 not only the resemblance or appearance of peace but real rich assured abundant peace But there is no peace saith my God unto the wicked ver 21. Isa 48.22 Let men call it by the title of peace yet God accounts it to be in truth no peace 2 In point of tranquillity That other is mostly but negative a freedom from storms but this is positive a fulness of serenity There