have his command to the contrary his Word bids us not to do it How can we violate the authority of the sacred Majesty of heaven and earth How shall we be able to stand before God who is a consuming fire and commit these abominations in his sight What a good thing were it if Christians would make a Common-place-Book in their hearts out of Gods Word and by often reading of it and by that excellent duty of meditation laying it up that they may have spirituall matter to furnish their souls withall upon all occasions This is the true pondering of the Word of God So much of the Word of God as we meditate on and by meditation is concocted to the nourishment of our souls so much we have and no more This hiding of the Word within our heart is an excellent means to further the gift of prayer whereby we shall have store of matter at all times and upon all subects to render up our petitions unto God ☜ That is the best prayer that is founded upon the Word of God How sweetly doth the Spirit of God breathe forth in Davids Psalms and what heavenly expressions there are suitable for a Christians spirit to exercise his faith and comfort in God by in the greatest trials and most soul-dejecting desertions This hiding of the Word of God to wit the sweet promises which concern salvation contained therein to poor broken-hearted sinners affords abundance of peace of conscience and consolation of the spirit Saith David I have hoped in thy Word ☞ He is a true emblem of a faithfull soul A true sign of a beleeving soul who can trust God for his word sake and build upon the Word of consolation who can plead with God upon a bare word of promise Lord hast thou not said it and wilt thou not bring it to pass If we would by a lively faith suck eagerly at these breasts of consolation and dive deep into these wels of salvation and carry our buckets often to draw and look to Jesus Christ in whom all the promises are Yea and Amen for the earnest of his Spirit upon our hearts that they may be rightly applied to our everlasting comfort our souls would be satisfied abundantly as with marrow and fatness So likewise saith David Thy Word is a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my paths and in the same Psalm Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandments are exceeding large The literall Word of God though it hath a beginning and an end in respect of the letter yet the Word of God considered Doctrinally as it is the wisdom of God the Father it is infinite like God himself and hath unfathom'd depths of the riches of Gods grace to sinners in Jesus Christ contained in it Rom. 8. O the depths of the riches of the wisdom of God how unsearchable are his works and his waies past finding out ☜ It is a rich Mine of excellent discoveries of the Almighty God which never yet hath been searcht to the full though when we come to heaven we shall know abundantly more of it than we do now and all doubts concerning it fully satisfied which do so trouble us in the body of this flesh Let men of corrupt mindes talk what they will that they fully understand the minde of God in his word by the light of the Spirit speaking within them that they can unfold all mysteries and that they need not hearken to the word any longer but only hearken to the voice of the Spirit speaking in their hearts because the light of the Spirit is a greater light they say than the light of the word I am certain that they are grosly deluded by the father of lies for the Apostle Paul that knew as much of the things of God as any Enthusiast whatsoever yet did see but through a glass as it were imperfectly till this veil of the flesh being laid aside he shall see God face to face We know in part Now if the Word of God be exceeding large larger than the perfections of all the creatures so that there is no sinne that can be conceived of but is forbidden in it and threatned with eternall death and no grace but what is commanded and exhorted to under the promise of everlasting life and the means to eschue the evil and to imbrace the good fully declared unto us without all controversie this and this only is the Word of God and ought to be the ground and rule of our faith 2. That for men to preach their own inventions When men are much addicted to Allegorize Scripture suddenly they fall into some and new fangled notions and the fancies of their own intoxicated brains or for men to Allogorize Scriptures according as their minde serves them neglecting the pure fountain of the Word of God is to build mens faith upon humane wisdom and not upon the power of God We live in a Scepticall age deadly errour and are caught as it were in a snare before they are aware What a Solaecism upon his own body Origen the father of Allegories committed by Allegorizing that portion of Scripture Mat. 19.12 is known to all those that are verst in Ecclesiasticall History wherein most Christians being troubled with that itching humour the Apostle speaks of are all for novelties and vain questions which are nothing materiall to the establishing our souls in grace and neglect the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ They are all for light but little for zeal all for knowledge but little for practice all for notions but little for truth all for further discoveries of secret mysteries but little searching into their own hearts all for those truths that may inform the Judgement but little for those truths which may work upon the affections Lord A sweet ejaculation I pray thee to give me no more knowledge than what may work upon my heart to the joyning of a hearty obedience unto it and that above all other knowledge I may seek to know Jesus Christ and him crucified to be made partaker of his sufferings and of the fellowship of his resurrection that as he rose from the grave of death so I may arise from the grave of sinne unto newness of life Lord grant that while others dive into thy secrets and search after thy Decrees and do limit thee who art the holy one of Israel by speaking of thee irreverently and ascribing unto thee those things which are not convenient and as the fly about the candle never leave prying and approaching too near till they be consumed in the pride of their own hearts and in the vanity of their own imaginations I may sincerely and humbly with all fear and reverence to thy great and glorious Majesty take thy Name into my mouth and only speak of thee as the word speaks and no further Lord thou hast said that thou art Jehovah Jchovah Jah Eheie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
unless Jesus Christ intercedes and makes up the difference VIII We reade of a spirit of infirmity Luke 13.11 There was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years i. e. she had a vehement and a great infirmity lying upon her IX We reade of a spirit of judgement and of a spirit of burning Isa 4.4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion by the spirit of judgement and by the spirit of burning i. e. by great judgements and by burning afflictions That Gods judgments are compared to fire appears by that place in the Prophet Ezekiel where God saith of wicked men Ezek. 21.32 I will bring them into the fire and there I will leave them You see the sad condition of wicked men God brings them into the fire of affliction and never takes them our again When God comes to deal with wicked men for their sinnes when he begins he makes an end Afflictions shall not rise up the second time saith the Prophet Nahum Nah. 1.9 But though God may bring sore judgements upon his own people and bring them into the fire of affliction he takes them out of the fire again and doth not leave them in it as he doth wicked men but when he hath accomplisht his own work upon them and they are fit vessels for his use he takes them out of the fire It is a sign thou art not reprobate silver but tried silver and a true Saint if thou canst patiently and beleevingly undergo the siery triall And though thou maiest be ready for the present to faint under the afflicting hand of God thinking that God hath forgotten thee and that he will be gracious to thee no more yet when Gods time is fully come and thy filth is throughly done away God will take thee out of the sire and thou shalt be a glorious Saint in the sight of God Indeed Gods people may be sorely smutted and besmeared with the fire of affliction as we see by experieuce that fire commonly blacks things before it makes them clear but yet they shall not be consumed as the wicked shall be but shall be delivered Ps 34 17. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the righteous out of all their afflictions Well may Gods judgements be compared to fire to the spirit of judgement and to the spirit of burning for these reasons 1. Fire purifies it separates the dross from the pure metall so afflictions they purifie the soul Gods children are afflicted that they might be made partakers of his holiness Heb. 12.10 Before affliction came upon us we were unclean we were worldly earthly minded we forgot our God we were impure instruments fit only for the devils service But by afflictions we are cleansed we are more spirituall and have learnt to minde heavenly things more watchfull more industrious to pump out sinne as fast as it comes into the soul and to be more diligent in Gods service afflictions are Gods files whereby he takes away that rust that defiles the soul How many hath a fit of sickness an outward cross in their estates relations good names the missing of their expectations the unfaithfulness of friends the deceit that is in the world or some grief which hath been as a continuall dropping upon their souls as the Stone Wind-cholick Falling sickness c. driven home from the house of their spirituall bondage and from this mysticall Egypt where there is nothing but pollution to bethink themselves of the house of their heavenly Father Before saies David Psal 119.67 I was afflicted I went astray but now have I learned thy righteous judgements Affliction it is Gods pruning knife whereby he lops off the superfluous branches it is Gods Razor whereby he shaves off the excrescencies of sinne it is Gods niter whereby he cleanseth our defiled garments They are Gods messengers sent to call us forth our of Sodom the spirituall Sodom where there is nothing but filthiness and wallowing in the mire of sinne to prepare our hearts to meet Jesus Christ our Bridegroom in the beavenly Canaan As the shepherd sets his dog at the sheep to fetch it out of the mire and dirt wherein it is plunged so afflictions are as it were Gods dogs to bark and hunt us out of the pollutions of the world that we may be made meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light 2. Fire melts some things and consumes others Afflictions melt the heart of Gods people but they consume the ungodly Josias heart melted when he heard the Law of the Lord read 2 King 22.19 though he did but hear what threatnings God had made against the breach of his Law his heart melted within him Manasses heart melted under Gods offliction Poverty of spirit comes often from poverty of purse in a childe of God But the afflictions of the wicked they do but perboyl them for hell they are but heralds of everlasting vengeance Gods pledges that he will never do them good they do but eat out their spirits their comforts their common graces against the eternall consumption of their spirits by that ever gnawing worm 3. Fire it softens some things and it hardens others So afflictions they soften the godly but harden the wicked the more God afflicted Ahaz the more he sinned and the more his heart was hardened therefore God hath put this brand of infamy upon him never to be wiped off again 2 Chron. 