are before this Work is wrought in them and on them Ephes. 2. 1 5. which is the Work of the Spirit alone for it is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing John 6. 63. see Rom. 8. 9 10. Titus 3. 4 5 6. where the same Truth is declared and asserted But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards Man appeared not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit which he shed on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Sect. 4 What we have frequently mentioned occurreth here expresly namely the whole Blessed Trinity and each Person therein acting distinctly in the Work of our Salvation The Spring or Fountain of the whole lyeth in the Kindness and Love of God even the Father Thereunto it is every-where ascribed in the Scripture see John 3. 16. Ephes. 1. 4 5 6. What-ever is done in the Accomplishment of this Work it is so in the pursuit of his Will Purpose and Counsel and is an Effect of his Love and Grace The procuring Cause of the Application of the Love and Kindness of God unto us is Jesus Christ our Saviour in the whole Work of his Mediation v. 6. and the immediate efficient Cause in the Communication of the Love and Kindness of the Father through the Mediation of the Son unto us is the Holy Spirit And this he doth in the Renovation of our Natures by the washing of Regeneration wherein we are purged from our sins and sanctified unto God Sect. 5 More Testimonies unto this purpose need not be insisted on This Truth of the Holy Spirit being the Author of our Regeneration which the Ancients esteemed a Cogent Argument to prove his Deity even from the the Greatness and Dignity of the Work is in words at least so far as I know granted by all who pretend to sobriety in Christianity That by some others it hath been derided and exploded is the occasion of this Vindication of it It must not be expected that I should here handle the whole Doctrine of Regeneration practically as it may be educed by Inferences from the Scripture according to the Analogie of Faith and the Experiences of them that believe It hath been done already by others My present aim is only to confirm the Fundamental Principles of Truth concerning those Operations of the Holy Spirit which at this day are opposed with violence and virulence And what I shall offer on the present Subject may be reduced unto the ensuing Heads Sect. 6 1. Although the Work of Regeneration by the Holy Spirit was wrought under the Old Testament even from the Foundation of the World and the Doctrine of it was recorded in the Scriptures yet the Revelation of it was but obscure in comparison of that Light and Evidence which it is brought forth into by the Gospel This is evident from the Discourse which our Blessed Saviour had with Nicodemus on this Subject For when he acquainted him clearly with the Doctrine of it he was surprized and fell into that enquiry which argued some amazement How can these things be But yet the Reply of our Saviour manifests That he might have attained a better acquaintance with it out of the Scripture than he had done Art thou saith he a Master in Israel and knowest not these things Dost thou take upon thee to Teach others what is their State and Condition and what is their Duty towards God and art ignorant thy self of so Great and Fundamental a Doctrine which thou mightest have learned from the Scripture For if he might not so have done there would have been no just cause of the Reproof given him by our Saviour For it was neither Crime nor Negligence in him to be ignorant of what God had not revealed This Doctrine therefore namely That every one who will enter into the Kingdom of God must be born again of the Holy Spirit was contained in the Writings of the Old Testament It was so in the Promises That God would circumcise the Hearts of his People that he would take away their Heart of Stone and give them a Heart of Flesh with his Law written in it and other wayes as shall be afterwards proved Sect. 7 But yet we see that it was so obscurely declared that the principal Masters and Teachers of the People knew little or nothing of it Some indeed would have this Regeneration if they knew what they would have or as to what may be gathered of their minds out of their great swelling words of vanity to be nothing but Reformation of Life according to the Rules of the Scripture But Nicodemus knew the necessity of Reformation of Life well enough if he had ever read either Moses or the Prophets And to suppose that our Lord Jesus Christ proposed unto him the thing which he knew perfectly well only under a new Name or Notion which he had never heard of before So to take an advantage of charging him with being ignorant of what indeed he full well knew and understood is a blasphemous Imagination How they can free themselves from the Guilt hereof who look on Regeneration as no more but a Metaphorical Expression of Amendment of Life I know not And if it be so if there be no more in it but as they love to speak becoming a new Moral Man a thing which all the World Jews and Gentiles understood our Lord Jesus was so far from bringing it forth into more Light and giving it more perspicuity by what he teacheth concerning Regeneration the Nature Manner Causes and Effects of it that he cast it thereby into more darkness and obscurity than ever it was delivered in either by Jewish Masters or Gentile Philosophy For although the Gospel do really teach all Duties of Morality with more exactness and clearness and press unto the Observance of them on motives incomparably more cogent than any thing that otherwise ever befel the Mind of Man to think or apprehend yet if it must be supposed to intend nothing else in its Doctrine of the New Birth or Regeneration but those Moral Duties and their Observance it is dark and unintelligible I say if there be not a secret mysterious Work of the Spirit of God in and upon the Souls of Men intended in the Writings of the New Testament but only a Reformation of Life and the Improvement of Mens Natural Abilities in the Exercise of Moral Virtue through the Application of outward means unto their Minds and Understandings conducting and perswading thereunto they must be granted to be obscure beyond those of any other Writers whatsoever as some have not feared already to publish unto the World concerning the Epistles of Paul But so long as we can obtain an acknowledgment from Men that they are true and in any sense the Word of God we doubt not but to evince that the things intended in them are clearly and
Grace which will ascertain unto us our Eternal Election with our Effectual Vocation whereon we shall obtain an assured Joyfull Entrance into the Kingdom of Glory Sect. 24 3 This Administration of Grace and spiritual Strength is not equally Effectual at all Times There are Seasons wherein to Correct our Negligences in giving place to our Corruptions and Temptations or on other Grounds to discover unto us our own Frailty and Impotency with other Holy Ends of his own that God is pleased to withhold the powerfull Influences of his Grace and to leave us unto our selves In such Instances we shall assuredly come short of answering the Command for universal Holiness one way or other See Psal. 30. 6 7. But I speak of ordinary Cases and to prevent that slothfulness and Tergiversation unto this Duty of complying with all the Commands of God for Holiness which we are so obnoxious unto Sect. 25 4 We do not say That there is in the Covenant of Grace spiritual Strength administred so as that by Vertue thereof we should yield sinless and absolutely Perfect Obedience unto God or to render any one Duty so absolutely Perfect If any such there are or ever were who maintain such an Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us as should render our own personal Obedience unnecessary they doe overthrow the Truth and Holiness of the Gospel And to say that we have such supplyes of Internal Strength as to render the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto our Justification Unnecessay is to overthrow the Grace of the Gospel and the New Covenant it self But this alone we say There is Grace administred by the Promises of the Gospel enabling us to Perform the Obedience of it in that Way and Manner as God will accept And herein there are various Degrees whereof we ought constantly to ayme at the most Compleat and so to be perfecting Holiness in the Fear of the Lord. And where we signally come short of the best Rules and Examples it is principally from our Neglect of those Supplyes of Grace which are tendred in the Promises Sect. 26 5 There is a Two-fold Gracious Power Necessary to render the Command for Holiness and Obedience thereunto easie and pleasant 1. That which is Habitually Resident in the Hearts and Souls of Believers whereby they are constantly enclined and disposed unto all Fruits of Holiness This the Scripture calls our Life a New Principle of Life without which we are dead in Trespasses and Sins Where this is not whatever Arguments you constrain and press men withall to be Holy you do as it were but offer violence unto them endeavouring to force them against the sixed Bent and Inclination of their Minds By them all you do but set up a Damme against a Stream of Waters which will not be Permanent nor turn the Course of the stream contrary to its natural Inclination Unto such the Cemmand for Holiness must needs be grievous and difficult But such a Disposition and Inclination or a Principle so inclining and disposing of us unto Duties of Holiness we have not in nor of our selves by Nature nor is it to be raised out of its Ruines For the carnal Mind which is in us all is Enmity against God which carrieth in it an Aversation unto every thing that is required of us in a way of Obedience as hath been proved at large And yet without this Habitual Principle we can never in a due Manner comply with any one Command of God that we should be Holy Want hereof is that which renders Obedience so grievous and Burdensome unto many They endure it for a Season and at length either violently or insensibly cast off its Yoke Light and Conviction have compelled them to take it on themselves and to attend unto the performance of those Duties which they dare not omit But having no Principle enabling or enclining them unto it all they doe though they do much and continue long therein is against the grain with them they find it difficult uneasie and wearisome Wherein they can be any Pretences countenance themselves in a Neglect of any part of it or Bribe their Consciences into a Complyance with what is contrary unto it they fail not to deliver themselves from their Burden And for the most part either insensibly by multiplyed Instances of the Neglect of Duties of Obedience or by some great Temptations before they leave the World they utterly leave all the Wayes of Holiness and Respect unto the Commands of God or if they continue any it is unto External Acts of Morality which pass with Approbation in the World the inward and spiritual part of Obedience they utterly Renounce The Reason hereof I say is because having no Principle within enabling them unto a Complyance with the Commands of God with Delight and Satisfaction they grow grievous and intolerable unto them So unto many on the same Ground the Worship of God is very burdensome unless it be borne for them by External Additions and Ornaments Sect. 27 2. There is an Actual Assistance of Effectual Grace required hereunto We are not put into that Condition by the Covenant as that we should be able to doe any thing of our selves without Actual Divine Assistance This were to set us free from our Dependance on God and to make us Gods unto our selves The Root still bears us and the Springs of our spiritual Life are in another And where both these are there the Command is Equal not onely in it self but unto us and Obedience unto it as easie as just Sect. 28 6 And both these sorts of Grace are Administred in the New Covenant suited unto the holy Obedience it requires 1. For the first it is that which God so frequently so expressely promiseth where he sayes that he will take away the Heart of Stone and give us an Heart of Flesh that he will write his Laws in our Hearts and put his Fear in our inward parts that we shall fear him and never depart from him that he will circumcise our Hearts to know and love him Which Promises and the Nature of the Grace contained in them I have before at large explained It is sufficient unto our present Purpose that in and by these Promises we are made partakers of the Divine Nature and are therein endowed with a constant Habitual Disposition and Inclination unto all Acts and Duties of Holiness For our Power followeth our Love and Inclinations as Impotency is a Consequent of their Deceit Sect. 29 And here we may stay a little to confirm our principal Assertion Upon the Supply of this Grace which gives both Strength for and a constant Inclination unto Holy Obedience the Command for it becomes equal and just meet and easie to be complyed withall For none can refuse a Complyance with it in any Instance but their so doing is contrary unto that Disposition and Inclination of the New Nature which God hath implanted in themselves So that in them to Sin
