2.10 And so the Gospel hath proved to be especially to those who have been prepared to receive it by being concerned in their own minds how they should do to be saved Thus when our Saviour preached the Gospel first in Galilee it is said that then the People saw a great light and to them who sate in the region of the shadow of death light was sprung up Mat. 4. So such as were pricked in their hearts through a sense of guilt and danger gladly received the Word which brought them tidings of remission of sin through Christ upon Repentance Act. 2.37 42. Thus again when the Gospel was first preached in Samaria it is said there was great joy in that City Act. 8. The Gentiles also when they had the Gospel first preached unto them at Antioch they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord Act. 13.47 The Gospel was not so welcome to all where it came and what was the reason it was not as well as to others The reason was because they had not learned by the Fathers teaching as some had done but stifled the operations of natural light in their minds and had laboured to lay their Consciences asleep again after at any time they had been awakened by God They laboured to put thoughts about their future state out of their minds because they found them troublesom unto them They closed their eyes and stopped their ears against any thing that tended to awaken them But all did not so but remained thoughtful about their future state after death when God once had awakened them by strong impressions of natural Religion to be concerned in their own minds about it And they were such as these who were wont to receive the Gospel and believe it when it came among them As we see for instance in those Gentiles to whom Paul and Barnabas preached Acts 13.48 For it is said of them As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Or as others from the Greek read it As many as were disposed to or for eternal life believed that is as I after others understand it As many as were ordered or whose thoughts were ordered and minds disposed for eternal life that is to look after eternal life these were the People that believed And indeed the Gospel was design'd in chief as it should seem for those whose hearts and minds are bruised or broken with fears and cares about their Salvation For thus run the words of that Prophesie which was fulfilled in the Publication of the Gospel by Christ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord Luke 4.18 19. Which is true not onely in respect of those that are bruised and broken in heart with godly sorrow for sin but also in respect of such whose hearts and minds are bruised and battered with fears and terrours in reference to that misery to which they stand exposed for sin And it is further considerable to our purpose that those which our Saviour invites to come to him and promiseth them rest if they do are such as labour and are heavy laden that labour under and are laden with anxious thoughts and cares about their future state for they are a wearisom burden to the mind Mat. 11.28 And again If any man thirst let him come to me and drink saith our Saviour John 7.37 and let him that is athirst come Rev. 22.17 to wit such as lack and long for some cooling and refreshing to their minds and spirits which are heated and inflamed with anxious thoughts and cares about the condition of their souls for the future when they shall leave the body For this Invitation is made to such as were not yet come to Christ had not yet truly believed in him For a true belief in him quencheth this kind of thirst And therefore our Saviour saith he that believeth in me shall never thirst John 6.35 And again Whosoever drinketh of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst John 4.14 This water when once well drunk of quencheth that flame which before burnt up the spirits Again to shew what preparation of mind is necessary to make us prize Christ when offered and willing to be governed by him in order to our cure and ease consider that saying of our Saviour Mat. 9.12 The Whole need not the Physician but the Sick to wit such as are ill at ease in their own minds for that is the meaning of the Metaphor I conceive Other than such have not a sense of their need of a Physician nor will care to be governed by his Methods of Physick Which was the reason why our Saviour chose rather to be among Publicans and Sinners than Pharisees for those being more sensible of their obnoxiousness to Gods displeasure than the Pharisees were who trusted in themselves that they were righteous were better prepared to receive the Gospel than the Pharisees were Which appears by that saying of Christ to them Mat. 21.31 Verily I say unto you that the Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of Heaven before you Thus we see how the teaching of the Father by impressions of natural Religion upon the mind prepares men for a belief in Christ and a receiving his Gospel as they come thereby to be convinced of their guiltiness and of their obnoxiousness to the displeasure of God thereby and to be concerned in their own minds about their future state after death 2. I am now in the second place to shew how the teaching of the Father by natural Religion prepares Men for a belief of the Gospel as they come thereby to a sensible discerning of the nature and tendency of moral righteousness and goodness Men are taught by natural Religion that it is a thing good in it self and well becoming them to adore and worship God the author of their Being and to seek unto him in all their needs to be just and faithful and kind one to another And they know and find by experience that when they most observe to do so they have most ease in their own minds Their Consciences never trouble them for any thing of this nature these things when they do them do not make them afraid of God as things of a contrary nature do Such as these are things about which mens thoughts do excuse them as the Apostles phrase is Rom. 2.15 And men find a vast difference between excusing and accusing thoughts These do not draw men before the Judgment Seat of God before the Judgment Day does come as accusing thoughts do Now the stronger sense men have of the excellent nature of moral righteousness and goodness and of its peaceable and comfortable effects upon the mind the better prepared they must needs be to
right eye to do it they were in danger of being cast into Hell where their Worm dieth not and the Fire is not quenched Mark 9.43 That they were condemned already and that the wrath of God did abide on them so long as they continued in unbelief John 3.18 36. When S. Paul preached Repentance at Athens his argument to persuade to it was because God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in righteousness Acts 17.30 31. And no greater argument can be used to awaken mens fears and to hasten them out of an impenitent state than to set before them the terrour of that day and the danger they are in every hour of falling under it so long as they remain unreformed The consideration of which while the impression was upon him made Felix the Roman Governour on the Bench to tremble when Paul at the Bar reasoned of righteousness temperance and the judgment to come Acts 24.25 And generally mens Repentance takes its first rise from their fears of falling under the wrath of Almighty God Which doth very well accord with what was said by David in the Psalms and twice by Solomon in his Proverbs The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom Psal 111.10 Prov. 1.7 and 9.10 The beginning of Wisdom that is of becoming truly wise as men are when they become truly religious and never till then And this usually begins as I say in those fears which are raised in men out of a sense of their obnoxiousness to the wrath and displeasure of God for sin past And from thence indeed it proceeds to a fear of displeasing him any farther for time to come in hope of obtaining pardon for what is past and this is wisdom indeed there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be seared Psal 130.4 But fear in this latter sense hath its rise and beginning from fear in the former The principle of Self-preservation which is deeply rooted in every mans nature does naturally cause a fear of God as armed with Almighty power to destroy them that have provoked him But in mans degenerate state we cannot say it is so natural to fear displeasing him nor is attained to without some hope of pardon for what is past Fear in the former sense goes before fear in the latter as the needle does before the thred It hath indeed as godly sorrow hath a tendency in it to work Repentance though neither of them amount to saving repentance it self Fear of wrath hath torment in it and that prepares a man to hearken to that which will give him ease to wit the doctrine of pardon through Christ and to the doctrine of Repentance as the condition of obtaining it As rain and moisture are to the ground on which Weeds or Thorns grow to prepare the way of tearing them up by the root so is the fear of Gods wrath to make way for the plucking up mens lusts by the root it makes the heart more soft and tender For by how much sin hath disquieted and perplexed the mind with fears of the wrath of God provided it be not to excess as in case of despair by so much the less grievous it will be to part with it in hope of obtaining both ease and pardon thereby But here to prevent all mis use of this Doctrine touching the necessity of a sense in each sinner of his obnoxiousness to the wrath of God to prepare him for such a Repentance Faith and