with him pouring forth those desires which he suggesteth unto us the fire which God would have continually to burn upon his Altar came out from the Lord Rev. 9.24 If sacrifices were offered up with any other fire that fire was counted strange and the sacrifices no whit acceptable but abominable to the Lord the heavenly fire whereby our spirituall sacrifices of prayer must be offered up is that holy Spirit which cometh out from God he carrieth the very Image of God we must therefore give unto God that which is Gods A childe of God upon this ground may come with boldness to the throne of grace that God will accept his prayer because it is a fruit of his Spirit He may wrastle with God and never let him alone till he obtain the blessing or some gracious answer to his prayer though not in the same kind he petitioned for He can say I am thy childe thou art my father I am one with thee by thy Spirit I belong to thy family both in heaven and in earth I am one of them for whom Christ sweat drops of blood for I have thy Spirit interceding for me with sighs and groans which cannot be uttered and therefore Lord I know that thou canst not deny me my petition if it be for my good and for the glory of thy Name Now is it so that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty is it not too too evident that the greatest part of professing Christians are void of the Spirit Are they not in bondage to some secret lust Doth not their speech bewray them in stead of speaking the language of Canaan do they not speak the language of Ashdod In stead of being led by the Spirit of God are they not led by the spirit of the world While they talk of the Spirit do they not walk after the flesh Have they not the Spirit to talk by and the world to walk by Are they not in love with the fashion of the world and intangled with the rudiments of it Can they pray in the Spirit can they sing in the Spirit can they restore a fallen brother in the evidence of their own spirit If they can What means these swarms of lusts in their hearts of pride envy self-love contempt of their poor weak brethren and little regard they have to the promoting the work of the Spirit in the hearts of others These with many others are true notes that the greatest part of Christians are void of the Spirit Secondly Is it so That none can know the things of God but they that have the teachings of the Spirit upon their hearts Then I beseech you to desire God to give you the teachings of his Spirit Pray earnestly for that wisdom which comes from above that St James speaks of Jam. 3.17 Which is first pure then gentle then easie to be intreated which is full of good works If any man lack wisdom let him ask it of God for he giveth liberally and upbraideth none He will not upbraid thy ignorance thy poverty thy former unwillingness and disrespect if thou wilt ask it of him If the Lord blessed Solomon so much for asking wisdom before riches 1 King 3.11 honour life that the Lord gave him a wise heart together with riches honour and life as an over-plus into the bargain how much more pleasant and wellcom will thy petition be to God if thou askest of him spirituall wisdom which is not to be compared with the most precious Rubies or with the finest Gold If thou would'st have spirituall wisdom desire God to give thee the Spirit of wisdom to give thee the grace of unction as well as the grace of union that as Jesus Christ had the Spirit of wisdom resting upon him so thou maiest have likewise To stirre thee up to this main duty Consider first of all Fidelis mater utra que praebet infautulo ubera Sic Deus pater non solum dedit filium sed ctiam dedit Spiritum sanctum Haec duo ubera vino sunt pulchriora That thou askest nothing but what is agreeable to the will of God Matth. 7.11 If ye being evil know how to give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Spirit to them that ask it of him 2. Thou askest nothing but what Christ hath promised Saith Christ when I go away the Comforter shall come unto you So likewise I will pray the Father and he shall fend you another Comforter If Christ who is the Amen of all the promises Rev. 1.5 who is the true and faithfull witness who is truth it self Saith he John 14. I am the way the truth and the life who hath sealed the Covenant with his own blood if he hath promised the Spirit he will not be worse than his word if thou ask it of him 3. Consider that Christ was anointed with the Spirit and received a more plentifull measure of it for our sakes that we might partake of his fulness he was filled with the Spirit that we might partake of the same Spirit with him Joh. 3.34 Non ad mensuram i. e siue mensurâ The Spirit was not given unto him by measure that we might have a measure of his Spirit 4 Consider that we are to ask nothing but what we are to expect at Gods hand under the Gospel It is said that the Spirit was not yet given because that Christ was not yet glorified Joh. 7.39 that is it was not poured forth in that measure and abundance as it was to be given after Christs ascension Now Christ being ascended and sitting at the right hand of God on high the Apostles long ago and the Saints in the primitive times having had the first-fruits of the Spirit When the holy Ghost descended in the form of cloven tongues we also may expect the gleanings of so plentifull a harvest Sicut unctio à capite Aaronis in ipsius membra descendebat fic à Christo capite vigor Spiritus sancti in omnia membra dimanat As the oyntment did runne down from Aarons head to the rest of his members So from Christ the Head the efficacy of the Spirit flows forth upon all the members To stirre you up to desire the Spirits teachings consider this that it is a singular mercy to be taught by the Spirit Blessed is the soul that heareth the Lord in or by his Spirit and that receiveth from his mouth the word of comfort If the Queen of Sheba 2 Châ—on 9.7 after she had made triall of Solomons wisdom cried out with admiration Happy are thy men and happy are these thy servants that stand continually before thee and that hear thy wisdom How much happier are they then that heard the gracious words which proceeded from the mouth of Christ when he was upon the earth and that have the teachings of the Spirit upon their hearts All other teachings besides the Spirits teachings will avail
Apostle urged against the proud vaunting Sectaries of his times who named themselves by the names of their spirituall guides 1 Cor. 1.13 Is Christ divided Was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized into the Name of Paul It is a great indignity and an high dishonour offered to Jesus Christ who is their Lord and Saviour and hath purchased them for his peculiar people with his own blood to be called after other Lords and other Saviours 2 Cor. 5.16 Resolve with St Paul Hence forth to know no man after the flesh but only to acknowledge Jesus Christ And say likewise that though other Lords have had dominion over our faith and tyrannized over our consciences as the late Prelates did and as the tyrannicall party of these times do who would have all men stern their course according to their Compass and sail where they sail and do what they do and speak as they speak yet now Jesus Christ alone shall be to me all in all 1 Cor. 1.24 The Ministers of Jesus Christ are not to Lord it over mens consciences and to impose heavy yokes which they nor their fathers were able to bear but as the servants of Jesus Christ to become all things to all men that they may win all Be not ye called Masters Matth. 23.10 Be not ye Sect-masters such as were amongst the Jews who greedily affected the titles to be called Rabbans and Rabbies and were the ringleaders of parties and factions Be not ye such Masters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctores vel viae ductores Ringleaders Sect-Masters for one is your Master even Christ which is in heaven They are not to Lord it over Gods heritage but to account themselves as the servants of Christ condescending to men of low estate for the good of their souls And the people must have a reverent esteem of them as those who are overseers set over them for their good They must not have their persons in admiration and esteem of them higher then they are which thing hath caused God to stain the pride and the glory of the Prelaticall party who advanced themselves above Christ reason above faith and humane Learning which perisheth in the using above the everlasting Word of God because they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God as if they were infallible or they knew all things or as if the spirit of God were straitned up to that particular person or to that particular society they are of or as if they were the only men to be followed and all others of a different judgement were erroneous and that it is necessary to be called by their names as if they were the summe and the top-stones of all piety and knowledge but they must pray for them knowing they are men subject to infirmities as well as our selves Pray to God to give them a door of utterance that they may deliver the word boldly and confidently sincerely plainly in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and to desire God to assist them in that great work they have undertaken and to obey them in all lawfull commands as the spirituall Pastors and Bishops of our souls and to encourage them in their work by honouring them and by giving them those Rights and Priviledges which appertain unto them Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars Mat. 22.21 and unto God the things that are Gods You commit sacriledge and rob God of his due when ye withhold from the servants of Christ that right which is their own Will a man rob God saith the Prophet Malachy Mal. 3.8 in robbing God you rob your selves for hereby you cause God to withhold good things from you I could wish that there were a fair and equal carriage on both sides It were to be desired that Christians would rather say they are of the Church of God in such a place or of the Church of God over which such a man is the Overseer than that they would say as they commonly do say they are of such a mans Church It is the Apostles phrase to the Church of God which is at Coloss Col. 1.2 Eph. 1.1 Act. 20.28 which is at Ephesus which is in her house the Church which God hath purchased with his own blood Ministers are but Gods Vicegerents speaking unto us in the place of God for we should never be able to stand before God and to receive the word from his own mouth because of the vast sea of guilt which lies upon our consciences and that infinite distance between the pure nature of God and our defiled and corrupted souls they are the mouthes of God to the people but the Church is Gods Church which Christ hath purchased with his pretious blood He it is that keeps the Church from the malice of blood-sucking persecutors Ps 121.4 He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps He it is that destroyes the implacable enemies of it destroying them with everlasting vengeance He it is that purifies the Church Tit. 2.14 that by his blessed Spirit doth unite all the members together Spiritus est vinculum Ecclesiae Pet. Mart. and at the last day will make of many Churches now scattered up and down one universall triumphant Church for ever and ever Let it be therefore the Church of Christ and of God and not the Church of man Yet pray have a care of this that you do not term your selves the Church of God when you are of the Synagogue of Satan Who say they are Christians when they are not as those hypocriticall Jews did in Johns Revelation Rev. 3. but see that you have Gods worship rightly administred amongst you and that ye worship God the Father in sincerity and in truth Now the Apostle goes on in the same Chapter shewing the reason why he used such plainness in the exercise of his Ministry to wit that their faith might not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God that is that your faith might not be built upon humane inventions and traditions but upon the Word of God which is the power of God to salvation Eph. 2.20 that you may be builded upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner stone Hence observe That the Word of God Note considered absolutely in it self as the Word of God ought to be the rule and ground of our faith St Paul to Timothy 2 Tim. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10.15 Scriptura seu verbum Dei dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 regula mensura The word of God ought to be the rule according to which we ought to square all our actions Lev. 18.5 Keep the true pattern of wholsome words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus Greek The form or lively exemplar of wholsom words So that that word which the Apostle had committed unto him to wit the
demonstrativus notans ipsum verbum fieri carnem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indefinite sumitur fine ullo articulo inde notans eum accepisse totam nostram naturam and that he was not formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary but that he passed through the womb of the Virgin as water passeth through a Conduit And dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek Had his Tabernacle among us There are many other duties which only the Spirit teacheth as justification by faith alone the doctrine of the resurrection of the immortality of the soul of the happiness of the Saints in heaven and of the future torments of the wicked in hell The Schoolmen with their fine-spun distinctions and criticall questions do rather darken the minde of the Spirit in these waies than adde any further light unto them Their teachings are like the way of a serpent upon a stone very slippery and uncertain 4. The evil nature of finne The Spirit alone hath shewed unto us the evil nature of sinne It condemns an evil look a malitious thought Mat. 5. He that looks upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Eph. 5.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 urbanitas apud Spiritum est vitium upud Aristoteleus est virtus 1 Thess 5. He that hâ—ttih his brother in his heart is a murderer It condemns jesting and evil speaking It is to be observed that that very word which Aristotle cals a vertue the Spirit of God terms a vice Jesting with Aristotle is a vertue with the Spirit of God it is a vice We are commanded to abstain from all appearance of evil To hate the very garments spotted with the flesh To resist the first motions and allurements to sinne Rom 7. I had not known sinne but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Unless the Word of God had told us and the Spirit of God had set down this for a certain truth that these motions to sin are sin we should never have known it or beleeved it These first motions were never counted for sinnes by any of the Heathen Philosophers or by the more refined wits of the Schoolmen only the Spirit hath pricked them down for sinnes That they are sinnes ☜ appears by this because they tempt a man to sinne If concupiscence were not a sinne it would never tempt a man to sinne for nothing bringeth forth sin formally but sinne Lust when it conceiveth it bringeth forth sin and sin when it conceiveth it bringeth forth death Ob. The wages of sin is death now if lust were a sinne it would bring forth death how then is it said that luft when it conceiveth bringeth forth sin and sin when it conceiveth bringeth forth death Resp St James in this place distinguisheth the severall sorts of sinnes There are some sinnes consummated and finished and those bring forth death but it followeth not that other sinnes bring not forth death but that they do not bring forth death to the same degree as those sinnes do for there are diversities of torments in hell and the best place in hell is very lamentable As he that cals his brother fool is worthy of hell fire Raca i.e. a fellow of no worth from the word Rik ovacuare yet it will not follow that he that cals his brother Raca is unworthy of it but that he is not worthy of it in the same degree and measure Lust it bringeth forth death but not to the same degree that sin consummated doth God judgeth the secrets of mens hearts that secret wickedness which is within us and reproves it and makes it manifest to our consciences Rom 2.16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of mens hearts according to my Gospel It is only the Spirit that condemneth heart-wickedness So saith Peter to Simon Magus Pray to God that the thought of thy heart might be forgiven thee The Laws of man do not reach to the conscience to heart wickedness to the secret inward abominations to which God and thy own conscience are conscious to Only the Law of the Spirit doth reprove this heart wickedness The Spirit of God it condemns hypocrisie when men will seem religious and would be counted true Christians though their hearts runne whoring after their base lusts When like a man at Oars they will row one way and look another Pretend for God and for Gods cause when their design is to carry on the interest of the flesh and of the devil When they will worship God and speak him fair to his face and give him a parcell of good words in a few formall words and in an externall lip-service when malice and covetousness and carnall lusts are in their hearts Matth. 23. How many woes hath Christ denounc'd against hypocrites Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites Externall worship is sufficient in mans sight but God requireth the heart and the whole heart Matth. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy might and with all thy strength Hypocrisie is no sinne in the worlds account but a criminall fault a crimson sinne in the sight of God Dost thou think to mock God and to put him off with shadows in stead of substance with thy formality in stead of sincerity Gal. 5. Be not deceived do not deceive your selves and think to put off God with any thing the heart of man is full of deceit deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked Why be not deceived why I will tell you for what a man soweth that shall he reap if ye sow chaff you shall reap chaff if you sow wheat you shall reap wheat Hypocrisie is an epidemicall sinne in this professing age Consider against this sinne Cor secundum Auagramma est Camera omnipotentis Regis The heart is the seat of the great King of heaven and earth the King of Kings and Lord of Lords God hath two places wherein he most especially is resident the highest heaven and the lowest heart In heaven he is by his glorious presence In an humble heart by his gracious presence 1. That all thy endeavours will be utterly lost unless thou hast an upright heart if thou praiest never so much if thy heart be not perfect with thy God all thy prayers will do thee no good As good not at all as never a whit the better 2. Consider that God judgeth a man and esteemeth of him according as his heart is if that be sincere thou art a sincere Christian but if that be rotten thou art unsavory in the sight of God 3. God answereth a man according to what is in his heart not according to what is in his lips when he praieth to him Thou art a drunkard or a whoremonger or a covetous wretch or an extortioner c. and thou comest as Gods people do and sittest before him and
and seeing I have received it from God I am certain God will not send a message contrary to his Word or send an Angel from heaven to infirm and weaken that which I have delivered unto you So I say ☜ whosoever thou art that pretendest to revelations and mysteries and high discoveries from God if the manifestations you pretend to be to draw you to the promoting of any thing contrary to the Word of God or to encourage you in the waies of sinne and to carry on the interests of the flesh it is a lying Spirit it is not the Spirit of God I am sure God will not send a message to contradict his own Word or give in a revelation which shall weaken and destroy that word which his Apostles and Prophets have delivered unto us I could wish that the Quakers of our times who pretend so much to the Spirit The Quakers are void of the Spirits teachings and yet walk after the flesh vilifying and reviling the precious servants of Jesus Christ their mouths being black with hellish imprecations against the servants of Jesus Christ would lay this to heart Certainly they are void of the Spirits teachings upon their hearts if any people in the world are void because they are so full of malice against the Word of God which is the minde of the Spirit and so impetuously carried by a spirit of envy An envious person is the very picture of the devil against those who watch for their souls good that they may be saved at the great day of account Isa 8.11 To the Law and to the testimony if they hearken not to these it is because there is no light in them I know the devil can put on Samuels mantle and he will bring Scripture in his mouth as well as the best He brought Scripture to Christ Mat. 4. but you may easily perceive him by his cloven foot it is either to tempt thee to sinne as here he did Christ or to some errour and heresie The devil is Gods Ape The devil is Gods Ape and as God hath his miracles so he hath his wonders as appears by the Sorcerers in Egypt and he will set up his standard by Gods standard in this world If God hath his revelations the devil will have his but you may easily difference them by these signes 1. The devils revelations are but hidden things How do men in these times who talk much of the light of the Spirit within them runne all upon Allegories wresting