consists our Renovation in Knowledg after the Image of him who created us Col. 3. 10. And 2. the Principle it self infused into us created in us is called the New Man v. 24. That is the New Creature before-mentioned and called the New Man because it consists in the universal change of the whole Soul as it is the principle of all Spiritual and Moral Actions And 1. it is opposed unto the Old Man vers 23. put off the Old Man and put on the New Man vers 22 24. Now this Old Man is the corruption of our Nature as that Nature is the Principle of all Religious Spiritual and Moral Actions as is evident Rom. 6. 6. It is not a corrupt Conversation but the Principle and Root of it For it is distinguished both from the Conversation of Men and those corrupt lusts which are exercised therein as to that Exercise And 2. it is called the New Man because it is the Effect and Product of God's Creating Power and that in a way of a New Creation see Ephes. 1. 18. Col. 2. 12 13. 2 Thess. 1. 11. and it is here said to be Created after God v. 24. Now the Object of a Creating Act is an instantaneous Production What-ever preparations there may be for it and dispositions unto it the bringing forth of a new Form and Being by Creation is in an instant This therefore cannot consist in a mere Reformation of Life So are we said herein to be the Workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Ephes. 2. 10. There is a Work of God in us precedeing all our good Works towards him For before we can work any of them in order of Nature we must be the Workmanship of God created unto them or enabled Spiritually for the performance of them Sect. 22 Again This New Man whereby we are born again is said to be created in Righteousness and true Holiness That there is a respect unto Man created in Innocency wherein he was made in the Image of God I suppose will not be denyed It is also expressed Col. 3. 10. You have put on the New Man which is renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that created him Look then what was or wherein consisted the Image of God in the First Man thereunto answers this New Man which is created of God Now this did not consist in Reformation of Life no nor in a course of vertuous Actions For he was created in the Image of God before he had done any one good thing at all or was capable of so doing But this Image of God consisted principally as we have evinced elsewhere in the Uprightness Rectitude and Ability of his whole Soul his Mind Will and Affections in unto and for the Obedience that God required of him This he was endowed withal antecedently unto all voluntary Actions whereby he was to live to God Such therefore must be our Regeneration or the Creation of this New Man in us It is the begetting infusing creating of a new saving Principle of Spiritual Life Light and Power in the Soul antecedent unto true Evangelical Reformation of Life in Order of Nature enabling Men thereunto according unto the Mind of God Sect. 23 Hereunto accords that of our Saviour Luk. 6. 43. A good Tree bringeth not forth corrupt Fruit neither doth a corrupt Tree bring forth good Fruit compared with Matth. 7. 18. The Fruit followeth the Nature of the Tree And there is no way to change the Nature of the Fruit but by changing the Nature of the Tree which brings it forth Now all Amendment of Life in Reformation is but Fruit Matth. 3. 10. But the changing of our Nature is antecedent hereunto This is the constant Course and Tenor of the Scripture to distinguish between the Grace of Regeneration which it declares to be an immediate supernatural Work of God in us and upon us and all that Obedience Holiness Righteousness Vertue or what-ever is good in us which is the Consequent Product and Effect of it Yea God hath declared this expresly in his Covenant Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. Jer. 31. 33. Chap. 32. 39 40. The Method of God's proceeding with us in his Covenant is that he first washeth and cleanseth our Natures takes away the Heart of Stone gives an Heart of Flesh writes his Law in our Hearts puts his Spirit in us wherein as shall be evidenced the Grace of Regeneration doth consist The Effect and Consequent hereof is That we shall walk in his Statutes keep his Judgments and do them that is reform our Lives and yeeld all Holy Obedience unto God wherefore these things are distinguished as Causes and Effects See to the same purpose Rom. 6. 3 4 5 6. Col. 3. 1 5. Ephes. 2. 10. Chap. 4. 23 24 25. This I insist upon still on supposition that by Reformation of Life all Actual Obedience is intended For as to that kind of Life which is properly called a moral course of Life in opposition to open Debaucheries and Unrighteousness which doth not proceed from an internal Principle of Saving Grace It is so far from being Regeneration or Grace as that it is a thing of no acceptation with God absolutely what-ever Use or Reputation it may be of in the World Sect. 24 And yet further This Work is described to consist in the Sanctification of the whole Spirit Soul and Body 1 Thess. 5. 23. And if this be that which some men intend by Reformation of Life and Moral Vertue they must needs win much esteem for their clearness and perspicuity in teaching Spiritual Things For who would not admire them for such a Definition of Morality namely that it is the principal Sanctification of the whole Spirit Soul and Body of a Believer by the Holy Ghost But not to dwell longer on this Subject There is no description of the Work of Regeneration in the Scripture in its Nature Causes or Effects no Name given unto it no promise made of it nothing spoken of the Wayes Means or Power by which it is wrought but is inconsistent with this bold Pelagian Figment which is destructive of the Grace of Jesus Christ. The ground of this Imagination that Regeneration consists in a Moral Reformation of Life ariseth from a denial of Original Sin or an inherent habitual corruption of Nature For the Masters unto the Men of this Perswasion tell us that what-ever is of vice or defilement in us it is contracted by a custom of sinning only And their Conceptions hereof do regulate their Opinions about Regeneration For if Man be not originally corrupted and polluted if his Nature be not depraved if it be not possessed by and under the Power of evil Dispositions and Inclinations it is certain that he stands in no need of an inward Spiritual Renovation of it It is enough for such a one that by change of Life he renounce a custom of sinning and reform his Conversation according to the Gospel which in himself he hath power to do
by Nature with the Prejudices which possess our Minds and Affections which hinder us from Conversion unto God by this Circumcision they are taken away For by it the Body of the Sins of the Flesh is put off And how should the Heart resist the Work of Grace when that whereby it should resist is effectually taken away Sect. 42 Ezek. 36. 26. A new Heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your Flesh and I will give you an Heart of Flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and do them To which may be added Jer. 24. 7. And I will give them an Heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my People and I will be their God so they shall return unto me with their whole Heart As also Isa. 44. 3 4 5. I will pour Water upon him that is thirsty and Floods upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed and my Blessing on thy Off-spring and they shall spring up as among the Grass as Willows by the Water-courses One shall say I am the Lord 's So Jer. 31. 33. I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their Hearts I shall first enquire two things about these Concurrent Testimonies 1. Is it lawful for us is it our duty to pray that God would do and effect what he had promised to do and that both for our selves and others For our selves that the Work of our Conversion may be renewed carried on and consummated in the way and by the means whereby it was begun that so he who hath begun the good Work in us may perfect it to the Day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1. 6. For those who are Converted and Regenerated and are perswaded on good and infallible grounds that so they are may yet pray for those things which God promiseth to work in their first Conversion And this is because the same Work is to be preserved and carried on in them by the same Means the same Power the same Grace wherewith it was begun And the Reason is because this Work as it is meerly the Work of Conversion is immediately perfected and compleated as to the being of it yet as it is the beginning of a Work of Sanctification it is continually to be renewed and gone over again because of the remainder of Sin in us and the imperfection of our Grace For others that it may be both begun and finished in them And do we not in such Prayers desire That God would really powerfully effectually by the internal Efficiency of his Spirit take away all Hindrances Oppositions and Repugnancy in our Minds and Wills and actually collate upon us give unto us and work in us a new Principle of Obedience that we may assuredly love fear and trust in God alwayes Or do we only desire that God would so help us as to leave us absolutely undetermined whether we will make use of his help or no Did ever any pious Soul couch such an Intention in his Supplications He knows not how to pray who prayes not that God would by his own immediate Power work those things in him which he thus prayeth for And unto this Prayer also Grace effectual is antecedently required Wherefore I enquire Secondly Whether God doth really effect and work in any the things which he here promiseth that he will Work and Effect If he doth not where is his Truth and Faithfulness It is said that he doth so and will do so provided that Men do not refuse his tender of Grace nor resist his Operations but comply with them But this yeelds no relief Sect. 43 For 1. what is it not to refuse the Grace of Conversion but to comply with it Is it not to believe to obey to convert our selves so then God promiseth to Convert us on condition that we Convert our selves to work Faith in us on condition that we do believe and a new Heart on condition that we make our Hearts new our selves To this are all the Adversaries of the Grace of God brought by those Conditions which they feign of its Efficacy to preserve the Sovereignty of free-Will in our Conversion that is unto plain and open Contradictions which have been charged sufficiently upon them by others and from which they could never extricate themselves 2. Where God promiseth thus to work as these Testimonies do witness and doth not effectually do so it must be either because he cannot or because he will not if it be said that he doth it not because he will not then this is that which is ascribed unto God that he promiseth indeed to take away our stony Heart and to give us a new Heart with his Law written in it but he will not do so which is to overthrow his Faithfulness and to make him a lyar If they say it is because he cannot seeing that Men oppose and resist the Grace whereby he would work this Effect then where is the wisdom of promising to work that in us which he knew he could not effect without our compliance and which he knew that we would not comply withal But it will be said that God promiseth to work and effect these things but in such a way as he hath appointed that is by giving such supplies of Grace as may enable us thereunto which if we refuse to make use of the fault is meerly our own Answ. It is the things themselves that are promised and not such a communication of means to effect them as may produce them or may not as the consideration of the places will manifest whereof observe Sect. 44 1. The Subject spoken of in these Promises is the Heart And the Heart in the Scripture is taken for the whole rational Soul not absolutely but as all the Faculties of the Soul are one common Principle of all our Moral Operations Hence it hath such Properties assigned unto it as are peculiar to the Mind or Understanding as to see perceive to be wise and to understand and on the contrary to be blind and foolish sometimes such as belong properly to the Will and Affections as to Obey to Love to Fear to Trust in God Wherefore the Principle of all our Spiritual and Moral Operations is intended hereby Sect. 45 2. There is a Description of this Heart as it is us Antecedent unto the effectual working of the Grace of God in us It is said to be stony The heart of stone It is not absolutely that it is said so to be but with respect unto some certain End This End is declared to be our walking in the wayes of God or our fearing of him Wherefore our Hearts by Nature as unto living to God or his Fear are a stone or stony and who hath not Experience hereof from the Remainders of it still