28.22 This is that King Ahaz So Pharachs heart was hardened by Gods judgements It is a most dreadfull sign God intends to make thee a brand of hell fire if thy heart is hardened under the afflicting hand of God How afflictions may be said to harden Fire it softens the wax but hardens the clay afflictions do not harden as considered absolutely in themselves but accidentally as they meet with the corruptions of mens wicked hearts A wicked man is like the Smiths Anvill the more he is smitten the more rebellious and stout hearted he is ☜ Affliction it is so farre from driving a wicked man to God that it drives him farther from him making him desperate in his wicked courses and like Julian the Apostate when the dart of Gods vengeance hath been upon them they have blasphemed and cursed the holy Name of God It is a most dreadfull thing and a great aggravation of our condemnation when we adde sinne to sinne under the afflicting hand of God As in Ames 4. saies the Lord I have brought such and such judgements upon you yet have you not returned unto me saith the Lord. But Gods people are of another disposition of a flexible and of a pliable nature ready to receive whatsoever God shall impart unto them they consider that God is their Father and that all their afflictions shall be for their good That God corrects them but in measure Enashim of a weak sickly crazy man and with the rods of a man and that it is either
into their mindes and in their hearts will I write them and I will be their God and they shall be my people 2 Cor. 3.2 3. In that you are manifest to be the Epistle of Christ ministred by us and written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart Jer. 31.33 34. But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those daies saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord. You see that the Law must be first written in their hearts by the finger of God i. e. by the Spirit before they can know the things of God Ezek. 36.27 And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgements and do them the Spirit doth not only write upon our hearts the Law of God but all things which accompany salvation John 17. And when the Spirit comes he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you There is no truth which accompanieth salvation in the Word of God but the very same is written by the finger of God upon the hearts of beleevets That even as you see in a seal when you have put the seal upon the wax and taken it away again you shall see it stamp answering to stamp character to character print to print so it is in the hearts of the faithfull after their hearts are softned the Spirit of God writes the Law in their hearts So that there is a Law within answerable to the Law without i. e. an inward aptness and disposition whereby a man is inclined to keep the Law in all points which Law within us is called the Law of the minde Rom. 7. I see a Law in my members warring against the Law of my minde The teachings of the Spirit do not only put the things of God into our mindes but ingraff them as naturall dispositions in our hearts yea the Spirit of God ingravens them As when letters are engraved in marble so the teachings of the Spirit engraven the things of God upon our hearts I call them the writings the engravings of the things of God upon our hearts to distinguish the teachings of the Spirit from the motions impressions flashes illuminations of the pirit These are but light superficiall transient works they reach not to the bottom of the soul but they float at the top These impressions are suddenly begun and suddenly ended They are but as a flash of lightning which is no sooner seen but vanisheth They are but as the morning cloud and as the early dew which suddenly pass away as the winde presently scatters the clouds and the sunne takes away the dew so all these common works of the Spirit pass away and melt as the dew before the sunne The best seeming professors that want the teachings of the Spirit they are but as blazing comets which appear for a while and presently disappear Wandring starres Jude 13. to whom is reserved the blackness of darkenss for ever Heb. 6.5 Psal 34.8 They do but taste of the goodness of God and so away But the teachings of the Spirit make a Christian not only to taste but to see the goodness of God They are permanent upon the soul never to be blotted out again They are not as the flash of lightning but as the noon-day full of brightness and comfort They are riveted in the soul and imprinted in it 2. I say they are the Printings of the things of God upon the hearts of beleevers Beleevers only have the teachings of the Spirit And ye shall be all taught of God Joh. 6.45 i. e. all ye who are under the Covenant of grace and are interrested in Jesus Christ shall have the teachings of the Spirit Unbeleevers may have the motions the breathings the quicknings the flashes and the illuminations of the Spirit but not the teachings 3. I say these printings and writings of the things of God are done by a secret method unknown to us yet known to the Spirit What he 〈…〉 tell but how he writes we cannot tell what he prints we can tell but how he prints we cannot tell Dan. 5 5. As Belshazzar saw the hand when it wrot but could not tell what the hand did write so beleevers on the other side they see the writing of the Spirit but cannot see the hand that writes nor understand how the Spirit writes yet we are in a farre better condition than Belshazzar was For t is better to understand the writing than to know how the hand doth write what is printed than how the Spirit prints as it is farre better to know that we are elected that we are justified that we are renewed in the Spirit of our mindes considered in themselves than to know what Justification and Adoption is though we may know what Justification is and that we are justified by the Spirit 4. Only we see the effect of the Spirits teachings upon our hearts as a woman may know she is with childe because the infant moves in her belly so we may know what the Spirit hath been doing on our hearts by that knowledge zeal life heat motion activity and courage we find in our spirits towards Gods waies We hear the clock strike though we do not see the hand or the wheels that set it a going so we may see our hearts eccho back to the Spirit though we do not see the Spirit setting them on work Ezek. 1.20 As Ezekiels wheels wheresoever the Spirit went the wheels went for the spirits of the living creature was in the wheels So because the Spirit of God is in us wheresoever the Spirit carries us we are carried The Spirit moves and we are moved the Spirit praies when we pray the Spirit witnesseth when our spirit witnesseth the Spirit sets the wheels going and we go God is of a truth in every Saint though they cannot see him but in his operations We know that God is in us of a truth because we act for God and have the principle of spirituall life from him As we know the evil man hath been teaching of us when we see his evil tares and heresies and prophaneness to spring up so we may know the Spirit hath been teaching of us when we see the wheat to grow apace Otherwise The Spirits teachings is the Spirits creating a new light within us by a secret way unknown unto us at the first which light in our consciences enkindled by the Spirit doth in all things correspond with the light of the
was as fire in his bones till it was revealed Jer. 20.9 It is a great burden to a gracious soul that he cannot hold forth the truths of God as the Spirit hath held them forth to his own soul It is one of the greatest troubles to a saithful soul when he comes to dye that he hath not been so serviceable to the Church of God as he might have been if he had improved that light and those talents which God hath given him to the best advantage We must have charity towards all we must wish well to all pray for all relieve all according to our abilities we must love all we must love our enemies but familiarity with all is not expedient we must edifie all and strive to convert all to the faith of Jesus Christ Now there be none so fit to edifie others as those who have the spirits teachings upon their hearts Gal. 6.1 Yee which are spiritual restore a fallen brother in the spirit of meekeness A spiritual man is best acquainted with the evil nature of sin and what shame and sorrow it brings along with it with the wrath of God and with the excellency of Jesus Christ and that beauty and comeliness which is in his wayes 4. If thou art taught by the spirit thou art a man of another spirit then thou wert heretofore as it was said of Caleb he was a man of another spirit Num. 14.24 so thou wilt be of another spirit Wert thou before carnal now thou shalt be spiritual Wert thou of a malicious spirit thou shalt have a spirit of love Wert thou of a proud spirit contentious high minded spirit thou shalt be of an humble and of a meek spirit Wert thou under a spirit of bondage thou shalt be under a spirit of liberty a spirit of adoption Wert thou of an unclean froward perverse foolish spirit thou shalt be of a clean milde and of a wise spirit Wert thou of a base cowardly frame of spirit that thou wert ashamed to make mention of the name of the