Obedience as is saving let this be observed and remembred by way of caution to wit That no greater a sense hereof is necessary to this end than that which issues and ends in such a Repentance Faith and Obedience We must not measure the truth and sincerity of our Repentance Faith and Obedience by the measure or degree of the sense we have of our liableness to Gods wrath or our fears of it but on the contrary the dueness or sufficiency of such a sense to prepare us by the truth and sincerity of our Repentance Faith and Obedience It is not unlikely but that Cain and Judas might have a greater sense of their obnoxiousness to the wrath and displeasure of God than most of those who through a due sense of their liableness to wrath have been prepared for a saving Repentance Faith and Obedience but yet we cannot judge by that that they had any such Repentance or Faith So much sense therefore of mens danger by reason of their guilt of sin is sufficient be it more or less as does prevail with them sincerely to repent of sin past to receive Christ Jesus as Saviour Lord and Governour for time to come to save them from sin by his death and to be governed by his precepts and example for all times to come whether peaceful and prosperous or however adverse or hazardous they may be And the reason why such a sense is sufficient be it more or less is because it reacheth its end it hath done its work for which it was raised by God when once it hath thus drawn men to Christ to become his true Disciples to believe in him and to learn of him the Christian life All means whatsoever are sufficient in their kind when they attain their end for which they were appointed and so this of which we now speak This is a truth seen by its own light By this the great mistake of some good people appears who have been afraid to apply Christ unto themselves as a Saviour and to lay hold of the gracious promises of the Gospel as being in doubt with themselves whether they had been sufficiently humbled broken and prepared by legal terrors when yet they have been zealously desirous and industrious to approve themselves to him in a good life When once men are made willing to receive Christ as Lord and Saviour and to walk in him as they have received him there is no place left to question whether their humiliation hath been sufficient or no. For our Saviours invitation of coming to him is made to him that is athirst and his promise to him that does come in good earnest is that he will by no means cast him out The promise of being received if they do come to Christ is not made upon condition of being thus or thus humbled but upon condition of their coming to him Nor does any degree of that humiliation which consisteth in fear or terror avail any man further than it is an occasion of his applying himself to the remedy prepared by God against his danger By what hath been said to shew what sense of ones spiritual danger is sufficient in its kind and for the end for which it serves it may appear also That such persons as have by the advantage of a pious education drunk in operative principles of godliness in the early days of their lives so that like Ohadiah they have feared God from their youth or as Timothy have known the holy Scriptures from a child need
but make use of this power by an actual beginning to perform this condition as they may God will then give them so much more of it as whereby they may finish it unless they refuse to make use of it So that if men do not perform the condition of the promise it is not for want of power but for want of making use of that power which God hath already given them by his preventing grace otherwise their destruction would not be of themselves which yet it is as all grant There are none but upon that awakening which they have had from God one way and one time or other might out of a dread of him and of his wrath revealed from Heaven against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of men have begun to reform and to become less sinful by leaving off some ill practices and they would have found they could have done so in case they had been sure they should have lost their Lives or Estates presently if they had not Though they had not power all on a sudden to become good yet they had power through Gods preventing grace not to have been so bad The worst of men doubtless had power before such time as by their obstinacy and opposition against God and his dealing with them they sinned it away to have reformed in part which to have done out of a dread of God would have been a beginning to repent and so a beginning to perform the condition of the promise of pardon The men of Nineveh by the awakening of their fears by the preaching of Jonah could we see turn from their evil ways and in particular from the violence that was in their hands Jonah 3.8 10. And by the same assistance and power by which men may become less bad they may be able also to make more use than they have done of the means of Grace and to become positively better thereby to a degree Which if they do and do not by seeking out vain reasonings and evasions obliterate that sense by which they began to be better God will supply them with more power to proceed in the Work of Reformation until it come to a Work of Renovation of the whole man both in heart and life and therein unto a performance of the condition of the promise And as it is we see matter of great moment that the people be made to understand the Method of Divine Assistance so is it of no less concernment for them to understand upon what terms it may be expected as whether upon previous conditions or without For if it be not to be expected but upon conditions to be performed on our part and yet we think otherwise we shall be in extream great danger of depriving our selves of that assistance by neglecting what belongs to us to make our selves capable of it And therefore for a right understanding of this matter we must distinguish between such an assistance as is onely preparatory to a farther assistance and that by means of which the condition of the Promise is compleatly performed And if we do we shall find that the preparatory assistance is indeed afforded unto men without any condition at all save what our Saviour hath performed by his Mediatorial obedience to obtain it for us And this Preparatory Assistance is that which we call Gods Preventing Grace because by it he prevents all endeavours on our part to make our selves capable of it For he is aforehand with us in giving us the Gospel and the Ministry of it who live where it is and so he is by his secret operations upon our minds to make us sensible of our danger thereby to stir us up to bethink our selves how we may escape it and all this before we do any thing our selves with an intent to raise such a sense or consideration in our selves But although Gods Preparatory Assistance and Preventing Grace is vouchsafed unto men without any condition yet his farther Assistance is promised but upon condition of making use of his former When God hath been at work in mens minds to make them sensible of the danger of their sinful state and bad tendency of their evil ways and hath laid before them how they may escape it if yet they will not make so much use of all this as thereupon to concern themselves more than they had done about the affairs of their Souls and another World they can have no reason to promise themselves any further assistance from God nor can they be sure to have any repetition of the first For our Saviour hath told us saying What measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you and to you that hear more shall be given Mark 4.24 According to what measure we mete in the attendance or non-attendance of our minds to make use of those aids and assistances which God affords us it will be measured to us in affording or not affording us more And when he says that unto you tha hear more shall be given we cannot understand more thereby than that the promise of more assistance is made but onely to such as do attend to what God hath already admonished them of and who have so far taken into consideration what he hath said or done to them by his Word and by his Works of Providence without and by the awakening operations of his Spirit within as not to slight them but to be inclined thereby to be more mindful and solicitous about their Salvation than ever they were before And that our Saviours words aforesaid To you that hear more shall be given are to be understood in a conditional sense that is that more shall be given upon condition of attending to what had been done before is evident by his next words verse 25. For he that hath to him more shall be given and he that hath not from him shall be taken away even that which he hath that is as will be shewed in the following Discourse from him that hath not used and improved that which was first given him shall be taken away that which he already had rather than have any more given him By which assertion of our Saviour it appears that this is a Law of Heaven a rule which Almighty God is resolved ordinarily to observe in dispensing his assistances unto men that those who do not make some good use of his preventing grace his former assistance shall after some time of trial have that suspended and the current of it stopt As on the other hand they that do shall have more of it given them And if they make a good use of that more also they shall have more added to that other more a second degree of assistance added to the first and a third to the second and so on For God is and will be leading the way he will be aforehand with us in his assistances and if we do but follow him in our endeavours to make use of them he will still afford us more and more until he