the Scripture to their own damnation 1 Cor. 14.32 2. The devils revelations put men into strange passions and phrensies Spiritus Prophetarum subjecti sunt Prophetis ie nihil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacient sed decentèr ntilitèr Et hoc distinguuntur Prophetae veri à vatibus prophauis quia illi omnia faciunt quodam furore ecstafi alie nautur mentè abripiun tur extrà sese ut saepe seipsos non intelligant inde ambiguè etiam ludunt quia incerti sunt de rebus At veri Prophetae non ita modestè sedatè omnia agunt spiritum habeut sibi subjectum ut nihil indecorum admittant idco libemèr cedunt aliis Arecius The spirits of the Prophers are subject to the Prophets that is they do nothing disorderly but with decency and profit And by this manner are distinguished the true Prophets from the false and prophane ones because they do all things with a certain kinde of fury and madness and are estranged in their minds and snatch besides hemselves that many times they do not understand themselves and speak ambiguously because they are uncertain of the things themselves But the true Prophets do not so they do all things modestly and quietly hâ—y have their spirits in subjection so that they do nothing ancomely and can willingly give place to others and I know not what distempers but the Spirit of God doth not so reveal it self but teacheth in a milde gentle and in a quiet way 3. After the devils revelations there follows great disquietness of minde and little settlement of spirit but they are left in manifold perplexities sometimes the light that is within them as they call it carrying them to such a place and sometimes to another and whatsoever the light bids them do that they must do As the evil spirit hurried Christ up and down setting him upon the pinacle of the Temple but the teachings of the Spirit bring peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost which is unspeakable and full of glory Saith Christ When the Spirit comes it shall speak of me and shall bring all things to your remembrance Whatsoever I have spoken unto you Whatsoever Christ speaks and the Word speaks the Spirit speaks but whatsoever the devil speaks he speaks it of himself and not according to the word for he was a liar from the beginning he abode not in the truth and the truth is not in him Eighthly They are effectuall powerfull transforming teachings As God by his word in the Creation did create light upon the earth God said Let there be light and there was light so God by one word from heaven by his Spirit can create light in our understandings As Christ by a-word did raise Lazarus out of the grave so God by one word by his Spirit can raise us up from the grave of sinne to newness of life As thou canst not hinder the influences of heaven nor cause it not to rain when God hath unlockt his store-house of rain or from keeping the light of the sunne from the world much less canst thou hinder the work of the Spirit upon thy heart the influences of his Divine working Prov. 21.1 The Lord tunneth the heart of man as he turneth the Water-brooks One would think that such a one as Saul a persecutour should never have been a Paul a chosen vessell to bear his Name before the Gentiles That a Manasseh who made Jerusalem to swim with blood should have been a Convert That a Mary Magdalen out of whom Christ had cast out seven devils should become a Saint but such is the power of the Spirit that though thou hadst a legion of devils Christ by his Spirit which is called the finger of God as Christ saith Luke 11.20 If I by the finger of God cast out devils he can cast them out and fill thee with his good Spirit When Christ comes to a mans house and saith This day is salvation come to thy house as he did to Zacheus Luk. 19.9 let him be a Publican he shall give half his goods to the poor and if he hath wronged any man he shall make restitution So when Christ shall come to thy heart by the Spirit and cry saying This day is salvation come to thy soul thou shalt open and become a new creature be thy former condition what it will 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face behold as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are
of Israel from his Father David so we are to win mens affections to our selves by our plausible and affable carriage and allure them by a self-denying frame of spirit to yield unto us As the Poet saies Peragit tranquilla potestas Quod violenta nequit It is reported of Musculus that by his gracious behaviour to the Anabaptists in his time visiting them in prison exhorting them and beseeching them to be reclaimed he did more prevail upon them to their conversion than the Magistrates could do by their imprisonments and punishments 2 Tim. 2.24 But the servant of the Lord must not strive but must be gentle towards all men apt to teach suffering the evil Instructing them with meekness that are contrary minded proving if God at any time will give them repentance that they may acknowledge the truth 2. To rebuke them sharply Greek Tit. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cuttingly to lay open the Word before them that two-edged Sword and to press it home to the conscience v. g. as if they were to deal with one that denies the resurrection as the Saducees did to set home with the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit that is plainly and powerfully that place of Scripture which Christ objected against them Mat. 22.32 I am the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob the God not of the dead but of the living This is it which Ecclesiastes speaks of Eccles 12.11 when the Word is nailed home by the Masters of Assemblies 2 Tim. 2.15 this is rightly to divide the Word of God giving to the stout-hearted sinner its portion Ministers are not to fear the face of man Eph. 6.20 because they are the Ambassadours of the ever living God but to particularize sinners as Nathan did David 2 Sam. 12.7 saying Thou art the man Saith God by his Prophet Hosea Hos 6.5 I have slain them by my Prophets The Word of God it kils the unregenerate part and makes us dead to the customs of the world but quickens the regenerate part within us It either divides between Christ and us and then it is the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 or either between us and our sinnes between us and the world between us and our carnall corrupt reason and then it is the savour of life unto life It is called a fire Jer. 23.29 because as the fire consumes the dross and purifies the metall so the Word it purifies the dross in our hearts and of reprobate silver it makes us fit for the use of our spirituall Master Jesus Christ And although they may resist thee and shift off the truth and hate the light and are become thine encmies because thou dealest plainly and powerfully with them as Paul speaks of the Galatians Gal. 4.16 Am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth Act. 7.54 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Instar serrae dentes frendebant Yea though they may gnash upon thee with their teeth as the malitious Jews did at Stephen yea though they may persecute you for your zeal yet know this that thou hast performed thy duty and delivered thy own soul Rom. 12.20 i. e. Either by thy rendring good for his evil thou hast gained thy Brother and caused him to render love for love For love is a certain secret fire enkindled in mens hearts by a sympathy with the object which allures still blazing forth and aspiring to be united with the thing loved Or if thou shalt not gain thy brother by thy Christian carriage thou shalt heap coals of fire and brimstone upon his head to his everlasting torment and thy reward is with God Thou hast heaped coals of fire upon his head and fuell for his everlasting burning But thy reward shall be as great as if thon hadst reclaimed him seeing thou hast not been wanting on thy part to do thy duty 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.10 i. e. Recusare repudiare To give them over to the swing of their lust and to let them have their liberty in their pernicious waies and for a time to divorce them from our company from having any communion or society with us as a Husband doth divorce his Wife who is given over to a spirit of Whoredom so to give them as it were a bill of divorce for the future to have any spirituall commerce with them as the word imports till God by his blessed Spirit shall bring them out of the snare of the devil Analogicall to this is the Apostles phrase he that loves not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha that is 1 Cor. 16.22 let him be accursed till the Lord comes till Christ who is the Lord shall arise in his heart and dispell the clouds of sin and ignorance and the day-starre arise in his heart Like to this is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deflectere to turn aside from them till their eyes shall be inlightened to discern between truth and errour saith Christ Mat. 18.18 Whose sinnes you binde on earth shall be bound in heaven c. So that the Church of Christ which includes both Pastor and People excommunicating a prophane Esau or a licentious Libertine or a scoffing Ishmael or a false-hearted Disciple or a rotten member that hath a postatized from the faith or one that hath fallen into some gross sin to the scandall of Religion till they have repented is seconded by God in heaven as acting that Discipline and Jurisdiction which he hath enacted in his Church Simile As a dead member in a mans body joyned to the living members doth but annoy and hinder them as if a man had one leg which were quite dead and utterly useless it were better it were cat off than that is should remain united to the rest for it rather hinders the rest of the members than profits them so it were better that all these dead members fruitless branches in Jesus Christ Joh. 15.2 walking Saints talkative Christians were separated from the Church of God especially if they are discovered to be so by some notorious fault or Apoflacy till they are renewed again by repentance than that they should defile and annoy the Church of God Saith the Prophet Haggai Hag. 2.12 An unclean thing may defile a thing which is clean though a clean thing cannot purifie an unclean ☜ Aster an unclean person or an hypocrite is discovered if they cast him not forth and excommunicate him he defiles the Church and the Ordinances of God but if he be not discovered and goes for a Saint and hath a name that he lives when he is dead Rev. 3.1 and according to the Apostles phrase Heb. 10.29 2 Pet. 2.1 for one that was sanctified by the blood of the Covenant and bought by Jesus Christ though in Gods sight he be a wicked wretch and abominable hypocrite he defiles not the Church because he is not discovered After the
