this later way of Gods Spirit as formerly you heard dwelling in us is most comfortable and most to be regarded though the other be more admired The former did especially belong to the Church in its first plantation Hence Acts 2. we reade of the accomplishment of that glorious Prophecy Joel 2. To pour out his Spirit c. but now these miraculous operations are ceased Vse of Instruction What Congregations and what manner of persons we ought to be To be meer men cometh farre short of being spiritual men we ought to be above sense and all humane principles Take the most refined men for morality and civility the choisest for all humane abilities yet without the Spirit of God they are no more than Adams body till life was brethed into him no more than those bones in Ezekiel till the Spirit of God gathered them together Oh that our Congregations consisted of spiritual men Paul complained He could not preach to them but as carnal The Spirit of God would lift thee up to other affections other desires As the Spirit took some mens bodies and lifted them up into the air so would it doe to the soules of men they had the Spirit of God who said Our conversation is in Heaven They had the Spirit of God that did look for the coming of Christ They had the Spirit of God who had prayed with groanes unutterable and who had joy unspeakable But oh we poor worms and not spiritual men cold clods of earth destitute of Gods Spirit And that the Spirit of God dwels in you We have heard what this inhabitation of Gods Spirit in his Church doth imply and how he may be said to dwell in us In the next place let us consider the special Workes and Effects of Gods Spirit in his Church For therefore partly hath he the name Spirit because of that power and efficacy he hath in the Church Hence he came downe in a mighty rushing winde and cloven tongues of fire So that he is called the Spirit internally and externally internally for his personall character whereby he proceeds from the Father and the Sonne Externally because of those admirable effects and demonstrations of his presence in the Church Now I shall not speak of these operations which he hath as God in creating and conservating of the world but what are more peculiar to the Church in which sense he is called The Spirit of Christ Romans 8.9 because Christ by his death did purchase such gifts and graces for his people the efficient whereof in an appropriated manner is the Spirit of God And First The very ministerial functions and abilities to discharge them are of the Holy Ghost in the Church For although Ephesians 4.11 it 's said That Christ after his Ascension and triumph over Death and Hell Gave gifts unto men Even as great Emperours when they ride in glorious triumph after a final Conquest over their enemies use to distribute large favours and many bountifull signes of honour yet because upon his Ascension he promised the Spirit of God in his absence as the divine Vicar of Christ therefore 1 Cor. 12. we find all operations and diversities of them attributed to the holy Ghost And Acts 25. the holy Ghost is said To make those overseers in the Church of Ephesus So that what Church-officers or what Church-ordinances or order we have and what Gifts and Abilities likewise there are to discharge them These are all of the holy Ghost and of the holy Ghost three wayes 1. In respect of their Institution and being For although it 's by man that such and such persons are elected and ordained to this or that Office yet the Office of it self is of the holy Ghost They are not the Institutions of men nor may men appoint some Church-officers which God hath not because their end is wholly supernatural As it 's said 2 Cor. 12.28 God hath set in his Church such Officers even as he hath set the Sunne and starres in the firmament so that all Officers lawfully called are of the holy Ghost either immediately as at the beginning or else mediately by the order and designation of the Church And as for their gifts it 's plain the extraordinary and miraculous gifts in the primitive times were from Gods Spirit The Scripture often attributeth them to it Only now it may be doubted Whether we can say that the gifts and the abilities that Ministers have now are from the holy Ghost because they are got by humane study and industry And is there any more required to understand the Scripture than any other humane Authour Plato or Aristotle Those cursed wretches Julian and Porphyrius who wrote against the Scripture they understood what they were so invective against yet it cannot be thought they were inabled by the holy Ghost Now to answer this even those natural abilities and humane indowments that men obtain by study are a gift of God they are a blessing which we see God giveth to some and not to other It 's Gods mercy thou art not a natural fool a mad man but when thou hast more understanding and better intellectual abilities than other thou hast a greater gift from God than others Hence in our very ordinary phrase we say such an one hath an excellent gift in his memory in his elocution c. And the Scripture is clear James 1.17 Every good and perfect gift cometh from the Father of lights which is to be understood universally both of naturals and supernaturals And what hast thou thou hast not received 1 Cor. 4. Hence in the Parable all abilities whether gracious or natural are called Talents and are given by one Master That is the first thing even those excellent abilities which the greatest Heretiques and enemies to the Christian Religion had were of God though the sinfull use of them came from the Devil and their own corrupt hearts They were talents of gold and they made Idols of them 2. As the gifts and abilities Church-officers have are from God so the right understanding of the Scripture and believing the sense contained therein is in a more particular manner a gift of Gods Spirit For although the Spirit of God doth not give us the sense and meaning of the Scripture in an extraordinary manner viz. without the knowledge of the tongues the comparing of places together c. yet in and by these means the Spirit of God doth help us to understand the Scripture I do not here speak of a saving knowledge of the sense of the Scripture but a meer literal knowledge of the meaning thereof This is plain by the Apostle No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit 1 Cor. 12 3 The very historical believing of Scripture truths is from the Spirit of God So that here is required a more peculiar and particular assistance of Gods Spirit in ministerial abilities for the opening of the Scripture then for any humane Authour because the matter
erre or be of this or that opinion is no great matter is as much as to say faith is no great matter the truths of the Scripture are no great matter It was well said of Austin Veritas Christianorum est incomparabiliter pulchrior Helenâ Graecorum The Christians truth is more lovely than the Grecians Helena for whom there was much strife Hence the Apostle commands us To strive earnestly for the faith once dâ—livered to the Saints Jude v 3. Thirdly They endanger salvation Because all errours come from a damnable cause Gal. 5.20 Heresies are said to come from the flesh as opposite to the Spirit and therefore are reckoned in the same Catalogue with grosse sinnes So that if you go to the first fountain you shâ—ll find errours in Doctrine and loosnesse in practice boâ—h came from the same ground they are both fruits of the flesh though they be different streams yet they are united in one â—pâ—ing Though they may struggle one with another yet both are twins in the same womb Oh what an antidote would this be against these soul-infections that are abroad to think that errours and ungodly practices come both from the same fountain They are all fruits of the flesh and therefore have a damnable cause Fourthly Errours in judgement endanger salvation Because they lead into sinfull and dangerous practices In Philosophy we are â—old of the great connexion that is between the understanding will and affâ—ctions Now the understanding that is the Sunne in this firmament and if that be in an Eclipse you know that evils are portended thereby The understanding is the counsellour and if that be corrupt the will and affections must be very sinfull and unruly Vse of Admonition To take heed we be not led aside with any errour or corrupt Doctrines You see death is in these things as well as in lusts yea if the mind be corrupt all else will be corrupt If the eye be dark the whole body will be dark Errours will breed loosnesse and prophanenesse of life They are a disease in the choisest part of a man and know it is not thy wisdome thy care can preserve thee It 's the Spirit of God through his Word that leadeth us into truth Christ is the truth the way and the life John 14.6 The greatest learning and knowledge will not keep a man learned men have been Heretiques but two things will especially keep us 1. Humility and lowlinesse of mind To such God giveth grace To babes and sucklings he revealeth himself And 2. An holy conformity to Gods will so farre as we know When we do not detain truth as a prisoner in our lives Doct. 2. Whereas you see an eminent Officer in the Church building but hay and stubble is yet hardly saved We may hint this Doctrine though not insist on it That every godly man though never so eminent yet is very difficultly saved If hay and stubble will put us to such danger what then will evident poison If these errours of the mind which are so hardly prevented what will the constant lusts and daily infiâ—mities even of all men Which makes the Apostle Peter say The righteous man is scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 Which although some understand of a temporal salvation he is very hardly delivered from those temporal afflictions that fall out in this life yet by consequence it reacheth to eternal salvation Hence is that command To work out our salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 Yea Paul who had one foot in Heaven yet he said He kept under his body lest while he preached to others he himself should be a reprobate 1 Cor. 9. ult Now the Grounds of these truths are First From the exactnesse and strictnesse that is in the way to Heaven Godlinesse is on the high hill as he placed virtue Strive to enter in at the strait gate Luke 13.24 Be in an agony yea how strait is it as in Matth 7 14 by exclamation few do enter therein To lay out the nature of a godly man or godlinesse from Scripture-rules would be almost like Tullies description of a perfect Orator or Plato of a Commonwealth Our Saviour speaking of the difficulty of a rich man to be saved that is one who trusteth in them as one Evangelist saith Mar. 10.24 The Disciples cry out Who then can be saved They do not say What rich man but who can be saved because every man hath something or other be trusteth in as well as the rich man in his riches Secondly The difficulty doth appear from that remainder and relique or corruption that is in every man which is in danger to break out Our Saviour bid hiâ— Dâ—sciples Beware of drunkennesse and surfeting though they seemed to be â—arre from it Luke 21.34 Paul how doth he mourn under the powerfull vigor of sinne still abiding in him Rom. 7. Yea the Apostle speaking of a combate in all The Flesh lusteth after the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5. So that by this means he is in constant danger of being undone There is heart against heart affections against affections c. Thirdly There are many afflictions and tribulations which God brings on his people and they do much endanger Did not God break out upon Aaron Eli David and Moses very dangerously as if he would have cast them quite off and therefore the Apostle brings in the difficulty of the righteous mans salvation upon that Judgement must begin at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 So that if we consider the tempests and rocks in the sea of this world it 's a wonder any can come to the haven Vse of Exhortation Be quickned up to more exact strict and diligent walking If Paul that knew how to abound and want and to do all things who was like a gyant running his race and yet hardly gets to Heaven Where wilt thou appear Hear what he saith I presse forward I forget what is behinde if I may attain to the prize of the high calling Oh then how inexcusable is thy negligence thy dissolutenesse Is thy life a striving an agony Art thou like one in a combate and conflict By this we may see the number of men that shall be saved is very few there are so few that strive that pray that work with fear and trembling that are violent for the Kingdom of Heaven and get it by force Verse 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you THe Apostle though he alter his Metaphor yet continueth in the same matter In the verses before he compared the Church of Corinth to a building here he sheweth what kind of building it is even a sacred holy building The Temple of God So that as in the Temple of old which was consecrated to God whosoever did bring in any unclean and unconsecrated things to the Temple he did pollute it and was to be punished thus all corruptions in Doctrine Worship or