Lord thou shalt be of a couragious spirit full of a holy zeal for the glory of God Wert thou of a fearful doubting drooping sad sorrowful dejected spirit thou shalt be of a merry joyful and of a lightsome spirit It is said that after Moses came down from the Mount his face did shine he had been a talking with God and afterward his face did shine So every faithful soul after he hath been in the Mount of contemplation and hath had the spirit instructing him in the things of God his heart doth shine with the oyle of Grace and his life doth shew forth the praise of him who hath called him out of this state of darkness into this marvellous light 5. He is of a meek spirit that hath the teachings of the spirit upon his heart Psal 25.8 The meek will he guide in judgement and the meek will he teach his way Isa 28.18 19. In the day shall the deaf hear the words of this book and the eyes of the blinde shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness The meek also shall encrease their joy in the Lord and the poor among men shall rejoyce in the holy one of Israel Psa 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation Isa 61.1 The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the meek to binde up the broken spirit Moses Numb 11.3 Who is called the meekest man of all the men that were upon the earth had the neerest approach to God of any that we read of in the book of God he spoke with God as a man speaks with his friend or as one man speaks to another He spoke with God face to face We must be children in our own account if we would be taught by the spirit Psal 131.2 Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a childe that is weaned of his mother my soul is even as a weaned childe i. e. As a childe is gentle and submissive you may do what you will with a weaned childe so he was of a tractable spirit ready to yeeld and to submit to Gods dispensations whatsoever they might be unto him Saith he Mat. 18.4 He that is not as a little childe shall never enter into the Kingdom of heaven 1 Cor. 14.20 A little childe in respect of meekness and gentleness and love and amity according to the Apostle In malice be ye as children but in understanding be ye men The poor receive the Gospel The poor in spirit that tremble at the word of God that are wrought upon by a kinde work of the spirit upon their hearts that dread the exceeding goodness of God and thinke themselves unworthy of any mercy at all at Gods hands who can undergoe any thing what God is pleased to impose upon them confessing that God punisheth them far less then their iniquities deserve that God cannot inflict too severe a punishment on them for their sins Signes of poverty of spirit and that if any thing besides hell it is a fruit of mercy and who groan under the burden of their sins and under the apprehension of Gods love unto them who are willing to receive any thing from Gods hand These are the fittest men to be instructed from heaven if we could perfectly go out of our selves and purge our selves of all created love we should have the flowings in of Divine grace upon our hearts abundantly If the spirit should teach wicked men it were but to cast darts against a rock It is reported of Tygers that they enter into a rage upon the sent of fragrant spices so do ungodly men at the blessed savour of Godliness It is reported of some Barbarous Nations who when the Sun shines upon them shoot their Aâ—â—ows against it so do wicked men at the light and heat of godliness Burroughes which are so far from admitting any entrance that they cast back the darts against him that shoots them but the meek spirited man is ready to receive whatsoever the spirit shall dictate unto him What ever is written upon a proud and a carnal heart it is as if it were written upon the sand now you know what is written upon the sand every blast of winde is apt to deface so every blast of temptation will blot out whatsoever is written upon a carnal mans heart but what is written by the finger of God upon a meek spirit it is as it were engraven in marble never to be done out again Therefore I know no greater signe that some that pretend most of all to the spirit in these times are most of all void of it because they are of such a railing contentious froward perverse malicious spirit I am sure they were never so taught by the spirit of God for the spirit of God is a spirit of love a spirit of meekness a spirit of gentleness meekness is a
of a dove upon our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Mat. 3.16 Were they ever truly affected with Gods distinguishing love and mercy in that his Spirit should teach them as they say and let others lie in darkness Did the spirit drive away from amongst them the dust and the chaff of their vain and frothy minds Did the spirit ever enable them to overcome the bent of their natural inclinations If Socrates by the help of moral instructions was able to bridle his loose disposition much more may they who are taught by the spirit Did the spirit ever make them of unwilling willing to receive Jesus Christ and to take his yoke upon them The Spirit is resembled by the wind which in its blowing is arbitrary Joh. 3.8 irresistible full of might and efficacy scattering the dust and dispolling the clouds Do their hearts burn within them at the hearing of the things of God as the two disciples hearts did with whom Christ had conference after his resurrection The Spirit of God came down upon the brethren in the form of fiery flaming tongues It is an easie thing for a man to say he is taught and enlightned by the Spirit of God but how few are they that are so indeed Beloved Christian I have given thee some light into this mystery concerning the teachings of the Spirit which if improved by thee will bring much comfort to thy precious soul and much joy to him who is thine and the truths friend I R. A Brief summary of those generall heads which are in this ensueing Treatise FIrst the readiest way to win dissenting brethren to the obedience of the truth is to deal with them in the spirit of meeknesse Under which head is containd the handling of those who are of a contumacious spirit still opposing the shinings forth of divine truth 1 Admonition which must be once again 2 Sharp reproof and that openly before many witnesses 3 A Disowning them and a rejecting them from being of the Church This admonition includes two things as 1 A demonstration of the absurdity of the things which they hold 2 A secret insinuating unto them the truth and the excellency of the opposite to which they hold 2 The best and the most precious doctrine that is meeting with an unsanctified heart is opposed and had in derision 3 That is the best preaching which works upon the affections stirring us up to our spirititual duty that we may serve God acceptably in reverence and godly fear all the daies of our life as well as informs our judgements 4 The Embassadors of Jesus Christ and of the Gospel of his grace must be men of peace and not study to make factions and parties in the Church of God 5 For believers to call themselves by the names of their spiritual guides be they never so holy and religious men or by strange names taken up by the contumelies of ungodly men is an unchristian thing and disagreeing to the minde of the spirit 6 The word of God considered absolutely in it self as the word of God ought to be the rule and ground of our faith 7 For men to preach their own inventions and new fangled notions and the fancies of their own intoxicated braines or for men to allegorize Scriptures according as their mind serves them neglecting the pure fountain of the word of God is to build mans faith upon humane wisedome and not upon the power of God 8 A servant of Jesus Christ must sute his style and matter according to the judgement and capacity of his hearers 9 There are secrets in Gods own keeping which all the learning in the world can never attain unto onely the spirit reveals them 10. Those that have the Spirit of God cannot but know the things of God 11 There is no other way but by the Spirit to know the things of God 12 Only the Saints have this priviledge to enjoy the Spirit which the world cannot receive 13 The Spirit of God comes by receiving as a free gift of God unto believers 14 The spirit of the world is acted with a divers spirit from the Spirit of God 15 The World hath a double evill spirit 1 Satan 2 That inbred spirit of wickednesse which is within it 16 Satan is a Spirit because of his working which is sutable to the nature of spirits He is the spirit of the world upon a double account 1 Because he acts in the world 2 Because the world is willingly acted by him A double Antichrist 1 Mystical sin 2 Personal That man of sin 17 Whatsoever opposeth Jesus Christ or sets it self up in the plaoe of Christ is Antichrist 1 Our own righteousness is Antichrist 2 The divel is Antichrist 3 The world is Antichrist 4 All moral wisdom and humane knowledge is Antichrist unless it be sanctified by the Spirit of God 18 The children of God are acted by a double spirit opposite to the spirit of the world 1 The Spirit of God 2 The regenerate part within them which is called a spirit 19 The Spirit the third person in the blessed Trinity proceedeth from the Father the Son 20 The Holy Spirit is God which is proved 1 By Scripture 2 By reason as 1 Because those attributes are applied to the Spirit which are only proper to God 2 Those works 3 That adoration and worship which only belongs to God 21 God gives all things freely in opposition to merit and in opposition to compulsion Under this conclusion is answered an objection arising from the death of Jesus Christ 22 None can know the things of God but those who have the teachings of the Spirit upon their hearts Vnder this Conclusion is shewed 1 The various acceptations of the word Spirit in Scripture 2 What the teachings of the Spirit are 1 By way of praemonition that it is very difficult to know them 2 Positively 3 How the teachings of the Spirit may be distinguished from the motions and from the impressions of the Spirit 4 How the Spirit teacheth 1 By enlightning our understandings that we may see the things of God 2 By removing the enmity that is in our wills against them 5 What things more especially the Spirit teacheth 1 To know God 1 His love to believers in Jesus Christ 2 His holy nature 3 The exact justice of God against every sin 2 The Spirit only hath shewed us the mysterie of the blessed and incomprehensible Trinity 3 The mysterie of the Incarnation of Christ 4 The evil nature of sin Where is proved that the first motions to sin are sin and an objection arising from them dissolved 5 To understand the word of God aright 6 Several other things the Spirit teacheth Many other practical duties the Spirit teacheth 6 What manner of teachings the Spirits teachings are 1 Infallible teachings Here is shewed the difference between the Divels revelations and the teachings of the spirit Wherein is answered an objection arising from the insallibility of the Spirit 2