abiding in them And two things are included in this Expression 1. An ineptitude unto any actings towards that End What-ever else the Heart can do of it self in things Natural or Civil in outward things as to the end of living unto God it can of it self without his Grace do no more than a Stone can do of it self unto any end whereunto it may be applyed 2. An obstinate stubborn Opposition unto all things conducing unto that End Its hardness or obstinacy in Opposition to the pliableness of an heart of flesh is principally intended in this Expression And in this stubbornness of the Heart consists all that Repugnancy to the Grace of God which is in us by Nature and whence all that Resistance doth arise which some say is alwayes sufficient to render any Operation of the Spirit of God by his Grace fruitless Sect. 46 3. This Heart that is this Impotency and Emmity which is in our Natures unto Conversion and Spiritual Obedidience God sayes He will take away that is he will do so in them who are to be converted according to the purpose of his Will and whom he will turn unto himself He doth not say that he will endeavour to take it away nor that he will use such or such means for the taking of it away but absolutely that he will take it away He doth not say that he will perswade with Men to remove it or do it away that he will aid and help them in their so doing and that so far as that it shall wholly be their own fault if it be not done which no doubt it is where it is not removed but positively that he himself will take it away Wherefore the Act of taking it away is the Act of God by his Grace and not the Act of our Wills but as they are acted thereby and that such an Act as whose Effect is necessary It is impossible that God should take away the stony Heart and yet the stony Heart not be taken away What therefore God promiseth herein in the removal of our Natural Corruption is as unto the Event infallible and as to the manner of Operation irresistible Sect. 47 4. As what God taketh from us in the Cure of our Original Disease so what he bestoweth on us or works in us is here also expressed and this is a new Heart and a new Spirit I will give you a new Heart And withal it is declared what benefit we do receive thereby For those who have this new Heart bestowed on them or wrought in them they do actually by vertue thereof fear the Lord and walk in his wayes For so it is affirmed in the Testimonies produced and no more is required thereunto as nothing less will effect it There must therefore be in this new Heart thus given us a Principle of all Holy Obedience unto God the creating of which Principle in us is our Conversion to him for God doth convert us and we are converted And how is this new Heart communicated unto us I will saith God give them a new Heart That is it may be he will do what is to be done on his part that they may have it But we may refuse his Assistance and go without it No saith he I will put a new Spirit within them which expression is capable of no such limitation or condition And to make it more plain yet he affirms that he will write his Law in our Hearts It is confessed that this is spoken with respect unto his writing of the Law of old in Tables of Stone As then he wrote the Letter of the Law in the Tables of Stone so that thereon and thereby they were actually engraven therein so by writing the Law that is the matter and substance of it in our Hearts it is as really fixed therein as the Letter of it was of old in the Tables of Stone And this can be not otherwise but in a Principle of Obedience and Love unto it which is actually wrought of God in us And the Aids or Assistances which some Men grant that are left unto the power of our own Wills to use or not to use have no Analogie with the writing of the Law in Tables of Stone And the end of the Work of God described is not a Power to obey which may be exerted or not But it is Actual Obedience in Conversion and all the Fruits of it And if God doth not in these Promises declare a real Efficiency of Internal Grace taking away all Repugnancy of Nature unto Conversion curing its Depravation actually and effectually and communicating infallibly a Principle of Spiritual Obedience I know not in what words such a Work may be expressed And what-ever is excepted as to the suspending of the Efficacy of this Work upon conditions in our selves it falls immediately into gross and sensible contradictions And an especial Instance of this Work we have Acts 16. 14. Sect. 48 A third Argument is taken from the State and Condition of Men by Nature before described For it is such as that no Man can be delivered from it but by that Powerful Internal Effectual Grace which we plead such as wherein the Mind and Will of Man can act nothing in or towards Conversion of God but as they are acted by Grace The Reason why some despise some oppose some deride the Work of the Spirit of God in our Regeneration or Conversion or fancy it to be onely an outward Ceremony or a moral change of Life and Conversation is their ignorance of the corrupted and depraved Estate of the Souls of Men in their Minds Wills and Affections by Nature For if it be such as we have described that is such as in the Scripture it is represented to be they cannot be so bruitish as once to imagine that it may be cured or that Men may be delivered from it without any other Aid but that of those rational Considerations which some would have to be the only means of our Conversion to God We shall therefore enquire what that Grace is and what it must be whereby we are delivered from it Sect. 49 1. It is called a vivification or quickning We are by Nature dead in Trespasses and Sins as hath been proved and the Nature of that Death at large explained In our deliverance from thence we are said to be quickned Ephes. 5. 5. Though Dead we hear the Voice of the Son of God and live John 5. 25. Being made alive unto God through Jesus Christ Rom. 6. 11. Now no such Work can be wrought in us but by an effectual communication of a Principle of Spiritual Life and nothing else will deliver us Some think to evade the Power of this Argument by saying That all these Expressions are Metaphorical and arguings from them are but fulsome Metaphors And it is well if the whole Gospel be not a Metaphor unto them But if there be not an impotency in us by Nature unto all Acts of Spiritual Life
dead in Sin And herein is seated that peculiar obstinacy whence it is that no Unregenerate Person doth or can answer his own Conviction or walk up unto his Light in Obedience For the Will may be considered two wayes 1. As a rational vital Faculty of our Souls 2. As a free Principle freedom being of its Essence or Nature This therefore in our Conversion to God is renewed by the Holy Ghost and that by an effectual implantation in it of a Principle of Spiritual Life and Holiness in the room of that Original Righteousness which it lost by the Fall That he doth so is proved by all the Testimonies before insisted on 1. This is its Renovation as it is a rational vital Faculty and of this Vivification see before 2. As it 's a free Principle it is determined unto its Acts in this case by the powerful Operation of the Holy Ghost without the least impeachment of its Liberty or Freedom as hath been declared And that this is so might be fully evinced as by others so by the ensuing Arguments For 1. if the Holy Ghost doth not work immediately and effectually upon the Will producing the creating in it a Principle of Faith and Obedience infallibly determining it in its free Acts then is all the Glory of our Conversion to be ascribed unto our selves and we make our selves therein by the obediential actings of our own free-will to differ from others who do not so comply with the Grace of God which is denyed by the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 7. Neither can any purpose of God concerning the Conversion of any one Soul be certain and determinate seeing after he hath done all that is to be done or can be done towards it the Will remaining undetermined may not be converted contrary to those Testimonies of our Saviour Rom. 8. 28. Mat. 11. 25 26. John 6. 37. Neither can there be an Original Infallibility in the Promises of God made to Jesus Christ concerning the multitudes that should believe in him seeing it is possible no one may so do if it depends on the undetermined Liberty of their Wills whether they will or no. And then also must Salvation of necessity be of him that willeth and of him that runneth and not of God that shews mercy on whom he will have mercy contrary to the Apostle Rom. 9. 15 16. And the whole Efficacy of the Grace of God is made thereby to depend on the Wills of Men which is not consistent with our being the Workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Ephes. 2. 10. Nor on this Supposition do Men know what they pray for when they pray for their own or other Mens Conversion to God as hath been before declared There is therefore necessary such a Work of the Holy Spirit upon our Wills as may cure and take away the Depravation of them before described sreeing us from the state of Spiritual Death causing us to live unto God determing them in and unto the Acts of Faith and Obedience And this he doth whilst and as he makes us new Creatures quickens us who are dead in Trespasses and Sins gives us a new Heart and puts a new Spirit within us writes his Law in our Hearts that we may do the Mind of God and walk in his wayes worketh in us to will and to do making them who were unwilling and obstinate to become willing and obedient and that freely and of choice Sect. 56 In like manner a prevailing Love is implanted upon the Affections by the Spirit of Grace causing the Soul with Delight and Complacency to cleave to God and his Wayes This removes and takes away the Enmity before described with the Effects of it Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul that thou mayest live This Circumcision of the Heart consists in the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh as the Apostle speaks Col. 2. 11. He Crucifies the Flesh with the Lusts and Affections thereof Some Men are inclined to think that all the Depravation of our Nature consists in that of the sensitive part of the Soul or our Affections The vanity and folly of which Opinion hath been before discovered Yet it is not denied but that the Affections are signally depraved so that by them principally the Mind and Will do act those Lusts that are peculiarly seated in them or by them do act according to their perverse and corrupt Inclinations Gal. 5. 24. Jam. 1. 14 15. Wherefore in the Circumcision of our Hearts wherein the Flesh with the Lusts Affections and Deeds thereof are crucified by the Spirit he takes from them their Enmity Carnal Prejudices and Dâ—praved Inclinations really though not absolutely and perfectly and instead of them he fills us with Holy Spiritual Love Joy Fear and Delight not changing the being of our Affections but sanctifying and guiding them by the Principle of Saving-Light and Knowledg before described and uniting them unto their proper Object in a due manner From what hath been spoken in this third Argument it is evident that the Holy Spirit designing the Regeneration or Conversion of the Souls of Men worketh therein effectually powerfully and irresistibly which was proposed unto confirmation Sect. 57 From the whole it appears that our Regeneration is a Work of the Spirit of God and that not any Act of our own which is only so is intended thereby I say it is not so our own as by outward Helps and Assistance to be educed out of the Principles of our Natures And herein is the Scripture express for mentioning this Work directly with respect unto its Cause and the manner of its Operation in the effecting of it it assigns it positively unto God or his Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 3. God according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again James 1. 18. Of his own Will begat he us with the Word of Truth John 3. 5 6 8. Born of the Spirit 1 John 3. 9. Born of God And on the other hand it excludes the Will of Man from any active interest herein I mean as to the first beginning of it 1 Pet. 1. 23. Born again not of Corruptible Seed but of Incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever John 1. 13. Which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God see Matth. 16. 17. Titus 3. 5. Ephes. 2. 9 10. It is therefore incumbent on them who plead for the Active Interest of the Will of Man in Regeneration to produce some Testimonies of Scriptures where it is assigned unto it as the effect unto its proper Cause Where is it said that a Man is Born again or Begotten a-new by himself And if it be granted as it must be so unless violence be offered not only to the Scripture but to
positive Effect upon the Soul which we now enter upon the Description of nor absolutely in Order of Nature Yea much of the Means whereby the Holy Ghost purifieth us consisteth in this other Work of his which now lyes before us Only we thus distinguish them and cast them into this Order as the Scripture also doth for the Guidance of our Understanding in them and furtherance of our Apprehension of them Sect. 2 We therefore now proceed unto that part of the Work of the Holy Spirit whereby he Communicates the great permanent positive Effect of Holiness unto the Souls of Believers and whereby he guides and assists them in all the Acts Works and Duties of Holiness whatever without which what we doe is not so nor doth any way belong thereunto And this part of his Work we shall reduce unto two Heads which we shall first propose and afterwards clear and vindicate And our First Assertion is That in the Sanctification of Believers the Holy Ghost doth work in them in their whole Souls their Minds Wills and Affections a gracious supernatural Habit Principle and Disposition of Living unto God wherein the Substance or Essence the Life and Being of Holiness doth consist This is that spirit which is born of the Spirit that new Creature that new and Divine Nature which is wrought in them and whereof they are made partakers Herein consists that Image of God whereunto our Natures are repaired by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby we are made conformable unto God firmly and steadfastly adhering unto him through Faith and Love That there is such a Divine Principle such a gracious supernatural Habit wrought in all them that are Born again hath been fully proved in our Assertion and Description of the Work of Regeneration It is therefore acknowledged that the first supernatural Infusion or Communication of this Principle of spiritual Light and Life preparing sitting and enabling all the Faculties of our Souls unto the Duties of Holiness according to the Mind of God doth belong unto the Work of our first Conversion But the preservation cherishing and encrease of it belongs unto our Sanctification both its Infusion and Preservation being necessarily required unto Holiness Hereby is the Tree made good that the Fruit of it may be good and without which it will not so be This is our new Nature which ariseth not from precedent Actions of Holiness but is the Root of them all Habits acquired by a multitude of Acts whether in things Morall or Artificial are not a new Nature nor can be so called but a readiness for Acting from Use and Custom But this Nature is from God its Parent it is that in us which is born of God And it is Common unto or the same in all Believers as to its Kind and Being though not as to Degrees and Exercise It is that we cannot learn which cannot be taught us but by God only as he teaches other Creatures in whom he planteth a natural Instinct The Beauty and Glory hereof as it is absolutely inexpressible so have we spoken somewhat to it before Conformity to God Likeness to Christ Compliance with the Holy Spirit Interest in the Family of God Fellowship with Angels Separation from Darkness and the World do all consist herein Sect. 3 Secondly The Matter of our Holiness consists in our Actual Obedience unto God according to the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace For God promiseth to write his Law in our Hearts that we may fear him and walk in his Statutes And concerning this in general we may observe two things 1. That there is a certain fixed Rule and Measure of this Obedience in a Conformity and Answerableness whereunto it doth consist This is the Revealed Will of God in the Scripture Micah 6. 