that Pearle which must not be cast to swine But who are the people that God doth thus honour How few are such favourites How many are amongst us that are not admitted with Moses to come to the top of this Mount They know not what Communion with God meaneth what those filial cryes of Abba Father are Certainly a rational man doth not more differ from a beast than a spiritual man doth from the best rational man that is That as a worme knoweth not what reason and arguments are the best so learned and able men without grace do not know what this enjoying of Gods Spirit and communion with God is we speak though not in an unknown tongue yet unknown matter to such men Fourthly In that the Spirit of God is said to dwell it denoteth A permanent and constant abode in his people For this you must know The Spirit of God is many times working where yet he doth not dwell There is a great difference between transient motions and constant mansions of Gods Spirit Hypocrites and reprobates have the former but not the latter They that wrought miracles had the Spirit of God moving in them but not dwelling in them Even Balaam in that prophetical passage about Israel had a transient motion or a blast of this Spirit but the Spirit of God did not abide in him Yea hereby Caiaphas being high Priest that year was moved to say what he did It 's expedient for one to die for many but yet he knew not what he said So that there is a great difference between the transient motion of Gods Spirit and his constant inhabitation Thus many not truly sanctified have the common gifts of Gods Spirit they have abilities in prayer enlargements some joyes all which are of Gods Spirit moving in them not dwelling in them And truly this is a dangerous Rock upon which many split themselves taking transient gifts of Gods Spirit for permanent graces sometimes they are hardly discerned as the Rockes that are under water But of this neccessary point more Fifthly The Spirit dwelling in us doth denote The intimatenesse and inward efficacy it hath It doth not onely dwell with us but in us which denoteth great intimatenesse Thus the Apostle often complaineth of the Law of sinne that dwelt in him Romans 7. because of the inward natural power of it that whensoever he would doe good evil was present with him It was alwayes at hand to infect and pollute So that by this is declared how powerfull and inwardly efficacious the Spirit of God is in his people Hence he is said To make intercession with groanes unutterable Romans 8.26 which could not be without a wonderfull secret and hidden deep working of the Spirit even in the depths and bottome of our souls Thus you have heard what the phrase doth imply Now let us proceed to shew How the Spirit of God dwels in his Church and afterwards Wherein his dwelling doth manifest it self For as original corruption is alwayes breaking out it 's not a dull idle sinne it 's Peccatum actuosum though not actuale So the Spirit of God is compared to fire because of the powerfull and active nature it hath in the people of God Fire doth assimulate every thing to it self Thus men filled with the holy Ghost are made exceeding spiritual endeavouring to make all like themselves Now several wayes we may consider of the Spirits dwelling in the people of God First There is an essential dwelling or a gracious dwelling by a special manifestation of more peculiar favours we doe not speak here of an essential dwelling for so the Spirit of God is every where Whither can I flie from thy presence Psal 139.7 Thus he hath the same divine Attribute as God the Father and the Sonne have Thus he filleth the whole world But we speak of his gracious presence Now how to make a difference between his essential presence and his gracious presence is impossible for men to expresse because our knowledge of God is onely apprehensive not comprehensive We see all the Schoolmen labouring to this very day to shew how an Angel is present and yet they have not waded out of those deeps Onely thus much we may in sobriety say That though the Spirit of God be every where yet he is said to be in his Church because of those peculiar and gracious operations which he produceth in them and no where else Even as God is said to be in Heaven though he be in Earth and no where else because there is a peculiar manifestation of more glory and power from him Thus then we are first to conceive of his presence But. Secondly When the Spirit of God is said to dwell in his Church it may not onely be understood of the gracious effects thereof but also of his Person likewise And this indeed I finde a very sublime and mysterious Dispute both among Papists and Protestants Whether believers are made partakers of the Person of the holy Spirit or onely of his graces According to many all those places where we are said to receive the Spirit or to be full of the holy Ghost they are extended no further than the gifts and graces of the holy Ghost But certainly many places as this in my Text are to be understood of the Person of the holy Ghost For it 's the Spirit as we shewed that is the same with God Now the gifts and graces of the Spirit are not the same with God So we are said to be a Temple of this Spirit and a Temple doth relate to a God and to a Person not to graces meerly So that we conclude that opinion to be farre more true and consonant to Scripture which makes us partakers even of the Spirit it self as we also are of Christ himselfe and not of the benefits onely that come by him But the Scripture layeth downe this in a transcendent and mystical manner and it 's by faith onely So that those who have fancied a transubstantiation into the God-head To be Christed with Christ and Godded with God or to be made the Spirit with the Spirit have thought of a physical and natural union as if a drop of water were poured into the sea where as it is onely a moral union even as the wife is made partaker not only of the husbands wealth but the husband himself yet not turned into his nature and this comparison the Scripture doth often use Lastly The Spirit of God dwels two wayes in his Church 1. In respect of wonderfull and miraculous operations 2. In respect of saving and sanctifying graces The former way the Church of Corinth was admirable you may reade 1 Cor 14. alibi of the plenty of gifts and divers operations amongst them so that they seemed herein to excell all other Churches yet in respect of the sanctifying graces they seemed to be very defective for the Apostle cals them babes and complaineth he could not speak unto them as unto spiritual so that
was for his eternal torment They call such things the blessing of God and so indeed in themselves they are but to wicked men they are curses For as the godly mans afflictions come from Gods love Whom he loveth he chasteneth Heb. 12. so wicked mens mercies come from Gods anger Had God loved thee thou hadst had it may be more afflictions more wants and exercises Secondly Wicked men have not the world Because they are overcome by it the world hath them rather Therefore they are called as you heard the world as if their very souls as well as bodies were made of the dust of the earth whereas the godly have the world as if they had it not they have God and the world too they have Heaven and Earth too they do not prâ—â— the worse their duties are not the more thinne and distracted As Abraham and David these were rich and great men in the world yet if you reade Davids Psalmes you will finde his heart set on God above all these things Thirdly Wicked men have not the world Because they do not own and acknowledge God as the giver of all neither do they live to him but the things of the world are instruments to draw out their lusts to make them the more wicked They take the good creatures of God and abuâ—e them to wickednesse Therefore Rom 8. The whole creation is said to groan under them as being weary of them The very Air the very Earth is weary of them yea the timber in the house and the stones of the wall do witnesse against them they are by the things of the world made more wicked Lastly They have not the world Because they have not an holy contentation of mind They are not quiet or satisfied in their condition they have no true peace notwithstanding all their abundance and the reason is because they have not pardon of sinne and enjoyment of Gods favour with these and they are only blessed who are so Matth 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth You see the whole earth is promised to a meek humble contented spirit whereas a wicked man is compared to the Sea that is alwayes foaming and never lieth still The Vse is two-fold 1. Of Comfort and Exhortation to the godly Comfort in what distresse and strait soever thou art in Say not I have not this I want this I am poor and miserable for thou hast Heaven and Earth onely set faith on work This is the hand to receive those treasures This faith is not a fancy it 's not a foolish imagination but a real investing of thee with all things But it 's of Exhortation also to have the world for thy spiritual use Take heed of the wickednesse of it We have not received the spirit of the world 2 Corin. 4. Oh it 's an excellent thing not to have the spirit of the world but of God! Vse 2. Of Instruction To shew the power and miserable estate of the richest and greatest men in the world that want godlinesse none is so poor so miserable as they Thou sayest this is thine and that is thine Alas because Christ and the Promise are not thine nothing is indeed thine If they be thine they are thy poison thy destruction thy damnation and thus they are thine Or Life We proceed to the third thing in order and that is the several Conditions or Estates we are in Life is yours and Death is yours Chrysostome and Grotius after him limit this to the life and death of the Ministers in the Church If they live enjoying their liberties and outward comforts it 's for you If they die if they lose their liberties and lives it 's for the Churches sake As Paul said He was willing to be a Sacrifice offered up for the Philippians faith Phil. 2.17 This is indeed a truth but as the world is a general so there is no reason but that we should take Life and Death in as General a sense And indeed this limited one may well come under the first enumeration Paul and Apollo all are yours At this time we shall treat of Life The Scripture speaks of a three-fold Life 1. Animal which is in beasts 2. Humane belonging to men as rational And 3. Supernatural or an heavenly life which onely deserveth the name of it The other being but shadows and dying lives Now we shall especially speak of this humane life being perfected with that supernatural life Observe That Godly men do onely live or The Godly onely doe make a spiritual use of their life Life is only theirs 1 Pet. 3.10 He that loveth life and would see good dayes let him refrain his tongue from evil let him eschew evil and do good Here you see the only way to live and to have good dayes is to avoid all evil and imbrace all good Hence Christ John 6. cals himself The bread of life and he giveth the water of life none liveth till they be united to him We shall insist on these things 1. That only godly men live 2. That wicked men though in the midst of all their jollity yet the Scripture doth not account of them as living persons And First The godly man only liveth Because he is united to God and Christ the fountain of life David doth often style God The fountain of life Psal 36.9 And in his favour there is life And in the New Testament especially by John Christ is made the Author of all life He is therefore compared to the Head and to the Vine If the members or branches be separated from these they die and wither presently as John 15. This is so frequent an assertion that we need not dilate on it If not a member of Christ there is no life in thee Aut es in membris aut in humoribus said Austin Thou art either among the members or the humours of the body of the Church Gal. 3.20 Paul said He no longer lived but Christ in him and the life he lived was by faith in the Sonne of God What did not Paul eat and drinke and enjoy the common Aire as we doe Yes this he doth not call his life Oh they live who no longer live but Christ in them Thy sense thy carnal reason thy corrupt affections thy worldly inclinations these no longer live but Christ in thee and his graces Secondly Onely the godly man liveth Because he hath a spiritual and a new life added to his animal life For as the soul is the life of the body so grace is the life of the soul Hence our Saviour cals all wicked men dead men Let the dead bury the dead Matth. 8.22 That is a strange expression but very true No dead corpse is more destitute of life and apprehension than their souls are of any heavenly motions any spiritual hungrings or thirstings All the merry and jolly men in the world they are dead men if living in their sinnes Therefore among the Pythagoreans who kept strict