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
〈◊〉 that is who hast thy being of thy self which being is from all eternity ineluding all the differences of time past present and to come That thou art Elohim Almighty Elschaadai Alsufficient Elion High that thou art I am that I am Exo. 3.14 which implies that thou art only of thy self and art all things to thy creatures I am bread to the hungry drink to the thirsty cloathing to the naked health to the sick liberty to the captive comfort to the distressed I am all things to all men as they stand in need of me Is 43.11 Thou hast said that thou art and that there is none else besides thee that thou art but one God and yet distinguished into three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost Lord let me beleeve and admire this truth rather than stand and question it And for thy Decrees which are as immutable as thy self for with the Lord is Yea and Amen for ever and ever I beseech thee grant that I may search no further than what is convenient for me as a creature to know and thy Word requires that I should search into These are mysteries lockt up in thy own breast from all eternity which though I cannot attain to in this life to know yet let me trace the foot-steps of thy everlasting providence in thy Word and admire thy goodness towards them who are elected in Jesus Christ and magnifie thy justice upon all the vessels of wrath to all eternity This I know that though thou did'st not pass by any in thy act of pretenition with reference to sinne as thou didst not elect the vessels of mercy with any respect to their future holiness yet thou never passest the sentence of condemnation upon any but for their sinnes past Yet God doth not condemn a man simply as a sinnes for then all should be condemned but at such and such a sinner a sinner against great light against great mercy a sinner under Gods judgement An unbeleeving sinner unbelief is the great condemning sin and receivest none into mercy but upon the account of Jesus Christ And O that there were a heart in me to seek above all things to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent to seek wisdom and spirituall understanding which will be unto me a tree of life to preserve me from the snares of death Thus Lord desireth every true and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ Now as these men have itching ears 2 Tim. 4.3 so they heap up to themselves such Pastors and Teachers as may serve their own fancies and it were to be desired that there were not too many amongst us who for preferment and for worldly honour would make the Word of God to stoop to the base lusts of carnall people and preaching the fictions of their own brain cause men to build their faith upon unsound and sandy foundations When men hold forth Jesus Christ to the people not as the Scripture holds him forth but according to their apprehensions of him they build wood hay and stubble upon this pretious foundation 1 Cor. 3.12 13 14. which when the day of the Lord shall come the fire of the Lord shall utterly consume when every mans work shall be made manifest Col. 2.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This will-worship when men will take upon them to prescribe Rules and Canons of Gods worship Mar. 15.3 Col. 2.8 Gal. 4.10 this worshipping of God after the tradition of our fathers this observing of times and seasons for the satisfying the lusts of the flesh and not for the service of God this mixing of our own Ceremonies and Superstitious waies is odious and abominable in his sight God cares not how little he hath to do with men in waies of his worship for whatsoever sacred things we handle we leave the print of our fingers behind us but hath reserved this to himself as one main part of his Soveraignty to prescribe Rules and give Laws according to which he requires that men should do him homage He is that great Law-giver who is able to kill and save alive Jam. 4.12 Now when men dare be so presumptuous and so highly impudent as to incroach upon Gods authority and to take upon them to assign waies and means of their own finding out to serve God by what do they but as it were condemn the Word of God for imperfection and God himself for want of wisdom as if he did not know how to govern his creatures Yea moreover God hath strictly commanded that we should not mingle our inventions with his worship Exod. 20.25 Thou shalt not lift up a tool upon my Altar lest it be defiled God in this place directly commands in the Antitype that we should worship him according to the way of his own choosing and that we should not adde the dross of our own corrupted fancies to the unspotted purity of his holy worship God hates a mixture of Religion at his very heart and could not endure that the Israelites should joyn themselves to the Canaanites left they should learn their evil way and be defiled Mens inventions and Gods worship will never agree together As there is but one God so the way of his worship is one therefore saith Paul Act. 24.14 according to the way which ye call heresie so worship I the God of my fathers But men of carnall mindes consulting with flesh and blood and not with the everlasting Word of God have sought out many waies to worship God by What a forged foppery of humane inventions and mans traditions is the Popish Religion What abundance of forms and outward worships have they as if God did look more at the outward man and externall behaviour than at the hidden man of the heart the sincerity of our actions and the purity of our intentions the Lord judgeth not according to the appearance 1 Sam. 16.7 but he judgeth righteous judgement Indeed they have a braver and more splendid Religion in outward beauty and worship as a Lady of Paris said when she saw the Pope going his Procession What a brave Religion is ours in respect of the Hugonites that is the Protestants they have richer Temples and more beautifull shrines but what is this in the sight of God as painted glass it rather darkens the light than adds more light though it seems more beautifull than plain glass so mens traditions though they may carry a beautifull pretence along with them they rather darken the minde of the Spirit than adde any further light unto the Word This foundation will melt as the wax before the Sun in the time of Gods pleading and contending with sinners Others are too extream on the other hand and care not for any decency and order in respect of outward worship and cry down all outward circumstances and conveniences because God chiefly regards the heart Let such know that God is the God of our bodies as well as of our souls and he requireth
are by nature like the Egytians in the Land of darkness but when the Spirit hath opened our eyes we are in the Land of Goshen in the Land of light Ephes 1.17 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory might give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation through the acknowledging of him that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened that ye may know what the hope is of his calling and what the riches of his glorious inheritance in the Saints 2. By taking away that enmity that is in our wils against the things of God We hate the things of God by nature Now the Spirit shews the excellency the beauty the luster the pleasantness the profit that is in God It removes those hard thoughts and evil surmises in our hearts concerning God and the waies of his worship It shews us that godliness is profitable for all things both for the things of this life and of that which is to come Pro. 3.17 That the waies of wisdom are waies of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Pro. 22.4 That by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches honour and life That there is nothing lost in serving God and that it is the greatest slavery to do the devils service That it is better to work out the peaceable fruit of righteousness though with much labour and sorrow in the world than to live in sin though with the greatest worldly prosperity imaginable That it is better to undergo a light affliction here which is but for a moment than to undergo an eternall weight of torment hereafter and to lose an eternall weight of glory for if thou canst not endure a short affliction here how wilt thou endure the fire of hell Rom. 2. It shews us that to him that worketh righteousness is peace honour and life but tribulation anguish and sorrow follows every soul that doth evil both to Jew and Gentile The Spirit carries us up on the heavenly mount of contemplation and shews us the riches of Gods house and the treasures of the new Jerusalem saying all these things will I give thee if thou wilt worship God in sincerity and truth It perswades us of the evil of sinne of the necessity we have of Jesus Christ of the beauties of holiness of the wrath of God that hangs over sinners and that there is nothing but the thred of life which how soon it may be cut God knows which keeps them from burning in everlasting fire It shews the willingness that is in Jesus Christ to receive poor repenting sinners Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out It sets before us the freeness of the promise Is 55. Ho every one that thirsteth let him come and drink of the waters of life freely Our buying is but receiving Buy wine and milk without money and without price That God the Father and Jesus Christ is more willing to receive us than we are to come unto him that God waits to be gracious Isa 30.18 as the Prophet Isaiah speaks that Gods mercy rejoyceth against judgement and that there is nothing but our unwillingness which hinders the marriage union betwixt Christ and our souls It shews us that the multitude of our sinnes cannot hinder the effect of Gods mercies Isa 55.8 9. for Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts nor his waies as our waies that the Lord is willing to