Doubtless it came to pass by the awakening of their minds by God to consider things more than their Neighbours did to consider the nature and tendency of morality and immorality and what was like to be the issue of both at last in respect of rewards and punishments in another World And the innate light and reason of their minds would dictate to them that Vice could not possibly tend to their happiness nor Vertue to their infelicity in the next World And this made them before they were Proselytes so far as the light of nature assisted by God did lead them to chuse to do what was most likely to end in happiness and to avoid what was most likely to make them miserable at last This no doubt made them betake themselves to the worship of the true God onely when others of their Neighbours did not and in this to join with the People of Israel though not entirely in the same Institutions of Worship because they were not given them in command as they were to the Jews This difference between them and other of their Country-men did first spring as I say from their taking important things more into consideration than others did And by this they came to be prepared to receive the Gospel so that they fell in with it readily when it was preached unto them sometimes at the first hearing Those Proselytes we read of Acts 13.48 were such as were ordered and disposed in their own minds towards eternal life to wit to look after it and to be thoughtful about it and as many as were so did as we there see believe Such as these Proselytes were those other sheep I doubt not of which our Saviour spake John 10.16 which as he said are not of this fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice They were made tractable afore-hand ready to follow the Shepherd when they should hear his voice Such also we may well suppose the good Ground hearers to be who were of good and honest hearts as they are described Luke 8.15 of honest minds not willing to represent things to themselves better than they are nor to put a cheat upon themselves and their own souls by flattering them into a better opinion of themselves and of their good condition Godward than there is cause Like him of whom the Psalmist speaks Who flattereth himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful Psal 36.2 They are not of such partial and dishonest minds as to be thoughtful and careful about the outward Man and things of this present World and to be altogether regardless and careless of their souls the better part and of the concerns for Eternity nor treacherously to betray them Thus far to shew how God hath prepared men for the belief of the Gospel onely by making principles and notions of natural religion operative in them by a powerful impression of them upon their minds CHAP. II. How God by adding Revealed Religion to that which is Natural prepared the Jews for the performance of the condition of the Promise IN times under the Law and before the appearance of Christ in the World Almighty God prepared the People of the Jews for the Faith in Christ by adding Revealed Religion to that which is Natural and by making that which was Natural more powerful and operative to such an end by that which was revealed After the Original Law which is implanted in the Nature of all men became much blurred and defaced in the minds of men a fair Copy of it was delivered to that People by God written in two Tables of Stone And this was done as for other ends so for this to wit to awaken in them a greater sense of the guilt of sin and their liableness thereby to the wrath of Almighty God and to condemnation The Law worketh wrath saith S. Paul Rom. 4.15 that is it maketh the Transgressor of it the more punishable and exposeth him the more to wrath For the strength of sin is the Law as the same Apostle saith in another place 1 Cor. 15.56 it is that which armeth those actions against a man which would not have been punishable if there had been no Law against them For where there is no Law there is no transgression as he saith in the former Text. And where there is no transgression there can be no punishment due And by parity of reason where the Law is more obscure and less discernable the transgression of it must be the less punishable and the more manifest and express the Law is by which men are left without all excuse of ignorance touching the evil prohibited the greater and more criminal must the offence needs be as when committed against a Law promulgate and fully known This is that which stops the mouths of men against all excuse and plea of ignorance and lays them naked and open to the penalty of the Law What the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law that every mouth might be stopt and all the World found guilty before God or subject to his judgment Rom. 3.19 And as the offence against the Law is aggravated and enhansed by how much the more the Law is known to be expresly against it by so much may the punishment be expected to be increased by that means He that knew his Masters will and yet did it not shall be beaten with many stripes above what he shall suffer whose opportunity of knowing his duty hath been less Now this was the case with the Jews they were under the natural Law before it was promulgated to them as well as all other Nations But that Law of Nature was grown so blurr'd and illegible through the pravity and degeneracy of men that they could hardly discern that to be sin in many cases which was sin by the Law of Nature As for instance I had not known Lust to be sin saith S. Paul unless the Law had said thou shalt not covet They could hardly discern inward concupiscence in this or that particular to be sin unless it brake out into open act But now by the promulgation of the natural Law this came to be known to be sin which indeed was so before but not so certainly known to be so and the like in other cases But when this and other things were by a promulgate Law more clearly known to be sin it was then at their greater peril if they fell into them and consequently they must needs be the more apprehensive of their danger and their fear the greater in case they did S. Paul personating a Jew both before and after the promulgation of the Law saith I once was alive without the Law but when the commandment came then sin revived and I died He did not know himself to be in so ill a case as the Law when it came discovered him to be And therefore he saith again that sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived him and by it slew
such means by which such an escape may be obtained Thus those pricked in their hearts Acts 2. cried out Men and brethren what shall we do And the Goaler when once in a trembling posture Sirs what shall I do to be saved Acts 16.30 These affectionate enquiries caused by a sense of their danger argued their willingness to do any thing they could to escape it of which they gave proof by setting immediately and without any delay upon what they were directed to do to that end This sense of danger awakened by divine threatnings so long as it lasteth will take off that pleasure which men before were wont to find in ways of sin and wickedness and make the taste of them bitter and by that means estrange their minds from them What is it that makes men at any time to fall out with their sins and turn them off but an awakened sense in themselves by which thy feel they have been betrayed by them into the snare of death into such danger as that the very sense and fear of it quite swallows up that pleasure which they were wont to take in those sins And under these circumstances it will be a matter of far less difficulty for men to perform the condition of the promise so far as that stands in forsaking of sin than it would be to continue in it For in this case they find the fear and trouble which still is at the heels of sin is far greater than any pleasure they can then find in it In vain is the Net spread in the sight of any Bird saith Solomon Prov. 1.17 Even so while men have their eye upon the present fear and future danger sin exposeth them to it disarms the temptation to it of its power and renders it too weak to prevail with them to run themselves into the torments of present fears and into eternal destruction for the future A Dog will forbear his otherwise desired morsel while his eye is upon the Cudgel which is held over him Secondly the promise through Christ of such inestimable benefits as the pardon of sin and the eternal glory of Heaven are upon condition as of Faith so of sincere Obedience hath a great tendency in it to reconcile our minds to our duty in particular acts of obedience It is inseparable from the nature of men to desire the happiness of their own Being in the general notion of it and for perpetuity also And the more desirable any object is and the more there is in it to make our happiness great the more powerfully are we drawn thereby to comply with the condition and to use the means of obtaining it when we hope it to be attainable The greater and more attractive the object of desire is by so much will the difficulty of the condition and means of obtaining it seem the less Jacobs serving seven years for Rachel seemed to him but a few days for the love wherewith he loved her All which shews that the immense greatness of the benefits promis'd in the Gospel does tend greatly to reconcile our minds to the condition of obtaining them notwithstanding some present