that these very considerations which should take them off from such security through their corruptions they further themselves in See this notably described Esa 22 12 13. When God call'd to weeping and mourning there was eating flesh and drinking wine the clearn contrary And what moved them even the sad condition they were in Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Oh why not rather Let us mourn and humble our selves for we shall die But they are desperate They will take their pleasures while they may they know not how soon they may be deprived of them Such as these are filled up with desperate prophanenesse That as Saul and his Armour-bearers did desperately throw themselves upon the Spear to kill themselves Thus do these men laugh and drink and will have their pleasures though they know death will deprive them of all Such men are said to make a league with hell and the grave They will do well enough for all this Or rather they think they shall be damned their conscience secretly whispers that to them therefore they will have their pleasures while they can O miserable and wretched men wo be to such that ever they were born Fourthly This prophane security differeth from spiritual confidence in respect of the Author and efficient cause For it 's plain who giveth David this holy quietnesse it 's God that maketh him dwell confidently it 's God that commands rest and ease to the soul whereas this carnal security cometh wholly from the Devil It 's he that lulleâ—h them asleep Our Saviour discovered this in that parable when he said While the strong one kept the house all things were in quiet You would wonder to see a man curse and swear and follow all the pleasures of his heart yet that he can lay himself to sleep that he should not think his chamber would be as â—ull of Devils as Pharaoh's was full of frogs That he should not cry out Oh I dare not sleep for fear this night the Devils fetch my soul to hell Now all this carnal security in his spirit ariseth from the Devil who is said to reign in the hearts of the children of disobedience It 's he that filleth the soul with spiritual madnesse As when he possessed the bodies of men he threw them into the fire and water and made them cut and launce their bodies without any grief at all the like he doth upon the souls of men hurrying them into beastly wicked and ungodly waies and by that meanes even into hell it self as he did the Herd of Swine when he entred into them carrying them violently into the Sea What was it that made Judas so desperately betray innocent blood though he had so much warning so many admonitions to the contrary Though some were stricken down with amazement yet nothing will stop him The Devil did drive him The Devil had entred into his heart even as he did also fill Ananias his heart So that as you see it 's with godly men when filled with the holy Ghost they would boldly confesse Christ though they endured all torments for it Thus when the Devil hath possession of mens hearts and the Lord leaveth them to his temptations then they are mad and obstinate they scoff and mock at the Day of Judgment As the Apostle Peter tels us of such prophane mockers Where is the day of his coming Are not all things as they were 2 Pet. 3 4. Thus like Leviathan they laugh at the Spear and as the Prophets hearers because he so often preached the burden of the Lord therefore they took it up by way of scoff The burden of the Lord The burden of the Lord. Thus do they about hell and damnation Fifthly Carnal security differeth from this heavenly confidence in respect of the Concomitants and Companions For though David had this great quietnesse of soul knowing God would help him yet he doth carefully use all the meanes God hath appointed He doth not presume or tempt God but he prayeth to God and flyeth for his safety and getteth all the possible succour he can So in that grand assurance and confidence which the people of God have about their eternal happinesse there is also an holy fear and trembling Therefore the Apostle exhorts to work out their salvation with fear and trembling And Paul himself who had so much confidence as to say Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ yet he kept under his body lest when he had preached to others he himself should become a reprobate 1 Cor. 9.27 But as for the wicked carelesse man he promiseth himself all happinesse and future good though he sit still and stirre not a foot towards Heaven yea though he go in the contrary path yet he flattereth himself as if that were the way to happinesse Vse of Terrour and we To all those Laish and Laodicean spirits who sit at ease and say They are rich and want nothing when indeed they are poor and miserable and want all things Oh turn your joy into sorrow Go out with Ephraim and let God see you smite upon the breast and strike upon the thigh crying out Oh what have I done Oh mad wretch that I am merry and jolly when in the Devils dungeon when in the chains of darknesse when upon the very borders of Hell It may shortly be no more said such an one is eating and drinking but his body rotting in the Grave and his soul roaring in Hell The Reason of the Saints Confidence is That God alone is their Preserver Shewing also the Waies and Meanes by which he doth Preserve them PSAL. 4.8 For thou alone doest make me dwell in safety IN these words we have a Reason why David hath such confidence it 's not from any carnal and outward Motive but only from divine consideration For in this also might be shewed the difference between carnal security and holy quietnesse The one is a fruit of a godly and diligent obedience to the Law of God and so is a fruit of the Promise as Prov. 3.23 24. You may see there a notable Promise for rest safety and sleep to such as follow Wisdomes Advice And Dâ—vâ—â— found God faithfull in his Word Psal 127. For so thou givest thy Belâ—vâ—â— sleâ—p But all earthly security ariseth from some temporal hopes they loâ—â— at in their dangers and therefore while they look for peace God makes calamity to arise on the suddain as 1 Thes 5.3 When they say peace and safety then suddain destruction shall arise as of a woman with Child and they shall not escape Suddainly in the midst of their mirth and jollity will their inevitable destruction arise David therefore hath a more firm and immoveable Rock and that is Gods Power and Preservation Which is expressed in The Effect of it And The solitary Efficiency of it The Effect is To dwell in safety David though now in banishment and had no House of his own to lay his head in
Law not the imbracements or love of the Gospel belonging The second thing observable is the Subject or Matter of the Apostles complaint Not as spiritual but as carnal This is not to be understood of all but of many amongst them for he doth acknowledg some wise and perfect to whom he was a debtor Now you must know this word or attribute carnal hath several significations in Scripture sometimes it signifieth no more than to partake of the same stock with us Thus the Apostle cals them carnal Masters or Masters after the flesh Ephes 6.5 And the Apostle makes a distinction between being in the flesh and walking after the flesh 2 Cor. 10.3 2. He is said to be carnal that although he hath a great measure of grace and with much spiritual fortitude doth conquer sinne yet it many times haled him away captive to those reliques and remainders of corruption in him And this as I remember is but in one place where Paul saith But I am carnal and sold under sin Rom. 7.14 3. The most frequent application of this word is to those who wholly give up themselves to the lusts of the flesh and make provision for them Even as customary sins are called the works of the flesh Ephes 2.3 This is the most general use of the word as we use it also in English 4. Carnal is used comparatively for those who are indeed godly but very weak and infirm retaining many corruptions and savouring much of the flesh though they for the main are godly And in this sense it is used in the Text. As unto carnal He useth the word As for mitigation sake and then explains his meaning calling them babes in Christ Observe That even among those who are truly and indeed of the visible Church of God there is a vast difference some are spiritual some are carnal some are men some are babes Though God created Adam and Eve in their full perfection yet he doth not regenerate us into a full stature in Christ Though it be the opinion of some Divines That at the Resurrection all the godly shall rise in their compleat perfection children in that stature they might have grown up unto yet it is not so here we are spiritually begotten babes in Christ and so have several degrees into which we are to grow yea one Christian may so far exceed another both in parts and graces that one would wonder that the same Heaven should ever receive them at last Yea one Christian in time may exceedingly differ from himself As the Apostles how rude and evil at first but how admirable and wonderfull when they had received the Spirit from above in a fuller measure Thus as one starre differeth from another in glory There is a vast difference between the Sunne and any of the lesse starres so it is many times in the visible Church To open this Point Consider First That it is a great Dispute Who are truly members of the visible Church The Papists they make all publick and grosse sinners to be truly of the Church even as a wicked or ungodly man may be truly and indeed a Citizen of such a City and have the Liberties thereof But the Reformed Divines they say Grosse and prophane men are not truly and indeed of the visible Church which is a company of sheep and not goats It is that through neglect of Discipline and want of godly order prophane obstinate men may abide in the Church who yet are to be cast out of it And this is not a ground for any to separate uncharitably and sinfully from the Church so polluted yet such wicked men continuing amongst believers are not internally but externally and in appearance only of the Church Even as a wicked branch or a dead hand is a part of the body equivocally it receiveth no life or influence so neither do these though they pray hear come to Church yet they receive no more spiritual benefit from Christ then the glasse eye doth vital operation from the soul And Bellarmine himself doth at last acknowledge That publick and open sinners though they be De corpore Ecclesiae yet they are not De Anima Happily therefore the Papists do not so much contradict the Doctrine of the Protestants as themselves For Amesius doth reject that Proposition which Bellarmine doth impose on us as if we held internal grace necessarily constituent of a member of a visible Church external profession of faith and of obedience to Christ is enough to this though Regeneration be wanting John said Some were not of them though they were amongst them 1 Joh. 2.19 Secondly In the primitive times they had a two-fold distinction of those that were in the visible Society There were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as did take care onely about the body and things pleasing to the sense which is the generality of people minding the necessities of the body and the pleasures thereof These are even like bruit beasts 2. There were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animal or natural men and those indeed had the natural perfections of the soul learning parts morality and whatsoever in an humane way would elevate the reason of a man Lastly There were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spiritual ones who being sanctified by the Spirit of God did all things upon spiritual grounds and to spiritual ends Though this distinction may be allowed in an orthodox sense yet the Valentinians they made such a division and by their spiritual men meant such who could not sinne at all But the second and more common division of their hearers were into the Catechumeni such who were to be instructed and taught the principles of Religion For they admitted no grown person into Church-communion that were not competently taught the foundations of Religion Oh how many are amongst us though aged and married persons that need to be placed in this forme 2. Poenitentes the Penitents of whom there were several degrees and such were those who being Christians in profession did yet fall into grosse and scandalous sinnes such were kept from the Sacrament They had a distinct place in the Church as not worthy the communion of the rest Oh Beloved in the Apostles times in the primitive times when there was spiritual zeal for the glory of God a prophane impenitent man was no more owned for one of theirs than we would own a toad in our dishes or a swine in our garden No not with such an one not to eat Withdraw from such a man Cast him out saith the Apostle and thus for many hundred years after Christ But alas we are like so many Hospitals full of diseased persons The other were those that were initiated and received into their Society and made partakers of the Sacrament But 3. The Apostle in the Text he speaks of two degrees onely amongst the godly the Spiritual and the Carnal the men and the babes even as we speak of the Incipients and Proficients Now the
can be expected from a Church consisting of such Men speak of Houses where the Devils walk where spirits haunt men dare not dwell there I tell thee That a Family where ignorance and prophaneness is nourished is an house not only haunted but even possessed by Devils And how canst thou eat sleep and live in such a place Fourthly In the primitive times there were a rank of people that were called Catecumini as we said before Candidati or Competentes such who being converted from Paganism were not yet fully instructed in the matters of Religiâ—n and therefore they had time to get knowledg before ever they were admitted to Church-Communion And answerable to this there was a Catechist one whose work and office it was to instruct such before they were Baptized Thus you see how carefull in Antiquity they were that they might have no ignorant persons among them And certainly as in all Arts there are Principles which must be learned before they can come to Conclusions so it 's here in Religion And oh that we could see this Knowledge brought in amongst people To be a Christian is to be anointed and this Vnction teacheth us all things Joh. 2.20 viz. necessary to salvation Fifthly Principles of Religion largely so called are of two sorts either Corrupt Idolatrical and Heretical or true Sound and Consonant to the Scripture Now there are many in the world are too forward to infuse poysonous and dangerous Principles so great a matter is it to consider what men are seasoned with at first either privately or publiquely Thus many are infected with Popish and superstitious Principles many with erroneous and false Doctrines and these foundations being laid it 's very difficult ever to remove them As the vessel is first seasoned or the tree at first planted so it is likely to continue The Apostle cals those Jewish Ceremonies the beggerly elements Gal. 4.9 or Principles of the world Why so because the superstitious Teachers made them the first Elements the Principles the foundation of all and therefore they thought all Religion was taken away if they were removed And thus you have divers persons they have indeed some Principles of Religion but they are Popish and Superstitious such as put out the Knowledge of Christ and the Scriptures And It 's a two-fold labour as Socrates said to a perverted Disciple of his to teach them for they