of John our blessed Saviour having termed himself the Bread of Life vers 35. And Jesus said unto them I am that Bread of Life he that cometh to me shall not bunger and he that beleeveth in me shall not thirst Verse 41. the hard-hearted Jews they murmured at him because he said I am that bread which came down from heaven The Jews who had as yet the vail upon their hearts and whose minds by their own wilfulness and disobedience Satan had blinded lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ should shine in their hearts had no other apprehensions of bread When Manna which was the type of Christ came down upon the earth there was old wondering at it and it was called Manna because they said by way of admiration Ma-hu What is this And they were very greedy for a time after it But when Jesus Christ the true Bread the true Manna came down from heaven to feed our souls there was no minding of him because his Divinity was over-vaild in his humanity they did not admire at Gods goodness as they ought to have done they rejected him He came to his own and his own received him not Indeed they made him the laughing-stock of the world And so Christ may be said to be the wonder of the world as the Prophet Isaiab saith I and my children are set for signes and wonders Isa 8.18 i. c. We are made the maygames of the world at whom all do deride and wonder But they did not admire his excellency and acknowledge him and seek to him as it behoved them to have done but as it fed the belly But Christ Jesus hath a higher mystery in it to wit that he was the true Manna the true heavenly Bread that feedeth their souls unto everlasting life In the succeeding verses 48 49 50 51. when Christ proceeds in declaring himself to be the Bread of Life that his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed Verse 52. the Jews strove amongst themselves saying How can this man give us his flesh to cat In the 60 Verse many of his Disciples when they heard this said This is a hard saying who can hear it Verse 66. From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him Hence you see what carnall reasonings and sinfull objections mens hearts do frame and invent to hinder and oppose the comfort of the sweetest and most comfortable Doctrine What more sweet to a hungry soul that longs after eternall life than to be fed and to be nourished with this Bread of Life It is an infallible sign that you are born of God ☜ and that your originall is from above and that God is your Father Christ is your Brother and that you have higher principles than the flesh and the world to walk by and that your life is hid with Christ in God if Jesus Christ the true Bread of Life doth nourish up your souls unto eternall Life For the axiom holds true in spirituall things as well as naturall A quo aliquid generatur ab eodem nutritur from the which any thing is begotten of the same it is nourished if you are born of God you will be nourished by the bread of God if your originall be heavenly your food will be heavenly if God were your Father Christ would be your nourishment and your food Therefore Christ tels the Jews who in the eighth of John vers 41. boasted that God was their Father vers 42. proved them not to be the children of God and that God was not their Father because they did not love him who was sent of God the Father If God were your Father then would you love me for I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of my self but he sent me 1 Joh. 5.1 He that loves him that begets loves him also who is begotten and if we did love God the Father we should love Jesus Christ the only begotten Sonne of the Father and the Saints who are the spirituall sonnes of God begotten of the Spirit crying in their hearts Abba Father In the 44th vers he proves them positively to be the children of the devil because they serve him and do his works Christ turns all carnall things into spirituall uses and changes the nature of them and like a true Alchymist turneth brass into Gold but the Jews on the other side turned Gold into brass and of all those pretious spirituall truths which Christ had delivered unto them they had base carnall and low apprehensions of Blessed are they that by a lively faith feed heartily upon the spirituall Manna while others feed upon the husks with the swine they have bread in their fathers house In the beginning of the second Chapter the Apostle acquits himself in respect of those former contentions while one said he was of Paul another of Apollo another of Cephas another of Christ shewing there was nothing in himself or in his Ministry that could occasion such divisions Chap. 2. v. 1. I came not to you with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the power of God that is my preaching unto you was not in lofty strains of eloquence and high notions or in a plausible and alluring style fitter to please the ear and to humour mens fancies and to make them giddy and unstable in the truth or in the high flown Rhetorick of the world which is more sutable to an Orator or a Comedian upon a Stage than for a Minister of Jesus Christ not with the enticing words of mens vanities but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power that is he preacht plainly yet powerfully and effectually and feelingly to the conscience and to work upon their hearts and to inform their judgements If I seek to please men I am not the servant of Christ Gal. 1.10 That is the best preaching which stirres up the affections and desires ☜ and sets all the wheels a work and provokes us to duty and to the exercise of piety in our lives and conversations He is the best Preacher who by his powerfull delivering the Word of God can stirre up what affections he pleaseth in the hearts of his people as it is reported of excellent Bucholcer that though he were two hours in his Sermon yet none of the common people were aweary of him and that with such vehemency of spirit and earnest longing for the good of their souls he dispensed the Word unto them that he could stirre up what affection he pleased in the hearts of his hearers Neither was the matter he preacht so sublime as to make men to admire him and to cry him up Not Philosophicall notions or criticall points of Divinity or curious questions or needless Doctrines but the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified For I have determined not to know any thing among you 1 Cor. 2.2 save Jesus Christ and him crucified Neither was his delivery and outward carriage
of the devil so many thousand years Why I will tell you as the devil is the Prince and God of this world so Christ Jesus is the King of Saints Rev. 15.3 and the Prince of the Church and God is the God of his people Now which do you think is strongest 1 Pet. 5.8 God or the devil that roaring lion the devil that goes about seeking night and day whom he may devour or the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Which more politick Rev. 5.5 Rev. 12.9 the serpent or Jesus Christ who is the wisdom of God the Father Prov. 8. Which is the likeliest to prevail or which party hath prevailed in all ages hath not the Church Vincit patiendo Ecclesia the Church overcomes by sufferings as the Israelites in Egypt the more they were afflicted the more they grew And though the Church hath been small in all ages in respect of the enemies and of Satans party yet the Saints of God might truly say Let the enemies part be never so numerous or great that there is more with them than against them and why because God is with them He is the Saviour of his people Exod. 24.24 That God who but with a look from heaven could destroy all the Egyptians that God who can destroy them but with the breath of his nostrils Iob 4.9 Exod. 10.12 who can cause weak and inconsiderable creatures to punish the foolishness of his adversaries Isa 40.12 That God who measureth the waters and spanneth the earth and holdeth it in the hollow of his hand that God who created all things and if will say but the word can loose the fabrick of heaven and earth and turn it to its first nothing Dan. 5.23 that God whose is our breath and in whose hands are all our waies that disposeth of Kingdoms and giveth them to whomsoever he pleaseth that taketh the crafty in their own deceit Job 5.12 and destroyeth the wisdom of the wise Last of all that God who hath at this time the devils fast bound in everlasting chains of darkness Jude v. 6. unto the day of judgement and hath thousands of cruell persecutors under his hands whipping them with Scorpions to all eternity Rom. 9.5 that God who is over all blessed for ever he is the God of the Saints and therefore no wonder if the Church prevails and hath prevailed and will prevail to all ages The gates of hell shall not prevail against it Matth. 16.18 We reade in the Book of the Revelation Rev. 12.12 that the devil is come upon the earth with great wrath and malice because he knows that his time is short Saith a Learned Commentator God may lengthen the devils chain and give him more liberty than formerly but he never quite looseneth it and lets him do what he listeth He knows that in these last times his Kingdom is going down and that Christ is fulfilling his work and that he will make but a short work upon the earth He knows it is best to be doing while the opportunity is put into his hand And what in former times he could not do by power and by persecution he endeavours in these later times to do by policy Formerly he was a red Dragon a ravenons Wolf a cruell Tiger but now he is become an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11.14 and comes in a more secret and mysterious way yet his malice is as great as ever against the Church though he rides not upon the pale horse of death Rev. 6.8 and he endeavours by all means to increase his Kingdom to the everlasting destruction of poor souls O that there were a wise heart and a considering heart in Christians to consider this that now we are fallen into the last times and the devil now bestirres himself more than ever that he is doing all he can do with all his policy and subtilty to advance his Kingdom and to gain proselites to maintain his cause listing souldiers daily under his banner therefore we should be a more praying people and a more watchfull people continually pleading at the Throne of grace that God would accomplish his work upon the earth and hasten the coming of Jesus Christ the bringing in of the Jews the fulness of the Gentiles and the destruction of Gog and Magog Pope and Turk with all the rest of the antichristian party 2. He is called the spirit of the world the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience He may well be called a spirit because of his working The manner of Satans working upon the wicked He being a spirit hath a great influence upon our spirits and he can not only suggest his temptations and put evil things into our hearts but like a skilfull fouldier he can marshall them and put them in order before our eyes and set home the object upon the heart with all the delight if an evil thing and with all the detestation if a good thing that possibly he can He doth not only morally perswade us but by a secret indiscernable way for the operations of spirits especially of one spirit upon another are very mysterious and difficult to be understood but by a willing compulsion draw forth the heart to entertain the motion It is said that Satan stirred up David to number the people 1 Chron. 