difficulties do attend it Just as we see in other things Men would not cark and care moil and toil as they do nor undertake such wearisom journies and hazardous voyages as men commonly do were it not that the benefit they expect to obtain thereby does reconcile their minds to these difficulties What enabled Moses to forsake the treasures of Egypt and the honours of Pharaohs Court and to unite himself with an oppressed People when he could not otherwise avoid sin and serve his God as he had a mind to do Why it was the eye the respect he had therein unto the recompence of the reward Heb. 11.25 26. The hope of the recompence of reward made the difficulties of Gods service the reproach of Christ and suffering with the People of God more eligible and desirable than the pleasures of sin which were but for a season Hope of benefit we see then is a great and powerful principle of action in men and if the promise of the great things of the Gospel does but affect stir up and quicken our hope this will be enough to put those endeavours into motion by which the condition of obtaining them will be performed It is by the exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel that men are made partakers of a divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 And the reason is because these promises do affect their hope this hope changeth the thoughts and purposes of men in order to the obtaining of the things promised and hoped for by all which they become new men restored to the image of God which had been lost by sin which is the divine nature The difficult part of performing the condition of the promise of pardon and life lies in mens forsaking the sins to which they had been accustomed and in practising the contrary Vertues from which they have been estranged But the Gospel we see enables men to do both by working upon their fears and hopes For when two such powerful principles of action concur and conspire together to promote the same end to produce the same effect as they do in this though in different respects the operation must needs be very great powerful and prevalent and the work like to go on with good success Fear and hope are the two handles of the Soul by which it is taken hold of and drawn 2. Having thus shewed how apt and fit the Gospel is in respect of the subject matter of it to draw men to such a belief of it and obedience to it as in which the performance of the condition of the promise of pardon and life doth consist I am now to shew in the next place its farther aptitude this way in respect of that evidence it hath of its Divinity Truth and Infallibility For indeed all the power it hath to work upon mens fears and hopes by its menaces and promises to the producing of their effects in mens lives and actions depends wholly upon the supposition of its truth and certainty Men would not be moved neither by the threatnings nor promises of the Gospel how great soever they be did they believe the Gospel to be but fabulous And therefore the All-wise God hath as much concerned himself to give sufficient attestation to the truth of the Gospel as he hath to acquaint men with the things reported in it To this end the Almighty Father hath by a voice from Heaven testified that Jesus Christ is his beloved Son and that his doctrine is to be attended to as to one whom he had sent into the World to declare his whole mind touching mens salvation Mat. 3.17 and 17.5 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him To the same purpose also served those numerous miracles which he wrought For these were signs to assure us that he was what he affirmed himself to be
viz. the Son of God and consequently that his doctrine is of divine authority Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name John 29.30 31. These miracles in conjunction with the nature of our Saviours doctrine in nothing contrary to natural Religion had certainly a very great tendency in them to beget a belief in him and of his doctrine or else he would never have marvelled as he did at the unbelief of those which saw them and heard him Mark 6.6 He marvelled at their unbelief Their unbelief under such circumstances is mentioned again as matter of wonder John 12.37 But though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him But this would have been no matter of marvel to our Saviour or wonder to his Disciples if there had not been a mighty power in those miracles to convirce men and to persuade them to believe To this end also served the resurrection of Christ from the dead for by that he was mightily declared to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 And when the Apostles of our Lord were after his Resurrection sent forth to convert the World to Christianity by preaching the Gospel to them as a means to make it efficacious to this end and to procure it credit and authority in the minds of men they were endued by the Lord with a power of working miracles and of speaking with new tongues Mark 16.20 They went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following Heb. 2.4 God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will And it was in respect of these powerful confirmations of the Gospel I doubt not that S. Paul says his preaching was in demonstration of the spirit and of power and not with enticing or persuasible words of mans wisdom 1 Cor. 2.4 It was by reason of this kind of demonstration of the Gospel to be from God which was made by the miraculous operation of the Spirit by the Apostles that the Gospel was received as the Word of God and not as the Word of Man as all those Discourses of Philosophers were which had no other confirmation than what the Wit and Oratory of men could derive from principles of natural and humane Wisdom But the Apostles doctrine as it was in the nature of it above humane pitch to find out so their way of confirming of it was above all humane power and wisdom also As their doctrine was known onely by the Holy Spirits revealing so the arguments motives and reasons by which they persuaded men to believe it to be from God were fetched from the Spirits own mighty operations which were visible to men as well those that did not as those which did believe They compared and suited spiritual things with spiritual ver 13. The nature of their arguments by which they persuaded men to believe their doctrine were suited to the nature of their doctrine both being from the Holy Spirit The one by the Spirits revelation to the Apostles the other by the Spirits miraculous operations by the Apostles They proved their doctrine was revealed to them by God by the testimony which he gave that he had sent them to preach what they did preach by enabling them to do such things which none could do but by virtue of a divine power which put forth it self in them God as was said did bear them witness by signs wonders and by divers miracles which he enabled them to do and to shew And being the Gospel was upon the account of this confirmation received as the Word of God and not of Man as the Author of it therefore it was that it did operate so powerfully as it did in the hearts and lives of them that received it to the transforming them in their minds and spirits and in the tenour of their lives and actions into other manner of men than they were before By reason of which transformation the Scripture stiles them New Creatures and the man thus altered the New Man When ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us saith S. Paul ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe 1 Thess 2.13 The Gospel then thus confirmed as hath been represented was and is so glorious an object of Faith and so every way sitted and prepared to command mens belief of it that S. Paul supposeth it impossible but that men should believe it unless the Devil hath strangely blinded their minds And therefore he saith 2 Cor. 4.3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them And thus we see what great assistance God hath vouchsafed us for our performing the condition of the promise by giving us his Gospel The Lord by his Prophet speaking of how much he had done for his People of old to enable them to be what he expected they should be in order to the happiness he designed them saith Isa 5.4 What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it that is What in reason could they expect he should have done more to make them become obedient and fruitful than he had done And yet he hath done much more for us who live under the Gospel than he did for them For he hath sent his own Son to reconcile us to himself and himself to us by his death He hath sent his own Son to persuade men which is more than all the Prophets which he sent before And as he is greater himself so he persuades by greater arguments than the Prophets were wont to do both in respect of what hath been done for us already to oblige us and in respect of what he will do in rewarding if obedient and in punishing if disobedient And all this lies fair before us in the Gospel by which life and immortality is brought to light and which comes to us more gloriously attested also than the doctrine of Moses and the Prophets did to them And therefore the Lord may much more appeal to us than he did to them and say What could have been done more to engage you to believe and obey the Gospel and so to perform the condition of the promise which I have not done And if so How then shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him And yet behold