must first be untaught their erroneous Principles and then must be instructed in the truth Oh then look to this that thy Principles about Religion be not false ignorant and superstitious ones Sixthly The true Principles of Religion are reduced to severall heads and are both short and easie but necessary to be known The Doctrine about God and Christ and our selves which is the Credendum The Doctrine about Faith and Repentance which is the Agendum And about things to come which is the Sperandum About God we are to believe That he is and a rewarder of those that seek him About Christ This is eternal life to know Jesus Christ Joh. 17.2 and the holy Ghost for we are Baptized in his Name About our selves the desperate pollution of our natures the hainousness of sinne the aggravation of the curses of the Law The things to be done are Repentance which driveth out of our sins and Faith which driveth out of our own righteousness But because these are Divine Works therefore a man must be regenerated and born again And this Principle Christ insisted on to Nicodemus Joh 3. The things to come are The Resurrection of the Body The immortality of the Soul The Day of Judgment The Heâ—ven and Hell provided for the godly and the wicked These Principles are plain and easie not to flesh and blood but in respect of the manifestation of them They are laid down clearly in Scripture None without horrible impudency can deny them Indeed there are many sublime Disputes about the Trinity and about Christs Incarnation but these are not necessary to be believed by every one Oh then how great is thy ingratitude God hath made the necessary things easie and plain and yet thou art not acquainted with them If God had commanded some greater matter of thee If he had required all thy time all thy study thou wast obliged to have done it How much rather in things of so easie apprehension But now when we say These divine Principles are easie you must take heed of two mistakes 1. We do not mean that the divine Faith and Belief of them is easie to flesh and blood no but they are easie supposing the grace of God in respect of other particulars in Religion For otherwise To believe with a Divine Faith viz. by the Spirit of God inabling upon divine Authority which is only true Faith is the immediate work of Gods Spirit Therefore Faith though it be but Historicall and not saving is the gift of God When we desire a Knowledge and Faith of these Principles we mean not such a Faith as most men have a Faith of custom and humane education a Faith because they are brought up in such a Religion but upon Judgment and Knowledge grounded upon the Scripture That which is usually called the Colliars Faith To believe as the Church believes Is the Husbandmans and the Tradesmans and the rich mans and the poor mans Faith too much in the world So that as Christ saith His yoke is easie and yet also it is very hard Easie to the heart sanctified but grieveous to the unregenerate So it is here The Principles of Religion are easie and plain to the mind inlightned but they are either foolishness or absurdities to the greatest Scholar that is if hâ—s heart be not opened And thus Paul found himself derided and called a Babler amongst the Athenians 2. We do not mean that the bare saying of the Principles of Religian by heart and rote is the true believing and knowing of them As the Child is not said to be fed with milk unless it swallow it down and be nourished by it So neither can they be said to believe the Principles of Religion unless they do with understanding apply them and receive them into their hearts But this is all that most attain unto they can tell you God made them That Christ is their Saviour That they must repent of sinne But these things are by meer rote They learn them as formerly in Popery they learned their Prayers in Lattin they knew not what they prayed for so neither these what they do believe Now the Grounâ—s for Instruction in these Principles are First Because God accounts of no zeal nor devout affections if they be not the fruit of Knowledge Thus Christ told the woman that was so zealous for her Fathers worship Ye worship ye know not what Joh. 4 22. Though God once accepted bruit beasts as a Sâ—rifice to him Yet now saith the Apostle let 's offer up our selves a reasonable Sacrifice Rom. 12.1 The Jew had a zeal but
together were spent in libelling and in accusations of one another till Constantine took all the papers and burnt them We might tell you of the other great Council of Constantinople against Nestorius with what factions carnal policies and sinfull animosities Nestorius and his party did strive against the Orthodox But of this enough We see how prone these worms are to breed in the sweetest roses Satan is busie in this way God put enmity between the Serpent and the womans seed and he labours to put enmity between the womans seed among themselves Now let all these divisions be what they will publique or personal Civil or Religious they come from sin and tend to confusion Now God he is the God of order and of peace not of confusion 1 Cor. 14.33 In the next place What makes division or faction And 1. That is when men promote any false or wicked way against truth and godlinâ—sse We see all parties brand one another with divisions and factions The Papist cals the Protestant a Sectary and that though a Metropolitane and saith The leaving of their Church that had so much Antiquity and Vniversality was a schisme The Metropolitane he maketh all those guilty of schisme whether Bishops or Presbyters that recede from obedience to him as appeareth in a late Book Hammond of Schisme But it 's not the calling or the branding of any with the name of schisme that makes the thing so but you must consider the cause and the matter If Elijah and some few with him will not bow their knees to Baal nor will not go with the multitude of Idolaters this is no sinfull division or faction When Arianisme like a deluge did overflow the Church the Orthodox who were called Eustathiani from Eustathius the President in the Council of Nice and a valiant Champion for the Truth had their private and secret meetings not daring to communicate in the publick worship with the Arians yet no sound man in judgement will brand these with schisme If the people of God come out from Babylon and separate from their uncleannesses this is no schisme or faction but a duty God commanded them So that before we charge any with this crime we must alwayes consider the Cause and the Matter who hath the truth who hath Gods Cause otherwise men are hereticks and schismaticks to one another and so they judge by partiality not by the Rule Neither is it enough for men to say they have Scripture or to alledg Scripture for that may be wrested to their destruction but the true sense and meaning of it which is attained by those that walk humbly in Gods way and use those means God hath appointed in his Church If therefore a man plead against the Idolatries the impieties and falshoods of other men This is no faction if so Paul himself who condemneth these had been the most factious man in the world For who more zealous than he in Christs way against the superstitious Pharisees and those who pleaded the Law for Justification Secondly Faction and division is seen when though the matter be true or good they strive for yet they do it not in a godly orderly way He that striveth is not crowned unlesse he strive lawfully 2 Tim. 2.5 A good intention even in a good matter without good order is not warrantable The Disciples that would have fire come down from Heaven knew not what spirit they were of Vzzahs sudden punishment for the touching of the Ark should make us look not only to a duty but to the order of a duty The Apostle layeth down this injunction We must not do evil that good may come on it Rom. 3.8 And he saith of those teachers that would make such constructions from his Doctrine That their damnation was just The Apostle by the similitude of members in the body doth shew how every member should keep to his own office A third thing in Division is When men do not keep to their proper places to their Offices If the foot will be the eye if the hand will be the head here is a monster not a comely body The Apostle Paul is very large in this and oh that this age would observe it To teach every member in the body to keep to its own Office and to its own Calling not to take one anothers operations but to convey their mutual nourishment one to another in their proper way In what a blessed Unity and comely Order would the Church of God be if every member would do its proper work The Apostle calling so much for humility and modesty and not to think of our selves above what we ought to do fore-saw how hard a matter it would be for Christians to keep up Unity and Concord among themselves Fourthly Thus it 's division and faction when the affections and passions of men are scured and imbittered with any carnal distâ—mpers so that this sinne doth affect the heart and spirit of a man and then it breaks out into actions Though men should be in a good way and are for the truth and glory of God yet if they do this in anger and passion and frowardnesse of heart here is a sinfull division upon them though for the matter and way it self they be right Gods righteousnesse and truth needeth not our passions So that all these or any of these is enough to make the divisions in the Text here forbidden In the next place What are the Causes that make these the efficient causeâ— First The ignorance of men as long as men know but in part have not perfection in the understanding and this breedeth difference of opinions and difference of opinions difference of affections The Apostle chargeth the wresting of the Scripture to mens destruction upon their ignorance In which Epistle are many things hard to be understood which the ignorant or unlearned wrest 2 Pet. 3.16 Thus our Saviour told them They erred about the resurrection because they knew not the Scripture Mat. 2.29 So that those who have but a slighty flatry-knowledge in matters of Religion they presently runne into wayes of division These are children easily seduced Secondly Self-confidence and arrogancy When men think those abilities or that worth is in them which indeed is not This makes them bold and distracting of the Church Thus Corah Dathan and Abiram they said Num. 16.3 All the Congregation is holy They thought there was as much in every person as in the Priests whom God had set apart for that office Oh what an excellent patern is that to all which David giveth O Lord I have not lifted up my self too high or to things above me Psal 131.1 It was an excellent speech of Ambrose Heretiques with Scripture are like David in Sauls armour they are too heavy too weighty for them in stead of defending themselves they are wounded with it Hence the Apostle commands us not to mind high things Rom. 12.16 viz. which are above our power or capacity We are all
doth divide the whole Ministerial employment in two parts planting and watering so it attributeth the cheifest and noblest of all to God without whom the other abilities are in vain The fat in the offerings was to be given to God and God gives the fat to us in spiritual services the soul and life of all is expressed in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is one word in the Greek but our English Translatours and so the Latin read it giving the encrease The Metaphor is easie As the Gardiner sets his herbs waters them but he cannot make them grow he cannot make the least flower that is though he hath never so much skill Thus it is here though they be Ministers of Seraphical affections and Cherubinical knowledge yet they cannot make the Word to prosper and to encrease in the hearer it 's God doth that Isa 55.10 Isa 61.11 There you have such similitudes so that this latter part is an admirable direction to look above the abilities above the parts and gifts of men We think Oh if we have such a Ministery all would be well whereas Apollo and Paul cannot give encrease Observe That it's God only who can and will give encrease and spiritual success to the Ministerial labours in the Church God that at first said to the earth which had no more natural power of it self then a stick or peice of wood Increase and bring forth fruit doth also speak to such exhortations instructions to convince and convert when there is no inward strength in them and therefore howsoever the preaching of the Word be compared often to rain that falls on the ground and makes the grass to grow yet there is this difference The rain workes by a natural power as a natural cause but the Word of God only as an instituted and appointed cause by him Did it work naturally all that hear would be converted every Sermon would work like those of the Apostles that brought home so many To open this Consider First That though God only gives the encrease yet it is only in and through the Ministery We must not make such cavils What use is there of Preaching What need of the Ministery Men will be as prophane and as ungodly as ever till God change the heart for you may as well urge What needs the Husbandman plow or sow or prepare the ground it 's God only that blesseth it No God hath instituted means to which he hath bound us and those that will not hear Paul planting or Apollo watering may justly expect God will give no encrease Therefore the Apostle foresaw that great evil of forsaking the Assemblyes the Ordinances and bids them take heed as the forerunner of Apostacy Heb. 10.25 26. If you take a tree from the River side where it grew and brought forth fruit and plant it in a wilderness it will quickly wither Secondly As God giveth the encrease only so the time when and the persons on whom is wholly at his good pleasure The Lord makes the Word prosperous at one time and not another sometimes it cometh like fire into the bosome it burneth thee all over