heal our backslidings Hos 14.4 and to love us freely for his Name sake that Gods bowels yern over us when he sees us wallowing in our blood Ezek. 16. that if God were not more mercifull to us than we are to our selves we had perished long ago in our sinnes and that if God sees any thoughts of returning in us if we would but set our faces Zion ward Jer. 19.5 if we did but feel after the Lord Act. 17.27 if he did but see us afarre off in a repenting frame of spirit smiting upon our thighes Ier. 31. as Ephraim did as the father did the returning prodigall he would meet us in the way and fall upon our necks and kiss us yea he would bemoan us as God did repenting Ephraim Is Ephraim my beloved sonne Hos 11.8 is he not a pleasant childe my repentings are kindled together and my bowels are turned within me Saith God I desire not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his wicked waies and live Lam. 3.33 God afflicts not willingly nor grieves the children of men If we perish it is not Gods fault but our own because we are so cruell unto our selves Formerly poor creatures could not endure to think of God Psal 10.4 God is not in all a wicked mans thoughts his waies are alwaies grievous The thoughts of God are troublesom thoughts unto him his infinite justice exceeding greatness his impartiall dealing with sinners when he comes to plead with them for their sins Saith God I will not at all acquit the wicked these are afflicting thoughts to a wicked man Why because he thinks that because God is his enemy all these his attributes shall be imployed to his everlasting ruine It is said likewise of the Gentiles Rom. 1. that they liked not to retain God in their knowledge But when the Spirit comes it makes the thoughts of God pretious then the soul can say as David did Ps 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts thy comforts delight my soul that is in the multitude of my distracting dividing worldly perplexing thoughts the comforts that flow in upon the meditation of thy goodness and of that propriety which I have in thee that thou art my portion my God my rock that is higher than I to which I may continually resort this doth comfort my spirit The naturall man he counts Christ and the Word and the conscientious Minister who deals plainly and powerfully with him his greatest enemies He cannot endure to see his beloved sinne reproved to hear of his Dallilah to hear of hell of the wrath of God and of the day of judgement no it is as bad as death to him to hear of these things He cannot bear it that Christ must be his Lord the Spirit his teacher the Word his rule and Gods glory his end that he must become a new convert and that he must leave behinde him his old companions his old desires his old customs his old principles his old ends and his laws and that he must become another man altogether new all old things must be done away and all things must become new Heb. 12. Now the Spirit teacheth Iohn 3. that without holiness he shall never see the face of God That unless he be born again he shall never enter into the Kingdom of heaven That if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 That it is impossible to enter into the new Jerusalem with an
the smoaking flax untill he bring forth judgement into victory that is he will cherish grace and knowledge though covered over with manifold imperfections and very small till they shall come to that measure of perfection which is appointed for them Reply Doth the Spirit teach successively though he will teach us all things which pertain to life and godliness What hindereth but that a childe of God may erre in many things and yet the Spirit of God be said to teach him all things v. g. A Schoolmaster is said to instruct his scholar in all the rudiments of Grammar yet the scholar may commit solecismes and false concordance and why because the Master doth not teach him all the elements at once but by degrees So the Spirit though it teacheth all things which pertain to life and salvation in time yet because it teacheth by degrees a childe of God may in the mean time fall into errour till the Spirit of God shall give in a further light into his soul declaring unto him that his tenent is an errour Secondly They are inward teachings that is they reach to the heart Many times Ministers teach but 't is not from the heart to the heart but from the heart to the head We may inform your judgments but we cannot enkindle your affections and inflame your hearts with an ardent desire and fervent love of the things delivered unto you The Spirit makes you not only to know the things of God but in love with the things of God A spirituall man can finde more sweetness in reading one of the Psalms penned by that sweet Psalmist of Israel Davia than in reading all the merry books in the world besides Another man may reade the Word of God but it is only the Spirit that can make us delight in the Law of God according to the inward man Another man may hear of the excellency of Jesus Christ but it is only the spirituall man that esteems him the chiefest of ten thousand and desires him above all things When the Spirit teacheth the soul let it be never so dull of apprehension let its affections be as cold as a stone to heavenly things let him be as Epraim like a silly Dove without a heart let him be altogether averse from any thing that is good yet the Spirit shall produce inward heat life and motion to runne in the waies of God and not to be weary to go on and not faint The Spirits teachings will make hearts as hard as rocks to flow forth with rivers of living water they will cause floods to come into the wilderness where no water is It is unexpressible what are the kindlings of love and meltings of heart in a soul towards God that hath once been toucht with this heavenly light of the Spirit from heaven What is the reason we remain so dull and so cold under such powerfull Ordinances and such plenteous showrs of grace Why I will tell you you want the inward teachings of the Spirit upon your hearts In the Word preached you may have light but you can have no heat you may have motion but you can have no zeal Where the Spirit is there is light and heat you will be burning and shining lights Thirdly They are evident teachings 1 Cor. 2.4 We reade of the demonstration of the Spirit the Spirit when it comes it makes a demonstration from the effect to the cause because the Spirit worketh in us what it teacheth The way to faith is by working knowledge in our hearts and by opening our eyes to see in what a case we are in by nature and into what a good condition we are instated into by Jesus Christ Knowledge is put for faith This is life eternall to know thee Joh. 17.3 and Jesus Christ whom thou bast sent that is to beleeve on thee and Jesus Christ We may know we are taught by the Spirit if we live in the Spirit if we walk in the Spirit if we warre after the Spirit and not after the flesh 2 Cor. 10.4 The weapons of our Warfare are not carnall but spirituall and mighty to the throwing down of sinne and Satan The Spirits writing upon the heart is in great letters not in small so that he that runnes may reade it as it is spoken of the vision in Habakkuk grace is written in legible characters The Saints of God generally stand in their own light By others I do not understand the world the wicked world but the Saints of God The true Saints are hid to the world The life of every Saint is hid with Christ in God But one spirituall Christian may easily discern another because of that likeness which each hath one to another and the conformity both of them have no Jesus Christ their head that they cannot see those graces in themselves which to others are very plain and visible True grace loves to lie hid under the vail of humility the more it seeks to hide it self the more it is discovered The Saints are the Epistle of Christ known and read of all men The Spirit doth not teach by tipes and figures and by shadows but it teacheth the very thing the very substance We reade of the manifestation of the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall Ephes 1.17 So the Spirit of revelation That the God of our Lord Jesus and the Father of glory might give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him The Spirit it is our remembrancer to bring all things to our remembrance which Christ and his Apostles have spoken unto us in the word Saith Christ John 14.26 When the Spirit comes he shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have spoken unto you that is the things of God shall be made so plain unto them as if they had known them of old as if they were well verst in them and the things deeply rooted in their memories This is quite contrary to those who say the Spirits teachings are full of mysteries dark and obscure and hard to be understood What is this but to make the Spirit of God like the impure spirit the devil Indeed when Oracles were in use the devils answers were very obscure witness when Pyrrhus sent to the Oracle to know whether he should overcome the Romans or the Romans overcome him the answer was so dubious that he could not understand either of them before the sword decided the doubt on the Romans part Aiote Aeacida Romanos vincere posse But the Spirit of God teacheth plainly and when he speaks he speaks to the purpose If the Spirits teachings should be obscure who should interpret the minde of the Spirit there is none that can resolve the Spirits meanings but the Spirit it self this is the great resolver of all doubts and questions Wouldst thou be resolved whether thou art a childe of God or no Gal. 4. the Spirit will