is need of a Divine Power to work some cure upon the Eye of the mind to discern aright concerning the things of the Gospel David had some sense of this upon his mind when he prayed thus unto God Open thou mine eyes that I may behold the wondrous things of thy Law Psal 119.18 The Disciples had not right notions of things revealed by the Scriptures concerning Christ until our Saviour opened their understandings to understand the Scriptures Luke 24.45 When the Veil is taken away so that men with open face behold the glorious things of the Lord in the Gospel it is by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Though the hope of the Christians calling and the riches of the glory of Gods inheritance in the Saints are revealed in the Gospel yet S. Paul knew for all that that there was need of having the eyes of the understanding inlightned to know and discern what those are and therefore prayed unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for it in the behalf of the Ephesians c. 1.17 18. And if these Christians after they believed stood in need to have the eyes of their understanding further enlightned by God in order to a more clear and full prospect of the gloriousness of the Hope set before them for the strengthening and encouraging them to persevere and hold out in their obedience to the Gospel then doubtless they much more stood in need of some enlightning by God in this kind to enable them at first to begin to be sincerely obedient In the dark men are apt to mistake one thing for another so before this illumination of the mind by the Spirit of God they are apt to call evil good and good evil to put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter to chuse evil under the notion of good and to refuse good under the notion of evil But when the light of the Law and Gospel are let into the mind by which every thing is discovered and discerned in its true shape and colour then Sin and Vertue appear to be what they are in their own nature sin to be sin indeed and vertue and goodness to be vertue and goodness indeed Then sin appears in the turpitude deformity and malignity of its nature and in its tendency to the ruine of the subject in which it dwells and righteousness vertue and goodness appear in their beauty and usefulness and in their tendency to the happiness of such in whom they dwell For instance Before this illumination men are apt to mistake the doctrine of the grace of God which brings salvation and to think they shall be saved because Christ died for sinners and because they believe he did so especially if they be but now and then troubled in their minds and sorry for their sins and do pray God to pardon them though they still continue in them But when the eyes of their understanding are opened to see things as they are and are represented in the Gospel then they perceive none shall be saved by the death of Christ what ever their belief may be but such as shall be persuaded by the great motives of the Gospel to be reconciled to God by being reconciled to their Duty throwing down the weapons of their rebellion and becoming universally sincerely obedient to his government according to the Laws of Jesus Christ This illumination of the mind by God contributes so much towards mens performing the condition of the promise that the whole of their conversion is sometimes meant in Scripture when but this only is mentioned Heb. 10.32 3. Another part of the Divine Assistance afforded unto men in performing the condition of the promise is the Holy Spirits operation upon the will to assist it in what is proper to it in performing of the condition of the promise For what ever sense there is begot in men of the danger they are in by reason of sin or whatever illumination is wrought in the mind touching the way and method laid down by God of escaping that danger yet until the will be changed and wrought to a firm resotion of complying with the terms on which the promise of pardon and life through Christ is made the work is not done the person is not regenerate nor in a regular capacity of enjoying what is conditionally obtained by Christ and conditionally promised through him Men are not begotten of God nor born of God as the Scripture speaks of some that are they are not begotten by the word of truth nor born again of the immortal seed of the Word until the change be made in the will as well as in the understanding and when ever it is made it is the effect of a divine operation It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 Now in that assistance which is vouchsafed unto men in renewing them in their wills in working in them to will several things are to be considered 1. The Holy Spirit disposeth the Will to be passive in reference to those notices given by the enlightned mind and understanding touching those things which have been discovered to it by the Gospel through the illuminating operation of the Spirit upon it The Will having been accustomed to busie and exercise it self about other objects such as the senses have presented to it things that concern onely this present world and life it will hardly suffer any passage for heavenly and divine things which are strangers to it without some divine operation of the Spirit to incline the will thereto or to open a passage for them Which is done I conceive by suspending the evil influence which the will had upon the understanding in keeping or with-holding it from considering with any seriousness and frequency the things that concern the soul and another life And if the understanding be but at liberty seriously and frequently to consider such things as well as those that concern onely this present life the will then cannot but see and taste them to be better because the mind and judgment in such case cannot but represent them to the will as much better and as things wherein the happiness of our nature is much more concerned than in any than in all the things of this world God in taking off the will from the foresaid bad influence it had upon the considerative faculty takes away the heart of stone the Scripture speaks of For the heart of stone which God said he would take away signifies the inflexible temper of the will and the resistance it makes against the understandings taking those things into serious consideration which tend to persuade the will to alter its purposes and to alter its choice of objects Mens not considering things that concern their souls and another life when yet they can and do consider things that relate to the animal life is justly imputed to the faultiness of their wills they do not consider them because they will not
endeavour to reform amend and to become new men to strive against all known sin and to endeavour to do all known duty as well as they can but the victory is got but by degrees There is a great difference between a mans getting the victory over those oppositions of Flesh World and Devil which withstood him in his beginning when he was setting upon the work of amendment of life and his destroying those enemies of his soul so as that they shall no more annoy him or endanger his falling short of the happiness he seeks which to be sure they will notwithstanding his first victory unless he pursue that victory by seeking the utter ruine and destruction of them by keeping up a continual war against them The former victory I reckon is perfectly obtained when men are not prevailed upon by any opposition whatsoever but that they will and do seriously and sincerely and actually engage in a conscientious observation of the several duties of Christianity enjoined by our Saviour both in abstaining from evil and in doing good But the latter victory is obtained but by degrees as the new man grows stronger and stronger and the old man weaker and weaker like the house of Saul and David A man I conceive does commence sincere Christian and real Disciple of Christ when he has obtained the first victory but cannot approve himself to God and his own conscience to be and to continue such farther than he follows his enterprize and pursues that victory by endeavouring the destruction of the whole body of sin and by aspiring after a standing compleat in all the will of God When our Saviour said Luke 12.47 That servant which knew his Lords will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes we see the least that will secure a man from this threatning of our Lord is a mans preparing himself to do according to his Lords will And if by preparing himself be meant a putting himself in the best posture he can to do it by using the best means and helps he can in order to it and then doing it as well as he can though not so well as he would then it seems very probable that for a man thus to prepare himself to do his Lords will will not onely secure him from being beaten as a disobedient servant but also render him acceptable to his Lord in such his preparation to please him And I think the Apostles rule will hold in reference to this though mentioned but upon a particular occasion that of Alms-giving 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not So long as a mans doing his Lords will as well as his alms does but answer his ability and capacity and proceeds from a willing mind a mind inclined and bent to do better as he to give a better alms if he could this mans endeavour and service will be no more rejected because it is so mean than the poor widows two mites were but be accepted because it holds some proportion with his ability and proceeds from a mind and will that would have put the man upon doing more if he could have done it And this indeed is in a favourable sense a mans serving his Lord and Master with all his might with all that little