at another time thou findest no operation To some people it 's like the leaves of the tree in the Revelation it 's the healing of the Nation it 's the healing of people it makes the ignorant to know the prophane to become holy it mollifieth the hard heart it turneth a wilderness into a garden But to another people it 's like salt that hath lost its savour or that maketh a place more barren it maketh no relish no tast no alteration You would wonder a people should sit so long under the beames of the Sunne and be no more coloured by it preaching and no preaching is all one to him this is the Lords doing it should be not only marvellous in our eyes but dreadfull to our ears To some it is given to know and understand but to others not Mat. 13.11 Now let us consider why God only giveth the encrease and then the ends that God hath in this First God only can give the encrease because he only hath a soveraignty and power over the heart Others may speak to the ear propound Arguments to perswade but to change the heart to perswade the heart indeed that God only can who made the heart Thus Noah prayeth or prophesieth God perswade Shem to dwell in the tents of Japhet God perswade him or God will perswade him we translate it enlarge as if he should say all the men of the world all Arguments cannot till God overpower his heart Gen. 9.27 So Ezek. 36.36 I will take away the heart of stone and give an heart of flesh No Potentate no Emperour can say I will give a man another heart He may force the body but not change the heart Hence it is that the Scripture atttributes all the work of grace to Believe to Repent only to God Oh then lift up your hearts on high in every Sermon Look up to those Hils to Heaven from whence comes Conversion When the Apostles wrought Miracles they looked up to God and the people they glorified God They were convinced none could do such things but God And so we Ministers are to look up to God and you people that God may be glorified Secondly God only can give the Increase because the Increase is of spiritual and supernatural consideration It 's altogether Heavenly Now there is no proportion between humane abilities and heavenly graces There is no disposition Inter ordinem naturae ordinem gratiae The order of nature and the oder of grace All that the most able Ministers can do is within the compass of nature but the fruits being Heavenly must come otherwise As in man though a Child hath his body from the Father yet the soul comes immediately from God because it 's of an immaterial and immortal substance Thus also Faith and Repentance being immaterial Graces though the Minister may prepare and dispose the Subject yet the working of them is only from God It 's true indeed that the Parts and Abilities of one Minister may be objectively better for Conversion and more likely for profiting then another They may propound stronger Arguments to convince the Conscience They may set those Arguments home with greater life and vigour as Apollo was said to be potent in the Scripture Thus one Minister may exceed another in Glory as one Starre doth another Yet God only is the efficient Cause of every good and perfect Gift Thirdly Therefore God only giveth the increase because of the deep pollution that is in every man who is not only blind and deaf but dead Now to what purpose is an eloquent Pathetical Oration to a dead man David that did with so much affection weep over dead Absalom yet could not bring him to life So that the Preachers of the Word differ from all the humane Oratours Greek and Latin They might by their eloquence
Christ in their Congregations Ambition pride self-seeking this hath alwayes made divisions for this hath made men set up themselves and not Christ Oh what a comfort and glorious sight would it be to see the Ministery not gratifying parties not making interests but affectionately advancing the glory of God though they be accounted as the off scouring of the world Paul he gave us this example and we are to follow him The second end in which they are to agree is the conversion of men and edifying of them up in faith and godliness If this be our end that will quickly dispell all other things that obtrude thmselves the salvation of mens souls and tender bowels herein would quickly make all one but when men do not agree in the end it 's no wonder if they are contrary also in the meanes when we desire to preach our own notions and our own opinions more then to procure your salvation it 's no marvel if there be as many opinions as there are Ministers So then these two things would wonderfully unite Gods glory and the salvation of mens souls and all our preaching studying and labouring ought to be for this Thirdly There should be unity in affections to love one another to bless God for the abilities and gifts of one another Envy and pride is apt to get even amongst the best You see Christs own Disciples they were striving who should be greatest and one ambitiously affected to be over another and even in those pure Apostolical times you may read of a Diotrephes that loved preheminence above his brethren he was not according to his name for he was not nourished and taught by Christ to do so Our Saviour fore-seeing what mischief this would bring to his Church doth again and again press love among those that were to labour in his Church It was a gracious expression of Calvin concerning Luther who was an hot man and apt to break out in violent expressions Oh saith Calvin I honour Luther as an eminent servant and instrument of God though he should call me a Devil a thousand times over When our Saviour had compared his Disciples to salt to shew it was not his meaning they should be salt to one another he saith Have salt in your selves and peace one with another Mar 9.50 there must be salt and peace Oh but as it is said of Reuben so may we say for the divisions of the Ministers and the divisions of the people are great thoughts of heart Now to amplifie this we shall shew how sad a temptation it is upon the Church of God when the Ministery is not one either in doctrine ends or affections And then what people should do in such cases First When the Ministery is not one this is apt in the first place to beget atheism and irreligion in the people They begin to think that Religion is nothing but a matter of imagination or invention or else that there is no such thing and therefore they will regard it no more they will look after it no more Oh wo be to the world because of offences in this kind He that makes a division from the true doctrine or true ends of the Ministry he had better never have been born he that is a firebrand here may fear to be a firebrand in hell How many Atheists and prophane scoffers maiest thou make by this division of thine Secondly Where there is not this unity it doth much grieve and unsetle the hearts of the godly They know not what to do they cannot tell what to take to such godly men say it 's a sinne others as godly say it 's not a sinne Now to those that are tender and would not sinne for an whole world this is a very racking and torturing of their consciences Oh what shall they do Thirdly When there is not this unity prophaneness and ungodliness doth the more encrease godliness doth exceedingly decay in the power of it For while the Ministers should all as one man labour to destroy the kingdom of Satan to discourage impiety to make the heart of the wicked sad that he may return from his evil way They commonly leâ—ve this and all their preaching is to maintain those particular opinions and to set up that particular way which they walk in Now we shall see the Apostle takes off much from such controversal disputes in which the essence of godliness doth not consist As the kingdom of heaven is not in meats and drinks but in joy and peace and righteousness Rom. 14.17 so it 's good to have the heart established with grace and not with meats Heb. 14 9 and in other places the Apostle calls those things vain which do not edifie Not that the least truths of God are to be neglected yea all things are to be tryed but this should not be the main the one thing necessary is to seek the kingdome of heaven and the righteousness thereof Lastly These divisions do wonderfully harden and confirme the Papists in their way They say how doth the Lutheran and Calvinists spirit agree that which one saith the other contradicts Now although the same may be retorted on them the manifold differences in Popery and that about a necessary point of faith viz. Whether the Pope be above a Councel or the Councel above the Pope yea several Popes have at the same time pretended and in arms fought to be head of the Church Though I say these may be retorted on them and stop their mouths yet it cannot be denied but that such differences do wonderfully scandalize and harden people especially those that consult not with Scripture and seek to be antidoted against such temptations And for that take these prescripts 1. Do not thou by thy pragmatical mâ—dling widen the difference and raise more dust In this Chapter you have the Apostle laying down Arguments against divisions and sometimes they belong to the Teachers and sometimes to the Hearers The indiscretion and hot busie carriages of the Disciples doe sometimes make a greater distance among the Teachers You see Johns Disciples out of emulation and envy did what they could to stirre up Johns spirit against Christ but how graciously did he quench those sparks by that humility of his I must decrease but he must increase John 3.30 2. Consider this That those that are godly doe agree in the main fundamental point So that whatsoever is necessary to salvation that they doe not faile in They agree in the soul and life of Religion for other things we cannot expect unity in this life as long as some have more knowledge than others and more grace and self-denial than others so long there will be differences You see Paul and Barnabas had a sharpe contest with one another And the Apostle speakes of the corrupt censurings that the strong and weake Christians had of one another Romans 1.4 3. Doe thou labour to be informed with a true and divine faith out of the Word
they shall have more gracious strength that they shall grow up into further Communion with Christ that their hearts and graces shall be better Oh! How heartily doth the soul pray for these things and grieve when it finds a defect Now God hath promised this to those that abour in his work Lastly They are sure to have Gods Protection and Presence to support them in all their labour The Apostle cals it labour and that which is accompanied with painfulnese And indeed the whole work of grace is very troublesome to flesh and blood their Combates and Conflicts within and then very troublesome to man without in the world which makes the world hate and oppose them Now then the work of God being thus opposed within and without did not God protect did not he draw nigh with his support and deliver or strengthen none were able to abide Thus you see a three-fold encouragement the godly have to labour for the Lord even in this life Oh! Why then should any be so diffident as to think they shall lose by God that godliness will be an hinderance to them Do but be sure that thy work is Gods work and thou doest it in Gods manner and never fear the issue of things God is not unrighteous saith the Apostle to forget your sufferings Heb. 6.10 You read that God put up all Davids teares into his bottle As Christ would not have the least fragment of bread lost so God will not let thee lose one mite for him Thou shalt never say God hath hindered thee When Abraham for Gods glory would take none of the King of Sodoms wealth God presently said to him I am thy exceeding great reward Gen. 15. In the next place consider What is the eternal Reward and how eye hath not seen nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive If the Queen of Sheba's spirit fainted within her to see all the glory of Solomon what then would it do to behold all the glory of God laid up for those that love him This is like Ezekiel's waters that rise up higher and higher God by reason of the sovereignty he hath over us and because we are his creatures having all from him might have commanded all our work and labour and given us nothing when we had done yea he might have annhilated us immediately into our first nothing for we were his servants more then any can be servants to men And our Saviour saith What Master though his Servant hath been at work will bid him sit down presently and not rather command him to wait on him Doth he thank that servant after he hath done what is commanded Luk. 17.9 Now then if God who might have given us no reward shall yet out of his bounty give us a recompence and that not only in this life but so glorious an one in the life to come Here the soul may be amazed and cry out It 's streightned It 's streightned within it self not able to speak of the bounless love of God! For consisider how great a Reward it is First It is God himself communicating his goodness and comfort to him that hath done his work Then shall we be with the Lord for ever This is called seeing of God and seeing him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 No longer as in a glass It 's disputed Whether formal Happiness consists in the acts of the understanding as knowing of God or in the acts of the will loving of him and embracing of him But we conclude in both So that this reward being God himself as he told Abraham it is infinite as he is and as God himself is inestimable Et tunc dignè eum aestimans quando inaestimabilem dicimus quicquid de Deo dici potest eo ipso est indignum quia dici potest Thus it is of the reward The great mercy covenanted in the Promise is That God will be our God and this is compleated in Heaven Secondly This reward lieth in the full glorification of the soul in all the faculties thereof and body in all the parts