tell thee God hath sent the Spirit of his Son crying in our hearts Abba father The Spirit of God witnesseth with our spirits that we are the children of God Fourthly The Spirits teachings are irresistible teachings Acts 6.10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which Stephen spake i. e. the writings of God upon Stephens heart or the teachings of the Spirit were so evident upon him that they could not withstand him or oppose what he said When the Spirit comes it shall convince the world of sinne of judgement and of righteousness It shall convince if it doth not convert It shall either drive thee besides thy self ☜ and make thee despair of salvation or to go out of thy self and to trust in Jesus Christ There is no opposing the Spirit when he comes with the prevailings of grace upon thy heart It is said of Christ that he spake as one that had anthority Mat. 7.29 and not as the Scribes Why because he spake by the Spirit My words saith he they are spirit and they are life Joh. 6.63 Let there be never so much opposition in the heart never so much prevalency of sinne let the soul be kept never so fast bound and setter'd with the vanities of the world with the devices of Satan and with the deceitfulness of sinne Yea supposing thou wert fast asleep in the midnight of earnall security yet if the Spirit comes and joggs as the Angel did Peter we shall presently awake Act. 12.7 and the prison doors shall be open and our fetters shall be knockt off and we shall be set at liberty It is our misery that when God comes to deal with his Spirit for our souls good the Spirit doth not finde us sitting still and quiet and out of the way to heaven but posting with all speed in a quite contrary way as fast as we can to hell We do not only by nature not love God but we hate God and preferre sinne and the devil before him Now when the Spirit comes supposing we are at the very brink of hell just dropping in yet if we hear the voice of the Spirit that voice which Isaiah speaks of Isa 30.12 a voice behind thee saying This is the way walk in it we shall return and be as fire-brands pluckt out of the fire The Spirit when it comes to write the things of God upon our hearts it doth not finde our souls a rasa tabula a meer blank wherein there is nothing written but the rudiments of the world of the flesh and of sinne are naturally written upon them the devil is engravened and pourtrayed all abroad upon the heart of a wicked man Now the finger of God can presently blot out this writing and unteach us whatsoever the flesh the devil and the world hath taught us and write his own characters as it were with the juyce of an onyon never to be blotted out again Joh. 5.25 It is said in the Gospel of John the dead shall hear the voice of the Sonne of God and live that is those that are dead in sinnes and trespasses that are spiritually dead that have no spirituall life that do not relish the things of God that cannot move one foot towards heaven when the Spirit cals which is meant by the voice of Christ like those dry bones which the Prophet Ezekiel speaks of they shall arise and walk and live the life of faith Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my waies to do them When the Spirit teacheth Isa 32.4 the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly No naturall impediment no indisposition can hinder the effects of the Spirit Fifthly They are arbitrary teachings As the winde bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3.8 so is every one that is born of the Spirit The Spirit teacheth when it listeth and where it listeth The Spirit is a free agent bound to none and whatsoever he doth Matth. 11.25 he doth it freely I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things frem the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemeth good in thy sight By the same Spirit is given severall gists but all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.11 dividing to every man severally as he will The Spirit of God out of a family perhaps it teacheth the Master and leaveth the servant in darkness the childe and leaves the father in darkness And as Christ said in the Gospel of Matthew Matth. 24.41 there shall be two a grinding in the mill the one shall be taken and the other left so say I in the same seat at the same time there be many a hearing of the word together and the Spirit may come and teach one and leave all the rest in darkness What a mercy is it therefore to thee whosoever thou art to thee I say that art so highly honoured as to have the Spirit to be thy teacher that the Lord should open thine eyes to see the ugly nature of sinne and the excellency that is in Jesus Christ Why might'st thou not have been one of the ignorant prophane world one that never knewest experimentally and savingly what it is to beleeve in Jesus Christ what it is to sit down at Christs table and to eat of the feast of fat things which he hath prepared for thee Why maist thou not have lived under the dispensations of the old Law when the Patriarchs had but the glimmerings of the Spirit but that thou shouldst live under the Gospel And why under the Gospel shouldst thou have a more plentifull measure of the Spirit than others but because it is the Spirits pleasure it should be so Even so Father for so it seemeth good in thy sight As Christ said to his Apostles though in another sense Mat. 13.16 17. Blessed are the eyes which see the things which you see and the ears which hear the things which you hear so I may say to you that live under the teachings of the Spirit in these Gospel-times Blessed are the eyes which see the things which you see and the ears which hear the things which you hear And as Christ said to the woman that came to him saying Luke 11.27 Blessed is the womb which bare thee and the paps which gave thee suck Nay saith Christ rather blessed are they which hear the Word of God and do it So say I Blessed are they that hear the voice of the Spirit speaking in their hearts and walk up to this voice of the Spirit Sixthly They are determinating fixing and quieting teachings They fix the soul in the waies of God They resolve all the doubts and carnall reasonings which are in our hearts and quite stop the mouth of flesh and blood When Paul had received
Adam was in Paradise yea he did set his heart above God But the teachings of the Spirit make a man to ascribe all to God and to say with the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me So much sanctified knowledge so much grace For though there may be knowledge without grace so there cannot be grace without knowledge According to the Apostles phrase Grow in â—ace 2 Pet. 3.18 and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ So much grace so much humility so much carnal knowledge so much pride so much pride so much sin 4 All other knowledge without the teachings of the Spirit it doth but furnish a man that he might be a more able instrument for the devil and to carry on his designes in the world because only those who have the Spirits teachings upon their hearts have a sanctified use of their knowledge What a sad thing is it that God should give men parts and abilities only to be the devils drudges and to do his service When men shall employ their parts against the Kingdom of Christ against the power of godliness and against the Saints and servants of God when men shall fight against God with those very weapons which he put into their hands The devil knows that these be the fittest men to manage his cause upon the earth and therefore he chooseth these above all others as most sutable to his intent and purpose If the leading party of the times who are eminent for knowledge and for a wolvish sanctity who carry as it were all â—â—â—ore them wheresoever they come and are applauded of all men for their excellent parts and endowments be on his side and under the cloak of a counterfeit zeal and a pretended holiness can mask over and palliate over most abominable corruptions in the sight of God if this party be on his side the devil sleeps as it were in a whole skin knowing that he hath able Proctors and agents that can bear a great sway in the world to sweep down millions of poor souls into hell with the besom of everlasting destruction What say the Pharisees to the ignorant people when they spoke of Christ say they Have any of the rulers beleeved on him Have any of the Doctors of the Law who sit in Moses Chair Have any of the Sect-Masters Have any of the Rabbies and of the Gymnosophists beleeved on him and those men are wiser than you Those should know sure how to judge of things better than you who know not the Law of God but only as you receive it from their mouths Who were Paul's enemies but the Epicures and Stoicks and the Philosophers of the world Act. 17.18 Then certain of the Philosophers of the Epicures and Stoicks encountred him saying What doth this babler say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seminiverbius He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange Gods Who was Paul's enemy but Tertullus the Orator when he was to plead for his life Who were Christs enemies but the Scribes and Pharisees when it is said that the common people heard him gladly Julian was a great Scholar yet a great Persecutor and an enemy to Jesus Christ Learned men are but the devils factors to trade for him and to gain proselytes unto his Kingdom 5. All other knowledge will but aggravate your condemnation unless thou hast the Spirits teachings at the day of judgement Sinnes against knowledge are the next sinnes to the sinne against the holy Ghost Saith David Lord deliver thy servant from presumptuous sins Psa 19.3 so shall I be free from the great transgression They are sinnes of a deep dye scarlet sinnes sinnes of ignorance and sins against knowledge are both the same for substance yet knowledge it adds a searlet dye unto them What was Belshazzars fault Dan. 5 22 That though he did know the failings of his father Nebuchadnezzar yet he did not humble himself for all this This is the condemnation that light is come into the world Joh. 3.19 but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil If I had not spoken unto you John 15.22 saith Christ you had not had sinne but now you have no cloak for your sinne No sinne comparatively in respect of what they now have You cannot improve your knowledge aright to the glory of God and to the comfort of your own soul unless it be sanctified unto you by the Spirit Knowing persons will have the deepest place in hell fire and will be more tormented than any other persons whatsoever for God will enlarge their faculties in hell and their mindes shall be enlightned to discern between good and evil Christians that live under the light of the Gospel and have not the light of the Spirit shall have a very low place if not the lowest in hell hereafter Their condemnation shall be greater Their condemnation shall be greater than the condemnation of Aristotle of Pythagoras and other Heathen Philosophers because they live under a clearer light the light of the Gospel yet those shall sink very deep into the bottomless pit Whatsoever is not done in faith and proceeds from the Spirit and is done after a due manner and to a right end to the glory of God is sinne Now all that have not the Spirit of God let them have never so much carnall knowledge they can never do any thing out of a principle of faith within and as a fruit of the Spirit or to the glory of God as they ought to do but meerly as reason or as a common knowledge guides them and no higher Many will curse the time that ever they had so much knowledge one day and that they have been so greedy after it when to all eternity they shall consider and have nothing else but to consider how unprofitably and vainly they have lived in respect of that plentifull measure of knowledge God hath given them 6. Other knowledge will never satisfie your souls The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with bearing The soul is infinite in its desires in its aims and in its intentions A covetous man is never satisfied with his riches an ambitious man with his honours a lustfull with his pleasures an Epicure with his delicious fare The knowledg of all things besides God are no more able to satisfie our understanding than a Peck of Corn is sufficient to fill up all the vast regions that are under the circumference of the highest heaven You may as soon fill a purse with wisdom as the soul with vain knowledge the Scholar with his knowledge but still the more they they have the more they continually desire Hab. 2.5 The soul it enlargeth its desires as â—ell As hell and the grave is never satisfied