21.1 Joh. 13.2 And that Satan put it into Judas heart to betray Christ And that Satan hath blinded the mindes of them which beleeve not 2 Cor. 4.4 There is a threefold blindness in an unregenerate man A threefold blindness in the ungodly 1. A naturall blindness 2. A contracted blindness by their long continuance in ignorance Wicked men are wilfully ignorant concerning the Commandments of God 3. A blindness which Satan super-adds over and above those two Satan can work insensibly upon the passions of the body and the images in the fancy And as he can delude our outward senses making us beleeve we see such things when they are not such as they are presented unto us so he can delude our mindes and hoodwink our understandings and by his Paralogisms and false argumentations reason us to a hatred of God and his waies to embrace the pleasures of sinne and the works of darkness We reade of the Energy of the devil Eph. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which worketh effectually in the children of disobedience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Efficacia est verbum usitatissimè relitum actionibus formarum spirituum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 operatio â—nima Arist The more spirituall any thing is the more force and power it hath to work and the more insensibly it sets home the impression upon another Conceit in many men worketh strange things A meer conceit of such a thing or of such an evil approaching hath driven men into deep melancholies and great sadness of spirit into strange diseases passions and furies If a meer conceit will do so
Spirit moved upon the waters i. e. as a Hen lieth upon her brood cherishing it and giving it heat so did the Spirit of God lie upon that Chaos fomenting and cherishing it Psal 33.6 By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth 3. Adoration and worship is given to the Spirit Quod si Spiritus non esset persoua distincta sed tantum Dei virtus utique non possit in invocatione distinctae illius fieri mentio cum per particulam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aequalitèr distinctè persouae conjunguntur Si non esset Deus non esset adorandus which is only proper to God We are said to be baptized in the Name of the Father Sonne and of the holy Ghost And St Paul in his Epistles frequently The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 Fifthly We have the end for which the Spirit is given i. e. That we might know the things which are freely given unto us of God Without the Spirit we are in the dark and we know not whither we go But of this hereafter Sixthly We have the adjunct or circumstance put to the things which are given unto us of God to wit that they are given freely That we might know the things which are freely given unto us of God How God is said to give us the things of salvation freely God gives and he gives freely liberally and bountifully and expects nothing at our hands but a thankfull heart The things of God are given freely upon a double account 1. In opposition to merit 2. In opposition to compulsion and unwillingness God gives freely in opposition to merit We deserve nothing at Gods hands but hell and destruction We merit hell but we merit nothing else Rom. 6.23 Primarily eternall death is meant there as appears by the Antithesis between life and death 1 Cor. 4.7 The wages of sinne is death i.e. all manner of death the death of afflictions temporal death eternall death but the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our common mercies as life health peace liberty friends food for our bodies and the like are all from free-grace What hast thou that thou hast not received and that thou hast not received freely If our common mercies be of free-grace for every step we step is a step of mercy the breath we breathe forth is Gods breath and not our own if he taketh away our breath we perish how much more are spiritual things of free-grace which are more eminently called the things of God It is of Gods abundant grace and goodness that by his Spirit we might know our election of God ☜ God might have elected us unto everlasting life and we never have known it untill we should have enjoyed it We might have been left in despair and under a cloud of temptation all our daies had not God freely given unto us the earnest of his Spirit The Gospel or the glad tidings of peace and reconciliation through Jesus Christ is of free grace therefore it is called the Gospel of his grace Act. 14.3 So likewise Jesus Christ is a most signall fruit and effect of Gods free grace and love to mankinde Joh. 3 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne c. Salvation by Jesus Christ it is of free-grace Eph. 2.5 By grace ye are saved All of grace and nothing of debt All from Gods love and nothing that is in us Gods good pleasure and his free-grace is the impulsive cause of all our mercies and that we are acquainted with those mysteries which were hid from all eternity Erigu me gratia divina sed terret me indignitas mea atqui si dignus essem jam non esset gratia sed merces si ex operibus utique non ex gratia gratia cuim non est gratia ullo modo nisi sit gratuita omni modo oie Gethardus untill these last ages Ascribe all to free grace and account thy self less than the least of all Gods mercies and unworthy of any smile or any favour from Gods hands So likewise God gives freely in opposition to compulsion or unwillingness say the Schoolmen Gods will is the cause of all things Eph. 1.11 Who worketh all things according to the counsell of his own will Nothing moves God to do good to poor sinners but the riches of his grace in Jesus Christ Remember this thou poor drooping soul that complainest by reason of the burden of thy sinnes and thinkest that the multitude of thy sinnes do exceed the greatness of Gods mercies As the most righteous man that ever lived could merit nothing at Gods hands or move God to bestow any thing upon him upon his own account so neither can the greatest sinner that ever lived hinder God or his sinnes put a stop in Gods way that he cannot shew him mercy in Jesus Christ if God be pleased to shew him mercy God sheweth mercy because he will shew mercy Rom. 9.15 Exod. 33.19 God is gracious because he will be gracious As all thy prayers tears duties fastings watchings can prevail nothing with God but upon the account of Jesus Christ so neither can thy unkindness thy unprofitableness thy sinfulness thy disingenuous and foolish carriage with the great God of heaven and earth keep God from shewing thee mercy God hath his therefores of mercy in himself and not in the creature Ezek. 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may have mercy upon you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have compassion upon you It is a strange therefore that hath no dependance upon the words foregoing but upon Gods infinite mercy God shews mercy because he delights in mercy God gives us heaven because he delights to magnifie his glory upon all the vessels of mercy And when we by our prayers at the Throne of grace obtain good things at the hand of God we do not change God but only those things which God had decreed from all eternity to give us upon the condition of our asking though not for our asking we receive in time when we beg them at Gods hands Ob. How can the things of salvation as Justification Adoption c. be freely given unto us of God Baxter in his excellent Book called the Saints Everlasting Rest seeing Christ Jesus hath purchased them for us Ans 1. The purchase of Christ doth not clash with the freeness of the things of God to us They were dear to Christ but free to us If the Father freely gives the Sonne and the Sonne freely paies the debt and if God freely accepts that way of payment when he might have required all which Christ hath done at our hands and if the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost do freely offer those things
Sermon pass if you can hear it let not your souls be famished for want of nourishment As you would not be said to murder your bodies so do not you murder your precious souls Many do quench the Spirit when they do not know it Some will hear a consciencious Minister a long while and highly commend him as most of our profane Esau's do but when once this Minister shall touch their beloved sinnes they presently fall off and hear him no more Mar. 6.20 Herod heard John gladly for a time and reformed many things but when once he touched his Herodias and toucht the apple of his eye he presently distates him and cuts off his head What a sad thing is it that men should shift off such an impression and wipe off the sweet and heavenly dew If you will not wait at the pool you are never like to have the Spirit descend upon you and if you will not mark the time of the Spirits coming down and comply with the Spirit at such a time you are never like to have any feeling effect wrought upon your souls Have a care therefore of withdrawing the Spirits fuell 2. When men cast their lusts in the Spirits face and damp the breathings of the Spirit by their lusts then they may be said to quench the Spirit As water quencheth fire so lusts they quench the Spirit Lust is the great quench coal of the Spirits motions As mud and filth doth damp up the course of the water so every lust doth dam up the course of the Spirit Yea every particular sinne which is committed with a high hand to the reproach of godliness and to the dishonour of God quencheth the Spirit for a time When David had committed those two great evils murder and adultery in the matter of Vriah upon the commission of these sinnes God withdraws his Spirit and the comfortable presence of his countenance Hence he complains of brokenness of bones and of wounds in his soul Psal 5.8 My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness And he prayeth God to uphold him with his free Spirit ver 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit As the water free-zeth when the sun goeth down so your spiries wilk freeze when the spirit goes away from you What do you think will become of you when the Spirit departs from you You are in a dull lumpish condition you cannot pray