thereof The spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12. There needs no more grace no more holiness There is no more sin or remorse about it It 's like the higher Region where no troublesome meteor's are Oh! What a bottomless subject is this That thy understanding should have no more darkness in it Thy will no more disobedience in it Thy heart no more dulness or sluggishness in it Oh! you would think we were speaking of some Platonical Idea or metaphysical abstraction and not of a reallity indeed But yet the Scripture assures the godly of this Reward And then for the body it 's made a glorious body all vileness and loathsomeness is removed It 's an immortal body No more death paines or any distempers This Honour will God put upon those that labour for him Thirdly The Eternity of this happiness that is astonishing also We shall be with the Lord for ever 1 Thes 4.17 Come ye blessed inherit everlasting glory Oh! Who would think much of the present service or labour for God when it will bring an eternal weight of Glory Think what eternity is if we poor mortals that measure all things by time can tell how to think about it Fourthly The fulness of this happiness an aggregation of all things that may make happy either within or without Therefore in the Scripture it 's represented by all those things that are glorious in the world a Kingdom a Crown a great Feast Jerusalem from above is paved with all precious stones This is only to lift up our hearts and to say of all earthly glory Alas what is this to heavenly If the taste of this if drops be so much what then is the Ocean Fifthly Consider the vast disproportion of this to those works thou dost for God What equality is there between God and all those glorious Priviledges and those duties thou doest How can any plead merit or worth Where can there be any trusting in our selves Oh! you that think to be saved for your Prayers Alms-deeds you know not what a great and glorious thing salvation is If a man should have all the world given him for lifting up a straw it 's no such disproportion as here is For 1. The one is infinite and thou art a finite limited creature The Angels are not found pure in his sight and what hope hast thou 2. What work thou doest for God God he first works it in thee so that thou labourest for him of his own and yet he rewards it 3. What thou doest for him it 's accompanied with much evil and many imperfections Bona meaneque mea sunt neque purè bona sunt There is four leaven still abiding in thee 4. Thou hast formerly been a servant to Satan done his work so that God might damn thee upon the old score though thou wert now able to do all things perfectly 5. Whatsoever thou hast
of the Father of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 To be baptized into the name of one argueth that one to be a Person And how absurd would it be to say the Father and the Sonne are Persons but the holy Ghost is an attribute or operation So There are three that dear witnesse in Heaven the Father the Sonne and the Spirit 1 John 5.7 Three he doth not say three things but three viz. Persons as appeareth by the personal operations These bare witnesse in Heaven Some reade The Spirit of God descended in the shape of a Dove which plainly denoteth a thing subsisting not an attribute We are said To sin against him which must needs imply a person Thou hast lied to God Act 5.4 That which is here said to be God is called the holy Ghost vers 3. Thou hast lied to the holy Ghost And the sinne against the holy Ghost shall never be forgiven Matth. 12.31 Lastly There is attributed understanding and will to him Vnderstanding the Spirit of God searcheth the deep things of God and the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 And Will 1 Cor. 14. where he reckoneth up several operations Even as the same Spirit giveth to whom he pleaseth So that you see the Texts are so clear that were not men sadly forsaken by God they could not deny these things In the second place Let us prove that it 's not a chief spirit among Angels but in deed and in truth of the same Nature with God Now some choice Arguments to prove this may be reduced into these heads First The Name of God is directly and properly not metaphorically attributed to him Thus God is said to speak by the holy Prophets which have been ever since the world begun And if you ask What Person it is in the God-head 2 Pet. 1.21 The Prophets spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost So that the holy Ghost was that God who enlightened and moved all the Prophets that were from the beginning of the world Thus Acts 5.4 Why hath Satan filled thy heart thou hast not lied to man but to God Ananias he thought he had only to do with men but mark the opposition not man but God especially 1 Cor. 12.3 4. There are diversities of gifts but the same spirit the same Lord the same God Spirit Lord and God So that by what Texts we can prove God the Father to be God the same we can prove the holy Ghost to be God Secondly The holy Ghost hath those works attributed to him which do onely belong unto a God Such as God only can do as Creation Sanctification and Redemption and miraculous operations These things do demonstrate and prove a God Creation Psal 33 6. By the word of the Lord the Heavens were made and by the Spirit or breath of his mouth thâ—y were created Job 33.4 The Spirit of God made me Thus in the Creation at first The Spirâ—t moved on the waters as the Hen on the eggs giving vivifical influence For Redemption the holy Ghost concurreth to that in preparing and fitting the body of Christ and sanctifying it to be an oblation Hence Christ is said To be conceived of the holy Ghost which could not be an Angel for then an Angel would have been greater than Christ And secondly In the application of the Benefus of the Redemption to the godly The holy Ghost both applieth them and assureth thereof The Spirit of God that heareth witnesse with our spirit Rom. 8.16 And we are sealed by the holy Spirit of God Ephes 4.30 Thirdly In the works of miraculous operations So 1 Cor. 12. all those extraordinary and miraculous gifts are attributed to the holy Ghost Hence he is called The finger of God Luke 11.12 by which Christ is said to cast out Devils And on the Feast of Pentecost He descended in a mighty rushing wind and cloven tongues of fire filling all the Apostles with miraculous gifts Acts 2.3 4. Lastly The works of Sanctification Faith Repentance and all other graces are wrought by him Yea he is called The holy Spirit because that is his peculiar Office to work holinesse and to sanctifie men by the Ministry Now Divines say It is a farre greater work and argueth more power to sanctifie the natures of men then to make a new world yet this is constantly applied to the holy Ghost though not so as to exclude the other Persons in their order Hence likewise all the means of Sanctification viz. the Ministry and the gifts thereof are also given to the same Spirit Acts 25. Over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers Thirdly The attributes and properties of a God as well as the works of a God are also in Scripture given to the holy Ghost omnipresence filling the whole world Whither shall I go from thy Spirit None can flie from it Psal 139.7 His Omniscience in that he searcheth the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.11 His Omnipotency as you heard His Eternity called the Eternal Spirit Heb. 9 14. Though some understand that of Christs Divine Nature and being before the world in that he made it Unity with the other Persons These three are one So that having the properties of God he must needs be God Lastly The religious worship that is given to the Holy Ghost doth not onely argue he is a Person but a Divine Person equal with God And 1. We have the Angels giving worship unto him whereas John when he would have worshipped the Angel he is forbidden Worship thou God Revel 19.10 So that religious worship is only to be given to God And thus the Angels in that glorious vision sang Holy holy holy unto God Now it 's worth your observing that this vision is attributed both to the Father to the Sonne and to the holy Ghost To the Father that is without doubt Isa 6. for there he is described as a glorious Judge in all Majesty To the Son John 12.41 This spake Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him viz. of Christ as the Evangelist applieth it Lastly To the holy Ghost Act 28.25 That men also are to give religious worship to the holy Ghost appeareth in their baptismal profession Being baptized into the Name of the holy Ghost As also by that form of prayer and blessing The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and communion of the holy Ghost sometimes â—sed in the Epistles Thus you see the Scripture clearly determining this matter of faith And if we cannot comprehend how there should be one God and three Persons eveâ—y one of them God and yet but one God you must remember That faith is the captivating of the understanding unto a meer tâ—stimony It 's not science but faith that Christians professe In humane things Argumentum facit fidem in divine things Fides facit argumentum Neither is it any wonder that we cannot in the creatures find an exact comparison to
represâ—nt this though many learned men ancient and later have used similitudes because there is no such thing as a God besides the true God And therefore Basil said well to the Heâ—etique desiring a similitude to represent the Trinity Da mihi alium Deum aliam trinitatem tibi ostendam Thus we have laboured to establish your faith in this necessary point Now I shall shew Why the holy Ghost is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirit The word at first did signifie wind Why then doth the Spirit of God assume this comparative expression of wind Or rather Why is he called a Spirit Even for these Reasons First Essentially For the simplicity and purity of his Essence and this is common to every other Person for God is a Spirit Secondly Hypostatically For his personal propriety because he proceeds from the Father and the Sonne by way of spiration the manner whereof we cannot comprehend no more than the generation of the Sonne Thirdly Effectively Many wayes 1. For the Incomprehensibility of the actions of the Spirit John 3. The wind bloweth where it lists and no man knoweth from whence it comes so is the Spirit 2. The Diversity of his operations As the breathings of the winde is from several corners the Spirits dispensations have not been alwayes alike 3. For the Efficacity moving the hearts of men to love good to hate evil 4. For the Impossibility of resisting this 5. For the Necessity of it to every good worke as the winde is to the ship Vse Is the holy Spirit God Then take heed of that blasphemous scoffing which many carnal and wicked people are guilty of which is to mock at the very name of the Spirit If a sinne against the holy Ghost be unpardonable and doing despite unto the Spirit of grace leaveth a man in an impossibility of recovering How darest thou let thy heart and tongue be thus set on hell fire Thy body and soul is to be the temple of the Spirit Thy duties are to come from this Spirit and doest thou deride it Vse of Admonition Take heed of entituling thy own fancies and delusions to the Spirit of God For seeing the holy Ghost is God it must be a capital crime to make such sinfull fancies and thoughts that come from thy corrupt heart to flow from the holy Spirit of God If to counterfeit the publick Seal or Coin of a Land be a capital crime How great a sinne is it to â—ake thy sinfull and carnal affections as if they were the workings of Gods Spirit And that the Spirit of God dwels in you Two Propositions you heard were contained in these words First That the Spirit of God is God which hath been demonstrated Secondly That the Spirit of God dwels in his Church We therefore proceed to this second Doctrine And now to open this let us consider First What the phrase to dwell in the Church implieth Secondly How he dwels there As the Spirit of God is said to dwell in us so in other places God promiseth to dwell in his people 2 Cor. 6 16. And Christ is said To dwell in our hearts by faith Ephes 3.17 All which are not to be understood of any visible or local habitation much lesse comprehensive that we cold comprehend God for he is as he said one whose circumference is every where and center no where The Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him but it is meant in a mystical and spiritual manner Now this phrase To have the Spirit dwell in us denoteth First The propriety that it hath to us that we are his possession as an house is a mans own where he is Lord and Master And this is worthy of consideration That we who once were the Devils he dwelt in us He ruleth in the hearts of the disobedient Ephes 2. have now him expelled from us and the Spirit of God taking us for his possession We pity persons bodily possessed that they foame and rore and are throwne sometimes into the fire and sometimes in the water but he who is a wicked man the Devil possesseth his soul more dreadfully he puts him upon anger malice upon unclean lusts and noisome filthy wayes and though many be of the Church visibly yet in regard of their own particular they are thus possessed by the Devil who hath their heart their eyes their tongues their whole body so that they seem to be a walking Hell So that herein is a wonderfull change when the Spirit of God comes and takes possession of a people who before were captives to Satan and led aside according to his will 2 Tim. 2.26 Secondly When it 's said The Spirit of God dwels in a people it supposeth That he doth fashion and prepare them for himself For every lodging is not fit for so noble a guest but as great men carry their rich furniture with them to have convenient lodgings so also doth the Spirit of God raise up a people by illumination and sanctification to be a fit habitation for him As they say Anima fabricat sibi domicilium The soulâ— makes the body so curiously organized and diversified for it's self to be in So much more doth the Spirit of God put spiritual life and quicken up our dead hearts that we may be prepared for the enjoyment of him It 's said The Spirit of God moved upon those waters Genes 1. that covered the deep when the earth was without forme or void Thus the Spirit of God doth take us out of our natural confusion and horrible darknesse and makes us comely with those ornaments he puts upon us So that as it is impossible to have the Sunne but withall we must enjoy glorious light So we cannot have the Spirit of God but withall many precious and heavenly gifts will be bestowed upon us Oh then how few persons how few Congregations can endure the lustre of this Doctrine What heavenly or precious jewels have they of Gods Spirit Thirdly When it 's said The Spirit of God dwels in us it denoteth The familiarity and condescending Communion that God vouchsafeth unto his children To dwell with one is an act of communion Hence 1 Peter 3.17 Husbands are commanded to dwell with their wives Our Savior expresseth this familiarity by John I will come in and sup with him and he with me Revel 3.20 So that what was spoken of Moses as so rare a priviledge He spake to God face to face as one friend speaketh to another in some kinde of sense though not after the same manner is true of every godly person Hence the Spirit of God is said to enable us to cry Abba Father Galat. 4 6. which though it suppose a filial reverential frame in us yet also godly boldnesse and confidence Hence he is also said To witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God Rom. 8. So that children being admitted to sit at their Fathers Table have that bread which dogs may not eat of They have