and his greatness Contrary to the Prophet who saith Fear the Lord and his goodness Hos 3.5 When they fear God as a consuming fire but not as a gracious Father When they fear to offend out of a sense of hell and not out of any love they bear to God 3. A filiall fear when men fear to offend God who hath been so gracious a Father unto them who hath done them so much good and shewed them so much mercy When they consider what an ocean of love was shewed unto them by God when they lay wallowing in their blood by pitying them in their condition and shewing them mercy in Jesus Christ The love of God constrains a Saint to an obedience of him And a childe of God hath such ingenuity in him and such a son-like affection to God his Father that he would not willingly grieve him for the whole world 4. A reverentiall fear so the Angels in heaven they are said to fear God because they do him reverence The Saints reverence God Rev. 4.10 casting down their Crowns before him that sitteth upon the Throne That vast disproportion between God and the creature he being the fountain and we the streams who hath his being of himself depending upon none and we continually depending upon him cannot but work a reverence and a godly sear in the hearts of those that love him and embrace him 7. If thou hast the Spirits teachings upon thy spirit upon thy heart thou wilt still desire to have further discoveries of the Spirit upon thy heart Thou wilt much be exercised in all those waies and means the Spirit useth to come down Much in private prayer in that heavenly duty of spirituall meditation much at home with thy self and less gadding abroad in thy desires and affections There was a time when the children of Israel said unto Moses Exod. 20.19 Speak thou unto us and we shall hear let not the Lord speak unto us lest perhaps we die But when was this When the Lord came down upon mount Sinai with thunderings and lightnings to give his Law unto his people But now under the Gospel when the Spirit is poured forth abundantly a childe of God rather cries out with the Prophet Samuel Speak Lord 1 Sam. 3.10 for thy servant heareth Let not Moses or thy servants only instruct me but rather do thou speak my Lord God by thy Spirit in my heart who art the enlightner of all the Prophets for thou alone with them canst perfectly instruct me but they without thee can profit nothing As Mary sate down at Christs feet to hear the gracious words which proceeded from his mouth so thou wilt wait at the Ordinances to have more flowings in of the Spirit upon thee ☜ When a soul shall remember at such a time such a spirituall truth was imparted unto me at such a time and in such a place I was convinced that such a thing was a sinne and by the power of the Spirit overcome to a forsaking of it that such a thing was a duty that I was setled in my mind concerning such a Tenet that I had a fuller assurance of Gods love upon my heart than formerly this will make the soul pant and breath after a more full manifestation of spirituall things As David cries out Psal 42.2 When shall I come and appear before God so thou wilt cry out When will the time be that I shall have another teaching of the Spirit upon my heart Psal 63.2 Lord let me see thy outgoings in the Sanctuary as formerly I have seen Let me hear thy voice O blessed Saviour for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely Teach me thy statutes shew me wisdoms path Instruct me in the way that I should walk in Shew unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit 8. He that hath the Spirits teachings upon his heart is of a heavenly minde and can perform all duties in a spirituall manner As it is impossible for a man at once to look upwards towards heaven and downwards towards the earth so it is impossible for a Christian with one and the same judgement and affection to look upon earthly and heavenly things He counts the riches and honours and pleasures of the world but as crumbs cast to dogs but as triviall things not worth the mentioning in comparison of the enjoyment of God in Christ He is resolved not to be put off with those common mercies and not to receive his good things in this life but he tramples upon all these things under the Moon as mutable and that pass away having his eye fixt upon that eternall weight of glory in heaven and upon that Crown of bliss and happiness reserved for him A simile As children when they come to be men they put away childish things bowling-stones counters and all other vain and foolish sports and pleasures and become more serious and solid weighing what will become of them and how they may live in the world so when thou art taught of the Spirit thou wilt abandon all former delights when thou wert in the flesh and count the world thy enemy which would have kept thee from Jesus Christ yea the memory of thy vain conversation when thou livedst according to the course of the world will be bitter unto thee and thou wilt count all the things of this world but toys and trifles in comparison of the true and the heavenly riches When a spirituall man hath the things of this life he doth not set his heart upon them he doth not trust in them Mat. 6.33 he looks upon them but as additionals and as a handfull over and above into the bargain of eternall life but his heart is where is treasure is even in heaven In the fulness of all things his heart is empty and in the want of all things he can enjoy all things in Jesus Christ The more the understanding is enlightned to see the excellency of a thing and the necessity of it Whether the will follows the last dictate of the practicall understanding presently the will closeth with it And though in outward things the will doth alwaies follow the last dictate of the practicall understanding for Medea said Video meliora probóque Deteriora sequor Yet the will of a Saint cannot but follow the last dictate of the practicall understanding taught by the Spirit Now the Spirit it puts a new face upon things it takes away the false painted mask which the world and our own corrupt hearts had cast upon those transitory things and that vizard Satan had put upon them and shews us the emptiness the insufficiency the vanity the mutableness the inconstancy and the perishing nature of them that they are weak inconsiderable things which cannot afford the least solid joy and comfort That the pleasures of sin and the world are but as the cracklings of thorns under a pot which blaze for the
God hath set him apart and endowed him with gifts and graces sutable for such a work there is required an outward call which is a designation approbation and setting him apart peculiarly for the work of the Pastorall charge and office the Church and people of God electing him in whose hearts he hath approved himself by his pious life and wholesom doctrine and the Presbyters by the laying on of hands ratifying their election and confirming him in his Office Acts 6. v. 3. with v. 6. 1 Tim. 4.14 Yet the inward call the call of Gods Spirit is the principall call because thereby a man is sure that God hath appointed him for this work who will bless him in it if he be faithfull unto the death Happy is that servant who goeth forth in the Name of the Lord his God that is in the authority of his God God will bless his labours and give him the reward of his work 12. Every Christian ought to walk up according to his light and that measure of knowledge which he hath received Wo be to those that walk not up to that light which God hath given them Luke 12.47 He that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes 1. They that have only the light of nature to see by ought to walk up according to their light By the light of nature we know that there is a God that this God is one only God for there can be but one cause of all causes who is the first cause of all causes of whom all causes depend in esse in operari one that is infinite in whom the perfections of all the creatures do meet as all the lines do in the center that this God is to be worshipped and that this God is to be worshipped after his own way and method for who dares be so impudent to prescribe Rules and Canons of Gods worship but God himself Hence we know naturally that as there is a God so that this God hath his word wherein he delivers his minde how we ought to serve him and after what manner to do him homage By the light of nature we know that we must live honestly justly that we must wrong no man and give every one his own The Gentiles who withheld the truth in unrighteousness Rom. c. 1. and disobeyed the light of nature were punished with a dreadfull judgement from God being given over to a reprobate minde to commit all iniquity with greediness Those that walk not up to the light of nature shall be damned as well as those that sin against the light of the Gospel though their damnation shall be the lesser Although the light of nature is not a sufficient light for salvation yet I conceive that if the Heathens would but improve that naturall light which they have unto the glory of God God would come in with a greater light for the salvation of their souls And who knows but that if the Heathens did improve that light which they have to Gods glory but that God might break in upon them with a greater light with the light of the Spirit upon their hearts The work of nature is the work of the God of nature according to the Philosophicall Axiom Causa causae etiam causa causati Etsi hoc axioma cum grane salis accipiendum and if God did see us walk up to that light God would come in with a greater light upon our souls 2. The light of conscience every man ought to walk up according to the light of his own conscience Pro. 20.27 Saith Solomon The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly God hath set up a candle in every man whereby in some measure he may be able to distinguish between good and evil This candle of the Lord is conscience searching all the inward parts of the belly which conscience is both a witness and a Judge a witness to testifie to our deeds accordingly as they be and a Judge to absolve us or condemn us for them Miserable is the condition of those persons who have their consciences continually accusing them Saith God to Cain Gen. 4.7 It lies at the door like a Mastiff-dog If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou dost evil sin lieth at the door Sin by a Metonymy for the guilt of sinne The guilt of sinne lieth at the door it lieth at the door as a Mastiff dog lies at the door it will let thee have no rest day nor night it will haunt thee up and down in thy bed-chamber Saith Solomon Pro. 