nor hear the word nor do any spirituall duty with that rejoycing and freeness of spirit and alacrity of minde as formerly you did you are left in a sottish condition for a time Your spirits will be as heavy as lead very unapt and contrary to the service of God and if those sparks of grace which God hath put into your hearts did not inable you to do somewhat more than those who never knew what the saving work of the Spirit meant you would as wicked men do when the Spirit leaves them never seek to God for his Spirit any more As lusts choak the Word so they choak the Spirit Whence is it that many Christians do complain of the Spirits absence and of the departure of God from them as Saul did 1 Sam. 28.15 Wo is me for God is departed from me Why As Saul by his disobedience and rebellion caused God to depart from him so you by your disobedience and resisting of his motions have caused the Spirit to depart from you Search your hearts diligently and see whether there be not some abominable thing which the Spirit would pluck forth of thy heart Is there not a hankering after thy old beloved lusts Hast thou not an itching after past delights when thou wert in the flesh The Spirit doth not all its work upon a soul at the first work of conversion but still afterwards is imployed to purge out every abominable thing out of thy heart a child of God after conversion may fall into the same sinnes he committed before conversion yea the very same beloved sins the venomous humour is not throughly purged out in conversion and the Spirit by its good will would not leave a hoof or any root of bitterness in the heart but because we are in the body of this flesh we must grow by degrees and make progress daily Search I beseech you and examine your hearts whether there be not some lust the Spirit would give a deaths wound to and throughly mortifie and extinguish and you will not yield to the Spirit that you may be mortified I beseech you Christians to set about it The Spirit will never be quiet and let you alone if you belong to God till this root of hemlock and wormwood be rooted out i. e. whensoever it comes to thy soul the controversie shall be about thy lust whether thou wilt yet leave it or no whether thou wilt be throughly purged from thy old lees whether you would have this body of flesh throughly crucified It will never come with its comforting presence till thou closest with the Spirit in this great work Examine your hearts I beleeve if the business were throughly fifted there is some lust at the bottom some filth that lies below which keeps out the Spirit from coming into thy heart Sic ut fumus apes fater columbot sic Spiritum sanctum expellit grave oleus peccatum Basilius As smoke driveth away bees and an ill sent the doves so a noysom lust driveth away the Spirit As loth as thou art to go into a dungeon full of toads and serpents and venomous creatures so loth yea more loth is the Spirit to come into thy heart if there be a lust or an abominable thing at the bottom Yea I say the Spirit cannot come into thy heart while thy lust standeth out against him There is an opposition in respect of the things themselves What communion hath light with darkness God with Belial the pure Spirit with thy filthy lust The Spirit may come and knock long enough and Christ may knock long enough and to no purpose if thou art not willing that the Spirit should accomplish the work upon thy heart I beseech you examine your hearts in this matter Note this well A man may live a Professor all his daies and be as conscientious in the waies of God ☞ as any Christian in the world and think himself as fair for heaven as the best and yet at last perish for some unknown lust in his heart which if he had examined and found out it might have been mortified and his soul saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Besides consider you have not the influences of the Spirit at command The Spirit will not blow upon thy heart when thou wouldest have it but when it lifteth The Spirit comes down but upon certain times and those times are uncertain to thee how therefore doth it behoove thee Christian to take the Spirits time and to joyn with the work of
the Spirit upon thee Besides dost thou know how long the Spirit will move upon thy heart how long the prosperous gales will laft which if thou hadst sailed along with would have brought thee to heaven Dost thou know how long the Spirit will strive with thy heart crying out Why sinner how long shall it be ere Christ shall be thy Lord and Saviour Beloved Christian though there be hope as long as the pool is open and thou art alive and livest under the Ordinances of grace that the Spirit may descend again upon thee yet seeing thou hast sinned so often against the pleadings of the Spirit and hast quenched the Spirit so long who can tell whether ever he will come down in mercy again upon thy soul for ever For God hath a time in this life to bid his Spirit to let sinners alone and never to strive with them more but let them be filthy if they will be filthy Though this time God hath reserved in his own wisdom secret from men that they should not know it The black book of reprobation is known only to God and none may say positively God hath rejected him unless he is certain he hath sinned against the holy Ghost as too many weak Christians under desertion are apt to say and how knowest thou thou hast sinned the sin against the holy Ghost if thou hast a desire to repent for thy sinnes if thou art willing to receive Jesus Christ for thy Lord and Saviour never fear it Christian all is well thou art in a good condition yet I beseech thee do not quench the motions of the Spirit upon thy heart XI The Spirit is put for a state or a condition or a calling as some interpret We have not received the spirit of bondage Rom. S. but the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father i. e. not a state or condition of bondage but a state of adoption so Ravanellus Likewise when Christ said to his Disciples You know not of what spirit ye are of Luk. 9.55 i. e. of what state of what calling of what condition ye are of It is not suitable to men of your profession of your coat to be so fiery and so impatient so Aretius Yet I rather follow the judgement of a judicious Divine in our daies who in the forementioned place in the Romans means by spirit not a state there but a person i. e. the third person in the blessed Trinity very judiciously explaining the words after this manner Shewing that when once the Spirit hath been the Spirit of adoption that Spirit is never after the spirit of bondage again unto us this in no waies hindering but that a childe of God after the Spirit of adoption may have the fears of bondage again for though the Spirit doth not contradict his testunony yet he may withdraw his rest mony for a time and leave us in the dark yea the devil may trouble and affright us and our own consciences may condemn us XII By Spirit may be meant a pretence and opinion of some revelation Dr. Goodwin in his excellent Book called A childe of light walking in darknels concerning something which a mans own private conceit or imagination inclined him so to think 2 Thess 2.1 Be not troubled neither by spirit nor by word to think the day of judgement is at hand By spirit i. e. if any pretend a revelation that the day of judgement is at hand do not beleeve him 1 John 4.1 Try the spirits i. e. those pretended revelations which men feign and see whether they are of God or no. Beleeve not every spirit because that many false Prophets are gone out into the world XIII The Spirit is taken for the graces of the Spirit in you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Revel 1. To the seven Spirits of the seven Churches i. e. to that Spirit which is seven-fold in respect of its graces to the seven Churches The Spirit of God dwelleth within you that is according to some not the Spirit it self but the graces of the Spirit Gal. 5. These are the fruits of the Spirit love joy peace meekness temperance patience c. XIV The Spirit is taken for those unclean lusts which the devil brings along with him in the hearts of those in whom he lodgeth Matth. 12.45 When the unclean spirit returneth he bringeth with him seven other spirits worse than the former i. e. many other filthy lusts more abominable than the former XV. Consule Pareum in Genesin na hunc locum interpretatur viz. Spiritum illic accipi pro vi seu officacia divina Cap. 1. Geneseos The Spirit is taken for Divine force and efficacy Judg. 14.19 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him i. e. a Divine force from on high came upon Sampsons spirit whereby he set upon the enterprize of killing the Ashkelonites XVI The word Spirit fignifieth a new quality of holiness created and wrought in all the Elect by the Spirit of God whereby all the powers and faculties of the soul and body are renewed according to the Image of God in wisdom holiness and righteousness otherwise called the Regenerate part Rom. 8. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit XVII Spirit is taken for the chief and excellent faculties of the soul called reason and understanding 1 Cor. 2.11 XVIII The Spirit is taken for the vigour and efficacy of the understanding Be ye renewed in the spirit of your minde More particularly First The Angels are called spirits 1. Good Who maketh his Angels spirits and his Ministers a flame of fire Heb. 1. 2. Evil Mark 5.4 We reade of a man possessed with an unclean spirit and saith Christ What is thy name saith the unclean spirit again My name is Legion for we are many A Legion of devils in one poor man Secondly By way of eminency God is called a Spirit John 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth God is a Spirit if you take God essentially for the Deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or personally for the three persons Father Sonne and holy Ghost Thirdly More particularly the third Person in the blessed Trinity distinguished from the Father and the Sonne is called a Spirit Often times in Scripture he is called by the Name of the holy Ghost Matth. 3.16 I saw the holy Ghost descend upon him like a Dove Having done with the ambiguity of the word Spirit I come to shew what are the teachings of the Spirit upon the hearts of Beleevers In handling of this I shall premise That it is a very difficult thing to know what the teachings of the Spirit are As thou canst not tell how the bones grow in her that is with child or what properly be the influences of the starres Eccl. 11.5 or how-one spirit communicates its minde to another or the causes of naturall sympathy or antipathy as thou canst not tell whence the winde cometh John