a curse a punishment and so can be no more for good then hell and damnation can be Insomuch that to the wicked man death and hell are both alike they are of the same nature He can take no more comfort from one then from the other when death is approaching then also is hell and everlasting torments This is decreed immutably for every man once to die It was a vain boast of Paracelsus to think That if he had had the ordering of himself from his birth he could have preserved his life alwayes These are mad delusions Where sinne is there death followeth and it would be an excellent Antidote against sinne to consider what followeth it When thâ—u entertainest any sinne thou biddest death also come in at the door as pleasant and as delightfull as it is yet it brings death Thirdly Though death be in it self thus a curse and cometh as a punishment to wicked men yet unto the godly it is of a clean contrary nature The guilt and curse of it is taken away It 's no more the execution of that dreadfull sentence Thou shalt die but the chastisement of a loving Father because God loveth his children therefore they die death is made like Jacob's Chariot as the old man rejoyced when he saw that because it would carry him to see Joseph whom he so much longed for Thus doth death to the godly man It 's the glad messenger that comes to carry him to his Father to eternal glory It 's true the godly man dieth as well as the wicked he hath the same diseases the same paines but the Nature of them is farre different one is a curse to the wicked a beginning of hell and torments The other is a mercy to the godly and a passage to eternal glory Even as the afflictions which befall the godly they come from Gods love Whom I love I chasten Heb. 12. Thus it is also with death it self Lastly The ground why death is thus altered to the godly man why he should thus differ from the wicked men is wholly from Christ and his death as appeareth 1 Cor. 15.54 O death where is thy sting Death is swallowed up You would think the grave swalloweth up the godly man but his body swalloweth up the grave The sting of death is sinne if that be taken away the Snake cannot hurt now the guilt of sinne is removed by Christ Do not then think it impossible that ever such a terrible thing as death should be made lovely and the thoughts of it sweet and comfortable Yes by Christ all the terrour is done away As death had no power over him so neither shall it have over the godly These things premised Let us consider in how many particulars death is a godly mans it 's for his benefit and comfort And First In this respect Because by death he gaineth he is invested with greater glory joy and happinesse than this world can afford All the while a godly man liveth in this world he is a loser he is kept from his best treasures he is not enjoying his best blessings which will be vouchsafed to him This the Apostle you have admirably expressing Phil. 1.23 Paul is there in a great strait he knoweth not how to be content to live he can hardly satisfie himself to be kept from Christ so long To die is gain saith the Apostle and to depart and to be with Christ is farre better Paul is willing to live for the Churches good but yet that is not so good to him as to die Oh if a godly man could raise up his heart to such faith as Paul had he would even think this world an Aegypt this life a prison it 's to my losse to be here I might have better company better glory better joy every thing transcendently better Indeed we reade of Elisha and Jonah desiring death from impatiency because of the vexations upon them but that was sinfull But to long for and hasten the coming of Christ to be above the love of life and all outward comforts above the fear of death because of the heavenly affections the soul is transported with to Christ this is admirable Oh then that we were not such worms but like Larks could rise out of the earth and soar up into Heaven with holy joy and delight of spirit then death would be as a gain to us and life as a losse Yet this is not so to be understood as if death in it self were to be desired or to be prayed for for in it self it is a natural evil and so is only to be submitted to patiently not desired but the consequent of it viz. eternal glory this is to be prayed for as the Apostle doth fully expresse it 2 Cor. 5.4 We would gladly be cloathed with immortality yet to put off this mortal body is grievous as little children cry for their new garments and yet cry while they are putting them on Secondly Death is a godly mans Because it putteth a period to all those miseries and troubles he was here exercised with It 's the haven after all the tossings he had in this world If we had hope only in this life saith Paul 1 Cor. 15. we were of all men most miserable therefore death is that which makes them happy Alas were it not for death their reproaches would be eternal their persecutions would be everlasting Insomuch that death must be as welcome to them as the divisions of the waters of Jordan were to the Israelites to come out of Aegypt Mat. 24. Lift up your heâ—d for your redemption draweth nigh And Christs coming not only at the Day of Judgement but at the particular death of every godly man is the coming of the Bridegroom Then all tears are washed from their eyes Their happinesse doth not begin till death arrests them Now in this world for the most part the godly have the bitter things thereof Dives had the good things of this life when Lazarus had the bitter Besides the hatred and opposition in the world They groan under the guilt of sinne under the power of sinne Now death puts a stop not onely to worldly troubles but all spiritual diseases This flux of blood will run no more they shall have no more pride no more unbelief no more doubting about the pardon of sin in a moment their souls will be made like a paradise like the upper region no clouds no fears at all Thirdly Death is theirs Because it 's the finishing of all their worke and servâ—ce and by that they come for their wages How doth the labouring man long for the end of the day or the week that he may come to receive his wages Thus is death God putteth all his children on work he giveth them all talents and he takes them not away till they have done their work for which he appointed them Thus Moses Gods servant dieth Thus David served in his generation Thus Paul finished his course When they have done all their
that to repine or to be discouraged is to say in effect Why is not God wiser Why doth he not order things with more perfect knowledge Oh but as long as faith worketh as long as that puts forth it self so long it beholds matter of wisdome and admiration in all Gods proceedings Secondly It represents the tender love and bowels of God as a Father so that all those strokes they come from love It 's his very pity for a while to break and bruise them that they may be healed more effectually Is the Artificer angry with his plate when he breakes it and throweth it into the fire No it 's for to make it more compleat If so be that we were wholly without corruption if we could walk without sinne then God would no more afflict us here on earth then he doth the glorified Saints and Angels in heaven but our corruption is such that God did not love us or regard us if he did not chastise us Thirdly Faith represents the soveraignty and supream dominion which God hath over the hearts of his children therefore he is called the Father of Spirits Now neither man himself nor all the Angels of heaven are able to give such a composed frame As God only knoweth the hearts of men so he only fashioneth and frameth them If you ask How is it possible that David should be thus immoveable What could keep in his corruption and flesh from repining and disturbing I answer it 's God with whom all things are possible It is this that faith suggests though thy heart be impatient though thou canst not command the waves thereof to be still yet God in heaven can Oh it 's easily confessed that it is not flesh and blood that can make such quiet calmness of soul No it must be an omnipotent work of the great God Did not God put terrour into Cain's heart that though he had built Cities though he did all he could to allay his spirit yet still he trembleth and cannot but tremble Thus on thâ— contrary God he puts joy into the heart of a believer he bids it lye down and be content and although never so many Hornets come buzzing to sting him yet faith keepeth them off â—o that that very frame of heart which even a godly man thinketh it impossible for himself ever to have that he finds sometimes and wonders how it should be so it's God that either layes load on or takes burdens off from the spirit So that the very same sinnes and temptations which formerly they could not apprehend without even faintings and swoundings of the soul now they can remember and bless God with joy for the pardoning of them Vse 1. of Instruction to distinguish between carnal security and godly confidence You have many a prophane man will say the words in my Text I will lye down and sleep it may be at the very Sermon time howsoever under the apprehension of their pleasures and profits they will with Dives bid their soul take its ease But can they say for the Lord taketh care of thee No but it may be this night the Devils will fetch thy soul It may be this night thou must be arraigned at Gods Tribunal Oh how many are sick of this spiritual lethargy How many men lye down securely to sleep that may awake in hell But the godly mans confidence ariseth from spiritual Motives insomuch that though death and the day of Judgement appear yet he may and ought to be thus affected The Difference between Carnal and Gratious Confidence We have heard that it is the property of faith depending on God in a vigorous manner to compose and quiet the heart in the midst of all calamities as if there were none aâ— all Now because even in wicked men there is a carnal senseless spirit that though the anger of God be upon them though their sinnes have found them out yet they can take their ease and pleasures and lay nothing to heart and this is an Epidemical disease It is good therefore to search into the bottome and difference of a gracious confidence from a carnal Now there are two sorts of these carnally confident and secure men under their troubles First There is the Stoical man of whom Senecae and others of that sect do much boast They speak great and swelling words about that man who shall fully have received their principles and confirme himself therein They commend in such a man an indolency and an impassibility that let him be dashed upon by never so many decumane waves yet for all that he stands immoveable like a rock and is not troubled Hence is that speech of theires so famous that their wise man if he were burning in Phalaris his Bull he would cry out Dulce est ad me nihil pertinet Thus the Stoical Philosophy would serve to set forth as admirable and composed a spirit under tribulations as the Christian Religion But Let us discover the sinfulness of such a Stoical stupid spirit And First Although the Stoicks did thus Thrasonically boast in their Books and Seneca speakes high and transcendent speeches in this matter yet when they came to practise they were feeble and effeminate So that they were nothing but words and empty expressions witness that Stoick who in his health had maintained that pain was nothing it was but a fancy when he was grievously tormented with the Gout cryed out of his errour acknowledging when he said so he did not know what pain meant But now if we look upon the godly in the midst of their exercises we shall find they did really put forth such calm and joyfull spirits under the heaviest pressures David you heard said he had done thus as well as he would do so and the Apostles went out rejoycing from the Councel where they had been persecuted because they were accounted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ Act. 5.41 And thus the many thousands of Martyrs they did though not in Phalaris his Bull yet in as great torments cry out Oh how sweet and comfortable is this So that no sect in Philosophy the Stoicks nor none else are able to bring such a multitude of Martyrs as the Christian Religion hath Therefore it 's only Gods Word and the Spirit of God that can enable us to rejoyce and take our rest under sad afflictions Secondly The Stoical discipline did teach a brutish stupidity and senslesness under miseries They would destroy the very passions of grief and fear from a man Thus they make a man to be no better then a stock or a stone that is sinking under the hammer and axe that comes upon it but Christian Religion doth not take away affections but it moderateth and ordereth them David you see though thus calme in his spirit yet he is affected with his calamity he goeth bare foot covereth his head and weepeth as he goeth and Christ himself wept at Lazarus his death It 's the Scriptures rule neither to despise