8. Gods Will I say as revealed unto us in the Word is the Rule of our Obedience A Rule it must have which nothing else can pretend to be The secret Will or hidden Purposes of God are not the Rule of our Obedience Deut. 29. 29. much less are our own Imaginations Inclinations or Reasons so neither doth any thing though never so specious which we do in Complyance with them or by their Direction belong thereunto Col. 2. 19 20 21 22. But the Word of God is the Adequate Rule of all Holy Obedience 1 It is so materially All that is commanded in that Word belongs unto our Obedience and nothing else doth so Hence are we so strictly required neither to add unto it nor to diminish or take any thing from it Deut. 4. 2. Chap. 12. 32. Josh. 1. 7. Prov. 36. 6. Revel 22. 18. 2 It is so formally that is we are not to do only what is commanded all that is commanded and nothing else but whatever we do we are to do it because it is commanded or it is no part of our Obedience or Holiness Deut. 6. 24 25. Chap. 29. 19. Psal. 119. 9. I know there is an in-bred Light of Nature as yet remaining in us which gives great Direction as to Moral Good and Evil commanding the one and forbidding the other Rom. 2. 14 15. But this Light however it may be made subservient and subordinate thereunto is not the Rule of Gospel Holiness as such nor any part of it The Law which God by his Grace writes in our Hearts answers unto the Law that is written in the Word that is given unto us and as the first is the only Principle so the latter is the only Rule of our Evangelical Obedience For this End hath God promised that his Word and his Spirit shall alwayes accompany one another the one to quicken our Souls and the other to guide our Lives Isa. 59. 20. And the Word of God may be considered as our Rule in a threefold Respect 1. As it requires the Image of God in us The Habitual Rectitude of our Nature with respect unto God and our Living to him is Enjoyned us in the Word yea and wrought in us thereby The whole Renovation of our Natures the whole Principle of Holiness before described is nothing but the Word changed into Grace in our Hearts for we are born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God The Spirit worketh nothing in us but what the Word first requireth of us It is therefore the Rule of the inward Principle of spiritual Life and the growth thereof is nothing but its increase in Conformity to that Word 2. With respect unto all the Actual Frames Designs and Purposes of the Heart All the internal Actings of our Minds All the Volitions of the Will all the Motions of our Affections are to be regulated by that Word which requires us to Love the Lord our God with all our Minds all our Souls and all our Strength Hereby is their Regularity or Irregularity to be tried All that Holiness which is in them consists in their Conformity to the Revealed Will of God 3. With respect unto all our outward Actions and
Explanation of it I shall only add three things 1 That this Habit or Principle thus wrought and abiding in us doth not if I may so say Firm its own Station or abide and continue in us by its own natural Efficacy in adhering unto the Faculties of our Souls Habits that are acquired by many Actions have a natural Efficacy to preserve themselves untill some Opposition that is too hard for them prevail against them which is frequently though not easily done But this is preserved in us by the constant powerfull Actings and Influence of the Holy Ghost He which works it in us doth also preserve it in us And the Reason hereof is because the Spring of it is in our Head Christ Jesus it being onely an Emanation of Vertue and Power from him unto us by the Holy Ghost if this be not actually and alwayes continued whatever is in us would dye and wither of its self See Ephes. 4. 16. Col. 3. 3. Joh. 4. 14. It is in us as the Fructifying Sap is in a Branch of the Vine or Olive It is there really and formally and is the next Cause of the Fruit-bearing of the Branch But it doth not live and abide by its self but by a continual Emanation and Communication from the Root Let that be intercepted and it quickly withers So is it with this Principle in us with respect unto its Root Christ Jesus 2 Though this Principle or Habit of Holiness be of the same kind or Nature in all Believers in all that are sanctified yet there are in them very distinct Degrees of it In some it is more strong lively vigorous and flourishing in others more weak feeble and unactive and this in so great variety and on so many Occasions as cannot here be spoken unto 3 That although this Habit and Principle is not acquired by any or many Acts of Duty or Obedience yet is it in a way of Duty preserved encreased strengthened and improved thereby God hath appointed that we should live in the Exercise of it and in and by the Multiplication of its Acts and Duties is it kept alive and stirred up without which it will be weakened and decay Sect. 11 This being what I intend as to the Substance of it we must in the next place shew That there is such a spiritual Habit or Principle of spiritual Life wrought in Believers wherein their Holiness doth consist Some few Testimonies of many shall suffice as to its present Confirmation The Work of it is expressed Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will Circumcise thy Heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and all thy Soul that thou mayest live The End of Holiness is that we may live and the principal Work of Holiness is to love the Lord our God with all our Hearts and Souls And this is the Effect of Gods circumcising our Hearts without which it will not be Every Act of Love and Fear and consequently of every Duty of Holiness whatever is consequential unto Gods circumcising of our Hearts But it should seem that this Work of God is only a removal of Hinderances and doth not express the Collation of the Principle which we assert I answer that although it were easie to demonstrate that this Work of circumcising our Hearts cannot be effected without an implantation of the Principle pleaded for in them yet it shall suffice at present to evince from hence that this Effectual Work of God upon our Hearts is antecedently necessary unto all Acts of Holiness in us But herewithall God writes his Law in our Hearts Jerem. 31. 33. I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their Hearts The Habit or Principle which we have described is nothing but a Transcript of the Law of God implanted and abiding on our Hearts whereby we comply with and answer unto the whole Will of God therein This is Holiness in the Habit and Principle of it This is more fully expressed Ezek. 36. 26 27. A new Heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgements and do them The whole of all that actual Obedience and all those Duties of Holiness which God requireth of us is contained in these Expressions ye shall walk in my Statutes and keep my Judgements to doe them Antecedent hereunto and as the Principle and Cause thereof God gives a new Heart and a new Spirit This new Heart is an Heart with the Law of God written in it as before mentioned and this new spirit is the habitual Inclination of that heart unto the Life of God or all Duties of Obedience And herein the whole of what we have asserted is confirmed namely that antecedently unto all Duties and Acts of Holiness whatever and as the next Cause of them there is by the Holy Ghost a new spiritual Principle or habit of Grace communicated unto us and abiding in us from whence we are made and denominated holy Sect. 12 It is yet more Expressly revealed and declared in the New Testament Joh. 3. 6. There is a Work of the Spirit of God upon us in our Regeneration we are born again of the Spirit And there is the Product of this Work of the Spirit of God in us that which is born in this new Birth and that is spirit also It is something existing in us that is of a spiritual Nature and spiritual Efficacy It is something abiding in us acting in a continual Opposition against the Flesh or Sin as Gal. 5. 17. and unto all Duties of Obedience unto God And untill this spirit is formed in us that is our whole Souls have a furnishment of spiritual Power and Ability we cannot perform any one Act that is spiritually good not any one Vital Act of Obedience This Spirit or spiritual Nature which is born of the Spirit by which alone we are enabled to live to God is that Habit of Grace or Principle of holiness which we intend And so also is it called a New Creature He that is in Christ is a new Creature 1 Cor. 5. 17. It is something that by an almighty creating Act of the Power of God by his Spirit that hath the Nature of a living Creature is produced in the Souls of all that are in Christ Jesus And as it is called the new Creature so it is also a Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. and a Nature is the Principle of all Operations And this is what we plead for The Spirit of God createth a new Nature in us which is the Principle and next Cause of all Acts of the Life of God Where this is not whatever else there may be there is no Evangelical Holiness This is that whereby we are enabled to live unto God to fear him to walk in his Wayes and to yield Obedience according to his Mind and Will See Ephes. 4. 23 24. Col. 3. 10 11. this the Scripture plentifully
thence proceeding as have the Properties before described as to their Causes Rise Effects Use and Relation unto Christ and the Covenant as are expressely and plainly in the Scripture assigned unto Evangelical Holiness Is this Moral Vertue that which God hath predestinated or chosen us unto before the Foundation of the World Is it that which he worketh in us in the pursuit of Electing Love Is it that which gives us a new Heart with the Law of God written in it or is it a Principle of spiritual Life disposing enclining enabling us to live to God according to the Gospel produced in us by the effectual Operation of the Holy Ghost not educed out of the natural Powers of our own Souls by the mere Applications of external Means Is it that which is purchased and procured for us by Jesus Christ and the Encrease whereof in us he continueth to intercede for Is it the Image of God in us and doth our Conformity unto the Lord Christ consist therein If it be so if Moral Vertue answer all these Properties and Adjuncts of Holiness then the whole Contest in this matter is whether the Holy Spirit or these men be wisest and know best how to express the things of God Rationally and Significantly But if the Moral Vertue they speak of be inconcerned in these things if none of them belong unto it if it may and doth consist without it it will appear at length to be no more as to our Acceptance before God than what one of the greatest Morallists in the World complained that he found it when he was dying a mere empty Name But this fulsome Pelagian Figment of an Holiness or Evangelical Righteousness whose Principle should be Natural Reason and whose Rule is the Law of Nature as explained in the Scripture whose Use and End is Acceptation with God and Justification before him whereof those who plead for it the most of them seem to understand no more but outward Acts of Honesty nor do practise so much being absoluely opposite unto and destructive of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ being the mere Doctrine of the Quakers by whom it is better and more intelligibly expressed than by some new Patrons of it amongst us will not in the Examination of it create any great Trouble unto such as look upon the Scripture to be a Revelation of the Mind of God in these things CHAP. VII Of the Acts and Duties of Holiness 1 Actual inherent Righteousness in Duties of Holiness and Obedience explained The Work of the Holy Spirit with respect thereunto 2 Distribution of the Positive Duties of Holiness 3 Internal Duties of Holiness 4 External Duties and their Difference 5 Effectual Operation of the Holy Spirit Necessary unto every Act of Holiness 6 Dependance on Providence with respect unto things Natural and on Grace with respect unto things Supernatural compared 8 Arguments to prove the Necessity of Actual Grace unto every Duty of Holiness 15 Contrary Designs and Expressions of the Scripture and some men about Duties of Holiness Sect. 1 THE Second Part of the Work of the Spirit of God in our Sanctification respects the Acts and Duties of Holy Obedience For what we have before treated of chiefly concerns the Principle of it as habitually resident in our Souls and that both as unto its first Infusion into us as also its Preservation and Increase in us But we are not indued with such a Principle or Power to Act it at our pleasure or as we see good but God moreover worketh in us to will and to doe of his own good pleasure And all these Acts and Duties of Holiness or Gospel Obedience are of two sorts or may be referred unto two Heads 1 Such as have the Will of God in Positive Commands for their Object which they respect in Duties internal and external wherein we do what God requireth 2 Such as respect Divine Prohibitions which consist in the Actings of Grace or Holiness in an Opposition unto or the Mortification of Sin And what is the Work of the Holy Spirit what is the Aid which he affords us in both these sorts of Duties must be declared Sect. 2 The Acts and Duties of the First sort respecting Positive Divine Commands fall under a double Distinction For 1. They are in their own Nature either Internal only Or 2. External also There may be internal Acts of Holiness that have no external Effects But no external Acts or Duties are any part of Holiness which are only so and no more for it is required thereunto that they be quickened and sanctified by internal Acting of Grace Two Persons may therefore at the same time perform the same Commanded Duties and in the same outward Manner yet may it be the Duty of Evangelical Holiness in the one and not in the other as it was with Cain and Abel with the other Apostles and Judas For if Faith and Love be not acted in either of them what they do is Duty but Equivocally properly it is not so Sect. 3 1. By the Duties of Holiness that are internal only I intend all Acts of Faith Love Trust Hope Fear Reverence Delight that have God for their immediate Object but go not forth nor exert themselves in any external Duties and in these doth our spiritual Life unto God principally consist For they are as the first Acts of Life which principally evidence the Strength or Decayes of it And from these we may take the best Measure of our spiritual Health and interest in Holiness For we may abound in outward Duties and yet our Hearts be very much alienated from the Life of God Yea sometimes men may endeavour to make up what is wanting with them by a multitude of outward Duties and so have a Name to live when they are dead wherein the true Nature of Hypocrisie and Superstition doth consist Isa. 1. 