fruit of the spirit While they speak of perfection and living without sin in this life Phil. 3.13 14. they cry down the Apostle Paul who thought himself not prefect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Metaphor drawn from those who run in a race who when they approach the Goale press forward with all their might their Arms and Leggs to touch it but still prest on to the mark of the price of the high calling of Jesus Christ As long as we are of the Laodicean temper and think our selves rich and wanting nothing we are never like to come to Christ to buy raiment of him and to have that spiritual eye-salve whereby we may discerne the things of God but when we are like Christ meek and lowly then we shall finde rest unto our souls God deals with men as he finds them Psal 18. With the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward Mat. 11.29 and with the upright thou wilt shew thy self upright Many times Gods people are of crabbed and knotty spirits that God for the present is as it were at a stand what he should do with them O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee Hos 6.4 O Judah what shall I do unto thee Now as the Carpenter plains the peece of wood so the Lord plains their hearts mountains shall be turned into valleys and the Lords way shall be made straight before him and of rugged spirits they shall become smooth and the froward spirits become meek and quiet that the Lord Jesus by his spirit might be pourtrayed in their hearts as the peece of wood when it is plained and made smooth is apt to receive any form whatsoever the Carpenter pleaseth so our hearts when they are once softned by the Spirit and smoothed by the planer of affliction God can mould them and fashion them as he pleaseth A meek spirit is of a docible disposition ready to receive and most apt to retain most thankfull for what he hath and ever mindfull of its own unworthiness Now here for to prevent mistaking I should shew the nature of meekness to wit what this meekness is Severall kindes of meekness but I shall only shew the severall kindes of meekness which are four 1. A naturall meekness arising out of the constitution of a mans body 2. A morall meekness arising from good precepts instructions and examples 3. A stoicall meekness which is a sameness of spirit upon all occasions this is rather a stupidity then a meekness 4. An artificiall meekness which is when men can restrain their passions though their heart is as full of envy as it can hold Such was Esans meekness to Jacob. 5. A true meekness A true meekness what it is which is a spirituall frame of heart whereby a man gives no provocation and is ready to receive any and whereby a man moderates subordinates and governs all his anger to the glory of God and to the good of others Meekness is passions jaylor True meekness is not alwaies the same but when Gods glory is blasphemed or any waies diminished then it turns to zeal and an holy anger Exod. 32.20 21 22. Moses the meekest man upon the earth when he saw the idolatry of the Israelites he broke forth into an holy anger being grieved in his spirit for the dishonour done to God 6. If thou hast the Spirits teachings upon thy heart thou art one that fearest God Psal 25. What man is he that feareth the Lord Tiberius Gaesar thought no man fit to receive his secrets and yet the Lord vouchsafeth the godly his own secrets None but Noblemen Lords and Dukes might be made partakers of State-secrets the godly are heavenly Lords and Nobles and the privy States men of heavens Court Such honour have all the Saints to know the things of God him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Mal. 4.2 Vnto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings The fear of God it puts a bridle to our lusts and corrupt affections which choak the things of God As an unruly horse may be curb'd with a bit and a bridle so the fear of God it is as it were a bit and a bridle to curb the extravagancy and the breaking forth of sinne The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil As a brick wall keepeth in the waters from overflowing the ground and banks from breaking in upon the meadows so the fear of God puts a stop to the breaking forth of many a sin which otherwise we should commit Now when the strength and the power and the dominion of sinne is taken away the Spirit comes in with more freedom into the soul When Joseph was tempted by his Mistress unto uncleanness he having the fear of God before his eyes refused her with this saying How shall I do this great wickedness and sinne against my God! Gen. 39.40 41. Because of this he is clapt up by a false slander of his Mistress into prison But the Lord was with Joseph in prison and shewed him mercy And Joseph because he feared God had the spirit of revelation given him that he could interpret dreams He expounded the chief Butlers and Bakers dream and Pharaohs dream And the Lord honoured him in the sight of Pharaoh and all his servants By humility and the fear of the Lord come riches Pro. 22.4 honour and life Daniel because he feared God Dan. 9.24 and would not consent to worship other gods the Lord revealed unto him the expiration of the seventy years captivity which was at hand And Noah because he feared God Heb. 11.7 an hundred and twenty years before the overflowing deluge came had this secret committed unto him that God did intend to drown the world for that deluge of sinne which was then in it By faith Noah being Warned of God being moved with fear prepared an Ark for the saving of his house and thereby condemned the ungodly World The salvation of the Lord is nigh them that fear him that glory may dwell in our Land The fear of Gods glorious Majesty and unquestionable authority puts the soul into a fit capacity to be taught by the Spirit As long as a man is presumptuous self-confident and thinks himself somewhat when he is nothing there is no place for any doctrine of Jesus Christ God usually puts men into great fears and terrours and then raiseth them up before he communicates himself unto them Jer. 3.33 I will put my fear before them and write my law in their hearts Severall kindes of fear There is a fourfold fear 1. A naturall fear which in it self is not sinfull because God hath put this affection of fear into our hearts So Christ feared to die 2. A servile or a slavish fear when men fear God not for his goodness but only for his justice
afforded me alwayes praying reading doing good and working out my salvation with fear and trembling But alas there is no more time there are no more seasons of grace afforded me God is departed from me in respect of any future mery for ever hell hath shut her mouth upon me and therefore O that I had to my everlasting comfort complyed and hearkened to the voice of the spirit contending with me That I had walked up to the light of the spirit then it had been otherwise with me to my perpetual joy then it is now to my eternal misery Thus the wretched sinner laments it self when it is too late and wishes it had never been unless he had been better because he improved not those talents and walked not up to that light which God had given him Reasons why every soul ought to walke up according to its Light 1. Because God judgeth every one according to his light Rom. 2.12 For as many as have sinned without Law shall also perish without Law and as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law that is those that are without the moral Law written upon tables of stone but have onely the Law of nature written upon their hearts though the moral Law is nothing but what is founded upon nature as appears in the 15. verse For the Gentiles which have not the Law i. e. the moral Law do by nature the things contained in the Law if they sin against the Law written in their consciences shall onely be judged according to that Law and those that have the moral Law shall be judged according to the moral Law but those who have the light of the Gospel shall be judged according to the light of the Gospel 16. v. In the day when God shal judge the secrets of mens hearts according to my Gospel And those that have sinned against the light of conviction and the strivings of the spirit shall be judged according to that light and according as our light is so will be our condemnation Mat. 11.22 It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement then for us who live under the light of the Gospel and the spirits convictions because our light is the greater And for those who live under Gospel light it will be more tolerable for those at the day of judgement who have lived under a powerful Ministery all their dayes and have had more influences of the spirit upon their hearts and have had the spiritual Manna continually falling round about their houses as the inhabitants of the famous City of London have who are blessed above all other Nations with spiritual blessings then those who are less watred with showers of Grace from heaven if they shall let slip their opportunities and sleep out the day of visitation which is afforded them The Lord takes notice of every Sermon we hear and of every prayer we have prayed of every time we have received the Sacrament of every impression we have had upon our spirits of all those counsels exhortations admonitions reproofs corrections instructions we have had of all that naturall knowledge we had with the improvements of it of all the prayers and beseechings others have made and put to God for us of all those secret checks of conscience of all those various acts of providence in the course of our lives marvellous deliverances from dangers from sicknesses from imprisonments in providing for us when all other helps and means have failed of all those resolutions we have made of better obedience upon some notable conviction upon our spirits of all our services performed unto him in private and in publick and of all that conference and communion we have had with the Saints of all that progress we have towards heaven and that if we had gone but a step or two further we might have been happy and according to the severall gradations of our spirituall advantages upon the neglect of them so shall our condemnation be God will judge us for every Sermon wherein we have not met him in a Sermon for every prayer wherein we have not met him in a prayer for every receiving of the Sacrament wherein we have not met Christ in that Sacrament We are then said to meet God in a duty when upon the right improvement of it God comes nigher to us in waies of further discoveries upon our hearts or our hearts are drawn nigher to God and to Jesus Christ in way of heavenly mindedness and son-like obedience 2. We ought to walk up to that light which we have because God hath to this end given this light unto us that our evil deeds being made manifest we may loath our selves for them and avoid them for the time to come Wicked men they hate the