much inordinate affections and desires even to lawfull things this makes God jealous And for this thou shalt not have the comfortable light of his countenance The Church appeared with the Moon under her feet All sublunary things ought to be under the heart of a godly man But as the Sunne is sometimes eclipsed by the interposition of the Moon so is the favour of God too often obscured by minding these earthly things You see then how difficult a thing it is to keep this fire alwaies upon the Altar To keep this Lamp from going out Therefore the prophane man who never watcheth to these things who doth not seek the Kingdom of Heaven in the first place cannot have this light of Gods favour Lastly Thy quiet and peaceable conscience is not from Gods favour but because never assulted by the Devil never checked by doubts and oppositions from within David had the comfortable beames of Gods favour shining upon him but he had also sad wrestling within How often did he chide and rebuke his soul for being so inordinately cast down within him It 's a saying acknowledged by all Divines He that never doubted never believed O Lord I believe help my unbelief Though doubts are not a duty yet they will be necessary companions as corruptions to our graces Of the Joy of Saints in God and heavenly things as one Effect of the Light of Gods Countenance The Nature of it and the Preeminences of it comparatively to all other Pleasures whatsoever PSAL. 4.7 Thou hast put more gladness into my heart then they have had when their Corn and Wine encreaseth THis text declareth a Reason why David desires the light of Gods countenance above any earthly things why his wish is contrary to those of the world And the Reason is deduced from that blessed and admirable effect of it upon David's heart God being reconciled put more gladnesse into his heart then all the pleasures of the world could amount unto So that in the words we are to consider the Benefit or Priviledge it self Gladnesse It 's a rule That Omnis vita est propter delectationem all life yea all operations are for delight So that Gladnesse and Joy is the soul in its highest felicity It 's the action of the soul in flourishing Characters It 's the soul in its glory It 's Arras unfolded and spread open 2. There is the Original and Efficient Cause of it God Thou hast put Gods comforts and joy they are like himself infinite pure unmixed there is no fear or sorrow accompanying such 3. There is the manner of participation Thou hast put it into my heart This sheweth the efficacy and irresistiblenesse of Gods comfort He puts it into the heart men cannot They can only suggest they cannot put into the heart If God puts comfort in all the troubles and sad temptations which arise in the soul cannot be able to withstand it no more then the night can hinder the day from dispelling of it 4. There is the Subject or Vessel receiving it My heart The worlds joy is but in the mouth or in the phansie this is in the heart Lastly There is the aggravation of it by a comparison with all earthly joy and that the greatest which can be More then when their Corn and Wine encreaseth Judea was a Land that abounded with Corn and Vineyards And the Scripture when it would expresse a great joy calls it the joy of Harvest Yet David's joy is greater then this Now though the text instanceth in these two yet we are to understand all kind of joy The joy of the rich man of the great man of the voluptuous Let the joy be what it can be in any earthly thing an heavenly heart hath from God a better joy It 's true some Interpreters make this the sense as if David did here professe his joy because his enemies whom he reproved in the beginning of his Psalm did thus encrease As if he would say Though they hate and oppose me yet I am so farre from bearing ill will to them that I rejoyce in their abundance Yea some Popish Interpreters make a mysticall meaning as if here were a Prophesie of the delight of Gods people because of the Sacrament consisting of Bread and Wine Yea Oyl is added in some Copies of their Translations as if their extream Unction were also intended But this is indeed to make the Scripture a Nose of Wax as they call it sometimes Therefore the Hebrew Preposition Min though it sometimes signifie Of yet in many places it 's to be interpreted comparatively For rather And thus it is here Observe That the godly have more joy from God and heavenly things then all the men of the world can have in their earthly delights If a wicked man did but know what the comfort and consolation is that doth accompany an holy life he would judge all his earthly pleasures to be like the Prodigals husk He would cry out of his madnesse Oh foolish and unwise that have left this spiritual joy to partake of humane and worldly 1 Pet. 1.8 It 's called unspeakable joy and full of glory Such a joy that it can never be expressed As a Father or a Mother cannot expresse their natural affections It 's a joy which the godly that feel it cannot declare unto another but when they have said all they can still they feel more Though out of their abundance the heart speakes yet it cannot speak all it's abundance And as a godly man cannot expresse it so neither can a natural man believe any such thing he cannot be perswaded that there is such joy in it As he that hath not tasted Honey cannot judge how sweet it is Neither can a blind man think what a glorious creature the Sunne is Let us therefore first open the absolute nature and dignity of this Joy then speak of it comparatively And in the first place The glory and dignity of this joy is from two particulars in the text First It is from the Original As there is a wisdome which comes from above that is heavenly and a wisdome fleshly and devilish so also there is a joy which comes from above that is pure and excellent and there is a joy that is of the world and the flesh and this is indeed devilish But the joy which a godly man receiveth it 's from Heaven from God himself and so hath a pure and choice excellency in it It differs from worldly joy as the elementary fire from the culinary The elementary fire needs no pabulum no wood to maintain it it will not perish but the kitchen fire that must have wood or coales it will not last any longer then this fewel Thus all worldly joy that must have daily sticks and coales put to it If Friends die if Wealth be lost Pleasures denyed this joy is gone but this joy from above abides the same As long as God abides in Heaven so long that continues unlesse we by our
sinnes provoke God to take it away All the world cannot give such a joy as this is Therefore Gal. 5.22 it 's called the fruit of Gods Spirit and often Joy in the holy Ghost Hence the Spirit of God is called the Comforter And God is stiled 2 Cor. 1.3 the God of all consolations because it is he alone that workes it Men may create the world as well as of themselves get such a joy as this Hence the people of God walk many times mournfully for the want of it And there is no Samaritan can put this Oyl into their wounds David cannot alwaies say God put such joy in his heart Yea he professeth the clean contrary sometimes That his soul was bowed down that he watered his bed with teares And Joh. was almost like a damned man in Hell But of the Reason of this desolatenesse we may speak hereafter It 's enough that this demonstrateth God to be the Author of all our joy And that as all the men in the world cannot make the Sunne arise in the morning did not God appoint it that natural course so neither are any able to bring this joy into their hearts Therefore in the second place The second discovery of this joy is from the manner of working it Thou didst put it into my heart That is an excellent expression It sheweth what dominion and soveraignty God hath over the heart He can as easily put joy into thy soul though afflicted though tempted though grieved with sinne as thou canst pour Wine into a Bottle He can with a word command waters to become Wine So that as the Orthodox maintain That Gods grace in converting the heart is irresistible it 's insuperable The heart cannot resist it with finall prevalency For à nullo duro corde respicitur quippe ad hoc datur ut tollat cor durum So it 's true also in spiritual joy The grieved heart the sad heart cannot reject it because it 's given to take away the sad heart Hence we read of the people of God the Martyrs and others that they have rejoyced under their tribulations more then their Persecutors did under all their abundance How was this possible but that God did so fill their hearts that no outward or inward misery could have any room there This should teach the people of God to walk so exactly that they may not on the contrary say God hath put more bitternesse into their heart then any can have in their worldly miseries For as the joy of God is more then all earthly joy so the sense of Gods anger and wrath causeth more sorrow and anguish of spirit then all outward calamities can do A wounded spirit who can bear Thirdly This Joy which God puts into our hearts followeth upon a true godly sorrow and mourning for sinne All the joy of thy heart which doth not flow from humiliation and deep sorrow for sinne it 's but a blaze it 's like the crackling of thornes And this is necessary to be observed for the Hypocrite who never had any true sound grace yet he may have some transitory joy So Mat. 13. They received the Word with joy And some rejoyced in John Baptists light but it was for a season only And thus many in some fits yea in some holy duties find a gladnesse and inward joy upon their hearts but this never had a true sorrow go before Before Paul was admitted into Gospel joyes he was striken to the ground and had a deep sense of his former guilt Therefore the Promise is Blessed are they that mourn for they shall rejoyce Mat. 5. Therefore as the Psalmist speaks concerning afflictions it 's true also of godly sorrow They that sow in teares shall reap in joy Many desire joy they are willing to hear of a Sermon that may cause gladnesse in their hearts but then they cannot endure the preparatory unto it They do not love the Law should wound them before the Gospel heal them But this is the nature of all heavenly joy it 's a daughter to godly sorrow Verus paenitens de peccato doler de dolore gaudet And this is it which makes godly joy so welcome and so precious because the heart was mourning and humbled before thinking it self unworthy of any joy in the least manner Though others might rejoyce yet not they This then is the method God takes First the Spirit of God is a Spirit of Supplication and mourning then it 's a Spirit of Joy and consolation Fourthly This joy which God putteth in the heart it 's from spiritual and heavenly motives Therefore the duty is so often called for to Rejoyce in the Lord And it 's called Joy in the holy Ghost It ariseth from Gods favour from Gospel-Priviledges because God is reconciled because sinne is pardoned because we are justifica through the blood of Christ So that the joy of a godly man and of a natural man differ as much as Heaven and Earth For what makes thee rejoyce at any time Is it some worldly pleasure Is it not some earthly content Is it not because such and such earthly advantages befall thee Thy heart is never cheerfull and merry but from such considerations Now how different and poor and contemptible are these to this heavenly Joy For the gladnesse of their heart ariseth from the love of God from an Interest in Christ from the consideration of eternal glory These sublime and spiritual Objects do ravish the godly soul So that the delights of a beast are not more inferiour to the delights of a man as a rational man then the delights of a man are to him as a Christian What the Apostle speaketh concerning the thoughts and words of a Child comparatively to a man the same is true also in respect of joy 1 Cor. 13. Children have their joy they laugh as Children they rejoyce in their Babies as Children but when they come to be men they cannot rejoyce as Children they cannot delight to play as they did when little Boyes Thus when thou art once made godly and hast tasted of more excellent Joy thou canst not delight in the pleasures of sinne nor in the greatest advantages of the world They are below thee Thou saiest to thy self when inordinately rejoycing in these things as she did but falsly to David Thou hast made thy self like one of the vile fellows to day The godly mans joy comes from an higher Spring then the worlds doth Fifthly Hence in the next place No man can have this spiritual joy but such who are regenerated and born of God Who have a spiritual and supernatural life We see in nature that according to the several kinds of life so there are several delights and proportionable thereunto the natural and animal life the rational life the sense hath its delights and reason hath its delght Thus when a man is born again he hath his joy and his delight Do not ye read often of David that professeth the Word of God