strength which he hath And yet in this Almighty God does not I conceive weigh men in reference to their performance or endeavours to perform by grains and scruples For he knows whereof we are made and how we are but dust as the Psalmist speaks He considers the composition of our nature Flesh as well as Spirit and the constitution and complexion thereof and how the motions and activity of the Spirit are limited and straightned by the body to which it is united He considers all the disadvantages we are under from without us as of times and places where the providence of God hath cast us and of education company and acquaintance and the like he considers all a mans circumstances and then according to the goodness and benignity of his nature makes allowances in estimating a man according to his endeavours and performances He is not extream in marking what is done amiss He pities us as a Father pities his children and spares us as a man spares his own Son that serves him if the Bias of our will and constant endeavours do but stand right towards him and if our endeavours do but hold some good proportion to that assistance we receive from him An instance of all which we have in the character which the Scripture gives of David when it saith He turned not aside from any thing commanded by God all his dayes except in the matter of Vriah 1 Kings 15.5 These things I note by the way to the end we might be the better able to make some judgment not onely of what assistance men receive from God when he worketh in them both to will and to do but also what that willing and doing is which we may hope will through grace be accepted for a performance of that condition to which the promise of pardon and life is made And thus we have seen in some measure how Almighty God by the assistance of his grace brings about that change both in the mind and manners of men by which the condition of his promise of pardon and life is performed He awakens mens fears by making them sensible of their danger by reason of sin And these fears especially when they grow any thing strong prevail against those prejudices which make men unwilling to consider the concernments of their souls and things relating to another life And by considering men come through Gods further assistance to have new apprehensions of things to see and to judge of things as they are and then to chuse or refuse them according to that judgment God does not give men new faculties of understanding and will he only assists those faculties to throw off that burden which oppressed them to break those fetters by which they were bound and so to restore them by degrees to their native liberty of acting regularly Hence the Scripture calls this work of God upon the soul a being renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him Col. 3.10 that is to a right judgment of things wherein the soul of man resembled its Maker It is termed a being renewed in the Spirit of the mind Ephes 4.23 a being transformed by the renewing of the mind Rom. 12.2 and the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 That which is most connatural to the will in man is to chuse his happiness It is not in mans power to chuse to be miserable under that notion but whenever he does so it s under the notion of good And this is the corruption that cleaves to man in his degenerate state to chuse that which is evil under
save a man who enjoys the Gospel which may be sufficient to save such a one as Cornelius was before the Gospel was made known to him God is a God of knowledge and judgment by him actions are weighed and all circumstances of a mans case considered And doubtless God makes larger allowances in estimating the goodness of a mans performances that hath less assistance than he doth in estimating his for good that hath more This I have here noted the rather to the end we who have the Gospel may have the more charitable opinion concerning the state and condition of some of them which have it not and likewise to put them in mind who enjoy more means and therein more assistance from God than others how absolutely necessary it is for them to do more than others to the obtaining from God the approbation of good and saithful servants and such as have performed the condition of the promise 2. Having now made out the first of the things proposed viz. That God doth assist even those that perish towards their performing the condition on which pardon and life are promised until that assistance is rejected I proceed now to the second Which is to shew that the reason why men are deprived of the pardon and salvation purchased by our Saviour is founded in their refusing to make use of Gods assisting grace through which otherwise they might have been enabled to have performed the condition on which pardon and life are promised Whatever means God useth tending to awaken direct or persuade men to repent reform and amend are his aids and assistances vouchsafed them to that end And such are his reproofs instructions commands counsels threatnings and promises when applied by his Spirit unto the minds of men Now then mens refusing to hearken to and to consider these things or to comply with them and their endeavouring not to be affected with them or moved by them is their refusing to be assisted by God to perform the condition of the promise And upon this very thing is both the wickedness of men and their destruction charged in Scripture and that under a great variety of expression Sometimes it is termed a not enclining the ear to hear a not hearkening a refusing to hear a refusing to return a stopping the ears that they might not hear a closing the eyes that they may not see a rejecting of the word of the Lord and of the counsel of God against themselves These things which are spoken of the outward senses do signifie and represent the posture of bad mens minds when they refuse to set their hearts to what God says or does to them They seeing see not and hearing they hear not as our Saviour expresseth it Mat. 13.13 as men are said to do when their minds are not at all busied or concerned with the things they hear or see And when it is so with them they are no more moved or affected with the things they see or hear than as if they had not seen nor heard them at all And when the Scripture saith that they stop their ears that they may not hear this signifies somewhat more to wit the arming themselves against what is said so that the things spoken may not enter their souls nor at all affect them and is much what the same thing which the Scripture means by mens hardening themselves and stiffening their neeks These are so far from endeavouring to comply with Gods applications to them for the altering their way and course of life that they are afraid of being affected with or converted by any thing that may be spoken or done to them Their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them saith our Lord concerning them Matt. 13.15 It is true indeed No man can come to the Son except it be given him of the Father and except the Father draw him John 6.44 65. But then the reason why men are not drawn so as to be prepared to come to the Son so soon as he is sufficiently revealed to them is because they refuse to be so The Wisdom of God speaks after this manner I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded they would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof the turning away of the simple shall slay them Prov. 1.24 God we see calls and stretcheth out his hands to sinners he reproves he counsels and persuades and this is his drawing But many of those whom he thus draws they we see refuse they regard not they despise they turn away and this is their refusing and rejecting Gods assistance it is their refusing to be drawn and it is this their refusing and turning away that slayes them See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven Heb. 12.25 How oft would I have gathered you and ye would not saith our Saviour Mat. 23.37 And again Ye will not come to me that ye might have life John 5.40 3. We may perceive by all this that Gods method of drawing men is not to work upon them in an irresistible manner for if it were there would be no place left to draw back or to refuse which yet by the Scriptures and experimental observation we see there is But this will further appear when we consider that the same preparatory grace and assistance from God which will dispose some to repentance proves ineffectual to others which could not be if repentance were wrought in an irresistible manner and way Our Saviour hath told us for instance that if Tyre and Sidon had but had the same means of repentance vouchsafed unto them which Corazin and Bethsaida had they would have repented when yet Corazin and Bethsaida did not Mat. 11.21 Wo unto thee Corazin wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes Nay a less degree and proportion of means will work repentance in some when a greater will not in others Which is an evident proof that repentance may be wrought by a less proportion of means than that which is irresistible otherwise that which is irresistible in its operation may be resisted which is a contradiction in terms The men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonas when the obstinate Jews did not repent though they had more powerful means vouchsafed them to bring them to it than the men of Nineveh had to wit the preaching and many mighty miracles of our Saviour which was the reason why our Saviour said the men of Nineveh should rise in judgment against them and condemn them Mat. 12.41 The