11 12 13 14 15. But when the internal Actings of Faith Fear Trust and Love abound and are constant in us they evidence a vigorous and healthy Condition of Soul Sect. 4 2. Duties that are external also are of two sorts or are distinguished with respect unto their Objects and End For 1 God himself is the Object and End of some of them as of Prayer and Prayses whether private or more solemn And of this nature are all those which are commonly called Duties of the first Table all such as belong unto the Sanctification of the Name of God in his Worship 2 Some respect Men of all sorts in their various Capacities and our various Relations unto them or have Men for their Object but God for their End And among these also I include those which principally regard our selves or our own Persons The whole of what we intend is summarily expressed by our Apostle Tit. 2. 12. Sect. 5 Concerning all these Acts and Duties whether internal only or external also whether their proper Object be God or selves or other Men so far as they are Acts of
of this World makes men Earthly minded their Minds and Affections grow Earthy carnal and sensual But of all Kinds Divine Love is most effectual to this purpose as having the best the most noble proper and attractive Object It is our Adherence unto God with Delight for what he is in himself as manifested in Jesus Christ. By it we cleave unto God and so keep near him and thereby derive transforming Vertue from him Every Approach unto God by ardent Love and Delight is Transfiguring And it acts it self continually by 1 Contemplation 2 Admiration and 3 Delight in Obedience 1. Love acts it self by Contemplation It is in the Nature of it to be meditating and Contemplating on the Excellencies of God in Christ. Yea this is the Life of it and where this is not there is no Love An heart filled with the Love of God will Night and Day be exercising it self in and with Thoughts of Gods glorious Excellencies rejoycing in them This the Psalmist exhorts us unto Psal. 30. 4. Sing unto the Lord O ye Saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness And Love will do the same with respect unto all his other Properties See to this purpose Psal. 63. throughout And this will further our Likeness unto him our Minds by it will be changed into the Image of what we Contemplate and we shall endeavour that our Lives be conformed thereunto Sect. 26 2. It works by Admiration also That is the voyce of Love How great is his Goodness how great is his Beauty Zech. 9. 17. the Soul being as it were ravished with that View which it hath of the glorious Excellencies of God in Christ hath no way to express its Affections but by Admiration How great is his Goodness how great is his Beauty And this Beauty of God is that sweetness and holy symmetry of Glory if I may be allowed to speak so improperly in all the Perfections of God being all in a sweet Correspondency exalted in Christ which is the proper Object of our Love To see infinite Holiness Purity and Righteousness with infinite Love Goodness Grace and Mercy all equally Glorified in and towards the same Things and Persons one Glimpse whereof is not to be attained in the World out of Christ is that Beauty of God which attracts the Love of a Believing Soul and fills it with an holy Admiration of him And this also is a most effectual Furtherance of our Conformity unto him which without these steps we shall labour in vain after Sect. 27 3. Again Love gives Delight in Obedience and all the Duties of it The common Instance of Jacob is known of whom it is said that his seven Years Service seemed short and so easie to him for the Love he bare to Rachel He did that with Delight which he would not afterwards undergoe for the greatest Wages But we have a greater Instance Our Lord Jesus Christ sayes concerning all the Obedience that was required of him Thy Law O God is in my heart I delight to do thy Will And yet we know how terrible to Nature were the things he did and suffered in Obedience to that Law But his unspeakable Love to God and the Souls of men rendred it all his Delight Hence follows Intension and Frequency in all the Duties of it And where these two are Intension of mind and spirit with a Frequency of holy Duties both proceeding from Delight there Holiness will thrive and consequently we shall do so in our Conformity to God In brief Love and Likeness unto God are inseperable and proportionate unto one another And without this no Duties of Obedience are any part of his Image Sect. 28 Secondly There are Graces which are Declarative of this Assimulation or which evidence and manifest our Likeness unto God I shall instance only in two of them 1 And the first is such as I shall give many Names unto it is its Description as the Scripture doth also but the thing intended is one and the same This is Goodness Kindness Benignity Love with Readiness to do good to forgive to help and relieve and this towards all Men on all Occasions And this also is to be considered in Opposition unto an evil Habit of Mind exerting it self in many Vices which yet agree in the same general Nature such are Anger Wrath Envy Malice Revenge Frowardness Selfishness all which are directly opposite to the Grace of Holiness at present instanced in and pleaded for And this I fear is not so considered as it ought to be For if it were it would not be so common a thing as it may be it is for men to plead highly for the Imitation of God and almost in all they doe give us a full Representation of the Devil For as this universal Benignity and Love to all is the greatest Representation of the Nature of God on the Earth so is Fierceness Envy Wrath and Revenge of that of the Devil Would we then be like unto our Heavenly Father would we manifest that we are so unto his Glory would we represent him in and unto the World it must be by this frame of spirit and Actings constantly suited thereunto This our Blessed Saviour instructs us in and unto Matth. 5. 44 45. A Man I say thus Good his Nature being cured and rectified by Grace thence usefull and helpfull free from Guile Envy and Selfishness Pride and Elation of Mind is the best Representation we can have of God on the Earth since the Humane Nature of Christ was removed from us Sect. 29 This therefore we are to labour after if we intend to be like God or to manifest his Glory in our Persons and Lives unto the World And no small part of our Holiness consists herein Many Lusts Corruptions and distempered Passions are to be subdued by Grace if we design to be Eminent Strong Bents and Inclinations of Mind to comply with innumerable Provocations and Exasperations that will befall us must be corrected and discarded Many Duties be constantly attended unto and sundry Graces kept up to their Exercise The whole drove of Temptations all whose force consists in a pretence of care for Self must be scattered or resisted And hence it is that in the Scripture a Good man a Merciful man an usefull liberal man is frequently spoken of by way of Eminency and Distinction as one whom God hath an especial regard unto and concerning whom there are peculiar Promises When men live to themselves and are satisfied that they doe no hurt though they doe no good are secure selfish wrathfull angry peevish or have their kindness confined to their Relations or otherwise are little usefull but in what they are prest unto and therein come off with Difficulty in their own minds who esteem all lost that is done for the Relief of others and the greatest part of Wisdom to be cautious and disbelieve the necessities of men in a word that make Self and its concernments the End of
a total indigence of Supplyes of Grace but it is a Well of Water springing up into everlasting Life Joh. 4. 14. It springs up and that as alwayes without intermission because it is living water from which Vital Acts are inseparable so permanently without ceasing it springs up into Everlasting Life and faileth not untill those in whom it is are safely lodged in the Enjoyment of it This is expressly promised in the Covenant I will put my Fear in their Hearts and they shall not depart from me Jer. 32. 40. They shall never doe so in whom is this Fear which is permanent and Endless It is true that it is our Duty with all Care and Diligence in the use of all Means to preserve cherish and improve both the Principle it self and its actings in these Holy Dispositions We are to shew all Diligence unto the full Assurance of Hope unto the End Heb. 6. 11. And in the use of Means and the Exercise of Grace is it that it is infallibly kept and preserved Isa. 40. 31. And it is also true that sometimes in some Persons upon the fierce interpositions of Temptations with the violent and deceitfull working of Lusts the Principle it self may seem for a Season to be utterly stifled and this Property of it to be destroyed as it seems to have been with David under his sad Fall and decay Yet such is the Nature of it that it is immortal everlasting and which shall never absolutely dye such is the Relation of it unto the Covenant-Faithfulness of God and Mediation of Christ as that it shall never utterly cease or be extinguished It abideth disposing and enclining the Heart unto all Dutyes of Holy Obedience unto the grave Yea ordinarily and where its genuine Work and Tendency is not interrupted by cursed Negligence or Love of the World it thrives and growes continually unto the End Hence some are not only Fruitfull but Fat and flourishing in their Old Age and as the outward man decayeth so in them the inward man is dayly renewed in Strength and Power But as unto all other Principles of Obedience whatever as it is in their own nature to decay and wither all their actings growing insensibly weaker and less efficacious so for the most part either the increase of Carnal Wisdom or the Love of the World or some powerfull Temptations at one time or other put an utter end unto them and they are of no use at all Hence there is not a more secure Generation of sinners in the World than those who have been acted by the Power of Conviction unto a course of Obedience in the performance of many Duties And those of them who fall not openly to Profaneness or Lasciviousness or Neglect of all Duties of Religion do continue in their Course from what they have been habituated unto finding it complyant with their present Circumstances and Conditions in the World as also having been preserved from such Wayes and Practices as are inconsistent with their present course by the power of their former Convictions But the Power of these Principles of Conviction Education Impressions from Afflictions Dangers Fears all in one dye before men and if their eyes were open they might see the End of them In this manner therefore doth the New Divine Nature that is in Believers dispose and encline them impartially evenly and permanently unto all Acts and Duties of Holy Obedience Sect. 24 One thing yet remains to be cleared that there may be no mistake in this matter And this is that in those who are thus constantly enclined and disposed unto all the Acts of an Heavenly spiritual Life there are yet remaining contrary Dispositions and Inclinations also There are yet in them Inclinations and Dispositions to sin proceeding from the Remainders of a contrary habitual Principle This the Scripture calls the Flesh Lust the sin that dwelleth in us the Body of Death being what yet remaineth in Believers of that vitious corrupted Depravation of our Nature which came upon us by the loss of the Image of God disposing the whole Soul unto all that is evil This yet continueth in them enclining them unto Evil and all that is so according to the Power and Efficacy that is remaining unto it in various Degrees Sundry things are here observable as 1 This is that which is singular in this Life of God There are in the same Mind Will and Affections namely of a Person Regenerate contrary Habits and inclinations continually opposing one another and acting adversly about the same Objects and Ends. And this is not from any Jarrings or Disorder between the distinct Faculties of the Soul it self as in Natural men there are adverse Actings between their Wills and Affections on the one hand bent unto sin and the Light of their Minds and Consciences on the other prohibiting the committing of sin and condemning its Commission which Disorder is discernible in the Light of Nature and is sufficiently canvased by the Old Philosophers But these contrary Habits Inclinations and Actings are in the same Faculties 2 As this cannot be apprehended but by vertue of a previous Conviction and acknowledgement both of the total Corruption of our Nature by the Fall and the Initial Renovation of it by Jesus Christ wherein these contrary Habits and Dispositions do consist so it cannot be denyed without an open Rejecting of the Gospel and Contradiction to the Experience of all that do Believe or know any thing of what it is to live to God We intend no more but what the Apostle so plainly asserts Gal. 5. 