light Joh. 3.20 because their deeds are evil they know that it is the nature of light to make manifest and thereupon if they should come to the light their consciences would be awakened and the peace of their besotted spirits lul'd asleep in gross ignorance carnall security the pleasures of sinne and by the devil would be disturbed But the godly on the other side they rejoyce in the light in the light of the Word in the light of the Spirit and bless God for the time that ever they were acquainted with the evil nature of their sinnes and with the experience of Gods infinite goodness unto them in Jesus Christ A righteous man fears not the terrours of the Law 1 Tim. 1.9 for the Law was not made for him but for the rebellious disobedient murtherers of fathers and murtherers of mothers And he rejoyceth in the glad tidings of the Spirit He desires to be taught by the Spirit and daily to be nurtured up in the School of Christ till he shall come to the perfection of the Saints in glory He that doth truth cometh to the light Joh. 3.21 that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wronght in God 3. Because if a mans spirit gives him in that such a thing is a duty though it be nor or such a thing is a sinne though in it self it be not a sinne yet if he walk not up according to that verdict his conscience gives in of it unless the Word of God speaks directly against it and it be directly opposite to the analogy and proportion of faith he sinnes in not so doing Saith the Apostle Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Rom. 14.23 that is whatsoever we do doubtingly and ambiguously being in distrust whether the thing ought to be done or no if we do it we sinne in so doing We should do nothing but what we verily believe ought to be done In these two cases we may follow the light of our own consciences 1. In things indifferent which are neither simply commanded nor simply for bidden 2. In things which do not positively contradict the doctrine of faith and piety and the express Word of God or a direct and an immediate consequence plain to the capacity of all understanding men void of any prejudice against the truth drawn from solid and evident places of Scripture pat to the purpose we have in hand But if any man shall pretend a Tenet or a Custom or a Doctrine to be received believed performed and practised because his own conscience gives him in it is so or ought to be believed and practised though he hath an express command to the contrary in Gods Word I say that this mans heart is full of Atheism and unbelief and grosly deluded by the devil and though his erroneous conscience gives him in it must be so yet he sinnes if he doth it because it is directly contrary to the Word of God Now if a man sinnes if he walks not up to the light of his conscience in some cases though it may be erroneous then much more he walks not up to the light of the Word and of the Spirit these are infallible lights without the least errour and deceit Lord God we beseech thee that seeing our hearts are so apt to deceive us and to be deceived the world to flatter us and the devil to beguile us and because we live in unstable times full of delusions wherein the mystery of iniquity begins to work and Satans agents are now transformed into Angels of light that our hearts might not be bewitched with these meer phantasmes and ghosts of piety with these shadows in stead of substance but give us that spirituall eye-salve whereby we may discern the cunning sleights of men who lye in wait to deceive and that Christian prudence to foresee the evils that are coming upon the earth Psal 43.3 Send forth thy light and thy truth we beseech thee thy light is a true light and thy truth is light that by thy light we may see light and by the teachings of thy Spirit upon our hearts we may be so established in the waies of God that neither the Errours Heresies and Blasphemies that are abroad in the world may taint us nor that desolation which is coming upon us for our sinnes unless they be washed away with the tears of repentance and with amendment of life may drive us from our hope and confidence of God but that patiently enduring the chastening of the Lord because we have sinned against him by that witnessing act of thy Spirit evidently teaching us that we are thy children in the midst of all these heart-quaking times we may rejoyce in the expectation of future happiness FINIS
confidence and boldness into the presence of God Before we have the Spirit we are in bondage 1. To sinne 2. To the beggarly and slavish rudiments and customs of the world To sinne and so the Spirit as it delivers us from the state of bondage 't is called a Spirit of holiness a Spirit of sanctification His servants we are whom we obey in the service of God there is perfect freedom but in the service of the devil there is the greatest slavery What more slavish than to serve a lust What greater bondage can there be than to have the devil our Master When the Spirit of God hath sanctified us and renewed us then we bear the Image of our heavenly Father according to that place in John He that is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 and he that is born of the Spirit is spirit that is he that is born of the flesh bears the image of the flesh and he that is born of the Spirit the image of the Spirit As he that is born of corrupt flesh is corrupt so he that is born of the holy Spirit of God is holy Likewise we are delivered from the rudiments of the world and those superstitious waies wherein the world walketh How many are there kept in bondage to old customs in the worship of God to Ceremonies and serving of God after the tradition of their fathers that stand upon places and outward form more than the inward and more spirituall part of worship Some cavil at the Churches calling them Steeple-houses and the Pulpit a Tub and the servants of God Tub-preachers If the Church of God be a Steeple-house what place may we term their private meetings wherein the subject matter of their discourse is to broach and vent forth new fangled notions nothing materiall to the salvation of their souls and how they may vilifie and cast contempt upon the true worship of God and upon the servants of Jesus Christ Others put too much upon these places as if there were an inward holiness in them as if God would rather hear them there and answer them for the place sake rather than at another place Under the Gospel there is no place more holy than another for it is not the place that makes the duty holy as it was under the Law when the Altar sanctified the gift and not the gift the Altar but duties now put a dignity upon the place and not the place put a dignity upon the duties So that this place the Church while we are praying it may be called the house of prayer and while we are doing Gods work and God is manifesting himself unto us it may be called the house of God As Jacob called the place where he had his vision The house of God But yet you must observe this by the way that under the Gospel-dispensation there is not so much put upon places as there was under the Law God under the former dispensation did more immediatly limit his presence to one place though not alwaies for God is found of all them that diligently seek him but his visible presence is more reserved to the Temple and to his shining forth between the Cherubims over the Mercy-seat 2 Chron. 6.20 God is said to put his Name into the Temple and the Psasmist saith Psal 80.1 O thou that shinest forth between the Cherubims in allusion to Gods manifesting himself over the Mercy-seat Therefore it was Jeroboams sin which the Prophet Hosea reproves that he did not only set up Calves to be worshipped instead of the true God but that he set them up in Dan and Bethel keeping the people from the place of Gods worship where God had put his Name Yet under this dispensation the Church it may be called a holy place as under the old Law many things are called holy in that it is separated and set apart in a publick way in opposition to meeting houses for the pure worship of God and a joynt calling upon him in his own way The Spirit likewise puts us into a state of liberty A state of Sonship it is a state of liberty Rom. 8.11 Therefore we are said to be translated from the Kingdom of darkness into the glorious liberty of the children of God If children then heirs joynt heirs with Jesus Christ Now you know a childe when he is under age he differs nothing from a servant but is under Governours and Tutors till he comes to be heir and Lord of all things A reverent Divine whom I heard occasionally said that there were four priviledges which attend Adoption 1. Liberty 2. Right and title 3. Correction and 4. Boldness Now how come we to be the Sons of God but by the Spirit the Spirit witnesseth with our spirits that we are the children of God This spirituall freedom it is not such a freedom as the world dreams of ☞ it doth not exempt us from the obedience to the Laws either of God or man The Spirits liberty what it i. it is not a freeing us from obeying the Civil Magistrate it is not a freeing us from afflictions and crosses in the world Nay rather it is a sign thou art a child of God and that thou art instated into this liberty if thou art corrected God chastneth every son whom he receiveth The Spirit likewise gives us freedom and liberty to come with confidence by faith into the presence of God Eph. 2. For through him we both have access through one spirit unto the Father By the Spirit we have access by Christ unto God the Father so that whatsoever prayer you put up to God the Father What prayer is accepted by God if it be not a fruit of the Spirit and tendred up in Christs Name it shall never be accepted God owns nothing but what is his own Whatsoever is not of the Spirit it is of the flesh Men may be moved with fait speeches enticing words eloquent phrases as the people of Tyrus and Sidon with Herods eloquent Oration Act. 12.21 but all the eloquence in the world is no more to God than the lowing of an Ox or the howling of a Dog if it come not from the Spirit Dr. Gouge in his whole Armour of God and whatsoever is of the flesh it is our own it comes from us and not from God A childe of God he is partly flesh and partly spirit Now God the Father for Jesus Christs sake in whom they are in Covenant with him he over-looks all the fleshly part all their infirmities all the wandrings and gaddings of spirit in their prayer and what is the fruit of his own spirit that he receives and looks upon it as a spirituall prayer in and for the sake of Jesus Christ and because some of the actings of the Spirit have been seen in it God severs the light from the smoak when it ascends up into heaven the light is the Spirits the smoak is ours Having the Spirit we must go along