men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater than Jonas is here That which is or may be made ineffectual to its end is not irresistible in its operation but the means of repentance vouchsafed the unbelieving Jews was made ineffectual by them as to their repentance though more and greater than the men of Nineveh had by which repentance was wrought in them By which it is manifest that the repentance of the Ninevites was not wrought by an irresistible operation because the means used to bring the unbelieving Jews to repentance was greater than that the Ninevites had and yet was resisted Though I do not say or think that God doth always give the same degree of assistance to all persons in like cases he doth what he will with his own it is enough he gives sufficient to all yet the reason of the different event of the same means of grace vouchsafed to those that do not repent and to those that do ordinarily so far as we can judge lies in the greater degree of untractableness and unteachableness which is found in the one than is found in the other by means whereof the same applications and assistances from God are rendred ineffectual to the one which are not so to the other But if the method and manner of Gods operation in working repentance and faith were irresistible no degree of obstinacy in men could withstand it or render it ineffectual There is an opinion indeed much different from this and which hath obtained even among many good and worthy men which does suppose the reason of the different event of Gods applications to men to lie in the different manner of his applying himself to them As when we are invited by it to conceive that the reason why some repent and others do not is because God works it irresistibly in the one when he refuses to do so in the other The ill consequents of which opinion we may well suppose they were no whit aware of who were the first promoters of it and were far enough from owning them though they held fast the opinion which does infer them But yet if the things necessarily consequent upon this opinion prove it to be bad it can be no breach of any rule of charity or modesty to mention them upon so fair an occasion as this now before us but rather the contrary if I should not and may consist well enough with that veneration I have for the memory of many of those who have embraced it This opinion renders the damnation of such as perish impossible for them ever to have escaped after they had once sinned For if nothing less than Gods irresistible operation be sufficient to bring sinners to repentance then would it have been impossible for any that perish to have prevented it because no such means of repentance was ever vouchsafed them for if it had they could not but have repented as well as any This opinion therefore tends to lessen the grace and mercy of God in that provision which he hath made for the redemption of the World as if it were not sufficient for the salvation of any but such as are and shall be actually and eventually saved It implies and supposes that the reason why such as perish are not saved by the death of Christ as well as others is for want of so much compassion in God towards them as to assist them to perform the condition on which such salvation is purchased and promised Whereas Almighty God hath not onely given his Son to be a propitiation for the sin of the whole World but hath also afforded such assistance unto all as by which they might have come to perform that condition upon which the promise of salvation is made as I have before endeavored to shew It does not consist with the plain and obvious sense of such Scriptures as tell us that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance For how can we conceive any such willingness in God concerning those who yet do perish if he should wholly have refused them that assistance without which it was impossible they should repent and escape perishing An opinion it seems to be if it were true which would render all Gods applications to those that perish to have prevented their perishing useless and insignificant For to what end should other means be used to bring those to repentance who in the issue do not repent if no other means be sufficient to effect it in them but such an irresistible operation of God as he never intended them And how ill a representation would it make of God if he according to the tenor of this opinion should at last condemn men for not repenting and for not believing and obeying the Gospel when it was impossible they should so long as God refused to work these graces irresistibly in them And truly if those that perish had so much to plead in excuse for themselves why they did not repent under all the mighty motives they had to persuade them to it and other means to assist them in it it would abate or rather quite take away a great part of the torments of the damned which do arise from a sense of their gross wilful and obstinate neglect to hearken to those powerful motives they once had to persuade them to repent and to make use of those helps and means they once had to assist them in it If they could but plead the impossibility of their repenting upon the account of Gods not vouchsafing them the irresistible operations of his grace and Spirit which was granted to all others that escape perishing it would in a great measure at least abate the tormenting gnawing of the worm that never dieth For then it would leave no place for those gripes of conscience fierce self-accusations and intolerable self-reflections which proceed from the remembrance and consideration of the loss of the opportunity they once had given them from God of escaping the misery they have brought upon themselves wherewith they are perpetually racked For if they could believe that all they could have done here in this life towards the escaping of that miserable state would have availed them nothing but that it depended wholly upon the irresistible operation of God upon them which was altogether out of their power they might perhaps turn their rage against Almighty God for not affording them the same means of escaping as he had done others that were sinners as well as themselves but would hardly reflect upon themselves for not doing that which was impossible for them to have done This ill consequence alone of the opinion under consideration if there were no other were enough one would think to detect the crookedness and deformity of it which yet as I have said hath obtained so long as it hath done among many good men as
their own hurt and to think it inconsistent with his natural goodness being infinite not to save them if he can And therefore to undeceive men in this matter I have insisted the more on these things and to shew how agreeable it is to the Divine Wisdom for God to withdraw his assistance from men after they have obstinatery persisted in refusing and opposing it in its design upon them And if it be agreeable to his wisdom it cannot be disagreeable to his goodness for it is as well goodness in God to controul Vice as it is for him to encourage Vertue in what way and by what methods seems best unto him There is a great deal of difference between true love and goodness and fondness Men by fondness love many times without reason and bestow their favours more than becomes them But true and generous goodness governs it self by wisdom and prudence and so it doth in God The wisdom of God will not suffer his goodness to throw away his saving benefits upon those who by incapacitating themselves to enjoy them have rendred themselves altogether unworthy of them For it would disparage the wisdom and so the goodness of God the donor in case he should confer them upon such because his different affection to evil and good would be thereby in a great measure obscured and the sinews of his Government weakned Honour is not seemly for a Fool saith the Wise-man Prov. 26.1 As it will not become the Fool himself so neither will it become the wisdom of him that confers it to place it on one so uncapable of it as a Fool is CHAP. VII Of the after-assistance of the Holy Spirit which those receive who have been assisted already to perform the condition of the promise as new beginners in doing so THose who have been assisted by God to repent believe and obey and therein to begin their performance of the condition of the promise of pardon and life do still stand in need of his further assistance to persevere and to continue to do so to their lives end and to do it more and more excellently For as Believers hold their title in the benefits promised no longer than they continue to perform the condition on which the promise of them is made so neither do they continue in the performance of that condition longer than they are assisted by God to do so Now to persevere in performing the condition of the promise is as necessary for men to continue their title to the benefits promised as their performance of that condition at the first was to begin it For the promise runs thus He that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved Mat. 24.13 And to him that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end will I give power over the Nations Rev. 2.26 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all the righteousness which he hath done shall not be mentioned in the trespass which he hath trespassed and in the sin which he hath sinned in them he shall die Ezek. 18.24 And as this perseverance is necessary for the reason and end aforesaid so is a constant and continual assistance from God to enable the Disciples of Christ so to