17. The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh that is in the Mind Will and Affections of Believers and these are contrary the one unto the other they are contrary Principles attended with contrary Inclinations and Actings so that ye cannot do the things that ye would 3 There cannot be contrary Habits meerly Natural or Moral in the same Subject with respect unto the same Object at the same time at least they cannot be so in any high Degree so as to encline and act contrary one to another with Urgency or Efficacy For violent Inclinations unto sin and a Conscience fiercely condemning for sin whereby sinners are sometimes torn and even distracted are not contrary Habits in the same Subject Only Conscience brings in from without the Judgment of God against what the Will and Affections are bent upon Sect. 25 But it is as was said otherwise in the contrary Principles or Habits of spirit and flesh of Grace and Sin with their adverse inclinations and actings Only they cannot be in the highest Degree at the same time nor be equally prevalent or predominant in the same instances That is Sin and Grace cannot bear rule in the same Heart at the same time so as that it should be equally under the conduct of them both Nor can they have in the same Soul contrary Inclinations equally efficacious for then would they absolutely obstruct all sorts
grow up into this Image and Likeness of God And although for the main of our Duty herein our Hearts may not condemn us yet there are no doubt sundry things that belong unto it wherein we have all failed Our Likeness unto God that wherein we bear his Image is our Holiness as hath been declared Wherever there is the Holiness of Truth before described in the Essence of it there is a radical Conformity and likeness unto God In the first Communication of it unto us through the Promises of the Gospel we are made Partakers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Divine Nature 1 Pet. 1. 4. Such a new spiritual Nature as represents that of God himself Being begotten by him we are made partakers of his Nature But though all Children do partake of the Nature of their Parents yet they may be and some of them are very deformed and bear very little of their Likeness So is it in this matter we may have the Image of God in our Hearts and yet come short of that Likeness unto him in its Degrees and Improvement which we ought to aim at And this happens Two wayes 1 When our Graces are weak withering and unthrifty for in their flourishing and fruit-bearing is our Likeness unto God evidenced and in them doth the Glory of God in this World consist 2 When by the Power of our Corruptions or our Temptations we contract a Deformity something that hath the Likeness of the old crooked Serpent Where either of these befall us that our Graces are low and thriftless that our Corruptions are high and active frequently discovering themselves there though the Image of God may be in us there is not much of his Likeness upon us and we come short of our Duty in this great and Fundamental Duty of our Faith and Profession So far as it is thus with us may we not ought we not greatly to blame our selves Why are we so slow so Negligent in the pursuit of our principal Interest and Happiness Why do we suffer every thing why do we suffer any thing to divert our Minds from or retard our Endeavours in this Design Wherefore that I may contribute something to the awakening of our Diligence herein I shall adde some few Motives unto it and some Directions for it that herein we may be found perfecting Holiness in the Fear of the Lord which is the only way whereby we may be like unto him in this World Sect. 18 First In our Likeness unto God consists the Excellency and Preeminence of our Nature above that of all other Creatures in the world and of our Persons above those of other Men who are not partakers of his Image For 1 With Reference unto other Things this is the highest Excellency that a Created Nature is capable of Other things had External Impressions of the Greatness Power and Goodness of God upon them Man alone in this lower world was capable of the Image of God in him The Perfection the Glory the Preeminence of our Nature in the first Creation was expressed only by this that we were made in the Image and likeness of God Gen. 1. 26 27. This gave us a Preeminence above all other Creatures and hence a Dominion over them ensued For although God made a distinct grant of it unto us that we might the better understand and be thankfull for our Priviledge yet was it a necessary Consequence of his Image in us And this is that which James respects where he tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every Nature the Nature of all things in their several kinds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is tamed that is subjected to the Nature of man He renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1. 28. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the LXX render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subdue it But being not contented to be like God that is in Holiness and Righteousness we would be as God in Wisdom and Soveraignty and not attaining what we aymed at we lost what we had Gen. 3. 5. Being in honour we continued not but became like the Beasts that perish Psal. 49. 12. we were first like God and then like Beasts 2 Pet. 2. 12. By the loss of the Image of God our Nature lost its Preeminence and we were reduced into order amongst perishing Beasts For notwithstanding some feeble Reliques of this Image yet abiding with us we have really with respect unto our proper End in our lapsed Condition more of the Bestial Nature in us than of the Divine Wherefore the Restauration of this Image in us by the Grace of Jesus Christ Ephes. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10 is the Recovery of that Preeminence and Priviledge of our Nature which we had foolishly lost Hereby there is an Impression again made upon our Natures of the Authority of God which gives us a Preeminence above other Creatures and a Rule over them yea that whole Dominion which Mankind scrambles for with Craft and Violence over the residue of the Creation depends on this Renovation of the Image of God in some of them Not that I judge that mens Right and Title to their Portion and Interests in this world doth depend on their own Personal Grace or Holiness But that if God had not designed to renew his Image in our Nature by Jesus Christ and as the Foundation thereof to take our Nature into Vnion with himself in the person of his Son and thereby to gather up all things unto a New Head in him and to make him the first-born of the Creation the Head and Heir of all he would not have continued any thing of Right or Title therein It was upon the Promise and the Establishment of the New-Covenant that this Right was restored unto us So it is expressed in the Renovation of the Covenant with Noah and his Children Gen. 9. 1 2. God blessed Noah and his Sons and said unto them Be fruitfull and multiply and replenish the Earth and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the Earth and upon every fowl of the Air and upon all that moveth on the Earth and upon all the Fishes of the Sea into your hand are they delivered which is an expresse Renovation of the Grant made unto us at our first Creation Gen. 1. 28. The Right whereunto we had lost in our Loss of the Image of God And therefore in that service wherein the Creature is continued unto Mankind it is made Subject to vanity and put into bondage in which state though it groan and look out as it were for Deliverance it must continue until God hath accomplished the whole Design of the glorious liberty of his Children Rom. 8. 20 21. Whatever they may Pride themselves in their Parts or Enjoyments however they may sport themselves in the Vse or Abuse of other Creatures if this Image of God be not renewed in them they have really no great Preeminence above the things which perish under theirhands 2 Pet.
2. 12. God having Exalted our Natures by Union with himself in the Person of his Son requires of us to preserve its Dignity above others Sect. 19 2 Again this is that which gives Priviledge and Preeminence unto the persons of some above others The Righteous saith the wiseman is more Excellent than his Neighbour Prov. 12. 26. It is seldom that this is so upon the account of Civil Wisdom Wealth Greatness or Power There is nothing can establish this general Rule but their conformity and likeness to God Hence are such persons called the Saints in the Earth and the Excellent Psal. 16. 3. Both the Terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do first belong properly to God He above is absolutely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Holy and he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 8. 2. unto men they are ascribed upon their Likeness unto him in Holiness This makes them the Saints and Excellent in the Earth that gives them a Preeminence of Office and Authority in some above others And this Dignity of Office reflects a Dignity of Person on them who are vested in it and communicates a Preeminence unto them For their Office and Authority is from God which gives both it and them a real Priviledge and Honour above others But that which is Originally in and from Persons themselves is solely from the Renovation of the Image of God in them and is heightned and increased according to the Degrees they attain in the Participation of it The more Holy the more Honorable Hence wicked men in the Scripture are said to be vile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 12. 8. Quisquiliae hominum trifling vilenesses And the Righteous are said to be Precious and Valuable And hence it is that there hath oft-times an Awe been put on the spirits of vile and outragious sinners from the Appearances of God in Holy Persons And indeed at all times where men do Eminently bear a Conformity to God in Holiness wicked men exasperated by their secular Interests Prejudices and an unconquerable Adherence to their Lusts may oppose revile reproach and persecute them but secretly in their Hearts they have an Awe from the Likeness of God in them whence they will sometimes dread them sometimes flatter them and sometimes wish that they were not even as they deal with God himself Why doe we weary our selves about other things why doe we spend our Labour in vain and our Strength for that which is not bread such will all Endeavours after any other Excellency at length appear Sect. 20 Herein lyes the whole of that Dignity which our Nature was made for and is capable of Sin is the sole debasement of it that alone whereby we render our selves base and contemptible Mens self-pleasing in the wayes and fruits of it or in worldly Advantages and their Mutual Applauses of one another will suddenly vanish into smoak It is Holiness alone that is Honourable and that because there is in it the Image and Representation of God I think we are satisfied that the Dignity of Professors above others doth not consist in Worldly or Secular Advantages for they are very few who have them Not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1. 26. nor doth it consist in spiritual gifts many who have excelled us not onely in the Degree of them but in the Kind also who have had extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit shall be shut out of Heaven with the worst of the world Matth. 7. 22. Many shall say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out devils and in thy Name wrought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many miraculous work which is more than any of us can say yet Christ will profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity you unholy persons Nor is it in Profession it self Many make it is rigid austerities Renunciation of the world and outward works of Charity beyond the most of us and yet perish in their Superstitions Nor is it in the Purity of Worship without such mixtures of Humane Inventions as others defile the Service of God withal For Multitudes may be made partakers thereof in the great house of God and yet be Vessels of wood and stone who being not purged from sin are not vessels to honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use 2 Tim. 2. 20 21. It consists therefore alone in that likeness unto God which we have in and by Holiness with what doth attend it and is inseparable from it Where this is not no other thing will exempt us from the common herd of perishing mankind Sect. 21 Secondly According unto our Growth and Improvement in this likeness unto God are our Accesses and Approaches towards Glory We are drawing every day towards our Natural End whether we will or no and if we doe not therewithall draw nearer towards our Supernatural End in Glory we are most miserable Now men doe but deceive themselves if they suppose that they are approaching towards Glory in time if they are not at the same time making nearer unto it in Grace It is some Representation of future Glory that therein we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 20. 36. like or equal unto Angels But that respects one particular only of that state It is a far more excellent Description of it that we shall be like unto God when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 John 3. 2. Our glory as subjectively considered will be our Likeness unto God according to the capacity of Creatures And it is the highest folly for any to think that they shall love that hereafter which now they hate that that will be their Glory which they now abhorre such sottish Contradictions are the Minds of men filled withall There is nothing in this World which they more despise than to be like unto God and they hate every one that is so yet pretend a Desire and Expectation of that Estate wherein they shall be so which is a being so for ever But this will be our Glory to behold the Face of God in Righteousness and to be satisfied with his Likeness Psal. 17. 15. How then shall we make Approaches towards this Glory spiritually which at least may answer the Approaches we make towards our Ends naturally seeing not to do so is folly and intolerable negligence We have no other way but Thriving and Growing in that Likeness of God which we have here in Holiness Hereby alone are we transformed into the Image of God from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. From one glorious Degree of Grace unto another untill one great Change shall issue all Grace and Holiness in Eternal Glory And in our Desires for Heaven if they are regular we consider not so much our Freedom from Trouble as from Sin nor in our Aym in the first