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy thought for the bird of the air shall tell the matter and that which hath wings shall carry the thing This bird of the air is our own conscience which will never let us alone till we have confessed them Wo be to those that sinne against their own consciences their sinnes will finde them out and will torment them Blessed be they that endeavour to keep a good conscience void of offence towards God and man that will approve their hearts as in the sight of God that would not violate the peace of their own consciences in the omission of any known duty or in the commission of any known sinne for the whole world A good conscience is a continuall feast He that would keep faith and a good conscience let him be sure to walk up according to the dictates of it 3. To the light of naturall improvements morall educations wholesom instructions good examples pious conversations Wo be to those who walk not up to the light of naturall improvements that by their studies good conference offices conditions employments have much improved that light which they had according to the contemplative part of it and yet never truly have digested this light with the incomes of it by turning it into practise for the benefit of their souls Perhaps they have got a great deal of knowledge by reading by good education holy counsels observance of others and yet are never the better in their lives and conversations He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow unless true sanctified grace be joined with it And all those good instructions morall educations which thou hast had from thy parents Master friends relations and others will but aggravate thy condemnation one day unless thou art reformed by them The good examples and the pious conversations of others do but reprove the hardness of thy heart and will rise up in judgement against thee at the last day because thou hast been admonished by their righteous dealings Noah in preparing an Ark according to Gods Word condemned the old world of unbelief and of stiff necked impenitency Every pin the good man drove into the Ark was a secret reproof of their unbelief Wo be to those that hate the light of counsell of instruction of reproof and of exhortation Consult that
of the Son of God and art thereby become guilty of the death of Jesus Christ and of thy own eternal condemnation Walk up to this precious light seek not to put out the candle of the Gospel lest God in wrath for thy idleness thy unprofitableness thy stubbornness come and put it out himself But walk in the light as long as thou hast the light repent of thy sins repent from thy sins leave thy sins which have crucified Christ which have been nails and spears in thy Saviours side and as thou art willing to be saved by him so likewise be thou governed by him that Christ might be thy Lord as well as thy Saviour lest otherwise by the hardness and impenitency of thy heart thou treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the righteous revelation of the judgement of God by despising the riches of Gods Grace revealed unto thee in the Gospel of his Son R m 1.2 3 4. 5. To the light of the conviction of Gods spirit walk up to the light of the spirit convincing thee of thy sins The spirits conviction is the spirits setting home upon the conscience some sin by undeniable arguments A description of the spirits conviction and by an evident demonstration derived from the Word of God whereby the sinner may know that he is guilty of the same sin together with some dreadful place of Scripture holding forth the terrible judgement of God upon those who commit such a sin that thereby he might be drawn to a loathing and to a forsaking of it Sad is their condition who have such a conviction upon their hearts and do not comply with the conviction for the forsaking of their sins That think by merry company by worldly employments by long continuance to shake off this conviction from their spirits Better had it been for thee that thou hadst never been born then that thou shouldst live all thy days in the commission of any known sin or in the omission of any known duty that spirit convincing thee of thy sins Motives against this sin 1. Motives to close with the spirits conviction That in not complying with the spirits conviction thou opposest the spirit in its first werk tending to thy conversion upon thy soul The spirit convinceth before it converteth the spirit of bondage must go before the spirit of adoption The thundering and terrible voice of the Law before the sweet and the still voice of the Gospel the Arrows of the Almighty within thee make way for the sweet oyle of consolation in resisting the spirits interest in this work thou opposest thy own salvation 2. In opposing the light of the spirit by way of conviction upon thy soul thou wilt bring by little and little such a brawniness upon thy conscience such a hardness upon thy heart such a deadness upon thy affections such a customariness in sinning such an indisposition and averseness upon thy soul to any good thing that the meats of grace which should have been for the food of thy soul shall bâ—thy poyson every Ordinance unprofitable and thou shalt be a burden to the earth an abominable creature in the eyes of God the spirits quench-coal an utter enemy to all goodness and when thou comest to dye Magormishabib a terror and an astonishment unto thy self another Francis Spira another Judas another Saul when thou comest to lye upon thy death deb 3. This not walking up to the light of conviction will be an unconceiveable torment and vexation of spirit unto thee in the flames of hell fire When thou shalt have nothing to do else but to consider how foolishly how vainly thou didst spend this transitoty life in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and besides which will be the greatest misery when thou shalt with anguish of spirit and with gnashing of teeth consider that if thou hadst closed with such a spiritual truth committed unto thee in a Sermon perhaps the Minister beseeching thee inviteing exhorting thee perswading thee with tears in his eyes to leave thy beloved sins and to embrace Jesus Christ under the penalty of eternal condemnation and hadst complyed with the conviction of the spirit at such a time upon thy heart thou hadst escaped this place of torment All convictions impressions motions of the spirit which the damned souls have had in this life all powerful Sermons all opportunity for the advantages of their souls all good counsels exhortations beseechings of friends relations acquaintance all that progress which they have made in Christianity and that if they had gone but one step farther they might have obtained heaven if they had not loved this present world too much and with the young man in the Gospel loved their possessions above Christ they might have been while now they are in extream misery and when above all this the consideration of the spirits conviction how that they were convinced in their own consciences by the act of the spirit setting home this sin I say when all these means of grace advantage and precious opportunityes with superadded convictions shall be upon their spirits as then they shall be in a most eminent matter their affections being quickened and raised to the full vigor of them God is the immediate inflicter of the souls punishment in hell their memories strengthened their understandings enlarged and all their vain hopes and confidence ruined to their exceeding grief and misery they will weigh heavier then the sand of the Sea and did not infinite power support them under this unconceiveable torment as well as infinite justice inflict this torment by way of vengeance and in full fury upon them the damned spirits could not subsist one moment What language do you think you should hear supposing you were at hells gate Such as this O wretch that I am what a foolish silly wretch was I that I did neglect so great salvation that I did shift off the spirit striving and pleading with me from time to time convincing me of my sins saying to morrow and next day I will begin a new lesson I will redeem the time I will bethink me of eternity but this morrow never yet came till now it is too late time being swallowed up in this Ocean of eternity O what a sluggard was I to shift off the blessed spirit with such fond foolish and frivolous excuses to make every thing an objection and a doubt to keep me off from an obedience to the truth What a mad fellow was I to create fears where no fear was and to think that Gods wayes were full of bitterness and that pleasure of sin exceeding sweet to make offence and stumble at a crucified Christ to believe the divel to hearken to flesh and blood and to follow the course of this present evil world O that I had those opportunities and those precious means for the good of my soul again afforded me how would I live How would I walk up to that light which God hath