persevere As the same power is necessary to continue the natural life which first gave being to it so is it in the spiritual life and state also Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.6 And that which is very remarkable touching this After-assistance of which I speak is That a greater presence and more constant assistance of the Spirit of God is promised and vouchsafed unto men after they believe than they had before This appears by having the Holy Spirit given them after in such a degree which they had not before and by Gods dwelling and the Spirits abiding in them after who did not do so before First those who have believed the Gospel and sincerely delivered up themselves to the conduct of it in their lives do thereby come under that special priviledge of having the Holy Spirit given them to assist influence and quicken them and to carry on the work of sanctification in them This our Saviour promised John 7.38 39. Jesus cried saying he that believeth on me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water this saith the Evangelist he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Which promises we find made good afterwards in several instances Of the Believers it is said Acts 4.31 that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost And Acts 5.32 We saith S. Peter are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him And S. Paul to the Ephesians saith After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise chap. 1.13 that is they were marked for his and distinguished from those that were not by his giving them the Spirit For if any man have not the Spirit of Chhist he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Sensual not having the Spirit Jude 19. It is true indeed those first Christians and others after for some time did receive the Holy Spirit in a sense that was peculiar to those times for the confirmation and propagation of the Christian Religion until it was well setled and had taken some rooting in the World As when they were in an extraordinary way enabled by the Spirit to speak with other tongues and to perform other miraculous operations as our Saviour had foretold they should For these signs said he shall follow them that believe in my name in my name they shall cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues c. Mark 16.17 A more full and particular enumeration of which extraordinary gifts of the Spirit scattered among the Believers of those times we have in 1 Cor. 12. But besides these the Believers then received in receiving the Holy Spirit an increase of gracious qualifications called the fruit of the Spirit such as love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance as the Apostle reckons them up Gal. 5.22 And in this sense the Holy Spirit hath been given to all true Believers ever since and is now For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his he is no true Christian Rom. 8.9 By mens having the Spirit then and by the Spirits being given them after they believe is meant I conceive a more constant and a more plentiful influence and effusion of the Spirit to change and renew them to restore them to the likeness of God to the spirit and temper of Jesus Christ than ever was vouchsafed them
towards their believing or by enabling them to believe at first Before men repent believe or begin to obey they have the Spirit at work in their minds indeed to suggest to their thoughts and considerations things of highest concernment to them and to incline them to look after them in time and before the day of grace and salvation is over and gone He then at times stands at the door and knocks and strives with every man and vouchsafes to such more and more of his assistance until they are enabled to believe who do not make fast the door against him but rather open to him and refuse not to be led on by degrees The more they attended to the teaching of the Father by his Spirit and the nearer they came to believe indeed the more frequent visits they had from him and the more assistance But after they have followed on so far and become so teachable as to believe indeed and sincerely to give up themselves to his conduct then he communicates himself more freely and more constantly to them than ever before in divine influence and assistance to root and establish them in the Christian Faith and Life and to carry them on further and further towards perfection This secondly is set out to us in another vein of Scriptures viz. such as speak of Gods dwelling in true Believers and sincere Christians and of their being the temple of the Holy Ghost of which nature are many texts Rom. 8.11 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 Eph. 2.22 1 John 3.24 and 4.13 16. By all which is signified the more constant residence of the Holy Spirit in and with men after they believe and become true Christians to assist them in their great affairs for their souls and another World as one that is never long absent from them but ready at hand at all times to help them in doing their duty and to overcome temptations unless by grieving him they cause him to withdraw himself If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him John 14.23 This giving of the Holy Spirit to sincere Christians to be always with them as his dwelling in them implies is not onely to help and assist them to persevere in doing onely so much as will entitle them to pardon and life barely as their performing the condition of the promise though but in the lowest sense of performance will do But Gods design in giving his Spirit to them after they have perform'd the condition in the lowest sense is to fit and prepare them for greater degrees of blessedness and glory for a higher and more glorious exaltation therein than a bare performance of the condition of the promise in simple consideration and in the lowest degree of performance will well bear Our Saviour came as he says that we might have life and that we might have it in abundance John 10.10 not barely to save us but to exalt us to such a height of glory that the glory and blessedness of his Body the Church might hold some good proportion with his own glory and blessedness as Head of it And to encourage true Christians to endeavour to excel in holiness and goodness in order to this there are other conditional promises made besides that of pardon and life upon condition of faith and repentance simply considered To such as give all diligence in adding to their Faith Vertue Knowledge Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly kindness and Charity so that these things be in them and abound the promise is of an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. And he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 And he that humbleth himself as a little child the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 18.4 Besides the Vessels of Mercy will hold more or less glory according to their different capacities in grace and service as they are made larger or lesser By how much the more near Christians come to Christ in goodness by so much they are qualified to be the more near to him in happiness and glory But still as I say this greater and more constant presence of the Spirit is given to true Christians after they believe to carry on this great and glorious design of grace towards them to take them out of the spirit of this World and to lift them up in holiness and goodness thereby to make them capable of the greater glory and happiness To make this plain and familiar to our thoughts let it be considered that upon mens unfeigned believing follows immediately their adoption As many as received him to them he gave power right or priviledge to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name John 1.12 This is a very great advancement indeed and holds some proportion to that deep humiliation our Saviour underwent to prepare our way to it Now those whom God adopts to be sons those he adopts to be heirs also to his great inheritance and glorious estate so saith the Apostle if children then heirs heirs of God yea joint-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 This being their happy case the blessed God and Father who hath adopted the Believers for his children and heirs gives them his Holy Spirit to be always with them puts his Spirit within them to tutor and discipline them and to give them thereby such breeding as may sit and prepare them for so high a relation and for so glorious an inheritance as that is which he intends to settle upon them Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts saith the Apostle Gal. 4.6 Saint Paul having spoken of the happy state which he with other the Believers expect and long for after the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle in which the soul now dwells 2 Cor. 5. saith in verse 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit His giving them his Spirit to sit them for that inheritance is an earnest or pledge that he does really intend to bestow it upon them When he saith He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God we hereby see that it is the work of God by his Spirit to frame frame and fashion the Believers for that magnificent estate in the next World which is prepared for them and to which they are adopted This work of God upon them is to make them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Gal. 1.12 These Believers are those Vessels of Mercy whom he thus afore prepares unto glory Rom. 9.23 It is the benevolent work and business of our Lord and Saviour by his Spirit so to sanctifie and cleanse the