on their Conversation But that this is plainly and directly required in the Doctrine of Obedience taught by Jesus Christ as the great Prophet of the Church I have sufficiently proved in this whole Discourse 2 Very few of the Precepts of it are certain so as that we may take them for an undoubted and infallible Rule There are some general Commands I acknowledge so clear in the Light of Nature as that no question can be made but that what is required in them is our Duty to perform Such are they that God is to be loved that others are not to be injured that every ones Right is to be rendred unto him whereunto all Reasonable Creatures do assent at their first Proposal And where any are found to live in an open Neglect or seem to be Ignorant of them their Degeneracy into Beastiality is open and their Sentiments not at all to be regarded But goe a little further and you will find all the great Moralists at endless uncertain Disputes about the Nature of Vertue in general about the Offices and Duties of it about the Rule and Measures of their Practice In these Disputes did most of them consume their Lives without any great Endeavours to express their own Notions in their Conversations Sect. 14 And from the same Reason I suppose in part it is that our present Moralists seem to care for nothing but the Name Vertue it self is grown to be a strange and uncouth thing But what is commanded us by Jesus Christ there is no room for the least haesitation whether it be an infallible Rule for us to attend unto or no. Every Precept of his about the meanest Duty is equally certain and infallibly declarative of the Nature and Necessity of that Duty as those of the greatest and that have most Evidence from the Light of Nature If once it appears that Christ requires any thing of us by his Word that he hath taught us any thing as the Prophet of the Church there is no Doubt remains with us whether it be our Duty or no. 3 The whole Rule of Duties given by the most improved Light of Nature setting aside those that are purely Evangelical which some despise is obscure and partial There are sundry Moral Duties which I instanced in before which the Light of Nature as it remains in the lapsed depraved Condition of it never extended it self to the Discovery of And this Obscurity is evident from the Differences that are about its Precepts and Directions But now as the Revelation made by Christ and his Commands therein is Commensurate unto Universal Obedience and gives Bounds unto it so that there is no Duty of it but what he hath commanded and it is sufficient to discharge the most specious Pleas and Pretences of any thing to be a Duty towards God or Man by shewing that it is not required by him so his Commands and Directions are plain and evidently perspicuous I dare challenge the greatest and most Learned Moralists in the World to give an Instance of any one Duty of Morality confirmed by the Rules and Directions of the highest and most Contemplative Moralist that I will not shew and evince that it is more plainly and clearly required by the Lord Christ in the Gospel and pressed on us by far more effectual Motives than any they are acquainted withall It is therefore the highest Folly as well as Wickedness for Men to design plead or pretend the Learning Duties of Obedience from others rather than from Christ the Prophet of the Church Sect. 15 Secondly The Manner of Teaching as to Power and Efficacy is also considerable unto this End And concerning this also we may say Who teacheth like him There was that Eminency in his personal Ministry whilest he was on the Earth as filled all men with Admiration Hence it is said that he taught with Authority and not as the Scribes Matth. 7. 29. and another while they wondred at the Gracious words which he uttered Luke 4. 22. And the very Officers that were sent to apprehend him for Preaching came away astonished saying Never man spake like this Man John 7. 46. It is true it was not the Design of God that Multitudes of that hardned Generation should be Converted by his personal Ministry John 12. 38 39 40. as having another to fulfill in them by them and upon them yet it is evident from the Gospel that there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Power and Glory accompanying his Ministerial Instructions Yet this is not that which I intend but his continued and present Teaching of the Church by his Word and Spirit He gives that Power and Efficacy unto it as that by its Effects every day it demonstrates it self to be from God being accompanyed with the Evidence and Demonstration of a spiritual Power put forth in it This the Experiences Consciences and Lives of Multitudes bear witness unto continually They do and will to Eternity attest what Power his Word hath had to enlighten their Minds to subdue their Lusts to change and renew their Hearts to relieve and comfort them in their Temptations and Distresses with the like Effects of Grace and Power Sect. 16 What is in the Manner of Teaching by the greatest Moralist and what are the Effects of it Enticing Words Smoothness and Elegancy of Speech composed into Snares for the Affections and Delight unto the Fancy are the Grace Ornament and Life of the Way or Manner of their Teaching And hereof evanid Satisfaction temporary Resolutions for a kind of complyance with the things spoken with it may be some few perishing Endeavours after some Change of Life are the best Effects of all such Discourses And so easie and gentle is their Operation on the Minds of men that commonly they are delighted in by the most profligate and obstinate Sinners as is the Preaching of them who Act in the same spirit and from the same principles Thirdly Whereas the last thing Considerable in those whose Instructions we should choose to give up our selves unto is their Authority that must be left without further Plea to the Consciences of all men whether they have the highest Esteem of the Authority of Christ the Son of God or of those others whom they do admire and let them freely take their Choyce so they will ingenuously acknowledge what they doe Sect. 17 Whereas therefore the great End of the Prophetical Office of Christ in the Revelation he made of the Will of God in the Scriptures in his personal Ministry in the Dispensation of his Word and Spirit continued in the Church is our Holiness and Obedience unto God I could not but Remark upon the Atheisme Pride and Folly of those Modern Heathens who really or in pretence betake themselves to the Light of Nature and Philosophical Maxims for their Guidance and Direction rather than to him who is Designed of God to be the great Teacher of the Church I deny not but that in the Ancient Moralists there
God Author of our Sanctification 322 3 God how he is the God of Peace 323 3 All good in the Scripture ascribed to the Holy Spirit 470 15 A good man who he is 515 516 29 No good in us but what is wrought by the Holy Spirit 11 13 The good Spirit and the Holy Spirit the same 38 12 Good Spirit of God over-ruling the Devil 112 18 Gospel how abused and despised 223 36 Apprehension of Gods Goodness in the Light of Nature not sufficient to reconcile men to him 229 47 No true Apprehension of the Divine Goodness but in Christ. 229 48 Nature of the Gospel with respect unto the Objects of mens Lusts and Desires 233 54 Things peculiarly belonging to the Gospel or its own Things 234 56 Things known in the Light of Nature further manifested in the Gospel 234 What the Gospel superaddes unto Moral Duties 235 57 Gospel sent for the Accomplishment of the Decree of Election 524 11 Nature of Gospel Precepts 535 6 Grace taken two wayes in the Scripture 164 7 Grace how really efficient in Conversion 264 23 Grace of the Gospel overthrown by asserting it to be a Moral Suasion only 265 23 Nature of Converting Grace explained 268 27 Grace victorious and irresistible 270 30 Grace internal not resisted 271 34 Grace produced by a Creating Act. 275 40 Grace and Nature opposed 322 3 All Grace depends on continual Influences from God 344 6 All Grace Originally in Christ. 362 Things wrought in a way of Grace prescribed in a way of Duty 379 Grace excited by Afflictions 392 Sin and Grace cannot bear rule in the same Person at the same time 429 25 Grace and Nature opposed 322 3 Grace how it frees the Soul from spiritual Incumbrances 436 36 Grace how communicated from Christ unto Believers 457 70 Administration of Grace not equal at all times 547 24 Graces acted and exercised in the Oblation of Christ. 144 Graces which are our Duties not absolutely in our own power 322 2 Graces of Holiness improved into Glory 328 10 All Graces excited unto Exercise by the Holy Ghost 341 5 Graces whose Exercise is Occasional onely how they are encreased 343 6 Graces eminently making us like unto God 513 23 Graces declaring our Conformity to God 515 28 Growth in Grace and Wisdom how ascribed unto Christ. 138 2 Growth in Holiness compared unto that of Trees and Plants 346 8 Growth of Holiness secret and indiscernible 347 8 Growth in Holiness an Object of Faith 351 10 Growth in Holiness enjoyned unto us and required of us 339 4 Growth in Holiness an Access towards Glory 511 21 H. Habit of Holiness antecedently necessary to every Act of Holiness 416 8 Habit of Grace preserved by the constant Influences of the Holy Spirit 417 10 Habit of Holiness not acquired but preserved in a way of Duty ibid. Habit of Holiness permanent in its Inclination 427 23 Habits encline unto Acts of their own kind for a certain End 423 15 Infused Habits of Grace proved 280 50 Intellectual Habits the Nature of them 415 8 Habitual Vncleanness equal in all 378 Habitual Pollution inconsistent with any Holiness ibid. Habitual Grace necessary unto all Acts of Obedience 548 26 Tongues and Hands of the Prophets guided by the Holy Ghost 105 10 Harmony between Grace and the Command 551 33 Head of the Church first respected in the New Creation 128 1 The Heart what it signifies and how it is depraved 212 17 Stony Heart how taken away 277 43 New Heart promised what it is 277 44 418 11 Heart the meaning of it in the Scripture 367 Historical Books of the Scripture written by Divine Inspiration 113 19 The Holy Spirit how both Lord and God 6 4 Holy Spirit the onely Author unto us of all spiritual Good 11 12 The Holy Spirit known by his Operations 21 24 Holy Spirit so called from his immaterial substance 34 9 The Holy Spirit so called first because he is essentially holy 35 36 9 10 Holy Spirit called holy from his Work 36 10 Holy Spirit in what sence called the Spirit of God 38 13 Holy Spirit how called the Spirit of the Son 39 14 The Holy Spirit an Eternal Infinite Intelligent Person 46 47 48 49 c. 7 8 9 10 c. The Holy Spirit hath a spiritual substance and subsistence of his own 54 18 Why the Holy Spirit never Appeared in the Person of a Man 55 18 The Holy Spirit the Author of the Ministry of the Church 61 26 The Holy Spirit the Object of mens Actings in Religion 62 28 The Holy Spirit not a Quality or Vertue of the Divine Nature 64 30 The Holy Spirit expresly called God 64 31 The Holy Spirit given of God and how 80 3 The Holy Spirit compared unto Fire and Water and why 88 13 The Holy Spirit One dividing as he pleaseth to others 94 21 The Holy Spirit the Promise and Legacy of Christ. 124 6 The Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Son as well as of the Father and what followeth thereon 130 8 Actings of the Holy Spirit not ascribed unto him Exclusively 130 9 The Holy Spirit supplyes the bodily Absence of Christ. 158 5 Holy Spirit worketh by Means ordinarily 187 25 The Holy Spirit the immediate Sanctifier of all Believers 337 15 The Holy Spirit promised with respect unto his Effects 357 2 Holy Spirit the principal efficient Cause of the Mortification of Sin 481 15 c. Holy Ghost how the Power of the most High 132 No Holiness but by the Gospel and the Grace of it 325 8 Holiness passeth over into Eternity and Glory and how 328 11 Holiness glorious in this Life 329 12 Holiness all that God requireth of Believers 330 13 Holiness commanded in a way of Duty promised in a way of Grace 336 14 Holiness in its true Nature 338 2 Holiness how it is encreased in Believers 340 4 Holiness may thrive where its growth is not discerned 350 10 Holiness pleaseth God wherever it is 361 5 No Holiness beyond the bounds of Relation to Christ. 363 6 Holiness of God wherein it consists 374 4 Where the Principle of Holiness is there will be the Fruits of it 421 All Holiness derived from Christ. 450 451 c. Evangelical Holiness an effect of the Covenant of Grace 459 75 Holiness of God how an Argument of the Necessity of Holiness in us 500 5 Holiness not absolutely of the same use under the New Covenant and the Old 503 9 Holiness necessary unto the future Enjoyment of God 504 13 Holiness the highest Excellency whereof our Nature is capable 509 18 Holiness the Design of God in Election 521 3 Vniversal Holiness how required in the Precepts of the Gospel 535 6 Necessity of Holiness 537 9 Moral Honesty not Holiness 363 6 The Host of Heaven what it is 70 6 Host of the Earth 71 6 Humane Nature of Christ derived no evil from the Fall of Adam Reasons thereof 136 1 Sanctification of the Humane Nature of
in the Apprehension of them with whom they have to doe which was Actually the Case of David all his Dayes and of Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 6 7. I would be far from giving Countenance unto thâ— sinfull Distempers of any but yet I doubt not but that the Infirmities of many are represented by Envy and Hatred of Profession unto an undeserved Disadvantage 3 Where-ever there is the seed of Grace and Holiness there an Entrance is made on the Cure of all these sinfull Distempers yea not only of the corrupt Lusts of the Flesh that are absolutely evil and Vitious in their whole Nature but even of those natural Infirmities and Distempers of peevishness moroseness inclination to Anger and Passion Vnsteadiness in Resolution which Lusts is apt to possess and use unto evil and disorderly Ends. And I am pressing the Necessity of Holiness that is of the Encrease and Growth of it that this Work may be carried on to perfection and that so through the Power of the Grace of the Gospel that great Promise may be accomplished which is recorded Isa. 11. 6 7 8 9. And as when a wandring jugling Impostor who pretended to judge of mens Lives and Manners by their Physiognomy beholding Socrates pronounced him from his Countenance a Person of a flagitious sensual Life the People derided his Folly who knew his sober vertuous Conversation but Socrates excused him affirming that such he had been had he not bridled his Nature by Philosophy how much more truely may it be said of Multitudes that they had been eminent in nothing but untoward Distempers of Mind had not their Souls been rectified and cured by the Power of Grace and Holiness Sect. 14 I find there is no End of Arguments that offer their service to the Purpose in hand I shall therefore wave many and those of great importance attended with an unavoidable Cogency and shut up this Discourse with one which must not be omitted In our Holiness consists the principal part of that Revenue of Glory and Honour which the Lord Christ requireth and expecteth from his Disciples in this World That he doth require this indispensibly of us is I suppose out of Question amongst us although the most who are called Christians live as if they had no other Design but to cast all Obloquies Reproach and Shame on him and his Doctrine But if we are indeed his Disciples he hath bought us with a Price and we are not our own but his and that to glorifie him in Soul and Body becuase they are his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. He dyed for us that we should not live unto our selves but unto him that so dyed for us and by vertue of whose Death we live Rom. 14. 7 8 9. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. But we need not to insist hereon To deny that we ought to glorifie and honour Christ in the World is to renounce him and the Gospel The sole Enquiry is How we may do so and what he requireth of us to that purpose Sect. 15 Now the summe of all that the Lord Christ expects from us in this World may be reduced unto two Heads 1 That we should live holily to him 2 That we should suffer patiently for him And in these things alone is he glorified by us The first he expecteth at all times and in all things the latter on particular Occasions as we are called by him thereunto Where these things are where this Revenue of Glory is payd in and returned unto him he repents not of his Purchase nor of the unvaluable Price he hath payd for us yea sayes The Lines are fallen to me in pleasant places I have a goodly Heritage which are the words of Christ concerning the Church which is his Lot and the Portion of his Inheritance Psal. 16. 6. Now amongst many others we shall consider but one way whereby we glorifie the Lord Christ by our Holy Obedience and whence also it will appear how much we dishonour and reproach him when we come short thereof Sect. 16 The Lord Christ coming into the World as the Mediator between God and Man wrought and accomplished a mighty Work amongst us And what he did may be referred to three Heads 1 The Life which he lead 2 The Doctrine which he taught and 3 The Death which he underwent Concerning all these there ever was a great Contest in the World and it is yet continued And on the part of the World it is managed under a double Appearance For some openly have traduced his Life as unholy his Doctrine as foolish and his Death as justly deserved which was the sence of the Pagan World and the Apostate Judaical Church of Old as it is of many at this Day Others allow them to pass with some Approbation pretending to own what is taught in the Gospel concerning them but in fact and practice deny any such Power and Efficacy in them as is pretended and without which they are of no Vertue which is the way of Carnal Gospellers and all Idolatrous Superstitious Worshippers among Christians And of late there is risen up amongst us a Generation who esteem all that is spoken concerning him to be a meer Fable In opposition hereunto the Lord Christ calls all his true Disciples to bear Witness and Testimony unto the Holiness of his Life the Wisdom and Purity of his Doctrine the Efficacy of his Death to Expiate Sin to make Attonement and Peace with God with the Power of his whole Mediation to Renew the Image of God in us to restore us into his Favour and to bring us unto the Enjoyment of him This he calls all his Disciples to avow unto and express in the World and by their so doing is he glorified and no otherwise in a peculiar manner A Testimony is to be given unto and against the World that his Life was most Holy his Doctrine most heavenly and pure his Death most precious and Efficacious and consequently that he was sent of God unto his great Work and was accepted of him therein Now all this is no otherwise done but by Obedience unto him in Holiness as it is visible and fruitfull For Sect. 17 1 We are Obliged to profess that the Life of Christ is our Example This in the first place are we called unto and every Christian doth virtually make that profession No man takes that holy Name upon him but the first thing he signifies thereby is that he makes the Life of Christ his Pattern which it is his Duty to express in his own And he who takes up Christianity on any other Terms doth wofully deceive his own Soul How is it then that we may yield a Revenue of Glory herein How may we bear Testimony unto the Holiness of his Life against the Blasphemies of the World and the Vnbelief of the most who have no Regard thereunto Can this be any
otherwise done but by Holiness of Heart and Life by Conformity to God in our Souls and living unto God in fruitfull Obedience Can men devise a more effectual Expedient to cast Reproach upon him than to live in Sin to follow divers lusts and pleasures to preferre the World and present things before Eternity and in the mean time to Profess That the Life of Christ is their Example as all unholy Professors and Christians doe Is not this to bear witness with the World against him that indeed his Life was unholy Surely it is high time for such Persons to leave the Name of Christians or the Life of Sin It is therefore alone in Conformity to him in the Holiness we are pressing after that we can give him any Glory on the Account of his Life being our Example Sect. 18 2 We can give him no Glory unless we bear Testimony unto his Doctrine that it is Holy Heavenly filled with Divine Wisdom and Grace as we make it our Rule And there is no other way whereby this may be done but by holy Obedience expressing the Nature End and Vsefulness of it Titus 2. 11 12. And indeed the Holy Obedience of Believers as hath been declared at large before is a thing quite of another Kind than any thing in the World which by the Rules Principles and Light of Nature we are directed unto or instructed in It is Spiritual Heavenly Mysterious filled with Principles and Actings of the same Kind with those whereby our Communion with God in Glory unto Eternity shall be maintained Now although the Life of Evangelical Holiness be in its Principle Form and chief Actings secret and hidden hid with Christ in God from the Eyes of the World so that the Men thereof neither see nor know nor discern the spiritual Life of a Believer in its Being Form and Power yet there are alwayes such evident appearing fruits of it as are sufficient for their Conviction that the Rule of it which is the Doctrine of Christ alone is Holy Wise and Heavenly And Multitudes in all Ages have been won over unto the Obedience of the Gospel and Faith in Christ Jesus by the Holy Fruitfull Usefull Conversation of such as have expressed the Power and Purity of his Doctrine in this Kind Sect. 19 3 The Power and Efficacy of the Death of Christ as for other Ends so to purifie us from all Iniquity and to purge our Consciences from dead Works that we may serve the living God is herein also required The World indeed sometimes riseth unto that height of Pride and contemptuous Atheisme as to despise all Appearance and Profession of Purity But the Truth is if we are not cleansed from our Sins in the Blood of Christ if we are not thereby purified from Iniquity we are an Abomination unto God and shall be Objects of his Wrath for ever However the Lord Christ requireth no more of his Disciples in this matter unto his Glory but that they Profess that his Blood cleanseth them from their sins and evidence the Truth of it by such Wayes and Means as the Gospel hath appointed unto that End If their Testimony herein unto the Efficacy of his Death be not received be despised by the World and so at present no apparent Glory redound unto him thereby he is satisfied with it as knowing that the Day is coming wherein he will call over these things again when the Rejecting of this Testimony shall be an Aggravation of Condemnation unto the unbelieving World Sect. 20 I suppose the Evidence of this last Argument is plain and exposed unto all it is briefly this Without the Holiness prescribed in the Gospel we give nothing of that Glory unto Jesus Christ which he indispensibly requireth And if men will be so sottishly foolish as to expect the greatest Benefits and Advantages by the Mediation of Christ namely Pardon of Sin Salvation Life and Immortality whilest they neglect and refuse to give him any Revenue of Glory for all he hath done for them we may bewail their Folly but cannot prevent their Ruine He saves us freely by his Grace but he requires that we should express a sense of it in ascribing unto him the Glory that is his due And let no man think this is done in Wordy Expressions it is no otherwise effected but by the Power of an Holy Conversation shewing forth the Prayses of him who hath called us out of Darkness into his marvellous Light Nay there is more in it also if any one profess himself to be a Christian that is a Disciple of Jesus Christ to follow the Example of his Life to Obey his Doctrine to express the Efficacy of his Death and continue in an unholy Life he is a false Traytor to him and gives in his Testimony on the side of the World against Him and all that he hath done for us And it is indeed the flagitious Lives of professed Christians that have brought the Life Doctrine and Person of our Lord Jesus Christ into Contempt in the World And I advise all that read or hear of these things diligently and carefully to study the Gospel that they may receive thence an Evidence of the Power Truth Glory and Beauty of Christ and his Wayes for he that should consider the Conversation of men for his Guide will be hardly able to determine which he should choose whether to be a Pagan a Mahumetan or a Christian. And shall such Persons by reason of whom the Name of Christ is dishonoured and blasphemed continually expect Advantage by him or Mercy from him Will men yet think to live in Sensuality Pride Ambition Covetousness Malice Revenge Hatred of all Good men and Contempt of Purity and to enjoy Life Immortality and Glory by Christ Who can sufficiently bewayl the dreadfull Effects of such an horrid Infatuation God teach us all duely to consider that all the Glory and Honour of Jesus Christ in the World with respect unto us depends on our Holiness and not on any other thing either that we are have or may doe If therefore we have any Love unto him any spark of Gratitude for his unspeakable Love Grace Condescension Sufferings with the Eternal Fruits of them any Care about or Desire of his Glory and Honour in the World if we would not be found the most hatefull Traytors at the last Day unto his Crown Honour and Dignity if we have any Expectation of Grace from him or Advantage by him here or hereafter let us labour to be Holy in all manner of Conversation that we may thereby adorn his Doctrine express his Vertues and Prayses and grow up into Conformity and Likeness unto him who is the First-born and Image of the Invisible God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS AN Alphabetical TABLE of some Especial Matters contained in this Book A. Page Section ABasement in the Remembrance of the Defilement of Sin a necessary Duty 401 14 No Ability in Sinners to purge themselves from their Natural Pollution 379